l'atelier

Okay, stop groaning. This is Photoshopped. But I didn’t have my camera last evening when I went out to the bench in the north field to watch the sunset. The sunset action was at the northwest horizon, but this was happening to the southwest over Mount Hood. I burned every detail in my memory long enough to get back to civilization. This is as faithful a rendition as I can recall.

The alignment of the crescent moon, a small horizontal lenticular cloud and the peak of the mountain was probably auspicious, but just how so was not readily apparent to me. The magic was in the orange glow cast by the setting sun that slightly illuminated the underside of the cloud and the snow on the west flank of Mount Hood.

Maybe it was only that it seemed similar to this remarkable photograph of the sun and moon in alignment over the north pole:

It’s been years since I’ve updated cascadiagraphics.com and it was frightening to see that I had not even updated the copyright notice since 2001, so I carved out a little time to do some work for myself. It’s sobering to go over the vast body of one’s work and choose the few that are portfolio material. In fact, I realized that most of it represents the design sensibilities of my clients as much as or more than my own. I tried to choose the pieces for which I placed a heavy hand on the aesthetic scale. The site itself is the one thing that comes close to demonstrating my capabilities. It ended up being mostly Flash-based, built on a CSS template and that gave the left side of my brain a bit of a workout.

Moving away from the portfolio portion of the website, I am actually more pleased with the consulting/training area (“geek translation“). CGCC students who are most likely to visit the site will appreciate that I finally removed the “2002 Class Schedule”. I also used the summer break to update course handouts and exercises. They are pretty elementary but may be of interest to someone in search of really easy Photoshop, Dreamweaver, or Flash tutorials.

My résumé is also more-or-less up to date but the basic idea hasn’t changed for 12 years. It matches an 8-page printed piece. I’m not job-searching so I’m not even sure why I keep it up, except to impress potential clients that I am skilled as a water witch (among other things).

A few loose ends remain, such as the tie to projects under construction. Some clients are not anxious to reveal work in progress but there are some recently completed projects that would work to at least ensure that my portfolio doesn’t go stale. A final loose end is the SEO work. Since most of my business is referral I am sure not aiming to be in the top 1,000 search results for “graphic designer” but it is useful to get the old site out of the Google cache and replace it with something with a more current copyright date.

Let me tell you about a special place: Maryhill Museum of Art. This is not your typical art museum set in the middle of a metropolitan area but it houses a world-class, if not just a bit eclectic collection. The museum and grounds are very unexpected, rising out of the semi-arid wheatfields and basalt cliffs on the banks of the Columbia River in southern Washington, they seem to be an oasis. Apart from a couple of wineries, there is not much for 20 miles in either direction.

The museum is housed in a large concrete, French chateau-style building that was to be the home of Samuel Hill legendary road builder, entrepreneur, Quaker, pacifist who befriended a group of very remarkable women who helped him turn his imposing building into an art museum. From the prince of castle-nowhere he became a benefactor and discerning art collector.

First among his friends, there was modern dancer Loie Fuller, whose French connections and friendship with Auguste Rodin provided the seed for the collection. Though her encouragement, Rodin offered several works, studies, and watercolors to the little museum in the desert.

Through pre-WWI connections, Sam was introduced to and later befriended Marie, Queen of Romania (whose paternal grandmother was Queen Victoria and maternal grandfather was Tzar Alexander II). She brought her considerable notoriety and her Byzantine styled furniture, royal artifacts, and mementoes to be a permanent part of the museum. It was Queen Marie who dedicated the museum at it’s opening in 1926.

The troika of Sam’s friends and museum founders was complete with San Francisco sugar heiress Alma deBreckville Spreckels. Alma was a friend of Loie Fuller and leveraged her influence and wealth to bring several European and American masterpieces into the collection, though her legacy was acquisition of the Theatre de la Mode, a set of French haute couture mannequins and tableaux created in post WWII Paris. Alma continued her interest and contribution to the museum long after Sam Hill’s death.

Well, the history of the museum is all well and good, but “is it art?” Though the collection also weaves from native art and artifacts, through international chess sets, to contemporary painting and sculpture, I must admit that there are some very surprising and unique pieces that make up a remarkable collection. Unfortunately, my favorite exhibition is on loan for several more years: the American painter R. H. Ives Gammel’s magnum opus, a series of allegorical paintings based on Francis Thompson’s poem “The Hound of Heaven.” This series of 23 panels and a large body of Gammel’s other work are in the museum’s permanent collection. Gammel was a 20th century classical realist though The Hound is filled with mythological surrealism and symbolism. Each panel is technically well executed, strongly graphic yet aesthetically pleasing if one is not entirely swept up into the cosmological mysticism of the piece. Another favorite is The Dream of the Shulamite.

Now for the shameless self-promotion: I am the designer and custodian of the website for Maryhill Museum of Art. Since being drawn into the lush cool gardens (where peacocks rule) on a hot summer day shortly after moving to the area, I have since become a supporter. I am very pleased to be associated with such an eclectic little place.

Linda Brady Tesner’s book: Maryhill Museum of Art is a well-written and beautifully illustrated overview of the museum’s history and it’s collection but it can’t beat a visit to the real thing.