New Board Candidates 2022
Meet these wonderful people who are volunteering to join the AVA Board for the 2022-2024 term. We are so lucky to have such awesome volunteers to help direct our programs and illuminate our vision for our community.
Susan Taylor
Susan is a mixed-media artist with a focus on 3-D. Self-taught, launching from a lifetime of creative pursuits, her fascination with assemblage art was born after attending a Joseph Cornell exhibit in San Francisco in the 90's. In 2009 she attended an art retreat where she gained hands on experience in assemblage and altered bookmaking. This led to her first art studio and a passion for mixed-media art making.
In 2012 Susan joined ACCI Gallery (the largest artist cooperative West of the Mississippi) in Berkeley. She became involved in the Display Committee which was responsible for displaying the art from over 100 artists. She eventually joined the Board as Treasurer and then became President. Her years of corporate finance and business consulting, combined with a love of art and artists helped her lead the cooperative out of a financial black hole. She helped to re-energize the members to step up and re-imagine the cooperative by getting more involved in the success of the gallery.
Susan and her husband moved to Astoria in 2021 and couldn't be happier with their retirement choice. Astoria has such a rich art community, and Susan is anxious to get more involved, both to meet other artists and help to imagine how to keep getting Art into the world.
Laura Janes
Laura is a painter who has made her living as an artist for over three decades. Beginning her training at San Diego State University she went on to careers in teaching, sales, and small business before finally surrendering to the need to be a full-time painter. She owned and operated “Iconica” an art services business providing murals, paintings, and decorative work for the Interior Design industry in Southern California. This business allowed her the opportunity to hire local artists, giving them an opportunity to earn a living.
She has been the Artist in Residence for De Benneville Pines, a camp in the San Bernardino National Forest, for over 8 years. While there she guided volunteers in providing art throughout the camp as well as creating art workshops and weeklong art camps for adults and young people. She set up a camp shop selling arts and crafts created by campers.
She has been actively involved in the Board of Directors of the Artists Council arm of the Palm Springs Art Museum as well as serving as the President of the Interior Design Society of Palm Springs and Board of Director member of the ASID Chapter in Palm Springs and Portland. She has recently been appointed to serve on the Board of the Arts Council of Clatsop County.
Her paintings can currently be seen at the Geezer Gallery in Portland and notecards made from watercolors of things in and around Astoria can be found at Old Town Framing Company in Astoria. Laura also creates watercolors and notecards of interesting and historical buildings for the Palm Springs Art Museum, Restore Oregon, the Portland Architectural Heritage Center, the Gordon House, and the Lake Oswego Heritage House, as well as local real estate agents and homeowners.
Jon L.
Jon has been helping at AVA for a while now and we finally decided to make it official. Jon brings a special set of skills to the table and mostly helps us out by asking us good questions and also by pitching in wherever he can. He’s a fun guy to talk to and we’re excited to have him on our team. You might be able to find him gallery-sitting or in an art class up at Clatsop Community College.
