Painter fulfills lifelong dream with new studio gallery
Miska Studio Gallery
to take part in
Spring Unveiling
BY KATHERINE LACAZE
For artist Miska Salemann, owning
an establishment where she could paint
onsite, show her completed artwork and
reside has been a long-term goal that
came to fruition this year with the open-
ing of the Miska Studio Gallery in Can-
non Beach.
If You Go
Miska Studio Gallery
107 Sunset Blvd., Cannon Beach
Open daily, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.
“I’ve been manifesting it for 20 years,”
Salemann said. “You could say it’s a
miraculous manifestation.”
In December, she closed on the build-
ing at the corner of Sunset Boulevard and
Hemlock Street, which previously hosted a
branch of Columbia Bank. She opened her
gallery in January. It will be a new addi-
tion of the Spring Unveiling Arts Festival,
which takes place Thursday to Sunday.
Miska Salemann works on a painting at her studio gallery in Cannon Beach.
However, the artist is not entirely new
to the area. She has shown her work at
Washington; professional painter; and real residential space on the property. Sale-
DragonFire Gallery in Cannon Beach for
estate industry professional. With the pass- mann can work on paintings, often in view
18 years and purchased her first rental in
ing of her father and her daughter going
of patrons and vice versa.
the area in 2017.
to college a couple years ago, the timing
For the past two decades, she’s been
was right for her to pursue her dream more Of roosters and Madonna
juggling her roles as a single mother; pri-
mary caregiver to her father in Fall City,
Acrylic on canvas is Salemann’s
intensely.
medium of choice. Acrylics dry fast and
Salemann started gathering inventory
its artists like “the instant gratifications,”
from other galleries where she was show-
ing and began curating her own gallery.
she said. Salemann typically adds six
“I’ve essentially put all my eggs in this
layers of paint to each work so speed is
basket,” she said.
essential.
Salemann is not alone in her venture.
She is a self-taught painter whose jour-
ney as an artist started in St. Thomas when
Julie Lord-Jessum — who describes her-
self as “a friend, collector and fan” of
faced with the need to decorate a vaca-
tion home on the island. Salemann con-
Salemann — is the gallery’s manager.
“I am extremely grateful for this oppor- tinued to create art for homes for several
tunity,” Lord-Jessum said.
years. As she continued painting, Sale-
mann taught herself new skills by recreat-
Lord-Jessum previously worked as a
ing works by Pablo Picasso, Vincent van
special education teacher in Washing-
ton state. The coronavirus pandemic put
Gogh, Henri Matisse and Gustav Klimt.
immense stress on her work and, subse-
Undoubtedly, the biggest influence
quently, “changed my idea of what my
on her style has been Spanish-Puerto
path would be,” she said. However, the
Rican painter and sculptor Angel Botello,
opportunities she’s created with her long-
known as “The Caribbean Gauguin” and
time friend — first helping Salemann care one of the most popular Latin-American
for her father and now running the gallery
post-modern artists of his generation.
— are positive outcomes.
“My figurative work resembles his,”
Both Salemann and Lord-Jessum have
she said.
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Katherine Lacaze
Salemann’s pieces span a range of
genres, including landscape, wildlife, farm
life, abstract figurative and icons. Running
her gallery gives her the chance to further
explore “different areas that interest me,”
she said.
She has a wildly popular rooster col-
lection, inspired by the gaudy residents of
the henhouse at a farm that she purchased
from her father’s estate and still man-
ages in Washington. Other popular works
of Salemann’s depict the Madonna, influ-
enced by her Roman Catholic and Rus-
sian Greek Orthodox upbringing. Her art-
works often incorporate symbolism and
iridescent colors that give them a radiant
quality.
“Painting is pure joy for me,” Sale-
mann said. “It really brings me peace and
happiness.”
The gallery only displays Salemann’s
work. She is not looking for consignors,
yet owning her own space gives her the
opportunity to bring in and feature other
artists with temporary exhibitions.
For the Spring Unveiling, she will
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