A Collaboration

Lynn and Bob collaborate

Syzygy is the title of the panel we created

My husband Bob and I share a studio at our home in Bend. We built it from late 2016, surviving the record snow-winter of 2017, and finally moving in the fall of that year. Bob is finding his creative path in printmaking, focusing on copper plate etching. He worked hard through 2018 and created a series of work that was displayed at the Bend Art Center in December. It was a satisfying achievement! He tells me he learned so much and is excited to carry on his adventure in etching.

In the middle of last year, we were invited by Bob’s fellow member of Bend Art Center, Julie Winter, to participate in a site-specific art installation that she envisioned and is curating. About 30 artists, accomplished and talented in various media, are participating. We were honored to be invited to contribute, but a tad daunted! We agreed to participate as a team, so the collaboration began!

We have collaborated before, creating relief ceramic tiles in the early 2000’s. But now, our challenge lie in a completely different medium. We were being pushed outside our comfort zone for sure! But really, taking risks is the only way to make progress. Through mistakes and trial and error, creative breakthroughs happen.

During our trip to Spain we began the brainstorming on Julie’s brief for the installation, titled “Winter x Winter: gestation”. When we came home in mid October, we had preliminary sketches and the concept of what we wanted to create. Since Bob had a November 28 deadline to deliver his etching work, it fell to me to push forward, collect material and get the design to a 100% template. I had to reach into my toolbox and use the methods I am comfortable with to create large scale mosaic work. Even though this wasn’t “mosaic”, we planned our design so I would be able to execute it! Bob’s contribution would be after the etching series was done. His task was to paint the background with inks or watercolors. This was a new thing for him, so he squeezed in as much testing as he could before committing to our paper substrate. My part was to create “tesserae” by sewing paper and fabric together! It was fun to go back to handiwork I did in my childhood and apply it to our piece.

A bit of stress ensued towards the end of the process. We had to make sure we’d have enough done before leaving for four days in Hillsboro for Christmas so we could finish when we got back! We were relieved to get word from Julie that we didn’t need to deliver until Dec 30, when we’d thought it would need to be Dec 28!

The show opening is Friday, January 4. We got a sneak peek at the installation when we delivered our panel. The work is fantastic! I’m excited to learn more about who the artists are and their stories. Julie’s goal is to gather these 30 artists’ personal landscapes and create one shared landscape that all can experience. If you are in the Bend area in January, please come see! https://bendartcenter.org/winter-x-winter/