2 // COASTWEEKEND.COM
View artwork ‘From the Pile’
Artists repurposed
trash, discarded
materials into art
ASTORIA — The Coastal
Oregon Artist Residency
Program, a joint project
of Astoria Visual Arts and
Recology Western Oregon,
will host “From the Pile,”
an exhibition and reception
for current artists-in-res-
idence Sean Barrow and
Dawn Stetzel from 6 to 9
p.m. Friday, Oct. 7 at the
Gallery Underground, locat-
ed at 1125 Marine Drive.
The exhibition will also
be on view during Astoria’s
Second Saturday Art Walk
from 5 to 8 p.m. Satur-
day, Oct. 8 with a gallery
walk-through with the
artists beginning at 6 p.m.
Additional viewing hours
will be held the following
weekend from noon to 5
p.m. Oct. 15 and 16.
This exhibition is
the culmination of three
months of work by Barrow
and Stetzel, who worked in
studio space at the Recol-
ogy office in Warrenton
and scavenged materials
from Recology Western
Oregon’s Astoria Recycling
Depot and Transfer Station
to make art and promote
recycling and reuse.
“Having access to the
materials and objects and
strange things that come
through the transfer station
has really inspired me,”
Barrow says in his artist
statement. “The whole
scope of humanity’s
created works gets tossed
every day; it is amazing
to witness it — smell it —
pick through it — and have
some weird piece of it grab
and compel me to make it
into something new.”
Stetzel engineers sculp-
tures that allow her to navi-
gate specific environments.
During her residency, she
created “Ski Cart,” a sculp-
ture made with materials
SUBMITTED PHOTO
Steel Wool features TR Kelley, Nel Applegate, Randy Hamme
and Tim Mueller.
Eugene band Steel Wool
brings rock to Nehalem
SUBMITTED PHOTO
“Ski Cart” by Dawn Stetzel.
‘FROM
THE PILE’
SUBMITTED PHOTO
“Mandala Rotation” by Sean Barrow.
from the area in which
it’s meant to maneuver:
the edges of places where
nature and humans collide
leaving a seemingly messy
residue.
“The massive pile
of trash at Recology’s
transfer station reads to
me as a mountainous land-
scape, one in which I
think about literally and
metaphorically,” Stetzel
says. “How can I navigate
through this landscape of
waste? Within my work I
think about perceptions of
safety and how to survive
in a potentially unsafe
environment.”
The Coastal Oregon
Artists Residency was
established earlier this year
as a joint project of AVA
and Recology to encourage
the conservation of natural
resources and instill a
greater public appreciation
for the environment and
art. COAR is open to local,
career-level artists living
in Clatsop and Tillamook
Counties in Oregon and
Pacific and Wahkiakum
Counties in Washington
who are working in any
style or medium.
Astoria Visual Arts was
founded in 1989 as a local
nonprofit membership
organization to enhance,
strengthen and promote the
Artist Reception: 6
to 9 p.m. Friday, Oct.
7
Gallery Walk-
Through: 5 to 8
p.m. Saturday, Oct. 8
Additional View-
ing: Noon to 5 p.m.
Oct. 15 and 16
Location: Gallery
Underground,
1125 Marine Drive,
Astoria
Free admission, all
ages, wheelchair
accessible
arts in the greater Astoria
area. Recology Western
Oregon manages munici-
pal disposal processes and
services that span the needs
of urban, suburban and ru-
ral communities. Recology
companies are all employ-
ee owned and operate in
California, Nevada, Oregon
and Washington coordi-
nating dozens of recycling
programs to recover a
variety of materials.
NEHALEM — Steel Wool, a
harmony-loving rock band,
will perform at 7:30 p.m.
Saturday, Oct. 8 at the North
County Recreation District’s
Performing Arts Center.
Doors open at 7 p.m. at
the NCRD, located at 36155
Ninth St. Tickets are $10 at
the door or $9 in advance, at
www.steelwoolband.com
Based in Eugene, Steel
Wool performs original
songs in the familiar style of
folk-rock while spinning on
the edges of funk and tradi-
tional Zimbabwean mbira
music. Inspired by CSN,
the Eagles and Paul Simon,
Steel Wool performs three-
part harmony, inventive bass
240 11 TH STREET
ASTORIA, OR 97103
lines, danceable grooves and
world beat percussion.
The band includes Tim
Mueller as songwriter, lead
vocalist and guitar player;
TR Kelley on bass and vo-
cals; Nel Applegate on mbi-
ra, djembe, percussion and
vocals; and Randy Hamme
on drums.
At the concert, band
members will perform their
hits (“Fat Jesus on a Bicy-
cle,” “My Country Fair”),
their newest mbira tunes
(“When the Day is Done,”
“Flower”), their most
rocking electric guitar songs
(“Let’s Dance,” “Electro
Sheep Therapy”), and stories
of love and loss.