10A
THE DAILY ASTORIAN • FRIDAY, APRIL 29, 2016
Forum: Noncommercial artists often have to cobble together a livelihood
Continued from Page 1A
“But I had my freedom,
and I would not have received
the recognition I received had
I done that,” he said.
That recognition includes
the 2012 American Water-
color Society Gold Medal
of Honor, an award open to
international artists and given
out once a year to the inest
work in the ield.
Orange — an intuitive and
largely abstract artist who
also paints nonrepresenta-
tional landscapes, seascapes
and local scenes — chose not
to “perform to sell,” he said.
“I did that for a while, and
I wasn’t very good at it,” he
said, “and I felt it cheapened
what I was trying to do.”
Darren Orange
shows some of
his mixed-me-
dia art pieces
and talks about
his process
during the
Columbia Fo-
rum dinner on
Thursday. Eric
Wiegardt and
Orange spoke
about their art
and the busi-
ness of art.
‘A huge discipline’
So where can an artist
unwilling to sell out tap some
reliable income?
“The art of understanding
how to produce a painting,
a good painting, is a huge
discipline,” said Wiegardt,
a graduate of the American
Academy of Art in Chicago.
“Understanding how to mar-
ket it is another discipline,
and it’s very complex and
can get very involved, and
you can go down the wrong
path very, very easily.”
When he launched his
artistic career after a stint as
an engineer, Wiegardt was
fortunate that his Ocean Park
gallery stands in a well-trav-
eled vacation area. But that
didn’t make his situation easy.
“Back in the early years, I
think the community felt sorry
for me, and they all came and
bought paintings,” he said.
To raise his proile and
build a reputation, he entered
national competitions, “not
the biggest ones, but they
Joshua Bessex
The Daily Astorian
were in New York, and I let
the local paper know, and
they wrote those up, and that
was very helpful,” he said.
Eventually, Wiegardt —
who has now taught more
than 5,000 watercolorists
through his seminars — ig-
ured out that teaching helped
broaden his exposure while
upping his income.
And he freely admits that
he had help, especially from
his wife, Ann. The couple sells
painters’ products, like brushes
and videos, out of their Ocean
Park gallery and online.
“I would not be here as an
artist without her support,”
he said.
Making a living
Orange — a graduate of
Western Washington Univer-
sity who began using non-
traditional materials like tar,
house paint and concrete and
has lately branched out into
acrylics — said it’s extremely
dificult to make a living on
art alone.
“I don’t know too many
working artists who just do
art,” he said.
While inding galleries
that believe in their work
and will aggressively push it,
noncommercial artists often
have to cobble together a
livelihood.
Orange — whose paint-
ings appear in collections
around the world, including
England, Sweden, the United
Arab Emirates and Canada
— works as a house-painting
contractor, a gig that offers
him a lexible schedule and
big blocks of time to create.
Much of his exposure as
an artist has come through
exhibitions, competitions and
commissions, he said.
His work appears as the
album art for The Holi-
day Friends’ “Major Magic”
and the jacket cover art for
Pamela Mattson McDon-
ald’s novel “Kilned Again.”
Recording artist Lindi Ortega
commissioned a painting
from Orange of her signa-
ture red cowgirl boots. And
Elizabeth Pitcairn, a classi-
cal violinist, commissioned a
painting of the world-famous
“Red Mendelssohn” Strad-
ivari violin (aka, the Red
Violin), which she performs
with.
The money made on such
high-proile ine-art pieces,
or even something as simple
and short-lived as his chalk
drawings on Fort George
Brewery’s
beer
menu,
can help offset an artist’s
expenses, Orange said.
And, make no mistake, art
can be an expensive habit: “I
mean, a 6-foot-by-6-foot can-
vas could have $300 worth of
paint on there very easily, or
more,” he said.
‘I still suffer’
Long ago, Wiegardt and
Orange decided to gamble on
their gifts speaking for them-
selves, on their artwork ind-
ing an audience able to appre-
ciate it the way the painters
wanted it to be appreciated.
In avoiding the merce-
nary route, they remained
untouched by market con-
straints that could have
stunted their artistic expres-
sion and growth. They were
allowed to develop at their
own paces, to change course
and challenge themselves.
And prevented their work
from becoming boringly,
numbingly easy.
“I still suffer,” Orange
said. “As long as I’m suf-
fering to some degree, I feel
good and strong about that.
I think if everything’s going
too smooth, then I feel I’m
not making progress.”
For Wiegardt, this cre-
ative freedom is the whole
reason he became a painter in
the irst place.
“That’s why I don’t think
it would work very well for
me to be a commercial artist,
where you’re just told what
to paint, and how to paint it,
and when it’s due,” he said.
“A lot of money in that, but
it’s not a real good situation
for me.”
Fallout: Without Goodding’s testimony, it is the best possible outcome
Continued from Page 1A
Flores, 50, pleaded no con-
test to harassment Thursday in
Clatsop County Circuit Court
and was sentenced to one year
in jail. With credit for a year
served while in custody, Flores
was released.
Brown said the harassment
conviction was not the result he
or the victim wanted. Without
Goodding’s testimony or any
physical evidence, he said, it is
the best possible outcome.
“She is not happy with this
case,” Brown said. “We, frankly,
believe everything she said.”
Flores was indicted in April
2015 after the girl reported
multiple sex abuse incidents
between 2008 and 2010. The
girl, who was in the ifth grade at
the time, was a friend of Flores’
daughter.
The abuse reportedly took
place at Flores’ house in Sea-
side. The victim, now 17, spoke
at the sentencing hearing Thurs-
day over the phone from her
new home in Illinois. She is bat-
tling post-traumatic stress dis-
order from the incident and
described suffering insomnia,
night terrors and anxiety.
She has a job working with
children in day care and is trying
to move on with her life.
“This is one of the things that
was holding me back,” she said.
“I can now completely work on
myself in moving past this.”
           
Dawn McIntosh for Circuit Court Judge
 Experience  Vision  Dedication
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for Circuit Court Judge
“She is smart, she is
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take advantage of this
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