The Corvallis Art Guild’s annual Clothesline Sale of Art moves to Central Park for its 60th birthday this year, expanding its space, artistic media and focus. The free, all-day, family-oriented art party adds elements of science, education, on-site art-making and demonstration as well as six more local artist guilds.
About 50 creators are slated to show and sell at this year’s event – and even if you’re not buying, the show is never disappointing. One of the key aspects for this event each year is variety, so think two- and three-dimensional works including painting, photography, multimedia, ceramics, glass, fiber arts (including quilts) and woodwork, and probably add to that list as well.
It’s easy to drop-by, the Clothesline Art Sale runs from 10 am to 5 pm, Saturday, August 5.
Some notable participants
Organizations joining CAG in this year’s lineup include the Willamette Ceramics Guild, the Mid-Willamette Woodworkers Guild, the Contemporary Fiber Arts Guild, the Fire and Light Glass Guild, the Corvallis Modern Quilt Guild and the Willamette Valley PhotoArts Guild, which plans to erect a camera obscura. The Arts Center will also participate.
Visiting Fulbright Scholar Dr. Derek Fish, in collaboration with local artists and educators, will host multiple interactive sessions about the Science of Art. Two sessions take place Thursday, Aug. 3, at the Corvallis-Benton County Public Library, with details available on the library calendar, and from 10 a.m. through 5 p.m. Aug. 5 at the Clothesline Sale. Fish has run Unizulu Science Centre in Richards Bay, South Africa, for some 30 years. He’s working with Oregon State University’s STEM Research Center, named for the educational path that includes science, technology, engineering and math.
Maxtivity, an arts-and-crafts creative space in Philomath, will host activities based on longtime CAG member Carole Selberg’s science-in-art curriculum called Working with Waves. Maxtivity also will display its kinetic sculpture The Glory, which has appeared in the Graand Kinetic Challenge, the race associated with da Vinci Days for years.
During the Clothesline Sale, student artists from three area high schools – Philomath, Crescent Valley and West Albany – will display and sell their work next to members of the other guilds. Plein air painters from the group known as Vistas & Vineyards plan to set up easels and canvases throughout the park.
The Clothesline Sale began on the Benton County Courthouse lawn in 1961 and included only members of the Corvallis Art Guild. It was named for a clothesline-like display system that began as an actual clothesline with clothespins holding unmatted art pieces, then evolved to use steel rope and chicken wire. In reshaping the event, CAG leaders adapted the system and scope of the gathering to the Central Park location. They aimed to include different types of art, reach a broader section of the public by connecting art with related interests, grow guild membership and find a piece of ground safer than the uneven courthouse lawn.
“We’re working to create reasons for more artists to help us positively affect our community,” said Friedlander. “Maybe the deep passion Corvallis has for STEM-related events has just popped up in a new way, in a favorite place, and will appeal to a new post-COVID public,” said CAG treasurer and event coordinator John Friedlander.
For more details and links, visit the 2023 Clothesline Sale of Art page on the Corvallis Art Guild website. Follow the Corvallis Art Guild on Facebook and Instagram (@corvallisartguild).
Do you have a story for The Advocate? Email editor@corvallisadvocate.com