I’d recognize Joan Gold anywhere — her paintings that is. I only met her for the first time last week to interview her for this article, but I have been looking at her paintings for more than 10 years now, and they are very distinctive. Mostly it’s the colors. Some artists have a particular “palette,” […]
Katherine Almy
Katherine lives in the magical land of Humboldt County, California, with her husband Richard and their son, who just happens to be the most intelligent and beautiful child on the planet. She is a frequent contributor to the North Coast Journal and Artweek Magazine. She blogs and writes at http://www.katherinealmy.com and http://www.artwalks.blogspot.com.
Send your art news — six weeks in advance — to katherinealmy@northcoastjournal.com.
Posted inArts + Scene
Keeping the Faith
I first became aware of Brian Tripp when my College of the Redwoods art class met at his apartment in downtown Eureka. It was a trip. He lived in a second floor loft apartment, one big room, and every inch of the floor (less a narrow pathway) was covered with boulders and hunks of wood. […]
Posted inArts + Scene
More Than Driftwood, Rocks
You know you’re getting close to Philip Burgess’s place when you start to see bicycles hanging from the trees. Old rusty ones. A road sign informs you that you are approaching the “brain check area.” You slow down to take in all of these unusual road signs and see more and more sculpture, rocks that […]
Posted inArts + Scene
Marshlands: Another Interpretation
I hadn’t planned it this way, but I find myself writing once again about an artist whose work interprets our local marshes. This artist, Ellen Land-Weber, has focused on a specific place — the Arcata Marsh. It’s fascinating to see how different two artists’ approaches are when the inspiration is the same. The work that […]
Posted inArts + Scene
What the Brits Are Up To
At the moment I’m on holiday, as they say here in Jolly Old England. We’re here visiting relatives, but I thought I mightas well take the opportunity to suss out the British art scene. This, of course, is an impossible task for a three-week visit, but I’ll tell you about a few interesting things I’ve […]
Posted inArts + Scene
Capturing the Birds
It’s easy to forget in this modern time full of bewildering and exotic grist for the artistic mill, that it was wild nature that first compelled human beings to put pen to paper. The wonder that we feel watching the birds in the sky or the colors of a sunset have inspired the artist in […]
Posted inArts + Scene
Inside the Brain of Carl Muecke
Carl Muecke likes his artwork, and that’s refreshing. He’s not arrogant or obnoxious about it, but he really likes what he does, as all artists should. He likes the bright colors, the ideas and the uniqueness of his work. Looking around on the Internet and talking to other artists, he says he’s never found anything […]
Posted inArts + Scene
Pollution as Art
Walking into the Foyer Gallery on the HSU campus yesterday, I was overwhelmed with a feeling of oppression. The installation piece there consists of a net of plastic garbage, glued, stapled and tied together and suspended from the ceiling. The idea is to give the viewer a feel for what it might be like in […]
Posted inArts + Scene
Exclusion Zone
One of the most challenging shows you’ll see around town right now is John Mahony’s photography at the First Street Gallery. As a river kayaker, Mahony is witness to the increasingly evident fact that there are few wild spaces left on the planet that are untouched by humanity. "You rarely go on a river without […]
Posted inArts + Scene
Agates and Myrtlewood
When you read about an artist as well known as David Groth, you find a lot of "artspeak." Being an art historian, I am, of course, familiar with artspeak and have a basic understanding of it, but it still puts me off. It put me off when I was in school, and I might have […]
Posted inArts + Scene
Shredding, Wrapping, Knotting
It seems to me that there are generalists and there are specialists. I’ve always been a generalist — I’m interested in so many things that I’ve never taken the time to get really good at anything. My life is a litany of unfinished projects and grandiose dreams that never come to fruition. It’s frustrating at […]
Posted inArts + Scene
Cool, Clear Water
Making art is more about what you do with your eyes than what you do with your hands. I came to the conclusion some years ago, and that theory has been confirmed over and over again in my conversations with painters. “What I get out of painting is looking,” says Judy Evenson. “I see things […]