Art
Saturday, December 7, 2019
Photos: Dell'Arte's 'Return to Oz'
Posted By Mark Larson on Sat, Dec 7, 2019 at 3:00 PM
The 39th annual Dell'Arte 2019 Holiday Show: Return to Oz is now at one of the many traveling and free venues coming up before its return to Blue Lake in two weeks. The storyline of Dorothy as an angst-ridden, friendless, guitar-playing teenager (you likely know one or used to be one) begins with her unhappiness at being back in Kansas, missing her Oz friends. The creative twists on the original plot are in good hands with director Michael Fields and an international cast. Cleo DeOrio, James Hildebrandt and others created an amazing production and set that now has to go on the road for multiple shows. Enjoy a slideshow of the highlights below.
Thursday, November 21, 2019
Local Native Basketry at the Metropolitan Museum of Art
Posted By Jennifer Fumiko Cahill on Thu, Nov 21, 2019 at 12:17 PM
If you were scrolling Instagram this morning (as one of our readers was), you might have seen a familiar basket form on the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s account. The shot from the museum’s ongoing show Art of Native America: The Charles and Valerie Diker Collection features a gorgeous piece by Elizabeth Hickox, a Wiyot and Karuk woman from Humboldt.
The photo the Met posted is indicative of that style, though Britton notes the basket is oddly photographed from the back, showing the seam at the edge of the lid. It’s a shame, too, she says, that the lid is on since many of Hickox’s baskets open to reveal designs on the bottom. As for the pattern on the body of the basket, the “lightning” to which the post refers “looks more like obsidian blade with worm trail,” according to Britton, who adds translation of the names of design elements can be tricky.
If you can’t zip over to New York for the show, you can just wait until February, when the Clarke’s remodeling of the Hover Collection’s design case is finished and a couple of Hickox’s pieces, like the one shown in the video here, will be on display. Check out @clarkemuseum on Instagram for the full #basketoftheday video story.
According to Brittany Britton of the Clarke Historical Museum, Hickox was based out of Orleans for most of her life and died in 1947. “She was one of the more well-known weavers from our area,” says Britton. Unlike many Native basket weavers, Hickox had a dealer/patron, Grace Nicholson, who kept artists’ names attached to pieces as she sold them and promoted Hickox’s work. On top of that, Hickox had a recognizable style. “Her baskets are very distinctive: lidded with the raised knob and the use of [black] maiden hair ferns,” says Britton.
The photo the Met posted is indicative of that style, though Britton notes the basket is oddly photographed from the back, showing the seam at the edge of the lid. It’s a shame, too, she says, that the lid is on since many of Hickox’s baskets open to reveal designs on the bottom. As for the pattern on the body of the basket, the “lightning” to which the post refers “looks more like obsidian blade with worm trail,” according to Britton, who adds translation of the names of design elements can be tricky.
If you can’t zip over to New York for the show, you can just wait until February, when the Clarke’s remodeling of the Hover Collection’s design case is finished and a couple of Hickox’s pieces, like the one shown in the video here, will be on display. Check out @clarkemuseum on Instagram for the full #basketoftheday video story.
Monday, November 4, 2019
Trick or Treat: Photos from Arcata's Halloween
Posted By Mark Larson on Mon, Nov 4, 2019 at 6:10 PM
Parking was a premium for Trick or Treat on the Plaza in Arcata in late afternoon as easily more than a thousand children and adults showed up for the Halloween fun. The event, sponsored by Arcata Main Street, started off with the HSU Marching Lumberjacks, giant puppets and a bubble machine circling the plaza, followed by attendees lining ulp at storefronts and businesses around the plaza to collect the goodies.
Additional entertainment included a zombie flash mob performance of "Thriller," a flaming performance by the Bella Vita Fire Dance Company, hay bale rides around the plaza and photo ops with a Halloween Fairy. See the slideshow below for highlights of the costumed fun.
Additional entertainment included a zombie flash mob performance of "Thriller," a flaming performance by the Bella Vita Fire Dance Company, hay bale rides around the plaza and photo ops with a Halloween Fairy. See the slideshow below for highlights of the costumed fun.
Thursday, September 26, 2019
Photos from Sunday at the North Country Fair
Posted By Mark Larson on Thu, Sep 26, 2019 at 5:40 PM
Sunday at the 46th annual North Country Fair featured another splash of the popular rhythms and dances of Samba da Alegria's Samba Parade, along with the usual mix of live music on multiple stages, vendors of all types and — atypically for the season — occasional rain. See highlights of the parade in the slideshow below.
Fortunately for the paint-daubed musicians and samba dancers in a mix of costumes symbolizing Brazil and the Brazilian Carnival, the weather cleared in time for their 1 p.m. performance in front of a packed house around the Arcata Plaza. After the Samba Parade left the plaza, fair attendees took shelter for a half hour or so of heavy rain and then returned once warm sunshine appeared for the rest of the afternoon's fair activities.
Fortunately for the paint-daubed musicians and samba dancers in a mix of costumes symbolizing Brazil and the Brazilian Carnival, the weather cleared in time for their 1 p.m. performance in front of a packed house around the Arcata Plaza. After the Samba Parade left the plaza, fair attendees took shelter for a half hour or so of heavy rain and then returned once warm sunshine appeared for the rest of the afternoon's fair activities.
Monday, September 23, 2019
Photos from Saturday at the North Country Fair
Posted By Mark Larson on Mon, Sep 23, 2019 at 2:30 PM
The 46th annual North Country Fair on Saturday lived up to its reputation on Saturday for lovely fall weather, lots of food, art, clothing and craft vendors, and — in memory of the Northcoast Environmental Center's Tim McKay — a fun, all-ages All Species Parade frolic around the Arcata Plaza. See highlights of the day in the slideshow below.
Live music spanning multiple genres played on multiple stages at the event, including the first performance of the year by the Arcata Interfaith Gospel Choir and its new director Valetta Molofsky.
And in keeping with the event's ethos, Zero Waste Humboldt volunteers were at all corners of the plaza helping educate attendees on how to keep the event environmentally friendly. Come back for more photos from Sunday's festivities, including the Samba Parade.
Live music spanning multiple genres played on multiple stages at the event, including the first performance of the year by the Arcata Interfaith Gospel Choir and its new director Valetta Molofsky.
And in keeping with the event's ethos, Zero Waste Humboldt volunteers were at all corners of the plaza helping educate attendees on how to keep the event environmentally friendly. Come back for more photos from Sunday's festivities, including the Samba Parade.
Monday, August 26, 2019
Photos from Ladies Hat Day at the Races
Posted By Mark Larson on Mon, Aug 26, 2019 at 5:26 PM
A large crowd of fans of horse-racing and ladies in hats showed up for Saturday's free admission to the eighth annual Ladies Hat Day at the Races at the Humboldt County Fair in Ferndale.
The hat wearers moved onto the racetrack for the Parade of Hats competition in "Hatagories" that included Most Glamorous, Best Racing Theme, Funniest or Most Outrageous, Most Original, Youth and Best Couple or Group. Generous prizes were offered after the sixth race for the Grand Prize winner, the Runner-Up winner and the best hats in the four categories. See the slideshow below for shots of the top toppers.
The hat wearers moved onto the racetrack for the Parade of Hats competition in "Hatagories" that included Most Glamorous, Best Racing Theme, Funniest or Most Outrageous, Most Original, Youth and Best Couple or Group. Generous prizes were offered after the sixth race for the Grand Prize winner, the Runner-Up winner and the best hats in the four categories. See the slideshow below for shots of the top toppers.
Friday, August 23, 2019
Eureka's Poet Laureate David Holper
Posted By Jennifer Fumiko Cahill on Fri, Aug 23, 2019 at 4:26 PM
Congratulations, Eureka, you have your first poet laureate. David Holper, a 61-year-old professor of English at College of the Redwoods and brave judge of the NCJ annual Flash Fiction Contest, got word of his selection this week and a press release from the city is expected soon. Holper is a graduate of the University of Massachusetts at Amherst's MFA English program and his second book of poems The Bridge (available in local bookstores) was published this year. You may have seen a poem or two of his in the Journal (catch up here, here and here for starters).
The position, created this spring, is the brainchild of Eureka City Councilmember Leslie Castellano and Kristi Patterson of Trajectory, an Ink People project. Castellano felt a poet laureate would be "a strong component of what Eureka is trying to do in terms of arts and culture." The pair brought a proposal before the Eureka Arts and Culture Commission for approval and to hammer out the program.
The position, created this spring, is the brainchild of Eureka City Councilmember Leslie Castellano and Kristi Patterson of Trajectory, an Ink People project. Castellano felt a poet laureate would be "a strong component of what Eureka is trying to do in terms of arts and culture." The pair brought a proposal before the Eureka Arts and Culture Commission for approval and to hammer out the program.
Monday, August 19, 2019
Photos from the 57th Klamath Salmon Festival
Posted By Mark Larson on Mon, Aug 19, 2019 at 4:35 PM
Given the last few years of wildfire smoke-filled skies, it was a relief for a large crowd of attendees to only smell smoke from the traditional salmon fire pit at the 57th annual Klamath Salmon Festival on Saturday, Aug. 17. This year's theme was "Skue’n ‘Owook, Can’t Wait for Tomorrow," which linked Yurok Tribe plans for the removal of the Klamath River dams and the reintroduction of the California condor in Northwestern California. (See the slideshow below for highlights of the event.)
Monday, August 12, 2019
Photos from the Lantern Floating Ceremony
Posted By Mark Larson on Mon, Aug 12, 2019 at 6:24 PM
A large crowd attended the 37th annual Lantern Floating Ceremony at the Arcata Marsh and Wildlife Sanctuary on Saturday evening under clear skies. A gentle breeze helped push a few hundred lanterns that had been created earlier that morning on the Arcata Plaza out across Klopp Lake.
The original Japanese ceremony uses floating lanterns to honor the memory of departed loved ones and it has been adopted by present-day advocates to commemorate the World War II bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, as well as to advocate for peace, nuclear disarmament and environmental sustainability. The local event was started 37 years ago by the City of Arcata's Nuclear Free Zone Committee. Arcata Mayor Brett Watson introduced the program and acknowledged local businesses who contributed supplies and time to help the Floating Lantern Ceremony Committee put on the event.
The original Japanese ceremony uses floating lanterns to honor the memory of departed loved ones and it has been adopted by present-day advocates to commemorate the World War II bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, as well as to advocate for peace, nuclear disarmament and environmental sustainability. The local event was started 37 years ago by the City of Arcata's Nuclear Free Zone Committee. Arcata Mayor Brett Watson introduced the program and acknowledged local businesses who contributed supplies and time to help the Floating Lantern Ceremony Committee put on the event.
Saturday, July 6, 2019
Bubbling Over: Photos from the Fourth in Arcata
Posted By Mark Larson on Sat, Jul 6, 2019 at 5:50 PM
The only things exploding on the Arcata plaza for the 4th of July Jubilee were thousands of soap bubbles, as the Bubbles Promenade kicked off the event with a crowd of children and adults blowing bubbles. The soapy parade that also included a few rhutabaga Queens for Life and a mix of Kinetic Race vehicles, looped around the plaza a couple of times,followed a pause for the national anthem.
The family-friendly event then offered a long afternoon of live music, fun activities for the children, lunch options from food and drink vendors and an autograph session with Humboldt Crabs players. See the slideshow below for highlights of the bubbly festivities.
