Scott Swanson
Of The New Era
John Wiens has enjoyed doing art all his life. Now he’s sharing the pleasure.
Wiens, 62, spent 26 years working for the Canadian Department of Forestry as a graphic artist, most of them at the Forest Research Center in Victoria, B.C.
“Growing up, I was interested in art, but my dad thought if I did art, I’d end up on welfare,” he said. Realizing that wasn’t necessarily the case, he said, he studied art and then got a job with the forestry service.
Most of Wiens’ work for the government was of the pen-and-ink variety, but he got interested in doing watercolors on the side.
“Watercolors appealed to me because it’s so different,” he said. “It’s a loose medium.”
He didn’t lack for subject matter, as indicated by his works, which are currently hanging in the Linn-Benton Community College Sweet Home Center at 1314 Long St.
“One reason I like watercolors is I like photography,” Wiens said. “Most of my paintings are from pictures I’ve taken.
“A watercolor starts often when I’m driving through the countryside and see an old barn, or when I’m standing on a dock.”
Wiens came to Sweet Home for a year in the late 1980s, he said, when he decided he wanted to do more with his life than just work for the Canadian government.
“God put a restlessness in my heart,” Wiens said. “I enjoyed what I was doing but I wanted to do it somewhere where I could make a difference.”
He took a year off work and he and his wife, Lynn, helped establish the Hope Center for abused women with Sharon Pryor and Esther Bennett, whom they had met in Canada. He worked three more years back in Canada, then took early retirement and returned to Sweet Home, where they have lived since.
Wiens is currently teaching classes at the Hope Center, on 12th Avenue across from City Hall, from 9 a.m. to noon on Saturdays. His classes are intended for beginners or intermediate watercolorists, he said.
“People like watercolors but are afraid to jump into it,” he said. “They feel awkward.”
He said his beginner class emphasizes “the basics” such as washes and graduated washes.
“Complicated pictures are often made up of a whole lot of basic things done over and over again,” he said.
“Painting with watercolors is actually about solving a series of problems. If you have the tools, then you can solve the problems.”
The intermediate class addresses “more complex problems,” he said.
Wiens’ exhibit is part of a series of exhibitions of work by local artists, said Mary Sue Reynolds, LBCC Sweet Home Center coordinator.
“We’re having a different artist come in each month and display their art,” she said. “I know there are plenty of artists in town that would love to display things. I’d like to encourage that in this community.”
Reynolds said she hopes Wiens and other artists will teach some classes at the LBCC Center.
“We hope to have some workshops this summer. People interested in teaching or taking classes should contact me.”