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Two artists join Astoria Visual Arts residency program
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Sign up for the workshop “Drawing Skulls: Real and Imagined,”
taking place Oct. 29 at the Seaside Public Library.
Draw spooky skulls at
Seaside Public Library
SEASIDE — Do you like to
draw? Like skulls? Why not
combine the two and sign up
for Seaside Public Library’s
“Drawing Skulls: Real
and Imagined” with local
artist and illustrator Dorota
Haber-Lehigh. The free
workshop will take place at
1 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 29 and
is sponsored by the Friends
of the Seaside Library.
You must sign up for this
class in advance and can do
so at the circulation desk or
by calling the library at 503-
738-6742. All materials will
be provided.
In the class, Haber-Le-
high will explain techniques
on how to proportionally
enlarge drawings, and how
to use bilateral symmetry
to draw human and mam-
mal skulls. She will bring
specimens of bird and animal
skulls so you can see them
in person, and participants
are encouraged to bring a
favorite photo or book on
anatomy for reference.
Haber-Lehigh has a
Bachelor of Arts from Pacif-
ic University with a focus on
printmaking and art history.
She has designed, illustrated
and published the coloring
books “ABC of Native
Plants of the Coastal Paciic
Northwest” and “Native
Berries of the Coastal Pacif-
ic Northwest.”
ASTORIA — Astoria Visual
Arts welcomes two local
artists, Katie George and
Terry Robinett, to work in its
two downtown studios rent-
free from October through
December as part of the AVA
artist-in-residence program.
George, a Svensen native,
focuses on realism and scien-
tiic illustration in her work.
Although primarily self-
taught, George took a hand-
ful of art classes while study-
ing at Lewis & Clark College
in Portland. It was during
her undergraduate years, as a
student of biochemistry and
molecular biology, that she
became interested in scientif-
ic illustration.
She was awarded a
research grant to travel to
Yasuní National Park in the
Ecuadorian Amazon to create
illustrations of local me-
dicinal plants. The series of
drawings that resulted were
displayed at the College’s
Watzek Library in 2014 and
helped raise awareness of the
deforestation and oil ex-
traction occurring in Yasuní.
Since creating these illustra-
tions, George has changed
her primary medium to
pyrography (wood burning),
although she also works in
watercolor, oil, pen and ink,
graphite, charcoal, pottery
and sculpture.
“Creating art has been
a part of me since I can re-
member,” says George. “As
a biochemistry molecular bi-
ologist, I now look through a
scientiic lens when creating
art. By using natural matter
such as wood and plants, I
aim to capture the intricacies
the natural world has to offer
and remind the viewer of the
importance of conservation,
of the treasures of the natural
world, and of what remains
to be discovered. I am very
excited to experiment with
different media during this
residency and to be able to
dedicate three solid months
to my true passion, art.”
Terry Robinett spent her
childhood in a suburb of Bos-
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“Humpback,” a burning on wood inished with mineral oil by
Katie George.
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“Untitled,” a mixed-media
piece by Terry Robinett.
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Katie George is a biochemis-
try molecular biologist who
focuses on scientiic illustra-
tion with natural materials.
Terry Robinett, who owns
and operates Merry Time Bar
& Grill with her husband, will
focus on mixed-media art.
ton and her teen years in a
small town on the Suwannee
River in North Florida. She
now lives in Astoria with her
husband, dog and three cats.
As a child, Robinett found
great pleasure in drawing and
writing stories, usually about
horses or bugs or monsters,
which she illustrated and sta-
pled together as little books.
As she transitioned to living
in the South, she found her
place working on high school
yearbooks and newspapers
for which she did artwork,
designed layouts and wrote
copy. In 1991, she traveled
West on a Greyhound bus to
house-sit for an older sister
and promptly fell in love
with Oregon.
Robinett attended Portland
State University, studying ine
arts and painting under mod-
ern artist Mel Katz. By 1996
she was a founding member
of the Hawthorne Arts Guild
and Gallery in Portland and a
partner with Portland’s Brod-
erick Gallery. She served as
the art director of the all-fe-
male Fire Festival in 1997
and showed her paintings
at alternative spaces around
Portland. Robinett also has
worked creatively in ilm and
theater, which included stints
of directing, performing and
stagecraft. She moved to As-
toria with her husband, Todd,
in 2014 and, once settled,
recovered long-held interests
in a variety of arts media. The
Robinetts own and operate the
Merry Time Bar & Grill in
Astoria.
“My husband and I moved
to Astoria as a way to con-
nect to the things that mat-
tered most to us: nature, com-
munity and a more simpliied
life lived with intent. For me,
that means making more art,”
says Robinett. “Despite the
challenges of working in the
corner of a room of a house
with four pets who shed (a
lot), Astoria deinitely has
reinvigorated my muse. I
welcome the opportunity the
residency provides to create
more mixed-media pieces
without distraction, along
with the opportunity to meet
and talk with local artists, as
well as opening the studio to
visitors.”
AVA a-i-r is designed
to encourage the creative,
intellectual and professional
growth of emerging art-
ists. While no exhibition,
publication or performance
is required of the selected
artists, community respon-
sibility includes at least
two weekend open studio
events before the end of each
AVA a-i-r session. Finalists
(currently limited to locally
based artists) are chosen in
a blind selection process on
the basis of artistic merit
by an independent panel of
established working artists
and arts patrons. AVA a-i-r
is supported by members of
Astoria Visual Arts as well
as by local businesses such
as Albatross & Co., Asto-
ria Coffeehouse & Bistro,
Astoria Co-op Grocery, City
Lumber Co., Dots ‘N Doo-
dles Art Supplies, and Fort
George Brewery.
AVA was founded in 1989
as a nonproit membership
organization to enhance,
strengthen and promote the
arts in the greater Astoria
area. For more information
about AVA or to support or
learn more about the AVA
a-i-r program visit astoriavi-
sualarts.org