Lori Garcy: 

Lori is a metalsmith who constructs jewelry, sculptures and yard art from copper, brass, silver and precious metal clay (PMC).

Precious Metal Clay is a combination of water, binders, and small particles of either silver or gold. It is molded by hand into a desired shape then heated in a kiln or by torch to remove the binder and fuse the metal powder into a solid form. PMC originated in Japan in 1990.

You can use silver or gold metal clay to make extraordinary jewelry; it’s a material that looks and feels like clay and yet, when fired, it becomes pure, precious metal. Model it, give it texture, shape it, and fire it as you would any other clay. Once it’s transformed into metal, it can be buffed, burnished, polished, enameled, or patinated. Virtually anything you can create with traditional fine silver or pure gold, you can craft with metal clay, and so it’s the perfect material for jewelry-making.

Her yard art, flowers and sea creatures, is constructed of copper sheets that are hand cut, hammered and riveted together.  They eventually will weather to a dark cooper or green patina

Nature is her inspiration. Sea creatures, flowers, leaves and even bark on trees can be stimuluses for creating items from metal. She finds it exciting to take a sheet of metal and move it from a flat surface into a three-dimensional object or form a lump of PMC into a one-of-a-kind piece of jewelry.

Her work can be found in Albany at Gallery Calapooia and in Brownsville at Brownsville Art Center.

Currently Lori has an outdoor show of her copper flowers and sea creatures at The Oregon Garden in Silverton.  This show runs until September 27, 2020.

She can be reached at LMGDesigns@centurylink.net or (925) 337-3326.

John Mikkelson: 

John has been making things with wood for over 30 years. Over that time he has renovated home interiors, designed and built several custom kitchens, and constructed his own original designs ranging from the smallest of boxes to complex furniture. Over the years, one of the items that has continued to keep John’s creativity engaged is wood boxes of all sizes and types. So when Lori Garcy brought up the idea of a collaboration in which John would incorporate her metalwork into some new boxes, it sounded like a perfect way to share the “Featured Artist” stage! 

For this exhibit, John decided to go even smaller for his box designs, and he and Lori decided they’d call their joint feature “It’s the Small Things.” Indeed, when creating items that the buyer (or recipient) may enjoy for decades, it is definitely the small things that make all the difference. Because John makes most of his boxes with miter joints at the corners, making the boxes smaller presented a challenge: how to cut those miters accurately and safely when the parts are so small. The use of a sharp hand plane won’t be ruled out, but in the meantime a custom fixture that attaches to his power miter saw that will hold parts just a few inches long, is proving to be effective. A couple prototypes down, and a hundred or more small boxes to come!

One of the aspects of making boxes that appeals to John is that they are small enough that the cost of wood for each box – even uncommon or highly figured woods – is relatively small. This makes it possible to experiment with exquisite materials that would be prohibitively expensive if used at the scale of an entire table or other piece of furniture. And yet most boxes feature enough of that wood that the owner still gets plenty of its unique beauty to appreciate, especially up close in the details! In addition to the many beautiful local & native woods that John uses for most of his designs, this exhibit will see several “exotic” species used – although as with all woods he works with, he will ensure they’re responsibly sourced and sustainably harvested.

John plans to continue creating and refining these small boxes right up to (and through) the Featured Artist show, so it will be worthwhile to return now and again throughout the month to see what new works have appeared to replace the ones that find new homes!

John is available for custom work; contact him at john.mikkelson@outlook.com or 541-971-2577 if you have a special woodworking project in mind.

Art on the GO

Gift Registry and Gift Certificates

Remember that Gallery Calapooia has gift certificates if you don’t know exactly what to get for your friends or loved ones. We also have a gift registry for those of you who really know what you want from the gallery and would like to be able to stop dropping hints! When your significant other says to you, What do you want for Christmas, Hanukah, or….?; You can say you put it in the gift registry at Gallery Calapooia. In addition, we have a great selection of artist made cards and we can wrap your gift for you so you can relax and enjoy any celebration.

Artist Membership

Gallery Calapooia is currently looking for new artists to be a part of the gallery. All applications are juried by committee (see links below):

Artist Application form for membership in Gallery Calapooia
Membership and application information

Visit our Events Calendar to keep up with classes and events that will be
occurring at the gallery.