The Oregon Coast Council for the Arts (OCCA) announces that Sally J. Houck, a 35-year resident of Lincoln County, has been named the new Director of the Newport Visual Arts Center.
A native of Michigan, Houck received a Western Michigan University Bachelor of Arts degree in textiles in 1969, and taught the first weaving classes in the art department of Northwestern Michigan College in Traverse City, Mich. Moving to the California coast in 1971, Houck made her living selling one-of-a-kind handmade garments and hand woven rugs while working in The Leather Company on Cannery Row in Monterey.
Houck then moved to her farm in Lincoln County in 1973, where she taught spinning and weaving classes through Lincoln County Community Education in Waldport and Newport, and raised a flock of Salish and Karakul sheep and angora rabbits. She owned and operated “The Weaver’s Workshop” in Waldport where she offered fiber, yarns, equipment, classes, hand woven wearable art and other handmade goods while raising three children.
She worked for Oldtown Printers in the 1990s where she was the outside salesperson on the coast in Lincoln and Lane counties and the sales manager for The Bayfront, a monthly magazine that featured an historical article, community news and maps.
“One of my favorite ‘chores’ for the publication was choosing photographs for articles from the archives of the Lincoln County Historical Society. I also enjoyed taking the photographs, researching old photographs, and writing an article about the gift shop at Cape Foulweather for The Bayfront,” Houck said.
Her work allowed her to assist many businesses and organizations with their printing and advertising projects, including designing the first printing of the Bank of Newport (now West Coast Bank) Annual Historical Calendar and the Nye Beach Merchants Association map brochure, both still being produced today.
In 1998, she temporarily moved back to the Ann Arbor, Mich., area to be closer to family. When family illness forced her to stay, she began looking for ways to improve her opportunity for employment upon a return to Oregon.
With a desire to learn to use computers, Houck entered the Internet Professional program at Washtenaw Community College (WCC), an 11,000-student campus in Ann Arbor, Mich., in 2000. This program gave her a background in web design and introduced her to digital photography and graphic arts software. She received her Internet professional certificate in 2001, and graduated with honors a year later with a certificate in graphic design.
Continuing to study digital photography, she joined the WCC faculty as manager of the production center for the visual arts technology department in 2003. She was responsible for hiring, training, scheduling and supervising the classroom student assistants and office staff as well as tracking usage, ordering supplies and maintaining the printers for the center and the visual arts classrooms. She instructed students in the art of scanning on flatbed and slide scanners, assisted students with the skills of mounting and matting their own work, and printed students’ work on Phaser color laser, solid wax and wide-format inkjet printers.
“I loved printing student work and helping the students prepare their work for critique. It was rewarding to see the pride in their finished presentation,” Houck said.
While entertaining the idea of pursuing her masters degree, she toured Eastern Michigan University’s (EMU) textile department. When she saw the two digital looms, she knew immediately that she wanted to return to fine arts and textiles with all of the digital training she had acquired at WCC.
Accepted into the master of fine arts program in the fall of 2004, she spent the next three years learning to design and weave on digital jacquard looms at both EMU and the Jacquard Center in Hendersonville, N.C. Additionally she acquired new skills in surface design, art history, art critique, and exhibition.
She was the recipient of Graduate Fellowships in both 2006 and 2007, and the Ellen Wilt Scholarship aimed at supporting students who have returned to pursue an advanced degree in fine arts after having had a career or raised a family.
 “The Ellen Wilt Scholarship made it possible for me to afford additional training on commercial digital Jacquard looms.” Sally’s Jacquard weaving entitled “Ready to Braid” was purchased for inclusion in the Graduate Permanent Collection at EMU at the 2006 Graduate Student Art Exhibition, and she was presented with a Certificate of Artistic Excellence and a monetary award at the annual exhibition in 2007. Sally received her Master of Fine Arts in December of 2007.
A member of Art Masters Association (AMA), an organization of EMU graduate students, alumni, and faculty, she exhibited her work in three annual exhibitions and was awarded a Note of Merit by an independent jury for her work, “Garlic Patches View,” at the 2008 Art Master’s Association Invitational Show.
Houck’s weaving, “Hands Full of Goodness,” was included in “New Fibers 2008,” a juried textile show sponsored by Fiber Arts Network and exhibited in the University Gallery at EMU. The exhibit traveled to the William Bonifas Fine Arts Center in Escanaba, Michigan in June. Her work was also featured in July along with two other textile artists and a ceramist in a show at the Riverside Art Gallery in Ypsilanti, Michigan, entitled “Rhythms of Life.”
Houck returned to her home in the Tidewater area in July, 2008.
“My education in the arts has been an asset to me in my previous jobs. Now I have an opportunity to use my skills to promote the arts at the Visual Arts Center and in my own community with an emphasis on education.”
“We believe that Sally will be a creative and dynamic asset to the staff of OCCA and our mission to this community and county,” says Catherine Rickbone, OCCA Executive Director.
All are invited to welcome her at a reception on Saturday, Feb. 7 from noon to 4 p.m. in the Upstairs Gallery at the VAC. Sally will be showing her weaving artwork during the month of February in that gallery.