It’s a cold and rainy afternoon. Christmas is upon me, and then the New Year. A time to reflect, and what I’ve been thinking about is why I write this column (roughly) every two weeks. I often feel like I’m shouting in the wind. Why do I bother writing about art and artists when people […]
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
A Summer Garden
The Winter Solstice is a week away and the storms have already begun, but there are summer flowers in our midst. Hollyhocks, gladiolas, sunflowers and roses in a blaze of sunshine and color. "How can this be?" you ask. Well, it’s an art show, of course, with work painted at the height of the flowering […]
Posted inArts + Scene
From a Lump of Clay
The hardest prose to write is a short story. I never have trouble filling up my column space; I have trouble trimming it down to my allotted number of words. Getting to the essence of a subject, removing extraneous material and making every word work is the tricky part of writing. The same is true […]
Posted inArts + Scene
What War Is
Annie Reid works in a small cabin studio in Westhaven. She’s surrounded by redwoods, and this time of year there’s the constant quiet drip of a rainforest in the rainy season. Her garden is a slightly tamed version of a natural forest floor, with ferns in profusion and a thick layer of redwood duff on […]
Posted inArts + Scene
Two Photographers, Two Visions
Jeanne Scranton got her first camera when she was 8 years old and she’s been taking pictures ever since. However, she did not use a camera at all for her current show. Jeanne has recently discovered a new technique that is fascinating her — scanner photography. Jeanne fitted her flatbed scanner with a box spray […]
Posted inArts + Scene
Straw Into Gold
Born in 1917, Marcel Duchamp turned a manufactured urinal on its side, signed it R. Mutt, called it Fountain and entered it in an avant-garde art show. Predictably, there was a great hue and cry from fellow avant-gardists as well as traditionalists, and this clamor was exactly what Duchamp was after. It is clear that […]
Posted inArts + Scene
Wild Visions
High in the mountains, the air is clear and cool. A stream crashes over rocks and down into the valley and over the sound of the water comes the cry of a red-tailed hawk. It sails over the cliffs in search of lunch. This moment of wildlife comes to you from Linda Parkinson, a watercolorist […]
Posted inArts + Scene
Do You Get It? Minimalist art at Piante
It’s that awkward time of the month again when everyone is in transition, taking down their old shows and getting ready to put up the next one. I want to tell you about what’s new and exciting, but I won’t be able to see the shows myself until after this article goes to press. So, […]
Posted inArts + Scene
Art at a Lumberyard?
One result of the popularity of Arts Alive!-type events is that every business in town wants to get in on the picture (if you’ll pardon the pun). I’m certainly an advocate for art in the county, but I question the value of this. Not every business is a good venue for art and the people […]
Posted inArts + Scene
The Last Brenda & Libby Show
“My goal is to make my etchings colorful using only black and white.” I never knew Brenda Tuxford, the woman who said that about her art. I knew of her, but by the time I arrived she was already working primarily behind the scenes, so I didn’t get a chance to meet her before her […]
Posted inArts + Scene
Beyond fingerpainting: A full palette of kiddie art options at the Graves
My son has been exposed to art pretty much from the get-go. When he was one month old, I helped hang a gallery show at the Ink People with him in a sling and then stayed for the opening reception. He went to his first poetry reading at about four months. I drag him around […]
Posted inArts + Scene
First Street Gallery abides
If you’re like me and you enjoy watching artists develop from the earliest stages of their careers, you’ll be interested in the exhibition at the First Street Gallery this month. The Young Alumni 2007 show features works by 17 recent graduates: paintings, photographs, prints and clay sculptures by artists with lots of energy and talent.Gallery […]