Summer 2019
We’ve been documenting adventures, meeting interesting people, learning about important work being done, celebrating the local foodie scene, and honoring the landscapes (to name a few of our endeavors) of the Columbia Gorge in these pages since our launch in 2012. During that time, we’ve done only one design update, in 2015. So we decided it was time to really freshen things up. Our creative director, Renata Kosina, dove into the project with her usual verve and considerable talent, and came up with what we think is a visually fun, accessible and modern new look. We still have the same departments and features, and the same focus on discovering what it means to live in the Gorge and explore its diverse bounty — all with a fresh new look.
As a magazine nerd, I’m thrilled with it. It makes me proud to be part of the creative, hard-working crew that puts this magazine together every three months. I’m also grateful for our team of contributing writers and photographers, who never cease to amaze me with their talent and dedication. And, finally, I’m humbled by our advertisers and readers, without whose support we would not exist. In this fraught time for publications everywhere, thank you for believing in us and finding value in what we do. Our way of saying thank you is to continually work hard to fill these pages with interesting, worthwhile stories and photographs, presented beautifully. We hope you like our latest endeavor in this quest.
Fittingly, this issue has a decidedly creative bent. We profile Jordan Kim, an artist who creates beautiful and whimsical collages in her studio, Found & Rewound (page 32). We also meet Chris Muhl, an artist who has been working on a lifelike drawing of an African elephant for the past two years as part of his Drawing for Change project (page 12). And we go to the studio of textile artist Julie Beeler, who takes us through the process of creating indigo dye from plants she grew herself (page 16). We also explore the 301 Gallery, a collective of local artists who have found a home in Hood River’s historic Butler Bank Building (page 66).
This issue has a range of other stories as well, from a look at riding the CAT (Columbia Area Transit), an increasingly important piece in the public transportation puzzle in the Gorge (page 52), to an essay about Cascades Pika Watch, a group of volunteers who monitor the population of this cute mammal in the Gorge — one of its most unique habitats (page 58). There’s an action-filled water sports photo essay by Bob Stawicki (page 44), and you’ll find our annual Gorge Sipping Guide in here, too. Pull it out and bring it with you, wherever your journey in the Gorge may take you. Happy summer!
—Janet Cook, Editor
