This week's "Shop Local" cover by Sage Flannery began its life inside a studio in Sisters, where the Studio 6000 printmakers' collective has set up shop since 2019.
This weekend, on Nov. 25, the members of that collective will hold their first-ever public art sale and show, offering one more opportunity for people to "shop local" and buy local art for the holidays.
Those familiar with the players in the local art world may remember the Bend Art Center and Atelier 6000, the printmaking and book arts collective founded by the late Patricia Clark that occupied space in the Box Factory in Bend. That nonprofit organization dissolved in 2019, and with rents rising across Bend and no place to store the printmaking and other equipment that occupied A6's space, a group of eight local artists, including Clark, banded together and moved operations to a light-filled studio space on the north side of Sisters.
They called the new venture Studio 6000, in a nod to the former A6, said collective member Carolyn Platt, a former English language and art teacher turned printmaker. Starting with eight members, Studio 6000 is now represented by 14 artists. But that number no longer includes Clark, the founder of A6, who passed away in 2021.
"A few of Pat's pieces are still here with us," Platt told the Source Weekly of her mentor and friend.
Of printmaking, Platt said she's been drawn to the medium due to the surprises it presents. "It's a little bit like a potter opening a kiln," she said. "You never know what you're going to see."
During a visit to Studio 6000, Platt and fellow collective member Barbara Kennedy demonstrated some of the magic that goes into printmaking – describing the endless hours involved in carving wood for a woodcut print, as Platt often does, or applying the various layers for a monotype topped with layers of pastel, as Kennedy often does. It was a sliver of time graciously endowed to this reporter, given the fact that their first art show and sale was less than a week away. (Check out my video from the visit online and on our social media channels.)
The Studio 6000 Open House and Sale takes place Saturday, Nov. 25 from 10am to 3pm at the studio at 211 East Sun Ranch Drive, #103 in Sisters (across the parking lot from Fika Sisters Coffee). Twelve artists from the collective will offer prints and mixed media pieces and will also offer printmaking demos. Additionally, works by Patricia Clark will be on display and for sale.
