THURSDAY, MAY 23, 2019 // 9
When Furnish and Frost start work on
June 3, they will share a workspace at the
Recology facility in Warrenton. While they
are responsible for gathering their own
materials, they may end up using materials
the other artist scavenged.
“It’s a trash exchange,” Furnish said.
New life for old objects
The program aims to help people look
at discarded materials in a different way
and imagine a life for it beyond what it
was used for.
“It highlights our addiction to consum-
erism,” Furnish said.
Furnish’s enthusiasm for the residency
was readily apparent.
“I’m really counting on what I do for a
living, so I’m kind of doing one commis-
sion after another, so this is kind of like a
break or a dream,” he said.
Furnish works in oil and watercolor
painting, but prefers to work bigger and in
3D.
“I like new opportunities,” Furnish
said, “so I’m always looking for some-
thing new. It keeps opening doors. Every
time you have a new experience your work
changes.”
While the artists might have an idea in
mind for his or her scavenged materials,
the fi nished product may be completely
different from the initial vision.
“I put myself in a position to be able to
accept or create any type of creative proj-
ect across the board,” Furnish said.
Frost agrees.
“The material speaks to you,” she said.
“You can kind of have a plan but the mate-
rial you fi nd will sort of dictate what it
becomes.”
Frost draws from the ocean and natural
world in her art.
“It’s very freeing to have an opportu-
nity to push the material and push your-
self into whatever direction you feel like,”
she said.
Photos by Colin Murphey/The Astorian
LEFT: Jeremy Furnish goes dumpster diving
at the transfer station looking for materials.
ABOVE: From left: Mandy Furnish, Jeremy
Furnish and Drea Rose Frost look through a
dumpster for materials to use in their art projects
at the Recology Astoria Transfer Station.
‘THE MATERIAL
SPEAKS TO YOU.
YOU CAN KIND OF
HAVE A PLAN BUT
THE MATERIAL YOU
FIND WILL SORT
OF DICTATE WHAT
IT BECOMES.’
Weighing materials
Materials gathered by Furnish and Frost
will be weighed so viewers can know how
many pounds of trash each piece of art is
made from.
Rhonda Green, who is the director of
the program, told the artists much of what
they fi nd at the Transfer Station will be
objects that look perfectly fi ne or could
have been donated to Goodwill.
“We ask that 85 percent of the mate-
rial the artists use comes out of the transfer
station,” Green said.
Both Furnish and Frost will also receive
a $1,000 monthly stipend during the
residency.
Green said viewers are welcome to
watch the artists work, if they give her
notice they will be there.
Furnish and Frost’s work will be exhib-
ited on Saturday, Oct. 12, at the Anita
Building, 1312 Commercial St., in Astoria.
For more information on the program
and to watch Frost and Furnish work, con-
tact Green at 503-861-0578, Ext. 3512, or
rgreen@recology.com CW
— Drea Rose Frost, Cannon Beach artist who
was selected for the four-month Coastal Oregon
Artist Residency out of 11 applicants, the highest
number of people who applied.