BACKSTREET GALLERY

Backstreet has been painted and cleaned for 2017, and we are ready for Valentine's Day shopping! We have lots of artist designed cards and beautiful gifts, perfect for your loved ones on Valentine's Day. It is a local secret that this time of year is quite balmy for winter time. If you don't live here, you might like to plan a little side trip to pay us a visit during the month.

We are featuring the authors of Backstreet at our Second Saturday Art Tour Reception this month on February 11, from 3-5 p.m.

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Backstreet Gallery features four outstanding authors this February. There will be a reception in their honor on February 11, 3-5 p.m. at  the gallery, 1421 Bay Street.

Kathryn Damon-Dawson is a watercolorist, and she has also created a counting book for children, Dogs, Crows and the Corn Chip Dance. It was co-written by her granddaughters, Darby McCann and Riley McCann. The book teaches backwards-counting through rhyme. The text is whimsical, engaging and fast-paced. Watercolor illustrations are by Kathryn who used digital images and drawings of dogs, crows and cars gathered by granddaughters Riley and Darby. The book was conceived one afternoon while they traveled by car from Beaverton to Florence.  Kathryn wanted her granddaughters to understand that, with diligence and effort, an idea can be taken to completion. Bob Serra of Pacific Publishing helped greatly.

            

Judy Fleagle worked as editor and staff writer for Oregon Coast and Northwest Travel magazines for 21 years. Prior to that she taught first and second grades in California for 22 years. In 2009, she retired to write her first book. And in 2011, she co-founded the Florence Festival of Books. Fleagle’s books include Crossings: McCullough’s Coastal Bridges, The Crossings Guide to Oregon’s Coastal Spans, Around Florence, and Devil Cat and Other Colorful Animals I Have Known. A fifth book is in the works that will be another guide to the Oregon Coast and available late in 2017.

            

Pattie Brooks Anderson is first a painter and printmaker, but most recently she has become an author of books for children. She likes to say, "For children from eight to eighty." She has always loved illustrations in children's books, and her work is evidence of that inclination. Though she has always loved writing, she has found her paintings are the inspiration for the stories she writes. The books to date are Enchanted, a fairy tale, and soon to be released, Star and Raven’s Legend: The Spirit Bears of the Great Bear Rainforest. She hopes to use her children's books as a message to children of all ages to respect the earth and all its creatures and the importance of our role as human beings in preserving our environment.         

 

Karen D. Nichols, an artist, is also author of five books. All her novels are set in Florence. They each involve a dog story and a love story, yet they are quite different. Triumph Over Fear is an inspirational novel of wilderness survival. Second Chance Heart is about witnessing a miracle. The Unexpected Gift  is an inspirational novel about a Marine returning home from Afghanistan to reclaim purpose and trust through love and redemption. Thornton House shows how mysterious love transcends time and opens death’s door. The latest, The Moral of the Story, is a collection of short stories from the poignant to the hilarious.

           

Join the authors on February 11 for a book signing and they will sign books and tell you more about their literary adventures.