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--> --> April 18: Spring remembrances of a special artist By Amy Richard These last five springs, when the hills turn green, the trees unfurl their new leaves and the air is rich with the sweetness of blossoming flowers, I remember a wonderful artist. Bruce Hoheb, an Ashland resident for about a decade, died in the spring. So it makes sense that at this time of the year my thoughts run to him. What doesn't make sense is that I miss him as I do. I didn't know him well. I'd visited his studio on A Street a few times and enjoyed listening to him talk about his work. In his studio the man was always in motion - like his beautiful sculptures, full of energy and grace. Occasionally we'd chat at the coffee shop on Eighth Street. He was a fascinating guy, a good guy - and the man could talk, and talk fast, New York fast, gesturing with his large, long-fingered hands. One time he got going on about the artist Louise Nevelson, describing how everything in her house was purple and black - real purple and real black - and she wore Egyptian black make-up, and told the raunchiest jokes and drank like a fish, but she was a sculptor and a half. He'd done work for Nevelson, as he had for Jasper Johns and Willem De-Kooning. He spoke philosophically as well. "You never arrive," he said. "You can arrive and become proficient at certain things, in discreet things, but those things that require a certain infusion of will, like an athlete - just because he won a certain race today doesn't mean he will win the race tomorrow." Bruce was an artist, but he told me that he wasn't known as an artist, but as a technician. He'd worked for many years as manager of the reproduction studio at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City. He did a lot of reproduction and restoration work, doing pieces for artists, as well as work on structures that included the Statue of Liberty, the Vietnam Veterans' Memorial and the Washington Cathedral. Eventually, however, in his late 50s, after many visits to the area, he ended up in Ashland. I don't know exactly why he chose to settle here. No doubt there were a variety of reasons, but surely a big incentive was the creativity and culture of the area. He got his studio on A Street going in the early 1990s. The place was full of projects and emerging forms. He worked a great deal in Carrara marble, the Italian quarry (Michelangelo's source) near which he'd studied and practiced his craft. A 2,500-pound hunk of white marble revealed a partially exposed torso, and he explained that working in marble is a total metaphor. It doesn't breathe, grow or get old, he said; it's not human-sized. So for him, working in the stone was about finding the proper drive, the proper exaggeration to make it seem right. There were always folks coming and going to and from his studio - other sculptors, students and folks like me from the public that he invited. He was also smitten with dance. He loved to watch the human body in motion. Often he used dancers as models, working from sketches he'd drawn that literally exploded on the page. It seems only right that his art studio is now a dance studio. Bruce, like so many artists who have been drawn to Ashland, had become a vital part of the community. This weekend the 13th annual "A Taste of Ashland" will be held. Hundreds of people, both local and from afar will turn out to stroll through 18 galleries, view art, talk with featured artists, enjoy live music, and sample food, wine and brews provided by local businesses. I think Bruce's studio would have been open for the event, and as I consider the weekend, I'm struck by two thoughts: first, perhaps someone will meet his or her own Bruce; and second, if one artist can have such an enduring impact on me, what kind of impact can a whole artistic community have on a region? I think it's huge. Amy Richard has lived in Ashland since 1990, was Revels editor at The Tidings for three years, and since June of 1998 has been media relations director for the Oregon Shakespeare Festival. Email your... Technical questions & comments to: WebMaster Daily Tidings editorial comments & questions to: Editor Visit our other Oregon Newspapers... | Albany Democrat-Herald | Ashland Daily Tidings | Corvallis Gazette-Times | | Lebanon Express | Newport News-Times | Springfield News | Cottage Grove Sentinel | Ashland Daily Tidings 1661 Siskiyou Blvd. Ashland, OR 97520 Telephone 541-482-3456 © Copyright 2001 Lee Northwest Publishing