Fall 2024
A little more than a year ago, I got a text from Leith Gaines. Leith has been active in the Hood River community for many years, having served as executive director of Columbia Center for the Arts and as director of Arts in Education of the Gorge, as well as being an events producer with a knack for creative collaboration. She wanted to meet to talk about a new project she was involved in. Rarely is Leith involved in a project I’m not interested in, so we made a plan to grab coffee.
When we met a couple of days later, she had brought along someone else from the new project, Alan Hickenbottom, a veteran of the renewable energy industry who has long been involved in environmental and arts organizations. It turned out that Leith and Alan planned to launch a film festival in Hood River. A third partner who was unable to meet that day was Sean O’Connor, a filmmaker himself and the founder of Story Gorge, a visual storytelling and education studio.
Sometimes, the right combination of people come up with the right idea at the right time, and I knew this to be true before I finished my coffee that day. The Gorge Impact Film Festival (GIFF) sold out for its inaugural run last November, and has expanded this year to two days, with approximately 30 films that will screen at two Hood River venues on November 9 and 10. GIFF features multi-length films that explore how humanity can go forward with joy, hope and optimism on a changed planet. You can read Ben Mitchell’s piece on GIFF, its founders and its mission beginning on page 42. Tickets for the event will be on sale starting in mid-September.
Speaking of joy, renowned Gorge artists Mary Rollins and Peggy Ohlson join for an exhibition at The Dalles Art Center beginning in October entitled Pursuing Joy (page 22). The two have been creating joy through their art for decades — in watercolor for Rollins, oil for Ohlson — and this show brings their work under the same roof for the first time in years. It kicks off with an opening night reception on October 3.
The next time you’re flying out of PDX and marveling at the newly remodeled main terminal, be sure to check out the huge video walls that feature work by three regional artists, including Trout Lake visual storyteller Brad Johnson. His four, 7-minute videos entitled Terra Cascadia sweep travelers through landscapes of the Gorge, from glacier-topped volcanoes and lush forests to tumbling waterfalls and the dramatic carved canyons above the Columbia River. Read our story by Ruth Berkowitz (page 10) for a behind-the-scenes look at how he created the videos.
There’s lots more in this issue, including a feature on pickleball (page 34), a profile of Caitlin Bartlemay, master distiller at Hood River Distillers (page 28) and a look into the world of a young Hood River pear-farming couple (page 18). Enjoy, and have a wonderful fall!
— Janet Cook, Editor
