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Attendees at the Winter Art Camp for Youth in December. Anne Pinkowski

Changes afoot – Arts association focuses on education for 2024

By Melissa Wagoner Award winning neon artist Anne Pinkowski is a fervent believer in the value of art education. When she and her husband, Dave Harris, moved from California to Silverton in 2022, she immediately joined the Silverton Arts Association (SAA), eventually taking on the role of programming director. “I have a degree in Fine Art,” Pinkowski – who also […]

Silverton Arts Association

August Arts Festival put on pause

The Silverton Arts Association board has placed the August arts festival on pause for 2024.  While a recently posted help wanted ad for the festival drew several applications for a potential event manager, the board decided to use the energy of its volunteers to prioritize its central mission: to nurture, exhibit, inform, and promote appreciation and practice of the arts […]

Brush Creek Players

Ebenezer: A Ghost Story of Christmas opens at Brush Creek Dec. 1

The Brush Creek Players close their 2024 season with Ebenezer: A Ghost Story of Christmas, written by Michael Wood and directed by Norman Gouveia, Jr. The play opens Dec. 1 and runs for three weekends, with performances at 7 p.m. on Fridays and Saturdays and matinees at 2 p.m. on Sundays. The play is being produced by arrangement with Evander Dramatic […]

Eloise Kelley, Helen Yancey and Cordelia Bay in She Kills Monsters -- courtesy of Makayla Chase

On stage – She Kills Monsters coming to SHS

By Melissa Wagoner She Kills Monsters, by playwright Qui Nguyen. has been “extremely popular in high schools nation-wide” since its debut in 2011, according to Silverton High School theater instructor Doug Ousterhout. The play opens in the SHS auditorium on Nov. 16. “The show is particularly aimed at teenagers but will appeal to adults as well, especially those who remember the […]

Lunaria Gallery

Lunaria presents November art shows

Two new shows will be on display at Lunaria Gallery from Nov. 1 – 27,  with an opening reception on First Friday, Nov. 3, 7 – 9 p.m. “Rhythmical Color” features botanical portraits and abstractions by Diane Trevett. Inspired by natural subjects, Trevett’s explores color, brushwork and movement in flowers. She is fascinated by unique form, diverse color and hidden […]

Graphic novelist, Jonathan Case with his latest novel, Little Monarchs, nominated for a 2023 Eisner Award

Winged migration – Little Monarchs earns graphic novelist new accolades

By Melissa Wagoner It’s been a big year for award-winning graphic novelist Jonathan Case and his newest book, Little Monarchs – published by Holiday House in April 2022.  Chosen to represent Oregon’s literary heritage at the upcoming National Book Festival by the Oregon Center for the Book and the State Library of Oregon, the honor means an interview with Case […]

Lunaria Gallery

Summer shows abound at Lunaria

The Main Floor Gallery exhibit at Lunaria Gallery this month is “Life: Adversity and Bliss” featuring the artwork of Lunaria member Michele Ballantyne. “Making art from the heart, from the gut, takes a deeper look than making art that is pretty or people pleasing. Life is full spectrum. Experiences are full spectrum. In this show I embrace the full spectrum, […]

Opening night of the Silverton Arts Association's Teen Art Show. -- courtesy of Megan Smith

Teen Art Show – Silverton galleries team up to honor this year’s winners

By Melissa Wagoner This year the Silverton Arts Association’s annual “Teen Art Show” featured 105 pieces of art from students at Evergreen, Bethany, Community Roots, Silverton Middle School, Silverton High School and Sequoia Falls Academy. “It’s a long-standing tradition,” Silverton Arts Association Board (SAA) Member and gallery curator, Megan Smith, said of the show, which ran from May 5 to […]

New film festival seeks submissions

The first Silver Falls Film Festival is set for Friday, Aug. 18 during the Silverton Arts Festival. A series of short movies will be shown outdoors at Coolidge McClaine Park as the kickoff for the festival, which continues Aug. 19-20. More than 600 entries from around the world have been submitted, said Mike Turner, Silverton filmmaker and Silverton Arts Association […]

Silverton Arts Association to open new community art space

By James Day The Silverton Arts Association is launching a new family-friendly community arts space at the group’s Arts Center at 300 Coolidge St. The new arts option, which will include a resident artists program, workshops and classes for adults and youth, will debut at 6:30 p.m. on April 7 during First Friday. The association will use the Borland Gallery […]

Arts Festival offers poster contest

The Silverton Arts Festival is holding its annual contest that will produce the poster for the event, which is set for Aug. 19-20 at Coolidge McClaine Park. The contest is open to artists 16 and older, with the winner receiving either a 10′ x 10′ festival booth space, valued at $225, or $200 in cash, along with recognition in the […]

SACA moving into Ratchet building; murals up in air

By James Day Silverton Area Community Aid will be moving soon into the building that has been occupied by Ratchet Brewing since 2019. Ratchet shut down its Silverton operation on Feb. 11, although its southeast Salem location on 25th Street remains open. Will Mary, one of the co-founders of Ratchet, meanwhile, has opened a restaurant called Palominos on Court Street […]

Misadventures! Youth production set as next Brush Creek play

Brush Creek is launching its 2023 season with the return of one of its favorite shows, The Further MISAdventures of the Seven Dwarfs. The crowd-pleaser brings back the seven dwarfs for a romp through the collected tales of the Brothers Grimm.  Did you know that a dwarf helped Rapunzel and her prince? And helped Hansel and Gretel escape the gingerbread […]

Open auditions for Brush Creek’s ‘Seven Dwarfs’ children’s play

Brush Creek Playhouse, just outside of Silverton, will be holding auditions for The Further MISAdventures of the Seven Dwarfs on Saturday, Dec. 3, 11 a.m. and on Sunday, Dec. 4, 2 p.m. This romp through the tales of the Brothers Grimm (written by Emily Wood and Michael Wood and performed by arrangement with Evander Dramatic Press) is great fun and has a […]

Gone, but not forgotten – Old Oak Tree emblem refurbished

By Melissa Wagoner There is no symbol in Silverton’s history more iconic than that of the “Old Oak Tree,” a meeting place initially for the Native tribes of the Molalla and Santiam area and eventually for the white homesteaders who settled here. “The old oak, as everybody called it, was a stately giant, and the early settlers of Silverton looked […]

Still lifes, winter gifts highlight Lunaria

Lunaria Gallery presents its November show, “New Work: Still Lifes” by member Margo McCafferty. “Most of the works in this show were created using the indirect method, beginning with an India ink grisaille underpainting followed by scumbles and glazes of oil paint,” said McCafferty. Upstairs’ Loft Gallery brings “Hello Winter” featuring gifts created by Lunaria’s members. Both shows run Nov. […]

Update: Fountain goes deeper – Sharing the stories behind the tiles

By Brenna Wiegand A string of past Our Town stories reflect the flurry of activity encircling the old wading pool in Silverton’s Coolidge McClaine Park. It all started in 2014 when Silverton participants in that year’s Ford Family Foundation Leadership program chose to beautify the wading pool/fountain in Coolidge McClaine as its public service project. Ford Family Foundation offered $5,000 […]

Double vision: Two artists, two ways of sharing what they’ve learned

By Melissa Wagoner Every month Lunaria – a cooperative fine art gallery established in downtown Silverton in 1995 – celebrates one or more of its 24 members through a gallery show that kicks off with a First Friday gala event. “These gala events provide the public an opportunity to view a wider selection of the featured artist’s work as well […]

New book features Silverton history

By James Day Native Silvertonian Norm English has published a new novel about his hometown and will be on hand to discuss it at a pair of book signings. Fireflies to Butterflies is English’s third book, and he describes it as historic fiction. “The main character is fictional, but the story incorporates interactions with some real people in Silverton during […]

Guest authors – Very young writers get a place on the library shelves

By Melissa Wagoner There’s a special section in the Silver Falls Library that not many people know about. It’s called the Guest Author section and it’s full of serious writers who, despite their age, are given a chance at having their books displayed on the shelf for any and all to check out. Partially inspired by the story of Dillon […]

Watercolor dreams – Mount Angel artist leads bustling business

By Brenna Wiegand Kimberly Shaw began painting individual greeting cards for friends as a labor of love and a satisfying counterpart to her work as an architectural draftswoman in Southern California.  She’d been with the firm for 17 years when she quit her job and grew her card business into a national concern that supported her family for the next […]

Exhibits inspired by conflict, struggle, human condition

Lunaria Main Floor Gallery presents the shows, Days Passing Like a Shadow, by Lunaria member Deborah Unger and Portraits of Inspiring Women in Classic Style: Part One by Lunaria member Anne Shams Oct. 5 – 31. Opening Reception is Oct. 7, 7 – 9 p.m. at the gallery, 113 N. Water St., Silverton. There also will be an Artists Talk, […]

Lunaria presents Altman retrospective

EVITCEPSORTER, a  retrospective show by Ann Altman will be on exhibit at Lunaria Gallery now through Oct. 3. Altman will show her artwork done in oil pastels, acrylic, oil, watercolor and colored pencil, along with various printmaking techniques and her most recent work in ceramics. She was one of the founding members of Lunaria. The show will include some pioeces […]

Brush Creek Playhouse looking for volunteers

The Brush Creek Players is an all-volunteer theater group working together to present quality plays to the greater Silverton, Salem and Mount Angel communities. It is a nonprofit organization that offers a wide variety of productions, including well-known plays, original works, teen/young adult and children/youth shows. This one room schoolhouse theater has been cared for and loved by many over the […]