A new art installation in the Old Mill District invites visitors to slow down, explore, and take a closer look at the natural beauty in Central Oregon.
Created by artists Lori and Lisa Lubbesmeyer, the four-piece series captures the intricate details of nature along the Deschutes River. Each painting offers a familiar view of the living world — the shimmer of a salmon, the texture of leaves, the pattern of a butterfly’s wing, and the glimpse of a bee — encouraging viewers to pause and ponder the small wonders that play a role in the area’s ecosystem.
The paintings hang outdoors along the second-floor catwalk above Sweet Tooth Candy Shoppe and Wild Child, near the Lubbesmeyer Art Studio & Gallery, which first opened in the Old Mill District 17 years ago.
The Old Mill District commissioned the Lubbesmeyers to create the series.
“We’re always looking for creative ways to beautify the district,” said Beau Eastes, Marketing Director at the Old Mill District. “This installation brings art into an unexpected space. It’s a small surprise that we hope will make people smile when they find it.”
The Lubbesmeyer sisters, who are trained in oil painting and printmaking, are best known for their collaborative “fiber paintings” which combine fabric, thread, and texture into richly layered compositions. For this four-piece series, they returned to painting, a medium Lisa Lubbesmeyer says allowed for larger scale and a sense of immediacy.
“These pieces are meant to draw people in,” she said. “They’re about looking closely at color, at texture, and the details that connect everything in nature. That’s how we see the Old Mill District, too, a living ecosystem of people, creativity, and environment.”
Each painting was created through the sisters’ distinctive process of layering over one another’s work until neither can add more. This is a method that mirrors the collaboration and balance the identical twins have built over their 26 years of working together.
According to Lisa, the sisters were thrilled to be asked to create these pieces, which they feel are representative of their gratitude and their legacy within the Old Mill District.
“We’ve called this place home for nearly two decades,” she said. “To leave something permanent here feels like giving back to a community that’s given so much to us.”
