16 // COASTWEEKEND.COM
Artist talk explores ‘visceral’ new show Crossing Clatsop
CANNON BEACH — Chris-
topher Mathie, of Wash-
ington, whose exhibition
“Seeking Balance” is on
display at Cannon Beach’s
White Bird Gallery, will
give an artist talk at 3
p.m. Saturday, Sept. 15. A
reception takes place 4 to
6 p.m.
The studio had always
been a personal refuge for
Mathie, a place he painted
by and for himself. But
after 20-plus years as a
professional artist, he began
feeling he’d hit a creative
wall.
He broke through by
inviting others in.
The watershed moment
came in the creation of
a piece titled “A Strong
Man,” inspired by a friend
of Mathie’s in the midst of
Stage 4 cancer.
“He’s this incredibly re-
silient person,” Mathie said
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of his friend. “He’s upbeat.
His attitude is incredible.”
Mathie invited his friend
into the studio to explore
that resilience.
“He came and sat with
me and we talked and
talked and talked,” Mathie
remembered. “And I was
taking notes, but directly
on the canvas. He would
say something, and I would
scribble.”
Mathie wasn’t just
transcribing what his friend
said but how it made him
feel. “More than an inter-
view,” Mathie said, “it was
a dialogue.”
And then he started
painting — on the same
canvas where he’d scribbled
the notes. Some of that text
remains visible. Along with
direct outside inspiration,
writing on the canvas was
another first for Mathie.
Suddenly his process had
evolved. The creative flood-
gates re-opened.
“Bringing people into
the studio and interviewing
them, I was bringing new
energy and integrating their
stories into my stories,”
Mathie said.
Mathie used the dialogue
method for another piece in
response to an ailing friend.
“I had this feeling what
we were doing was healing
each other,” Mathie said.
“Her pain and my pain were
being addressed at the same
time.”
“I realized what I was
painting wasn’t just about
her, and not just about me,”
in the 1800s
COURTESY WHITE BIRD GALLERY
Christopher Mathie’s ‘We’re Here to Heal Each Other.’
he added. “Pain and healing
are universal. These would
have a broader reach.”
These pieces form the
center and the spark of
“Seeking Balance.”
Mathie’s talk will delve
deeper into the methods and
stories that revitalized his
work. “‘We’re Here to Heal
Each Other,’” Mathie said,
“is a piece that combines
all my skills: subject, color
theory, balance, abstraction,
symbols, emotion. Every-
thing I’ve amassed in my
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toolbox is in this piece.”
But really, “Seeking
Balance” is about an am-
plification of connection
in Mathie’s work.
“It became more
visceral,” Mathie said.
“This body of work was
coming more from my
gut, more from my heart,
than ever before.”
White Bird Gallery is
located at 251 N. Hem-
lock St. For more info,
visit whitebirdgallery.com
or call 503-436-2681.
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FORT CLATSOP — Author
Jerry Sutherland returns to
Lewis and Clark National
Historical Park, Fort Clat-
sop, for the park’s next “In
Their Footsteps” event.
At 1 p.m. Sunday, Sept.
16, Sutherland will present
“Crossing Clatsop in the
1800s.”
After building Fort
Clatsop on the west bank of
the Lewis and Clark River
in December 1805, William
Clark and his salt-craving
men blazed a trail across
Clatsop to the ocean in
search of a good place to
boil sea water — a trip
commemorated by the Fort
to Sea Trail in 2005.
In the process of deter-
mining the trail’s original
route and its relationship
to modern Perkins Lane,
Sutherland learned of
involvements by Clatsop
Indians as well as summer
vacationers taking wagons
to Seaside after arriving at
Clatsop Landing on stern-
wheelers.
He was fascinated that
the Neacoxie River’s 1806
outlet into the sea, filled in
soon after that by sand and
diverted to the Necanicum
River, had been pinpointed
by geologists in 2004.
Sutherland will share all
this using images of maps
and original manuscripts.
He will sign copies of his
book and answer questions
after the presentation.
Sutherland first re-
searched early Clatsop
transportation routes while
writing “Calvin Tibbets:
Oregon’s First Pioneer”
(2016).
Other upcoming “In
Their Footsteps” speaker
series programs include:
• Oct. 21: “Altho’ no
regular botanist” — Jeffer-
son’s Reference to Lewis by
Carol Lucas
• Nov. 18: “John Colter,
‘Calvin Tibbets: Oregon’s First
Pioneer’ by Jerry Sutherland.
COURTESY COLUMBIA RIVER MARI-
TIME MUSEUM
Author Jerry Sutherland.
Servant of the Corps” by
Christopher Hodges
• Dec. 16: “Let’s Talk
about Hummingbirds” by
Barbara Linnett
• Jan. 20: “Historic
Winter Transportation” by
Richard Brenne
This forum, taking place
the third Sunday of the
month, is sponsored by the
park and Lewis & Clark
National Park Association.
These programs are held in
the Netul River Room of
Fort Clatsop’s visitor center
and are free of charge.
For more information,
call the park at 503-861-
2471, or check out nps.gov/
lewi or Lewis and Clark
National Historical Park on
Facebook.