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university. Although his train-
ing was typical for a young
artist –– papermaking, sculpt-
ing, wood carving, painting
and more –– he specialized
immediately.
“I knew right away that
I wanted to paint,” he said.
“So, the second year I went
to all my profs and convinced
them to let me have a studio
off campus and bring them
as many paintings as I could
make.”
His interests are var-
ied: life sciences, astron-
omy, design, wildlife and
more. When he was younger
he thought he’d be a forest
ranger but discovered he was
more right-brained.
“Math. Math was just over
my head, so I didn’t pursue
science,” he said.
Canvases weren’t a hit
with galleries. They wanted
consistency, he said. They
wanted him to chose a
medium and a theme and
stick with it. But he didn’t.
“Whatever turned me on
that day is what I painted,”
he said.
He moved to Vancou-
ver Island and put on gal-
lery shows of his own. They
regularly sold out. Then, he
painted a couple of murals
around town. Soon he had a
following. His fi rst big com-
mission fell in his lap when
an organizer attempting to
line up muralists for the Brit-
ish Columbia installation at
the 1986 World’s Fair came
calling. Finding someone to
take on such a big project ––
nine giant murals, each pic-
turing a different tourist zone
of British Columbia –– was a
challenge.
Michener volunteered.
“It took me over 11
months, 12 hours a day, 7 days
a week,” he said. “That really
taught me a lot. I painted
every mountain, every mesa,
every river, every lake, every
glacier, every canyon, every
town. I’d never done any-
thing like it before. There
was a lot of interpreting and
fi guring it out.”
Another huge project he
has completed each year
for 20 years is the pair of
120x40-foot backdrop walls
for the themed fl ower show at
the Santa Rosa Fairgrounds
in California.
He’s also the artist who
created the Hotel Josephine
Mural in Grants Pass, Ore.,
and the Canyonville, Ore.,
city hall mural.
He fi gures he’s completed
more than 1,000 murals in
his lifetime. There’s a ton of
work that goes into a mural
other than applying paint to a
surface –– research, study of
other images, graphing and
drawing. He’s learned a lot
about technique. There is a
freshness each time.
“I never know what’s
going to happen before I
start,” Michener said. “I
always go in saying ‘Oh, I
don’t know if I can do this.’
And then something else
takes over because I know I
can’t do it. The one advice I
give to most artists is to get
out of their own way. When
I’m not sure what technique
or what colors I’m going to
use, I just start slapping paint
on ... and suddenly it just
comes out.”
That mystical sense is
what keeps him painting 50
years into his career.
“A lot of people want to
come help you and want to
learn to be a muralist and you
hand them a roller and say,
‘here’s a hundred feet and it’s
all got to be blue.’”
Painting El Bajio in Enter-
prise was all fun, he said. He
started inside and then he and
owner Leo Arenas came up
with additional ideas until
the whole building was trans-
formed inside and out.
“The most rewarding part
for me is the process where I
get to let go, and I get to be in
a meditative state while I’m
just unfolding and not think-
ing about it.”
Once a painting is done,
he doesn’t feel he owns it. He
enjoys leaving it behind.
“I like leaving behind
something that speaks to
everybody,” he said. “I think
I’m leaving behind portals
for people to escape into for
a little bit. I think it makes a
big difference for them. And
I’ve never had anybody graf-
fi ti a mural.”
November 15, 2017
Hansel’s ‘Road Kill’
legislation becomes law
Joseph ‘Deer
Kill’ law will not
be implemented
in namesake city
Hansel
Wallowa County Chieftain
A bill that earned State
Sen. Bill Hansell the moniker
“Road Kill Bill” has become
law.
Hansell and Rep. Greg
Barreto, both of whom repre-
sent Wallowa County, intro-
duced two laws designed to
salvage wild meat for human
consumption in the last leg-
islative session. Both will
become effective by Janu-
ary 2019. Hansell tried to
share, if not defl ect, the dubi-
ous honor and pass that on to
cosponsor Barreto, but the
alliteration was too much fun
for lawmakers and it stuck.
The (Road Kill) Wildlife
Salvage Bill requires State
Fish and Wildlife Commis-
sion to adopt rules for issu-
ance of wildlife salvage
permits to use deer or elk
accidentally killed as a result
of vehicle collisions.
It’s not a new idea, 20
states have salvage bills,
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State Fish and Wildlife Com-
mission to adopt a pilot pro-
gram for urban deer popula-
tion control. Before deer can
be harvested, the city must
determine that the deer pop-
ulations constitute a public
nuisance, pass an anti-feed-
ing ordinance and work with
the State Fish and Wildlife
Commission on determining
the process of harvesting.
Deer harvested will be
donated to a local food bank
or other charitable organi-
zation at the expense of the
local government.
Other than occasional vis-
its such as the one with the
Wallowa County Chamber
of Commerce Nov. 9, the two
keep tabs on the county in a
variety of ways.
“Those morning telecon-
ference meetings (held at
the Wallowa County OSU
Extension Offi ce while the
legislature is in session) are
extremely valuable to us,”
Sen. Hansell said. “Of the 76
bills that came through that
we worked on pretty exten-
sively, 36 were the result of
a constituent request. Some-
where in the district someone
asked for help.”
The
representatives
emphasized that fi nding the
solution was the ultimate
goal when a problem is iden-
tifi ed. When constituents
present ideas, the represen-
tatives are hoping that both
a clear defi nition of the prob-
lem and a suggested solution
are available.
Shoot like a pro
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photo-coaching.
Maps of the Old East Oregon Mill &
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$
Barreto
according to Hansell, and
Montana even has a phone
app that streamlines the
permission and collection
process.
Oregon lags behind other
western states in that regard,
but salvage of the approx-
imately 1,600 deer and elk
killed in run-ins with cars in
Eastern Oregon will begin in
2019.
The bills were part of a
discussion with the two leg-
islators hosted by Wallowa
County Chamber of Com-
merce Nov. 9 in Enterprise.
The second bill Hansell
and Barreto sponsored began
as “The Joseph Deer Bill”
but found broad support and
was eventually passed as the
Urban Deer Population Bill.
Despite the fact that the dis-
cussion of what to do about
urban deer becoming a pub-
lic nuisance began in Joseph,
ironically the city will not
be implementing the law,
according to Mayor Dennis
Sands.
“Sen. Hansell had sent
me a copy of the proposed
bill, and I presented it to the
council last year. We decided
to not pursue it at this time,”
said Sands.
Other cities will imple-
ment the law, which requires
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