Langford Gallery in Phoenix hosts artists’ works from throughout the Rogue Valley

By Art Van Kraft for Ashland.news

An art show that opened Sunday, Nov. 10, in Phoenix gives 18 local artists the chance to show their talent and to help build an artist community.  “Autumn X ” was designed to push back against the isolation and lack of opportunity many artists in the area experience, according to a recent survey.

Beca Blake said she’s been working with local community leaders to have more art and culture in the valley. 

“We agreed we would create a brief survey that reached out to local artists through various art galleries in the area. The idea was to see how we could help support them. We received about 40 responses. One question was, what type of space did the artists want?”  

Blake said a majority of artists who signed up said they were looking for gallery space. Jack Langford offered his gallery as a response. 

A former citizen of Ukraine was one of the first to join. Mariia Shipobskaia is a Ukranian artist who paints egg shells in traditional designs. She says she makes them at home to help her relax. Shipobskaia and her husband, Oleg Sidorenko, who is Russian, arrived in Ashland in January 2023 seeking asylum and, just before the art show, the couple learned that the visas they were hoping for, finally came through. 

“I am so relieved and happy that we can now find a home here and try for green cards,” Shipobskaia said. She  graduated from medical school in Russian as a surgeon, she said.

“I’m so relieved, it’s been difficult to navigate the process to being credentialed to practice medicine in the United States. Now that we have visas, it will be easier to move forward,” she said. 

Artist Lindy Kehoe is a painter and illustrator who has been in the Ashland area for 18 years. She does live painting events at festivals and music performances.  I try to “paint the most magical, healing vibration that I can come up with. I use the Dutch master’s technique of glazing with multiple layers to create a blending on the canvas.”

Ashland resident Cindy Triplett contributed a large oil painting. She said the large size of her painting “Cardio Vascular Angel” made it difficult to show. 

“It was the first time it’s been shown due to the lack of space. Here at Langford Gallery the walls are so high it’s excellent for large works.” Triplett said she took a series of art classes back in the ’70s with local artists like Betty LaDuke when Southern Oregon University was Southern Oregon State College.

Isabelle Rosier Alzado is a French artist and art teacher who now lives in Ashland. 

“For this kind of painting I make a drawing and paint the image with contrast to really bring the woman figure out.” 

Alzado said she started learning to paint at an art school in Paris and studied the masters. She said she has developed her skills over years of practice. After coming to Ashland two decades ago, she taught art in the area and now tutors French. She says art in the area is expanding considerably since she first arrived. 

Doug Wallace is an artist with multiple disciplines as both a painter and sculptor.

“These are assemblages that are based on found objects. Literally an idea would come and I would build pieces and paint them and the next thing you know I had ‘The Thin Man.’ Some of the parts I found on the street, others I got out of Goodwill. I painted them and they are whimsical and fun,” Wallace said.

Wataru Sugiyama is a sculptor who has worked at the Langford Gallery to create the gallery’s largest piece, a 13-foot statue of an owl that took him seven months to create. The figure is made of wax clay, a material that won’t completely dry. Sugiyama said he received a $5,000 grant from the Haines Art foundation to create the owl.

“It took a whole month to get the expression right. I’d go up and down the scaffold three, four hundred times on getting the eyes and head tilt right,” Sugiyama said. The labor and material cost $150,000. 

“Selling this piece is out of my hands. As a sculptor, I’ve finished my part, the rest is up to the universe,” he said. 

The sculptor is also showing a series of considerably smaller works and, last November, Sugiyama’s figures were accepted into the Smithsonian Craft Show in May 2024. Some of those works are on display at the show now. 

Blake said the show was a success in providing gallery, but there is more that needs to be done. 

“People wanted a place to show their work, they were looking for representation or promotions, marketing and more engagement with the community, one on one. We also asked what people thought they could afford. The amount of money the respondents put down wasn’t going to add up to what space is available,” she said. 

Blake said the Autumn X show was reaching out to those respondents and offering them a place to show their work.  

“We have 15 artists at the show here. We have different demographics and types of work. What’s wonderful is how things are structured here. We’re not juried or curating here, it’s just first-come, first-served. We are offering support to people who are enthusiastic and showing up,” Blake added. 

To cap off the evening, the crowd was given an up close — but not too close — look at a pour, the process where molten bronze is poured into a shell to create a sculpture. Sparks flew as onlookers kept a safe distance. 

“We made sculptures out of wax and made a ceramic shell around them,” Langford said. “Then we cast an owl holding another owl, an elephant with a curled trunk and a human face.” 

Langford said the gallery will continue to support local artists with various art shows through the year. 

Art Van Kraft is an artist living in Ashland and a former broadcast journalist and news director of a Los Angeles-area National Public Radio affiliate. Email him at [email protected].