(Above: Art by Keith Achepohl is on view at the Don Dexter Gallery through 2025.)
The main attraction
Here’s what gallerist Don Dexter has to say about extending his showing of Wishing Tree: A Keith Achepohl Retrospective (1934- 2018) through the end of 2025:
“Carrying the Wishing Tree exhibit over through the end of the year was an easy decision. Visitors to the gallery are deeply moved by the story of the origins of this show, which is as relevant now— perhaps even moreso— than when it was created in 2008. When you come, please pick up a strip of fabric painted by Mr. Achepohl himself, and tie it along with your highest hopes, wishes and prayers in the courtyard outside the gallery in this centuries-old tradition of community.
“Mr. Achepohl said of his Wishing Tree work, ‘While wandering through Turkey, I often came upon sacred sites near mosques as well as roadside caves and small designated site on trails where the trees became bearers of wishes simply by being hung with strips of cloth torn from personal clothing … To see trees laden with pieces of cloth, talismans torn from the body in hope of a healing, a grant giving, a forgiveness, is to see layers of these wishes given to time to play with since the pieces of cloth are removed, transformed, disintegrate only by natural forces.”
“He added, ‘Most cultures seem to have had the need, the medium through which to give hope, give thanks, seek help. The Turkish wishing tree provides a simple, eloquent means.’
“Mr. Achepohl had a lengthy academic arts career, and his work is in museums and galleries around the world, including Venice, Cairo, Madrid, New York, Kobe, Verona, Alexandria, Istanbul, and Berlin, our own Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art, and across the United States. We are delighted to bring his work to Eugene.”
An additional show in the lobby: Mud Bay Moments 2025 by Robin Grace
One of Robin Grace’s handmade tapestries on show at the Don Dexter Gallery
“Robin Grace is a self-taught textile artist. The two- and three-dimensional pieces in this show were constructed by handstitching silk thread into felted wool, cutting the material into a variety of shapes and sewing them into new forms. Knitting fine gauge wire, she creates a ‘skeleton’’ to which the fabric melds, adding strength and luminosity.
“The pieces in this show were inspired by Robin’s experiences of the raw and rugged beauty of living off-grid on a roadless peninsula in South East Alaska. The drama of nature within the Lynn Canal, the deepest fjord in North America, is hard to convey in photos or words. She sees art everywhere.
When: Noon to 5 p.m. Thursday through Saturday, through 2025
Where: Don Dexter Gallery, 2911 Tennyson Ave, No. 202, Eugene, in Crescent Village; take the elevator on the east side of the Inkwell Building to the second floor
