Oregon Art Beat

Ralph Pugay says his paintings reveal “something catastrophic happening, but I see them as allegories for general questions about consciousness and life."

As the year comes to a close, all of us on Art Beat take a moment to look back on time spent with artists we met in 2024.

Hygge, a Danish concept that captures warmth and coziness, reflects the natural beauty of seasonal change in Hood River. During this holiday season, a monthlong series of art showings are being offered in Hood River, serving up hygge atmospheres.

Each summer in Silverton, Oregon, the local community packs Main Street for a festival to celebrate their favorite son: renowned political cartoonist Homer Davenport.

Eugene artist Liza Mana Burns combines abstract representations of Oregon’s natural landscapes with intricate icons of Oregon’s history. The result is a colorful tapestry that serves as a love letter to the state.

Brendon Burton’s haunting photography celebrates the decay and deterioration of the west. He travels backroads, discovering abandoned farmhouses and desolate scenes, beautifully showcasing the American landscape. And though he’s traveled extensively for his work, most of his images are shot right here in Oregon.

Charlene Moody is one of five artists creating work for the High Desert Museum’s exhibit “Sensing Sasquatch,” looking at Sasquatch through an Indigenous lens. Moody is working with a 9-foot-tall buffalo hide, drawing from her Warm Springs, Paiute, Miwok, Modoc and Yakama heritage.

Portland painter Orlando Almanza was born in the Cuban countryside and spent his childhood listening to his grandfather’s stories of the spirits that lived in the forests and river near their home. When he moved to Havana to attend the college of fine arts, he buried his past, attempting to fit into the city’s urban culture. But eventually he discovered these childhood stories carry great power. Today his large, lush canvases are filled with images from his past and the myths and stories he heard from his family.

The age-old process of lost-wax casting combines with the fine art of contemporary bronze sculpture in Baker City.

Photographer Nancy Floyd's current project, "For the Love of Trees," embraces her love of the natural world. She combines both documentary and more personal photography to explore how, as a culture and as individuals, we relate to and work to sustain Oregon’s forests.