We just got home from Veneta, Oregon last night around 9pm. It was a long day packing up and traveling home from the Oregon Country Fair. It was a lovely year, no rain, no heat, no major traffic jams. Just a good time with friends and family, seeing shows, eating at Tofu Palace, wandering the paths and listening to and playing music.

This was our fourth year of creating Yew Are Here, a living room space where people can relax amid beautiful surroundings, day or night. It was gratifying because it feels as if people finally know where we are and appreciate and look for the space. I was really glad that I pushed myself to make the new Tower Lanterns. They really pulled the space together. It feels cohesive now and even more inviting.

The Fair is very, very different from a fine art environment. People interact with things, even get inside the lanterns. I had not one but two couples comment while I was there that the Towers would make really good enclosures for their outdoor showers for their RVs. Yeah, great except for the poles running through the center of them. One couple even asked me, “How much?” I told them $1500 and, funny, they didn’t pursue it.

I really enjoy the work I do for festivals but it’s not the work I make for the gallery. The Fair is good family time. And that’s okay.

the kids got to ride in a new kind of back seat while setting up

the Arctic Tern puppets flying above the path