State of the ART: Camas celebrates new art galleries, Culture Art Block

The local art scene is flourishing in downtown Camas this spring thanks to the opening of two new galleries and the installation of the new Camas Culture Art Block.

On Friday, May 31, Camas-Washougal Chamber of Commerce staff and Camas officials, including Mayor Steve Hogan, celebrated the opening of Gallery 408, located in the former Camas Gallery space at 408 N.E. Fourth Ave., with a ribbon-cutting ceremony and refreshments.

This week, during the Downtown Camas Association (DCA)’s First Friday event from 5 to 8 p.m. Friday, June 7, a second new gallery — the RedDoor Gallery at 411 N.E. Dallas St. — will have its ribbon-cutting and grand-opening celebration.

Both gallery openings follow the DCA’s unveiling of the new, outdoor Camas Culture Art Block installation at the intersection of Northeast Fifth Avenue and Northeast Cedar Street in downtown Camas, which features six student artists: Xander Acain, Maria Navarro Alejandres, Shalaka Deshpande, Charlie Irwin, Blu A. Jimenez and Bailey Lim.

The community appreciation of art and friendly, small-town charm of downtown Camas is what initially attracted the three artists behind the new Gallery 408 to the space that once housed the Camas Gallery — a longtime fixture in downtown Camas that closed its doors following the August 2023 death of gallery owner Marquita Call.

Brush Prairie artist Joanne Cavallaro, who owns Gallery 408 with Portland artists Kim Nickens and Michelle Purvis, said she was driving through downtown Camas one day and thought, “I bet I could sit on one of these benches for two weeks and know every person who walked by.”

When Cavallaro heard the former Camas Gallery space might be for lease, she immediately contacted Nickens and Purvis — artists she knew from the local art world.

The artists signed the lease for the downtown Camas space March 1, put out a call for artists, revamped the gallery’s interior and opened their gallery three months later.

“We couldn’t have done it without their spouses,” Cavallaro said of Nickens’ and Purvis’ partners, who preferred to stay behind the scenes during the gallery’s grand opening.

The new gallery features a variety of artwork — paintings, sculpture, paper art, jewelry and photography — by 34 Pacific Northwest artists, including Cavallaro’s abstract acrylic art, Nickens’ vibrant quilling (paper) art and Purvis’ surreal paintings, which she has said “create an illusion of movement by drawing outside the painted forms as well as creating a surrealist feel with the delicate evergreen trees sitting among the oversized human forms” to “transport the viewer to a dreamlike world where the familiar becomes strange and the boundaries between reality and imagination are blurred.”

The Gallery 408 owners said they hope their gallery space will not just draw a wide cross-section of art enthusiasts, but also regional artists, including emerging artists, hoping to show their work in a juried gallery setting.

“We have a vision to create a space that embraces the local community, art enthusiasts and collectors alike, making fine art exciting and accessible to everyone,” Purvis stated in the gallery’s grand opening news release.

The gallery has partnered with the nonprofit Artstra to host fundraisers for artists — including student artists — who have limited access to the arts and to art supplies.

Cavallaro said the gallery owners would like to reach out to the local schools to see how they might work together to benefit Camas-area student artists, and that the group also would like to highlight Native American artists.

“Acknowledging the rich cultural history of the area and the lack of representation of native art in galleries throughout the region, Gallery 408 will have a dedicated space for native artists to exhibit and sell their work,” the owners noted in the news release. “Shoshone-bannock poet, playwright and traditional storyteller Ed Edmo, consultant to the Smithsonian Museum of the American Indian, will assist the gallery to ensure that native cultures are both honored and respected in the space.”

The new gallery is located at 408 N.E. Fourth Ave., in the heart of downtown Camas, and will be open from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday, from noon to 4 p.m. on Sundays and by appointment on Mondays. For more information, visit galler y-408.com.

RedDoor Gallery ribbon-cutting set

The DCA’s monthly First Friday celebration will kick off at 5 p.m. Friday, June 7, with a ribbon-cutting and grand opening celebration at the new RedDoor Gallery, located at 411 N.E. Dallas St., Camas.

Gallery 408 and the Second Story Gallery, located on the second floor of the Camas Public Library, also will host art shows and receptions during the June 7 festivities.

The new RedDoor Gallery is owned by local artists Heidi Curley, Liz Pike and Tamra Sheline.

The gallery will feature 10 artists during the June 7 grand opening, including the owners and local artists Sarah C. Bang, Shirley Bishop, Matthew Clarkson, Dave Garbot, David Gerton, Cheryl Folkers and Cheryl Mathieson.

“RedDoor Gallery artists present a diverse combination of art mediums including original oils, mixed media copper, watercolor, abstract acrylics, hand-built clay pots, elaborate pen and ink illustration, alcohol ink paintings and brilliant fused glass,” the gallery owners stated in a news release.

The gallery will host art receptions from 5 to 8 p.m. during First Friday events in downtown Camas and will offer a “Thirsty Art Thursday” from 5 to 7 p.m. every Thursday that will feature a live painting demonstration.

For more information, visit RedDoorGalleryCa mas.com, email RedDoor GalleryCamas@gmail.com or call 360-281-8720.