Sisters is home to renowned artists

Sisters is home to dozens of acclaimed artists, working in every medium imaginable, from paints to sculpture. Many have built reputations that span the nation and beyond while others are slowly expanding their regional following as visitors to Sisters discover the treasures they create.

J. Chester “Skip” Armstrong
Wood sculptor Skip Armstrong has made an indelible imprint on the visual beauty of the Central Oregon region. His work is hard to miss — a massive carved mural depicting running wild horses dominates the Lodge Restaurant at Black Butte Ranch; a Native American sentinel graces the portal doors at The Lodge at Suttle Lake and carvings of native wildlife abound throughout the log lodge. Many homes in Sisters feature his visionary carvings.

Armstrong has carved some 4,000 sculptures in his 30-plus year career. His preference is to work in walnut, but he also works his magic with native pine.

His initial inspiration was the centuries-old carvings in Mayan temples in Guatemala, which he visited in the 1970s.

“The carvings on the temple walls were the point of reference for the whole culture and I decided I wanted to participate on that level, something that will last past my own lifetime,” he said.

Armstrong has always enjoyed living close to nature. When he lived near Mt. St. Helens, he began to explore his method of creating something meaningful and lasting.

“I started carving all the animals I was living with,” he said.

A teaching stint at a Spirit Lake camp led him into wood-carving, where he first picked up the chainsaw that has made him famous. Kids don’t have the attention span to learn to chisel painstakingly at a piece of wood; they want to see something emerge quickly.

As it turned out, the speed of the chainsaw enhanced the energy of the art.

“The whole premise is the speed,” Armstrong says. “Michelangelo once said to get your idea out as fast as you can to keep it fresh — and the chainsaw does just that.”

The chainsaw has become Armstrong’s signature — with carvings emerging from a block of wood so swiftly and seemingly effortlessly that it seems magical. Yet the chainsaw creates only the initial step. Armstrong spends most of his carving time — swift though it is — doing the finish work on his pieces.

“Line and form are really important,” he says. “It’s important that pieces move and express motion — and convey an emotion.”

Walnut is his favorite wood to work with.

“I’m a walnut fan,” he said. “It’s an elegant wood. When it’s finished up it’s got that dark, rich patina. It just gives you a sense of real, quality art.”

Armstrong is represented by High Desert Gallery in Sisters.

Ed Protas

Ed Protas works an unforgiving medium — stained glass.

His approach to his exquisite art is much like that of a painter, creating fine art hangings and sculptures rather than more traditional window or door inserts.

“I’m trying to take the art form into a different place,” he says, “building the kinds of things that give me pleasure and hope there’s a market for it.”

Sisters is providing that market. Protas’ work is represented by The Barclay Gallery in Sisters and he has pieces in the restaurant Jen’s Garden, Navigator News coffee shop, Bedouin, Three Sisters floral and other places around town.

The Seattle native is always seeking a challenge in his work, applying that painterly touch in everything from a depiction of tulips to the extraordinarily difficult task of depicting the human form.

“Doing actual representations of natural, real-world stuff is pretty challenging in glass,” he says.

Working in glass requires a high level of mechanical competence just to cut pieces and put them together properly. Glass must be selected, cut, fitted and held together with beautifully soldered metal seams.

The most compelling artistic vision can easily founder on sloppy mechanical work.

“You need to be good at both of them,” Protas says. “You need to have an eye for color.”

Going into this endeavor, Protas says he was confident of his mechanical abilities.

“I’ve always been good with my hands,” he says.

He wasn’t originally as confident about his artistic vision. But it turned out that his imagination was fertile ground for his technique to nurture and he quickly began producing pieces that are not only beautiful but authentic, unique artistic expressions.

Like most impassioned artists, Protas finds the arduous effort required to produce beauty energizing rather than draining.

“I can easily put in eight to 12 hours a day on this stuff,” he says. “I don’t find it tiring at all.”

The intensity of his focus allows the artist to produce an impressive volume of work while maintaining a “day job” as a software designer.

“I look at it as a transition period,” he says.

As his work gains a following and commissions flow from clients seeing the unique beauty of his work, it’s a transition period that is destined to be short.

Dan Rickards

If you are an outdoor enthusiast — especially if you are an avid hunter or fly fisherman — chances are you’ve encountered the works of Dan Rickards.
The Sisters wildlife artist is one of the most renowned in his field, twice honored as the Featured Artist of the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation; named Artist of the Year by the Mule Deer Foundation and by the Oregon Hunters Association; and gaining Editor’s Choice honors from U.S. Art magazine.
Rickards could be said to have been destined for this career. He grew up in the mountains around Lake Tahoe, California, in a hunting and fishing environment.

His father Denny Rickards was a professional fly fishing guide.

It was Denny who encouraged his artistic son to put down his beloved pencils and take up painting.

“Since 1991, I have painted acrylic on canvas almost exclusively,” Rickards said.

He allows that his first couple of paintings weren’t so great, but by his third wildlife painting he had figured out what he was doing.

“My third painting was one called Bear Camp and a gallery in Bend co-published it,” Rickards recalled.

A career was launched. It was a gutsy move. With a wife and two children and another on the way, he left the security of a graphic arts business and plunged into the treacherous waters of a profession as a fine artist. His wife Julia provided both moral and material support.

“We almost immediately started our own framing business because we couldn’t afford to go to someone else for framing,” he said.

That business and Dan’s growing success on the circuit of sportsmen’s expositions eventually led to the opening of the Rickards’ Clearwater Gallery and frame shop in Sisters.

Over the years, Rickards developed a unique style that satisfied the demands of his clientele for near photographic realism in the depiction of wildlife while remaining impressionistic enough that the work retains a “loose” magical sensibility.

While some parts of the painting are “real” down to the finest detail, other parts are less detailed, making the work more visually pleasing than “corner-to-corner photo realism.”

The overall effect sets Rickards work apart from the field.

The artist traditionally has produced 10 to 12 paintings a year. That’s down to five or six now as he does “Dad stuff” with his growing children. The “Dad stuff” is critically important to Rickards; part of his motivation for pursuing a career in the arts was “that I’d be able to be home with my family.”

He says his partnership with Julia is a critical component of his success.
“I don’t know how an artist can make it without that support,” he said.

Together they operate Clearwater Gallery & Framing. The gallery showcases many artists whose work is compatible in theme and quality with Dan’s wildlife paintings.

While Rickards is interested in delving into other aspects of his imagination and artistic vision, he remains committed to his masterful depictions of wildlife and the outdoor lifestyle.

And those depictions continue to bring joy to an ever-widening circle of fans and clients of this award-winning artist.