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About The Siuslaw news. (Florence, Lane County, Or.) 1960-current | View Entire Issue (April 10, 2019)
SIUSLAW NEWS | WEDNESDAY, APRIL 10, 2019 | 9A April’s 2nd Saturday Gallery Tour showcases local arts, galleries Florence art lovers are set to explore the arts on Saturday, April 13, for the 2nd Saturday Gallery Tour, a monthly re- ception where galleries and art spaces celebrate art, artists and patrons of the art. The tour runs from 3 to 5 p.m. and begins at any of the participating locations. Here are some highlights: Backstreet Gallery In April, Backstreet Gallery features jewelry designer Rhi- annon Griffiths. She adds a new variety to Backstreet’s fine col- lection of jewelry. A reception in her honor will be held on from 3 to 5 p.m. at the Backstreet Gal- lery, 1421 Bay St. Griffiths’ jewelry extends be- yond beading into the creation of her own beads through a pro- cess called lampwork. This is a creative process where the artist uses a torch to form each bead from differ- ent colors of glass. “As I work, I enter a meditative state where I become one with the glass and the flame. I may go into a beading session with a design in mind, but more of- ten than not, I find the glass tells me what it wants to happen,” Grif- fiths said. After the formation of her one-of-a-kind beads, she then designs the finished piece of jewelry. With elegance, beauty and a bit of whimsy, her jewelry will trans- form an outfit from lovely to stunning. After she started beading with seed beads, she saw a lampwork the spirit of becoming one with her bead cre- ation. “Beauty, creativity and the play between color and light have al- ways been part of who I am,” she said. She incorporates some crystals, pearls, semiprecious stones, and silk knots into her distinctive pieces, along with silver, cop- per or brass to comple- ment her unique. She has even adhered her beads to vintage keys. At her home in Seal Rock, you might find In April, Backstreet Gallery is her out of her studio featuring the beadwork of for a breath of fresh air, Rhiannon Griffiths (above) and gardening or absorbing Florence Regional Arts Alliance inspiration from her ocean view. is feauturing Minn Depweg. During the 2nd Sat- demo by Carolyn Crystal. Be- urday reception, Jeff Lovejoy dazzled by the process, she will offer live music. was determined to learn this FRAA art. As a birthday present, Florence Regional Arts Alli- Griffiths received the tools, a supply of glass and a space to ance (FRAA) is pleased to pres- create. When she works with ent the beautiful and versatile glass and flame in the skill of work of artist Minn Depweg lampwork, she feels a joy and during the month of April at its SALES • INSTALLATION • SERVICE • REPAIR SIGNS from page 1A LOCALLY OWNED & OPERATED | 5 41 - 9 9 1 - 0 3 67 Let me Showcase your property. Ed Kopilec Principal Broker 4836 Laguna Ave – Lake and forest views from 541 991-8630 this 4,000 sqft home just minutes from Florence. Boat, fish and kayak from your private dock. Remodeled in 2003. This house has hardwood floors, gourmet kitchen, and large master suite with walk-in closet. Pole barn and large 3 bay RV barn provide plenty of parking. $1,425,000. #2850-18330278 1749 Highway 101 • 541-997-1200 After that time, renting rooms eventually gave way to a used clothing store and — for the last 15 years — a vin- tage business known as Thrifty Threads filled with used things from Oregon’s past that are bought, refurbished and resold in slices of history. Pamela and Patrick Em- mingham, owners of Thrifty Threads, have lived in the refurbished rooming house for decades after Patrick pur- chased the building in 1980. “Originally this was a boarding house for the mills,” Pam explained. “Workers each had a room. It was a commu- nity bathroom and they were studio rooms; I believe there were 11 rooms altogether.” While the couple are small business owners, their inter- est is primarily as historians, recyclers and raconteurs pur- suing their passion for saving bits and pieces of Oregon that many others have discarded or abandoned. Though some ar- tifacts are purchased at estate sales, many are offered to the couple as a “last resort” before being discarded. One example is the current sign on the front of building. The only one of its kind, it was created by well-known local artist and sign painter Stu- art Henderson, whose work has come to be appreciated around the state for its artistic treatment of basic themes. He is also a longtime Florence res- ident that has retired and seen appreciation for his work in- crease with each passing year. The Thrifty Threads sign is well made and hand-painted, with a filigree flare to the let- tering that denotes an artist, as well as an accomplished sign maker. The sign is just one of hun- dreds painted by Henderson over the years that have been displayed throughout Flor- ence and, particularly, in front of businesses in Historic Old Town Florence as far back at the early 1970s. It is the his- tory associated with Hender- son’s artful signs that recently inspired the Emminghams to undertake a major renovation on their building. “When we heard that some of Stu Henderson’s signs might get thrown out, we knew we had to try and get them,” said Patrick, who found out that there was a huge sale at Tree- house Signs. “Sam Dantone did purchase the Treehouse sign business from Stu, so a lot of the signs that Sam eventual- ly replaced were signs that Stu had done previously,” he con- tinued. “And we bought a lot of Stu’s signs.” One was the Old Town sign now displayed on the building, which for years had been the city’s sign announcing the en- trance to Old Town. Art Center and Gallery, 120 Ma- ple St. in Historic Old Town. De- pweg paints in oils, water colors, pencil crayons, oil pastels and acrylics. She also does stitchery and quilting. She has made many wall hangings in a variety of styles for the FRAA Gallery. Depweg has displayed and sold art pieces across the West- ern U.S. and has gifted art to a wide variety of charitable caus- es. Many of her pieces hang in a variety of clubs, restaurants, churches, businesses and homes. While living in Chico, Calif., Depweg taught arts and craft classes before moving to Flor- ence in 2004. She enjoys her membership at FRAA, saying, “It enables me to view and be a part of all the beautiful artwork that flows through FRAA and our beautiful city of Florence.” The public is invited to meet Depweg and view more of her art pieces during the 2nd Sat- urday Gallery Tour from 3 to 5 p.m. at the FRAA Art Center and Gallery. Refreshments will be served. For more information or to see Florence’s other galleries, vis- it 2ndSaturdayGalleryTour.com. “We thought it was so cool, we just had to have it on our building,” Patrick said. The purchase of the original Old Town sign also spurred the Emminghams to paint and upgrade their home and business. The freshly paint- ed yellow exterior of Thrifty Threads complements the color scheme and motif of the Old Town sign and gives the Emminghams a feeling they are not only saving precious pieces of Florence’s history — but also helping the environ- ment in the process. “We have sort of been going green since before that was popular, and that’s kind of the idea up to today,” Pam said. “We try to recycle and save some cool things from just be- ing thrown out.” And along the way, preserve a sign or two of the times — along with pieces history and the local artists who created them. EMERGENCY PREP AREDNESS Living on Shaky Ground: Prepare-Survive-Recover A WLEOG Public Outreach Program Sponsored by West Lane Emergency Operations Group Web address: www.wleog.org NOW YOU CAN LEARN HOW TO PREPARE FOR EMERGENCIES AND DISASTERS - ON YOUR COMPUTER, PHONE OR TABLET! Go to WLEOG.ORG and click on PREPAREDNESS CLASSES for a menu of disaster prep subjects. Each has short videos on different topics that you can watch when it is convenient for you and your family. **SAFE WATER, SAFE SANITATION **EMERGENCY FOOD PLANNING AND PREPARATION **PET CARE PLANNING FOR DISASTERS **ARE YOU READY? **SENIOR CITIZEN PREPAREDNESS **DOCUMENTATION AND INSURANCE In addition to the classes, the WLEOG.ORG web- site has extremely useful information on NATURAL HAZARDS and EMERGENCY PREPAREDNESS. Each of these has videos on various topics that explain the hazards the Pacifi c Northwest faces, and how to prepare for them. For more information, visit these websites: A MERICAN R ED C ROSS — WWW . REDCROSS . ORG C ITY OF F LORENCE — WWW . CI . FLORENCE . OR . US FEMA — WWW . READY . GOV L ANE C OUNTY — WWW . LANECOUNTY . ORG S IUSLAW V ALLEY F IRE AND R ESCUE — WWW . SVFR . ORG WLEOG — WWW . WLEOG . ORG Business Planning Y our business should not be put on the back-burner when instituting an emergency preparedness plan. If you are responsible for employees, it is your job to make sure your staff members are equipped with the knowledge and capabilities to protect themselves in the face of a disaster. Simply knowing what to do won’t cut it. Your employees need maintaining operations and keeping their employees and cus- regular training and reminders of standard operating proce- tomer safe. Visit readyrating.org for information. dures related to your company’s emergency plan. WHY TEST YOUR PLAN? Putting your plan to the test will help you find out if it is ready to stand up to a high-stress emergency. Don’t think of your test in terms of pass or fail, but focus on improving your plan piece by piece for a more effective comprehen- sive program. There may be simple fixes you are overlook- ing that can make your plan a bit more stable, which can make all of the difference in a dangerous situation. HOW TO TEST YOUR PLAN Testing doesn’t have to mean full-blown exercises in which you simulate every possible emergency situation. You have a business to run, and putting that much time into executing “mock” disasters probably isn’t an effective use of time. Set brief, regular meetings instead. Elicit feed- back from your staff to improve you plans, while continu- ally reinforcing their knowledge of procedures, systems and equipment. Keeping an open dialogue on emergency planning also can make sure everyone is on the same page. ARE YOU READY? Ready Rating is a free American Red Cross service that helps businesses, schools and organizations become pre- pared for disasters. Members of the program are privy to extensive resources, tools and expert advice that can help them improve their ability to withstand disaster while Sponsored by C ENTRAL L INCOLN PUD Florence • 541-997-3414 S TREETS I NSURANCE Mon - Fri 8am to 5pm 1234 Rhododendron Dr. Florence 541-997-8574
