(Cascade Sunset, oil on canvas 16×20, original painting by Sally MacAllister)
Sally MacAllister’s original painting, oil on canvas 16×20, Cascade Sunset has been selected as Sunriver Music Festival’s poster artwork for 2022. Each year, the Festival features an artist local to Central Oregon for the season’s poster. Artists were invited to submit a piece for consideration and a jury of professional artists from the Artist’s Gallery Sunriver selected Sally’s artwork.
Sally MacAllister’s original artwork is a 16×20 original oil on canvas, is custom framed by Eastlake Framing and will be a featured auction item at 2022’s annual fundraiser, Festival Faire, on July 10, 2022 at the Sunriver Resort Great Hall.
In the artist’s words:
“I was born and raised in Southern California, living from the desert to the sea and leaving a piece of my heart in the Eastern Sierras. Although I did not grow up in a family of any practicing artists, I did grow up surrounded by good art and good artists. My father was a journalist of the great Southwest and he and my mother also owned the Desert Southwest Art Gallery in Palm Desert. There were many childhood road trips visiting artists in their studios from Tucson to New Mexico, the canyons of Sedona to the vast Navajo reservations. Not only did I get to sit and emerge into the sensory overload of artists’ studios, I also got to trek along on impressionable plein air outings with masterful painters. A seed was planted.
“I enjoyed creating, but never pursued painting as anything more than a part-time interest. I did take a few studio classes at the University of California but chose to major in Art History with the museums of California and my travels extending the classroom. Raising a family and working full-time in the business world precluded time to practice art.
“Seven years ago I was diagnosed with Primary Progressive Multiple Sclerosis. However I had pictured an active retirement was now changed and challenged. One of the first books I read in researching this disease was a biography by Anne Romney and her journey with MS. She left me with a poignant piece of advice — one that surely applies to anyone facing a chronic disease: “pursue your passion”. My passion, even though a latent one, was PAINTING. And so my journey — on a new path — began.
“Three years ago, my husband and I retired to his native Oregon, and settled in Bend. My immediate task was to find an instructor and get immersed in the art community of Bend. I am an active member of the SageBrushers Art Society — a resource of education, camaraderie and studio space.
“I have been so inspired by this amazing landscape that surrounds and envelopes us. The colors of the seasons, the brush strokes of sunrises and sunsets, the majestic contours of our mountain peaks and the soothing expanse of rolling hills and fields — even the juniper that punctuate the high desert are an inspiration. What is my style? Not an easy answer as I am still exploring and learning so much about painting and myself. I do know that broad and bold brushstrokes are so satisfying, and the magic of a colorful palette is so exciting. I tend toward abstract landscapes, not intending to replicate what I see but evoke the feelings I sense before me.
“I am so honored to partner with Sunriver Music Festival’s 45th season. Art meets art. I hope each viewer of my Cascade Sunset is left feeling the warmth of a cold winter’s day, sensing the pride of stoic winter trees as they wait for spring and hearing the soft music of the slow winter river.”
Sunriver Music Festival posters are available for $20 ($28 shipped). Framed posters are $75. Notecards with Festival art throughout the years are $20 for a pack of ten. All merchandise available at the Sunriver Music Festival office in the Village at Sunriver and art through the years can be viewed at sunrivermusic.org.