I’ve been looking forward to the Newberg First Friday ARTwalk since the last one back in May. I love that each event is a little different, and that featured artists are always rotating. The weather was perfect for an evening spent walking between shops, listening to music, and enjoying the company of fellow art enthusiast.

I was impressed with just how busy the streets were! Everyone was out and about enjoying the sunshine at the end of a long work week.

The first place I stopped was Pulp & Circumstance. They celebrated their one year anniversary and had a photo booth set up inside and Red Hills Market was serving complimentary focaccia bread out of their new mobile food truck! The truck is so neat, I look forward to seeing it all around town this summer.

 

Pulp & Circumstance is one of my favorite new gift shops. They have everything from jewelry, to stationary, pottery, plants, and tons of artwork. This place gets my creative juices flowing!

 

I even bought myself a little treat that I’ll share in an upcoming post. Hint: Tea Time

My next stop was at Art Elements Gallery. The gallery space at Art Elements is fantastic, it can accommodate artwork big and small and they exclusively feature local and regional artists.

This month they’re featuring local artist Monica Setziol-Phillips from Sheridan, Oregon. She combines both carving and weaving to create some of the most beautiful pieces.

Two of her pieces that I loved were “Oregon Summer” and “Winter Reise.” The way the weaving complements the carving is just stunning. It makes me wonder if she weaves first or carves first? In “Oregon Summer” I can just feel the rays of sunshine reflecting off the rippling water.

On my way to the Chehalem Cultural Center, I made sure to swing by Honest Chocolates to pick up a few pieces to share with The Renaissance Man! They have really tasty treats at super affordable prices, and make some of the best caramels. One of my favorites is the chocolate dipped caramel with lavender sea salt, the floral notes of the lavender paired with rich buttery caramel is amazing!

 

My last stop of the night was the Parrish Gallery at the Chehalem Cultural Center to see artist Gary Buhler and his exhibit Urban Perspectives. We’ve seen some of Gary’s art before at his own Blue Trout Gallery Studio, but to see it in the Parrish Gallery brought a whole new light to his artwork. It was great to see so many pieces and with such great lighting. I especially enjoyed looking at both framed and unframed works along with a large variety of sizes.

Being a transportation engineer, I am particularly drawn to his images of downtown streetscapes and traffic signals. The way he accentuates colors to provide depth and contrast without muddling the subject matter is quite impressive.

And if I had to pick just one, this would be it. The architectural columns and blue-green colors makes this image pop! Gary’s ability to create lines with such a loose medium like water color amazes me, and I look forward to visiting the Blue Trout to see his latest work at the next ARTwalk.