Crossroads hires community art director

Cynthia Newman is surrounded by beautiful art every day — and as an artist herself, that’s a pretty good place to be.

Newman is the new community art director at Crossroads Carnegie Art Center. Her position was created from two grants — one from Trust Management and one from the Oregon Community Foundation (Dant Family Fund and Robert W. Chandler Fund).

“They’re the ones who came up with the money for us to try this the first year,” said Ginger Savage, Crossroads executive director.

Savage said she wanted to create this position soon after she began her job, which included overseeing the monthly art shows.

“I knew nothing about hanging art,” she said.

Fortunately Newman does, which frees Savage up to focus on the business part of Crossroads — policies, procedures, volunteers and book work.

“We are ultimately an art organization,” Savage said. “For us to take the next step as a regional art organization, we needed someone with the art credentials.”

But she’s not entirely new to the gallery scene — Newman got involved at Crossroads when she and her husband, Doug, moved to Haines in 1986.

“I came to Crossroads right away and met a lot of artists,” she said.

That was in the Carnegie Library, which was home to Crossroads until it moved to the Main Street location. The art center returned to the renovated Carnegie in 2008.

As a Crossroads volunteer in the 1980s, Newman was chairman of the gallery committee, which plans and hangs the art shows.

Her art background

Newman attended Oregon State University, where she first pursued a degree in business.

“I was in business for two years, but really wanted to do art,” she said.

So she did, and during her senior year she went on an exchange to Scotland where she studied at Gray’s School of Art in Aberdeen.

She concentrated on printed and woven textile design.

“They treated us like professional designers,” she said.

When she returned to OSU, she thought about becoming an industrial designer.

“My professor said ‘I don’t think you can handle the stress.’ She was blunt,” she said.

For a senior project, she interviewed Corvallis weaver Barbara Weissman, who subsequently offered Newman a job.

Newman accepted, and after graduating with a Bachelors of Fine Art degree in 1984, spent two years as Weissman’s apprentice to learn about weaving and how to run a business.

After moving to Haines, her art became a side hobby, but she kept at it — many may recognize her hand-dyed silk scarves.

She is a member of the local Threadbenders Guild, and is also studying weave structure with the Handweavers Guild of America.

“I wanted to pull back from (dyeing silk) and get back to weaving,” she said.

Shows at Crossroads

Newman can be found at Crossroads most days of the week.

The art center, by the way, has expanded hours and will now be open Monday through Saturday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.

“After the holiday special hours, we continue to get people stopping in and wanting to shop and look at the art on Saturdays,” Savage said. “The staff decided that with the help of our dedicated volunteers we will be able to make this work.”

The monthly art shows, which open on the first Friday of each month, are already scheduled for 2010, and now Newman is recruiting shows for 2011. The goal is to have three open shows and two traveling shows each year.

February’s show, which opens Friday at 6 p.m., features Shane Alderson (photography) and Sandy Young (gourd art and dolls).

March will feature Batik watercolorist Denise Elizabeth Stone and jewelry maker Suzanne Achilles. That show opens March 5.

April is a regional open show titled “Art and Soul of Agriculture” to honor the heritage of agriculture in Eastern Oregon. Professional and amateur artists 18 years and older can enter up to three original pieces completed in the last two years.

Entry is $15, and art can be submitted on March 29 and 30. For information, call Newman at 541-523-5369.