Lightning struck Trinity County on July 30, 2021, and sparked a fire that burned for 88 days. Before it was fully contained, the Monument Fire consumed 223,124 acres, according to Cal Fire. One of the 28 structures destroyed was a lookout on Ironside Mountain (Tse:nding, as it is called by the Tsnungwe people). “This mountain […]
L.L. Kessner
Posted inArts + Scene
Between Thoughts and Concepts
Like many of the best abstract painters, southern Humboldt County artist Jerry Pruce talks about his practice — almost in riddles — as a kind of search for something he cannot quite define. The paintings and drawings document the search, rather than the elusive object, and 50 years of that work have been on display […]
Posted inArts + Scene
Packed with Color
It all started with two 4-by-4-by-4-foot boxes of wood wool — great piles of curly, hay-like wood shavings — marked “FREE” outside Miller Farms Garden Center. Artist Becky Evans saw the boxes and thought her friend and fellow artist Lori Goodman might want to use the material in her paper-making practice. Eventually, they transformed the […]
Posted inArts + Scene
Establishing Secure Connection
An Iranian cartoonist, a French gallerist and an American art writer walk into Old Town, Eureka. OK, so not exactly, but kind of. Within a few minutes of stepping into Epitome Gallery to see the provocative and emotional pen and ink drawings by Kian Rad Pouyan, I was talking with him, face to digitized face […]
Posted inArts + Scene
New Art Sellers Around Old Town:
Walking through the door of the 4th Street Mercantile (215 Fourth St., Eureka) is a surprising, almost surreal experience. The interior space seemed to me somehow larger than the actual building. As I approached the counter just inside the entryway, my eyes were drawn beyond it, in all directions, to the expertly curated displays of […]
Posted inArts + Scene
Full Circle Journey
“I will never lose the sense that I’m not separate,” says Robert Benson. In an Oct. 10 talk about his exhibition at Cal Poly Humboldt’s Goudi’ni Gallery, he described his intimate relationship with the environment and all its elements, explaining how his relationship to the land, his sense of un-separateness informs his art. Benson’s exhibition […]
Posted inArts + Scene
Sea of Possibilities
“I think I’ve always looked for the forgotten places,” says Oregon-based artist Emily Jung Miller. “I feel an honesty and also a mystery in the silent stories told by things left behind,” she explains. “Over time, nature transforms our human creations into something new and collaborative.” Ghost Net Landscape, Miller’s current exhibition at Cal Poly […]
Posted inNews
Wounded Healers for Post-Pandemic Times
Michelle M. Miller did her first acrylic paint pour in the fall of 2019. A self-described agoraphobic at the time, Miller says she almost never left her home as a result of fear. When a friend invited her to see and make some art however, she decided to try. Doing so, she met Eureka-based socially […]
Posted inArts + Scene
Some Assembly Required
This month’s Arts Alive at the Morris Graves Museum of Art in Eureka showcased three very different exhibitions that, each in its own way, explore the interconnected resilience and breakdown of complex systems. In addressing the conceptual and the material, the group show Powerful Fragility, Clea Felien’s Ever Giving, and Annakatrin Burnham’s T/HERE, incorporate modularity, […]
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Self Definition in My Black Is …
Now through Dec. 3, nine local artists showcase their unique expressions of Black identity at Cal Poly Humboldt’s Reese Bullen Gallery. The exhibition My Black Is … centralizes Black and brown bodies in an academic institutional gallery setting, a context that can be dominated by white people, and presents an array of media, styles, energies […]
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Community and Creative Spirit
A showcase of local Native art, Recalling from the Source at Cal Poly Humboldt’s Goudi’ni Native American Arts Gallery features a mix of traditional and contemporary art practices, materials, symbols and themes, and includes Native artists at all levels of experience. The exhibition includes more than 30 artists with objects as diverse as delicately beaded […]
Posted inArt Walks + Festivals
Fun-Size: Arts! Arcata
Walking in chilly autumn darkness from storefront to dispersed storefront for Arts! Arcata last Friday night felt a little like trick-or-treating for art. The eclectic celebration produced little surprises behind each door. Music dominated visual art, though there was clear enthusiasm and investment among many shops about displaying artists’ work. The music of Caribbean Jazz […]