Oregon Public Broadcasting

From an operatic baritone to a bit and spur craftsman to everything in between, Oregon Art Beat is an Emmy award winning weekly television series produced by Oregon Public Broadcasting (OPB). It profiles artists, musicians, and artisans, and suggests upcoming events. As Executive Producer Jeff Douglas explained, "The purpose of Oregon Art Beat is to introduce people to the arts and cultural events happening in the community. We know we've accomplished our mission if, after watching the show, viewers get involved."

The People Behind Oregon Art Beat

Greg Bond

As a senior staff videographer and editor with OPB, Greg Bond has worked on several local programs including Oregon Field Guide and Oregon Art Beat. Current national PBS projects include History Detectives and Time Team America. His recent documentary work includes a local production about physician-assisted suicide, an international/national production on West Point, and a series on artists called "Works in Progress" for the Annenberg Foundation.

Greg has contributed toward stories for the NewsHour with Jim Lehrer as well as national education program videos that accompany school texts that teach French and Spanish to students. Bond's background is in television news (KATU), and he's experienced in medical videography/photography as well. He's proud to be a native Oregonian with a degree in journalism from the University of Oregon and AA degree from Bellevue Community College.

KC Cowan

Co-host and segment producer, KC Cowan has been a part of Oregon Art Beat since it began in 2000. However, she is well known to many Oregonians from her years as a news reporter at KGW-TV and KXL radio. She also hosted many Pledge events for OPB through the years.

Since coming to OPB full time, KC has added an Emmy award to her shelf and many pieces of art to her walls! She says that's the only bad thing about her job — she wants to buy something from every artist she features!

Jeff Douglas

You may know his voice as narrator of many of the television productions at OPB, or from his nine years as a reporter on the popular Oregon Field Guide series. Oregon Art Beat co-host Jeff Douglas originated the idea for a local program on Oregon arts and culture and served as Art Beat's first executive producer.

Douglas came to OPB from KGW-TV news where he spent 12 years. As one of the founders of KINK radio in 1968, Douglas served as program director for three years before taking over as general manager.

As vice president of Local Production at OPB, Jeff Douglas has a strong commitment to keeping the "Oregon" in Oregon Public Broadcasting. On the few days he has any free time, Douglas plays golf badly or takes one of his three canoes and explores Oregon's diverse waterways.

Jessica Martin

Jessica Martin, Oregon Art Beat's executive producer, has produced numerous local and national productions for OPB. Her varied repertoire includes work on series such as Oregon Field Guide, The Collectors, and Neat Stuff.

Jessica's documentary work includes two award-winning films on aging, as well as historical documentaries, including the award-winning films Rose City Remembered and The Three Rabbis.

With Oregon Art Beat, Martin has profiled artists of every stripe from accordion players to abstract painters. With the show going strong for 10 years now, she's gone from wondering "How many artists can there be in Oregon?" to "How can we ever profile all of the artists on our ever-growing list?!"

Katrina Sarson

In addition to her work for Art Beat and OPB, Katrina has worked in television production for more than 15 years, starting at Chicago's PBS station (WTTW) and spending more than a decade as an independent producer in Illinois, Colorado and Oregon. Katrina has produced and written for PBS, HGTV, Food Network, Fine Living Network, ESPN and many others. Her interest in education and media includes a Masters in Education (Technology in Education); and she has taught media literacy skills to elementary and middle school students in the Portland Public Schools for the past three years. She enjoys living in Portland, especially hiking in Forest Park, eating locally grown food, and attending the Jazz Festival every year.

Tom Shrider

Videographer Tom Shrider has worked at OPB since 1980, and has seen it change from a sleepy local station to a nationally known production house. He won a regional Emmy in 2001 for his videography and editing on The Oregon Story: Rural.com about Halfway, Oregon. He loves gardening and travel.