The Chateau at the Oregon Caves

Another interesting historic exploration by Harley Cowan

Artist-in-Residence Program with the National Park Service

by Harley Cowan

The arts have been a part of national parks for nearly 150 years. I got my shot in September.

Oregon Caves National Monument and Preserve is one of over fifty parks around the country which offers an artist-in-residence (AIR) program. The programs are open to emerging and established artists of all disciplines and are competitive. Oregon Caves’ residency includes two weeks of lodging in a private apartment within a historic building on site.

My proposal was to photograph the Chateau at the Oregon Caves just prior to its closure for renovation on its 85^th birthday. Since the nature of modifications will be character-changing, this seemed like an excellent point in time to make a visual record of the building. The selection committee agreed.

So, with a carton full of black and white sheet film and large format camera in hand, I made the journey to southern Oregon to spend a fortnight living and working with rangers and staff at the monument and preserve.

The West has no shortage of iconic, rustic lodges and the Chateau at the Oregon Caves is no exception. Built between 1931 and 1934 by local architect Gust Lium, it is sited over a small gorge where the River Styx, as it is called, exits the mouth of the Oregon Caves.

To see the rest of his article, head over to the Vernacular Architectural Forum:

 

Seattle Snow – 2019

It may seem odd to write about snow in the winter time, especially in the mountainous state of Washington; but, surprisingly, in Seattle, along temperate Puget Sound, snow shows up only every 5 years or so. Mostly, our snow comes as rain. The real stuff coats the Cascade and Olympic mountains. Then, every so often we wake up to a surprise.

This view normally shows downtown Seattle framed dramatically by Mt. Rainier; but today the Space Needle at the Seattle Center barely shows up, with the downtown skyscrapers ghosted in as a background.

We have a popular ‘overlook’ walkway around this part of Queen Anne hill; and the occasional person was out enjoying it.

The various ‘hillclimbs’ that run perpendicular to the overlook didn’t draw much traffic though – the footing was tricky.

The local shrubs took the snow in stride;

but the Japanese cherry trees were less certain.

Luckily for the Junkos, though, the bird lady was on the job with extra seeds.

As for the rest of us, we celebrated that the local Bakery and Coffee Shop were open.

Happy New Year !