DECEMBER 22, 2016 // 7
Visual arts, literature,
theater, music & more
‘Stay true to your art’
Astoria-born-and-raised artist thrives in New Zealand art scene
By HEATHER DOUGLAS
FOR COAST WEEKEND
Bold, colorful, uplifting,
fierce: Visual artist Mica
Still’s artworks often feature
bears, tigers, wolves and
other animals that frequent
her dreams. Known for her
murals that have appeared all
over the world, Still recently
held a solo exhibition in New
Zealand entitled “Hope Land”
— the first solo show for the
Astoria-born-and-raised artist
in five years.
Though she’s now based
in New Zealand, the Asto-
ria-Megler Bridge brought
Still’s family to Astoria in
the first place. Her grandfa-
ther worked on the concrete
pillars, while other family
members worked in the mills
and as fishermen.
Still notes, “My grand-
mother worked the ‘green
belt’ at the plywood mill — in
fact, she was the very first
woman to work at the plant.”
Fairly recently, Still’s
stepfather retired from over
30 years of working at Astoria
Warehousing, and many Asto-
rians might remember Paper
Moon Scrapbooking, a shop
run by Still’s mother and her
business partner from 1998
to 2005.
At Astoria High School,
Still found encouragement
from her art teacher, Nancy
Kem, especially during her
last few years in school.
“I’ve always had good
teachers that encouraged me,”
Still says. “Mrs. Kem took me
under her wing and pushed
me to take art history at
Clatsop Community College
during my junior year; she
also set up a meeting for me at
the Pacific Northwest College
of Art in Portland.”
SUBMITTED PHOTO
Astoria-born-and-raised artist Mica Still, who now lives in New
Zealand, works on a mural in Auckland, New Zealand.
SUBMITTED PHOTO
Mica Still, born and raised in Astoria, is now a successful artist based in Willington, New Zealand.
SUBMITTED PHOTO
A finished mural by Mica Still in Auckland, New Zealand, fea-
turing her signature vibrant colors and dreamy animals.
Still graduated high school
in 1993 and left for Portland
the same year. In 1994, she
began to attend Pacific North-
west College of Art.
When Still left Astoria —
a place she characterized as
“very depressed with very
few outlets for a creative
teen” — she described herself
as a “kid in a candy store”
when a drawing professor
at PNCA encouraged her to
attend a summer art program
in France. In 1995, she found
herself doing on-site sculpture
on the streets of Pont-Aven,
and cold rainy Astoria seemed
far away.
From France, she traveled
to Scotland, where she met a
boyfriend. She followed him
to New Zealand in 1998 —
but soon the boyfriend was an
ex, and Still fell in love with
the area’s vibrant art scene.
These days, Still is settled
in New Zealand with her
partner and young daughter
enjoying a thriving art career.
She speaks fondly of her
hometown. “I think we were
PHOTO BY HEATHER DOUGLAS
You might spot a moving mural by artist Mica Still in her hometown of Astoria — some of her
wolves are painted on her uncle’s work truck, Scott Still’s Home Remodeling.
very lucky to grow up here,”
she says wistfully.
Still has memories of her
father, a commercial fisher-
man based in Oregon and
Alaska leaving for months at
a time.
“During the Cold War era,
my father would come back
with amazing stories, like
the time he was fishing near
the Aleutian Islands and his
boat drifted over the Russian
border,” she recalls.
Still also notes how Asto-
ria has changed during each
of her biannual visits: “The
first thing that happens when
places get popular is the pric-
es climb and artists can’t live;
it happened in Wellington —
all the studios got priced out
of the town. I think Astoria’s
created something quite
awesome with the evening
Continued on Pg. 13