PUBLISHED BY THE MENDOCINO ART CENTER

Spring/Summer 2011

COMPLIMENTARY

MendocinoArtsART AND CULTURE IN MENDOCINO COUNTY

Spring/Summer 2011 1

Mendocino Coast Botanical Gardens… the place to be!

Every day — Spring, Summer, Fall and Winter — our Gardens are bursting with color and floral displays.

This is the place to enjoy outdoor concerts, art, theater events, and workshops throughout the year.

Come and experience this dazzling display within 47 seaside acres; ADA accessible and dog friendly.

For event schedule and information visit gardenbythesea.org.

Nature Paints – Artists Create – and the Gardens Rock!

www.gardenbythesea.org | 18220 North Highway 1, Fort Bragg, CA 95437 | 707-964-4352

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Just steps to the beach anda stroll to fine restaurants, galleries and

the Mendocino Art Center.ocean views • decks • fireplaces

An enchanting refuge for rest and renewal...

On Main Street at EvergreenMendocino Village

800 780-7905 • 707 937-5150www.oceanfrontmagic.com

OCEANFRONT INN& COTTAGES

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Editorial: From Our Board President 5

Sudden Voices Exhibit 6

Rita Crane: The Photograph as Mandala 10

Arlene Reiss: City Girl to Country Woman 14

MAC Summer Workshops 16

Meet Gallery Director Jessica Jade Norris 18

Meet the Teacher: Brian Ransom 20

Meet the Teacher: Jason Collingwood 21

Meet the Teacher: Jeannie Vodden 22

Meet the Teacher: Paul Graf 23

Meet the Teacher: Yvonne Giambrone-Martin 24

In Memory of Miriam Cohen Rice 28

2011 Mendocino Coast Garden Tour 30

Poetry 31

Que Onda 33

Mendocino County Gallery Guide 34

Mendocino County Restaurant Guide 40

Gallery of Artists 44

Curtain Call 52

Calendar of Events 54

Table of Contents Published by the Mendocino Art CenterVol XLII, No 1, May 2011

Mendocino Arts promotes the arts by offering space to artists, writers, craftspeople and performers and by providing information on arts and entertainment in Mendocino County. Submissions of unsolicited non-fiction articles, photographs or artwork for consideration in Mendocino Arts must include a SASE or we cannot be responsible for their return. We welcome announcements of upcoming events to be included as space permits.

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FAMILY HANDS

A gallery of unique furnishings for your home!Lighting • Art Rugs • Furniture

Gifts from around the globe

At the corner of Franklin and Redwood, Fort Bragg

707 961-0236

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

For the Art Collector and the Craft Lover

GALLERY OF DECORATIVE AND FINE ARTS

• Discover

• Decorate

• Design

Kaleidoscopes G Art Glass G Mirrors G Jewelry

10400 Kasten Street • Mendocino, Californiawww.Reflections-Kaleidoscopes.com • Open Daily

ROOTS OF MOTIVE POWER, IncSee restored and working steam machines:

· Historic Logging Equipment · Steam Engines and Caboose

Mendocino County Museum

Browse in our Museum Shop 400 East Commercial Street, Willits, CACall 707-459-2736 for more informationEmail us at Museum@co.mendocino.ca.us

Open Wednesday through Sunday, 10:00 AM – 4:30 PM

www.MendocinoMuseum.org

Discover unique artifacts and exhibits that reflect our heritage: Frolic Shipwreck, Wine History, Stagecoaches and Wagons, Traveling Exhibits and much more.

EXHIBIT: Carl Purdy: “A Passion for Plants and Place” April 16–October 30, 2011

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PUBLISHERMendocino Art Center

ASSOCIATE PUBLISHERMike McDonald

EDITORPeggy Templer

ART DIRECTION / GRAPHIC PRODUCTIONElizabeth Petersen, RevUp Creative Media

SALESCOAST: Steven P. Worthen – 707 964-2480,

707 813-7669INLAND: Jill Schmuckley – 707 391-8057

LAKE COUNTY: Linda Kelly – 707 367-9038GALLERY Of ARTISTS ADS: David Russell – 707 513-6015

SPRING/SUMMER DISTRIBUTION – 15,000fALL 2011/WINTER 2012 DEADLINE – June 15, 2011

MENDOCINO ART CENTER STAffINTERIM EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR: Lindsay ShieldsCOMMUNICATIONS DIRECTOR: Mike McDonaldEDUCATION COORDINATOR: Phyllis WeeksGALLERY DIRECTOR: Jessica JadeREGISTRAR/CASHIER: Michele Cheyovich,

Kath Disney NilsonPROGRAM COORDINATORS: Ceramics — Derek Hambly fiber Arts — Nancy Collins fine Art — Marge Stewart Jewelry — Marge Stewart Sculpture — Gert RasmussenfACILITIES: Gabe Arreguin, Wes McCormick

MENDOCINO ART CENTER BOARD Of DIRECTORSPRESIDENT: Liliana CunhaVICE PRESIDENT: Patrick KellerTREASURER: John CornacchiaSECRETARY: Dale MoyerJanis PorterEileen RobbleeNick SchwartzMarge StewartBob TreasterLucia Zacha

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

Mendocino, CA 95460707 937-5818 • 800 653-3328

fAX: 707 937-4625register@mendocinoartcenter.org

www.MendocinoArtCenter.org

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

founded by Bill Zacha in 1959 as a nonprofit organization to support, foster, advance and promote artistic awareness and participation.

COVER IMAGE: Peggy Magovern, Past-Present, colored pencil

MendocinoArtsART AND CULTURE IN MENDOCINO COUNTY

From Our Board President…

As I sit down to write, it is still winter in Mendocino, but the January weather was so balmy that it prompted one local to suggest

we were experiencing June-uary. Thanks to our donors, members, dedi-cated staff and board, the Art Center is also experiencing June-uary.

In December of last year, local artist and Art Center Zacha Legacy Society patron Don Paglia gave the Art Center a $25,000 matching funds donation. The match was to be completed by January 31, 2011, and I am happy to report that not only did we make the match, but we exceeded it by $7,000 for a grand total of $57,000. Thank you, Don! Workshop list-ings for spring were posted on our Web site in mid-November, summer listings were posted on the Web site by February 18, and memberships have doubled over last year. Thank you all.

The news is all good; however, we should not be complacent. The matching funds grant was a great kick-off for fundraising for the year, and the board is working to find ways to get corporate sponsorships and grants that will enhance our programs. We are also planning a series of fundraising events that we hope you will attend. Please join us for our Dine-outs, Rhododendron Ball, Garden Tour and Board of Directors Dinner. Go to the Art Center Web site or tune in to KOZT, KZYX, and KMFB for more information.

Supporting the Art Center is a long-term proposition, so I invite you to consider becoming a sustaining member of the institution that we all hold so dear by joining the Zacha Legacy Society, named in honor of our founders, Bill and Jennie Zacha, and add your name to the patron wall.

There are many ways to give: some members are giving monthly, quarterly or annually, via their checking account bill pay, as part of the annual giving program; some have remembered the Art Center with a bequest; some have donated to our capital campaign, and some have made general operating funds donations for our benefit.

Many thanks to those of you who are contributing so much already. And with your continued support, I am sure it will be June-uary all year round.

~ Liliana CunhaBoard President

SPRING/SUMMER 2011

By Jessica Jade Norris

In May of 2005, the Mendocino Art Center featured Doug Desmond in a cover story in Mendocino Arts magazine titled “Doug Desmond Creates Stories for You to Tell.” He was also featured in a retrospective exhibit in the Main Gallery. The exhibit was amazing! It was great to see so many incredible works in a multitude of media, together in one room. Imagination, execution and pure talent saturated every wall — a sort of controlled diversity. Each piece had its own story to tell, either unique, or in some way connected to the next. His upcoming show, “Sudden Voices II,” brings that same exciting diversity back to the Mendocino Art Center.

The “Unforgettable Exhibition” first emerged in July of 2010, with multiple artists offering alternate views and unusual art. The show was hugely popular. Doug Desmond and his team of “Sudden Voices” will reunite with a new show June 30 through July 30.

When asked about putting the group show together Doug said, “This is the most uplifting thing I have done in years (since I bought my first car).” He adds, “The artists in this show are all good and different. They shine through their unique and strange personalities. That’s what I like about working with them.”

Here is the line-up of artists from Mendocino County and other parts of Northern California for the “Sudden Voices II” exhibit:

Suddenvoices

Left: Barbara Stanton. Above: J. Robert Griego

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ON ExHiBit JuNE 30–July 30

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Jesse AllenBorn 1936 in Nairobi, KenyaFor over 40 years, Jesse has been expressing the vivid col-ors, images and emotions in his heart through art. “Jesse Allen is an artist of astonishing intensity and power. Across his precise visual language he has found ways to express the beauty and cruelty, the passion and the har-mony, of the life process itself.” – Norman Bryson

DAvID l. CrossBorn 1950 in Chico, CaliforniaDavid started painting surreal-ism at the age of 16, and merged into painting seascapes in the late 70’s. His dramatic use of lighting and shadow lend well to both art forms. He can make rocks look cold and wet and also handle water superbly with fluidity and force. His surreal paintings are both imaginative and well handled.

Doug DesmonDBorn in the past century in Austin, TexasOver 60 years ago Doug’s third grade teacher, Miss Pauline Greene, wrote on his report card: “Douglas is a friendly child who usually does as he is told. However, his constant day dreaming causes him to ignore assignments.”

J. robert grIegoBorn 1969 in Los Angeles, CaliforniaGriego’s iconic work resists easy categorization — symbolist, surrealist, expressionist, etc. — and his use of materials and dynamic approach creates sculptures that have a raw and organic beauty echoing the Japanese philosophy of Wabi Sabi — the art of finding beauty in imperfection and the profundity in the natural order of things.

Peggy Magovern

JACob HewkoBorn 1981 in Roseville, CaliforniaAn enigma in training. Currently apprenticed to the tattooing trade. “My latest works are studies of smoke and shadow in my paint-ings.” Jacob was mentored by Doug Desmond from an early age.

Peggy mAgovernBorn 1953 in Hayward, California“I spend a fair amount of time think-ing about the ‘story’ in my art. But I also hope that my work provokes, inspires, and allows people to find the meaning for themselves. I’ve discovered that creating an image is a malleable process. Art can change with moods, or when applying additional elements. Sometimes it changes when mistakes happen, or by taking unexpected risks.”

stAnley “mouse” mIllerBorn in CaliforniaStanley’s father was an animator with Disney Studios who worked on Snow White. Stanley grew up in Detroit where Motown music and the city’s obsession with motorcars combined with his genius at drawing and made Stanley’s life path clear at an early age. Stanley is well known for his rock poster art in San Francisco during the ‘60s wartime era of social revolution, political passion and musical innovation.

Doug Desmond

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JessICA JADe norrIsBorn 1973 in Hollywood, California“I really enjoy printmaking and drawing. I call my pen and ink work ‘Tribal Graffiti’ because for me, it’s a result of inner knowledge and release. Lino cuts are a way for me to use bold lines and work with positive and nega-tive space. Etchings show a more delicate line with dry point.”

JAnet rAynerBorn 1951 in Connecticut“Through my art I seek and strive for refinement in myself and in my life. I am a self-taught artist. I have learned by reading books, observing the world, having a family and dreaming my wild dreams. I have learned from other art-ists as well as from people who say that they ‘can’t draw a straight line.’ I have learned by trial and error (and trial and success) working with mediums such as oil paint, pencil, pastel, glass and porcelain.”

gAIl rusHmoreBorn 1950 in Seattle, Washington“I imagine many stories and some of them become sculpture. My background is in design and graphic arts. Working in clay has brought excitement back to my work. My imagery comes from an interest in design and orna-mentation of other cultures. I begin with sketches, then hand build, using slabs. Raku firing adds spontaneity to my process. There is a controlled pyromaniac within — loving how each firing puts its unique mark on the sculpture.”

wIllIAm (bIll) sAlABorn 1930s in Oakland, CaliforniaBill is one of the pre-eminent surreal-ist artists working in America today, and perhaps the world. His unique approach to his graphic use of color and thematic style is unparalleled by other contemporary surrealist artists. Bill has developed his natural talent over many years of studying classical artists and surrealists.

Antony De sennABorn 1945 in Boston, Massachusetts

“I have been painting with acrylic and oil in Mendocino since 1976. I would describe myself as a magic realist.”

ArIAnnA sIegel Born 1957 in New York, New YorkThrough the years, Arianna has expressed her creativity through various media, including painting, drawing, stained glass, photogra-phy and writing. Last year, she did a series of iconic pencil portraits of rock artists which were exhib-ited in several shows. Her current work is a series of surreal, dreamlike oil paintings with historical period references.

Bill Weber (El Gallo), see page 9

Gail Rushmore

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bArbArA stAntonBorn 1959 in Oakland, California“My miniature paintings can have a pro-found effect on people. How ironic that when I paint tiny, people notice the sub-ject for the first time. The images may remind you of the beauty this world has to offer. I invite the viewer to share the feelings I had when I first discovered my subject. Feel that moment, and remember their own sacred moments.”

IlJA tInfoBorn 1947 in Elmshorn, Germany“I just make ‘stuff.’ There are no hidden meanings or agendas, no narratives, no deep insight. It’s just what the viewer makes of it. To me, it’s a construction. I start somewhere and end somewhere. I concern myself with formal elements... composition, color, tone, texture, edges, balance, harmony, space, and try to end up with something that I think works.”

bob treAster Born 1940 in Sacramento, California“By using humor, color, odd juxtaposition, and most any device available to an artist, I attempt to point out the absurdities and dichotomies of life, from the sublime to the ridiculous.”

bIll weber (el gallo)Born 1949 in Tokyo, Japan “I believe humankind to be the proper goal and measure of an artist’s work. I feel that I’m painting something worthwhile only to the extent that it glorifies mankind’s existence in a worthy manner. I share Leonardo da Vinci’s encompassing embrace of life and have a great regard for any work of creation that elevates the humanity we share. I’ll always be passionate about this.”

Ilja Tinfo

Meet the artists · Watch demonstrations · See and buy original artwork

Enjoy a behind-the-scenes peek at the private art studios of some of the Mendocino coast’s finest artists

on this free, self-guided tour.

M e n d o c i n o A r t c e n t e r ’ s

Artists Open Studio Tour september 17–18 & 24–25, 2011 · 10 am–5 pm

Mendocino Art center45200 Little Lake Street at Kasten Street, Mendocino707 937-5818 • 800 653-3328www.MendocinoArtCenter.org

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By Peggy Templer

Rita Crane lives in an eclectic, charming rural home that she and her partner, Peter Temple, designed and built over a period of years. The home fits naturally and unob-trusively into its wooded surroundings, and seems like the perfect place for a gentle soul who has spent a lifetime passionately seeking harmony and beauty in her artwork as well as her personal life.

Photography is Rita Crane’s medium and she comes by it naturally. In fact, though her development as an artist and photographer was a slow and circuitous process, that she now captures images of beauty with a camera completes a circle that begins with her father. Ralph Crane was an acclaimed photojournalist, working for the New York Times and Life magazine, photographing all the newsworthy events, people and places from the 1930s into the 1980s. At age 16, emulating her father, his daughter first picked up a single lens reflex film camera and started shooting in black and white. All her spare time was spent working in what to her was a magical realm: her high school darkroom.

Her father’s job also impacted her in another way, providing her with the subject matter — Old World Europe — that distinguishes her work: “I spent my childhood in northern Europe when he was working out of the Time/Life bureaus in Bonn and Paris. This left me with an abiding love for the Old World scenes I grew up around: the layers of human endeavor that one can see through their expression in buildings, patterns, and everyday objects. I like to observe and reflect on the consciousness of humanity as it has unfolded over centuries, leaving its mark on these objects and environments…

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Evening View From Navarro Ridge. All photos ©2011RitaCranePhotography.

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Documenting Old World scenes puts me in touch with the slower, more grounded pace of life that revolves around the seasons and careful, hand-crafted art… a different way of life that for the most part we have all left behind in the West.” She also photo-graphs northern coastal California, finding in those landscapes the same sense of a slower, more meaningful pace of life that she finds in Old World Europe.

Rita went to UCLA and majored in Art and Art History, originally con-sidering a career in teaching. But she didn’t want to give up her camera, so she joined the campus Photography Club and became enamored of the work of photographer Edward Weston, intrigued by his ideas about “the essence of the Thing Itself.” Upon

graduating from UCLA, she married a Frenchman, moved to Paris, then to New York City, San Francisco, Tahiti, and New Mexico (losing the Frenchman along the way). In New Mexico, she and a friend designed and hand built a beautiful territo-rial adobe house while Rita studied silversmithing, lapidary, and stained glass.

In 1979 Rita left for Odiyan, a Tibetan Buddhist retreat center in Sonoma County, where she com-pleted a nine-month meditation program based on the book Time, Space, and Knowledge by Tarthang Tulku Rinpoche. She then partici-pated in a four-month stained glass project under the direction of the same head lama, where she helped build the stained glass panels for the

entry pagodas at Odiyan. The entire 13-month experience was pivotal to her subsequent professional life as an artist, and the guidance she received deepened her understanding about what it meant to “make art.” Tarthang Tulku’s suggestions to her, in response to drawings she submitted to him, didn’t revolve so much around per-sonal expression, creativity or com-position, but rather focused on the idea — the way Rita understood it — that the entire image could be seen metaphorically to resemble a mandala in meaning. In other words, the back-ground and foreground were equally important in that they needed to resonate with one another, and were interconnected.

From Berkeley, Rita moved to Boulder, Colorado, and continued to design stained glass windows. There she met glass artist Peter Temple, and they began their collaboration on a highly successful glass art partnership, Temple-Crane Studios (later renamed Denali Crystal). Their crystal glass sculptures were commercially suc-cessful, garnered major commissions and enabled them to make the move to Mendocino County, where they built their home and Peter’s recording studio on Albion Ridge.

There have been many influences on Rita Crane’s development as an art-ist: her father, of course, but also her mother, a passionate supporter of the arts; growing up in Europe; what she refers to as her “meditative process.” In addition, her partner Peter Temple “has been a big positive influence. All I can say is that Peter’s creative spirit is astonishing and inspiring!” Another big influence has been Rita’s apprecia-tion for Asian art, with its understated portrayal of nature’s innate harmony. Years of experience with art glass also affects how she composes her fine art

The Duomo on a Rainy Evening, Florence.

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photographs: “Designing leaded glass windows and crystal glass sculptures trained me to see shapes and lines in a very fundamental way.”

Also influential were her favorite artists: Vermeer, Bonnard, Sisley, Matisse, Derain, Monet, Van Gogh and Cezanne; she loved them all for their use of color and they influenced how she shapes two-dimensional space. She also admired the photographers Brassai, Edward Stieglitz, Eugene Atget and Henri Cartier-Bresson. And there was her favorite childhood book, Edward Steichen’s The Family of Man. Her father had several photos in it and, as a child, Rita spent hours going through it, getting a “sense of the world from it.” She also believes that her lifelong avoidance of television has kept her imagination and her artistic vision clear.

Rita says that she has always enjoyed “the art of arrangement.” As a child, she got a real sense of fulfillment from arranging the furniture in her dollhouse. She derives the same satisfaction from composing a photograph — creating a composition by arranging objects in space and choosing their relationship to other objects in a way

that is unique to her. According to Rita, when she looks through

the lens of her camera, what she wants to cre-ate is an image that will touch a person’s heart in a healing way. Convinced that art has the

power to heal and uplift, she consciously aspires to create compositions that evoke balance and harmony as her way of “giving back to the world.” She also deliberately cre-ates images that are meant to be shared with others — a conscious and meaningful attempt to communicate the beauty that she sees and loves.

Rita Crane’s photography can be viewed on her Web site at www.ritaCranestudio.com, where a link will take you to a portfolio of her photography on Flickr.

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Gran Caffe Chioggia, Venice

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TickeTs: 707 937-4477 or www.MendocinoTheatre.org

April 28–May 29

The PillowmanBy Martin McDonagh Directed by Ann Woodhead

June 9–July 17 She Stoops to Conquer By Oliver Goldsmith Directed by Dan Kozloff

July 28–september 4

The Pavilion By Craig Wright Directed by Kennedy White

“MORE USED BOOKS, PLEASE”

MAIN ST. BOOKSHOP

990 MAIN ST. MENDOCINO937-1537

OPEN DAILY

“THE ONLY USED BOOKSTORE IN TOWN”

Harbor Village Artists

6193–6199 East Highway 20Lucerne, CA 95458

Wed–Sun 11:00am–4:00pm

The Gourd GalleryDecorative Artistic Gourds

707-274-2346

Pomo Fine Art GalleryNative American Art

707-348-6045

Serendipity Art & BoutiqueClothing, Accessories & Paintings

707-245-7512

Lakeside ArtPaintings, Furniture, Jewelry & Hats

707-739-7010

Friday Boogie& Baseball

with B Thomas5pm til 10pm*

Boogie woogie, rhythm & blues,rock & roll

Followed by the Joy of Baseball...songs and stories to

celebrate our national pastime

Prizes during the 8th inning of every Friday Giants Game

*Times subject to change for each game. Joy of Baseball starts 15 minutes before Kruk & Kuip.