Baker City Artists Tour

 Amy VanGaasbeck Fine Art Studio Painter Amy VanGaasbeck works with oils, and also does drawings with charcoal and in pen and ink.  She works in a bright sunlit shared studio space in Churchill School in Baker City.   Amy is well known for her nostalgic still life paintings of vintage items from earlier eras, and her paintings of classic cars using close ups in an almost abstract way and featuring gleaming chrome and shiny reflections.   Her latest focus is oil portraits of people she’s met on mission trips to Kenya.     She is working on the portraits using reference photographs, which requires special skill to capture the “aliveness” of the subjects.   She also has been experimenting with taking old paintings or retro paintings and adding a pop culture reference.   Amy sells mostly online at www.dancingelephantart.com    She also shows at Crossroads-Carnegie Art Center, White House Design, and occasionally at Copper Belt Wine Tasting in Baker City.   This display of finished work doe

  Printmaker Mason Cessna works out of a spacious studio in Churchill School in Baker City.   Mason has worked on different types of print processes in his career, and also experiments with ceramics. Currently he is doing woodblock reduction printing – requiring multiple stages and colors. As an “artist in residence” at Churchill he is helping establish Churchill Press -   a community focused printmaking project. Churchill Press specializes in etching, monotype, relief, and experimental printing methods. Mason sells from his studio, and you can see his work at masoncessna.com. The Conrad Etching Press Supply of wood blocks Wood carving tools Inks and rollers Ink is rolled onto the blocks from a glass top table Preparing the paper The freshly pressed print is hung to dry with other works in progress. When the woodblock design is further reduced, additional color layers will be added.  All kinds of paper might be used - showing a print done on a vintage newsprint comics page. 

  Stopping in at Moonflower Arts where ceramics artist Leigh Metz is creating jewelry, garden art, and ceramic tiles.   Located in a small building behind her Baker City home, this compact space is set up for efficiency and managing multiple projects.   Leigh designs and produces jewelry in quantity to sell at art markets around the west, the Boise Saturday Market, online, and in several stores and gift shops.   With pandemic restrictions this year she is mostly selling online and wholesale. Many of her pieces use layered glazes and multiple firings.   She recently has started producing decorative tiles showing scenes from National Parks, starting with Arches National Park.   You can see her work locally at Crossroads-Carnegie Art center, or online at https://www.moonflowerarts.com/ The center worktable has work in different stages.  Clay preparation area.  Tools for shaping and texture.  For pieces to be reproduced in quantity, Leigh uses small metal cutters, similar to cookie cutters