Angela Ridgway remembers push to grow Washougal art scene

Now, the Washougal art community will have to solve problems without Ridgway around to help. The artist moved to California in September with her husband, John Poterack, who recently retired from his job at Hewlett-Packard.

Washougal resident Rene Carroll, a member of WACA, said Ridgway’s “impact and legacy are significant in the art world of Washougal and Camas.”

“She not only created art here, but created the infrastructure and events to promote other artists,” Carroll said. “That is what makes her so special — she’s not only interested (promoting) her own art, but the art of fellow artists.”

Ridgeway originally cancelled the 2020 studio tour due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but then decided to organize a “virtual” version. Thirteen artists produced videos of their work, which was displayed on the studio tour’s website and social media channels on Mother’s Day weekend.

“For a last-minute virtual tour, I think it went well,” said Washougal resident Anni Furniss, one of the participating artists. Angela did 99 percent of the work. She’s a powerhouse of ideas, and I’m glad she came up with the idea to do it virtually.”

WACA named Ridgway as its “Honored Artist” for 2020 earlier this year in recognition of her contributions to the organization.

“Angela is extremely hardworking. She takes on challenges and completes them,” Carroll said. “She doesn’t just come up with ideas — she sees them through. She has a great combination of creativity and organization, and is able to communicate well. She first came to us as a volunteer, and she took on a very pivotal role in organizing and implementing a successful first art festival, and pushed to keep improving and changing as went forward. She set the template for us.”

Ridgway said that while she and her husband loved a lot of things about Clark County, they were eager to return to northern California, where they lived for more than two decades before relocating to Washougal.

“We had deep roots in this area, and we wanted to get back to those roots,” Ridgway said. “We’re California people, but that doesn’t mean we didn’t like the Pacific Northwest.”

Finding success with a unique style

Ridgway grew up in Virginia and attended Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University (Virginia Tech) in Blacksburg, Virginia, where she received a degree in industrial engineering before moving to California in 1991.

“Traditional industrial engineering has a lot to do with manufacturing processes, metal processes,” she said. “When I was in college, I learned about sand-casting, molten metal, welding and lots of other things. I got hooked on the process of metal welding and (working with) molten metal. That’s what drew me (to metal artwork) at first.”

Ridgway worked for many years as an engineer and project manager for Hewlett-Packard and business consultant for the state of California, and began to create metal artwork in 2007, mostly as a hobby.

But after she lost the vast majority of her consulting work as a result of the Great Recession of 2008, she turned to her artwork as more of a full-time job. She enrolled in classes at a local community college to sharpen her welding skills and metal art techniques, and was invited to participate in her first show at a gallery in Loomis, California, in 2009.

“I made more art and found places to sell it,” she said. “The economy had tanked, but people were still buying artwork, which was nice. So I continued on.”

Ridgeway’s unique style quickly developed a following.

“Not a lot of metal artists were creating what I was creating,” she said. “People who weren’t always drawn to metal art liked my art. People associate metal art as being cold or modern-looking, but for some of my pieces I used bent metal or warped metal and added warm colors, and people felt like they were warmer than some of the other metal art. It was a different style that I hadn’t seen anyone else doing.”

“Rotator cuff issues are not fun. The rehabilitation process is long and hard,” she said. “It was difficult for me to get words out of my mouth that I would not be doing any more metal art. It’s been my livelihood, my passion, for the last 10, 11 years. To go to a doctor and hear those words, that it was probably all over, was an emotional blow.”

“I’ve always known that creating metal art is very physical work, and that as I got older I’d have to think about working into something else,” she continued. “But I didn’t think I’d have to (face that reality) when I was 55. When I look back on those six years (in Washougal), I’m amazed at how much I got done. I produced quite a bit of artwork when I wasn’t recuperating.”

Ridgway is still creating art, however. After her final surgery, she started to draw — with her left hand, at first, while her right arm was incapacitated.

“During quarantine, I drew people wearing masks in common environments,” she said. “I did drawings of baristas and customers at Caf? Piccolo. I drew my husband sitting at Nuestra Mesa. Now I’m drawing almost every day. I’ve gone from not drawing at all to being at the point where people want to buy my drawings. It’s blown me away a little bit.”

She hasn’t forgotten the legacy she left behind in Washougal, however, and hopes that the studio tour can continue in future years despite her absence. Before leaving for California, she gave a “detailed plan” to a group of local artists and community members who have already begun conversing about the possibility of putting on a studio tour in 2021.

“I really want it to continue,” Ridgway said. “I told them if they need help from me, I’ll do as much as I can do from here. I hope that even if they have to do something to modify it (next year) that it won’t go away, and that it can come back again in full force when people are able to be out and about in close proximity with artists and studios.”