JUNE 22, 2017 // 9
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The ‘& More’
The Cannon Beach festival is special
because it’s “the only plein air festival in
the entire country that has the ‘& More’
part to it,” according to marketing director
Bonnie Gilchrist.
“By adding the ‘and more’ component, we
were able to invite more artists to participate
and make the festival more interesting,” she
said.
Not only can visitors see artists working
in various paint mediums characteristic of
traditional “en plein air,” such as oil, pastels
and watercolors, but also different art forms
altogether, including metalworking, print-
making, woodworking, stone carving, bronze
sculpture, jewelry making, and fused or
blown glass.
Dave and Boni Deal, artists who live
outside Camas, Wash., and show their work at
the White Bird Gallery, will mimic the plein
air style during their raku firing on the beach.
The Deals, who have collaborated in clay
for more than 30 years, bring to their pottery
a focus on the natural environment through
the plants, geology and wildlife reflected in
the themes and materials they use. In that
way, they create art that’s influenced by the
surrounding environment, Boni Deal said.
Her husband, Dave, started learning raku,
a type of Japanese ceramic-making, during a
summer class in Cannon Beach in the early
1970s. On their two-person team, he’s the
potter, while Boni Deal uses her illustrating
and painting skills to do surface work.
On Saturday, Dave Deal will set up his
kiln on the beach near Whale Park, where
spectators can watch the drawn-out, low-fire
process that evening. The raku style involves
pulling artwork out of a kiln while it’s still
red-hot and then transferring it to a container
filled with combustible materials for post-fir-
ing reduction — a step of the process that is
“fiery and exciting and dramatic,” Boni Deal
said. The smoke that surrounds the art while
it cools in the reduction barrel gives the clay
a unique appearance: crackly and sooty with
metallic accents, almost “ancient-looking,”
Boni Deal said.
“It’s really slow, so you have to be pa-
tient,” she added.
The raku firing, which has been part of the
festival for three years, will include s’mores
and live music by the Rogue Blue Grass
Band.
The Deals will work on wet clay Sunday,
and Boni Deal will demonstrate how they do
surfaces while incorporating coastal vegeta-
tion and themes.
“We’re trying to be like we’re ‘plein air’
artists,” she said.
‘Positive abnormality’
One of the favorite features added to last
PHOTO BY GEORGE VETTER
SUBMITTED PHOTO
The Cannon Beach Gallery Group’s annual Plein Air & More art festival brings together several
dozen artists from across the Pacific Northwest who take advantage of the outdoors to create
their works of art.
Artist Dave Deal conducts a raku firing on the
beach at sunset during the Plein Air & More
Festival in 2015. He and his wife Boni will be
back at the ninth annual Plein Air & More art
festival this year and will do the raku firing
Saturday night near Whale Park.
The Boka Marimba Band
plays in the courtyard by the
Coaster Theatre Playhouse
during last year’s Plein Air &
More art festival, put on by
the Cannon Beach Gallery
Group. The band, sponsored
by Pelican Brewing Compa-
ny and Hallmark Inns, will
be back this year, and will
play from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30
p.m. Saturday in the same
location.
PHOTO BY GEORGE VETTER
‘EACH GALLERY HAS A DISTINCT DIFFERENCE,
AND YOU SEE A JOINT COOPERATIVE EFFORT
INSTEAD OF A COMPETITIVE EFFORT.”
year’s festival, the Artists’ Swarm, will be
back this year. From 2 to 4 p.m. Saturday,
artists will gather in the courtyard beside
the Coaster Theatre Playhouse to work on
their pieces while personally interacting with
spectators.
The idea for the Artists’ Swarm was born
of a past scheduling conflict with a different
venue, and also the frustration some visitors
experienced when they looked for artists
around town and could not find them. Taking
away that possibility and requiring the artists
to practice their craft in one spot for a couple
of hours was a successful solution, Gilchrist
said.
“The energy that came out of that, people
loved it,” she said.
Kingwell agreed the active gathering of all
participating artists for two hours of concen-
trated work is “probably the best overall ex-
perience for the general public,” and a prime
example of the town’s “positive abnormality.”
“It’s a bit of a surprise to see this type of
thing happening in a town of storefronts,” he
said, adding how pleasantly surprised visitors
are to “stumble upon this public access to art
that they may not have come to town for …
I think it’s the most dynamic event Cannon
Beach has seen in decades.”
While he does not blow glass during
the swarm — “we are not able to set up a
furnace,” he explained — he and other artists
representing the gallery will be available to
answer questions about their style of work.
Pam Juett, who incorporates glass into her
jewelry, will show equipment she uses to
make beads and develop her necklaces, brace-
lets and earrings. They will be blowing glass
at Icefire Glassworks, in midtown, throughout
the weekend.
Leading up to the Artists Swarm, the Boka
Marimba Band will play a concert in the
courtyard from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m.
Another new feature to re-appear this year
is the Creative Play Space, set up in the U.S.
Bank Parking lot on North Hemlock Street,
which gives children the chance to explore
their own artistic talents.
From 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Friday, 10 a.m.
to 1:30 p.m. Saturday, and 11 a.m. to 3
p.m. Sunday, artists will be working near
their galleries or in one of five locations,
including Whale Park; the Coaster Theatre
courtyard; the corner of Washington Street
and Ocean Avenue; the corner of Harrison
Street and Ocean Avenue; and the court-
yard behind White Bird Gallery and next to
Northwest by Northwest Gallery. Visitors
are encouraged to ask the artists questions
while they work.
Brochures will be available at all gallery
locations and the Cannon Beach Chamber
of Commerce; they also will be distributed
during the day by Portland stilt-walker Me-
lissa Rae.
For more information about the artists,
contact the individual galleries, listed on
cbgallerygroup.com. CW
