MORRIS GRAVES & ART OF THE NORTHWEST
Continous through the year 
Homer Balabanis Gallery

Come explore the work of Morris Graves from the Humboldt Arts Council’s Permanent Collection. Enhance your interpretation of the artworks on display by perusing the new Interactive CD-ROM The Life & Art of Morris Graves. This educational tool allows the visitor to view a selection of artwork, the Loleta Studio of the artist, and to hear interviews from his friends and colleagues.

Monica Schill  Encased in Concrete 88
Through January 24
Encased in Concrete 88 will be shown in the Melvin Schuler Sculpture Garden. Monica Schill is not comfortable throwing away an item that will end up in a landfill. In many of her pieces she placed reused/recycled items inside the piece so that the viewer has no visual knowledge of its existence. Encased in Concrete 88 is made up of 88 individual pieces. Each piece is a bag of non-recyclable garbage (insulation, roofing material, wrappers, twist ties, old socks, over used dog toys, the list goes on and on) the sizes vary from 1 foot to 3 feet in diameter. Each bag is wrapped in wire, then the bags are encased in concrete. The idea is to give a representation of the space that this many bags of garbage would take-up in a land fill and to give an option for dealing with them.

Corpus Perspicuus: Transparent Body
Through January 24 
In the body we feel who we are. Through corporeal reality, sentient beings develop awareness and cognizance of existence, place and meaning. The body is the gateway to human consciousness. In Corpus Perspicuus: Transparent Body, three artists, Thekla Hammond, Cheryl Calleri and Tobin Keller, limn the human figure in a contemporary medium to explore their views of consciousness.

Rie Muñoz’s Alaska
January 13 through February 21
One of Alaska’s most cherished artists, Rie Muñoz's playful, bright images have captured the spirit of Alaska without sacrificing their authenticity. Her subjects include fishing camps, Eskimo villages, canneries, animals, and children at play, represented in a colorful, simplified style. "My artwork can best be described as expressionism. The term applies to work that rejects camera snapshot realism, and instead, expresses emotion by distortion and strong colors. My paintings reflect an interest in the day-to-day activities of Alaskans such as fishing, berry picking, children at play, crabbing, and whaling. I am also fascinated with the legends of Alaska's Native people.”

Remembering Juanita Larson
January 13 through February 28
Remembering Juanita Larson focuses on the career of the local artist and the things that inspired her artwork. Larson said of her work,” My art leans toward symbolism and surrealism though many times I sketch or paint a simple still life or figure study just so I don’t have to do too much thinking. People often ask me what kind of art I do. Personal symbolism seems to describe it best of all. What I see does not influence my art as much as what I feel; it comes from a place inside body and mind. To get it from mind, to hand, to paper is the tricky part. I don’t always succeed. I also love the subtle grace and the perfect balance of the human figure. If there is not a classification for Personal Symbolism in the art world, perhaps there should be.”

Redwood Art Association
April 1 through May 16
Annual juried spring exhibition from Humboldt County’s oldest artist’s association. With over 210 artists, members, and supporters, the Redwood Art Association is a community of artists who value art as an essential component of every aspect of our culture.

Richard Kistler 
February 7 through December 2010
Kistler says, “My art is a meltdown of my life's experiences and observations, twisted by my sense of humor…using my plasma cutter, welder and what ever scrap metal I can get my hands on, my sculptures become a 3-dimensional moment of my life.” Richard (a.k.a. Rick) Kistler is currently residing in the great Humboldt Nation, CA. Kistler’s work will be on display in the Melvin Schuler Sculpture Garden.

David Groth
February 28 through April 10
The majority of Groth’s sculptures are made from reclaimed myrtlewood, which he has collected from the beaches near his home. Groth says, ”Sculpting in myrtlewood washed up along the pacific Northwest beaches is a journey that begins by reclaiming timbers between storms and after rivers have flooded. Next, working intuitively, I allow the form to evolve as I carve. When a piece starts growing, I grow with it, I have no preconceptions…it is part of a stream. By working in this way each new sculpture becomes an act of discovery. I find this intuitive approach challenging and rewarding because of the complete and undivided focus and concentration it requires. It calls for my total involvement with the creative process unfolding at hand. The resulting artwork reveals every step of this personal journey and leads to insights my intellect wouldn’t visualize. Over the years I’ve grown to especially respect and appreciate the character woven into each individual sculpture, transforming reclaimed tree to finished carving.”
David Groth is a native of Humboldt County, and a graduate of Humboldt State University.

David Lochtie, Humboldt Line, Humboldt Shape  
March 6 through April 25
Humboldt Line, Humboldt Shape, recent oil and ink/watercolor paintings, highlight stone shapes and currents of curved lines derived from the wild landscape of Humboldt County. These paintings will be anchored by clusters of organic shapes that arise, often unconsciously, from the forms and patterns that Lochtie saw at the beaches, along the gravel beds, and inside the forests from the Klamath to Petrolia. Lochtie says, “I feel as though the wild power of Humboldt wind and water are the forces that drive my paintings.”  David Lochtie was born in Eureka, it was during his adventures in local rainforests and the Sierra Nevada mountains that his love of nature developed. He kept the natural forms and organic lines he saw. Today they appear in this work as swirls and wobbly ovals, reminiscent of boulders, puddles, and driftwood grain. Music is also a driving force behind Lochtie’s work, he seeks to capture the rhythms and tones of music in line and color, and to translate auditory joy into painting. Lochtie’s work has been showcased at many different museums and galleries throughout the Pacific Northwest. Lochtie currently lives in Portland, Oregon with his wife and three children.

HAC Member’s Miniatures
April 14 through May 22
An exhibition open to all HAC members featuring miniature works in a variety of media.

9th Annual Northwest Eye Regional Photography Competition & Exhibition
February 3 through March 21
The Northwest Eye is a five-state regional fine art photography competition and exhibition highlighting the current trends in the art of photography. This exhibition showcases the creativity and beauty caught by some of the finest photographers in the Northwest.

From the Lake: Morris Graves Foundation Invitational
April 14 through May 30
From the Lake will feature the artwork of selected artists from around the country who have participated in the artist in residency program at “The Lake”.  Since 1964 "The Lake" has been the home, studio and gardens of Morris Graves. Surrounded by ancient beauty, it is an exquisite secluded floating world of light, reflection, trees, sky and verdant green. It is a place of solitude and peace, a place to rekindle the heart, the spirit, and the creativity of an artist. The Morris Graves Foundation mission is to provide an inspiring location for artists and arts scholars, preserve the property in its undisturbed natural state, maintain a collection of art for study, support selected artists who work in harmony with the Foundation's purposes and arrange for related educational opportunities.

24th Annual Images of Water-California Statewide Mixed Media Competition and Exhibition
May 1 through June 13
Celebrating 24 years of creative visions of water, this annual competition highlights the inspiring beauty of water. From photos of lakes and streams to paintings of ice-cube trays and snow, Images of Water is a fun, theme-based show to take part in or to just take a look at. Open to all Californians, this is an exciting opportunity for the residents of California to become involved in the arts on the North Coast.

Jeff Craig, At Earth’s Edge
June 5 through July18
At Earth’s Edge, is a collection of archivally printed photographs. Craig says, ”Standing on a bluff peering out to where ocean and sky meet, I often feel I am looking at a scene outside of time. I find solace in these quiet moments of tranquil emptiness; a notion I believe can be transformed into real form. These vistas have enabled me to merge my reductivist aesthetic with one of the most intriguing aspects of photography, the notion of context. The camera captures a mere impression of a moment and place in time. The image however, once captured, is removed from its environment. The viewer therefore is separated from that scene in its true context of time and place. My images are exemplars of these timeless expanses.” Jeff Craig has participated in numerous group exhibitions, and most recently in 2008, won Best of Show for Images of Water at the Morris Graves Museum of Art, and one of five Best of Show awards in the Northwest Eye also at the Morris Graves Museum of Art.

Jesse Allen
June 23 through August 8
Born in Nairobi, Kenya, Jesse Allen has been painting for over fifty years. Jesse is a self-taught artist who has always followed his own personal vision and process of painting. 
Allen’s personal mythologies denote symbolism to each individual plant, creature, an earth form in his pieces, creating complex visual narratives. Allen takes most of his imagery from the landscape of Kenya, where he was born and lived until his late teens. He received a degree in modern languages from St. Edmund Hall, Oxford, England. Allen cites the two years following his graduation, spent living in Milan, as fundamental to his development as a painter. An entirely self-taught artist, Allen moved to the United States to teach and eventually left his post as a language professor at Stanford University to pursue painting full-time. Allen says, “For over forty years I have been expressing the vivid colors, images, and emotions in my heart through my art.” Before becoming a full time painter in 1964, Allen worked as a professor at Stanford University teaching Italian and French. Allen has exhibited his work extensively through the United States, Canada, and Japan.

"Fireworks" by Cathleen Daly 

Cathleen Daly, Beyond Beauty 
July 3 through August 29
* A full-color catalog will be available for purchase.

Beyond Beauty is a collection of floral watercolors. Daly’s intent of the exhibition is to portray herself, her impressions and her emotions in the presence of nature. Daly says “I dialogue with my paintings. In the original drawings and the first brushstrokes, the painting awakens. The nature of watercolor is that each stroke is irreversible; each stroke wants to dictate the next. I am committed to my vision on its unedited truth...” “It is important to me that my paintings be a feast for the eyes, that it be a bridge linking my mind and heart with the mind and heart of the viewer. Cathleen Daly received her BA in Art History at the University of California in Art History. Upon graduation, she traveled to Europe and began studies at the Accademia dei Belli Arte in Rome, Italy. In the following year she began studies with Stanley William Hayter in Paris, France, who is often named as the “father of modern printmaking.” In Paris, Daly worked in Atelier 17 (Hayter’s studio) as a student, with the master artist and printer Liao Shiou Ping. Daly has exhibited extensively and repeatedly in Japan and Taiwan over the last twenty years. In 1993 she was commissioned by the University of Western Michigan to represent their renowned department of American Women’s Poetry. She has been a member of the Taidemaalarillitto Ry (Finnish Painters’ Union) and has repeatedly received fellowships from the Cite International des Arts in Paris, France (as recently as 2004) and the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts (2005).

A Retrospective: paintings by Floyd Bettiga
August 18 through October 3
The Humboldt Arts Council is pleased to present  A Retrospective: paintings by Floyd Bettiga. Bettiga’s stunning floral paintings capture the beauty and light of a warm spring day. A wonderful treat for the dreary Humboldt winters, these paintings bring freshness and new growth to life. Floyd Bettiga is a retired Professor of Art from College of the Redwoods. Floyd has exhibited his work throughout the western region in both solo and group shows. Floyd’s honors include a 1989 Outstanding Alumni Award from HSU, 1976 Who’s Who in American Art, and 1971 and 1991 awards from HAC for significant long term contributions to fostering the arts in Humboldt County. In addition, Floyd has traveled widely. Floyd Bettiga was raised and educated in Ferndale, California.  He earned his BA and MA from Humboldt State University and entered teaching in 1957 at Fontana High School in Southern California.  In 1956 he returned to Northern California to become an art faculty founding member and later an instructor of art at the College of the Redwoods.  In 1966, Bettiga became a founding member of the Humboldt Arts Council, helping to develop exhibitions of local artists as well as exhibit his own art.  Bettiga is currently represented in over 400 public and private collections throughout the nation. 

Taste of Art Auction Exhibition
Opens September 4 
Sample local entrepreneurs’ specialties and pre-bid on artwork and items to be auctioned at the annual Taste of Art Auction Gala.

16th Annual Junque Arte Competition & Exhibition
October 1 through November 14
Designed to celebrate artistic creativity on the North Coast, and heighten the awareness of renewable resources in the art making process, each artwork in this juried exhibition is made from 100% recycled materials…reclaimed, reused, recovered, secondhand, salvaged, anything un-new!

Melvin Schuler
October 13 through November 28
A professor emeritus from Humboldt State University, Schuler received his BA and MFA from the California College of Arts and Crafts in Oakland, CA and studied at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Copenhagen, Denmark. He carves his sculptures from recycled old-growth redwood. In order for the work to weather the out of doors, he covers it with copper in the same way that the hulls of the American clipper ships were covered. The copper is placed shingle-like and fastened with bronze nails, hammered and then a cold patina is applied. His works can be found in many distinguished private and public collections throughout the United States.

Glenn Berry: Selections from the Humboldt Arts Council Permanent Collection
November 22 through January 16, 2011
A founding father of Humboldt State University's Art Department and a nationally recognized painter, Glenn Berry is the creator of a distinctive and prevailing geometric style of painting in which faceless figures shift and explore the landscape, symbolizing the process rather than the end result. This retrospective highlights Berry’s career achievements and illustrates his unique style. A full color catalog will be available for purchase in the Museum Store. Glen Berry was born on February 27th, 1929 in Glendale, California.  He received his BA from Pomona College in 1951 and his BFA and MFA from the Chicago Art Institute in 1956.  That same year, Berry accepted a teaching position as a professor of art at Humboldt State University where he taught until 1981.  Berry has had several one person shows, mostly within the county of Humboldt, as well as in Los Angeles and Santa Barbara.  He currently resides and works in Humboldt County.