Art, Gales Creek, Washington County

Free art tour will feature 64 artists and their studios throughout Washington County

Mad Moisan Studio in Gales Creek at the 2017 Open Studios Tour. Photo: Sharon Hundley

WASHINGTON COUNTY – Dozens of local artists throughout Washington County  — including six from the Gales Creek and Banks areas — will open their studio doors to visitors on Saturday and Sunday, October 19 and 20 from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m., as part of the free 2019 Washington County Open Studios Tour.

According to event organizers, the self-guided tour will feature at least 64 artists and galleries stretching from just outside the Hagg Lake community all the way to the Multnomah County border near Portland, with artists located in Gales Creek, Banks, Forest Grove, Hillsboro, Beaverton, Helvatia, Sherwood and more. 

In Gales Creek, two artists are featured in this year’s tour. Kathie Ellis is a watercolor artist with her Mad Moisan Watercolor studio located at 51685 NW Outback Lane, with Anya Doll, a fiber artist, showing her work at her studio at 10275 NW Shearer Hill Road. 

In the Banks area, Pamela Dierickx, a pottery artist, will open her doors at 43060 Northwest Dierickx Road, just outside of Banks, to visitors. Three more artists are all in a shared space in the Satellite Drive area: JoAnn Pari-Mueller, a watercolor, pastels and calligraphy artist, Marie-Helene Rake, an artist working with metal jewelry, and Hailey Gibson, a high school artist working with colored pencils, pen, and acrylic paint. These three artists are located at 14930 Northwest Tranquility Drive.

A map of all participating locations can be found at www.washcoart.org/map-2019/.

The tour is billed as an opportunity for visitors to see the creative process behind the work of local artists, with a rare behind the scenes look at the workspace of artists working in contemporary and traditional arts. Refreshments, demonstrations, and exhibition and sale of artwork will be offered throughout the all-ages tour, with some of the locations wheelchair accessible.

The annual event was launched in 2010 with 17 artists, according to the Washington County Art Alliance, the nonprofit organization that hosts the event. 

As part of the event, the Washington County Art Association sponsored the David Falconer Memorial Youth Artist Mentorship Program, which allows for up to three artists in their junior or senior year of high school to be mentored in-studio by a working artist and offered exhibit space during the tour. 

The event, sponsored by local businesses, art organizations and nonprofits, and individuals, is kept free for visitors, though participating studios and galleries pay a small fee.

For more information, visit the WCAA website at www.washcoart.org. For a full artist list, visit www.washcoart.org/artists-and-galleries-2019.

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Chas Hundley is the editor of the Gales Creek Journal and sister news publications the Banks Post and the Salmonberry Magazine. He grew up in Gales Creek and has a cat.

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