Art Rumble 2023
Friday, May 5 | 5:30pm - 8pm
Art Department | Concrete Gallery
Join us at Art Rumble 2023! Challengers will battle it out to create an art masterpiece in 20 minutes. Cheer on and vote for your favorite artists and artwork during the event. Winners of the two painting rounds will move on to the final round to see who will be awarded Art Rumble Champion. Bid on artwork at the event and online so you can be an art champion too!
Sponsored by:
American Easel, Salem, Oregon is the manufacturer and seller of wooden artist, studio, display easels and wooden painting panels
M. Graham & Co, Hubbard, Oregon is our favorite, local paint manufacturer.
Our 2023 Participating Artists
Lauren Cooney, lauren.the.bird, is the reigning champion of the 2022 Art Rumble! Lauren is a local artist who specializes in painting, printmaking, and digital illustration. Though Lauren has lived in Salem for the last decade, she spent most of her life in Alaska where she cultivated a love for nature, especially birds. Lauren's work is influenced by Alutiiq masks and carvings as well as artists like Charley Harper, Kenojuak Ashevak, and children's book illustrators Eric Carle and Leo Leoni. Though art has also been a source of joy for Lauren, the pandemic really inspired her to create art that would be a source of joy and brightness for others.
Rachel Wood, realest_rach, is an abstract artist based in Salem, Oregon. She has been working as a full-time artist since 2020 and creates acrylic paintings inspired by nature and her travels. Her work is bright, colorful, and visually dynamic to provide the viewer with a richer experience.
Justin Lavery, @justinotherartist, is a Salem based artist, who's main focus is to learn and grow, using art as an outlet for emotion. Justin primarily works with oil paint, and often switches between multiple media types for new perspectives. Justin’s has regularly displayed and sold pieces at Salem On The Edge and Ernie & Gray.
Graham Toms, graham.toms.52, works at CTEC as a lead Instructor for Animation, concept Game and Video design. He still continues to work on Film, which involves reverse engineering 16th century painters. With his free time he is developing an anthology illustrated with paintings and drawings about an apocalyptic inhabited by replicas. He jokes, “It is really cute and fluffy, I promise!”
You can view more of his work on his website and follow him on facebook.
Jodie Garrison, jodie.garrison.art, is a Professor of Art at Western Oregon University. She has taught at WOU since 2003. She has a BFA in painting from the University of Oregon, and an MFA in painting from Louisiana State University. She was born and raised in Eugene, Oregon, and now lives and works in the mid-willamette Valley. She is also a plein air landscape painter working primarily in oils.
Jesús Santillanes (or Chuy if you prefer!) has been a high school teacher for more than 20 years. He has taught algebra, geometry, calculus, and physics, but he is currently teaching Art, because that is really where his passion is. He makes monsters and other stuff because he got corrupted as a kid by watching popular children's classics such as The Thing, Alien, Predator and Big Trouble in Little China. He loves horror, sci-fi, math, science, and nature in general. His wife wants him to grow up and stop buying toys, I mean, "Collectibles". Jesús and his family have lived in Salem for the past 7 years and this is where he has met some of the most wonderful, amazing, and interesting people. You can find him on social media under SantillanesArte.
Jen Woody, jen2woody, combines experimental texture, layers and mark-making with her experience in various Oregon terranes to create sketches and paintings ranging from abstractions to landscapes. She strives to capture the feel of a place or experience. Raised in New England, Jen lived and worked in the Willamette Valley since 1995.
Her formal training is in ceramics and geology. She has worked as an apprentice to a team of potters, a production thrower, a ceramic sculptor, a painter, and a hydrogeologist. Since 1997, Jen’s artwork has been exhibited at galleries and juried art fairs in Oregon, Washington, and British Columbia.
Jessica Ramey (jessrameyart) is a creative goof who loves to geek out over anything artsy. She loves artful play but also likes organizing community art events. Some projects she has created include: Repair Fair & Share, Free Art Friday, DIY Studio (Salem's first creative reuse center), Salem Puppet Parade, Trashion, Community Supported Arts&Culture, Art Rumble, Tiny Art Show, and Urban Sketchers Salem. Currently, she is the owner of the Art Department.
Justin Lavery is the 2023 Art Rumble Champion!
Finalist Paintings (all painted in 20 minutes)
