Mar Goman's Lucy

I ran into SCRAP on Friday afternoon and while passing by SCRAP's Vision Gallery I did a double take. I entered the gallery and began trembling. The show took my breath away. It really did. As I began scanning the room, I noticed the artist bio near the door and put together that the artist had walked into the room. I knew it was her because she has such a unique, funky look to her. I asked, "Are you the artist?" Yep, it was Mar Goman herself. I told her how struck I was by her work, by the entire installation. She shared a bit of the story of how she created her work for the show, Lucy: A True Story. It all began when she found a blanket from the Oregon State Hospital in an antique store . . .

The closing of the Oregon State Hospital is what got my whole project going....I was interested in the proposed memorial for the patients who died and were buried on the grounds there. And this research led me to other websites, and eventually I came upon the Lucy story....so its all connected. I found the Oregon State Hospital blanket in an antique store, and that was what led me to 'imagine' the location as OSH---plus it was timely. Lucy could actually have been in any one of a number of hospitals with the same ultimate result. Mar

Here's a photo of Mar and then, with her permission, photos of her show.




















The show runs through June 26th and I highly recommend you stop by SCRAP to see Mar's show. I plan to go back for another look.

Lucy died at the Oregon State Hospital in 1922 . . .

sCRAP: Push Pull

I scored at SCRAP last Friday when I swung in for a quick browse. Yowza! is all I have to say.

Collage Up a Storm

One of my favorite places to purchase art and reuse supplies in Portland is SCRAP (School and Community Reuse Action Project). SCRAP describes itself like this:

Established in 1998, the School and Community Reuse Action Project is a 501(c)(3) non-profit that inspires creative reuse and environmentally sustainable behavior by providing educational programs and affordable materials to the community.

SCRAP recently relocated from N. Mississippi to 2915 N.E. Martin Luther King Blvd. Before I write about the class I taught there on Sunday, here's a glimpse into the glorious abundance of the store:

On Sunday, I had the privilege of volunteering to teach a workshop at SCRAP, something I haven't done in about a year. This was my first time teaching in their new location, and althought it wasn't quite ready for offering workshops, we made the best of our slightly dusty space. The class I taught was a new one I have developed, Collage Up a Storm. Everyone was given a dress pattern to get some texture onto an 8 x 10 canvas board as a base layer, and then the fun began!

Here is what the seven workshop participants created in only two hours!