UPDATED 7/3/22

LINCOLN CITY – For five special days this July, the lawns of the Lincoln City Cultural Center will become an outdoor art gallery and the epicenter of a coastal conservation project. Central coast residents and visitors of all ages are invited to enjoy nearly ½ mile of landscape paintings, the latest iteration of the “For the Seventh Generation” pano-mural, July 13-17 at the LCCC, 540 NE Hwy. 101. Leashed and well-behaved pets are welcome.

“For the Seventh Generation: A Community of Coastal Watchers” is a long-term project first envisioned two decades ago. The project’s goal is to create a system of ocean observers, “so that any untoward action on the ocean or its accompanying landscape will not go unnoticed.” Painters in California, Oregon and Washington are invited to each choose a mile, to revisit and paint each year. This free, outdoor art exhibit is presented by the John Teply Gallery & Atelier, in partnership with the Lincoln City Cultural Center.

It will be a busy, art-filled week at the Cultural Center. In addition to the “For the Seventh Generation” mural installation and events, visitors are invited to tour the current exhibits in the P.J. Chessman Gallery, the Fiber Arts Studio Gallery and the Hallway Gallery, all located within the center (aka the historic Delake School). You can even combine your trip to see the mural with one of two ticketed events: a jazz album release celebration with the Dmitri Matheny Group on Wednesday and the Cascade Head Biosphere Reserve art workshop on Sunday.

All events listed below are free, unless indicated with *

CENTER SCHEDULE OF EVENTS
Wednesday, July 13 — Outdoor Mural Open 11-7, Dmitri Matheny Group concert* at 7 in the auditorium (tickets here ).
Thursday, July 14 — Outdoor Mural Open 11-7, Inside Galleries Open 10-4, Private Party in the Auditorium 5-8
Friday, July 15 — Outdoor Mural Open 11-7, Inside Galleries Open 10-4
Saturday, July 16 — Oceans Art Festival & Outdoor Mural 11-8 (activity see schedule below), Inside Galleries Open 10-4
Sunday, July 17 — Outdoor Mural Open 11-2, Inside Galleries Open 10-4, “Forests of the Sea” Art & Education Workshop* with CHBR at 2:30 pm, pre-registration required

OCEANS ART FESTIVAL
SATURDAY, JULY 16 — Schedule of Events
9 am Minus tide walk, LCCC to NW 15th St.
11am-7pm Outdoor Mural open for viewing (outside)
11am-sellout Grub’s On food truck open
1pm Artist talks (auditorium)
2pm All ages craft workshop (auditorium)
3pm Concert with Blues Variant (outside)
5pm Poetry reading (auditorium)
7pm Short film festival (auditorium)

ABOUT THE PROJECT

“To be renewed annually, this process work gives the artist the opportunity to intellectually and emotionally connect with the land and to take the role of both sentinel and chronicler of a specific ocean location,” said project leader John Teply.

“Perhaps each of us has a favorite spot along the coast. Looking out over it, we may find ourselves asking, ‘Will it survive’?” he said. “The ocean is continually under threat. Pollution, coastal development and over-fishing all tax the health of its finite system. Without our strong environmental conscience and a voice to express it, threats to the ocean will be left unchallenged and its health subject to the whims and manipulations of politics and industry. This project, extending through the 21st century, provides such a voice.”

When you visit the “For the Seventh Generation” pano-mural, you can start your walk in Tijuana, passing by the Huntington Beach Pier, San Francisco Bay, Cascade Head, Haystack Rock, Astoria Bridge, and Puget Sound before ending your trek with a view of the Peace Arch on the Canadian border.

The resulting free-standing pano-mural, made up of landscape paintings that are 2 feet by 4 feet, is getting longer every year. This summer, while on display outdoors at the Cultural Center, it will stretch nearly ½ mile in length, and will be displayed on fencing installed throughout the LCCC lawn. A collection of other large landscapes, those which have not been treated to withstand the elements, will be exhibited inside in the LCCC’s Hallway Gallery.

“For the Seventh Generation” pano-mural will be open to the public from 11 am to 7 pm on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday, July 13-15, and from 11 am to 8 pm Saturday, July 16 and 11-2pm Sunday, July 17.

CALENDAR ENTRIES

Wednesday, July 13 – Sunday, July 17 — “For the Seventh Generation” Outdoor Art Exhibit, Hours 11-7 pm Weds-Friday, 11-8 pm Saturday, 11-2pm Sunday, outdoors at the Lincoln City Cultural Center. Free admission. Presented by The John Teply Art Gallery, the “For the Seventh Generation” Outdoor Art Exhibit is a pano-mural, 2 feet tall and almost ½ mile long, made up of hundreds of paintings of the entire western coastline of the United States. Poetry, film and music programs will take place through the week. Free to the public. Participants and volunteers are welcome. To learn more or contribute, call the LCCC at 541-994-9994.

Thursday, July 14 . Exhibit open to the public from 11 am – 7 pm.

Friday, July 15 . Exhibit open to the public from 11 am – 7 pm.

Saturday, July 16, at 9 am . Join us for a -2.2 tide pool viewing. Meet at the Lincoln City Tide Pools Saturday morning for a rare moment of dramatically low tides. The tides pools are a 10 minute walk from the LCCC, located ¼ mile North on the beach. Bring a camera for this historical low tide even. Join us afterword at the Lincoln City Cultural Center for live music, food and art from 11-8pm. 1 pm, artists talk in the LCCC auditorium. 2 pm, Copper Creature Workshop – All ages are welcome. 3-5 pm , Outdoor Music by Blues Variant. 5 pm, “For the Seventh Generation” Spoken Word Program, in the auditorium. A free program of poetry and readings inspired by “For the Seventh Generation: A Community of Coastal Watchers.” Free admission. 7 pm,  short coastal film festival on the contributing artists in the LCCC Auditorium.

Sunday, July 17 . Exhibit open from 11 am – 2 pm.

For more questions or to learn more about the artists, contact John Teply at johndteply@gmail.com , or call him at 503-816-7196.

See below for an introduction to a few of the participating artists:

Jill Perry Townsend
“Sculpted by the Sea” | Road’s End Beach, Oregon

When I am painting I feel more at ease and more like myself. Everything seems right with the world. I first saw the ocean when I was 12 years old. I looked out at the ocean and thought, ‘why didn’t anybody tell me about this?’ I have been an activist for many years and worked as the Art Director for the Center for Marine Conservation for ten years. I used my art to motivate people to affect change. I believe it’s important to keep the message positive. I feel that if you can engage people as being part of the solution you’re more likely to to have partners in your effort than enemies. With my work at the Center for Marine Conservation my job was explained to me like this, “We are able to act from a moderate and co-operative stance because there are more radical organizations out there. If you don’t have the extreme you couldn’t have the middle. One of the greatest things about the For The Seventh Generation project is that it inspires! It shows the beauty of the coast and inspires people to want to protect it. It makes people care and want to protect it because it’s beautiful. -Jill Perry Townsend

Katia Kyte
Siletz Bay, Oregon

In painting, I believe that energy can be amazing. There’s a kind of energy and vibes in which I think that we connect to each other. We can express a certain energy and it has something to do with connecting to the world in a certain way and then somebody else can also sense it. It’s amazing that a painting can be someplace else and people can connect on a vibrational level. It’s so powerful. This kind of connection that we create helps us feel connected to the world, to other people and it’s done through these paintings.
It really touched me what I was able to see the For the Seventh Generation project in person at the Lincoln City Cultural Center. There were so many artists and there was an intensity of seeing it in person. When I normally paint, nobody cares what I do, nobody notices. We have all of our doubts like we are just this little drop in the ocean, but it still matters, and so when I saw the installation with all of the artists I definitely felt the connection to other artists. I also liked how the viewers were just blown away by it. I think all in all it had a very powerful impact in many ways. I loved the way unity was created. In our politics these days we are separated as Democrats and Republicans, it’s so divided. But on viewing the big mural it was like we all experienced a unity. Each painting was so individual and beautiful. And they all ended up together and the impact that they created was amazing. I liked seeing the beautiful coastline and thinking “our job is to protect the ocean.” I want to leave it for our future generations. I think by creating consciousness and unity we are working together for one goal. -Katia Kyte

Dee Vadnais
“Work and Play on the South Jetty” | Waldport, Oregon

When starting a painting I usually start with a color idea that might affect the mood or sense of the place. It might not be a true color because I am not necessarily attempting a photographic interpretation. I am responding with color that has some meaning to me and it’s often exaggerated. So I pull color out of the landscape, like purple and reds that other people might not really see. But I see them there; it’s the colors that I use to describe my experience of a place. I think that colors are more descriptive of my experience than just trying to take photographic representation. I think that in a way, this project is expressing something about our particular time. “What does it look like?” Could be essential as a record of the environment. I didn’t start out thinking that would be important, but it’s beginning to feel that way. Things are changing rapidly. I really like the idea of returning to the same place over several years and depicting it. I am an Oregonian. I grew up spending a lot of time at the beach. Its critical importance to me is the environment. There’s no better way for me to spend my time than hanging out at the beach. I like how this project gives me an excuse to get down there and be at the ocean. Artists have always been on the leading edge of activism. We can look around and see the paintings of the For The Seventh Generation and know that we are depicting the power and the beauty and the source. I don’t think we are depicting it necessarily as being in danger, but just putting it in front of people that this is our world. That’s incredible! Sometimes you’ve just got to put it in front of people to make them remember. -Dee Vadnais

Pete Chasar
“Chetco Cove” | Chetco Point, Oregon

I’ve been a hiker and environmental advocate for most of my adult life, and, for the past 20 years, I’ve been a member of Coast Watch, a division of Oregon Shores Conservation Coalition. Art, by reaching people on an emotional or intellectual level (or both), can inspire individuals and groups to action. Art history is full of examples—works by Picasso, Goya, Delacroix, Manet, and more—many more, including illustrators of rousing wartime posters and even popular artists like Norman Rockwell, whether illustrating themes about civil rights, world hunger, or habitat preservation. Fortunately, the site of my painting, “Chetco Cove,” is a preservation success story, in that it is now part of Brookings’ popular Chetco Point Park and Trail. But, a hundred years ago, the cove included a large wharf where ships docked to load lumber and passengers. A remnant of that history can be seen on the left side of my painting— a flat area carved into a rock stack to help support the robust wooden wharf. Another historical connection: The trail and Chetco Cove are today accessed via a street named, “Wharf.” In the painting, I simply try to capture the after-storm beauty of that close-in coastal environment with a style that I call, “graphic realism.” -Pete Chasar

Ireland McNeil
“Lookout to Chapman Point” | Chapman Point, Oregon

In painting, I believe that energy can be amazing. There’s a kind of energy and vibes in which I think that we connect to each other. We can express a certain energy and it has something to do with connecting to the world in a certain way and then somebody else can also sense it. It’s amazing that a painting can be someplace else and people can connect on a vibrational level. It’s so powerful. This kind of connection that we create helps us feel connected to the world, to other people and it’s done through these paintings.
It really touched me what I was able to see the For the Seventh Generation project in person at the Lincoln City Cultural Center. There were so many artists and there was an intensity of seeing it in person. When I normally paint, nobody cares what I do, nobody notices. We have all of our doubts like we are just this little drop in the ocean, but it still matters, and so when I saw the installation with all of the artists I definitely felt the connection to other artists. I also liked how the viewers were just blown away by it. I think all in all it had a very powerful impact in many ways. I loved the way unity was created. In our politics these days we are separated as Democrats and Republicans, it’s so divided. But on viewing the big mural it was like we all experienced a unity. Each painting was so individual and beautiful. And they all ended up together and the impact that they created was amazing. I liked seeing the beautiful coastline and thinking “our job is to protect the ocean.” I want to leave it for our future generations. I think by creating consciousness and unity we are working together for one goal. -Ireland McNeil

Jess Carlock
“Agate Beach Evening” | Agate Beach, Oregon

In painting, I believe that energy can be amazing. There’s a kind of energy and vibes in which I think that we connect to each other. We can express a certain energy and it has something to do with connecting to the world in a certain way and then somebody else can also sense it. It’s amazing that a painting can be someplace else and people can connect on a vibrational level. It’s so powerful. This kind of connection that we create helps us feel connected to the world, to other people and it’s done through these paintings.
It really touched me what I was able to see the For the Seventh Generation project in person at the Lincoln City Cultural Center. There were so many artists and there was an intensity of seeing it in person. When I normally paint, nobody cares what I do, nobody notices. We have all of our doubts like we are just this little drop in the ocean, but it still matters, and so when I saw the installation with all of the artists I definitely felt the connection to other artists. I also liked how the viewers were just blown away by it. I think all in all it had a very powerful impact in many ways. I loved the way unity was created. In our politics these days we are separated as Democrats and Republicans, it’s so divided. But on viewing the big mural it was like we all experienced a unity. Each painting was so individual and beautiful. And they all ended up together and the impact that they created was amazing. I liked seeing the beautiful coastline and thinking “our job is to protect the ocean.” I want to leave it for our future generations. I think by creating consciousness and unity we are working together for one goal. -Jess Carlock

Aleeta Van Runkle
“Winter’s Light” | Bodega Bay, Oregon

As an artist, I did a lot of portraits, but very quickly, once I became able to devote more time to art, I moved into landscapes, which flows from my love of nature. I grew up in Ohio and spent hours outside on the farm that we lived on. One of the reasons I chose to move to San Francisco is because I wanted to live in a city, but I needed easy access to the ocean and the beautiful forests. I find it incredibly healing and calming. If I had a church, it would be nature. It would be the force of the ocean. When I paint, I want to convey those senses, the feeling of the land and certain calmness and beauty. I want to capture the visceral response that I have to these places. I think because of the pandemic, there has been an increase in awareness of the importance of nature. Nature has a healing quality that I think we all needed, so now more than ever, especially with the drought that we are experiencing, if there was ever a time to focus on the health of the ocean, it’s now. In the case of For the Seventh Generation, we aren’t alone in this effort. It’s not just one artist, it’s artists linking arms with each other through their art. The magnitude of this project is both necessary and wonderful and my role in the project is just one of many. I hope that this project offers a new perspective, or another window or door, so to speak, into a world that the viewer hasn’t encountered and I hope that it becomes a small anecdote to the despair of our times. -Aleeta Van Runkle

Margie Murray
Point Mugu, California

Something that I get from the ocean is its overwhelming importance and life-force. I think emotion is important in painting because your emotional state is oftentimes reflected in the art and the atmospheric conditions you can create with brush strokes. We can communicate light and shadow, we can communicate the constant movement of the ocean waves. I believe that painting can inspire you to go into your own memories and draw from past experiences. My location is Point Mugu. It’s about ten minutes down the road from where I live. I love to go there. They allow dogs on the beach, people take picnics, and it’s a very wonderful place to meditate and to go with friends. When looking at the painting that I did for the project, I hope that people are attracted to the silver-quality of the day. -Margie Murray

Abby Lazerow
“Cape Ferrelo in the Summer of Smoke” | Cape Ferrelo, Oregon

Growing up by the ocean in Connecticut, the sounds and rhythms of the water were the soundtrack of my childhood and adolescence, and I thought the marine life and the waters were constant, never imagining that the mother ocean herself could be threatened. It is my hope that a community of artists celebrating and documenting the waters and coastline can inspire many others to be more engaged and take action. As Seventh Generation artists, we have been called to bear witness to the changes of the Pacific coastline. Instead of feeling pessimistic and despondent about a future threatened by climate change and human folly, art can challenge us to consider changing the way we live now so that we can promise the next generations that the oceans and shores will remain and be renewed in an unpolluted, unacidified and natural state. Because making and viewing art helps expand the imagination and explore new possibilities, art can encourage us to use our creativity to become empowered and take action to preserve the oceans and wildlife. When I first moved to Oregon, we took a trip to the coast and explored the Samuel H. Boardman corridor. This area is simply mesmerizing. There are so many sweeping, breathtaking views, astonishing rock formations, along with secluded and private areas. The smell of the sea, the sound of the waves and the feel of the air awakened a deep and ancient connection. With the ever-changing weather and light, an artist could work there for a lifetime and each painting and drawing would be different. It is a privilege to return to the same area each year and to share the beauty of this wondrous landscape through my painting. -Abby Lazerow

Laura Wilson
“Stand Back” | Cannon Beach, Oregon

When people look at my work, I want them to get the feeling that they are there; I want them to feel the monumentalism of something of this size, of somewhat catching their breath and about feeling the atmosphere of the wet and the mist and the heat of the sun and the cold of the wind. I really want to share a sense of place. That is the thing that made me start painting and it’s always been about landscape. I’ve heard people say that is what they get out of my work, and so when I do work on site, there is a freshness about it. Maybe it’s because you must go fast, or maybe it’s because it’s so big. It’s important to me to share the power of place. 
I feel like this is an important project for several reasons. I think it provides access to the ocean for people who are unable to get to a favorite location, and we have seen so much of that during COVID. People can see and feel connected to these locations virtually too, which is also important. People love the ocean. It’s in our blood, literally, in our blood. And if we can all collectively work on this, we can make a difference and move the needle as much as we can as individuals. And then, as a project, we are so much more like an orchestra than an individual, and there is significant power in that as well. -Laura Wilson

Patricia J. Moss
“While I Wait” | Westhaven Beach, Oregon

The land we live on is our home and the home of future generations. Our connection with this land and the experience of interacting with nature does wonders for the human psyche. Deeper still, connecting with others while interacting with nature has positive impacts on our relationships. It builds community and develops a sense of belonging. I believe art is a translator; it creates bridges and communicates through pictures and emotions in a way we seldom do with words. It can serve to break down barriers and document history. Art is a therapeutic, healing and powerful method of communicating. Without art, we lack depth in culture and lose part of our history and part of our humanity. As a child, I remember fishing and playing on the beach of Westhaven with my family. It was a quiet, reflective place with endless adventure on the beach and jetty. My children grew up exploring the beaches of Washington and Oregon. For them, beaches were a playground where we played hide and seek, built forts, and threw sticks for our dogs to catch. The beaches were a place where we searched for shells and yelled at the waves madly running back and forth playing tag. Ruby beach, for me, was a place where I found respite. It is filled with texture and color and life that feeds the soul. Fishermen line its shore, casting into the waves and children climb in and around its rocks and driftwood. The colors of the rocks sparkle like gems, bringing smiles to all who visit. -Patricia J. Moss

Allison McClay
“Mabel’s North Head” | North Head Lighthouse, Oregon

I’m still figuring out what paint can express. Right now, I’m more instinctive about it. When I start a painting I’m not thinking “what do I want to express?” I’m more just feeling and instinctively trying to follow something. In painting, I’m working out issues that aren’t fully articulated. These are issues that go beyond just painting and actually involve life in general. When I start a painting, I’m not really sure where it’s going or where it’s going to take me. I never know what I’m going to find (or what someone else will find). I think that discovery and allowing the painting process to show me a different way is important. And it’s important to allow my instincts to take the lead with the painting. I love the concept of ‘the seventh generation.’ I think it’s a great way to live your life and a wonderful way to view things as it applies to the coast specifically. It’s obviously very easy to see how climate change is affecting everything. I am a native Oregonian and I feel a protectiveness and admiration for the Oregon coast. I love the idea of painting the same location multiple times. It’s kind of taking a long look at our world and what we are doing. Just thinking about the seventh generation and how our actions, how we live, will affect future generations, it’s hard to imagine. It’s impossible to even imagine what they will look like but just trying to think ahead seven generations as a thought exercise is important. It’s always been difficult for me to be political in my artwork. What’s been really amazing is to be able to participate in a fully realized idea like For the Seventh Generation. -Alison McClay

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