From Barrier to Beauty...

Noyo and Lighthouse High Schools in Ft Bragg are alternatives to the traditional Ft Bragg High School.  The campus is small, with portable modules surrounding a courtyard.  The complex is surrounded by chain link fencing that gives the school a harsh institutional look.  

At the school's request, we were invited in to undertake an experimental mural project.  The focus was to transform the fence and change the look of the school. The idea was an abstract exploration of oceans using a large-scale, open process that all students could be involved in.  We explored the flow of water.  Painting was done with acrylic paints on large sheets of tyvek--a very strong, flexible surface.  The paintings would later by cut up and woven directly into the chain link fence.

 


Together with 40 some students, we spent a bright afternoon working outside to create the mural panels. The process was fun, lively, blustery and satisfying. We used long-handled rollers, and brushes, and bright acrylic paints.  Everyone got involved.  From set up to clean up, the day was fun and the results were great.  A few days later, we cut up the paintings into long strips and woven three panels directly into the chain link fence in front of the school. 

It definitely changed the look of thing. Now rather than a barrier, the fence is transformed with an intriguing splash of color and line.  

The process worked well...the students had fun with the painting process and the weaving was a satisfying joint effort.

We learned some good things and there are a lot of chair link fences out in the world just waiting to be transformed.

A new Creative Community Door opening soon... Noyo PRINTworks!

Flockworks:  building community through creativity. 

You know our community exhibit series at Odd Fellows, and the murals and other creative work we do with children & young people!  In a new Flockworks initiative, we are launching a community creative space centered around printmaking, letterpress and book arts.   This  artist led  venture called Noyo PRINTworks will be located in the heart of Ft Bragg on Laurel street and will  provide opportunities  to  teach,  learn,  share and create in a professional setting with quality equipment and materials.  Is this a flock you want to be part of?  

Here's what Noyo PRINTworks will offer:

* Open Studio nights for letterpress, art printmaking, and book arts.  

* Demonstrations, events, and special activity sessions.  

* Workshops and classes for learning in letterpress, printmaking methods, and book arts.  

* Advanced, self-directed work in letterpress, print, and book arts for program associates.  

* Special workshops and hands-on activities for children and young people.

  

Here is the Leadership Team helping make this happen: 

• Judy Detrick: artist, designer, calligrapher, retired instructor in graphic design, teacher at San Francisco Center for the Book , 
• Larry Thomas: artist, printmaker, retired professor and Dean of the SF Art Institute,  
• Jonathan Palmer: artist, printmaker, Art Faculty of Mendocino College, Ft. Bragg and Ukiah,
• James Maxwell artist, writer, retired instructor in Art, 
• Florence (Florie) Ashford: graphic designer, letterpress artist, 
• Kathy Carl: artist, printmaker, graphic designer, business owner, FLOCKworks Board,  
• Judy Tarbell: artist, wood worker, former owner of Black Bear Press, 
• Zida Borcich: letterpress and graphic designer, business owner, publisher,  
• Maureen Eppstein: poet/writer, retired Executive Director of the Mendocino Coast Writersʼ Conference,
• Sandy Oppenheimer: artist, 
• Janet Self: community artist, Executive Director of Flockworks  

Community Support & Donations:   The space for this community studio, located on Laurel Street in the former Rec Center, is donated by the City of Ft. Bragg. Donated equipment includes: Vandercook letterpress, cabinets of type and related book making equipment, etching press, inks, paper, and essential elements to make a working studio. Tax-deductible donations and other in-kind support are welcome.

 If you want to know more and be part of this flock, let us know. flockworks1@gmail.com  
We are planning to an opening party in early February!

That's a PRINT...Last weekend

The work of twelve local printmakers takes you through a mini-exploration of printmaking:  etching, drypoint, serigraph, lithograph, wood block, lino cut, mono print, screened pulp print, collograph and more.  This is the last weekend to enjoy this intimate exhibit...  Nicholas Collins hosts Saturday 11-5. On Sunday from Noon to 3, Janet Self welcomes visitors.   In Mendocino at FLOCKworks Studio, next to the historic Odd Fellows... (with the WORKING ARTISTS exhibit... open this final weekend.)

 

Come see my Etchings...

Etching, drypoint, collograph, lithograph, lino cut, wood block, relief, intaglio, serigraph, silk screen, pulp print, monoprint... see this wide array of techniques.

Contemporary local print makers share their delight in line and ink... Anne Beck, Kathy Carl, Tim Carmondy, Nicholas Collins, Rob Mason, Jonathan Palmer, Robert Rhoades, Janet Self and Larry Thomas.  Nikolas Kozak adds his assemblage work to the outdoor patio as well as sharing his photographic view of "old" Mendocino--1966-67. Serigraph works by Dorr Bothwell (1902 to 2000) add another special touch from the past.   

FLOCKworks Studio, 10460 Kasten St, next to Odd Fellows hall, hosts PRINTworks. Show is open Thursday to Sunday 11 to 5pm, with Opening Party Saturday October 11 4-7pm. 
 

 ***************************************************************

Dorr Bothwell

"I follow straws in the wind, and that's how I came to Mendocino. A friend of mine from art school, whom I hadn't seen for twenty five years, recommended me to Bill Zacha. I was busy, so I recommended Hilda Pertha to Bill, and she came...later I taught a summer course at the Art Center and fell in love with the place. All the wood, for example, really excited me, the wonderful gray wooden fences. I did a whole series of close-ups of the wood, all the grains and knotholes, and when it was shown in San Francisco, it sold out. The very tempo of living here has influenced my art. I think there is a magic in this place, something very special that people call a kind of 'power center'..." - Dorr Bothwell, Arts & Entertainment Magazine, Mendocino, California, May 1989

SISTERS IN WEAVE

Exquisite pine needle baskets by Carolyn Zeitler are paired with Janet Self's Woven Painting series to create a delightful exhibit called "SISTERS IN WEAVE".  The combination invites a new appreciation for the essentials of a woven surface.  

In addition, enjoy outdoor assemblage works by Nikolas Kozak, using simple materials to create imaginative constructs plus the work of 3 Japanese Artists, Tokio Oda, Gen Hashiba Shiro Kasai from the Miasa Mendocino Sister City ArtExchange.  

The Opening Second Saturday Event, September 13 from 5-7pm is an intimate chance to meet and talk with the artists.

Carolyn Zeitler, the Archivist for the Kelley House Museum, has been crafting her pine needle baskets since the 1970s.  Made with Coulter pine needles from a special area near Big Sur, Carolyn makes an annual trip to collect pine needles for her work.  Janet Self, Director of FLOCKworks which leads the Odd Fellows Community Art Series, offers up a unique approach to both painting and weaving with this series.  Acrylic on paper is woven together creating new texture and pattern; each square of the weave becomes an element in the design, with an exploration flow into the surrounding squares.  Zeitler & Self have been friends since 1992, when they met at a PTA meeting in the Sierra Foothills.




SISTERS IN WEAVE will be open weekends 11-5:00 through September at FLOCKworks Studio, 10460 Kasten St, the little yellow building next to the historic Odd Fellows hall in Mendocino.

...OF THE MATERIAL WORLD...Now at Odd Fellows

“Hands On Clay - Explorations in the Material World”, an exhibition of recent work by a group of North Coast ceramic artists known as Potluck, opens at Odd Fellows Hall in Mendocino on Saturday, August 30^th, and runs through September 29^th. The opening reception will be on Saturday, September 13^th as part of Mendocino’s Second Saturday festivities. 

The show presents fanciful and engaging pieces, both functional and sculptural, that reveal the artists’ dynamic explorations in clay using a wide range of processes, including wood firing, raku and saggar firing.

Sculptural elements by Sharon Baranofsky

Alison Gardner's beautiful utilitarian pieces.

Sagar Fire Jar by Moss Rock.

Gnome Project by Christine Schomer

Leung Sculptural piece.

Figure by Lorraine Toth

Ode to Our Blue Whale by Susan Nutter

Pit fired jar.

Potluck is a dedicated group of artists from Inglenook to Elk and inland to Comptche, who for years have worked individually and collectively sharing studio space, encouragement, technique, critique, friendship and great potlucks. 

Potluck artists exhibiting their work are Curtis Allen, Sharon Baranofsky, Gail Coulson, Judith Edwards, Alison Gardner, Lizzie Helbig, JoAnn Humphrey, John Loomis, Jack Leung, Marta Perry MacKenzie, Eleanor Moss Rock, Susan Nutter, Maureen Peterson, Sonya Popow, Marnie Press, Christine Schomer, Sophia Sutherland, Loraine Toth, and Mark Way. Come meet the artists and enjoy refreshments at the opening reception.

Exhibit open daily August 30^th - September 29^th, 11am to 5pm.

Opening Reception Saturday, September 13^th, 5 - 8 pm.

Odd Fellows Hall, Mendocino, corner of Kasten and Ukiah Streets.

Last Weekend of a Great Show

A wonderfully diverse, and rich exhibit,  "GROUP OF 9" wraps up this weekend at Odd Fellows, Mendocino.  Not to be missed!  Open 'til 5 today and Sunday... Stop in and enjoy!

 







Plus FLOCKworks Magic (Cigar) boxes are in the Backroom...They represent open creative space and help support this amazing community series, month by month more than 90 exhibits to date!!!

What would you put in your Box?

Discovery Mural...Dunbar School

In May, all 250 children of Dunbar School (k-5) in Sonoma County worked together in creating the DISCOVERY MURAL. It explores the water cycle from a small stream into a pond to the river and out to the wide oceans with all the special habitats and creatures along the way. Stretching 30 feet from the library door to the edge of the computer lab, the mural evokes California's golden landscape, rich with birds, turtles, fishes, skunks, racoons, insects, whales, sea life and much, much more. 

 

Class by class, the children came in small groups to work with Artists Janet Self and Beth Bierman. Over a 5 day period, each group had specific jobs like leafing out trees and making a flock of birds, creating rocks and sand along the stream edges for salmon to spawn, or stocking the pond with fishes, tadpoles, ducklings, heron and turtles...Plants ants, insects, snails and snakes growing along the edges, shorebirds, and sea life swimming in the ocean with ship building and adventures sailing...layer upon layer of detail evolved each habitat and developed the overall story of the entire scene.   

Art making while talking science and considering the lives of creatures all along the way that depend on the water cycle. This is the 2nd mural of a 3 year project.  Last year, we explored scale and perspective, growing from tiny people to giant flowers, inspired by Georgia O'Keefe.    We can't wait to stretch out to the stars and beyond...  This project is supported by the Sonoma Plein Air Foundation http://www.sonomapleinair.com/

West Meets East @ FLOCKworks Studio in August

Explore the work of 16 Mendocino Coast artists, inspired by traditional elements of Japanese art. With wood work, etching, painting, ceramics, basketry, printing, cast metal, cast paper, and more, each pieces in this unique exhibit reflects the characteristics of wabi-sabi (imperfect), miyabi (elegance), shibui (subtlety) and iki (originality) in a uniquely western way. 

The show is open daily (expect Tuesdays) 10:30-5:00 August 1 to August 30 at the FLOCKworks Studio, next door to Odd Fellows. (corner of Kasten & Ukiah Streets in Mendocino Village)  An Opening Artist Party on Saturday, August 9th from 4-7pm.  Participating artists will be hosting the show.


Companion events happening in August include:

• Japanese Artist Exchange Exhibit from Miasa-Mendocino Sister City Association, Mendocino Art Center

• Shizuko McConathy Retrospective, Mendocino Artist Cooperative, Main Street

• Woodblock Prints by Toshi Yoshida and Serigraphs and Paintings by William Zacha, Prentice Gallery, Main Street

• Special event honoring visiting Japanese Artist will be held on August 23 1-5pm at the Mendocino Art Center.  Celebrate the spirit of Japan with art, music and food.

 Lidded Pine Needle Basket by Carolyn Zeitler

Wood Working at Odd Fellows!

Fine WoodWorking comes to historic Odd Fellows  with the 16th Annual Exhibit and works by 16 artists including Kerry Marshall, Paul Reiber, Masako Arita, Lee Baker, Taimi Barty, Hans Bruhner, Michael Carroll, Les Cizek, Sam Cotton, Patrick Doyle,  Tom Dull. Henry Hewitt, Yorgen Kvinsland, Jeff Noblet, Bob Saunderson and Greg Smith... Beautifully hand crafted tables, chairs, cabinets, stools, benches, Doors and more plus assemblage works, beautiful turned bowls, wall pieces, much much more awaits the visitor.    

This year, a new dimension includes a month-long Silent Auction.  Here is your chance to bid on handmade, one of a kind work, with starting bids significantly reduced from original prices.  Fun to consider the possibilities of having one of these special pieces in your home. 

Walk in the Odd Fellows Open Doors, an you'll find work like this piece, "Shoji Cube" by Kerry Marshall.  And that is just the beginning! 
http://www.mendocinofurniture.com/gallery/, 

Wood Working Exhibit is open Daily from 10:30 to 5 July 3-17, the Opening Artist Party is 2nd Saturday, July 12 from 5-8pm.