Page 52 - Southern Oregon Magazine Winter 2020

neck of the woods | community

Having grown up winning art competitions and tattooing the neigh-
borhood kids, Eding has expressed himself creatively since his youth.
He graduated with a degree in Illustration and Advertising from
Kendall School of Design in Grand Rapids, Michigan—a course of
study that led him to doing portraitures in Florida and later creating
architectural illustrations in California.

“I can move anywhere, and I can find beauty in anything. I’m always think-
ing in my head about art and design,” he explained. A job designing a golf
course in Southern Oregon brought him to the region 25 years ago, and
after falling in love with the area and its inspirational beauty, Eding decided Blues Foundation Blues Music Award Nominee for 2019 musician Ben
to stay put and call Oregon his home. Rice backs up the 2016 Blues Music Awards Contemporary Blues Female
Artist of the Year nominee Karen Lovely.
Karen O’Brien, another demo artist returning to the Black, White, & the
Blues arena, specializes in mixed media art. She has left her mark in the
community through educating and writing her fantastical book, Imaginary
Characters: Mixed-Media Painting Techniques for Figures and Faces. Her work
incorporates acrylics and collage, and she sticks to primary colors only for
mixing. She uses unconventional tools, like broken sticks glued together,
to create marks on the canvas. Instead of being inspired by places, things,
or people to create a painting, O’Brien lets her paintings inspire her. “I
never have an idea,” says O’Brien, adding that she doesn’t like to think
too much before starting a painting. As someone whose art arises from a
bit of whirlwind spontaneity, she says she won’t know exactly what she’ll
be painting until she gets to marking. “I don’t want to force it. Forcing it
always makes it a disaster.”

Avid painter Judy Davidson is more of a planner. She has perfected the art
of preparation after having worked on ornate ornament demonstrations
for more than 30 years. Davidson’s desire to create has been lifelong, as
she has always had a knack for making art. She bounces between decorat-
ing glass ornaments to working on a much larger canvas, painting murals,
and teaching the craft to students at Sunny Wolf Charter School.

Davidson hails from the Bay Area, but settled down in Grants Pass because
of its welcoming community. “Southern Oregon feels like home to me. It’s
like the California that I grew up in,” Davidson says, adding, “I felt really Auctioneer Timari Davis
welcomed into the community, especially as an artist. Everyone’s really
supportive of one another.” Since making a life for herself in Southern
Oregon, Davidson has spent time volunteering at the museum, and has
some of her artwork for sale at Gallery One. Nature, music, and mandalas
inspire a number of her intricately designed ornaments, but what really
drives her to do what she does is her customers. “I get so much from
bringing someone else’s vision to life,” Davidson says. “It just makes people
so darn happy, and that makes me happy.”

The passion for art that these four creators share is clearly palpable, so it’s
no wonder they’ve been asked to return for another round of live demo-
ing at the Black, White, & the Blues gala. And while they all have different
practices and backgrounds, they each share one common joy: contributing
exquisite artwork and crafts to their close-knit arts community.

To see these amazing artists in action, purchase tickets
online at www.gpmuseum.com or by calling the museum at Local Artist Bob Eding
541-479-3290.

50 www.southernoregonmagazine.com | winter 2020