New exhibit opens at Moses Lake Museum Friday
CHERYL SCHWEIZER | Hagadone News Network | UPDATED 11 years, 6 months AGO
The paintings of Gregg Caudell and Aaron Cordell Johnson will be on display at the Moses Lake Museum & Art Center, beginning Friday. Pictured is Caudell's 'Blue Highway.'
Senior Reporter Cheryl Schweizer is a journalist with more than 30 years of experience serving small communities in the Pacific Northwest. She began her post-high-school education at Treasure Valley Community College and enerned her journalism degree at Oregon State University. After working for multiple publications, she has settled down at the Columbia Basin Herald and has been a staple of the newsroom for more than a decade. Schweizer’s dedication to her communities and profession has earned her the nickname “The Baroness of Bylines.” She covers a variety of beats including health, business and various municipalities. | May 7, 2015 1:45 PM
MOSES LAKE - The opening reception for an exhibit of eastern Washington landscapes is scheduled for 5 to 8 p.m. Friday at the Moses Lake Museum & Art Center.
Admission is free.
"Big Bend and Palouse Farmscapes," the works of artists Gregg Caudell and Aaron Cordell Johnson, will be on display through July 3.
Caudell lives along the Sanpoil River in northeast Washington. "I've spent most of my life painting," he wrote. "I currently spend my time painting, painting, painting in the studio and 'en plein air.'"
Caudell also owns draft horses, and used them in a logging operation for about a decade, he said. The horses still work every summer harvesting hay, he wrote.
Johnson is a native of the Rocky Mountain region. "Living in the Rocky Mountains and being the son of an art teacher has greatly influenced my love of the outdoors and of art," he wrote. He teaches art at Lewis and Clark State College, Lewiston, Idaho.
Caudell's subjects include the landscape of the area called the Big Bend country, east and south of Grand Coulee Dam. Johnson's subjects include the rolling hills and fields of the Palouse. Most of the works in the Moses Lake Museum show will be in the "plein air" tradition, according to a press release from the museum.
Johnson described plein-air as "works done on site," where the painting is completed without returning to the studio. "I paint on location using canvas as a camera," Caudell wrote. He described plein-air painting as "being in the moment."
The plein-air movement became especially important in the mid-19th Century, with the landscape painters of the Hudson River School in the U.S. and the Barbizon School in France. The Impressionists of the late 19th Century also emphasized painting outdoors.
Both said they were inspired by the landscape and history of eastern Washington, "a land of rural life in which families have worked hard for generations to carve a living," the press release said.
The opening reception will include refreshments and a wine tasting with wines from Camas Cove Cellars, Moses Lake. There will be an opening night discount on any works offered for sale, 20 percent for museum members, 10 percent for non-members.
ARTICLES BY CHERYL SCHWEIZER
Mattawa council considering annexation ordinance
MATTAWA — With discussions about development increasing, Mattawa City Council members will consider adding an annexation procedure to existing city regulations. Council members discussed the options at the regular meeting Nov. 5.
Othello School District patrons to vote on capital levy proposal in February
OTHELLO — Othello School District patrons will be asked to accept or reject a six-year capital levy request in a special election in February 2027. Othello School Board members voted 4-0 to submit the proposal to voters at the regular meeting Monday. Board chair Lindsy Prows was absent. If it's approved, property owners would pay an estimated 97 cents per $1,000 of assessed property value. The owner of property worth $350,000 would pay $339.50 in taxes. Ballots would be due by Feb. 9. Because it's a levy proposal, it would require a bare majority, 50% plus one vote, to pass.
Port of Quincy energy project update at Nov. 19 open house
QUINCY — Quincy-area residents are being invited to get an update on, and ask questions about, a project to build standalone energy generation, a joint venture between the Port of Quincy and Colusa Indian Energy. A town hall meeting is scheduled for 5 p.m. Nov. 19 at the Quincy Business and Events Center, 115 F St. SW.