Coastal Oregon Artist Residency Exhibition

October 11-25, 2025

Anita Building, 1312 Commercial Avenue, Astoria

Artist Reception: October 11, 5:00-8:00pm

Artist Talk: October 18, 2:00pm

Open Hours: Oct 11, 3:00 - 8:00pm | Oct 12 - 25, 12:00 - 4:00pm

At the Astoria Transfer Station, heaps of cast-off debris have become the working ground for David Fondren and Michael Yager. Throughout the summer, the two have discerningly collected discarded objects and materials to give them a new life and renewed purpose as art. The duo were each awarded the Coastal Oregon Artist Residency (COAR), a collaborative program developed by Recology Western Oregon and Astoria Visual Arts, which supports the creation of art from recycled, repurposed and discarded materials. They have spent four months, June through September, to each individually put together a body of work made from their finds. The results will be on display in an exhibit October 11 – 25 the Anita Building at 1312 Commercial Street in Astoria.

Michael Yager collected primarily e-waste from the Astoria Transfer Station, salvaging components from old electronics and using them to build silly, interactive inventions.

“Play is important, both in the finished work and in the design process,” he shares, “The show includes (questionably) musical instruments, games, and kinetic art, all intended to encourage participation and hopefully give strangers a chance to laugh together in the gallery.” From his side, it's a meticulous kind of play, like a puzzle or a crossword. He spends a lot of time looking up datasheets, hunting for parts on old circuit boards, and troubleshooting. He rarely knows why things aren't working at first, and when they do, it can be just as mysterious, but it's a satisfying feeling when all of the parts click together and the machine comes to life.

He explains, “The fact that all of that effort and engineering has gone into making a machine that beats pots and pans together, which I can do on my own, is hilarious. These parts began their lives doing very practical business, timing a motor in a VCR, or processing data in an Apple II computer, or making sure the print head in an inkjet colored in the lines and now, by amazing serendipity, they are working together to play 8-bit noise music in my shed. I guess what I'm trying to say is, it's funny how things turn out. Even in these precarious times, there is a chance for reinvention if we find community and take ourselves a little less seriously.” 

Michael studied metalsmithing and ceramics in college, receiving an MFA in 2010. Since 2019 he has worked for STARBASE at Camp Rilea in Warrenton, a STEAM (science, technology, engineering, art, and mathematics) program that provides free summer camps, school field trips, and outreach programs for thousands of local students each year. Since moving to Oregon, he has prioritized his career and this residency has been an opportunity to focus on his own artistic work for the first time in a decade. 

David Fondren reflects on his time gleaning refuse from the Astoria Transfer Station with humor and gratitude, “I have taken away so much, from remembering not to wear my good boots to the top floor [of the Transfer Station] to how fantastic the art community in Astoria truly is, and how it supports its up and coming artists. My only disappointment is that I can’t do it all over again.”

Not long before he was awarded the residency, Fondren didn’t necessarily think of himself as an artist. The owner of Necro-Vita Ventures and Lonely Crow Forge, he spent his life working with and for artists in many fields and mediums including blacksmithing, installation art, and fabrication, but taking his artistic craft seriously came rather recently. He’ll be taking with him new knowledge and confidence to continue his art career as well as a new take on what he personally deems "garbage." “Getting to know the people behind the scenes at Recology and AVA was a true pleasure, and I'm excited to see what the future holds for this program and our local community. My hope for this show is to inspire others to imagine ‘A World Without Waste’ and make it a reality.” 

The Coastal Oregon Artist Residency exhibit opens Saturday, October 11 from 2:00 to 8:00pm, with visitors being invited to meet the artists from 5:00 to 8:00pm. The show will be on view October 12 to 25 from 12:00 to 4:00pm each day. The artists will also give a public talk about their work and their residency experience on Saturday, October 18 at 2:00pm. There is no cost to see the exhibit.

This is the eighth round of the Coastal Oregon Artist Residency, which was developed collaboratively by Recology Western Oregon, an employee-owned company that manages resource recovery facilities on the North Coast, and Astoria Visual Arts. By supporting artists who work with recycled materials, Recology and AVA encourage people to conserve resources and promote new ways of thinking about art and the environment.