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Jack Way Was the First Male To Join The NCAG Can you imagine what it was like to be the artists that first brought the NCAG to life? Jack Way was one of our charter members. Although the NCAG wasn’t formally organized till 1993, the group was meeting and functioning years earlier than that. In the beginning the meetings were held during the evenings in the Gladstone School. The first Annual Show was held in their school gym where he was active helping set up the paintings for display. Jack recalls Norma Schneider and Helen Kursterin (founding members that have passed on in recent years) as being the movers and the shakers, but he found his niche volunteering backstage, using his muscles for all the behind scene work that needs doing to put on a show. I am sure he was appreciated because Jack was the first male to join the group. At the time he joined he was the only one doing pencil work at the time. He has been an annual dues paying member ever since…which is quite a record to hold! Jack was a pencil artist without formal training, but his art was well received at an NCAG show and that encouraged him to enter the Multnomah County Fair where he was surprised to win Best Of Show with his pencil illustration! Due to many requests for his art, he began printing his 28 favorite drawings (something we learned at last months demo) and framed them with handcrafted wood frames and custom cut mats he made himself. This kept him busy for years. At one point he did a commission drawing for Johnny Cash, which hangs in the reception center office at the Professional Voice Center at Vanderbilt U in Nashville. The drawing of Boxcar Willie was presented to Johnny on stage during one of his last performances. No, we don’t see Jack Way at meetings, his home in La Pine is a far stretch from the North Clackamas area, and he no longer draws due to health issues affecting his hands. But the Guild holds his heart, he keeps up on the Guild news and wishes us a long successful future. Jack feels holding evening meetings again (like when he started 23 years ago) will draw in the working class who love art and he encourages us all to promote our work and see where it takes us.   Art by Jack Way frequently included American Indians and subjects from the Old West.