Author: damion

  • Coming Out of the Dark

    Spring has returned. The Earth is like a child that knows poems. -Rainer Maria Rilke Last night at sunset, I sat on a driftwood log and listened to a chorus of frogs. I burrowed deep into my jacket, cold but happy for the extra hour of daylight. Below me, the site of last summer’s campfires […]

  • Wheels

    (This is a continuing series about Native American artist Eugene Landry.) In an effort to understand Eugene’s life I’ve been trying to understand what it was like to be disabled (back then the term was crippled or handicapped) in mid-century America. Many of the people I’ve interviewed who knew Gene did not know why he […]

  • Kindred Spirits-2019 Tokeland Studio Tour

    An art colony is a place where creative people live and exchange ideas with one another. Think Big Sur or Laguna Beach in the 1950’s and ‘60’s for example These were places artists went to “get away from it all” and live the dream. Today Tokeland, Washington is such a place-a haven for a diverse […]

  • A Tale of Two Artists, Part One

    (This is a continuing series about Shoalwater Bay artist Eugene Landry. To see the first post click here.) Last week I visited two of Tokeland’s finest artists, Wally and Marlene Mann, at their studio on Willapa Bay. They were busy getting ready for Tokeland’s annual art tour. The Mann studio is a large airy space, […]

  • Making Contact

    Last week I got a phone call in response to the article about Eugene Landry. (see previous post). The caller said he was sitting in his car at Swanson’s. He’d been reading the newspaper while his wife shopped for groceries, and found my story. “I’m the guy who built Gene’s dome.” His voice was soft […]