Darcy Schultz, Professional Artist & Art Therapist

Figurative Show at Sandywoods Gallery thru Oct 2

I realize that it is somewhat necessary to reconfigure a few things here now that I am emphasizing my existence as an artist and art therapist.

Currently, I have works in a show at Sandywoods Gallery, thanks to my friend Jessica DuBois, who lives there and invited me to show with her. She has bright, illustrative watercolors with natural subject matter. I am showing figurative work in pastel, encaustics, inkstick, and encaustic prints. The space is gorgeous and new. This is one of the largest exhibitions of my work to date.

Please see the link http://sandywoodsfarm.org/sandywoodsgallery/currentshow.html/

Northeast Adaptation

It has been several months since I’ve looked at this. Several art shows, one new job, and one large adaptation. Snow instead of rain. Art therapy for employment. Cultural adjustments- a quieter version of “wild.” A temperate ocean. Living on an ancient fault zone instead of an active one. Reconnecting, rediscovering, opening. Fitting that it is spring and the magnolia blossoms are about to unfurl their tight-fisted blossoms.

Northeast by Northwest Passage

Day three after returning to the Northwest. Gunmetal gray skies bear down on my mood. It seems my body has already attuned back to the 70% humidity and summer sun of my birth.

Three weeks of New England and Wisconsin summer has altered my blood.

To combat fatigue from what should be minor jet lag, I jog up Mount Tabor trails with the dog, then ride up and down the Willamette. My TCR2 whispers past the Fourth of July hoards setting up camp five hours before the fireworks. Cottonwood streams from the sky, dusting the bike path and my nasal passages. Next, narrow passage over the condemned Sellwood Bridge to the West Side.

Sailing under Ross Island trusses, I approach Waterfront park. This year, there is no continuous pedestrian waterfront passage. No other way to preview the Blues Festival mayhem except from the Hawthorne Bridge; even this has been cordoned into an impossible one-way pedestrian and bicycle flow. So many people. I am grateful to pass over the masses and not enter as I’d planned, leaving my canned food with the surprised gate volunteer. I loop around, view the 6:30 Amtrak train at eye level, dodge revelers, recross the bridge.

Go home. Sun at last peeking out at the end of the day. Body craving humidity to soften skin.

Willamette Valley Freeway Post

Tears came to my eyes today, at the site of a load of lumber trucking down the dreary Valley of Death freeway.

Monotonous miles and lack of sleep focused my vision.

One truck, seven logs, one tree.

From the girth of the largest log, the tree must have been hundreds of years old.

Judging by height, I would guess Douglas Fir.

Habitat for a host of animals and plants, gone in an instant, turning soil to sludge, craters, dust; homes to havoc.

This used to be a “hunt and gather” experience, binding human hands and hearts to forest habitat. The old ways of harvesting these giants are long gone, men replaced by machinery in decades past.

Still, the legacy of this legacy informs and haunts the region.

The green tunnels on the way to the Oregon coast now largely gone, supplanted by steep waterfalls and raw, bare hummocks.

Endless views, connections severed.

Finally, a truly green exhibit material

Very impressive new material called ECOR- seems great for exhibit and sign design, all recycled material, made in Madison, WI ECOR

March in May

Rain streams from the sky
When mists should reign-
The sun scoots between squalls.
May becomes March.
March became May
Beaming warm sun
Confusing the flowers-
A blooming cacophony now.

Honeybees have lost their
Slim chance to
Nestle in nectar
While brown pelicans disappear

Evidence of global warming.

Camassia

Tiny Camassia Natural Area on Mother’s Day is a return to jewel-like memories rediscovered from last May. Masses of wilting Camassia, teeming Blue Eyed Mary, accented by yellow weedy flowers washed the rocky meadows with color. As we crossed boardwalks and referenced markers with the guide, my young daughters’ eyes discerned many wild creatures. Osprey guarded their nest, while a crane drifted past their cell tower refuge. Later, we observed a pair of bald eagles soaring above the ledge. How unlike my first visit in the 1980′s when there was no discernable trail and the area was scourged by poison oak and Himalayan blackberry. The effect of DDT is finally gone, according to one of the volunteer naturalists we met. She only recently discovered this magical refuge above I-205, above the West Linn Locks, even though she has lived in the area all her life.

Richmond Spring Festival Images

See my album for more images. This is an Oregon Sunshine flower, which blooms at the time of the festival. The background is a “petal storm” or hana matsuri. The Japanese Immersion School is a Portland Public Dual Immersion Elementary (PreK-5) school in Oregon.

Red Walls

RED WALLS

Tall red walls-
ferns clinging
to cracks
seeping.

Lichens linger,
crawl across
far reaches.

Ancient voices
surround silence.

Through eager feet,
thoughts flow,
seeking solicitude
in coral, sienna
and indigo.

Caress
pockets holding
juniper
and crow

Fly directly,
shrink distances
so replete with everchanging
furrows in deep shadow.

Lizard darts
in juniper and sage

Sure-footed crack
digs clouds
threaten rain
polish bodies
with gritty dust

Voices furl in concert,
circle complete-
sandcastles in
desert paint
bruise weary feet.

c. 1997 by Darcy Schultz

vernal equinox

warm blossom-born wind storm, sweet sunshine scent, mowers churning green stains between showers, welcome Portland equinox