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September Featured Artist - Jeweler ~ Denise Sanders
When Denise came to Florence four years ago, she brought years of experience in metallurgy and glass artistry perfecting the technique for her one-of-a-kind lampwork beads. To the question of when she became interested in jewelry making, she responded, "I remember at 3 years of age going through my grandma's jewelry box, collecting beautiful rocks, also creating strings of macaroni in elementary school."
Her husband learned metallurgy so he could accompany her to shows. Denise collaborates with him on some of her pieces. She markets beads separately or combined, nestled in silver or strung in original pieces. These objets d'art have been shown in dozens of jewelry/lapidary magazines.
Besides jewelry making, Denise is an accomplished photographer having experience back to the inception of Photoshop. She excels in computer skills and is a self-confessed 'Computer Geek' after years as a computer engineer/security guru. If you listen to KCST you have heard Denise's voice. She's a DJ there, filling in for show hosts. Listen to ads, animated films, or even as you wait for your options on the telephone. It may be Denise Sanders. She's a voiceover artist/actor with a home studio, producing work used throughout the digital world. Her internet-based interviews with artists will soon be available as a podcast called 'BeadCast'. Come meet Denise at her reception September 11th. Find out about her unique processes. Enjoy the work of 24 other outstanding artists. Refreshments will be served. "Disneyland…that's where 'glass-dreams' really do come true and it really is a small 'glass' world after all." August Featured Artist ~ Jan Landrum
Once a farm girl, she's as at home on a mower as she is with a paintbrush. She loves gardening. Perhaps that's why she finds painting flowers easier than the lighthouses and other colorful scenes she paints. Jan also loves the ease with which she creates her beautiful seascapes. "That," she says, '"I just let happen." Jan "lets it all happen" in her studio tucked away in the forest - a truly inspirational locale.
With her love of art, Landrum worked in oils and then moved into watercolor. She was an original artist in the Gallery of Local Arts in the 70's. After a 15-year hiatus, she returned to art when she moved to Florence. Bob Kutch offered classes and Jan has been hooked ever since. When Susan Weathers began teaching watercolor, Jan joined and has continued through the years. "Taking classes," she says, "inspires me. I learn so much being with other artists and the energy they create." As president of the Florence Area Alzheimer Hospitality Program, a day facility manned by volunteers, she shows her compassionate side. Helping in this program is very rewarding and the organization could certainly use more volunteers. If interested call 541 997-3998. Come out to meet the artist and find out about her work, August 14th, 3-5PM. Enjoy refreshments and a beautiful exhibition of her watercolors. Backstreet is open daily, 10-7 PM and until 8PM on Friday and Saturday evenings so you can enjoy the varied art work of 24 other local artists as well.
Backstreet's next After Hours reception (always the last Wednesday of each month) is scheduled for August 25th from 5 until 7:00 p.m. We hope you'll join us for live music and great refreshments. See top of page for August After Hours performance.
GALA Art WalkThe bus tour occurs on the second Saturday of each month from 3 until 5 p.m. If Backstreet is not on the GALA art tour any certain month, a reception is still scheduled for the same 2nd Saturday of the month from 1 until 3 p.m. AFTER HOURSBackstreet's monthly AFTER HOURS event is always the last Wednesday of each month with "finger food," beverages and live music from 5 until 7 p.m. New location, new sign, new big red door, flower boxes filled with greenery, and red chairs to sit in while you enjoy it all.  Backstreet Co-op Members
Associate Members:
For more information about Backstreet Gallery & Co-op's membership categories —Full Membership & Associate Member—Please call: 541/997-8980. Visit our web site at www.backstreetgallery.org
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Backstreet Gallery & Cooperative
1421 Bay Street, Florence, Oregon • Phone: 541/997- 8980
backstreet@florenceartists.com • Summer Hours: Daily: 10am to 7pm; Friday & Saturdays, till 8 pm. www.BackstreetGallery.org
Become enchanted with unique jewelry by Denise Sanders, September Artist at Backstreet Gallery, 1421 Bay St. A reception will be held in her honor, September 11th, 3-5PM at the gallery.
Her glass-obsession began at Disneyland and Knott's Berry Farm. Rather than rides, she'd spend hours, nose against the window, watching molten glass magically become ships and ballerinas. Forty years later, Denise exhibited her work in a show where she met the very same artist she had watched at Disneyland. She's traveled to major jewelry shows around the country, sometimes carrying 90-pound suitcases of her original pieces. 
Denise makes beads using duel-fuse torches with a flame over 2,000 degrees. "It is a dance with the flame and molten glass." Sometimes the glass takes the lead. "…You can't totally control the glass." Hours of cooling later, she hammer-textures them to become part of a finished piece.
Talented watercolorist, Jan Landrum is August's Featured Artist at Backstreet Gallery, 1421 Bay St. At the gallery, a reception will be held in her honor, Saturday August 14th, 3-5 PM on during the G.A.L.A. Art Walk. Enjoy her gallery wall filled with watercolors that zing with fresh appeal.
As a child she loved to draw people and just recently returned to that love as she paints with the Figure 8's. "Figures are much more challenging." She exhibited her portraits, eight watercolor and charcoal/pencil pieces, in the Figure 8 show at Siuslaw Library this July.