PUBLISHED BY THE MENDOCINO ART CENTER

COMPLIMENTARYThrough June 2008

Hand fabricated in 18k ye�ow gold“Brinco 360” Ea�ings

OLD GOLDwww.oldgoldjewelry.com

Mendocino

707 937-5005

Tiburon

415 789-9583

Season OpensFriday, March 14

800 866-1690www.SkunkTrain.com

THINK VISUAL

215 Main, Point Arena • 707 882-4042 or 353-0542Open daily • Hours vary • will open by appointment

ELIZABETH PERILLAT – PHOTOGRAPHS – JEFF HILLIERjefferyj.hillier@mac.com

The Art Of Photography

THE CAREFREE AND WILD STYLE C/S ELIZABETH PERILLAT

2

Cheetah by Michelle Aliotti

Art Explorers, Inc.A nonprofit program with

studio and gallery.Offering unique and

affordable art, hand-made craftsand cards.

Open Tuesday,Thursdayand Friday 9-3;Saturday 12-3.

305 E. Redwood Ave. Ft.Bragg

707 961-6156

PRENTICEGalleryFine Art &

Custom Picture FramingPaintingsCeramicsPhotography

JewelrySculpture

Wood Turnings

17701 N. Hwy 1, Fort Bragg ~ 962-0732(1/2 Mile South of the Botanical Gardens)

“Tattooed Lady II” by J.D. Mayhew

“Buckhorn Cove” by Lynne Prentice

3

MendocinoArts promotes the arts by offering space to artists, writers, craftspeople and per-formers and by providing information on arts and entertainment in Mendocino County.Submissions of unsolicited nonfiction articles, photographs or artwork for consideration inMendocinoArts must include a SASE or we cannot be responsible for their return. We wel-come announcements of upcoming events to be included as space permits.

Table Of Contents

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28

68

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Miasa

Jon Klein

Joy Verner

Mac Magruder

Bill Rohr

Published by the Mendocino Art CenterVOL. XXXIX NO. 1 April, 2008

Wildlife and Nature Photographer Jon Klein 6

At Home with Joy Verner 12

Garden Tour Poster Artist Julie Higgins 14

Garden Tour 2008 15

Rozome Comes to Mendocino 16

Mac Magruder – Potter Valley Ceramist and Cattleman 18

Larry Wagner’s Artists of the Mendocino Coast 23

Mendocino County Gallery Guide 24

MAC Art Loan Program 27

Bill Rohr: ‘Hip’ Artist 28

Girlie Shows and Bookstores—Fionna Perkins 32

Mendocino County Restaurant Guide 34

Film Festival: Wayang and the Shadowmaster 45

Black Bart in Mendocino County 46

New Instructors at MAC This Spring & Summer 48

Mendocino Art Center Spring & Summer Workshops 50

Inland Mendocino County 52

Art in a Small Town – An Invitation to Willits 57

Gallery of Artists 58

MAPA – Arts for the Parks! 62

Book Review: Requiem for the Author of Frankenstein 63by Molly Dwyer

Chuck Hathaway – A Man of Integrity 64

Mendocino In The Seventies By Nicholas Wilson 67

Miasa Exhibit 68

Mendocino Stories.Com 73

Calendar of Events 76

Poetry 80

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5

From the EditorSpring 2008

SUPPORTING THE ARTS

The Board of Supervisors of Mendocino Countydeserves high praise for their recent decision to provide gen-eral operating support for fiscal year 2008 – 2009 to the ArtsCouncil of Mendocino County. This decision by the Boardindicates that they acknowledge and value the contribution ofthe arts to both the economic and the cultural well-being ofthis county. Achieving this kind of recognition has not beeneasy. There is a tendency on the county level to overlook therole of the arts in sustaining a healthy community, and toassign financial support everywhere else but to the arts.

Arts Council Executive Director Anna Kvinsland and I,and several others, were asked to be presenters at anEconomic Development Conference on the coast three yearsago, in which we were to explain the role of the arts in sustain-ing the economy of Mendocino County. The research I didfor that conference was very eye-opening. Statistics providedby the San Francisco Chronicle, in a survey of their readers,indicated that the majority of people traveling from the BayArea to Mendocino County were, in fact, cultural tourists –that is, people coming into this area to participate in or watchactivities and events that are cultural or artistic in nature: anart fair, a symphony, a play, a film festival, a dance concert, amuseum, an art gallery. My own research regarding my ownorganization, the Mendocino Art Center, resulted in statisticsshowing the Art Center generates more than one million dol-lars in revenue on the coast each year, through the people itattracts for classes and for events, and through payments toartists and local businesses. Clearly, the arts are a vital com-ponent in the viability of the county.

The support from the Board of Supervisors representstheir understanding of the role of the arts in the economy aswell as the general well-being of the county. This recognitionis long overdue, and I applaud the current board for directingthe county to provide a measure of financial support for thecounty’s “umbrella” arts organization, the Arts Council. Nowit is up to County CEO Tom Mitchell to take the Supervisor’sdirective and make their request a top priority in the county’s2008/09 budget.

We hope this precedent will result in further financialsupport for the arts from local government entities. All thearts organizations could use a little help right now!

Peggy Templer

PUBLISHERMendocino Art Center

ASSOCIATE PUBLISHERSMarge StewartMike McDonald

EDITORPeggy Templer

ART DIRECTORMarge Stewart

SALESSteven P. Worthen, Fort Bragg,

Mendocino – 707 813-7669, 707 964-2480Jill Schmuckley, Inland – 707 391-8057David Russell, Artist Ads – 707 964-7085

SPRING DISTRIBUTION – 15,000SUMMER 2008 deadline – MAY 1, 2008

MENDOCINO ART CENTER STAFFEXECUTIVE DIRECTOR — Peggy TemplerEDUCATION DIRECTOR — Peggy TemplerMARKETING DIRECTOR — Mike McDonaldREGISTRAR/CASHIER — Linn BottorfPROGRAM DIRECTORSCeramics — Darrin EkernYoung Artists Program — Margaret PaulComputer Arts & Fine Arts –– Marge StewartJewelry — Pamela Kahlo, Tara TurnerMusic –– Gayle CaldwellTextiles — Kathy RoussoSculpture — David Russell, Diane Veach

FACILITIES COORDINATOR — Gabe ArreguinHOUSING MANAGER — Janet SeifertPRESIDENT, VOLUNTEERS — Marty Roderick

MAC BOARD OF DIRECTORSJames Cook - jamecook@aol.comLiliana CunhaJoan Gates - rgates@mcn.orgTerry Lyon - terrylyon@aol.comDale Moyer - dale@moyerdesign.comCynthia Crocker Scott - CCSWNS@aol.comJanis PorterBrandt Stickel - bstickel@mcn.orgLeona Walden - pacrdg@mcn.orgLucia Zacha

MENDOCINO ART CENTER45200 Little Lake Street • P.O. Box 765

Mendocino CA 95460707 937-5818 • FAX: 707 937-1764

800 653-3328mendoart@mcn.org

www.MendocinoArtCenter.org

Founded by Bill Zacha in 1959 as a nonprofit organiza-tion to support, foster, advance and promote artisticawareness, participation and expression in all areas of thearts — visual, literary and performing.

Mendocino Art Center Mission Statement:The mission of the Mendocino Art Center is to be a vital cultur-al resource, providing a broad range of the highest quality edu-cational and exhibition opportunities in the arts to all people.

COVER IMAGE: Flying Song Sparrow by Jon Klein

MendocinoArtsART, CULTURE, CUISINE ANDHISTORY INMENDOCINOCOUNTY

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By Peggy Templer

Jon Klein grew up inWillits, home-schooledand a free spirit, roaming through the hills andvalleys with a sharp eye even as achild for the birds and animalsaround him. As a child, heenjoyed hunting with a bow andarrow, but often returned fromhunting trips frustrated by hisinability to tell people about whathe had seen. From this frustra-tion grew his interest in photog-raphy. He was determined toshow people what he had seen.

When he was just eight yearsold, he started taking photo-graphs with his parents’ box cam-era. At the age of nine, usingmoney he made working in thefamily business, he acquired his

first modern camera, a Minolta SLR. With somehelp from his father, and later from mentor AmyMelious, he began perfecting his techniques for

Cover Feature

WWIILLDDLLIIFFEE AANNDD NNAATTUURREEPPHHOOTTOOGGRRAAPPHHEERR ––

JJOONN KKLLEEIINN!!

Dragonfly with Raindrops

Raindrop with Mendocino Church

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nature photography. From Amy he also learned alot about the “business end” of being a profession-al photographer. As a teenager, Jon helped toestablish a photography club in Willits, then start-ed selling his photos at small fairs and craft shows,showing in business lobbies and anywhere else hecould find.

Jon’s nature photographs are unique in styleand visually stunning. His images are of hawks,sparrows and hummingbirds, insects and four-legged creatures. He attributes his uncanny abili-ty to capture the images of these creatures so per-fectly to the fact that he grew up among these ani-mals, and so he is familiar with them. His intre-pidness also contributes to his startling images:there is no tree he won’t climb and no cliff hewon’t dangle off of to get the perfect shot. He hasclimbed to the tops of some very tall trees to set upblinds in order to get shots of nesting hawks,herons and their hatchlings. He has hauled bloodydeer carcasses near his photography blind to cap-ture images of predators. He’s had ants swarmover him as he clung to a tree limb, and been

attacked by irritated hawks and enraged robins.A more recent interest is in capturing images

reflected in tiny beads of water or dew attached toflowers, grasses, and spider webs. Angle and lightare critical for revealing these miniature mirrorimages.

Jon currently lives in a cabin in Mendocinoand makes his living as a full-time professionalphotographer – doing only the nature photogra-phy which is his trademark (“no service photogra-phy,” he states emphatically). In 2000 he was invit-ed to join the North Coast Artists Co-op in FortBragg. His work is now shown there, as well as atthe Mendocino Art Center and Icons inMendocino, and Blue Sky Gallery in Willits.

Jon is now experimenting with using mirrorsfor light. He also hopes to get into high-speedflash photography, so he can capture flying birdsand dragonflies, and also get into infrared nightphotography. (There’s a mountain lion inComptche just waiting for John to perfect thattechnique!). His main ambition is to become real-ly, really good as a nature and wildlife photogra-pher. He is well on his way.

These days John hunts only with a camera(currently a Canon with a telephoto lens).However, he does enjoy rock and mineral hunting,and likes to fish and to dance!

Dewdrops and a Blackberry Thorn

Moonset near Elk

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There Is Always Something Happening At The Mendocino Art Center

Mendocino Art Center45200 Little Lake Street, Mendocino Village

707 937-5818 • 800 653-3328 • www.MendocinoArtCenter.org

June Gallery Exhibits

Main GalleryMEMBERS' JURIED EXHIBITAll-Media

Gallery TenSARAH GINSKEY

Nichols GalleryMENDOCINO AREA PARKS ASSOCIATION EXHIBIT"Arts for the Parks"Mixed Media

Abramson GalleryBETSY STERLING BENJAMINRozome

2nd Saturday Artists Receptions eachmonth at 5 pm

Upcoming Events

“Requiem for the Author of Frankenstein” Book Launch & Reading with Molly DwyerSaturday, April 12, 7 pm

DineOut at the MacCallum House RestaurantWednesday, April 23

16th Annual Mendocino Coast Garden Tour"Garden Paradise"Saturday, June 21, 10 am – 5 pm

49th Annual Summer Arts & Crafts FairSaturday & Sunday, July 12 & 13, 10 am – 5 pm

April Gallery Exhibits

Main & Nichols GalleriesARTISTS IN RESIDENCE EXHIBIT"9 Months" Mixed Media

Gallery TenJULIE A. HIGGINSPastels, Paintings & Prints

Abramson GalleryJOY VERNER"Story of the Bench"

May Gallery Exhibits

Main Gallery"Coastal Currents"Mixed Media

Gallery Ten & Nichols GalleryMENDOCINO AREA PARKS ASSOCIATION EXHIBIT"Arts for the Parks"Mixed Media

Abramson GalleryMIASAJewelry, Sculpture, Textiles, Calligraphy & More

Betsy Sterling Benjamin

MIASA

Joy Verner

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Fine Art • Wood Jewelry • CeramicsTextiles • Sculpture

Photography

Open Wednesday through Sunday10 am - 5 pm

Emily

Str

ickl

and

Hop

e St

even

son

Judi

th G

risw

old

45200 Little Lake Street, Mendocino 707 937-5818 • 800 653-3328 • www.MendocinoArtCenter.org

Free Admission • Outdoors 60 quality arts & crafts booths

Unique gift items • Fine ArtPhotography • Ceramics • Jewelry

Wearable ArtFood Court & Live Music

49th AnnualSummer Arts & Crafts Fair

Saturday & SundayJuly 12 and 1310 am – 5 pm

The Mendocino Art Center

Four Art Galleries& Unique Handmade

Gift Items

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GLASS FIRE GALLERYSea Jellies

Lighting

Vessels

Sculptures

Jewelry

Visit

Our

Working

Studio

18320 Hwy 1, Fort Bragg 707-962-9420NEXT TO THE BOTANICAL GARDENS

MARSHA BLAKER / PAUL DESOMMA

GALLERY OF DECORATIVE AND FINE ARTS

45052 Main Street, Mendocino, CA 707 937-3132 • www.thehighlightgallery.com

For the Art Collector and the Craft Lover

Painting • Sculpture • JewelryPhotography • Handwoven Rugs

Outdoor Water Sculpture

April ShowApril 10 - May 5

Melissa Murphy – Photographs

GALLERY at GLENDEVEN

CONTEMPORARY ART

Visit our website at www.partnersgalley.comfor information about our

exciting new location after May 5

8205 NORTH HIGHWAY ONE, LITTLE RIVER 95456THURSDAY - MONDAY 10-5 707.937.3525

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20799 Hwy 128, Yorkville, CA707 895-3001 • www.maplecreekwine.com

Tasting Room & Art Gallery

45021-A Little Lake St., Mendocino(707) 937-0907

www.mendocinoflfl.mendocino

(707) 937-090745021-A Little Lake S

(707) 937-0907endocinot., M45021-A Little Lake S

fl.mendocinowwwwww.mendocino

ZACHA GALLERY50th Year

Fine Art & Antiques

Golden Anniversary Gala 2nd Saturday, April 12, 2008

Portuguese Flat by Bill Zacha

560 Main St., MendocinoOpen Thursday-Sunday, 10-5

937-5205www.williamzacha.com

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By Debbie L. Holmer

“It’s on the strength of observationAnd reflection that one finds a way.

So we must dig and delve unceasingly.”–Claude Monet, artist

When I first walked up to artist Joy Verner’s Little River home, I was greeted by asmall white furball, a dog named Demi.

The artist who welcomes me into her home wears the colors of the sea. Her homeis serene, full of light, with splotches of color here and there and everywhere.

Joy Verner first came to the Mendocino Coast in 1987, staying at Glendeven. Shehad been on the way to Tahoe, and instead stayed ten days or so. She was enchanted bythe headlands, the mist, by the artist colony. Soon after, her home was built on beauti-ful ocean front acreage in Little River. She's been here ever since. Quite a long way forsomeone born in Waltham, Massachusetts!

Joy’s earliest memory of wanting to express herself as an artist was in second grade;she was seven years old when the teacher said to her, “You make the Valentine’s boxbecause you are so artistic!”

Does Joy have a favorite medium? “It’s a tie between paint and clay,” she tells me.“Clay is more intuitive. I have a ‘gut’ connection with clay and I love the physicality ofit. Sometimes painting feels like too much of a head trip, an unknown to me. When I’min a clay period I’m not in apaint period except when Imarry paint with clay.”

Joy meditates and journalsdaily. “I think that the journal-ing brings out whatever needs tobe attended to during that day. Inever know what is going toinspire me or what I’m going tobe doing next.”

She designed doors, walls,and planters of bonded bronze,solid bronze door pulls, and claymurals, installed in buildings in

Wall piece, LOVE, clay with acrylic and bronze patina finish, 14 3/4" x 20"

AA tt HH oo mm eeww ii tt hh JJ oo yy VV ee rr nn ee rr

High fired clay sculpture, Priest, acrylic andbronze patina finish, 16" x 8"

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the U.S. and abroad. In the early 80's she returned to paint-ing and had four solo shows in the Bay Area; these were largescale acrylic on canvas.

After being highly productive for so many years and hav-ing her work marketed all over the world, Joy started doingsmall watercolors. She traveled to the Greek Cycladic island ofParos in 1998 to paint, and then returned to the same placeeach June for nine years. She was influenced by the color,light, music, and people. "I felt that was where my muse was."“Now, however, the creativity is here, my ideas are comingfrom the land around me.” She’s gone through so many dif-ferent periods with her work. Now that she’s doing paintingsof her surrounding area, she says, “It’s wonderful to have astarting off place. I don’t want to be too literal; it has to be myversion. When the work resonates with me, when it feels

right, I know it’s what I was meant to create. It’s almost asthough I needed to be here on this land this long to be able toexperience what nature presents; a feeling of being grounded.This is where I'm supposed to be."

Yes, she’s had formal training. Her first year of collegewas spent at the University of Houston in Texas, then shetransferred to Massachusetts College of Art in Boston hersophomore year and soon after got hooked on clay.

How difficult was it at first to get her work shown? Joyresponds, ‘It really was never difficult, my work appealed toothers. In the ‘60’s, it was all about flowers, flowers and moreflowers – that stuff really sold!” She chuckles as she says, “Itseems as though now I’m back to doing fields of flowers. Andthe digital camera has given me a whole new world to workwith.”

Other artists that she admires are Claude Monet,

R i c h a r dDiebenkorn ,Vincent VanGogh, MarkRothko, andWolf Kahn.

What doesshe want theviewer to seewhen he/shelooks at herwork? “Not somuch to see,

but to feel.”Friends have been urging Joy to hold another show and

so her next show, entitled “Story of the Bench” will be in April2008 at the Mendocino Art Center. Stop by and meet her onSecond Saturday, April 12, 2008, from 5 to 8 p.m.

The artist has surrounded herself with the things sheloves; her art collection, her home and studio, incredible nat-ural beauty, visits from her two sons and granddaughters andof course, many friends. At peace with herself and her work,Joy Verner is leading a good life.

In her spare time, Joy loves walking out in nature withher companion Demi, and she goes on to say, "I like to justbe."

“Paintings have a life of their ownThat derives from the painter’s soul.”

–Vincent Van Gogh, artist

Hand built clay vessel, high fired with acrylic/bronzepatina finish, 13 1/2" x 17 1/2"

Acrylic on board, Flower Field, 12 1/2" x 14 1/2"Acrylic on canvas, untitled abstract, red / aquamarine, 40" x 50" with thrownand altered vessel, raku fired, 14" x 9"

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Mendocino Art Center's16th Annual Mendocino

Coast Garden Tour

"Garden Paradise" Saturday, June 21,

10 am - 5 pm$40 per person

Cafe Beaujolais Luncheon$20 per person

Visit the Garden Shop & Plant SaleMendocino Maples' gorgeous maples

Descanso Nursery's beautiful hydrangeasPlus some surprises

Rain or Shine • Tickets are Limited!

707 937-5818 • 800 653-332845200 Little Lake Street, Mendocino Villagewww.MendocinoArtCenter.org

Julie A. Higgins, "Garden Paradise"

The MendocinoArt Center is pleasedto have Mendocinoartist Julie Higgins asthis year’s poster artist for the annual Garden Tour.Julie’s lush and evocative landscapes are a perfect tie-in for the beautiful gardens on the Art Center tour.

Julie Higgins was born in Kansas and studied artat the University of Kansas, so she is very much aproduct of the American heartland and its fertilelandscape and organic forms, all reflected in her sen-sual pastel paintings. From Kansas she went to theSkagit Valley in Washington State, and then came toMendocino.

Living always surrounded by sensual environ-ments, Julie’s paintings evolved as rich, vibrant, bold-ly colorful, symbolic images of fertile landscapes andvoluptuous women whose bodies echo the contoursof the land. Her paintings tell a story, and evoke amythology of elemental forces and of connectionswith the earth as a life force. She works primarily inpastel, for its brilliant color and its tactile quality.

In her artist’s statement, Julie explains that herwork “is a constant process of story telling and push-ing through the mundane of life into the magic, andthe imaginary, which connects me to my sense ofnature and how I belong or fit in. It is feeling, emotionand play set in an ever nurturing landscape with juicy,earthy women, sensual form, and lots of color.”

Julie’s work has been exhibited in many galleriesand museums, has won many awards, and can befound in private collections across the country.

Garden TourPoster Artist

Julie Higgins

Photo by Larry R. Wagner

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By Marty Roderick

The Mendocino Art Center’s 16th annual Garden Tourtakes place on Saturday, June 21st, 2008, from 10am - 5pm.If you are a garden lover, mark that date on your calendar!This is MAC's biggest fundraiser of the year.

We will have six beautiful gardens, including CafeBeaujolais, which will also host our Garden Tour Lunch thisyear. We are grateful to the new owners, Kristy Bishop andDavid La Monica, for their great generosity to us. The priceof the lunch ticket is $20, which includes a glass of 2005Chardonnay from Navarro Vineyards. (Thank you,Deborah Cahn and Ted Bennett!).

Lunch tickets will be limited, and reservations need tobe made by June 16th. Tickets for the Garden Tour will be$40, and early reservations are advised, but as usual, you willbe able to buy them at the Mendocino Art Center on themorning of the event. To make reservations for the tour and

for the lunch, call 707 937-5818 ext.10.For the past couple of years, Robert Jamgochian has

brought in his beautiful Japanese maples for a special oneday sale in the Garden Shop at the Art Center. Robert is thescience teacher at Mendocino High School, and also ownsMendocino Maples, a nursery specializing in Japanesemaples. Established in 1992 as a family nursery, Robert

graphs more than a 1,000 new trees a year, from approxi-mately 45 species, and more than 200 varieties. They havevarieties that do well in the shade, sun, wet, dry and evenwindy conditions.

All of their maples are grown in the container they goto market in, which makes them highly transplantable anytime of the year. We will also have Descanso Nurseries’amazing hydrangeas, plus many surprises.

The Mendocino Art Center, and the entire town ofMendocino, was host this year to the 13th InternationalFungi Symposium, a biennial event. This was an eyeopenerfor many people, including myself. I have known for yearsof the great work our own Miriam Rice has done in the fieldof Mushrooms for Color and Paper Making. TheSymposium brought to our attention Paul Stamets, authorof Mycelium Running, How Mushrooms Can Help Save the World. Contents include: The Mycelial Mind,Mycorestoration and Growing Mycelia and Mushrooms.This will make you look at the world and its problems in anew, more optimistic light. With a new vision, I now wantmy grandchildren to grow up to be mycologists. MyceliumRunning will be available in our Garden Shop. Hope to seeyou there.

Mendocino Art CenterGarden Tour 2008

Photo by John Birchard

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Seattle, 1991. I first met Betsy SterlingBenjamin in a room packed full of otherenthusiastic fiber artists anxious to learn. She

had traveled from Japan to present a five-dayRozome workshop at the Surface DesignConference. Rozome is a traditional Japanese wax-resist technique used to apply designs to cloth–mostcommonly silk.

The class inspired me to move my designinginto new directions. It taught me a unique way ofapplying wax and dye to silk. And as a bonus, thetechniques Betsy taught were compatible with thesilk painting techniques I had been writing aboutand teaching.

During the time of the 1991 SDA Conference,Betsy was negotiating a contract with KodanshaInternational to author The World of Rozome: Wax-Resist Textiles of Japan. This important book waspublished in 1996. It was the first of its kind inEnglish and introduced the elegant Japanese formof wax-resist to textile lovers and artists worldwide.

In order to fulfill a dream, Betsy traveled toJapan to learn about the Japanese culture and tostudy Rozome. After eighteen years of living, study-ing and working as an artist in Japan, Betsy returnedto the United States. She now shares her knowledgeand love for Rozome through her nationwide work-shops and as a staff instructor at MassachusettsCollege of Art.

In the spring of 2002 during the cherry blos-

rozome comes to mendocino

Palm (detail), Betsy Sterling Benjamin, Rozome (Japanese wax resist)and dye on silk

17

som season, Betsy took her students on one of herfiber arts tours and cultural adventures to Kyoto.Along with us were many of the artists who are par-ticipating in the Rozome show in the Mendocino ArtCenter’s Abramson Gallery during the month ofJune, 2008. While in Kyoto, we had the honor ofmeeting the Rozome Masters with whom Betsy stud-ied and ultimately featured in her book. We wereinvited into the studio of Keijin Ihaya and home andstudio of Katsuji Yamade. We were treated to anincredible exhibition of their work, process, and col-lections of precious kimonos along with a rare samu-rai tea ceremony.

I was amazed to learn that the wax-resist processof applying molten waxto a fabric surface, toblock out areas thatwould resist the color-ing of dye, has a docu-mented history thatdates back 2500 years.Discovered in 1875, theoldest known wax-resist cloth appears tocome from a burialmound in an area onthe north coast of theBlack Sea. The burialmound, named theSeven Brothers Kurgan,is on the site of an earlyGreek community dat-ing from the seventhcentury BCE. The fiftywool fragments recov-ered were part of anindigo-dyed sarcopha-gus cloth measuringeleven feet by ten feet.The ancient cloth waspatterned with resistpaintings in the beauti-ful style of the sixth tofourth century BCEGreek vase painting.

In Japan, wax-resistdyeing was first seen inthe seventh century CE.The wax-resist process ofdecorating cloth movedfrom Asia through China,traveling east to theislands of Japan where theprocess is now calledrozome, and at the sametime, presumably, movingfrom India and China,south through the MalayPeninsula to Indonesiawhere the process is nowknown as batik.

In Japan, traditionalJapanese decorative clothwas created through akobo, a workshop systemwhere up to fifteen arti-sans, each having theirown special jobs directedby a Master designer, pro-duce one kimono orpanel. Rozome came intofruition when it was recognized as a textile processthat did not need the support of this traditionalworkshop system. Artwork produced in the rozometechnique could now be conceived and created by oneartist working alone in the studio. Consequently, theart of rozome, fostered and developed out of the indi-vidual’s need for self expression, moved from a tech-nique utilized to decorate a kimono or screen to atechnique used in two-dimensional painting.

–Written by Susan Louise Moyer (author of SilkPainting for Fashion and Fine Art)

Betsy Sterling Benjamin is teaching a workshop inRozome at the Mendocino Art Center June 21 – 27,2008. She and other rozome artists will have work onexhibit at the Art Center during the month of June.

Tranquility, Joan LaMoure, Rozome (Japanesewax resist) and dye on silk.

Reaching for Life, Bunny Bowen,Rozome (Japanese wax resist) and dyeon silk.

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By Pete Halstad

Ingle-Haven Ranch, on the west side of PotterValley, is home to one of Mendocino County’s pre-mier artists as well as the county’s best-known andmost innovative cattle rancher, Robert “Mac”Magruder. At Ingle-Haven, Magruder craftsuniquely interesting and beautiful large-scale firedclay (i.e., ceramic) sculptures, while presiding overthe family cattle business, on property his great-grandfather purchased nearly a century ago.

Mac Magruder began creating large ceramic art-work as an undergraduateat Humboldt State Collegein the mid 1970’s, by whichtime Peter Volkous andRobert Arneson, amongothers, had begun to estab-lish a reputation forCalifornia as a leader ininnovative ceramic design.Magruder continued todevelop his technical skillwhile earning a Master ofFine Arts Degree at theUniversity of Washington.However, his goal ofbecoming a full-timeartist/instructor was put onhold when, due to his

father’s failing health, he had to return to PotterValley to take charge of the family’s ranching opera-tions. Over the intervening years, like many talentedartists, Magruder has struggled to find a balancebetween his art, his family responsibilities, and the

need to earna living. Inrecent years,while bring-ing up twot a l e n t e dd aug h t e r s ,both ofwhom arenow attend-ing collegeon the EastCoast, Magruder has become a pioneering leader inthe raising of grass-fed livestock, directly marketinghis beef to such high-end, conscientious buyers asBerkeley’s Chez Panisse restaurant.

The Magruder family’s French Colonial, terracotta ranch house was built in 1923 by the artist’sgrandfather. The house is a fascinating “museum” ofMagruder family history, as well as a fitting showcasefor Mac’s own, often highly personal, artwork.

In a corner of the entry hall, opposite the frontdoor, is an arresting mixed-media sculpture of a life-size – and life-like – ceramic woodsman, whoseknee-high “leather” (actually carved wood) bootsemerge from “feet” made from a rusty circular sawblade and an old metal log-turning tool. The figurecarries on its back a (ceramic) log, from the pointedupper end of which is suspended a torn cap, separat-ed from the shirt and suspenders by empty space –where the woodsman’s head and neck should be.

On a wall between the hallway and kitchen is aportrait of a handsome young cowboy, a likeness ofMac drawn some twenty years ago by his close friendand fellow Mendocino County artist, Wayne Knight.

Mac Magruder –Potter Valley Ceramist

and Cattleman

Sail Fish – 8’ X 7’

In the living room of the houseare several more of Magruder’ssculptures. Among these is anunmatched set of horses – one witha human arm and hand around thehorse’s neck, the other a fancifulportrait of the great racehorseSeabiscuit, his noble head and necktwisted in uncontrollable fury. Inboth pieces, the subjects appear tobe struggling against, not just reinsand halter, but the medium itself.

In a corner of the room, atop a(real) grand piano, is a superblydetailed ceramic figure of a vulture.The huge scavenger straddles andpecks at a ceramic sombrero which, in turn, balanceson a (ceramic) human skull. Nearby, and echoingthe faceless woodsman in the entry hall, is a vigorous-ly striding pair of worn, brown bib overalls, abovefeet made of a pitchfork and scythe. Peeking outfrom the overalls is a tiny human figure – perhaps aself-portrait – wearing a cowboy hat.

Magruder’s artistic influences aren’t limited towell known predecessors such as Volkous andArneson. Other influences occurred much closer tohome. On his livingroom wall is a pairof delicate Rocococeramic sculptures.These piecesbelonged toMagruder’s grand-parents and havehung in the ranchhouse since beforehe was born.Hanging over thescreened-in porch,adjacent to the liv-ing room, is thestuffed and mount-ed head of a sword-

fish – a trophy of a long-ago deep-seafishing excursion Magruder’s grand-father made to the Gulf of Mexico.The balance and delicacy of theEuropean sculptures, and the powerand scale of the mounted swordfish,are evident in Magruder’s work.

Although Magruder’s artistic out-put is limited by the demands ofmanaging a cattle ranch, and work-ing part time as a college art instruc-tor, he is nonetheless considered inthe first rank of Mendocino Countyartists. His technical ability, perfect-ed over nearly four decades of sculpt-ing, firing and glazing massive clay

vessels, together with his ironic sensibility and prolif-ic imagination, have earned him that level of esteem.

Magruder’s artwork has been shown at the GraceHudson Museum in Ukiah, the Mendocino CollegeArt Gallery, and at San Francisco’s Museum ofModern Art.

Although he is not currently represented by agallery, arrangements may be made to see his artworkat Ingle-Haven, by phoning (707) 743-1539, or e-mail at magruderranch@pacific.net. Magruder also

teaches beginningand advanced sculp-ture classes atMendocino College,where he emphasizespersonal expressionbuilt on a solidframework of tech-nical ability andunderstanding of thehistory of three-dimensional design.

19

Beast Within – 6’ X 5’

Nightmare

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