Our regular hours are Tues-Sat, 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. 

We value the safety and comfort of all of our visitors! With the lifting of the indoor mask requirement, we no longer require masks to be worn by shoppers. If you feel more comfortable wearing a mask while in our gallery, feel free to do so.  

Featured Artist

Dennis Johanson and Bill Thompson are our featured artists for September at Gallery Calapooia. The show runs from August 30th to September 24th, with a light reception First Friday, September 3rd, from 6:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. 

More from Dennis: 

Two Years ago, I again started searching for new glazes. Not wanting to make large quantities of each glaze like I had in the past, I started making small Mushrooms that I could glaze fire and keeping detailed records of each glaze allowed me to test several glazes. I still could not produce bright reds and purples because those colors would always burn out at the higher Kiln temperatures.

Last year I started creating my Porcelain clay bodies with the color elements encapsulated in the porcelain. Now instead of hundreds of glaze samples I had created hundreds of different clay bodies and tested them with Mini Pots, not all to my liking. Still no bright reds or purples.

Not giving up, this past spring and early summer I started making small Gnomes out of all the different clay bodies. And yes, I now have lots of Mushrooms and Gnomes. Last Month was my breakthrough. I now have Bright Reds, Oranges, Yellows and Purples. And I can duplicate the glazes and clay bodies with the same results at any time. So with the help of the Small Things I share with you “My Celebration of Colors”.

More from Bill:

I thought it would be interesting to use this featured artist opportunity to reflect on the last 12 years of using vinyl for my artwork. It really has been a fascinating learning curve filled with experimentation, disappointment, discovery, excitement, and elation at what can be achieved with this medium.

I started my experiments in the most basic way, cutting single layer vinyl images by hand with an Xacto knife and applying them to stained plywood panels. I was, however, determined to create bigger and more detailed images so I purchases a professional 24” vinyl cutter (essentially a pen plotter with a cutting blade replacing the pen). This gave me the ability to cut very small and intricately detailed parts, and to create larger multi-layer images on illustration board and on smooth acrylic panels.

I was very conscious that vinyl was not a mainstream art medium, but vindication of using vinyl came when one of my early pieces received the Award of Excellence by Southwest Art Magazine at the 2014 Cannon Beach “Plein Air & More” exhibition.

This current display of my work represents a small sample of how a few layers of colored vinyl can be cut and assembled – together with other media in some cases – to  to create a fine art image. I strive to create images that live somewhere between a photograph and a painting. I want them to “speak” to the viewer in perhaps a unique and personal way. This journey is ongoing; my hope is to continue to push and experiment with this medium and challenge the boundaries of what is possible.

Bill Thompson will be showing a selection of his layered vinyl works at Sybaris for the month of September. 
442 W 1st Ave, Albany, OR 97321 

Galleries from Salem to Eugene

Take a look at the Art Map of galleries in the Mid-Willamette Valley along the I-5 corridor. You can get a great new paper version of the map at Gallery Calapooia.

Gallery Calapooia Inc. receives support from the Oregon Arts Commission,
a state agency funded by the State of Oregon and the National Endowment for the Arts.