“Those who can’t do, teach.”

Yeah, who says? Not anyone who has been to the Southern Coos Hospital to see the show “Teachers”, from the moment you enter the building until you reach the student self-portraits, you are immersed in very fine art.

(Subjectivity disclaimer), all art impressions are inherently subjective. No matter how determined, educated, skilled or impartial the reviewer tries to be the effect of art is purely in the eye and mind of the viewer, (You thought I was going to say beholder, didn’t you?) So if you want an unbiased review of the “Teachers” show you should probably find another source. If not just go and see the show and form your own opinions. And you’d better hurry, the show went up in January and is scheduled to come down at the end of this month, so run, don’t walk to the Southern Coos Hospital while you still have a chance.

Don’t wait to look, start when you walk through the doors. Jane Snoddy and Pat Snyder have works in the entryway and they are worth stopping for, slowing down for, taking a long, hard look for and it will be well worth it. It makes getting inside so you can see the body of the show even more important.

Once inside you will see many of the usual suspects, Jane Snoddy, Pat Snyder, Susan Lehman and Angela Haseltine Pozzi, and a handful of delightful surprises. Now I’m not saying that Jane Snoddy’s Adobe Magic, Survivors by Angela Haseltine Pozzi, Torn by Susan Lehman or Etching Table by Pat Snyder are chopped liver, the very opposite, gifted, talented and creative artists working at the top of their craft, producing works that make the mind churn and the eye freeze and it isn’t the first rodeo for any of them. Unfortunately excellence is the minimum we expect from these guys. They are just that good.

The real treasure of the show is art work from guys we don’t know so well or at least don’t know as artists. There’s the subtle and richly toned Moving Mag, Log 1 and 2 from Anne Sobbota, who does teach thank you ever so much and does do, big surprise, and in her spare time, those wasted hours between midnight and dawn she runs a little place called Sage Gallery. Photography isn’t art or so I’m told, but take a look at Josie Reid’s Bamboo Series and Yucca Series and see if you can still agree, looks like art to me, but I did mention, I’m subjective. And just so you don’t think I’m partial to the ladies, John Bealey’s Woman, hidden in the hallway by the convenience facilities, will make you feel like you’re standing on a Paris street around the turn of the last century, (no, not the one that just happened, the last last century.)

I could go on, but that might tempt you to read instead of going, for no word can express what art does, it is the food that feeds the mind, pleasures the eye and sooths the soul, so put down that remote and hurry, there are only days left. Look at all of it, from the gift shop to the canteen, there’s treasure everywhere, like Rose and Impression and the student self-portraits and well just go, see for yourself.