Newport celebrates the king of prints

Newport’s Olive Street Gallery will be all jazzed up with the display, “Jazz on Paper” opening this Friday, Oct. 3 and running through November 30.

Located inside the Newport Performing Arts Center, the gallery walls will feature the hand-silkscreened posters by Earl Newman from the collection of works created during 50 years of Monterey Jazz posters from 1963 to 2012.

“Happening upon Earl Newman’s impressively vast and specific body of work was serendipitous,” said center director Chasse Davidson. “When it comes to jazz-inspired visual art, we hit the jackpot. Earl is a master printer, which is a great fit as we gear up for the opening of our community printmaking studio.”

Newman arrived in Venice, California, in 1960 in a ’55 Chevy with his wife, Jean, and two kids, Andrea and April, determined to fully embrace the artist’s life. Soon to follow was their son, Dale, who was fittingly born in their art gallery. Newman’s singular talent allowed him to indelibly capture the unique essence of American culture in the ’60s and early ’70s. He began by producing silkscreened posters for local coffee houses and jazz clubs and sold the epitome of “California cool” art. As he has said, “It was the right place at the right time.”

In 1972, he and his family moved to Summit, Oregon, and 60 years later, he is still a self-employed artist. Now retired from silkscreen design and printing, he is focused on creating one-of-a-kind, original painted works.

An opening reception celebrating “Jazz On Paper” will be held at the gallery on Wednesday, Oct. 22, at 5 pm, featuring light refreshments, music by pianist Evelyn Idzerda and artist comments at 5:30 pm.

Exhibits at Olive Street Gallery, located inside the Newport Performing Arts Center at 777 W Olive Street, can be viewed Tuesdays through Fridays from 10 am to 3 pm and during events.

For more information, go to coastarts.org or call 541-265-2787.