(Above: Paula Goodbar steps into the world of the surreal in her latest artistic pursuits; her work is part of a show and art sale in Cottage Grove on Dec. 14-15; photos by Randi Bjornstad)
By Randi Bjornstad
Two years ago, artist Paula Goodbar left her five-year stint as executive director of the Emerald Art Center and moved with her husband to Cottage Grove from their longtime home in Eugene.
“Fortunately, it worked,” Goodbar says of all the changes. “It was needed — we both could breathe a little again. The community here is much smaller, and it’s very friendly. Even when there are very different politics, people seem to accept each other. We felt at home right away.”
The move has rejuvenated her art as well, as Goodbar has begun to explore surrealism, creating digital photo collages that draw more from her emotional than her rational side.
“It’s something I’ve always wanted to do, but something that wasn’t easy for me when the rest of my life was so based in reality,” Goodbar says. “It used to be that I would look at random objects and ask myself, ‘Does it all work together?’, and now I say, ‘It doesn’t have to, this is how I feel.’ “
For the first two years of her administrative job at the Emerald Art Center, “I really just had to put my own art aside,” she recalls, “and then for the next three years I had to try to make myself go into my work area and do something every day. That helped, but I still felt I couldn’t just throw myself into my art.”
Even after she left the day job and was home with a whole room devoted to her creative side, “It took awhile that I could just go into my space and do whatever I wanted with my art,” Goodbar says. “Now I have to make myself get up and leave the room and do something besides art — I just want to keep on with whatever I’m doing.”
As a result, Goodbar says, “My art has become much deeper. I don’t want it to be easy or commercial — if I veer off that goal, I just start over. At this point, I want to do what comes from my subconscious, to start with one thing and just add more and more as it feels right.”
Some of Goodbar’s recent work will be on display in Cottage Grove, where 10 area artists will be showing and selling their work on Dec. 14 and 15 at the Cottage Events Venue, in an exhibit called Art in the Grove.
Her latest series combines antique photographs of people with digital photos to create a background —
Paula Goodbar’s latest artistic foray is surrealism in the form of digital photo collages
perhaps a room, an old building, a scene in the woods — that seems to fit the character.
“That can be quite a long process,” she admits. “I might get to the point where I feel it all means something, and then I go back and say, ‘No, it needs this, or this,’ until I am sure it is telling the right story.”
Just as she rescues long-ago photographs of people, Goodbar feels that she is giving them new life.
“When I see these pictures of people that no one wants any more, I feel that they have been abandoned, and that is sad,” she says. “But if I can put them in worlds of their own, it’s kind of like a parallel universe — they may have been lost, but they now are remembered.”
Goodbar still does some painting, her first major art form, now and again, “but not as often — it takes so much more time to set up and do it and then finish it, although I do still like getting my hands dirty sometimes.”
Recently, she’s had several successes with her digital collages, including two pieces accepted for a show at the Sedona Art Center in Arizona.
“I really wanted to get into that show — there will be 31 women artists included — and when I got the email that I would be one, I started to cry,” Goodbar says. “It was huge for me — a real turning point — to have my work accepted by an art mecca like Sedona.”
Most importantly, she says, “I feel now that I can think of myself as a surrealist.”
Art in the Grove: Holiday Art Show and Sale
When: 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Saturday, Dec. 14; 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Sunday, Dec. 15
Where: Cottage Events Venue, 2915 Row River Road, Cottage Grove
Details: Art for sale by 10 area artists (plus live music, warm beverages, wine, and snacks). The artists include —
- Kyla Corbett — Felted art paintings
- Glenn Dow — Oil paintings
- Paula Goodbar — Digital photo collage
- Don Gustavson — Photography
- Sue Hunnel Flamewrangler — Lampwork glass jewelry
- Rex Hunnel — Op art
- Demetra Kalams — Watercolor paintings
- Susan Klein — Mixed-media jewelry
- Janet Nelson — Weavings, quilled jewelry, and ornaments
- David CP Placencia — Acrylic paintings
Information: paula.goodbar@gmail.com
