In addition to our Featured Artists, we are pleased to host a guest artist in our newly opened Community Art Space, located in our Thrown Stone Gallery.

Featured Artists for September
John Weston and Penelope Dews

Join us for First Friday – September 6th – with extended hours from 5 to 8pm

John Weston
Woodworking

Woodworking is one of my passions.  My goal is to select naturally beautiful pieces of highly figured lumber to craft family heirlooms – benches, tables, trays, bowls, cutting boards, bed frames, dressers, cabinets, and I strive to utilize locally sustainable lumber and use natural finishes that are low in VOC.

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Penelope Dews
Ceramics

Penelope has been making ceramic sculpture and teaching in Southern Oregon since 1995. Pieces are made with a modified coil process including some pinching and slab work. Although most pieces are animals, (some life size) floral elements and architectural references also make their way into the work.

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Community Art Space

Everyday Heroes – Healing Through Art

We are a collective group of healthcare workers and first responders including Nurses, Physicians and a Firefighter/EMT.  Our media spans from exotic wood, clay, and paint including oil, acrylic and watercolor on a variety of substrates. We have come into art in different ways and periods in our life but covid was a turning point for most of us as we searched for a way to cope with the isolation, stress, trauma and despair. As a collective, art has given us a voice and an outlet to express what words cannot and has helped us to find strength, healing, beauty, and peace in the everyday landscape, figure and abstract.   

We demonstrate that to be an artist, you are not required to be born gifted nor do you have to be trained professionally in the arts. With curiosity, dedication and an ounce of bravery, anyone can hone a craft or make art.  We appreciate the opportunity to tell our story and share our voice about what art means to us and how it helps us to survive and heal as we work tirelessly everyday to care for our community in a challenging healthcare system.

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Monika Mehrens, DO
Mixed Media

Physician and artist; Monika is a nature enthusiast who uses a variety of mediums and substrates to create dreamy representations of the beauty found in the world all around us. She embraces the fluidity of acrylics, watercolor and inks on raw canvas or handmade paper. Her works offer a creative take on both color and texture and lean toward the abstract and unpredictable. Her work can be seen at the Siskiyou Gallery House and on Instragram @monikalisaart.

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Leigh Rhudy, RN
Ceramicist

 I have been creating clay archetypes since I was 12 yrs old. These one of a kind timeless sculptures are meant to nurture, infuse and connect us to feminine wisdom. Medicine for the times. Our world is calling for a more maternal balance and trust in the innate wisdom that lies within each of us. They have come to help.

Honoring all cultures and the power they hold.  Alter, sanctuary or garden art for sacred spaces that reconnects us with our inner wisdom. Power pieces for powerful times.

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Tami Askren, RN
Painter

 I have always been interested in art since I was introduced to it by a wonderful art teacher in elementary school. She introduced us to different media and gave me encouragement. Lately, my primary media has been ink, pencil drawing, and watercolor. I have done mixed media collage and acrylics as well as bookbinding to make creative journals. 

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Arun Kuruvilla MD
Painter

Dr. Arun Kuruvila started watercolors at the young age of 5 and has developed a signature style which is expressive, bright and colorful. He is from Kerala, India and has won numerous accolades in state, national and international levels during his school and college days. After moving to the United states, he has continued his passion for art and his interests include watercolor and acrylics.

His works were exhibited at Roxy Ann Winery, South stage cellars, Indian Consulate in  New York, Jehangir art gallery-New Delhi. His painting series “healthcare heroes” and “substance use epidemic” were  published in the Annals of internal Medicine.