Will Nash standing beside The Portal | Photo by Jeff Spry
A woodworking wonderland and eclectic art showroom awaits Bendites at longtime local artist Will Nash’s Nashwood Gallery, which represents nearly a dozen talented Central Oregon artists from painters, photographers and sculptors, to jewelry designers, furniture makers and potters.
Located at 1385 NE 2nd St. just off Olney St. behind the Black Bear Diner and the Waypoint Hotel in the Maker’s District, Nashwood Gallery just opened up earlier this spring. It’s centrally located in a blossoming cluster of creativity as more art studios begin to populate the neighborhood and current street roadwork finishes up to allow for easier access and visibility.
“We’re changing the tone of Second Street,” Nash tells Cascade A&E. “This whole industrial area is beginning to flip into a more creative zone. Some cafes are popping up. The studio over here that is Camp Clay, they’ve been around for about a year. I’ve been here for seven but the actual gallery just started in March. I’ve literally been in the building for 12 years and I’ve rented this space out to tenants as a leather shop, as a bio lab, and all these different things.”
In addition to the fine art showroom now available for public viewing, the bustling compound also contains a number of side rooms and a functioning warehouse studio packed with an impressive array of rare woods and commercial woodworking equipment including a CNC machine, wide-belt overhead sander, resaw band saw, and a collection of antique planes, chisels, and vintage hand tools. Amid the many in-progress projects scattered around the primary space, visitors might even see a legless, lidless 19th-century Vose & Sons piano hanging from a winch being modified into a magnificent art piece for all to admire its musical craftsmanship!
Nash was formerly associated with the Red Chair Gallery, the downtown art co-op first opened back in 2010 that sadly closed its doors in January of 2026. Now he’s one of the foundational art destinations on Second St. which hopes to become an artistic hub for residents and visitors alike.
“Now we’re spilling out here too with this sculpture garden,” pointing to a pair of minimalist steel sculptures installed outside the gallery from international artist Miguel Edwards. “And you see construction down here? It won’t be like this forever. But it’s put a damper on things with the big ‘Road Closed’ sign. That doesn’t help encourage people to come by. By and large, for most galleries that are off the beaten path, First Friday is the one driver to get people to come out and see the art and know that we’re here. I’m screaming from the rooftops. All the work is great quality and we just want people to come visit and hopefully become patrons.”
With economic uncertainty on the horizon, Nash admits that it’s a difficult time for any art galleries to get folks in to buy art, but they’re committed for the long haul. Among the current roster of artists on display are Will Nash, Eleanor Murphey, Karl Lundy, Doris Nash, David Kinker, Sue Lyon-Manley, Ross Mercer and Sabrina Vinciguerra-Miller,
“This is The Portal,” Nash notes, standing beside an 8-foot-tall Big Leaf Maple monolith. “I found it out east at a mill. And it was the only piece of that tree that was more or less intact. It was a great example of the crossroads of beauty and decay. I was going to keep as much of the decay as I could, so I poured in a lot of Minwax Wood Hardener. It’s basically like stone now. I did some supports to hold weak sections together. This has been a really fun piece. I made it for an art show a couple years ago, and it’s always needed a home. So I put it in here, and I love it.”
Nashwood Gallery is situated at 1385 NE Second St. Studio hours are daily from 1-3pm, with the main gallery open from 11am-4pm. Wednesday-Saturday, and extended hours every First Friday from 11am-8pm. For questions or more info, please call 541-788-0314.
