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About The daily Astorian. (Astoria, Or.) 1961-current | View Entire Issue (July 23, 2015)
‘Anything Goes’ at new Fairweather art exhibition in studio ¿ne art from New York University and is currently the acting president of nonpro¿t As- toria Visual Arts and the visual arts curator at KALA. Her work has been included in many juried exhibits and residencies. A graduate of Shanghai Nor- mal University and with a Master of Fine Arts from Portland State University, Zifen Qian paints mod- ern romanticism that combines Eastern and Western culture. “Painting is a visible art form, which should be understandable by persons other than the artist,” he says. “Creating a painting is not the same as addressing scienti¿c abstract inference on a report. Artistic addressing of social, psychological and cultur- al issues is based on the artist’s personal judgment from life and always combines his or her cog- nition of perceptual and rational knowledge with techniques of image making.” The internationally ac- claimed artist has been included in many national and internation- al exhibits and collections. Kristin Qian, the youngest scholarship member of the Princ- eton University Orchestra (class of 2018) is praised as an “omnibus” prodigy for her multiple talents across a wide spectrum of areas, including music, science, languag- es and painting. She will perform music during the reception. After a 30-year career as an award-winning biology teacher at Seaside High School, Neal Maine became the ¿rst executive direc- tor of the North Coast Land Con- servancy, which he co-founded in 1986. Since his retirement from the land trust in 2010, he has pur- sued his passion for nature pho- tography through Paci¿cLight Images, a partnership with Mi- chael Wing, dedicated to raising awareness of coastal ecology and the wildlife with whom we share the region’s estuaries, freshwater wetlands and forests. Their photography centers around coastal and Columbia River landscapes, ecology and the rich estuary habitat with the surrounding wetlands and forest systems. Proceeds from photog- raphy sales will bene¿t the North Coast Land Conservancy. The Lowest Pair bring Americana to the Fort house shows, backyards and street corners, the duo found their way back up to Minnesota, this time to Duluth, where they sat down to record the follow-up to “36¢.” Linking up with Tom Fabjance at an old church (the same one Low recorded “C’Mon” in) seemed like the perfect way to expand on their sound without diluting their origi- nal magical formula. Their new album, “The Sacred Heart Sessions,” is a collection that allows the listener to enter the space that surrounds its creation. One can virtually feel the walls and vaulted ceiling of the old wooden church rising up, creating a natural reverb and warming the air. Be it Winter’s punk roots, her admiration for the traditional Amer- ican songbook or the gravitational pull she sensed drawing her to Olympia, it’s her combining these talents and creative impulses with Lee’s Midwestern charm, the long winters spent listening to a steady diet of Townes Van Zandt and John Hartford and the strange moment of fate that left him with two inherited banjos as a young man; this com- bination has resulted in a original sound that is The Lowest Pair. Show features Patricia Clark-Finley, Agnes Field, Zifen and Kristin Qian, Neal Maine SEASIDE — Fairweather House and Gallery will open a new art exhibit, “Anything Goes,” with a reception from 5 to 7 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 1. The art show and reception will feature work by Patricia Clark-Finley, Agnes Field and Zifen Qian with music by Kristin Qian and a lecture by Neal Maine. Fairweather is lo- cated at 612 Boradway. The ex- hibition will run to Aug. 31. “Anything Goes” refers the use of materials and methods used to make art — anything to stretch the boundaries of un- derstanding and meaning of the work. Clark-Finley works from her studio in Ocean Park, Washing- ton, and holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts from the San Francisco Art Institute. She also has spent time at the San Francisco Center for the Book, Carl Jung Institute, and Crown Point Press and has been included in many juried re- gional and national exhibitions. “The push and pull between abandon and control informs my abstraction,” she says of her work. “The medium and techni- cal stuff requires control. But the element of chance is the same to me as abandon. If you allow chance, which is the great ‘aha’ moment in art, you have to aban- don control. That is because the ego is the controller, but is blind. To introduce chance, to soften the boundaries between reality and imagination, the ego has to step back.” Astoria artist Agnes Field uses a matter-of-fact approach to painting and making objects by improvising and reusing found materials along with the paint to amplify the intended meaning. “Painting is a dark romance for me — a sensuous love of paint and materials, but also the ex- pression of unknown meaning that always ¿nds its way to the PENINSULA SADDLE CLUB & BRIM’S FARM & GARDEN PRESENTS A painting by Zifen Qian. Submitted photos Works by Astoria artist Agnes Field will be on display at the exhibit. surface,” Field says. “It is often on the edge between making and destroying. You can look at an object for a long time, un- til it is so familiar, and then one day its entire meaning changes — which changes the object in turn.” “Painting is one way of look- Kristin Qian,the youngest member of the Princeton University Orchestra, will per- form music during the reception. ing for the mystery that is always there hiding in plain sight, and is the price of one’s time for under- standing,” she says. Field has a master’s degree 70 th July 25 & 26, 2015 1:00 p.m. Family night starts Saturday after Rodeo “Featuring free fun events for kids up to 12 years” Friday, July 24th 6:30 pm • Rodeo Parade Downtown Long Beach Drill Team • Beer Garden • Vendors • Concessions Admission: PRES ALE Adults $9.50 Seniors $8.50 Children (6-12 yrs.) $4.50 * Peninsula Pharmacy Adults $10.00 Seniors $9.00 Children (6-12yrs.) $5.00 Children 5 & under FREE COWBOY BREAKFAST Sat. & Sun. 7a.m. til 11 a.m . 6407 Sandridge Road • Info 1-800-451-2542 LONG BEACH, WASHINGTON Submitted photo The Lowest Pair will perform at the Fort George Brewery at 8 p.m. Sunday, July 26. 22 | July 23, 2015 | coastweekend.com ASTORIA — Fort George Brew- ery welcomes The Lowest Pair to perform Americana and bluegrass at 8 p.m. Sunday, July 26. All ages are welcome, and there is no cover charge. Born in Arkansas and now homesteading in Olympia, Wash- ington, Kendl Winter sprouts alfal- fa beans in mason jars in the back of the tour van and spreads her songs across the country, Johnny Appleseed-style. Winter brings to The Lowest Pair her weaving poetry of song, old and new, and a voice somewhere between Gillian Welch and Iris DeMent with a little Olympia twist. Palmer T. Lee, who hails from Minneapolis, was 19 when he in- herited a couple of banjos and dis- covered he could reassemble them into his dream instrument. Lee’s songs are distilled into the warm sweet sounds of his percussive wordplay and the melodic inter- ludes of his own style played on a pieced-together banjo. After a year of traveling the country playing clubs, hotels,