New film festival seeks submissions

May 2023 Posted in Arts, Briefs | Comments Off on 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 ...

Silverton Arts Association to open new community art space

March 2023 Posted in Arts, Community | Comments Off on 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, ...

Arts Festival offers poster contest

March 2023 Posted in Arts, Events & Holidays | Comments Off on Arts Festival offers poster contest

[caption id="attachment_13245" align="alignright" width="328"] Last year’s winning artwork was byAndrei Engelman. Submitted Image[/caption] 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 ...

SACA moving into Ratchet building; murals up in air

February 2023 Posted in Arts, Business, Community | Comments Off on SACA moving into Ratchet building; murals up in air

[caption id="attachment_12492" align="aligncenter" width="600"] A moving crew works on removing items associated with Ratchet Brewing’s operations at 1069 N Second St. in Silverton. Silverton Area Community Aid will be moving into the building, and the “four freedoms” murals will be ...

Misadventures! Youth production set as next Brush Creek play

February 2023 Posted in Arts | Comments Off on 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 ...

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

December 2022 Posted in Arts, Community | Comments Off on 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 ...

Gone, but not forgotten – Old Oak Tree emblem refurbished

November 2022 Posted in Arts, History & Culture | Comments Off on 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 ...

Still lifes, winter gifts highlight Lunaria

November 2022 Posted in Arts | Comments Off on 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 ...

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

September 2022 Posted in Arts, Community | Comments Off on 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 ...

Tromp l’oeil (Deceive the eye) – Elizabeth Schellberg learns to paint an illusionary vista in her back garden

September 2022 Posted in Arts, People | Comments Off on Tromp l’oeil (Deceive the eye) – Elizabeth Schellberg learns to paint an illusionary vista in her back garden

By Brenna Wiegand Sequestered on the outskirts of a town known for its murals is a hidden gem of magnificent proportion. Prior to moving to Silverton in 2013, Elizabeth Schellberg and husband Gary Watkins lived in Portland, she a CPA and he ...

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

September 2022 Posted in Arts, Community | Comments Off on 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 ...

New book features Silverton history

September 2022 Posted in Arts, Events & Holidays, People | Comments Off on 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 ...

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

September 2022 Posted in Arts, For Kids | Comments Off on 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 ...

Watercolor dreams – Mount Angel artist leads bustling business

September 2022 Posted in Arts | Comments Off on 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 ...

Exhibits inspired by conflict, struggle, human condition

September 2022 Posted in Arts | Comments Off on 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. ...

Lunaria presents Altman retrospective

September 2022 Posted in Arts | Comments Off on 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 ...

Brush Creek Playhouse looking for volunteers

August 2022 Posted in Arts, Community | Comments Off on 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 ...

Little Monarchs – Silverton author’s unusual book tour includes family

June 2022 Posted in Arts, Outdoor Life, People | Comments Off on Little Monarchs – Silverton author’s unusual book tour includes family

By Melissa Wagoner When award-winning writer Jonathan Case was writing his latest graphic novel, Little Monarchs, he already knew its promotion would be different than just about any book he’d ever written. [caption id="attachment_11589" align="alignright" width="354"] Author and artist Jonathan Case on ...

Bobbie Day – Silverton celebrates its far-ranging dog

June 2022 Posted in Arts, Events & Holidays, History & Culture | Comments Off on Bobbie Day – Silverton celebrates its far-ranging dog

By James Day Silverton’s favorite collie/shepherd mix, Bobbie the Wonder Dog, who traveled on his own more than 2,500 miles to rejoin his family in the 1920s, has been on the move again. And cloned. [caption id="attachment_11548" align="alignright" width="268"] The Bobbie clone ...

Vince’s store – Mural Society starts tours, downtown store

June 2022 Posted in Arts, Community | Comments Off on Vince’s store – Mural Society starts tours, downtown store

[caption id="attachment_11545" align="alignright" width="407"] Lance Kamstra, left, and Tami Biamont are dedicating a portion of Kamstra’s office to the Silverton Mural Society. Located in the Hartman Building, Vince’s Mural Store opens July 1.[/caption] By Brenna Wiegand Silverton Mural Society is getting a ...

At Easel – Instructional art studio, event space opens in Silverton

April 2022 Posted in Arts, Community, People | Comments Off on At Easel – Instructional art studio, event space opens in Silverton

By Melissa Wagoner When Michelle Isaksen was invited to a Paint Party five years ago she almost didn’t go. “I thought, ‘I don’t even draw,’” she recalled. “I’d never painted or even sketched.” Thankfully, her husband convinced her to attend. “He basically pushed me out the ...

Pacific Northwest subject of new Lori Rodrigues show at Lunaria

April 2022 Posted in Arts, Community, Events & Holidays | Comments Off on Pacific Northwest subject of new Lori Rodrigues show at Lunaria

Lunaria Gallery in Silverton will present “Pacific Northwest” by Lori Rodrigues in April. These watercolor pieces reflect the depth of the Pacific Northwest wilderness, from wildflowers to volcanoes. Upstairs, in Lunaria’s Loft Gallery,  “An Artist’s Evolution” by Jenny Armitage will feature ...