Come out to Studio 7 in Veneta Sunday, meet Sarkis Antikajian, and see his paintings — and my photos
The much loved artist will show work and read from his new memoir. I'll have new photos at the gallery. And read on for breaking news about two exhibits I'll have in southern Oregon in 2025!
Sarkis Antikajian is an amazing inspiration to all of us pursuing late-life artistic careers. One of the most congenial people you could ever hope to meet, Sarkis used to be a pharmacist — a fine profession that helps people in all kinds of ways.
But somewhere along the way he made a radical course change from the career his family had chosen for him as he was growing up in Amman, Jordan. “I had other ideas,” Sarkis recalls in his newly published and thoroughly inspiring memoir, An Artist’s Journey. “My intention was to do the best I could to become a pharmacist, naively assuming that it would provide me with financial security to pursue my dream of becoming an artist. I’d given no thought to how long it would take or if it was at all possible.”
Spoiler alert: Yes, art is hard, but it all turned out pretty well, and Sarkis, no longer a pharmacist, is one of the most successful and prolific painters in and around Eugene.
On Sunday afternoon, June 23, he’ll be reading from and signing copies of An Artist’s Odyssey, as well as showing some of his wondrously colorful paintings at Studio 7, 87230 Central Road, Veneta. To get there from Eugene you head out West 11th to Fern Ridge and take a left on Central Road, right across from Perkins Peninsula Park. Then Studio 7 is on the right about a mile or two down the road, inside a former school building. You can’t miss it.
The reception runs from 1 p.m. to 3:30 p.m. and will feature music, wine and hors d'oeuvres. The reading will start about 1:30. Local poets will be reading Ekphrastic poetry — poems about art — each highlighting a specific painting by Sarkis.
Studio 7 is a cool little gallery that shows work by a number of local artists, including Margaret Plumb, Jerry Ross, Harold Hoy, and, yes, Bob Keefer, among others. Come on out and say hello!
In other exhibition news: Fire & Ice coming to southern Oregon
I’m working on Fire & Ice, a series of hand colored photos that document the horrendous damage to the Oregon forest from climate events such as summer wildfires and last January’s amazing ice storm — as well as the spectacular recovery going on around us as spring turns into summer again.
Fire & Ice has now been booked into two Oregon galleries in 2025. The art gallery at Umpqua Community College in Roseburg will show Fire & Ice from March 31 through April 30, and the gallery at the Bandon Public Library will show the photos from October 1 through November 30.
![](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Ff1617951-11a6-40d5-a760-de411693081c_834x1200.jpeg)
I’m much looking forward to completing and showing this series examining the effects of climate change on the Oregon forest.
Updates to come as we get closer to the exhibition dates.
Thanks Bob. Looking forward to seeing your new work.