COASTAL OREGON ARTIST RESIDENCY
Exhibition - October 8 - 15, 2022
Opening Reception - Artwalk, October 8, 2022, 5 - 8 pm
Anita Building - 1312 Commercial Street, Astoria, Oregon
No Cost - all ages are welcome
If you have taken trash or unwanted items to the Astoria Transfer Station over the past few months you may have seen a couple of individuals hurriedly sifting through the piles of debris. Astorians Kate Speranza and Bill Atwood, the selected artists for the Coastal Oregon Artist Residency, have been working since May to glean items from the never-ending supply of refuse brought to the Transfer Station. Out of the thousands of pounds of trash and discarded items the two collected, some will find a new purpose: to become art.
“As a kid, I was a big fan of Martha Stewart, who repurposed second-hand items with such skill and style—I think that's where my love of working with found objects started,” explains Speranza, “Getting selected for this residency was so exciting because it allowed me to be more experimental and playful with my process. It was shocking to see what kinds of things get tossed that could easily have had a second life. During my trips to the waste transfer station, I gravitated towards collecting building materials, furniture, and regionally specific materials like fishing equipment. Rather than make work to fit around a specific concept, I let the inspiration come from the materials and guide my process.”
Atwood takes a similar path, relying on intuition to guide his art-making process. “It’s overwhelming at first, how much great stuff gets discarded. I spent the first two months just collecting as much as I could. It became addicting. The people I’ve met were so welcoming. I’ve really appreciated this opportunity.” Like Speranza, Atwood responds to objects and materials to inform his process.
This is the fifth round of the Coastal Oregon Artist Residency (COAR), which was developed collaboratively by Recology Western Oregon (RWO), an employee-owned company that manages resource recovery facilities on the North Coast, and local arts nonprofit Astoria Visual Arts (AVA). COAR is designed to support the creation of art from recycled, repurposed, and discarded materials. By supporting artists who work with recycled materials, AVA and RWO hope to encourage people to conserve natural resources and promote new ways of thinking about art and the environment.
RWO and AVA aim to support the creation of art from recycled, repurposed, and discarded materials recovered from the Recology Astoria Recycling Depot and Transfer Station. The annual residency provides two selected artists with access to discarded materials, a stipend of $1,000 per month for 5 months, studio space at RWO’s Warrenton-based facility, and, at the close of the residency, a public exhibition in downtown Astoria.
By supporting artists who work with recycled materials, RWO and AVA hope to encourage the public to conserve natural resources and promote new ways of thinking about art and the environment.
Eligibility
The Coastal Oregon Artists Residency is open to local, career-level artists who are working in any style or medium and are living in Clatsop, Columbia, or Tillamook County in Oregon, and in Pacific or Wahkiakum County in Washington. Applications are not accepted from artists who reside within a driving distance of more than one hour from the RWO Astoria Transfer Station. Previous COAR participants are not eligible to apply.
Recology is an employee-owned company that provides integrated services to more than 889,000 residential customers and 112,000 commercial customers in California, Oregon, and Washington. The Recology mission represents a fundamental shift from traditional waste management to resource recovery. The vision at Recology is to create a world without waste by developing and discovering sustainable resource recovery practices that can be implemented globally.
Former COAR Participants
* Due to Covid-19, COAR was canceled in 2020 & 2021. Artists that applied for COAR 2020 were considered for the 2022 residency.
2019: Drea Rose Frost, Jeremy Furnish
2018: Cara Mico, Stephen Shumaker, Wenda Vorce
2017: Bonny Gorsuch
2016: Dawn Stetzel, Sean Barrow
Bill Atwood
Bill Atwood received his Bachelors in Sculpture from Eastern Oregon University. He then went on to co-found Waypoint Studios, a successful artist co-op in La Grande, which offers artists and musicians a place to create and is still in operation since its inception 18 years ago. For the past 10 years the backbone of his sculptural work has been found objects, typically acquired through visits to local scrap yards or beach combing. COAR is an exciting opportunity for Atwood to have access to a substantial amount of scrap materials. “I start by laying out various collected pieces on a clean table and allow for relationships to develop between objects. Keeping an open mind is key,” Atwood says of his process. He aims to work on larger scale public art in the future and hopes COAR could provide first step in that direction. Atwood is a represented artist at Riversea Gallery in Astoria.
Kate Speranza
Kate Speranza is a life-long Oregonian, who received her BFA from Oregon College of Art & Craft where she concentrated in metalsmithing. She went on to pursue an MFA at East Carolina University where she discovered a love for painting. “Found objects often become subject matter or components in my work.” Speranza wrote in her application, “My ability to look at the humblest of objects and see immense potential for its use and transformation constantly has me exclaiming, ‘Ooh, I could make something with that!’”
Speranza has an abiding interest in architecture and is drawn to clean lines, structure, and minimalism. She currently divides her time between painting, sculpture, and metalsmithing and is a represented artist at RiverSea Gallery. Her paintings, sculpture, and jewelry have been featured in many national and regional exhibitions. In February of 2020, Speranza participated in a month-long artist residency at Arteles Creative Center in Finland, and later that same year, she was awarded a Career Opportunity Grant from the Oregon Arts Commission.
Following the residency, the pair of artists will be featured in a joint exhibit at the Anita Building during Astoria’s Artwalk in October.
Recology Western Oregon and Astoria Visual Arts are thrilled to announce the newest award winners for the Coastal Oregon Artist Residency, Bill Atwood and Kate Speranza. The winners of the highly competitive residency were chosen by a panel of artists, art patrons, and environmental professionals, after a 2-year hiatus due to covid. The two selected artists will be provided with generous monthly stipends, materials, and a dedicated studio space at Recology Western Oregon’s Astoria Recycling Depot and Transfer Station for a four-month-long residency beginning June 1, 2022.
This is the fifth round of the Coastal Oregon Artist Residency (COAR), which was developed collaboratively by Recology Western Oregon (RWO), an employee-owned company that manages resource recovery facilities on the North Coast, and local arts non-profit Astoria Visual Arts (AVA). Astoria’s residency is a part of a larger program that was founded in 1990 and based in San Francisco, Portland and Seattle. COAR is designed to support the creation of art from recycled, repurposed and discarded materials. By supporting artists who work with recycled materials, AVA and RWO hope to encourage people to conserve natural resources and promote new ways of thinking about art and the environment.
