One of my favorite things about it is the way I am going to be able to use the inherent features of the wall to my advantage,” said Ashland-based street artist XAVI. He was talking about “Living Wall,” the mural he will be painting on the side of the Rodeway Inn in Old Town Eureka […]
Gabrielle Gopinath
Gabrielle Gopinath is a critic who writes about art, place and culture in Northern California. She lives in Arcata. Follow her on Instagram @gabriellegopinath.
Posted inArts + Scene
Ebb and Flow
A small show of photographs by Matt Filar, on view at the Arcata Marsh Interpretive Center, reveals another side to an active and versatile local photographer who you might already know through his photos for the Humboldt Crabs and the Mad River Union, his work with the cooperative gallery Ferndale Arts and/or his tenure as […]
Posted inArts + Scene
Authentic Threads
Old Town Eureka’s newest artspace Canvas + Clay opens this month in the handsomely renovated Buhne Building. The space boasts lofty ceilings, track lighting and pristine white walls, not to mention a logo that rejects the ampersand in favor of a fashion-forward plus. A tour of the sleekly remodeled exhibition space confirms the professional first […]
Posted inArts + Scene
Peeking Inside North Coast Open Studios
It’s the 20th anniversary of North Coast Open Studios and Monica Topping, the event’s hardworking organizer, is in a hurry. NCOS has 17 first-time participants this year, she says, as well as an impressive roster of “charter artists” — those who have exhibited since the inaugural North Coast Open Studios event two decades ago. “We […]
Posted inArts + Scene
Project Muse: ‘Duets’ at Piante Gallery
“Duets,” opening this month at Piante Gallery, presents some memorable examples of the way words and pictures can brush against each other to strike sparks. For the show, gallery director Sue Natzler got in touch with 15 pairs of visual artists and writers who are either Humboldt-based or linked, proposing that they collaborate. Some artists […]
Posted inArts + Scene
A New Generation and a Legacy
This month the Humboldt State University graduating class takes over the Reese Bullen gallery space on campus for the annual grad exhibition, curated by the HSU Museum and Gallery Practices class under the direction of lecturer Ian Carey, gallery director Britt Sheldon and gallery assistant Brittany Britton. Artworks of every stripe and medium pack into […]
Posted inArts + Scene
Fooling the Eye
As director of the ceramics program at Humboldt State University for more than 20 years, Keith Schneider has introduced multiple generations of students to techniques of shaping, throwing and firing clay. Most of his ceramic pieces involve elements that are thrown on a wheel, in addition to pieces that are molded by hand or slab-built. […]
Posted inArts + Scene
Face/Off
In Dominique Birdsong’s painting “Temporality,” a young African-American woman appears from the neckline up against a luminous backdrop of 1980s teal. A mandala in a deeper shade of teal blooms behind her head, throwing the kinky strands of her short Afro into relief. Her face is rendered in flatly painted passages of acrylic paint, with […]
Posted inArts + Scene
Emmaly Crimmel Debuts at RAA and Linda Zeb Hang’s Book Arts at Booklegger
In Emmaly Crimmel’s drawings, people and things are always both wired and isolated. The artwork in Crimmel’s debut solo drawing show at Redwood Arts Association depict a space defined by interconnected systems made up of nearly identical serial units. Drawings in pencil or pen and ink are inscribed on paper or fabric supports that often […]
Posted inArts + Scene
The Long Goodbye
Now that the Arcata City Council has voted 4-1 to remove the statue of William McKinley from the Arcata Plaza, sculptor Haig Patigian’s larger than life bronze portrait will be coming down from the massive pedestal where it has held court since 1906 — eventually. The process of removal is slated to take many months. […]
Posted inArts + Scene
Laura Corsiglia’s Interior Landscapes
Where do pictures come from? Laura Corsiglia’s paintings proceed as directly as possible from the subconscious — the part of the mind that exists outside the grasp of the self and that we only perceive in those infrequent moments when it breaches the surface of waking life via Freudian slips and fragments of remembered dreams. […]
Posted inArts + Scene
Social Media
Arcata-based ceramicist Joel Diepenbrock’s exhibition this month at the Sanctuary is part traditional display, part interactive rite. Diepenbrock’s vessels are completed in the act of use. When he presents his wares during Arts Arcata, he will be hosting members of the public in a tea ceremony using his own pieces, inspired by traditional designs used […]