Featured at West + Main Downtown Bend, Oregon: Jeanette Small

 
 

Excited to hold our public grand opening on First Friday March the 4th!

Please join us as we unveil our brand new downtown office location and meet our featured artist. You can even purchase her works. We’ll have refreshments, swag, and friendly faces.

Stop by our Downtown Bend office to see some amazing art by Jeanette Small!

Jeanette Small Art

WEST + MAIN HOMES
750 NW Lava Rd. Bend, OR 97703
3.4.2022, 5-9pm

 
 
 

Meet Jeanette!

I am a fine artist living in Bend, Oregon, who specializes in printmaking (blockprints using Linoleum and wood carvings, and etchings) and live figure drawing. I have been leading a figure drawing lab at COCC for the past four years, have exhibited work in several galleries in Bend, have some work currently on exhibit at the High Desert Museum (part of the ROOTED show), and have some international exposure (part of group exhibits in Berlin, Germany). I have designed a book cover and several labels, contributed to textile design and artwork for music albums. I invite you to take a look at some of my work on my website jsmallart.com or visit my Instagram page @smalljeanette to see my aesthetic.

 
 

Learn more about Jeanette in our Q+A!

What are you known for?

I am primarily known in the international art community for my skills as a carver. My Linoleum carvings have been included in publications in Germany, and I have participated in juried exhibits and printmaking art exchanges all over the USA. In Bend, Oregon I am better known for teaching Figure Drawing and actively creating community. I cherish the connections I make with other creatives in our community and beyond.

 
 

What are you working on right now?

Currently I am exploring my identity through a series of self-portraits and through the artwork of other artists: drawings, paintings and photographs of me as a model. The different artistic approaches, the differing quality of gaze and conceptions of what the artist (psychologically) projects upon me create a beautiful and interesting tapestry. This project is still in its infancy, and is wonderfully energizing for me.

What are your thoughts about your city's creative scene?

Central Oregon is home to a magnificent number of gifted artists in various disciplines. I believe that our geographic area is on the precipice of becoming an important art hub on the West coast. New galleries are opening up, the subject matter of artwork is shifting away from exclusively landscapes and farm animals, the population is growing and expanding the range of tastes and desires. I want to contribute to this growth through my own artwork and through active support of our creative energy by creating and maintaining artist groups/collectives.

 
 

How did you arrive at where you are today?

I have a complex personal past about which I could (and possibly should) write volumes. Born in Eastern Europe into a German-Jewish family, I knew poverty and severe discrimination. I witnessed war, violent deaths of loved ones and loss of all possessions. My parents split up and emigrated to different countries. My mother took my younger brother and me, and we sought asylum in Germany. My father went to the USA. I came to San Francisco, CA at the age of 17 seeking to build a loving family relationship with my father and his side of the family. While my relational goals went unmet, I experienced amazing support of my artistic talent in San Francisco. I was admitted to the School of the Arts (a magnet art school with fabulous reputation and exceedingly challenging admission requirements), and was recruited by the SF Museum of Modern Art to complete a one-year internship with them culminating in a body of work that was on exhibit at the museum for over 9 months. I felt great fear in pursuing art as a career, and instead earned an academic degree in Clinical Psychology. I completed my undergraduate studies at the University of California, Santa Barbara, and earned my MA and PhD at the Santa Barbara Graduate Institute (since my graduation the school was purchased by the Chicago Institute of Professional Psychology). As a psychologist, I worked primarily with families in crisis, teenagers in foster care and homeless youth, and some young violent offenders. I managed a co-ed residential facility for persons ages 11-18 in Santa Barbara, CA. All throughout this time, I continued making art and processing my lived experience through externalized imagery. After having our first child, working with violent populations, working nights, weekends and holidays became no longer feasible. My husband's career took priority while my career as a psychology took a back seat. I continued volunteering my services to populations in need, but found much more time and resources for my artistic expression. I joined art groups, art classes, found opportunities to show and sell my artwork, found an audience curious about my explorations. At this point, I perceive myself as a professional artist and seek exposure and a platform from which to connect with more people, bring together different perspectives and foster radical acceptance.

 
 

Where do you find inspiration?

Inspiration for me is a curiosity about my lived experience. I am endlessly fascinated by nature, culture, relationships, my bodily functions, nourishment of any kind, scientific discoveries, philosophical inquiries, to name but a few. My mind wraps around new and familiar concepts and I seek to explore them further and in greater depth. I love to work in series so as to examine the different facets of the experience, concept or idea.

Get in touch with Jeanette

Website: jsmallart.com

Instagram: @smalljeanette

Special Thanks to West + Main agent Kaitlynn Jeppsen for recommending Jeanette’s work!

If you are a local artist/crafter/maker/indie business owner and would like to be featured on our blog, please fill out this form or contact Greg Fischer at greg@westandmainoregon.com with questions...we can't wait to learn all about you!

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Just Listed: Stunning Custom Home in Widgi Creek

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60734 Golf Village Loop is located in the highly desirable Widgi Creek Golf Community. This stunning custom single level home features 3 bedrooms, 2 full bathrooms and 1 half bathroom, an office, and a bonus room that is currently being used as a home gym.

One bedroom and full bathroom have a private entrance and could be used at a mother-in-law suite with a washer and dryer in the bathroom and kitchenette with sink, refrigerator and cabinets. The open concept great room is vaulted with beautiful wood beams. Lots of natural light streams through the floor to ceiling windows. The large composite deck is a great place to enjoy that morning cup of coffee or the evening glass of wine as you watch the birds and deer along the wooded path. This home has a contemporary style while still feeling warm. Two lighted storage areas under the home provide ample room for bikes, kayaks, or your other Bend toys. The three car garage also provides some extra storage space while having plenty of room for your vehicles and has a 220 outlet for an electric car or golf cart. The home sits on one of the larger lots in the neighborhood and backs to the 8th, 9th and 10th fairway.

Listed by Rhianna Basye for West + Main Homes. Please contact Rhianna for current pricing + availability.

 
 
Learn more!
 

Have questions?
West + Main Homes
westandmain.co
hello@westandmainoregon.com

Presented by:
Rhianna Basye
(503) 318-8452
rhianna@homesbyrhianna.com

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CET plans summer shuttle service to Mt. Bachelor, Cascade Lakes trailheads

 
 

With all the growth Central Oregon is experiencing, your favorite trail’s parking lot probably pretty crowded. 

To help cut down on the congestion, you’ll be able to catch a bus to the Cascade Lakes Highway trails this summer.

Cascades East Transit plans to launch the new service in June. 

“It’s a two-year pilot program to provide service between Bend and Mt. Bachelor to stop at popular trailheads along the way like Wanoga, Swampy Lakes, Dutchman Flat,” said Derek Hofbauer, outreach administrator for CET. “Then it will go to Mt. Bachelor and there will be a smaller circulation shuttle that would travel to Green Lakes, Devil’s Lake and Elk Lake before going back to Mt. Bachelor.”

Hofbauer said the first leg of the service – Bend to Mt. Bachelor – will cost $6 for a one-way trip and $10 roundtrip. 

The circulator shuttle between Mt. Bachelor and Elk Lake will likely be free to encourage people who drive to Mt. Bachelor to park their car and hop on the shuttle to access the lakes and trailheads, he said. 

The biggest roadblock to getting the new service going? A shortage of CET drivers.

If staffing allows, the route would run at least three times each day during the summer. 

Learn more here.

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Increased Buyer Urgency Expected Amid Rising Mortgage Rates

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Despite various forecasts surrounding mortgage rates, the bottom line is that they are bound to tick up this year, leaving many wondering what this could mean for the housing market.

“Higher mortgage rates are one reason why we will move from an incredibly hot housing market to one that’s strong, but instead of having ten bidders at every open house, you get two or three buyers that are interested,” said Michael Fratantoni, chief economist at the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA), in a recent interview with MarketWatch.

“Our forecast has that rising to about 4% by the end of 2022,” he said. “That’s certainly higher than we are today, but historically speaking, that is still a very attractive mortgage rate.”

Based on recent Freddie Mac data, 30-year mortgage rates climbed to 3.22% by Jan. 6, maintaining their upward trajectory that experts expect to carry on throughout the year.

The increase in rates will likely push more buyers into the market in search of the best deal they can get before rates get too high, according to a recently released survey conducted by Redfin.

After surveying 1,500 U.S. residents, 47% of house hunters said they would feel more urgency to buy a home if mortgage rates rose above 3.5%, according to Redfin.

While MBA’s predictions of 4% have been on the higher end of predictions in recent months, Redfin Chief Economist, Daryl Fairweather, expects rates to hit about 3.6% by the end of 2022.

“Mortgage rates increasing will make home-buying less affordable,” Fairweather said in a press release. “Over time, that will put the brakes on demand and put an end to double digit annual price growth. But in the short term, this increase will light a fire under homebuyers and make for an extremely competitive January.”

Improvements in the broader economy will help drive rates up this year, according to Fratantoni, who noted the gradual drop in unemployment and demand for workers would persist throughout 2022.

According to recent data from the U.S. Labor Department, unemployment declined to 3.9% in December, with the U.S. economy adding about 6.4 million more jobs last month than at the end of 2020.

The nation still needs 3.6 million jobs to hit pre-pandemic levels.

“We still have almost 11 million job openings in the economy and this tremendous demand for workers,” Fratantoni says, adding that unemployment will probably hit 3.5% by the end of the year with strong wage growth.

Another metric people are paying attention to is inflation, which he suggested CORE inflation to stay elevated longer than pundits and experts anticipated, which will also add upward pressure on rates.

In their December meeting, the Fed indicated that they expect to implement three interest rate hikes in 2022 and accelerate their tapering—cutting back on asset purchases.

While forecasts point toward rates climbing in 2022, Fratantoni also weighed the idea that rates could dip during the year, especially with the recent outbreak of the Omicron variant at the tail end of 2021 and the possibility of a newer variant still up in the air.

He acknowledged the possibility of a short-term drop in rates, leading to a brief uptick in refinancing activity. Still, Franantoni indicated that each variant appears to have less of an economic impact.

“We’ve gotten to a level of comfort with at least prior to Omicron,” he added. “I think we’re moving through that in this case as well. We now have a set of tools to use to deal with challenges around public health concerns that we could use again if a new variant were to pop up.”

Another possible outcome that Fratantoni threw out suggested that rates could climb faster than anticipated, which he said could happen if elevated inflation doesn’t cool off.

“The Fed may really have to stomp on the breaks as opposed to gently tapping them,” Franantoni says. “We could see the rate path move even higher and faster than we have in our baseline forecast.”

With higher rates on the horizon, concerns surrounding affordability issues—particularly among younger, first-time buyers—have mounted, especially when coupled with home prices that surged in 2021.

“2021 had eye-popping home price growth,” Fratantoni says. “Frankly, if that continues too much longer, we’re going to run away from the first-time buyers that we’re really counting on to supply demand in this market,” he says.

While home prices will continue to grow in 2022, Fratantoni indicated that the appreciation wouldn’t match the degree that the industry saw last year, dropping from record-level, double-digit growth to 6% or 7% growth.

Fratantoni expects buyer demand to remain strong despite rising rates and home prices.

“The job market is going to be booming, and we’re going to see the unemployment rate get as low as it was in February 2020,” he said, adding that a demographic push from millennials will also play a part in keeping the market moving.

“The largest single cohort, the millennial generation, are reaching peak home-buying age,” Fratantoni continued. “That is going to generate a tremendous amount of demand because you have a bunch of young folks in their early 30s looking to establish their households right now.”

Given the pace of new construction, he said additional inventory this year would cool bidding wars in the market and provide a more favorable experience for first-time buyers despite rising prices and rates.

“They might get to look at a couple of properties and have more than a few minutes to think about how to make that offer, so I think the process of buying for that first-time buyer should be more pleasant this year even though the ultimate price may be higher given what has happened to home prices.”

Keep reading.

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Where are Millennials Buying Homes?

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Millennials are now the largest group of homebuyers in the U.S., ahead of older Gen Xers and baby boomers.

Despite the pandemic delaying some millennials’ homebuying, they are still eagerly buying homes in the hot housing market.

LendingTree analyzed mortgage its own mortgage offers to millennials across the nation’s 50 largest metros in 2021 to learn where they were buying homes. Here’s what we found:

Key findings:

Denver, Seattle, and Boston are the mostpopular cities for millennial homebuyers. In Denver, 63.63% of mortgages were offered to millennials. In Seattle and Boston, the percentages were 61.35% and 61.08%, respectively.

  • Miami, Jacksonville, and Tampa are the leastpopular cities among millennial homebuyers. Across these three Florida metros, an average of only 46.54% of mortgages were offered to millennials.

  • Millennial homebuyers are the youngestin Indianapolis, Salt Lake City, and Phoenix (average age of 31.79). They’re oldest in San Francisco, New York and San Jose (average age 33.51 years).

  • San Jose, San Francisco, and Seattle require millennials to put down the largestdown payments (average $104,896). Down payments are smallest for millennial buyers in St. Louis, Memphis, Tenn., and Oklahoma City (average $30,551).

The takeaway:

“Though they often have less money at their disposal than members of older generations like Gen Xers and baby boomers do, millennials aren’t shying away from home buying. In fact, they make up the largest share of homebuyers in many of the nation’s largest metros. As they continue to get older, get married and start families, the homeownership rate among millennials is likely to rise even further.” 
-Jacob Channel, senior economic analyst at LendingTree

Learn more on RISMedia.

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