Meet The Board

Arlis Duncan
Board Chair / Technical Support
Arlis Duncan is a business owner, retired videographer, and graphic and visual artist.
A native Oregonian, Arlis has lived in Jacksonville for more than 30 years. Her love and support for this community is reflected in her tireless work with the Jacksonville Boosters and Chamber of Commerce. A long-standing Art Presence board member, Arlis creates monthly virtual tours of the gallery’s exhibitions and provides overall technical support.

Vivian McAleavey
Board Member / Treasurer/ Member Artist
Vivian McAleavey was born and raised in Wisconsin where she received her bachelor’s
degree with majors in math and geology. After moving to Oregon, she cut her teeth in the
world of finance by serving the City of Medford as Finance Director. She is now retired from a
40 year career with her own practice as a Tax Professional.
Vivian’s avocation has always been photography and after raising her family she began to
pursue this interest in a more diligent way, ultimately joining Art Presence to show her work.
She has served as Treasurer on the Board of Directors since 2019.

Charlotte Wirfs
Board Member / Secretary / Member Artist
Charlotte was born in Salem, Oregon, and is a fifth-generation Oregonian. Her father’s family arrived in Oregon Territory in 1846, settling in King’s Valley, Benton County. She is a board
member of the King Pioneer Family Association and publishes their newsletter, King Folk.
After graduating from Western Oregon University, Charlotte enjoyed a long career as an elementary school teacher. In 2003 she and her husband, Walt Wirfs, purchased a sawmill, Pony Lumber Company, located on the Hylebos Waterway adjoining The Port of Tacoma, near Fife, WA.
Nine years later, they moved to Jacksonville, where they are enjoining their retirement years. Charlotte, who signs her art pieces “Char Wirfs,” began creating through 4-H programs in sewing, quilting, and photography. Over the years she has displayed her art in fairs and art galleries in Oregon, Washington, and Louisiana. She has been a member of Art Presence Art Center for seven years and has served all but one of those years as secretary.

Mike Gantenbein
Community Board Member / Marketing
Mike Gantenbein was born in Missouri and grew up in several places yet spent the second half of his childhood in Southern Oregon and is now a 50-year resident of the region. An artist and a musician, Mike brings a career of marketing expertise to Art Presence that is founded on years of TV production and advertising experience, plus seven years as Britt’s marketing director.

Nancy Sterling
Board Member/Member Artist
Born and raised in Seattle, Nancy received her BFA at the U of W, and after graduating, went into advertising as an art director for over 20 years. She worked in many west coast agencies before leaving the advertising world to open her own graphic design agency in Santa Cruz. Upon retiring, she and her husband, both yearning to return to their Pacific Northwest roots, (but with better weather and less traffic), fell in love with Grants Pass.
She has always enjoyed creating fine art in her spare time, but now that she is retired, she loves being able to concentrate on it full time. Her newest direction is creating dimensional assemblages using such things as clay, driftwood, metal, fabric, findings and natural elements.
Nancy’s art is on exhibit in Medford at Art Du Jour, in Grants Pass at Gallery One and here in Jacksonville at Art Presence. Visiting her Grants Pass studio is welcome by appointment.