Celebrating life with Earl Newman

Yesterday I visited Earl Newman's silkscreen studio where he's producing this year's posters for the Monterey Jazz Festival. In a couple of weeks BCHS will host a retrospective show of his life work. Photos of the jazz poster production are at http://www.bentoncountymuseum.org/exhibitions/Earl_Newman

Earl Newman, who turned 80 this year, is an artist of national renown with much to celebrate. This year marks his 50th year as a self-employed professional artist and printmaker. Through the medium of silk-screen, also known as serigraphy, Newman has produced Monterey Jazz Festival posters every year since 1963. He also designs and prints posters for the Oregon Coast Aquarium, the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, Oregon State University Theater, and much more.

The Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C., has collected the complete portfolio of Newman's signed and numbered Monterey Jazz Festival posters for their permanent collection. Other rare, out-of-print works are in the Benton County Museum collection.

Museum's docents visit schools

Here is one of the thank you notes sent to our docents after a visit to a local school. Docent Marlene McDonald tells a very heart-touching story of survival on the Oregon Trail and a little girl named Patty Reed. This student was paying attention!