Northwest Art Alliance is a multi-reach organization that leverages its network of connections to foster the power of art within communities throughout the region.
NWAA reaches out to find “small towns” (about 10,000 population or less), where ART is at the heart of the community, so we can bring visibility to the art and artists. (See more at the bottom of this page).
Our current Small Community Focus is: The Blue Mountain Artists
Please let us know if there is a community or an organization that could be offered this special opportunity.
Click on the links to see past Small Community Focus communities:
Florence Gig Harbor Guemes Island La Conner Langley Manzanita Pomeroy Union
The Blue Mountains of Washington
This amazing group of artists in the heart of rural life has found a supportive and flourishing way to create, share, and enjoy art.
It began in 1980 and has been going strong because of the basic belief that in art there is connection. The group was never “official” in the non-profit organized sense. It is fluid, eclectic, generous, and kind. The purpose was always to provide a safe and supportive way to come together and share art. There isn’t a critique or competition – just monthly challenges to give everyone a focus and a deadline. It is truly amazing what happens when you put the idea aloft and let artists just fly with it in their own styles, mediums, and methods. Our shows are always so varied and yet they go together with such ease and success. When I first moved to Dayton in 2015 from the West Side of the state – it was lonely and a bit difficult to find a way to get to know people. I was invited to join this amazing and lovely group and it changed everything – as art always does.
Blue Mountain Artists - Dayton, Washington
The Blue Mountain Artists represent many smaller areas of the region. There are artists from Dayton, Waitsburg, Dixie, Walla Walla, and Touche. We are from so many areas of the United States and have worked in other professions. The common thread is that when we gather to share our art with each other and the communities around us the art finds connections with so many others in faraway places. The videos are sent out and remain on YouTube to be shared as long as we can continue to support them.
The videos we make document the art and artists of this time in these places at the foot of the Blue Mountains from Washington to Oregon and beyond.
Lorna Barth
Check out the Blue Mountain Artists YouTube Playlist and the Blue Mountain Artists Facebook Page
Quote from Cathy Loftus-Shochet - Why I love BMA:
“Friendly and supportive group, not competitive. All levels welcome. This encourages me to experiment and try different mediums and approaches. No rules. Heals the doubts I packed around way too long after those scary art class critiques of my fragile youth. Making time for art lets me be in the moment. We pick up artistic and business tricks from each other. It’s fun. We feed off of each other’s energy!”
“I work in a variety of mediums and sign with my first and last name. My latest favorite medium is using a sourdough base for most of my work. For the past 9 years I have been part of the Blue Mountain Artists (Formerly the Blue Mountain Artists Guild) in Dayton, Washington. I was invited to join this lovely group of artists in 2015 when we moved to the sunshine side of the state. At this point in my artistic journey, I have two rooms in my house that are dedicated to my artwork – a creating/painting/design room and a framing/construction/drying room. My favorite place to create is in my painting room where I can close the door, mute the phone, put on my favorite music, and just paint until I stop. I work on my art every day and use a variety of subjects both live and using my own photos for reference. My favorite piece so far is the Zen Reflection in acrylic on Sourdough. It sold last year but is included in this portfolio of work because it shows the properties of the sourdough.
Working as part of an artist community is highly supportive and motivating. Every month we have a prompt – chosen by random selection and scheduled for the entire year. Prompts give us a focus and a challenge that we each address in our own styles, mediums, and interpretations. When we meet to show and hang our work it is always a delightful experience to see how our creations come together. My favorite part of this group is the respect, support, and encouragement we provide for each other as we show our work in multiple venues and shows.
The human connection is the most important part of my art. How people react to it, engage in it, take parts of it into another piece of human communication, and how art can transcend time, space, and social divisions. In the Cyclops Selfie Portal viewers can take their photo and be instantly IN the art that they share in a variety of ways. My art has been shared in many forms. I have works on multiple Traffic Utility Boxes from Walla Walla to Richland. It is on T-shirts, mugs, greeting cards, and videos. The Blue Mountain Artists show locally from Milton-Freewater, Oregon, all the way up the base of the Blue Mountains, to Dayton, and Pomeroy. Our artist community also has a YouTube video presence. When the Covid pandemic made it impossible to meet or show our work in public spaces, we made YouTube videos as Virtual Gallery Shows. My personal favorite way to show art is to be in a real, physical gallery space where I can watch how my works are being viewed, listen to the comments, or engage with the viewers and answer questions. The most often asked question about the sourdough pieces is “Can I eat it?” ha ha ha. To which I always respond, “Yes, but I can’t guarantee how you might feel afterwards.”
“As a lifelong naturalist , retired science teacher and homestead farmer much of my art reflects my love of animals, nature and landscape. Moving between detail, realism and impression I mostly work in watercolor, but also use ink, acrylic, pastel and assemblage. Perhaps my favorite work is created on site in nature. En plein air painting brings me to the mountains, farms, gardens and even in town. I carry my sketchbook along with pencils, pens, brushes and portable paints with me practically everywhere I go. Enjoying local music or waiting for appointments present opportunities to practice technique as I capture expressions, movement and form.
My formal education is in Biology and Science teaching. Along the way I have taken several college art classes, but mostly I am self-taught. I have shown my art through the following organizations: Blue Mountain Artisan Guild in Pomeroy, WA , Blue Mountain Artists of Dayton, WA, ArtWalla in Walla Walla, WA, Allied Arts in Richland, WA, Bristle Gallery, Kennewick, WA, the Valley Art Center, Clarkston, WA, The Dalles Art Center in The Dalles, Oregon, Pendleton Center for the Arts, Pendleton, Oregon, and PAWA - Plein Air, Washington. My art has also been featured in several gallery shows, events and businesses throughout the region.” See more of Helen’s work on her website
“Willow Meadow Arts continues to remind us that the common and mundane elements in our everyday lives are truly not commonplace but rather the special elements that raise our experiences to a spiritual level”. S. Wilson
“I have been painting in Watercolors for about 20 years, but have been interested in many forms of art since childhood. My husband and I live in Washington in the foothills of the Blue Mountains, about half way between Walla Walla and Dayton. When I first heard of Blue Mountain Artists, I realized they were a friendly group that delved into many different kinds of art, just my cup of tea. I love to paint any time of day, upstairs in my studio above our new garage. I usually paint 3 or 4 times a week, as well as teach watercolor classes on ZOOM. I paint animals, scenery, people and flowers from my own photos. I often snap these in our yard, going down the road or visiting other places. These are scenes that make me smile and I hope they will stir a happy thought or memory in the viewer. I love to put my prints on other surfaces. I have made mugs, magnets, posters and 6x6’s on boards. The 6x6s are made by gluing watercolor paper to wooden panels. You can find my art at EllensArtShop on Etsy. https://www.etsy.com/shop/EllensArtShop . Some of my work is at art galleries in Dayton, Tri-Cities and Walla Walla, Washington. A few pieces are also in Pendleton, Oregon. There is even a Traffic Box in College Place, Washington, that is wrapped with my Fruits & Vegetables. You’ll also find me at the local arts & crafts show, especially around Christmas. My favorite current piece is “Chip ‘n Dale at Work”. This shows four men raising the scaffold of a wall for our garage. I was able to capture their different poses and personalities on film and paint it later in my studio. This is currently hanging in the Walla Walla City Council Chambers. There is something joyful to paint everywhere. I just step out my door and look around at the plants, hills, and children playing. I love to watch someone smile as they look through my paintings and prints.”
Melissa Trump
“As far back as I can remember, I grew up in a family full of musicians an artists. It wasn't till later on in life I found that I had the same talent and passion to create beautiful things. I didn't understand why every home immediately I had to paint. Now I know... some of the things that I have passion for are redoing furniture, crocheting Afghans, finding lost treasures and making them into something of purpose, rather than tossing them away. I love being out in nature and collecting beautiful views to recreate, or collecting things found in nature to repurpose. I hope you enjoy the things that I have put together for viewing.”
Brenda North
Brenda North is an artist working primarily with watercolors. She has lived in Dayton, Washington since 2009. She had been interested in creating art since high school, but that interest was delayed by a career in nursing and family life with her husband and children. Her husband’s career in the US Navy meant travel to various destinations in the country, mostly up and down the west coast. There were many sites and scenes to photograph. Many perfect for future painting subjects. With retirement came the extra time to delve into painting and she was particularly interested in landscapes. Acrylic and water soluble oils were her first choices of mediums. A chance meeting at the county fair introduced her to a local group of artists called The Blue Mountain Artist’s Guild. Through that group she met a friend working in watercolor who taught lessons in her studio and she was hooked! The medium impressed her as being beautiful and challenging. She credits any success in learning techniques to Joyce Anderson who teaches watercolor through Walla Walla Community College. Her favorite subjects landscapes, florals and wildlife.
Cathy Loftus-Shochet
Cathy was a first grader when her family pulled up their Midwestern roots and moved to Dayton. The Minnesota flatlanders couldn’t get enough of the region’s sumptuous hills and skies. Throughout the years, Cathy sporadically reached for her pastels and paintbrushes. She spent much of her professional life in the Seattle area, and moved back to Dayton in 2014. During the pandemic while others were baking bread, Cathy returned to art. She’d put on some music, park herself wherever the light felt right, and get started. Sometimes she’d begin with a reference photo, but she’d let the paintings take off from there. Her works are often atmospheric landscapes inspired by the Blue Mountain region. At other times she plays with abstraction and explores the interactions between shape, line and color. Recently retired, Cathy can’t wait to get started on her next art project.
Michele Smith
“I am a watercolorist living in Dayton, Washington, and have been working in this medium for the past twelve years since moving to Dayton from the Tri-Cities. I hooked up with a local artist who got me involved with the local Blue Mountain Artists Guild. The goal of the Blue Mountain Artists is to display our art in public spaces, around town, and throughout the region. My favorite place to work is in my home studio where I enjoy painting landscapes, people and animals. I usually work from photos taken in places I visit, or from ideas I have. My goal as an artist is to improve over time. Last year I painted to a monthly theme for the Blue Mountain Artists. “My Happy Place” depicts the pleasure I have had while flyfishing streams in the Eagle Cap Wilderness Area of Oregon. I refer to myself as the “three times is the charm” artist because it usually takes me that many times to work through and achieve my goal for the piece. It sometimes takes up to a month to finish a painting, working on it a little bit each day. Art is an important way for me to express what I am feeling, and I want people to feel that something when they view my paintings.”
Bev Startin
“I started my art path with oil paints loving the blending and the ability to paint over mistakes! Mixed media became a focus when the art itch caught me years later. Being a scavenger at heart, I'm always looking for found objects for inspiration and adding to my creations. Because of my love for fabric and hand stitching, fabric art has been added to my repertoire. I have been tea dying fabric for years, but recently experimented with wine dying fabric. What artist doesn't like a new challenge? My art is displayed at Moose Creek Bakery and with the Blue Mountain Artist group at various locations in Dayton, Washington. This group of artist has been awesome with sharing and encouraging myself and new artist as we discover our artistic niche.”
Kris Takemura
Kris Takemura, born and raised in Dayton, WA, became very interested in drawing at an early age. Inspired by her father’s and grandfather’s artistic ability, Kris felt that she should naturally have those same talents, which bolstered her confidence throughout her early school years. Formal training was limited to one semester of art class in high school and one year of figure drawing as a freshman at WSU. After college, Kris found that her career as an elementary school teacher afforded many opportunities to use artistic skills, along with encouraging young children to build confidence in their artistic abilities; however, teaching didn’t leave a lot of extra time for drawing and painting. Following retirement, Kris became interested in watercolors which she had always found very intimidating, because the medium is difficult to control. She took lessons from a local watercolorist, and now enjoys painting with watercolor, but still finds watercolor challenging. Kris does occasionally use other mediums such as pastels, pencil, charcoal, and acrylics. Kris finds that having a prompt is helpful to get started on a project, although in the past few years, she finds that she really enjoys painting birds. Two of her favorite pieces are watercolors of osprey, maybe because they take up residence here during the spring and summer months and are fascinating to watch.
Kris enjoy being a member of our Blue Mountain Artist group, because everyone is very supportive, and she enjoys each member’s creativity and style. The monthly art rotation is the opportunity to display her art pieces. She has entered some pieces in the local fair and participated in a group art show with fellow Blue Mountain Artists as well as ArtWalla’s ArtSquared 6x6 show.
Do you have a small art community in mind? What does it mean to be selected as the featured Small Community Focus?
Small town of 10,000 population or less with an artist community
Three times a year NWAA will select a community to be featured in the monthly Spectrum Newsletter with subscriptions serving over 7500 people.
This one community art center will be the focus during that four-month period that could include photos and/or history, narrative, and a link to a combined website.
Interviews and art for one or two artists could be featured each month for a combined total of up to 8 artists. Spectrum Newsletter editor Delores Peck will interview and write about each featured artist.
At the end of four months, the web link to the community will remain, but the primary focus will shift to another area within the region.
NWAA relies on volunteers to accomplish most of the work and intends to work with that community to find the best way to capture the art and artist stories that are waiting to be told.
There is no cost - just wonderful benefits of public visibility, increased awareness of a thriving art experience, and community pride.
Requires one or more people that are part of the community to be the contact for the local artists and galleries. To gather their information to be presented in the online exhibit.
Please let us know if there is a community or an organization that could be offered this special opportunity. Click here to contact us with your small community nomination.