Philomath Open Studios provide tour of surprises

PHILOMATH - This weekend and next Corvallis painter/printmaker Bill Shumway will be one of 12 visiting artists joining eight member artists for the Sixth Annual Philomath Open Studios Art Tour and Sale.

Shumway, who owns Pegasus Gallery in downtown Corvallis, lives relatively near Philomath as the crow flies, northwest of town on the Oak Creek side of Cardwell Hill. He and his wife, Susan, moved there about a year and a half ago.

There, he has two studios: one for painting, one for printmaking.

Shumway has a penchant for "en plein air" painting at remote locations, such as Hell's Canyon, the rivers and lakes of the High Cascades, and the Oregon Coast.

But, when he can't get out, he looks closer to home for inspiration.

"I've been pretty much painting where I live since I moved up there," he said.

"I did go into fetal position for awhile," Shumway said of the challenge of painting the dense undergrowth of the Coast Range foothills. "I'm not used to painting so many leaves and branches, I'm used to uninterrupted landscapes."

But he eventually persevered in capturing the essence of the area.

His most recent painting is of an unnamed spring-fed creek in a gully near his house that he called "Cardwell Hill Spring." He captured the scene working quickly with acrylic paints at an easel in his backyard.

"I rarely paint longer than an hour and a half," said Shumway. "But, I walked around for months (thinking about it), I'd go down there and sit with it like a basketball player visualizes shooting hoop shots," he explained.

"You're canceling out things you don't need to deal with, I think that is what's going on. Then there is this 'ah ha' moment."

"I try to be ready in every way. That is, I have my painting panel set to go, all my gear is ready, my pallet is 'juiced' and then I can just act right away," Shumway said.

"It's exhilarating," Shumway said. "You throw everything you have at it and hope like hell."

Shumway looks forward to sharing his enthusiasm and creative process with tour goers from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Oct. 11-12 and 18-19 at the Benton County Historical Museum, 1101 Main St., in Philomath.

On the first weekend he and Mark Allison will demonstrate "en plein air" painting. On the second, he and Herbert Berman will paint portraits.

They will be manning just one of nine locations, including three wineries and various home studios, that will be open to visitors during the tour.

"It's a chance for people to see the studio environment," said Philomath textiles artist Laura Berman.

"Most of us have created a body of work for this show," she added.

She considers the tour a great way for art lovers to delve behind the scenes of various artistic mediums.

"I think that when most people look at artwork they have no idea what they are looking at," Berman said. "It's the process that makes the work."

Other featured artists include Babette Grunwald, Dale Donovan, Debby Sundbaum-Sommers, Lee Kitzman, Katheryn Byram, Judith Sander, Harold Wood, Jerri Bartholomew, Linda Herd, Cindy McNutt Kaestner, Michelle Schultz, Jerry Pollari, Louie Gizyn, Charles Kelley, Karen Tornow and Sara Morrissey.

For more information and a list of locations to pick up tour maps, see www.

philomathopenstudios.com.