More Than Meets the Eye at E.O. Art Festival

Artists both young and old, professional and amateur showcased their works in downtown Hermiston this weekend during the 10th annual Eastern Oregon Arts Festival, formerly known as the Hermiston ArtWalk.

Among those displaying artwork Saturday was Hermiston’s Christopher Goland, a pen artist who refers to his work as “subconscious imagery.” Goland said his work takes on a life of its own.

“I’m never sure what it’s going to be,” he said. His girlfriend, Gia Connell, said there is more than meets the eye when it comes to Goland’s art.

“You can find things in Chris’ work if you take a closer look,” she said. For example, one of his pieces he had on display during the art festival was of a little girl entering what appears an entrance to a giant tree. Upon closer inspection, the entrance is actually a wolf’s open mouth. And sometimes, things appear that the artist never intended, such as a portrait of the couple’s dog. If you look very close into the dog’s eye, you can see two tiny images of people. Goland said he had no idea they were there.

“It’s pulled from the subconscious,” he said.

Goland, who is originally from Freemont, Calif., caught the art bug at an early age. His father was an artist and his uncle helped him tap into the subconscious, he said.

“My uncle would take a piece of paper, crumple it up and then straighten it out again and then tell me to find the picture,” said Goland. “I had no idea what he was talking about. But after a while, if you looked close enough and long enough, you would start to see images in the crinkles. I loved that. He opened my eyes to finding images everywhere.”

Goland, 30, had about 18 pieces on display at P4&More on Saturday. Some of them took as little as a day to complete and others might take him a year before he’s satisfied. The tricky thing about artwork, said Goland, is there is no clear finish line.

“If it doesn’t bother me when I look at it, then it’s done,” he said.

Clearly, on Saturday, no one was bothered with any of Goland’s art. He received an honorable mention by the judges and, along with artists Sandra Spencer and Shannon Snyder, earned the People’s Choice award. Leah Lutz won the Gold Award and Spencer won the Silver Award during the art festival.

Area students also had a chance to have their work on display. Student artists Brandi Dayton, Tina Murphy and Edward David had their art displayed at RoeMark’s along with other students from the Hermiston School District.

Live music was provided throughout the day and art lovers could walk over to McKenzie Park and check out the vendors at the opening of Hermiston’s Saturday Market. The Eastern Oregon Art Festival was presented by the Desert Arts Council.

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