MAY 2024 ARTBEAT

ARTBE T

KOHO CREATIVE CO-OP IS THRIVING JEWELRY INNOVATOR IS A RISING STAR

BY MEG KAPPLER NCW ARTS EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

Earlier this year, we ran an article with a call to creative nonprofits in the area who were in the market for collaborative workspace. We heeded that call. NCW Arts was thrilled to be one of several arts organizations chosen by the Sleeping Lady Foundation to inhabit the office spaces at the KOHO building in Wenatchee. You know, 32 North Mission Street, with the life-sized Elvis in the window. (Look up!).

Having this type of collaborative coworking environment has been a game changer. We are now in regular contact with other stellar local organizations like Howell at the Moon Productions, Wenatchee Valley Symphony Orchestra,

ON THE COVER:

A collage of miniature, handmade sculptures by local artist and Comet Magazine publisher Ron Evans gives a hint of what’s to come when his solo exhibit – “Ron Evans: Signs We Were Once Here” — opens this month at Wenatchee Valley College’s MAC Gallery. On display will be

Darling Productions, Sustainable NCW and Northwest Public Broadcasting (NWPB).

Don’t get me wrong, working from home has its benefits. Having worked on-site in the healthcare field during the pandemic, it wasn’t until 2022 that I personally experienced the joys of pairing power suit blazers with pajama bottoms and felted cat slippers for those homeoffice Zoom meetings.

However, to everything there is a season, and this is the season of wearing pants, showing up in person and networking with other passionate, mission-driven organizations doing good things in our region. The scuttlebutt around here is that there may be another cubicle opening up soon, so keep your eyes peeled for that announcement and consider being office mates with us.

Meanwhile, we want to hear what you’re up to, creative ones! We have started up a cheers-and-recognition section in ArtBeat to spotlight accomplishments, and our Artist Index is growing daily. Be sure to visit our website and submit any and all information you want us to share. You can submit your upcoming Events and Opportunities, or visit the Get Involved page to submit cheers/recognitions to our Suggestion Box.

We are here for you. With pants on. We mean business!

SILVER RING NAMED CONTEST CHAMPION

Wenatchee jewelry maker Christopher Gerber outshined some of the nation’s top designers in a prestigious competition held this spring by a Seattle gallery.

Gerber’s sterling silver ring titled “Star Rise, Star Fall” beat 32 entries to claim the title of “Champion” in the Battle of the Rings 2024, hosted each year by the Danaca Design Gallery. Top prize included an award of $500.

the U.S. and United Kingdom.

Gerber currently travels the Pacific Northwest “dissecting and interpreting the wilderness and backcountry of the region through traditional metalsmithing techniques,” says his artist bio.

Evans’ reverence for mid-century design and pop-culture relics of the Wenatchee Valley. Also in evidence will be his “trademark satire and social commentary,” says a gallery press release. The show runs May 3 through June 26. A Wenatchee First Fridays Arts Walk reception will be held from 5 to 7 p.m., May 3. Monthly Magazine of the NCW Arts Alliance

The jewelry innovator had previously entered pieces in the 2020 and 2021 Battle of the Rings. “It’s a juried competition,” he says, “so just getting into the contest has been an achievement.”

His winning ring features a Northwest scene of trees and mountains with a starry sky overhead. It’s made of silver, cubic zirconia gemstones, brass and wood.

He’s been accused by friends of “futz’n,” he says, but Gerber likes to think of his creative process as tinkering. “At the end of the day, it really comes down to the fact that I love working with my hands, and that I’m quite curious and playful. He emphasizes that creation of a piece “from design to materials and even packaging” is all done “by yours truly in my tiny shop in Wenatchee.”

Nestled on the edge of some of the state’s most scenic landscapes, says Gerber, “I don’t need to go far to be filled with the inspiration that drives so much of my work.”

TCo-editors: Mike Irwin & Susan Lagsdin Design: Ron Evans NCWArts.org | arts@ncwarts.org

“So much of the natural world fascinates me, but the night sky is far and away what leaves me most in awe,” said Gerber on what inspired his winning creation. “For me, the enchanting and silent movement of the sky always brings about the strongest sense of wonder.”

Gerber, 41, is a bench jeweler and maker who moved to Wenatchee in October after years with a couture jewelry design shop in Seattle. A native of the Midwest, he earned a degree in metalsmithing and jewelry from the University of Wisconsin and has worked and shown his designs in

Currently, Gerber isn’t represented by any North Central Washington jewelry shops or galleries. But he has shown his work at pop-up venues in Cashmere and will be selling at Wenatchee’s Apple Blossom Festival (April 25 to May 5) and occasionally this summer at Leavenworth’s Village Art in the Park. He’s also represented by several jewelry shops in Seattle and in Midwest states.

Learn more about Christopher Gerber and his jewelry designs at cmgerber.com

Christopher Gerber

‘Star Rise, Star Fall’

BRIAN OHME WANTS YOU TO BRING YOUR OWN ART

You can only tack so many prefixes onto an arts enterprise, but Brian Ohme has probably covered them all. He’s in the midst of creating a multi-art, pan-art, pro-art, inter-art, omniart space in a relatively small sublevel enclave called Studio BYO, for “bring your own” art. He’s gone a step further, word-wise, and calls his art vision “genresplicing.”

A songwriter, guitarist and poet, Brian played in his family’s clifftop attraction (yes, Ohme Gardens), graduated from Wenatchee High School, and didn’t roam far from his birthplace. He said, “I find most of my inspiration in nature, although it may not be recognizable by the time I’m through with it.” He was in a couple of bands, then went solo as SumGuy for several years of music and spoken word performances all around town.

Making art in many forms, with many people, suits him best. Craving community and feeling cramped in his home’s recording studio, in 2017 Brian found and renovated with a sculptor friend their share of a downtown Wenatchee basement, part of the private Warehouse 3 complex. They not only had a workspace, but enjoyed with fellow renters, he said, “impromptu gatherings around a big glass table, where we’d discuss art and what it meant to us into the wee hours of the morning.”

Then Covid and an Arts lull coincided with a disorder in his hand muscles – particularly vexing for a guitarist – and the dream went dormant.

But time worked in his favor. The arts community is finding itself, and the south edge of Wenatchee’s downtown is growing and changing. And Brian’s retirement last fall from a career maintaining ag-

industry electrical systems gives him free time to amplify his efforts on the studio space with furnishings, fixtures, equipment and, notably, ambience.

Brian said he’s continuing to write, and he’s experimenting with a new painting technique. And there’s always the music.

“I have at least fifty hours of multitrack recorded material,” he said, “at least 10 minutes of which is probably very good!”

But developing BYO is really his biggest evolving art project. He’s savvy enough to segue into a gentler arts life as an encourager of other artists.

“My vision for the space,” Brian said, “has expanded to support closeted artists like me, who may have been doing something soulful all their lives but with no opportunity to share their passion.” His list of possible uses is broad-ranging: he envisions performances, showings, tastings, films, drum circles, yoga classes, art workshops, sound baths, recording/songwriting sessions, discussion groups.

They’ll all be small; this is not a concert venue. A few couches and soft chairs, squeeze-in room for 20 folding chairs, a tiny stage and light/sound consoles (with 16 recording tracks) max out the footprint. The wall décor is obliquely hip and eclectic.

One other quirky footnote to this welcoming and open-ended enterprise is the

building’s security. Rules of the space for all the tenants, adhered to faithfully, mean invited guests only, and a well-monitored entry lock discourages drop-ins. Following the letter and spirit of the lease, Brian is pleased that in the past year “so far we have had three Shrub Steppe poetry events, a few films, a songwriter circle, a small gathering of other poets, several meetings of a men’s group, a photo session and several nights of music- making in various forms.”

Tucked away under the main thoroughfare and replete with beat generation ambience, BYO is a good idea that’s getting better. Its users adapt to scarce parking and occasional noise from gymnasts upstairs and rockers down the hall. Finding a casual meeting place for like-minded creatives is worth the occasional inconvenience.

Acknowledging that North Central Washington still has a relatively calm arts scene, Brian aims to make the best of it. “If I had grown up in New York, I would have had exposure to and been influenced by art and artists that just don’t exist in Wenatchee. You might say that the vision for Studio BYO is my answer to that perceived dilemma: inviting local artists to show themselves, that we may all be enriched.”

To learn more, email Brian Ohme at studiobyo583@gmail.com.

(Who are these local artists? Initials are given; see the answers below.)

1. (H.T.) This WVC English professor and literary artist hosts both a writing group at the Wenatchee library and what she calls “the loudest open mic in the Valley” in Leavenworth.

2. ( K.H.) Not just another coffee shop owner, this downtown businessman is dedicated to bringing quality local artwork to grace the long brick walls of Mela yearround.

3. (S.B.) He’s a creative experimenter and an inspiring mentor. He’s on the NCW Arts Alliance board. And he’s the longtime director of the Wenatchee Valley College Art department.

4. ( E. C-S.) Once a Mariachi student and now a Mariachi teacher, this musician continues the tradition of bringing century-old Mexican tunes to the stage and the sometimes to the streets.

5. (B.R.) This nationally known, prolific Wenatchee artist (who died in 2010) especially loved depicting horses in both paint and bronze; he believed they are works of art in themselves.

6. (N. I.) You may be familiar with the “fruits” of the work of this Wenatchee watercolorist. Her painting of apple blossoms was, appropriately, the 2024 Apple Blossom poster pick.

1. Holly Thorpe

2. Kyle Hendrickson 3. Scott Bailey 4. Eduardo Cortes-Solorio

5. Bill Reese

6. Nicki Isaacson

Brian Ohme

7. Mela 5-8 PM Barry Kling, B/W Photography and Sumi painting. Good Cause Coaster Art Project making session.

1. MAC Gallery 5-7 PM “Signs We Were Once Here,” Ron Evans, sculptures and miniature signs. Exhibition runs through June 26.

8. Firehouse Pet Shop 3:30 PM-6:30 PM Mothers’ Day Paw-Print Art Event. Bring your pet and make free paw print art.

2. LynnArt Gardens 12-7 PM Multiple featured artists for Garden Art Walk. Complimentary beverages.

9. Hilton Garden Inn 5-10 PM Sara Hasslinger, live painting demonstration. $2 off wine pours.

10. Pybus Art Alley 5-7 PM Leslie Myers, acrylic paintings. Sage Hills Trio, live music. Exhibition runs through May 30.

3. Visit Wenatchee Tasting Room 5-7 PM Bridged Atkins, mixed media abstract and illustration. Wenatchee First Fridays maps available.

4. Lemolo Café & Deli 4-6 PM Lenny Harm, paintings. Exhibition runs through May 30.

11. Wenatchee Valley Museum & Cultural Center 4-8 PM Celebrate Apple Blossom Festival history slideshow. Free admission.

5. Two Rivers Art Gallery 5-8 PM “Still Here After All These Years,” Rod Weagant, paintings. James Bryant, live music. Local wines. Exhibition runs through May 30.

MAY 2024 ARTS WALK EAT & DRINK

6. Watercore Cider 6-8 PM Kaid Gatens, live music.

5. Steam Panda 4-9 PM Buy one noodle soup, get 2nd noodle soup $5 off. Dine in only when you mention First Friday.

1. Horan Estates Winery 3-7 PM $2 off glass pours.

2. Crayelle Cellars 3-6 PM

Friday.

6. Cave Noire 4-10 PM Enjoy a complimentary glass after any wine tasting flight.

7. Norwood Wine Bar 4-10 PM $2 off glass pours.

$2 off glass pours.

3. Stones Gastropub 3-9 PM $10 specialty cocktail.

4. Watermill Winery On The Ave 3-8 PM Appetizers and wine specials.

SHOP DOWNTOWN

3. Mercantile All Day $10 day pass for First Fridays.

1. American Shoe Shop 5–7 PM Extended hours

4. The Original Children’s Shop 5-7 PM 10% discount on all merch when you mention First Fridays.

2. Tumbleweed 4-7 PM Featuring home décor, custom signs, jewelry and more by Nest + Arrow.

WENATCHEEFIRSTFRIDAYS.COM

FRIDAYS AFTER HOURS

HELLBENT TAPROOM COLUMBIA CAFE

Release Party 7-10 PM AT

COUPLE PAVES WAY FOR ARTS AND BUSINESSES WITH NEW ‘SIDE STREET’ PROJECT

by

The 100-year-old behemoth of a building on Railroad Avenue in Cashmere — once owned by the Burlington Northern Railroad — was slated to be demolished. The roof leaked and parts of the building were without electricity and plumbing.

Meanwhile, Andrew and Lana Thomas, who moved to Cashmere to raise their son, were looking for a spot to open a tap room and hire some food trucks. When the couple considered what might become of the 1.24-acre lot once the building was razed, they decided that the 60,000 square-foot building was enough for a tap room — and a few other things.

“It became, ‘what can we do to serve the community as best as possible’?” said Andrew. “What can we do to make this a community-first, tourism-second building?’”

Lana has worked in interior design and owned a co-working space in Seattle. Andrew has worked as a chef and restaurant manager, and in construction and residential remodeling. The two of them have owned Airbnbs and flipped houses. They felt equipped to take on the project.

The type of space they’re creating, which they’re calling The Side Street Cashmere, is unfamiliar to most locals, they said. It’s not a community center, though it aims to be a community gather-

ing spot. It’s not a mall, though it will have retail shopping and places to eat and drink.

They said it’s more like an arts district, or a space like Pybus Public Market in Wenatchee.

“My challenge has been really trying to get people to wrap their heads around exactly what we’re doing,” Andrew said. “We’re creating something that’s so intentional. Every business flows, and every business is intentionally placed.”

Currently, they have 22 business spaces mapped out, including a coffee shop, a deli, a butcher shop, a florist, a kids play area and even a basement speakeasy. Not just businesses, but local businesses, they said.

“It’s all intermixed and they’re all things that we think are missing right now from Cashmere,” Andrew said. \

Take note: the space isn’t just recreational. They’re adding a mail room, and they’ve already opened a vacation rental called The Chickadee Inn. They expect the cider tap room and some of the retail spaces to be open this summer. The timeline for the space as a whole and the buildings interior is “a moving target,” Andrew said. “We’d love to just have it open all at once,” he said, “but we are pacing ourselves. We’re doing one impossible thing at a time.”

The building will host multiple art spaces. Already open are the Small Change secondhand art supplies shop

and Eastside Rebuild, a community tool rental space. Brassbound, a retail space with local goods and art, is expected to open this summer. In the future, the couple said they’d like to host street fairs and bring in live music.

“We’re trying to reach everyone from Lake Wenatchee to Lake Chelan,” Lana said. “This is a great centralized location to meet friends and family. First and foremost, we want the people in Cashmere and Sunnyslope areas to have great local places that they can go to daily.”

It’s important to the Thomases to build a space for the community to gather, so they’re designing it to be kid friendly

with enough room for an entire youth sports team and their parents to spend an afternoon after a game.

“I think that there is something to be said about the fact that your neighbors are here running this building,” Andrew said. “We’re not just investors. We’re not deep pockets. We’re community members trying to open this for your community. I think that’s an important piece of it. We’re not here just to change the community, we’re here to add to it and be a part of it.”

Learn more at sidestreetcashmere.com

THE BEST ART FROM OUR BIG BACKYARD FEATURED OPPORTUNITY:

Find out how good you can be!

In partnership with NCW Arts Alliance, Wenatchee Valley Museum and Cultural Center encourages adult artists from our six-county region to enter their work in the 2024 Juried Art Show. You can drop off your art at the museum on either Friday, May 17, or Saturday, May 18, between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m.

Artwork can be in any medium, up to two years old, finished and

prepared for exhibition. Each piece (up to three) must be accompanied by an entry fee and a completed registration slip. The juried show will award $1,300 in cash awards. It opens to the public on Wenatchee First Fridays Arts Walk, June 7, and all accepted pieces will remain up until Oct. 5.

For more details and a registration form, go to wenatcheevalleymuseum.org.

Front of the Side Street building.

holly thorpe

ARTBIZ

ECON 101 FOR ARTISTS

WHO DON’T CARE ABOUT ECONOMICS

by jamie howell

Each of us — you, me, Jeff Bezos, Elon Musk, doesn’t matter — has a statistical value of approximately $10 million. (Kinda makes me wish I could cash me in.) It’s an onerous practice some say, putting hard numbers to human lives, but a necessity according to economists, government agencies and all the other number-crunchers who live and die by the bottom line.

Slapping economic values on the Arts can feel every bit as onerous to those of us who would prefer to pursue our art from a lotus flower of purity, unsullied by lowly monetary concerns.

But the fact is, we’re asked to put numbers to it every day, and I’m here to tell you, the best approach is to have an answer.

What are the Arts worth anyway?

Ways do exist for making the value of the Arts tangible. A study released last year by Americans for the Arts, for example, pegged the economic contribution of nonprofit arts and culture organizations in 2022 at $151B (that’s billions, baby) and they accounted for 2.6 million American jobs. Expand that to include the full commercial arts and entertainment sector and the figure hops up to $1.02 trillion annually supporting 4.9 million jobs. That’s more than the construction industry, our national transportation networks or all of U.S. agriculture.

Drill in the opposite direction, down to the state level, and the latest reports attribute nearly 20 percent of Washington’s economy to creative output, with artistic work contributing nearly $120 million every year to the Evergreen State’s GDP.

The hard truth, though, is that many

people care as much about the Arts as you might care about contributions to the “GDP.” They’re not against the Arts, they simply prefer to support things that show a clear profit and thus “make sense.” So, in order to make sure the Arts remain on the radar, we in the Arts community are often put in the position of having to convince those folks who hold the purse strings that the Arts “make sense,” too.

Mo’ Arts, Mo’ Money, Mo’ Better

The research is in, though, and it’s solid. There can be no disputing the fact that a thriving Arts sector has been proven to enhance both our quality of life and our economic vitality.

The Arts attract more visitors ... who spend more money. The Arts attract better businesses ... who generate more money. The Arts infuse greater creative skills into the workforce ... which means more people in better jobs making more money.

The Arts sell tickets, artworks, albums, travel, lodging, food and, frankly, any product on the shelf that has a graphic on it. It all adds up to more money.

At the end of the day, we hope for a good life and enough cheddar to get through it (and preferably enough to get through it happily). We simply cannot forget that the Arts, when adequately supported, are guaranteed to help get us there.

The Arts sector has become a cornerstone of our national economy for a reason. It’s because the Arts actually do mean more money for every community that takes them seriously.

Remind people of that. Remind yourself. Then the bean-counters can feel satisfied that the bottom line is in good hands while we get back to making more stuff for them to admire (and maybe even buy)!

WINNING WRITERS:

They told their stories well! Sharing $1,200 in cash awards, the winners of the Write On The River’s 2024 Writers Competition are all in excellent company. This year, 10 local judges evaluated a bumper crop of short fiction and nonfiction entries.

The winners are:

NONFICTION:

First Place: Peter O’Cain of Wenatchee for “Drill Instructor

Drill Instructor Drill Instructor.” Second Place: David Asia of Twisp for “The Beast in Moonlight.” Third Place: Rachael Lundin of Wenatchee for “Mongolian Love Letters.”

BOUND FOR MICHIGAN: CHEERS!

Kasey Koski

Wenatchee artist and consultant Kasey Koski, who calls herself an “imaginatrix,” is known locally for her curation of museum exhibits and for her whimsical sculpture and murals. She recently won the commission for a major art installation honoring the copper mining industry on the Upper Peninsula in Michigan. That’s her state of origin and where she attended Finlandia College, and this sum-

FICTION: First

Place: L. Burton Brender of Cashmere for “The Platoon Sergeant.” Second Place: Denise Ottosen of Spokane for “The Store Sign.” Third Place: Melissa Cate of East Wenatchee for “The Chair of Hidden Journeys.”

Write On The River and the Wenatchee Valley Museum and Cultural Center partnered on the competition, which has been open to Eastern Washington writers since 2008. You can learn about 2024 and past winners and read their entries at writeontheriver.org

mer she’ll head back to spend six weeks creating her public art piece at Keweenaw National Historic Park. The site of 7,000 years of copper extraction in what organizers say is “one of the earth’s most productive mining regions” has now been reclaimed and reverted to a rocky, grassy slope. Kasey’s work there will acquaint the park’s many visitors with Dry House Ruins, where 19th and 20th- century laborers routinely bathed and changed clothes. It will represent the transition between the domestic and industrial sides of miners’ lives.

Peter O’Cain

L. Burton Brender