on the cover / By North Coast Journal Readers

Best Of Humboldt 2010 — Readers’ Picks

Who in the Humboldt County art game has more hustle than Lush Newton? (Apart from Duane Flatmo.) You may not know her name — yet — but if you have eyes in your head in Humboldt County you’ve seen this young woman’s work. She’s just about everywhere: designing sets for productions at the Arcata Playhouse, making up outfits for support crew in the Kinetic Sculpture Race (those giraffe heads were hers), hawking stickers and T-shirts on Cafepress and Crawdaddy’s Odditorium.

Then, of course, there’s her straight-up painting and sculpture. Like many of the high-pollers in this year’s competition, she tends toward the outsider art aesthetic: big, bold colors and playful, sometimes twisted figures. She’s drawn to the circus and the carny barker, the fabulous freakshow that Humboldt County life can sometimes resemble. Pro tip? If you want to authenticate a Newton, look for the bone-in ham. She’s fond of the pork.

— Hank Sims

Highest Praise: Jim McVicker. “He’s stood the test of time, and his work is always at the highest level. And he always makes Humboldt County look magically wonderful.”

Most Intriguingly Inscrutable Answer: Matthew Oliveri. “He’s taken on a really fantastic new medium that is bold, iconic and just plain hard to figure out.”

Best Nature Experience

Last year’s winner for Best Place to Take Visitors, Fern Canyon again lands a spot in our readers’ poll, inspiring in the process some impassioned attempts to translate its beauty into mere words: “Gorgeous,” “breathtaking,” “magical,” “primeval,” “a cathedral of nature.” More than just a place, the Fern Canyon experience includes the car ride there, which takes you through golden fields of Roosevelt Elk and a dense forest of imperial coast redwoods, dramatically lit by dusty sunbeams. The winding dirt road eventually spills you onto the sand and driftwood of Gold Bluffs Beach, whose campground is a splendid destination in its own right (sites available at the entrance kiosk on a first-come, first-served basis). When you do finally step into the cool crevasse of the canyon proper, with its living walls, babbling stream and cross-hatched log bridges, breathe deep — the oxygen here is delicious. (Two miles north of Orick, head west on Davidson Road and drive to the end.)

— Ryan Burns

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