(Above: Artist Roka Walsh describes her piece, “Counting Crows,” as a metallic photographic canvas print that is available in a variety of sizes and formats; photos by Randi Bjornstad)

By Randi Bjornstad

It’s a Grand Tour of women’s creativity on June 8-10, with eight artists showing and selling their work at three of their private studios in south Eugene.

Four artists are joining forces to show their work at McMillan Spring studio, including these paintings by Tara Kemp

In the center at McMillan Spring Studio, which occupies the cozy lower level of Patti Lomont’s College Hill home, Lomont will show her fused glass, jewelry and ceramic sculpture. She’ll be joined by Roka Walsh, who works in photographic mixed media, Tara Kemp with her paintings and glicée prints, and Sheri Smith Holgate’s pine needle creations.

A few blocks to the east near Laurelwood Golf Course, Tylar Merrill, who creates felt fashions, will share her Thimbleberry Felt Designs Studio with Annie Heron, who does ceramic tableware, mosaics and garden art, and Sue Hunnel and her lampwork glass.

To the west just off Willamette Street, Catherine Imo’s fabric montage will be the focus of her show.

Having a studio of her own where she can create and market her work — and invite fellow artists in to offer theirs — is the fruition of a decades-long dream of Lomont’s. She’s been

“Artful Delights” includes examples of fine basketry by artisst Sheri Smith Holgate; her work also is on display in an exhibit at the Maude Kerns Art Center

crafting jewelry and glass art for more than 30 years, along the way collecting a degree in art education with minors in music and anthropology.

“I’ve been very lucky to have been able to study with amazing people,” Lomont says. “I worked for a long time at different jobs, including Oregon Crafted and Aurora Glass, but when my husband retired, he said if I kept on with a regular job, we couldn’t do a lot of things we would like to do.”

With his support of her art, “it became my total focus,” she says. “I’m grateful to be in such a luxurious position.”

The couple lived in the Pleasant Hill area for years before looking for an in-city location and finding the perfect spot on the east flank of College Hill.

“Our original plan was to find a modest place and then have to do an extensive remodel,” Lomont says. “But we were lucky enough to find this, and it was already set up perfectly so that we could devote the lower floor to my studio, with a separate entrance, and still have plenty of separate living space above it.”

One of Patti Lomont’s works-in-progress is a sculpture of a mermaid seated on a rock; she uses lichen in the firing process to create fantastical textures

Before, spending time in her studio meant walking from her house to a separate studio, “but now I can just slip into the studio and stare at something for five minutes if I want, to get ideas or figure out how I want to do something,” she says. “I try to work every day — if I don’t, I really feel something is missing.”

Twice a year, Lomont links up with other artists to hold a joint show. She exhibits the jewelry that she calls “my bread-and-butter,” but she also works in larger pieces that range from framed, fused-glass panels and lights to earthen sculptures of animals and people, in both realistic and fantasy forms.

Her latest creation is a large mermaid sitting on a rock that in the carving stage is ecru and gray but eventually will be lavishly colored.

The balance between sculpture and glass art satisfies Lomont’s need for both stability and whimsy.

“With sculpture, I can create something the way I envision it,” she says. “But when you’re working with glass and firing it, there’s always that element where you’re not in control, and that makes it interesting.”

 

Artful Delights Spring Show

When: 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. on Friday, June 8; 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday, June 9 and 10 (all studios also open year-round, by appointment)

Where:

  • McMillan Spring Studio — 2106 McMillan St., Eugene (just west of Willamette Street)
  • Thimbleberry Felt Designs Studio — 2630 Agate St., Eugene (near Laurelwood Golf Course)
  • Catherine Imo Studio — 396 Dellwood Drive, Eugene (west off Willamette Street on 38th Avenue, then right on Dellwood Drive)

Participating artists:

  • McMillan Spring Studio (541-741-8229) — Patti Lomont, Roka Walsh, Tara Kemp, Sheri Smith Holgate
  • Thimbleberry Felt Designs Studio (541-521-8701) — Tylar Merrill, Annie Heron, Sue Hunnel
  • Catherine Imo Studio (541-654-2612) — Catherine Imo

Artist Patti Lomont has been working with glass in various forms for three decades. Many of her fused glass objects will be included in the “Artful Delights Spring Show” on June 8-10

 

 

 

 

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