Coffee Creations » events

Recent Shows

karen — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 06:53:10 +0000

In February I had a show up at Dudley’s Bookstore in downtown Bend, OR. Here’s the upstairs reading room area:

Dudley's Bookstore

Last week I went to Seattle to hang coffee art in Irwin’s Bakery and Cafe and The Green Room. Irwin’s is a charming shop on 40th St. in the Wallingford area, with delicious homemade food as well as coffee. Stop in if you’re in Seattle; the show will be up through the end of March.

Irwin's Coffeehouse

The Green Room is a green coffee bean storage facility. Almost all the coffee in the Northwest goes through this warehouse on its way to local shops and roasters. You can see some of the bean bags through the office windows.

The Green Room

Gallery show at Central Oregon Community College

karen — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 20:24:44 +0000

I was honored to have several new pieces included in the show “The Nature of Words” at the Central Oregon Community College gallery. I created “DaVinci’s Barista”, “Vermeer’s Barista”, and “Beans 1″ and “Beans 2″. The show went along with the college’s literary event and the art needed to include words in some way, so I reworked da Vinci’s “Vitruvian Man” text to be about coffee, and thought the origin words on the bags of beans would count as well.

World Forestry Center in Portland, OR

karen — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 19:33:18 +0000

This Portland museum has a temporary exhibit called “Coffee, The World in Your Cup”, which shows the history and processes involved in the coffee industry. Three coffee paintings are included, and I got to have a booth in their Coffee Fair last weekend. Attendees got to sample about 15 different coffee companies’ products and more coffee art. If you’re in Portland, Oregon, stop in and learn a lot about coffee! I was struck by how many people are involved with each bean that ends up in my cup. Tons of hard and painstaking work; someone’s hand in Ethiopia or Guatemala or Brazil has touched and selected the very bean I grind up this morning for my cup, or dip my brush into for the next painting. Thanks to each one for enabling me to enjoy coffee in so many ways!

Bend Summer Fest and New Studio

karen — Thu, 23 Jul 2009 19:19:52 +0000

My booth, and in the 2nd floor of the building behind, my new studio!

Bend, Oregon’s largest outdoor event took place recently. Thousands of people were strolling around enjoying all the art, music, and food. We had an exciting early conclusion though- the event staff came running telling us all “75mph wind and hail is headed our way! Pack up now!”.

I’m often asked how durable coffee art is- my first piece did survive being sat on in my car by several frantic friends as we fled a tornado in Oklahoma… but I wasn’t anxious to repeat that test. All the artists freaked out and managed to close down in record time as the wind picked up and the first drops of rain hit. But the storm was just teasing us- nothing more happened and the sun came out, though it was too late to reopen. Oh well, it had been a great show up to that point, and now I’ve had another exciting artist’s life experience.

And for another bit of excitement, I’m happy to announce I’ll have a new studio, right in downtown Bend. There is a thriving art scene here in Bend, with a popular First Friday art walk that this spot will be perfect for. More details to come soon.

Coffee Fest Seattle 2008

karen — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 18:28:05 +0000

Scenes from Cafe Femenino

I had the privilege of creating a work for auction for the Cafe Femenino Foundation, being inspired by the Millrock Latte Art contest going on at the same time. Coffee Fest graciously gave me space on the skybridge of the convention center where I was able to watch the contest, paint, and display other coffee paintings.

My hometown Tulsa friend Isaiah Sheese from Doubleshot Coffee was competing in the latte art contest; I thought he did great and it was fun to see him in his first competition. Have any of you ever tried pouring latte art?

Isaiah

It’s VERY difficult! When I was being trained, everyone thought I’d pick it up right away since I was an artist, but not so- it took me at least a month to pour a basic rosetta. Kind of humbling, and I definitely salute the baristi who are so skilled in this art form.

Cafe Femenino “is a social program for women coffee producers in rural communities around the world. More than 1,500 women in Bolivia, Colombia, Dominican Republic, Guatemala, Mexico and Peru are active in the project to achieve empowerment, build social and support networks, and earn incomes through the production and sale of the Café Femenino Coffee.”

another competitor deciding his best latte

I got to hear beautiful stories of how entire families’ lives have been changed through their involvement as I looked through pictures with Gay Smith, the organization’s founder. Later, my painting was sold to help out at their fundraiser event in Portland.

Experiments in Sidewalk Chalk

karen — Sun, 07 Jun 2009 18:25:36 +0000

This weekend I revisted a childhood friend- sidewalk chalk. My town of Bend, Oregon had a hot air balloon festival and space for artists to create chalk art as everyone strolled by. I wanted to try using actual coffee grounds as the chalk, but wasn’t allowed to. Oh well, getting to use color was fun.

It took about 2 days to complete Van Gogh’s Starry Night. In the evening, crowds of people walked across everyone’s art! I was surprised at how durable chalk art is, as well as being very enjoyable to create. You should try it! Here are some tips I learned:

1. Use chalk pastels (not oil pastels).

2. Save black for adding last; it will muddy up the other colors.

3. Scribble a bunch of chalk and then use an eraser or paintbrush to work it into the cracks and dents of the surface.

4. Wipe your fingers and brushes off on a towel frequently.

5.Wear sunscreen! I got a nice purple burn by the end of the day…