‘Work spaces’ chronicles Astoria’s changing industries
BY JONATHAN WILLIAMS
“THE ONLY OTHER PROFESSION THAT GIVES
YOU THE SCOPE OF THE HUMAN CONDITION ARE
DOCTORS. I REALIZED IF I WAS A PHOTOGRAPHER
I COULD MEET ALL KINDS OF PEOPLE AND I WAS
CURIOUS.”
Michael Mathers was rowing up the
John Day River when he hit a piling in the
water and nearly fell over. That’s when the
idea for his next photography project hit
him.
He said, “there was a workshop on the
road there and I saw it and thought, work-
shops, why not do that?”
After over two years dedicated to the
project, Mathers is showing 144 photos
of locals at work in “Work Spaces” at the
Royal Nebeker Art Gallery at Clatsop Com-
munity College now through Nov. 27 with a
reception from 6-8 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 7.
Michael Mathers, photographer
Unsung heroes
The show shines a light on the unsung
workers and industries in Astoria. The work
spaces Mathers focuses on are as dispa-
rate as a hand crafted light designer, bakers,
marijuana growers and a winery owner.
“There are so many remarkable individ-
uals here who are doing things that peo-
ple don’t know about,” Mathers said. “This
is an extremely unique town for the col-
orful characters and for the diversity of
professions.”
He started the project photographing
Clatsop Power who he asked for names of
other people to photograph, which he asked
each person he photographed so his list of
people to photograph continued to get larger.
“People who work with their bodies are
grounded, they look like they belong there,
they were comfortable standing. White col-
lar workers didn’t have that same grounded-
ness,” Mathers said.
In a previous project called “Inside Asto-
ria” he went to 150 houses and took photos
of people.
Mathers’ projects have taken him to
many heights. He even climbed atop the
Astoria Bridge with city workers for a pre-
vious project on city workers.
Mathers said he’d ideally like to be a fl y
on the wall when he takes pictures.
When he would take pictures of people
for this project, he would consider what the
composition is going to be and walk around
the people while he’s “painting his picture”
visually.
Memorable characters include Paul Van
der Veldt at Shallon Winery, a 93-year-old
ex-Harley-Davidson biker and trompe l’oeil
painter, a man who lives in the middle of
the forest fi ve miles off a dirt road in a com-
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Photos by Michael Mathers
Photographer Michael Mathers, right, photographing a worker at West Coast Propeller.
Workers at the now closed Home Bakery.
An industrial work space.