October 5, 2005

Ancient illustrations renewed in the Valley

By Vickie Aldous
Ashland Daily Tidings

Many artists can point to work that inspires their own creations — but few can date the source of their inspiration back to the 1400s.

Ashland artist Craig Honeycutt was intrigued by the beautifully detailed paintings in the “Very Rich Hours of the Duke of Berry,” an illuminated manuscript painted for the French Duke of Berry by manuscript illustrators Herman, Jean and Paul Limburg. The brothers began painting the images in the prayer book in about 1413 but died in 1416 before the age of 30, most likely because of the Plague or some other epidemic, according to scholars with Paris-based WebMuseum.

The prayer book features a painting for each month of the year. Peasants chop wood and sit before a fire while their sheep snuggle inside a shed in the winter. They sow crops and wed in the spring, cut the first hay and shear the sheep in the summer and harvest grapes in the fall.

“When I first came across those images, they were very enchan-ting,” Honeycutt said. “Over the years, I would always go back and look at them. What enchanted me the most was the everyday nature of them.”

Honeycutt now has created his own cycle of the seasons. He spent more than a year photographing scenes and people in the Rogue Valley and then creating composite drawings to represent each month. The drawings are on display through Oct. 29, along with works by other artists that celebrate history, at Gallery DeForest, 270 Fourth St.

While the paintings from the “Very Rich Hours of the Duke of Berry” feature castles, Honeycutt chose the Oregon Shakespeare Festival to be the castle in his drawings. He said the theater company represents a pinnacle of artistic achievement to him and he wanted to pay homage to that.

“I don’t have a castle, but I have a festival,” he said.

Along with images of festival theaters and plays, Honeycutt has included scenes of everyday life. His drawing of October depicts Halloween revelers. The September drawing shows children boarding a school bus, businesses on the downtown Plaza, a hay-laden truck and fertile orchards. July — of course — features the street filled with people as Ashlanders enjoy their beloved and quirky Fourth of July festivities.

Gallery DeForest will be open from 5 to 8 p.m. during Ashland’s First Friday Art Walk on Friday, Oct. 7. The gallery also will showcase historic photographs of Ashland’s railroad district and contemporary photographs of a train parked on the tracks near the gallery.

Gallery owner Cathy DeForest will show her intaglio prints of local barns and also will demonstrate letterpress printing with old wood and metal type on antique presses from noon to 4 p.m. Tuesdays and Thursdays during October. Landscape photographer Keith Bedard will exhibit photos that capture ancient, twisted oaks and the weathering effects of time on Pilot Rock. Works by Peter Gibb, John Mullowney and Nelson Davis also will be on display.

John Keiser will have his 1931 Dodge parked in front of the gallery Friday evening.

During the show, 25 percent of sales will go to Hurricane Katrina redevelopment efforts. October hours are 11 a.m. to 5 p.m., Tuesday through Saturday. For more information about the exhibit, call 482-1005 or visit www.gallerydeforest.com.

To view more images from the “Very Rich Hours of the Duke of Berry,” visit www.ibiblio.org/wm/rh/.

Staff writer Vickie Aldous can be reached at 482-3456 x 3018 or valdous@dailytidings.com.