A PASSION FOR WATER
ASTORIA ARTISTS SALLY LACKAFF AND ROGER HAYES OPEN THE
JOINT SHOW ‘CLATSOP COUNTY WATERS’ AT IMOGEN GALLERY
I
I look down the hill to the house. It is of a
kind not uncommon in Astoria, a small, sim-
ple craftsman home built to house cannery
workers over a century ago. There is no ga-
rage or driveway. Instead, I take a winding
path down from the street to the front door.
Sally Lackaff welcomes me into the homey
home that she shares with her husband, Rog-
er Hayes. It is a congenial blend of living and
working space warmed by a gas heater. I am
introduced to a cat named Stella, whose job
seems to be to quietly oversee everything.
+D\HVLVNQHHOLQJRQWKHÀRRUJOXLQJKLV
acrylic-on-paper paintings on canvas, prepa-
ratory to framing them for an exhibit called
“Clatsop County Waters” that he and Lack-
aff will have this month at Imogen Gallery
in Astoria.
“It’s nice, if you’re an artist, to live in a
funky house,” says Lackaff.
Hayes studied lithography at the Center
for Creative Studies in Detroit from 1978
to 1981. In the ’80s he became associated
with neo-expressionism and then interested
in outsider art, and his work was exhibited
in both Europe (including a show with Nick
Knapton) and the United States.
By the late ’80s, Hayes had “followed the
trail,” as he says, to Portland and then to As-
toria. “I’ve always felt divided about where
I lived, but half my life I’ve been planted
here,” he says. Today he is, “drawing newer
and old stuff. I have a fascination with pop
art, but I’m always going to be an expres-
sionist.”
Lackaff ’s father, Frank, was a Cannon
Beach artist in the 1960s. She moved to As-
toria as a way of trying things on her own,
although she has had multiple shows in
Cannon Beach. “I’ve never had any formal
training,” she says, “I’ve just morphed into
where I am. Which is a watercolorist and
mixed-media fabric artist who also illustrates
children’s books, and today relies on com-
missions more than gallery shows.
In 2016 Lackaff and Hayes will have
been together for 20 years, and they have
“Clatsop County Waters” opens during
the next Astoria Second Saturday Art
Walk, held from 5 to 8 p.m. Jan. 9. The
show runs for one month at Imogen
Gallery, located at 240 11th St.
8 | January 7, 2016 | coastweekend.com
Submitted photo
“Svensen Island and Crows” by Sally Lackaff .
lived half of that time in their Astoria home.
This is only their second two-person show
together, and for inspiration they have turned
to the many forms water takes in Clatsop
County, especially the Columbia and its es-
tuary. Each, of course, has approached the
theme differently.
“For me, almost all of my work is tied
up with nature,” Lackaff explains. “There’s
a particular bird and body of water for each
picture.” Her work in the Imogen show in-
cludes both watercolors and embroidery
mounted in handmade frames. “Embroidery
is like abstract art,” she says.
Hayes says his work is, “about the Co-
lumbia River and the light on the river. The
rhythms of the water, trying to keep my mind
still enough to see the water as it is, using
light and shadow to capture the rhythms of
the water. It’s complicated. You could spend
\RXU ZKROH OLIH WU\LQJ WR ¿JXUH RXW KRZ WR
do it right.”
“You could spend your whole life watch-
ing it,” says Sally.
“I’m giving a kind of hint of what it looks
like,” Roger replies.
“Every one of your paintings captures a
portion of what you’re striving for,” she tells
him.
“We’re celebrating the water we have
here,” says Roger. “It’s inexhaustible, the
same simple topic you go back to again. It
becomes a theme.”
I photograph their work, we talk, and I
Photo by Dwight Caswell
“River No. 1” by Roger Hayes.
Photo by Dwight Caswell
Astoria artist Roger Hayes, left, works to glue an acrylic-on-pa-
per painting onto a canvas as his wife, artist Sally Lackaff , and
pet cat, Stella, look on.
take my leave. As I walk up the trail to the
street, I imagine that I hear their conversa-
tion continue. About water, about the river,
about art.
Submitted photo
“Puddle Water: Killdeer at the Port of Astoria” detail by Sally Lackaff .
the arts
VISUAL ARTS • LITERATURE • THEATER • MUSIC & MORE
Story by DWIGHT CASWELL