Toledo Art Walk honors Native American Work
Toledo will celebrate 30 years of artistic excellence during the First Weekend Art Walk this Saturday and Sunday, Aug. 2 and 3.
This year, the self-guided tour leads visitors to participating galleries and studios with refreshments, art talks and Toledo's Mural Walk.
The Yaquina River Museum of Art will present "Tribal Warriors," an exhibition of selected Native American works by Joseph D. Calhoun (1905-1996). This amazingly detailed collection of 12 oil paintings reflects the turn of the century in the West.
Calhoun grew up in the Oklahoma Territory and was drawn to the Native American culture that surrounded him. Riding horses, hunting, and herding cattle throughout his youth, he also cultivated a love of art through his Native American mother, an artist herself. Self-taught, he based his work on the photogravures of Edward S. Curtis, who was working with tribes across the western United States.
Calhoun moved to Oregon in 1937, logging on the coast and painting the Native American populations. His work was featured in galleries, shows and exhibitions throughout the South, Mid-West and Western States. He lived in Toledo through the 1990s until his death in 1996 in the Old Toledo Library located on Alder Street, which is now owned by his granddaughter, Pat DeSilva.
DeSilva will deliver a talk on her grandfather’s life and work at 2 pm both days of First Weekend
The Calhoun exhibition will be on display through August and September at the museum, located at 151 NE Alder Street. For more information, go to yaquinarivermuseumofart.com.
Also at the museum, guest artist Marion Moir will display watercolors featuring Native American subjects, ranchers and farriers. A lifelong painter and student of the arts, Moir is known for her iconic works of flowers, landscapes, puffins, sea life and maritime scenes, however this special display of works, in connection with Calhoun's exhibition, have been selected from the artist's personal collection.
Across the street, Michael Gibbons' Signature Gallery will feature works by award-winning regional artist Michael Gibbons, who died in 2020. Gibbons’ works were featured in shows nationally and internationally throughout his illustrious 40-year career. The Signature Gallery is located at 140 NE Alder Street. For more information, go to michaelgibbons.net.
Just down the way at Ivan Kelly’s Studio & Gallery, the artist will be featuring his original oil landscapes, big game and maritime paintings. Growing up in the lush and varied Irish countryside instilled in Kelly a love and appreciation for the natural world. With several decades of painting on location across the Western, Southwestern United States and Canada, his work exhibits a personal vision, authenticity and sense of place.
Ivan Kelly Studio-Gallery is located at 207 East Graham Street. For more information, go to ivankelly.com.