Who: Susan Luckey Higdon is a Bend painter whose landscape and wildlife — notably fish — pastels and acrylics can be found at Tumalo Art Co., an arts collective located in the Old Mill District of Bend. Luckey Higdon spoke to GO! about Tumalo Art Co. and its seventh annual Best Fine Art Sale Ever. The sale takes place from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday at the north end of the Old Mill, in the space next door to Orangetheory Fitness.

Q: Can you tell me a little bit about the sale?

A: It’s the seventh year, and it’s something the locals have really come to look forward to because they get incredible deals on art they’ve been wishing they could have. … It’s a studio sale, meaning this is older works that artists feel that they are ready to get out of their studio. … The brand-new ones in the gallery are not on sale (laughs).

Q: About how many people show up every year?

A: I would say 300 were there last year. We usually have people waiting at the door to get in. It’s only a six-hour sale; it’s only one day. It’s fast and furious. People come and it’s like a frenzy.

Q: Wow.

A: Yeah. It’s pretty exciting, actually, considering the slow pace that is normally the gallery world.

Q: Do all the artists who belong to Tumalo Art Co. participate?

A: Almost everyone does. … I call it Tumalo Art Co. and friends because basically, everyone who’s ever shown in our gallery is invited. That actually turns out to be quite a few people. … This year, I think we have 22 artists.

Q: I imagine it’s lots of genres.

A: Yeah, every medium of painting, photography. (Landscape photographer) Bruce Jackson is going to be in it this year. He hasn’t done it before, but he has some prints he wants to move. We have glass, and we have a couple of jewelers, and of course, digital media, which is Dorothy Freudenberg. Paul Bennett is going to be selling some of his leggings and things that he’s been printing art on — so some unusual things like that.

Q: What else is going on around Tumalo Art Co.?

A: Well, every month we’ve got a different artist going. It’s been kind of a quiet winter; we’re gearing up for summer. … Helen Brown is on this month. She has a wonderful show with her watercolor batiks. (April features painter) David Kinker. David is a kayaker, so his show will feature his river journeys. My show is in May, and mine’s about the Deschutes River. I have a signature piece for the Deschutes River Conservancy’s RiverFeast.

—David Jasper, The Bulletin