The Annual Garden Art Show at Crow Valley Pottery returns for its 11th year as a father and son duo come back to Orcas.
Bill Ross and his son Ryan work as a team, creating garden gates and trellises in wood, and will be showing their work at Crow Valley this weekend.
Working predominantly in recycled redwood from the local mills near their Brookings, Ore. homes, these two generations bring artistry and detail to garden art. But the true story is in Bill’s Orcas roots.
Margerey Gilbertson’s (long time Orcas resident and studio potter at Crow Valley) sister Sharon Dalbeck owned the Island Vista at Orcas Landing in the 60s; she later owned the Orcas Store into the 70s. Bill Ross came up to Orcas for many a summer as a youth, working at the store doing various tasks from box boy to stocking. Sadly, he ended up settling back in Oregon, but jumped at the invitation to be a part of this year’s Garden Art Show because it brought him back to Orcas.
Other local attractions of this year’s show are the bamboo and ornamental grasses of Wildbird Bamboo on San Juan Island, specializing in bamboo and grasses that are climatized for this area. Wildbird will also be providing a free educational demonstration Saturday in the Pottery gardens. The nursery will show planting techniques, as well as tips on long-term and seasonal care. Lenore Bayuk of Wildbird Bamboo says that many varieties of bamboo can both flourish and be contained with the right knowledge and limited care.
This year’s Garden Art Show also expands by introducing Artists’ Tables, where artists themselves present their own varied works, and can discuss their methods, and give hints on how best to display and other useful information to the public. The offerings this year include tiles, metal art bells and garden gongs, a huge selection of hand-blown garden glass, votives and birdbaths and follies.
Michael Rivkin, partner at Crow Valley Pottery, says of this year’s show: “As the season’s first show, and really a ‘welcome back summer’ Orcas party, we knew we needed to offer something beyond our usual garden art. So we have amassed not just (literally) truckfuls of Garden Art – from statuary and fountains to some really great Asian stone to incredible metalwork – but also presented the opportunity for other artists and studios to join us!”
The 2008 Garden Art Show opens at ‘The Cabin’ across from the Orcas Island Golf course on Friday, June 20, with a Garden Party Reception from 4 to 7 p.m. featuring live music by Carolyn Cruso. The show runs for 10 days, ending on June 29. Call Crow Valley at 376 4260 for additional information.
