Each spring local artists volunteer to design and paint banners to be hung on the city street lamp poles during the summer months along HWY 101 in Yachats, OR. The 2020 theme was “Yachats Patterns.”
This year’s 29 canvas banners are about 23 x 42” with a rounded end, and the designs are applied with acrylic paints. The theme was “Yachats Patterns.” A theme is given to inspire but not required. Banners were visible on Hwy 101 downtown Yachats. The virtual auction ended on September 19, 2020, at 4:00 pm.
Due to the Covid-19 pandemic and concern for everyone’s safety, there was no silent auction this year. An online auction was held instead.
Click on an image below if you only want to VIEW a banner in a more viewable larger size.
Maeona Urban
Years ago while on vacation I was trapped inside a cottage in Yachats (Rock Park Cottage #2) when it rained for several days and I only had two contrasting colors of paint with me. They were yellow ochre and burnt sienna. I proceeded to paint a semi-abstract painting of 20 seagulls all in a tangle. My cousin Alan Contreras has that painting. Alan is a writer, poet, birdwatcher, and education consultant. He is best known for his contributions to Oregon ornithology and his work in higher education. While I simply titled the painting Twenty Seagulls, Alan informed me despite often being called a flock of seagulls, the collective noun for a group of seagulls is a colony, but in my painting he likes to call them a “Gullwad”. The name stuck and I changed it officially in my records. When the theme “Yachats Patterns” came out this year for the banners I was in the process of reminiscing through old paintings to post to my Facebook page that might be cheerful during quarantine and political chaos. I came across that bird painting and saw the designs in the birds and decided that once again seagulls would be a perfect theme for patterns. My Yachats Banner for 2020 is a “Gullwad” or colony whichever you prefer. (Original 2020 banner was lost or damaged in Sept. windstorm, but replaced by the artist.)
Jude Toler
The ocean is omnipresent in the lives of all those who live on any coast, anywhere in the world. This painting represents some of the things I automatically associate with the sea and in some respects it represents memories from my own life. The pelican from the California Coast, the whale and barnacle covered rocks from Yachats and the seagulls which remind me of the south coast of Britain where I grew up.
Carol Summers
No matter what is happening in the world the tide comes in and it goes out again.
The rocks and the sand sort themselves according to weight and weather.
The Snowy Plover lays her eggs among the rocks ignoring the danger, and the mamma tends her chick on the sand as the waves endlessly roll in and roll out.
The rocks and the sand sort themselves according to weight and weather.
The Snowy Plover lays her eggs among the rocks ignoring the danger, and the mamma tends her chick on the sand as the waves endlessly roll in and roll out.
Ann Stott
(2020 banner repaired/restored after damage from Sept. windstorm.) I first saw the Pacific Ocean when I was 17 years old and my soul hasn’t been the same since. I am fortunate 40 years later to witness the waves churning on a daily basis. I am energized when the waves crash mightily against the shore. Despite all the energy of crashing water along the shore, there is delicate work being done by water as well at the beach. We marvel as the great rivers flow into the ocean, but we often miss the simple beauty of the tiny streams running across our beaches. Tiny streams are nature’s paint brushes as she shifts sand into spectacular patterns. Years ago during one of my cherished visits to the ocean, I carefully separated three colors of sand from a tiny stream and created an art cube, which is still displayed in my home. I just recently began painting. My 7th painting, Water Colors, was inspired by the patterns created by these tiny streams in the sand. It was based on two photographs taken by me during a visit to a beach north of Yachats. The painting was seen by an artist friend who thought it would make a great banner. So began the adventure of a new artist’s lifetime!
Bruce Rawles
Having a strong interest in geometric patterns – and devoted a considerable portion of my first book to 2-dimensional space-filling geometries – I initially considered using an Escher-esque tiling pattern concept, but decided to “keep it simple” and just show a few locally prominent examples of repetition and interconnection in nature; ocean waves, sea stars, foxglove blossoms, alders, Sitka Spruce, and eagles.
Martina Olson
Helen Nighthawk
Gretchen Milhaupt
Patterns everywhere
Windy beaches, banners flap
Summer in Yachats
Windy beaches, banners flap
Summer in Yachats
Cindy Meier
My banner hopefully reflects that better times will come ....and that all the colors and life bring happiness to your soul.
Kathy McCulloch
My banner painting is an abstract of one of the many gorgeous sunsets that grace Yachats. This particular one occurred in late September of 2019.
Jamie Kish
When I heard the theme was Patterns of Yachats this is immediately what popped into my mind...the alien and repetitive patterns of the tidepools. Being in self quarantine and going through some extra layers of depression, I just wanted it to be as bright as possible! Color therapy! I used liquid gold leaf to accent the sea star, anemone, and mussel patterns. As always, it's a joy an honor to do this every year!
Gary Herd
Here on the Oregon Coast, at the bottom of the Pacific Ocean, lies a creature many of us have never seen in its natural habitat. When I view them in captivity, I can only imagine how majestic they are in the open ocean. Walking, swimming, floating, hiding and even changing colors. What an amazing world we live in to house such miraculous mollusk. I have chosen The Giant Pacific Octopus for this years "pattern" theme, as it represents them well with its eight legs and thousands of suction cups.
Lee Haynes
My banner was inspired by what I see from my window in this time of distancing and lockdown….My dear neighbors bees flying freely with the sky and trees in the background. Of course m imagination took over from there and things got a bit wild. (Original 2020 banner was lost or damaged in Sept. windstorm, but replaced by the artist.)
Michael Guerriero
Still looking for intuitive marks that evoke the patterns in nature.
Susan Farnham
Beach Dogs at the River
Loren Dickinson
(2020 banner repaired/restored after damage from Sept. windstorm.) Patterns that can be experienced by Yachats in a single day.
Moreen Dawson
Considering the patterns of oyster mushroom in evening light.
Tracy Crews and Kaeden Fletcher
Emily Crabtree
By participating in peaceful protest our community shows we are standing with the BLACK LIVES MATTER movement. This banner has eight tentacles, representing the 8 mins, and 46 droplets to represent seconds. This is in honor of George Floyd's horrific murder at the hands of racist police. Our theme was patterns of Yachats. And I am proud that our community has over and over shown a pattern of standing up together to show we are a safe, kind & open minded village. Yachats is dedicated to the visibly of that pattern and in doing so we are supporting equality and demanding justice. This is in step with the collective voices of freedom for our country. Peace is not Political. Keeping peace is a pattern we must keep repeating to be a whole and welcoming Yachats.
Jacquee Christnot
Title: Wókaǧeǧe (Sewing)
Title: Wókaǧeǧe (Sewing)
(2020 banner was lost or damaged in Sept. windstorm.) Uŋčí Makȟá (Grandmother Earth) is the Lakȟóta terrestrial spirit. I often joke that she's like the western Mother Earth, but older, wiser, and more nurturing. Here she’s sewing the ocean to the land with sinew and a bone needle, piecing together the pattern of Yachats’ coastline as countless generations of my family have handcrafted clothing, haŋpíkčeka (moccasins), blankets, and thipȟéstola (traditional tipis).
Uŋčí Makȟá’s representative color is green, but I dressed her in red to call back Missing and Murdered Indigenous People, the victims of a current epidemic of predatory violence in the United States and Canada. Red is the only color spirits can see, so wearing it invites them to be among us and have their voices heard through family and community, as I’m speaking about them now.
I'm Oglála Lakȟóta,a Nation whose ancestral lands include South and North Dakota, Nebraska, and Montana — landlocked. I’ve lived in Yachats for 10 years and enjoy blending my Great Plains cultural mythology with my current home by the sea.
Rick Cave
(Original 2020 banner was lost or damaged in Sept. windstorm, but replaced by the artist.)
Sue Carey
Cassandra Brandt
This banner is painted on both sides by Brandt.
Cassandra Brandt
This banner is painted on both sides by Brandt.
Nancy Bolton-Rawles
Title: Trilliums, My Hope
Title: Trilliums, My Hope
Given the theme “Yachats Patterns” my mind went instantly to the patterns found in flowers. The trillium seemed a natural because we find it growing in and around Yachats. The beautiful simplistic small flower encompasses repeated patterns seen in its three leaves, three petals, and three sepals. Symbolically, the #3 is first number to which the meaning of “all” was given. It is "the triad” connecting beginning, middle and end; heaven, earth and waters; body, soul and spirit. It is associated with the Trinity whereas you receive protection, guidance and help from the divine forces. For me, the trillium and its patterns of 3 was a perfect choice in a time we may (hopefully) be considering our interconnectedness in the midst of the pandemic we are experiencing together. The trillium flower expresses my hope that all of us are receiving the protection, guidance and help from divine forces and that they are and will continue to inspire us, help us create, and motivate us to grow.
Joseph Bernard
Title: The Arch of Life
Title: The Arch of Life
In each moment of a lifetime, there are infinite possibilities. We are the creators of our life experience. Our choices have power, they can be filled with light and energy or with caution and the vibrations that go with that. It's all good. Joseph Bernard loves to explore colors and the possibilities of being human.
Bobbie Benson
Title: Fire Patterns
Title: Fire Patterns
If you stare at a fire long enough, you’ll begin to see the background in a completely different way. The heat creates waves of energy that distort and diffuse what your mind says is actually there, and mimics the fire’s flames. All at once, that energy merges with the moving air and the pattern emerges. That is what inspired this banner. When you are completely in the moment you begin to see life differently.
Bev Barmore
Melissa Alberti-Araujo
The first half of 2020 has been so hard. The world is changing. The future is so unpredictable. It is with hope and innovation that we forgot was possible, that we will all rise from the rubble.
These hues represent these big feelings. The mermaid is silhouetted now, taking time alone to reimagine the future.
This too shall pass, and we will be colorful and vivid again.
Debbie Aken
Title: Blue Hues
Title: Blue Hues
(2020 banner was lost or damaged in Sept. windstorm.) The Hydrangea is a favorite of mine here at the coast. When considering patterns, the beautiful bloom of the Hydrangea came to mind. As well as enjoying the fresh blooms all summer long, I use the dried petals in my collages, montages, and greeting cards. They maintain their lovely hue after they are dry. I appreciate that I can grow them here almost effortlessly after years of trying to sustain them in the heat of southern Oregon.
Banners on Hwy 101 – 2019
Note: During recent heavy windstorm activity, a few banners were either lost or damaged. We regret the loss of these beautiful banners. Some of the damaged banners have been repaired/restored, and others replaced as noted below. Double thanks to the artists who meticulously repainted their original artwork on completely new banners, and also to those who repaired and restored the others!
If you were the top bidder (as of September 16, 2020 noon PDT) you should have received an email notifying you that those auctions were canceled. (We only emailed the top bidders for those canceled auctions.) You might want to revisit the banner auction page and bid on one of the remaining banners. After all, the purpose of the auction is a very worthy cause, to support arts programs in Yachats, and also fund these future charitable events.
Here is the status of those banners:
LOST BANNERS (canceled banner auctions):
- Banner by Debbie Aken
- Banner by Jacquee Christnot
DAMAGED, but REPAIRED/RESTORED BANNERS
- Banner by Loren Dickinson
- Banner by Ann Stott
REPLACED BANNERS
(These banners were completely repainted on new canvas; their auction pages show the original artwork, but the replacements should like nearly identical).
- Banner by Rick Cave
- Banner by Lee Haynes
- Banner by Maeona Urban