Annakatrin Burnham’s Flowstate At first glance, Annakatrin Burnham’s idiosyncratic sculptures are abstract and otherworldly — almost alien. Titling these quirky ceramics Trophies creates an immediate inroad for viewers to recognize their trophy-esque formal qualities: three-dimensional objects designed for display bearing a stable base adorned with a decorative stem or crowning object rising vertically from the […]
Art Beat
Artists, galleries, museums, arts nights and shows around the county.
Posted inArt Beat
Angie Tustison:Award-Winning Quilterof Humboldt Scenes
“Quilting is a very forgiving medium,” says Humboldt fiber artist Angie Tustison. “When I was starting out, my designs didn’t have to be perfect to look nice, whereas the mistakes I made in my drawings or paintings tended to stand out.” She also loved the colors and textures of the range of fabrics available to […]
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A Mosaic Elk at Prairie Creek
Those who wander into the Prairie Creek Redwoods State Park Visitor Center are in for an encounter with a Roosevelt elk — but not the usual live elk typically found in nearby Elk Prairie. Instead, they’ll find a one-of-a-kind, glass-encrusted bull elk sculpture by Jennifer a’Midi, a local Southern Humboldt mosaic artist. Her 225-pound, life-sized […]
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A Different World is Considered
Three artists at CR In the Floyd Bettiga Art Gallery at College of the Redwoods, we all knew what artist Laura Corsiglia meant when she said, “there are so many problems in the world.” These days such a phrase is a dime a dozen but standing there watching the rain come down onto the concrete, […]
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‘What Life was Like Here’
At the California College of the Arts in San Francisco, from which Nicolette Reinsmith recently graduated, her Bay Area peers were mostly urban and moneyed, unlike Reinsmith, who describes her family as “lower middle class.” When she told fellow students stories about Humboldt County, they were baffled. They barely knew where it was. “They thought […]
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A Drip is Slower Than a Tide
On March 15, the Morris Graves Museum of Art opened the once perennial exhibition Images of Water following a pandemic-induced hiatus. This return marks the 28th year of the juried exhibition — a tradition older than the museum itself, which opened on Jan. 1, 2000, with the turn of the millennium. This year, Images of […]
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Burn, Baby, Burn
When Mavis Muller found herself in Arcata last year, she knew she had landed somewhere special. A renowned basket weaver, storyteller and installation artist — as well as a self-described “migratory artist” — Muller leaves her Alaskan nest during the fall and travels south for several months. While on the road, she exhibits her work […]
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Edging the Precipice
San Francisco-based artist Tamera Avery’s larger-than-life paintings on view at the Morris Graves Museum of Art through March 9 feature an idiosyncratic cast of characters, with every piece offering figurative representations that range between the whimsical, absurd, nihilistic and fantastic. The exhibition statement cites Avery’s optimistic appreciation for young folks as emerging champions of change, […]
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Behind the Curtain
From woodworkers to landscape painters, our county boasts countless artists along with a large community of people who support the arts. One standout event showcasing a community within that community is the annual Faculty and Staff Exhibition at the College of the Redwoods. Running now through Feb. 13 at the college’s light and airy new […]
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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 […]
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Sasha Lyth’s Place-based Cyanotypes
There is a beautiful Welsh word that resonates with me,” says Sasha Lyth, “Hiraeth means a longing or grief for a place, akin to homesickness, perhaps even for a place that was never your home to begin with.” The Humboldt-based mixed media artist says much of her art revolves around the connection to place and […]
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Lily Haas’ Muse is Nature
“I’ve been making art since as far back as I can remember,” says sculptress Lily Haas. “I still remember my … ceramics class in second grade.” From the beginning, she says she has used art feel grounded. Her relationship with clay offered her a vehicle for self-investigation and expression, and a place where she felt […]