The past year has been the most exciting and exhilarating of my art career. It all stared in the fall of 2016 when I told people, I have nothing major on my calendar for the upcoming year. I plan to just play and explore. And then everything changed . . . .
I’ve blogged about most of these events, but here is an abbreviated summary of my 2017 art life.
Spare Parts Show at the Salem Public Library
Art Featured in New Book: Cold Wax Medium
Solo Show at Guardino Gallery: Waterlines
Salem Art Association Mentorship Program
Taught an Oil and Cold Wax Class at Sitka Center for Art and Ecology
Private Master Class with Pat Wheeler
Two Person Show at Borland Gallery
11th Annual Day of the Dead Show at Guardino Gallery
Artist in Residence at the Salem Art Association Art Annex
Salem Art Association Panel Discussion
What’s Your Story Workshop
Symbols Show at the Art Annex
Guest on KMUZ Talking About Art
Sitka Art Invitational
17th Annual Guardino Gallery Little Things Show
BEST IN SHOW Something Red Art Walk
It was a great year. And I’m not making any proclamations about 2018. Mum’s the word.
Back in August of 2016, I was offered an Artist in Residence position at the Salem Art Association’s new Art Annex. Today I moved into my studio space, which I will call home for the next month.Here’s a description of what I’ll be doing:
Artist in Residence/Dayna Collins
October 25-November 24
Dayna Collins is a collector, energized by hunting for worn out and discarded objects, especially the bits and pieces that aren’t perfect. She hyperventilates when she discovers a box of ephemera or an old photo album that someone is throwing away. During her residency, Dayna will bring her vast collection of old letters, photographs, ticket stubs, bits of vintage lace, envelopes, stamps, string, travel brochures, maps, recipes, report cards, random notes – the detritus of a person’s life – and create vignettes that tell a story. Using paper, paint, cardboard, book covers, and plaster, she will give new life to these cast off, expendable objects, exploring storytelling in unexpected ways, beginning with a black and white photograph of a stranger.
Moved into my temporary studio space today at Salem Art Association’s Art Annex.
Dropped my stuff, then figured out where everything should go.
I brought so much stuff!
Utilizing every space, nook, and cranny.
Stacks, piles, and rows.
NOTE: I’ll be in the studio most weekdays and the public is invited to stop by and see what I’m working on. I will be posting on my personal Facebook page the days and times I will be in the Art Annex Studio. I’ll have these posts set to public, so if you’re thinking about visiting, please take a look to see if I’ll be there: Dayna Davidson Collins
In addition to the residency, there are several upcoming events.
Exhibit Reception
Saturday, November 18/4-6 pm/FREE
Symbols are personal. Oftentimes they’re stories that incorporate one’s religious, cultural and familial imagery. These things often prod memories and ideas, bringing to the surface the roots of our ancestry, and other events, times, or places in our lives. This exhibition focuses on artistic interpretations of symbols that are pertinent to family history, holidays or spiritual rituals, heritage and culture.
Participating artists are Dayna Collins, Toni Gilbert, Sarah Dillon Gilmartin, Ann Kresge, Eric Loftin, Susan Napack, Nichole Rose, Jennifer Salzman and Vicky DeKrey Vasey.
Panel Discussion
Friday, October 27/5-7 pm
Please join Ross Sutherland (Bush House Museum), Toni Gilbert (author), Dayna Collins (artist), Kylie Pine (Willamette Heritage Center) and Amber D’Ambrosio (University Archive, Willamette University) in a conversation about our personal objects, ranging from how to properly care for them using professional methods, examples of how larger organizations approach personal objects, how we can use some of these methods for our own personal objects and family histories, and how we can utilize our personal and family imagery through art.
Workshop (class is full)
What’s Your Story, Real or Imagined: Telling Stories Through Old Photos
Saturday, October 28/9:30 am – 4:30 pm
Ancestors. We all have them, but do we know their stories. In this class, we’ll build a story based on a black and white photo — real relatives or “adopted” ones. We will create aged backgrounds using paint and stains, then build a collaged vignette using old letters, ephemera, envelopes, lace, tape, trim, string, and a variety of lightweight found objects. Working in a grid, everyone will create a patchwork quilt of stories, which we’ll put together in honor of those who came before us.
In addition to all of this excitement, I’ll be interviewed on Thursday for a local television station and then on Friday, November 10th, I’ll be on Joel Zak’s KMUZ radio show, Talking About Art, sharing about my project and Artist in Residence. More about all of this later.
For the past year, I’ve been working on a special project titled What’s Your Story, Real or Imagined: Telling Stories Through Black and White Photos. You can read more about it here and here. My vision has led to a month long artist-in-residence this fall at the Salem Art Association’s ART ANNEX, a panel discussion in October (more on this later), and a one-day workshop (read on). I’m happy to announce that registration is now open for the workshop.
The workshop will be held on Saturday, October 28, from 9:30 am – 4:30 pm. The cost is $75 plus a $25 materials fee. I’ll be supplying you with black and white photos of strangers and everything you need to create a series of collages. Of course, if you want to showcase family members or friends, you are welcome to bring your own black and white photographs as well as personal letters and ephemera. Here is a description of the class:
Ancestors. We all have them, but do we know their stories. In this class, we’ll build a story based on a black and white photo — real relatives or “adopted” ones. We will create aged backgrounds using paint and stains, then build a collaged vignette using old letters, ephemera, envelopes, lace, tape, trim, string, and a variety of lightweight found objects. Working in a grid, everyone will create a patchwork quilt of stories, which we’ll put together in honor of those who came before us.
All materials are provided including watercolor paper, photographs, ephemera, lightweight found objects, embellishments, and everything needed to create a series of collages.
However, students may bring any of the following if they wish to personalize their pieces:
Black and white photographs of family/friends; the smaller the photos the better
Anecdotes and stories if the person in the photos is known
Ephemera, i.e., letters, envelopes, tickets, tags, brochures, programs, etc., any kind of paper trail
Lightweight personal found objects, i.e., feathers, buttons, pieces of lace or fabric, vintage trims, postage stamps, etc., personal to the person being featured.
In the meantime, I’ll continue to gather and collect old photographs and the detritus of lives well lived. And a huge thank you to those friends who have gifted me with old family photo albums, bundles of letters, and so many wonderful found objects and ephemera, that I’ve been moved to tears.
We’ll be taking all of these wonderful treasures and assembling them into a series of collages that tell personal stories. Real or imagined.
The other exciting news is that in conjunction with my month-long artist in residence, a group show, Symbols, will be taking place in The Annex. I’ve included a link to the Call for Artists. Proposals are due September 1, so act quickly.
I was invited to join six seasoned artists at Stacey’s fantastic studio in North Portland painting alongside Pat Wheeler. I thought about it for about 30 seconds before replying with a big juicy YES. Pat is the artist I learned the plaster process from at Oregon College of Art and Craft in 2010; I continued to take her five-day workshop for the opportunity to be in her presence and soak up her process and positive energy. When I stopped taking her workshop, I still visited Pat whenever she was teaching in Oregon, either at OCAC or at Sitka Center for Art and Ecology and I view this lovely woman as one of my mentors.
The invited artists had all taken Pat’s class several times and we were all experienced working with the materials. The goal of this painting intensive was not only to work alongside Pat, but to also share our own techniques and how we had morphed the process to make it our own.
We started off by painting our boards. I like to activate my boards initially with writing and marks as a way to begin and to fight the blank canvas.
The next step is applying plaster, aka joint compound, or the fancy terminology: limestone clay. It is applied with putty knives and allows all kinds of marks, patterns, and texture to be incorporated as it is being applied.
Once the plaster is dry, it is time to sand.
And then the fun begins, applying washes of color. More drying. More sanding. More paint. GO.
And always more writing and mark making.
This was the process throughout the week, repeated again and again, everyone going at their own pace.
Of course, there was lots of sharing of ideas and techniques.
Here is one of the boards that was deemed completed, so I sealed it with a layer of cold wax, buffed it, and called it finished: “Cracks in the Sidewalk,” 30×30 inches. The beautiful little bundle in the niche was created as gift from Pat.
Happy are the painters, for they shall not be lonely. Light and colour, peace and hope, will keep them company to the end, or almost to the end, of the day. Winston S. Churchill
A dream came true last week when I taught a four-day class at Sitka Center for Art and Ecology, located on the Oregon Coast at Cascade Head. I have taken many classes at Sitka over the years and many of those classes helped shape me as an abstract artist, so it felt satisfying and exhilarating to be standing on the other side of the table.
I arrived at the forested campus on Sunday evening and got settled into my private cabin, located just a few steps from Boyden Studio, where my class was to be held.
A couple of people offered to help me get the studio set up, but this was something I wanted to do by myself. I was feeling emotional and sentimental about teaching at Sitka, and I just wanted to fully experience it in solitude.
Monday morning I arrived early, ready for the day to begin and feeling just a tiny bit anxious.
Students began to arrive and get settled in. . . . . and then the next four days were a glorious blur of demos, activating boards, spreading paint, discussing how to let go, experimenting with new techniques, and making brave, bold marks.
Throughout the week, some artists arrived early in the morning, some stayed a little late into the evening, but there were three hearty souls who arrived early and stayed very late into the evening.
One night several of us went out to dinner in Pacific City and stopped to visit Lynne’s studio.
Boyden Studio was a blur of camaraderie and activity with artists working independently at times, other times soliciting feedback and ideas from each other.
The weather was good for three of the four days and we were able to take advantage of the outdoors to eat lunch, lay out our boards, and occasionally relax.
I had fun doing demos every day (even when they didn’t turn out exactly as I had planned!).
At times everyone worked hard, other times they kicked back.
I went into the studio early every morning to prepare for the day and enjoy the remnants of the previous day’s energy.
For the majority of time, everyone got into a zone, the flow state of letting go and laying down layers for the pure pleasure of experiencing the paint.
On Thursday afternoon we did a show ‘n tell and walkabout.
Here’s a sampling of what was created over the four days.
Pam’s work in progress.
Casey’s work in progress.
Kelly’s work in progress.
Louise’s work in progress.
BJ’s work in progress.
Louise’s work in progress.
Jan’s work in progress.
Cindy’s work in progress.
Phil’s work in progress.
Terri’s work in progress.
Lynne’s work in progress.
Pam’s work in progress.
Terri’s work in progress.
Cindy’s work in progress.
Terri’s work in progress.
BJ’s work in progress.
Phil’s work in progress.
Kelly’s work in progress.
It was an amazing experience and the perfect mix of students.
Go and make interesting mistakes, make amazing mistakes, make glorious and fantastic mistakes. Break rules. Leave the world more interesting for your being here. Make. Good. Art. Neil Gaiman
At the end of October, I had the pleasure to take a five-day workshop with William Park, a Portland artist. For five days we had morning demos, then the luxury of painting the rest of the day.
In the afternoon Bill would share artists he loves and we would have chats about the love of painting and the challenge of keeping fear out of our process and paintings.
On the first morning, we did a nice warm up exercise of making marks and adding paint. Simple, yet profound in the ability to jump start our week.
The demos Bill did were primarily in acrylics, but I had brought my oil paints and a gallon of cold wax; there were eleven of us in class and a couple other people were painting in oils, so it was a mixed bag and we were encouraged to explore and do whatever we wanted.
Bill made the rounds throughout the day, spending time with each artist for as long as they needed. Here he is with my friend Katy, who also took the class.
For the first couple of days, I just laid down paint in order to get some early bright layers to respond to in later days. No fear, just the joy of painting and playing with color.
I’m not sure I finished anything, but I made progress and came away with some wonderful early layers.
And besides Katy being in the class, my good friend Stephanie was also there, so as you can imagine, we had a great five days together.
If you’ve ever been interested in working in oil and cold wax, I have a great opportunity to immerse yourself for four consecutive days of art making in a beautiful new space. I will be teaching my Abstracted Play class at the Salem Art Association’s newly revamped and remodeled Art Annex on October 6-9, from 9:30-4:30. There will be plenty of time to dive in, learn new techniques, experiment, be inspired, inspire each other, work hard, and, of course, play. But first, this is the bright, airy, new space, located in the heart of Bush Park, where we will be meeting. And my class is the very first to be offered!
This class is for everyone. If you have previously worked with oil and cold wax, this class will help take you to the next level, but it also works well for beginners with no experience at all. Oil paint mixed with cold wax is a versatile medium that creates rich luminosity and interesting surfaces. We’ll experiment with laying down paint, adding texture, scraping paint away, and then doing it all over again. And maybe yet again.
During the four days, we will work on multiple pieces, working intuitively and abstractly, exploring texture, layers, composition, design elements, and use of color through oil paint and pigment sticks. We will explore making marks using graphite pencils, twigs and awls, solvents to remove paint and leave marks, and oil pigment sticks. We will be working on wood substrates as well as Arches oil paper.
Oil paint mixed with cold wax allows the layers to dry quickly (and without much odor), and clean up is done with mineral or baby oil, so our use of solvents is very limited (or even unnecessary).
The cost for the four full days of class is $350 with a $20 supply fee. I provide some materials and share all of my paints and pigment sticks. To register, just go to the Salem Art Association website using this link.
It was pretty thrilling to experience several firsts in one week: my first visit to Whidbey Island in Washington, the first time I’ve taken a class at the Pacific Northwest Art School, and my first time taking a class with the talented Lisa Pressman.
I had a week of bliss. I invited my friend Tory Brokenshire to join me for the week and she enthusiastically said yes. It started with loading the car.
After a day of driving (okay, we might have stopped in Centralia for lunch and some junking in the many antique shops in that little town), we arrived on Whidbey Island. Our Airbnb was just as we pictured it would be: light, bright, cozy, and right on Penn Cove.
Class started on Monday morning and went for four days. Holy Moley. It was all I hoped it would be: lots of lessons, demos, prompts, and experimenting. Lisa left plenty of time for painting and was always circulating offering feedback, suggestions, and encouragement. The extensive demos and talks about R & F Pigment Sticks was an added bonus because I have been using these oil sticks for over a year, but didn’t know all the ins and outs of how they could be used. The answer is: endless ways.
Even my blotter papers turned out exciting.
I finished several 6×6 pieces on Arches oil paper.
And completed a series of little pieces on paper.
I came home inspired and motivated to continue experimenting with some new ideas burbling around in my head.
The paint was flying last week when I hosted a three day oil and cold wax workshop called Abstracted Play. The class was held in the classroom at The Art Studios at Mission Mill, so I kept the number of students to five to maximize space. But we had a kitchen, an espresso machine, lots of snacks, and a lovely art lounge to hang out in, so we made do.
The class consisted of demos, work time, one-on-one assistance, more demos, feedback and support. Photos tell the story better than anything I could say.
The artists created some lovely work during the three days. Here is a sampling.
Such a fun, hard-working group of women. They assured me they cycled all the way from number 1 to finally landing at number 6. Whew, but it was touch and go for a while.
Back in 2014 I was invited to participate in a pilot program between the Salem Art Association and the Salem Cancer Institute. I taught my Embellishing a Soft Cloth Doll that first year, then last year I taught three sessions in visual journaling. Over the past couple of weeks I taught two sessions of making prayer flags, calling the class Flags of Hope.
Creating prayer flags came out of a project I facilitated the summer of 2014 through the Salem Art Association’s Project Space. I wrote several blog posts about it at that time, which can be read by clicking here. After the success of that project, I led a similar project last year at Hillcrest Youth Correctional Facility, and now, on occasion, I offer mini workshops on creating flags, which is how these flags were created.
The Flags of Hope project was held in the reception area of Building C at Salem Hospital, a lovely, comfortable space where patients and caregivers can relax with a latte, work on a puzzle, color a mandala, or read a magazine.
I always come away from these classes feeling blessed, humbled, and honored, as the women who take these classes are either in the middle of cancer treatment, just finishing treatment, or have gone through it in the past. Here are some photos of the flags being created over the past couple of weeks.
During this week’s session, a cancer survivor was chatting with a woman who just finished up chemo. Her hair is starting to come back in, but she revealed she wasn’t feeling very pretty. The woman who battled cancer in the past, stepped over and began encouraging and sharing her experience with this woman, affirming to her how beautiful she is and how it gets better. The painting of prayer flags was a lovely respite from the treatment, but the beauty for me was witnessing the human connection of two women being able to talk about a shared experience.
Another woman, who came in late, finished up as I was putting supplies away. She said, “This is so therapeutic for me. I needed this. I live with the fear of wondering if my cancer will return.” This is her flag:
The flags from the two classes will be on display at the hospital on Wednesday, June 8, during the National Cancer Survivors Day celebration.
