Sisters arts-and-agriculture ranch showcases 26 artists’ work, plans ‘quilt garden’

(Update: Adding video, comments from arts project coordinator, residents)

Pine Meadow Ranch artists highlight theme of co-existence and regeneration

SISTERS, Ore. (KTVZ) -- A total of 26 talented creators in a variety of subjects and methods are showcasing their work at the Pine Meadow Ranch Center for the Arts and Agriculture in Sisters.

Visitors can expect to see creations across different disciplines, including scholarship, sculpting, culinary and paintings, among other elements.

“We’re expanding not only to artists, but also scientists, scholars, academics and educators," arts project coordinator Ana Varas said Wednesday.

Chosen from a pool of more than 80 applicants, each participant was selected based on quality of work, ability to communicate goals of their project, and capacity to engage with and build community.

The goal is for residents to be inspired by the peace and beauty of the ranch to develop their creations based on the 2022 theme of co-existence and regeneration.

Throughout the year, awardees will be hosted at the ranch for two-week residencies. Three recipients will be in residence at a time, and each will have studio space for their own artistic practice. They will also participate in community events throughout the year, including lectures, workshops and roundtable talks for the public.

The Roundhouse Foundation started the program in 2018.

The three creators currently residing at the ranch are "eco-sound" artist and sculptor Julia Edith Rigby, photographer Brad Kik and non-fiction writer David Bayles.

Rigby is from Santa Ana, California and is composing an album specific to Pine Meadow Ranch’s ecology, synthesizing bioacoustics with the art of sound sculpture to be available for free streaming and downloading. 

“I take apart instruments, which is what I've done here -- they're all cello strings, and pegs, and a bow," Rigby said. "I go out in the field, and I find an object, like maybe a tree, and I build a sculpture out there. I record it, I document the piece, and then I dismantle it.”

Kik has been a professional writer for five years and is also the director of a small nonprofit in northern Michigan, where he lives.

"I write a lot of essays about the way that art intersects with farming, with land use, dealing with big issues like climate change and drought," Kik said.

Bayles lives in Philomath and has been a professional photographer since 1982.

Presently, he is writing an introduction for his next book which relates to a series of portraits of loggers he made in the late 80’s. The exhibition for his earlier project is currently working its way around the country. The book is meant to compliment the exhibition.

Additionally, Bayles is working with a scientist to study the area hit by the Holiday Farm Fire area document the way a forest recovers after a wildfire. 

“So much of my work addresses the relationship between trees and forests and human interactions," Bayles said.

The current artist-in-residency cycle began March 15 and continues through Nov. 15.

As another way to mix art and ecology, the Roundhouse Foundation is hosting their second annual "quilt garden."

Varas said, "So the quilt garden, it’s an open call. We are asking quilters or any fiber artists to send a proposal of a quilt, a quilt design, that can be translated into a garden bed."

The event is intended to parallel the nationally recognized Sisters Outdoor Quilt Show that takes place each summer.

Proposals for the quilt garden are due March 31. Click here for more information.