With the clocks turned back and daylight diminishing, Oregonians are officially in what the Danish call hygge season. For many, now is the time of year to embrace coziness, create warm indoor atmospheres and enjoy life’s simple pleasures with loved ones.
“Gallery hopping at this time of year is a great antidote to the gloomies,” said Hood River artist Nancy Houfek Brown.
Hood River is a hygge (pronounced “HOO-gah”) seeker’s dream. Not only is the small town of close to 10,000 set on the south bank of the Columbia River beneath the backdrop of Mount Hood; it also offers a superabundance of local artist galleries.
“The galleries in Hood River are at their festive best these days,” said Houfek Brown. “Art on Oak, in particular, is filled with delightful gifts and good cheer.”
Art on Oak, located in downtown Hood River, is an artist-owned gallery featuring an array of art from paintings to ceramics to jewelry. Several of Houfek Brown’s paintings of geometric abstractions of landscapes are carried by the gallery, as well as work by emerging local artists.
One of Houfek Brown’s first gallery showings was at Columbia Center for the Arts in Hood River. CCA also offers a variety of performing arts events and local arts programming. It will host an art show, “Handmade for the Holidays,” opening Nov. 22.
“I’ve submitted my teacup paintings in hopes that someone would like to have or give one of them,” she said.
As gardens are put to rest and winterizing begins, spending time outside can be challenging. But the fall colors in the Gorge are famously beautiful this month.
“What’s particularly wonderful is that when the sky is gloomy, the colors deepen and become richer and more intense,” said Houfek Brown. Her paintings often depict what she calls a “cloud show” over landscapes surrounding Hood River in all four seasons.
She says she and her husband still go cycling around Hood River’s country roads even as the days get colder. “There’s always a new breathtaking hue to take in,” she says.
Often, Houfek Brown will stop her bike and take photos on her iPhone of vistas she spots. “I‘m not looking for things, but when I see something, I take a photograph, I bring it back in the studio, and I look at it and I think, ‘Well, what is it about that image that really caught me?’”
Houfek Brown and her husband, Al Brown, are Hood River transplants from Massachusetts, after living in Minnesota, Colorado and California. World-class windsurfing first drew them to Hood River, and they decided to put down roots.
“It just gave me a feeling of maybe it was finally a real home. Not Boston, not a city — a small town — where we could really be ourselves,” Al Brown said.
Painting by Nancy Houfek Brown
Kate McMahon / Nancy Houfek Brown
After moving to Hood River full-time in 2014, Houfek Brown, a lifelong painter, discovered a new visual aesthetic.
“All of a sudden the painting emerged as this new voice that had distinct shadows, had distinct shapes, had a vocabulary,” said Houfek Brown. “And it was an aha moment.”
It was Al Brown who first got attention on his wife’s art at Columbia Center for the Arts.
“I started saying, ‘You folks really need to see my wife’s art.' And then I guess the gallery manager came up and then she got into a show there and — small things at first — then kaboom,” Brown said.
Houfek Brown paints in her home studio and says the abundance of natural beauty surrounding her provides endless inspiration.
Art on Oak gallery co-owner and artist Donna Silverberg agrees.
“I think there is something special about this area. The light is amazing — it’s an artwork of itself. And then you come to a place like this where what we’ve tried to do is curate pieces that do reflect the local environment as much as the local people,” she said.
Hood River artist Nancy Houfek Brown paints geometric abstractions of landscapes in her studio.
Brooke Herbert / OPB
Hood River is located approximately 60 miles east of downtown Portland on Highway 84. It is home to locally-sourced restaurants, breweries, cideries, distilleries and wineries, as well as shops and cafes. A calendar of events from Cider Fest to the Holiday Tree Lighting can be found here. And there are more Hood River art galleries to explore: 301 Gallery; Made in the Gorge; and Laurel Gallery.