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 […]
Morris Graves Museum of Art
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Morris the Slug Swiped
Some sticky fingers swiped a beloved banana slug art installation from the Melvin Schuler Sculpture Garden at the Morris Graves Museum of Art. On the night of Nov. 2, after over 800 community members came out for Arts Alive, a heist was carried out to steal Morris the banana slug. “We are devastated by the […]
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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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Music Today: Sunday, Feb. 18
If you feel your Sunday would be improved by the addition of wine and live jazz in one of Eureka’s more artistically stimulating settings, then you must sidle on over to the Morris Graves Museum of Art at 3 p.m. I can’t speak for the specifics of the vinted refreshments, but I know for a […]
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Truth Units
Working for the past 15 years on the site of the former Synanon cult compound in the Sierra Nevada foothills, Bachrun LoMele has built his art practice into a self-perpetuating exploration of the vexed notion of personal truth. The artist solicits anonymous volunteers to record what they believe to be true statements in privacy. He […]
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The Return of ‘30,000 Salmon’
In mid-September of 2002, tens of thousands of fish (mostly Chinook salmon) turned up dead on the Klamath River. Attributed in part to low water flow from the Iron Gate Dam, the devastating fish kill left an enormous impact on the local community, artist Becky Evans included. A self-described “land-based artist,” Evans tends to let […]
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Ruth Arietta’s Illusory Interiors at Morris Graves Museum of Art
Ruth Arietta paints both outdoor and indoor scenes, but it’s the paintings of domestic interiors that showcase the particular strengths of her approach. In these works, densely patterned surfaces negotiate new relationships with the rectilinear volumes set up to contain them. Sometimes they abide within the constraints imposed by floor tiles, window casements, picture frames […]
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Close to Wilderness
It took the death of a friend for Lindsay Lacewell Kessner, whose show Humboldt County Lost and Found is at the Morris Graves Museum of Art through Aug. 6, to realize “life is too short for mediocrity.” Kessner was 26 at the time, living in Chicago and coasting along working as a nanny, when a […]
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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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Music Today: Sunday, Jan. 22
Two 3 p.m. matinee gigs are happening today, both which more or less fall under the banner of “high” art. If you missed the main concert yesterday evening at Calvary Lutheran in Eureka, fear not, you still have a chance to catch a concert and conversation with Trio Duende, a world class chamber music group, […]
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Weekend Jazz Shows
Couple of great local jazz shows this weekend that you won’t want to miss. Westhaven Center for the Arts presents its Third Friday bi-monthly jazz series, featuring RLA jazz trio and various guests. This Friday, Jan. 20, catch RLA w/Claire Bent at 7 p.m. at Trinidad Town Hall ($10-20 sliding scale). Bent’s powerhouse energy and the […]
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Music Tonight: Sunday, Dec. 18
Here are a couple of matinee shows to round out your Sunday. At 2 p.m. at the Arcata Playhouse, it’s your last chance to catch the production of (take a big breath) The Ballad of Flint Westward and the Five Who Made Their Way. This play has it all: dancing, musical numbers, the Blue Lake […]