Imagine Bend 100 years ago and you might hear puttering Model Ts or glimpse the Deschutes Riverbanks, clogged with mill workers, humming with timber production.
Yet, during that same period, over in Europe, abstract art was gaining prominence. Bend’s more-cosmopolitan residents no doubt discussed the merits of this rule-smashing genre, if not quite yet hanging its works in their parlors and dining rooms.
This correlation — the centennial of both abstract art and the Bend Chamber of Commerce — wasn’t anticipated by Subliminal Story Artist Mark Jamnik, but he welcomes it at his interactive multi-date abstract art event “A Century of Business, Captured on Canvas: Subliminal Art Experiences.”
Jamnik will bring community-centered artmaking to three Chamber events: “Biz & Bevs” at Brian’s Cabinets on April 14; “Coffee and Commerce” at Mosaic Community Health on May 12; and the Chamber’s Centennial Celebration at the High Desert Museum on May 21.
The events follow what Jamnik calls a VIP Collective Experience in which eventgoers become participants in the abstract work that Jamnik will make and eventually unveil at a later event this summer.
How does that work?
Audience members catalyze the art.
In the instance of “Century of Business,” Jamnik will prompt folks to imagine Bend’s past or its future — it’s up to them. Then, with pens and markers, they’ll write or sketch an idea, a word, or a feeling onto Jamnik’s blank canvas.
“It’s like a collective Wordle, or a word cloud,” Jamnik says. “[It tells us] what people are thinking about when they think of celebrating the past of the Bend Chamber of Commerce and imagining its future.”
The same canvas will visit each of the three Chamber events. Standing before the canvas, Jamnik and participants mingle, discussing their contributions. Later, Jamnik returns to his studio to work.
“I read over what everyone wrote and I think, “Oh, I talked to Jim about this particular thing,’ or, ‘Jill, about that,’” he explains. “I reflect on the conversations I had … so the abstract art piece gets captured in that way.”
Certain words may evoke darker colors, whose embellishment renders the lettering illegible, but not unrepresented, visually. Lighter colors let words or phrases peak through Jamnik’s brushstrokes.
A Chamber member, Jamnik, 48, has been offering his VIP Collective Experiences since 2021, around the time he relocated to Bend from Tempe, Arizona. Jamnik says he loves working with abstraction.
“There are so many things in my life that I like to organize,” he says. “And abstract art just allows me to not have to see a particular image. Instead, I just have a chance to see how it makes me feel.”
Biz & Bevs
Tuesday, April 14, 4:30-6pm
Brian’s Cabinets
20780 Sockeye Place, Bend
Free for Chamber members; $10 for non-members
Coffee and Commerce
Tuesday, May 12, 8-9:30am
Mosaic Community Health
2084 NE Professional Ct. Bend
Free for Chamber members; $10 for non-members
Bend Chamber of Commerce’s Centennial Celebration
Thursday, May 21, 6-8pm
High Desert Museum
59800 US-97, Bend
$50 for Chamber members; $65 for non-members
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