Toledo hosts First Weekend
After the pumpkins and skeletons of Halloween are cleared away, Toledo will offer a different kind of visual splendor, with galleries and studios opening their doors for First Weekend on Saturday and Sunday, Nov. 1 and 2.
The Yaquina River Museum of Art will feature its new show, "Art Walk Memories," a curated exhibition celebrating 30 years of Art Walk. Founded by the late regional artist Michael Gibbons, Toledo’s Art Walk began as a one-time event in October, 1993 as an open-studio for Gibbons along with neighboring artists Douglas Haga and Ivan Kelly. In 1994 and 1995 the trio of Toledo artists staged a repeat, with each inviting a guest artist, swelling the number to six. In 1996, prompted by the challenges of October weather, the Art Walk event date was changed to the three days of Labor Day weekend. And in 2025, the event was held the first weekend of August in collaboration with Art Toledo's Art, Oysters & Brews.
Also featured at the museum are select works from the Gibbons collection. including crowd favorite "Daylight Moon," an early work displaying Gibbons’ technical skill and realistic style that harkens back to his work as a specialty automotive accessories draftsman.
The exhibit will be available to view from noon to 4 pm both days at the Yaquina River Museum of Art, 151 NE Alder Street. For more information, go to www.yaquinarivermuseumofart.com.
Across the street, Michael Gibbons' Signature Gallery will be featuring "Glow of the Waning Day," an agrestic painting that captures the golden light of the sun against fields of changing grass shadowed by a large oak tree. Off in the distance, the scene captures the roof of a weathered barn. Gibbons often found inspiration from the juxtaposition of industry and nature, exploring the interaction of the two in the scenes he sought out in the field to paint en plein air.
Michael Gibbons’ Signature Gallery is located at 140 NE Alder Street and will be open from noon to 4 pm both days. For more information, go to michaelgibbons.net.
On Main Street, Crow’s Nest Gallery & Studio will feature the works of more than 15 artists. The gallery-space is run by assemblage artist Janet Runger, who features her storybook sculptures and can often be found working on her newest creations in her workshop within the gallery. Also shown in Crow's Nest are the works of Alice Haga, fused glass; Paula Teplitz, sculptural jellyfish mobiles; Jeff Gibford, digitally manipulated photographs; Veta Bakhtina, oil paintings; Sylvia Hosie, wildlife photography; Val Bolen, ceramics and glass mosaics; Tish Epperson, watercolors; and Susan Jones, woven fiber jellyfish.
Crow’s Nest Gallery & Studio, located at 305 N. Main Street, is open from 10 am to 5 pm both days of First Weekend.