More than 30 people gathered at the Art Adventure Gallery in Madras to celebrate its 40th anniversary, supporting local artists and handmade art of all kinds.
Those who attended enjoyed ice cream in ceramic bowls made and handpainted by Jozil Ceramics, and had the freedom to look at the gallery’s newest exhibit.
The exhibit, which features anything from acrylic and oil paintings to charcoal drawings and 3D crafts, is all completed by artists in Jefferson County to focuse on the local talent the area has to offer.
“I’ll be honest, I’m surprised that this many people showed up,” said Mia Kelsay, one of the gallery’s board members and volunteer employees who works in sales and inventory.
Kelsay said the gallery usually only has about 20 people attend exhibit openings.
“I wasn’t really expecting all of these people to show up,” she said. “It feels like a sauna out there!”
“We’re a nonprofit, and it’s amazing that a small gallery like this has survived for 40 years,” John Scheideman, a board member for the gallery and one of the gallery’s artists. “And I hope another 40 years!”
Scheideman has a few wooden bowls showing in the gallery right now.
“We have a lot of quality artists in Central Oregon that people don’t even know about that show here,” Scheideman said. “… There’s cool stuff going on here.”
Scheideman said there is value in having a place like this to promote local artists and art in general.
“It’s just fun to have a place like this to go to,” Scheideman said.
Kelsay said that while this multi-medium exhibit is explicitly a show for Jefferson County artists, most of their exhibits are from local artists.
“We give local artists a place to sell their art and to highlight local art and community art,” Kelsay said.
Another artist with pieces in this locally-focused exhibit is Diana Krugel.
Krugel, who submitted four pieces to the gallery for this exhibit, works in various mediums including white charcoal on black paper and water soluble oil paints. Putting her art, which portrays her experience with chronic illness, in this exhibit is a milestone in her time as an artist.
“I’ve done a few lend-me-your-wall things, but never a gallery showing,” Krugel said. “And my family has finally convinced me that I’m a good enough artist to be in a gallery.”
She loved seeing people’s responses to her art and hearing their interpretations of her creations.
One thing Krugel said she appreciates about the gallery is its diversity.
“They’re very accepting of all different types of art,” Krugel said. “There’s everything from your abstract, to your oil, to your water, to mine that are a bit more conceptual art. And they embrace everyone, accept everyone.”
She also spoke about the value of appreciating spaces like this in a world with artificial intelligence and digital art.
“Art is one of those things that is dying slowly,” Krugel said.
Despite the difficulties in finding staff and patrons, the gallery has lasted.
“I have been here since about 2009,” Kelsay said. “So I have seen businesses come and go. I used to joke about 10 years ago, whenever a new business would open, I would make a bet with myself about when it would close, wether or not it would last a year… That’s how fast I would see businesses cycle through here.”
The gallery is a nonprofit, and Kelsay said they only keep “enough money to keep the lights on.”
Digital art, and the use of generative artificial intelligence, has changed the industry of creating, Coralee Popp, the gallery’s director, said.
She spoke about a major life change that moved her to become an artist. She lost her husband in the Vietnam War and found creating art as she relearned how to define herself.
“I was left with finding, who am I, if I’m not David’s wife?” Popp said.
She took a college class in art, and ended up pursuing the career full time.
“Over the years, I found my voice,” Popp said. “It was a way to express myself so that others could listen to me without preaching to them.”
Since coming to Madras from Portland, Popp has had several of her pieces displayed and has become the gallery’s director. For her, art became essential.
“That saved me,” Popp said. “Art isn’t food, but art feeds us.”
Krugel said there is one thing that artificial intelligence (AI) cannot do, which is unique to artists.
“AI cannot create the emotion that a true artist that is surviving or going through something can create,” Krugel said. “AI can create an image but they can’t feel.”
Kelsay said that her dislike for artificial intelligence-made art goes back to what art is.
“My definition of art is a creative expression that pulls out an emotion in the audience,” Kelsay said. “It’s an expression of novel ideas.”
Artificial intelligence creates based on what it has collected from the internet, Kelsay said.
“They just kind of mishmash it together,” Kelsay said.
Krugel urges people to come in and see the gallery’s exhibits, which change every two months.
“We need to keep them around,” Krugel said. “Whether it’s just stopping by on a lunch date with a friend, come in, look around, admire the art, see what the artists are up to so that we feel like we have a reason to keep creating.”
The gallery is open for patrons from Wednesdays to Saturdays to enjoy the All Jefferson County Exhibit over the next two months.
