Art quilts and fiber art works by local artists group Journeys are on display throughout July at Thump Coffee in downtown Bend. July is designated as fiber art month every year at Thump, in honor of owner Hazel Chapple’s mother and celebrated Ohio fiber artist, Anne Hubler, who was the first fiber artist to show work at thump with her July 2008 exhibit. The designation also honors the Sister’s Outdoor Quilt Show, the largest in the country.

Journeys is a group of local women who “seek to express our passion for art through creating and sharing the love of quilts and fiber arts.” The group defines art quilts as original work, consisting of fabric, layered and stitched together.

“We seek to stretch ourselves and each other to move beyond the boundaries of traditional quilt making, each of us developing our own unique style in fiber art. We aim to go beyond the expected and to explore new dimensions, techniques and materials to make new and unexpected original works of quilt art — and to have fun doing so,” writes Journeys in its group artists statement for the exhibit.

Created as part of the fundraising effort for Rise Up’s schools in India, the Art for India paintings are pieces of a forty foot canvas painted in September by 20 local artists and students. “At the event people have the opportunity to purchase small or large pieces of the canvas,” explains project organizer and local artist Shari Foster. “You literally pick which chunk of the canvas you want and it is cut out and matted for you.” The goal for the Art for India Fundraiser is to raise money, resources, and awareness for Rise Up’s three schools and nine orphanages in India. Works from Art for India will be on display throughout the month. For more about Art for India and Rise Up International, go to riseupindia.wordpress.com.

Also in June, Thump celebrates 20 years of Commute Options Week — and the art that inspires and encourages the Central Oregon community to participate every year. “To help promote Commute Options Week, various artists and designers have been commissioned to capture the look and feel to celebrate Commute Options by developing a poster, prominently displayed throughout Central Oregon leading up to and during our annual Commute Options Week.” says Jeff Monson, Commute Options executive director. Commute Options Week is June 21-27. “Each artist depicted images of walking, biking, carpooling, and buses in their own artistic fashion.” Mare Schelz, John Hilmer, Lisa Wachs, David Wachs, and Robert Bissell are among the many featured artists who have creatively supported Commute Options Week throughout the years. This exhibit will also hang for the entire month. For more about Commute Options, visit commuteoptions.org.

Thump Coffee and artist Nancie Zivetz-Gertler honor women and mothers throughout May with “Winged Women And Moonmaids,” an exhibit of archival Giclee prints from originals composed of ink, gouache and bits of collage cut from previous paintings. “I offer this show with a bow to all our mothers and with gratitude for the lifelong possibility for healing,” says Zivetz-Gertler.
“This body of work was done over the course of a year of deep transition,” explains Zivetz-Gertler. “The moon, a symbol of the Sacred Feminine, summons faith and a surrender to change. Women with wings, moonmaids, wolves and other wild things are all the stuff of my dreams.”

For most of Zivetz-Gertler’s life, dance and choreography had been her creative language, and drawing and painting have become “an insistent voice in the surprising terrain of midlife.”

In 2005, while her mother was dying of lung cancer, Zivetz-Gertler began to sketch her mother’s beloved objects in a journal. “Her appreciation, expressed before dying, set something free. When she passed on I gathered up what was left of her abandoned art supplies and set off on this unexpected path.”

“Two years later, facing breast cancer, I said to myself, ‘If I can paint my way through this, I will be fine.’ And so it was. On medical leave from my practice as a psychotherapist, I painted every single day and art became my best medicine.”

“I use books as my material, and I carve into to the cover and pages to make an image,” explains Bernahl. “I love books and I love making art out of non-traditional materials. When I started making art I could not afford traditional art materials — painting and traditional art was not an option. So I started making art that did not have to be framed. This led me to making art in non-traditional ways.”

The image Bernahl carves into a book comes from the book’s title or the pages in the book, he says. Each sculpture takes him approximately two weeks. Bernahl is also the creator of the “Wishes” installation that hangs from Thump Coffee’s ceiling.

High Desert Middle School Advanced Art instructor Marcy Monte’s students were inspired by the book “Three Cups of Tea,” and its author, Greg Mortenson, who visited Bend in February to promote his “Pennies for Peace” project. Pennies for Peace is a nonprofit that collects money to build schools in Central Asia.

“My students wanted to help build schools,” Monte says, “so we drew portraits of Afgani people and places and auctioned them off. These are four of those drawings. They will be on sale at Thump for the month of April.” Money raised through sale of the artworks will be split 50/50 between the “Pennies for Peace” program and a field trip we take this spring.

“The Advanced Art class will travel to Portland, where the students will see a Cirque du Soleil show and stay at the historic McMenamin’s Edgefield Manor, where they’ll spend the evening sketching on the grounds,” Monte says.

Scenic Oregon landscape photographs and hand-built frames by Dave Kamperman are on display throughout March. A professional shooter for more than 30 years, Kamperman’s move to Bend from Pittsburgh in 1983 inspired a transition from formal wedding and portrait photographer to landscape and outdoor portraits.

“For me, the Northwest, and in particular Oregon, allows us to witness God’s creative power in all its diversity,” explains Kamperman. “Since we too are part of God’s creation, it seems right that the one should complement the other. My goal as a professional photographer is to portray each of His creations in all of their character and beauty by producing the highest possible quality images. In doing this, I believe that both the Creator and His creations are honored.”

For the last 5 years, Kamperman has created unique custom frames for his works, starting with a rough-cut piece of solid hardwood lumber. “No two frames are exactly alike, even if they come from the same board,” he says. “It is always exciting for me to see exactly what the wood has to reveal when it is combined with the appropriate matting and image. For this reason, I am beginning to enjoy the matting and framing aspect of my art – almost – as much as the photography itself.”

For more about Kamperman and his art, visit the Dave Kamperman Photography website.

A collection of Oregon images by photographer Paul Carew is on display throughout February at Thump Coffee in downtown Bend. Entitled “Places & Faces Anew, Exploring the West,” the exhibit draws its inspiration from the many varied settings of Oregon’s countryside.

“Oregon is truly a visual inspiration,” explains Carew. “It offers a very diverse array of subject matter, from high atop the Cascade Range to high desert river canyons to the deep greens of old growth forests and rocky beaches. Nature, as a divine sculptor is often a recurring theme in my work, from polished river rocks to weather worn trees as my subjects. Lighting, composition and timing, are the keys to creating and conveying a special place, mood or fleeting moment in time.”

Carew says he also enjoys photographing the “human landscape” at competitive events, fairs, festivals or an afternoon at the local farmers market. “Bend is a wonderful town with lots of things going on year-round, and I can always find something to motivate me to pick up my camera and get involved.”

Growing up in an artistic family, Carew’s interest in the arts began early. “I was fascinated with a charcoal drawing done by my great grandfather and surrounded by Grandma Ira’s wonderful pastoral landscape paintings, which hung in nearly every room of our house,” he says.

After earning a Bachelor of Arts degree in Photography from the Massachusetts College of Art, Carew spent the next 25 years working for the University of Massachusetts Photographic Services Department, where he supplied images for university relations and development, along with the arts and sciences on campus.

He also found time to run a photography business, concentrating on architecture, events and urban landscapes. Carew is an accomplished woodworker, cook and a “huge outdoor enthusiast,” which, he says, is why he moved to “beautiful Central Oregon” after an early retirement.

McMullen works extensively with found and recycled materials. “Everyday settings and homely objects inspire my art,” she explains. “Snatches of conversation overheard and cast-off items discovered underfoot serve as raw material and metaphor.”

McMullen’s two- and three-dimensional acrylic paintings are layered with deep transparent glazes to embed objects and color within the work. “My work is about time, seeking glimpses of history revealed in simple objects,” she says. “Discarded and broken detritus; random words from fortunes cookies, the daily news, found scraps of paper, classic works of literature ‘paint’ and reveal from the inside out. Currently my work explores figurative/abstract themes as story and symbol.”

McMullen is a Print Associate at Atelier 6000, a fine art prints studio and artists’ workshop in Bend; one of the founding members of Artists Local 101, a Central Oregon-based contemporary art group; Visual Arts Program Director at Young Musicians & Artists, a Willamette University-based program. McMullen’s work is currently on display in the “On the Cutting Edge” exhibit at the Coos Art Museum in Coos Bay, Oregon.

In Bend, work is on display in the “Paper Rock Scissors” show at Atelier 6000, and includes an outdoor installation, “Enlightenment”, at Gossamer, the Knitting Place. Recent invitational/juried exhibits include Atelier 6000, the 135 UP! gallery, and Central Oregon Community College in Bend, OR; the Art House Gallery, Atlanta, GA.; Maude Kerns Art Center, Eugene, OR; the Firehouse Gallery, Del Rio Council for the Arts, TX; and includes outdoor installations in Central Oregon.

For more about McMullen and her work, visit her website.

According to organizers, Push is modeled after a similar community skatepark project in Montana and inspired by Portland’s famed Burnside skatepark and similar DIY parks. “Though we have lots of sun here in Central Oregon, a covered skatepark designed, built, and maintained by skaters without the help of the parks dept, or the city is the goal,” say organizers.

Situated on Division Street under the Bend Parkway, the land is currently vacant and strewn with large boulders. The project crew, comprised of volunteers who have dreamt of such an opportunity for years, has already formed a 501(c)3 nonprofit in order to secure grants and funds for building the park, which has already won the support of the Oregon Department of Transportation. For more information on the skatepark project, go to divisionstreetskatepark.org.

Inspired by birds and bicycles, local painter Nikki Hoke Horner created the series of oil paintings on display throughout December at Thump Coffee in downtown Bend. For the special Bicycle Art Walk on Friday, December 11 Thump also invites bicycle fans to enjoy the handcrafted artworks produced by Portland’s acclaimed Vanilla Bicycles.

“Working in my studio/garage this past summer evoked images that evolved to the Birds and Bikes series,” says Hoke Horner. “Having an unhealthy collection of bicycles parked in my studio, led to an exploration of color and texture within the canvas. Being a fan of travel it often feels to me that simply getting on a bicycle and making the decision to go can be as freeing as taking a trip thousands of miles away.”

Hoke Horner is a graduate of Oregon State University with a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree. Read her weblog at nikkihoke.blogspot.com.

According to Vanilla Bicycles, “The Vanilla Workshop is a community — a collaboration between master fabricators; expert bicycle painters; photographers; wood, leather, fabric and metal workers–all working closely to bring the intelligent, edgy, sexiness of Portland to the rest of the world.”

Vanilla owner, designer and bicycle framebuilder Sacha White, 31, started building bicycles in 1999. He is considered to be a pioneering member of a new generation of bicycle framebuilders. Visit vanillabicycles.com.