Embracing Brave | Howland Community OPEN participants

Cady and Ellie
Their grandmother, artist Gipsy Finnan, was a longtime Howland Community OPEN participant who passed away in 2021. They wanted to honor her by showing artwork for the first time in this year’s Howland Community OPEN.
“Granny was a very creative artist. She asked me once to put a painting in the Howland Community OPEN. She was the best artist I ever saw.” – Ellie
“Granny was a paint brush in a world full of pencils”. – Cady
They had so much fun creating these pieces, they are planning to submit works every year.

Gipsy’s famous tortilla artworks from a few years back.

Corvallis Daytime Drop-in Center Artists
Gratitude for first time participating artists who express themselves creatively through the Corvallis Daytime Drop-in Center’s (CDDC) Tuesday Art Days. Thanks to Marion Ballard at the CDDC and First United Methodist Women’s Shelter volunteers for support in sharing the creativity of these community artists.

Stacy Mellem
I’ve been thinking about entering the Howland Community OPEN for a number of years. Well, this year I finally did it with a piece I collaborated on with my friend Julie Hansen. I took this photograph of my yellow lab Max and Julie surprised me by transferring the photo to fabric and quilting this wall hanging. What was really amazing is that the fabric she chose for the border is the exact same fabric that I had used for his kerchief. This piece is especially meaningful to my husband and me. Max passed away this past September and this piece reminds us of all the fun times we had with him.