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Vero V Reeves

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mural

In the news!

2017-06-29 by V2R2 Leave a Comment

Otto Petersen Elementary Mural with artist Veronica Reeves
Otto Petersen Elementary Mural Dedication
Art Night at Otto Petersen Elementary
Scappoose Band Mentors at Otto Petersen Art Night 2017
Scappoose Band Mentors at Otto Petersen Art Night 2017
A pop up, collaborative project! Art Show attendees were invited to work on a small “collaborative mural” together.
Otto Petersen Elementary Mural with artist Veronica Reeves
Artist Veronica Reeves

The Otto Petersen collaborative public mural is finally installed and dedicated. We officially unveiled the mural on June 21st, 2017, surrounded by friends, supporters, students and their parents, and community leaders. Kelly Powell, a previous principal of Otto Petersen, started out the dedication with praising the power of community involvement. Outgoing principal Whitney Hessong finished up with a long list of well deserved thank yous. We called up the 14 students who contributed designs to the mural and in ensemble, -this was my favorite part, they ripped the paper off the mural to the cheering of the crowd that spilled out into the street. This was after all the attendees had meandered through the building to see over 1200 pieces of student art, a student produced puppet show, and the performance of the scappoose Band Mentorship program including students from Otto Petersen Elementary, Scappoose Middle School, and Scappoose High School. What a wonderful night, a wonderful end to an arduous 7 month art venture, and a great beginning to what I hope will mean more public art projects in my future!

http://www.pamplinmedia.com/scs/83-news/363334-243439-otto-petersen-mural-reflects-community-spirit

http://portlandtribune.com/scs/83-news/364025-244640-art-for-all

#ottopetersenmural

#elementaryschoolart

Art Night at Otto Petersen Elementary

 

Filed Under: Arts Education, Uncategorized Tagged With: art, Art Night, Artist, Columbia County, local, mural, Oregon, Otto Petersen Elementary, Portland, rainmaker, Scappoose, verge pdx, Veronica Reeves

Otto Petersen Elementary Mural Update

2017-04-11 by V2R2 1 Comment

We have received almost all our tiles back from FinishLine Graphics and are seeking a tile contractor to perform the installation on an exterior wall! If you know a professional who may be interested, please let me know! This will go on the north facing exterior wall at Otto Petersen Elementary School, the opposite side of the bike racks. It will be an engaging visual when you approach the school with different layers of enjoyment. From a distance, you see the landscape, the animals, the school, barns, Scappoose Peace Candle, trees, and mountains. As you get closer to the mural, you see more and more detail. You see brush strokes, textures like yarn, textiles, sequins, glitter, pastels, and you see unique qualities in the treatment of each tile. You can see how each student, teacher, staff member, volunteer, or community member who took part responded to the mural design with their unique decisions. Mural collaborators worked on 6″ paper squares in different media of their choosing, then these tiles were digitally scanned and printed to ceramic tiles with a heat press. This is called a sublimation ink transfer process. Here is a video that explains how it works!

Printed tiles are on the left, originals are on the right.
The printed tile in my hand captures the dimension of the beads glued to the original made by a student.

I’m so blessed to have been a part of this process! My hope and intention for this mural is that it radiates happiness, curiosity, and wonder into the community that helped create it.

Most recent picture of the tile mural! We are just waiting on a couple more tiles! Here is a gallery of detail shots:

Filed Under: Art Work Tagged With: art appreciation, art project, Artist, city beautification, collaborative, community, elementary, elementary school art, finishline graphics, mural, Oregon, Otto Petersen Elementary, Scappoose, school mural, tile mural, usa, Veronica Reeves

Leland Iron Works Group Show

2015-10-27 by V2R2 Leave a Comment

I will be participating in an upcoming group show, Breaking Ground,  including artists in residence for 2015 at Leland Iron Works! The opening will take place on First Thursday 6pm-8pm, Nov. 5th, 2015 at Pacific Northwest College of Art in the Innovation Lab. Please join us!

Arlene and Harold Schnitzer Center for Art and Design
Innovation Studio
511 NW Broadway
Portland, OR, 97209   [map]

Free and open to the public Tuesday – Saturday 11am – 6pm

First Thursday 6pm-8pm

My work in the show…

I will be displaying the largest piece of art I have ever attempted, approximately 174″ x 74″.

I am interested in working on mural sized projects, however, this piece was something I wanted to create in a more intuitive and responsive way. Unlike past work, I let go of the sketching process and instead began by working from observation on location. My goal was to capture the sensations and sights that I experienced at Leland Iron Works, known for being a small forest in the middle of leftover farmland. Lee Kelly and his late wife Bonnie Bronson planted most of the trees that now age 50 years. Their intention, Lee says, was to undo some of the damage of over-farming. The result is a magical oasis tucked away amidst disintegrating rural properties destined to become suburban streets and neighborhoods, the rate at which things are going.

This place has an aura of healing in spite of loss and destruction.

While I was in residence, a tree was felled because it had shallow roots and was too near Lee’s studio. Last year, a tree crashed into his studio, wiping out the large deck, since replaced. The limbs and top of the 50+ foot tree were split and chipped. When asked what he would do with the remainder of the major body of the tree,  Lee answered that he would let it be a nurse log. He had left a nurse log that had fallen in the middle of the residence a few years back, and now all that remained was a long mound with an abundance of ferns and other vegetation growing across it.

The sense of life and growth is tenacious at Leland Iron Works.

The question that I came to Leland Iron Works with was ‘what does it mean for art to be a part of an eco-system?’ I sat with the many sculptures that inhabit the place and as I drew them narratives came to me. I wrote down these ideas to present along with watercolor pieces and I think the verses start to speak to my question.

While creating at Leland Iron Works, I became enchanted by how the lacework of tree branches, the shadows and dappled light, and the brilliant spider strands slung across my every path, all interrupted my sense of self. The light passes through the canopy of leaves, with its new tinges of gold and maroon, and vibrates off of everything dancing, crawling and composting below. I was surrounded by living material and became conscious of decomposition as transformation into new life. I carried large pieces of unstretched, raw canvas around Leland Iron Works, painting while tuned in to feelings of verdant abandon, of the audacity to thrive, and to create despite, or maybe because of, a great potential for loss.

Veronica Reeves pouring paint on raw canvas supported by branches.
Veronica Reeves pouring paint on raw canvas supported by branches.

 

 

Filed Under: Art Shows, Art Work Tagged With: 2015, Artist, artist in residence, Breaking Ground, gorup show, large work, Leland Iron Works, mural, OR, Oregon, pacific northwest college of art, painting, PDX, PNCA, Portland, pouring paint, raw canvas, residency, unstretched

 

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