Sherman County Historical Museum’s Sherman County Artist Series features the work of Brett King during the month of June. Brett’s artistic talent developed at an early age. A self-taught and diverse artist, his work includes Sharpie art, custom tattoos, pencil drawings, graphic art and mirror etchings.
Brett grew up in Sherman County, the son of Jeff and Paula King, and enjoys hunting, fishing, four-wheelers, his show truck, and helping his dad on the farm. He works from his studio at 341 N.E. Greenwood in Bend, King Dezines, making drawings of a favorite dog, buck deer, elk, flowers and more in response to the needs of his clients. He applies Sharpie art to helmets and jet skis, and designs logos and graphics for paint jobs on motor homes and trucks, including his own show truck.
6/12/2009 - Harvest Moon Gallery Artists
Sherman County Historical Museum’s Artists of the Month series features work by Harvest Moon Gallery artists during the month of June. Their work demonstrates a wide range of talent in the county community - photography, oils, watercolors and unique greeting cards which are sold at the Gallery on Main Street in Moro.
5/7/2009 - Artists Come in Small Packages
Artists come in small packages! Parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins and fans of the budding artists at the Sherman Preschool in Moro are invited to view their display as Sherman County Historical Museum Artists of the Month. Colorful, energizing and interesting, their works are identified by their first names. They will make you smile!
9/23/2008 - Historical Woolen Quilts and Garments
Woolen quilts and garments from the Sherman County Historical Museum collections will be featured during October's Sherman County Artist Series at the Museum in Moro.
Long preserved by Sherman County families and, now in the museum, heavy woolen quilts serve as stark reminders of long-ago winters without central heating systems, according to the museum's exhibit chair, Myrna Melzer.
6/26/2008 - Cameron Kaseberg
Growing up in Sherman County, Kaseberg was involved in the creative world, with crayons, finger-painting, stitchery and his first camera, which developed to a life-long fascination with art, photography, digital imagery and design.
Encouragement and education from artist and instructor Shirley Fritts at Sherman Union High School was a launching platform that led to a job at Mel O's Camera Shop in The Dalles copying old photographs in the darkroom and a photography class with his dad as a teenager. He went on to photography and printmaking classes at the University of Minnesota and a stint as staff photographer at Lewis and Clark College. It was at Portland State University where he discovered a new creative experience, the solvent transfer process, combining his background in photographic imagery with his desire for artistic expression.
The solvent transfer process uses a variety of solvents to loosen ink from printed pages from magazines, photocopies and inkjet prints. Using images captured by his own camera, as well as those collected in print matter, his current work continues exploration of the transfer process. The images are combined to create both complex and simple works, always with reason, whether a personal statement, exploration of the medium, or simply a record of thought and feeling. His solvent transfer work as well as photographic, graphic and web design work may be seen at www.kaseberg.com.
A Bachelor of Science degree in Graphic Design/Applied Design at Portland State University led to work in the museum exhibit and tradeshow industry. Between 1992 and 2002, Kaseberg designed the Museum's three interpretive exhibits, Oregon Trails, Rails and Roads in Sherman County, Wheat Through The Ages, and Cultivation, Conservation and Clothespins, and in 2008 designed the Museum's new logo and signs.
9/2/2002 - Orice Klaas
Fifth in the Sherman County Artist-Artisan Series at the Sherman County Historical Museum in Moro during September is Orice Klaas, a local cloth doll artist. Many of her dolls are original, emerging directly from her own lively and colorful imagination, and some from patterns produced by other artists.
Klaas' unique doll-making style involves sewing and crafting skills, painting, needle-felting, beading and clay sculpting. Each doll's face is made from cloth or polymer clay that is baked in the oven. Facial features are applied by pens, pencils, brushes, and acrylic paints. Yarn, mohair and variety trims are used for hair. Each costume is embellished with hand-made, found or purchased objects.
Ms. Klaas shares her joy in cloth dollmaking by teaching classes and selling her dolls and patterns. Her work and class schedule are available at Lisa's in Stitches in downtown Moro.
7/1/2002 - Mary Thompson
Sherman County Historical Museum's Artist of the Month Series features an exhibition of wood engravings, Great Expectations, by Mary Thompson. These wood engravings are based on Mary’s maternal grandparents' Great Depression-era photographs made on a farm near Grass Valley, Oregon, that was theirs for a while.
The young couple, a farmer and a former school teacher, bought the farm from the local banker intending to raise sheep. There was more sagebrush than grass, more wind than rain on this farm. Even the resident barn cat was thin and wary. They started with a small flock of sheep. Soon a daughter was born. With some of the proceeds from the first sale of spring lambs, they bought a puppy from some neighbor boys and trained her to herd sheep. For a time, the farm prospered. The flock grew ever larger, wool was abundant, market lambs filled the loading chutes for sale in the city, and their little daughter flourished. The young couple were caught in the poor market conditions of the Great Depression and were forced to sell their lambs and fleeces at a loss. Disease and drought took a toll. Despite dearly bought wagon loads of turnips for feed, the flock declined. The sheep dog was idle. Rob paced. The little girl watched her mother pack their belongings for the family lost the farm to the bank and they would leave.
Wood engraving is a relief-printmaking process related to wood cut, and these engravings are made with end cut blocks of red maple, and cut with a variety of small specialized tools. To make a print, ink is rolled onto the cut block and then transferred to paper by use of a press or by hand by rubbing with the back of a wooden spoon. The parts of the block that have been removed will be white, while the uncut portions will print black. Wood engraving is unique in printmaking because of the possibility of making prints that combine extreme detail with areas of deepest black. These engravings were hand-rubbed onto Sekishu White paper in an edition of ten.
6/10/2002 - Sherman High School Artists
Sherman High School art students are the June featured Artists of the Month at the Sherman County Historical Museum in Moro. Jeanney McArthur, Art Coordinator, and Barbara Weedman, teacher, proudly present the work of their students.
Work in pen and ink is shown by Bob Danielson, Donna Browning, Frankie Welk, KC Lissman and Codi Stroud. Colored pencil is a medium of choice for Katie Ketchum, Amanda Justesen, Brandi von Borstel, Breanne Miller, Megan Fritts, Taylor Morris, Bryce Olsen, George Grigsby, Anna Moore, Frankie Welk, Codi Stroud, Kayla Mace and Donna Browning. Megan Stone, Marci Bird and Jenna Bird created block prints.
Jenna Mersy produced a cut paper design, and Cassie Parker a charcoal drawing. Megan Stone, Suzi Fritts, Cassie Parker and Kolby Burnett worked with collage.Water colors by Amanda Justesen, Katie Ketchum and Jenna Mersy is exhibited. Work in pencil is displayed by Kit Hill, Taylor Morris and Andy Thompson.
Marci Bird, Devin Wooderson, Amanda Justesen and Codi Stroud worked in pastels. Ceramic masks were created by Jerika Helgeson, Kit Hill, Andy Thompson, Kayla Mace, Cassie Parker, Bryce Olsen, Codi Stroud and Jenna Bird.
5/12/2002 - Carol McKenzie
The Sherman County Artist Series presents fabric artist, Carol McKenzie of Wasco, during May. An extraordinary hand with quilts and wearable art, Carol has several wall hangings on display in the Museum lobby.
7/5/2001 - Beryl Schantz Wilcox
The Sherman County Artists Series at the Sherman County Historical Museum in Moro features an August exhibition of oil paintings by Beryl Schantz Wilcox of The Dalles. Her interest in portraits is demonstrated in this exhibit, and her own children and grandchildren, whose roots go deep into the soil of Sherman County, serve as her models. Relying on richly textured color while abjuring line, Beryl constantly seeks to evoke an effervescent mystery that imbues her view of subject, time and place, including works titled Mother and Daughter, Sleeping House, Sunspots, Augustine, Melon Seeds, Wet and Lonely, Veronica, Avalon, Lea and End of a Perfect Day.
Born and reared in Bismark, ND, Beryl pursued her vocation first in college at St. Catharine's in Minneapolis. When her family moved to Salem in the late 1940s, she continued at Marylhurst College in Lake Oswego. She met and married Dean Wilcox, son of Sherman County farmers, George and Marie Morrison Wilcox, and attended Pacific University at Forest Grove. After the birth of their first child, Beryl directed all of her creative energy toward rearing their seven children. She returned to Portland State University and later received her Bachelor of Arts from Marylhurst in 1975.
