Mary K. Connelly: Topophilia (love of place)

January 14 through March 8 2009

Mary K. Connelly’s paintings of room interiors are a distillation of perception and memory, where color and light convey a world psychologically and spiritually charged. Architectural spaces serve as a formal and conceptual device to establish tension and duality between the interior and exterior worlds. As a figurative painter, Mary K.Connelly’s studio practice is strongly rooted in the illusionist tradition, influenced by intimate interiors of Vermeer, Bonnard, and Hopper. Mary received her BFA in painting at Washington University on St. Louis, Missouri in 1983. For the following fifteen years, she resided in Washington DC and her paintings were exhibited in many solo and selected regional group exhibitions. In 1998, Mary returned to school and earned her MFA in painting from Indiana University in Bloomington. Mary currently lives in Denver and is an Assistant Professor and Area Head of Painting and Drawing at the University of Colorado at Denver.

Susan Needham, Joyce Jonte & Suza Lambert, Hues of Emotion

January 28 through March 16 2009

Recent figurative works of Susan Needham, Joyce Jonte, and Suza Lambert explore a variety of feeling states in differing social situations and human interactions through sculpture, watercolor on paper, an oil on canvas. Attention is given to the composition of each piece to inspire multiple possibilities of interpretation depending on the viewer’s perspective and life experiences. Static figures captured in an instant of emotional energy give the onlooker a moment of reflection into his or her own emotional states.

Sondra Schwetman: Systemic Privilege

March 18 through May 17 2009

Systemic Privilege addresses the ambiguous space between reality and fiction where the female form and therefore the female often dwell. The works in this series concentrate on psychological, religious, cultural and social issues that women deal with everyday such as: reproduction and reproductive rights, discovery, knowledge, success, creativity, class systems, colonization, compliance, and silence. Sondra Schwetman specializes in the areas of: sculpture, installation, performance, and jewelry/metalsmithing. She is currently an Assistant Professor of sculpture at Humboldt State University, Arcata, CA.

Redwood Art Association

March 25 through May 3 2009

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.

Jim McVicker: A Way of Seeing

May 21 through July 12th 2009

In the summer of 2008, the Norwegian filmmaker Petter Granrud decided to make a documentary about a true artist. This film is Granrud's exploration of Jim McVicker's world, and a tribute to his work. 

We follow the painter as he works in the places he loves: The meadows, forest, harbors, the little weatherbeaten towns, and the ragged sea-cliffs of Humboldt County. Granrud strives for a deeper understanding of the bond between this remarkable artist and his astonishing native ground. 

Screenings:
Friday, May 22nd, 7 p.m., doors open at 6:30
Friday, May 29th, 7 p.m., doors open at 6:30

Seating is limited. Advance Reservations Requested. 
Please call 707-442-0278 to reserve your seat. $5 suggested donation at the door. Screenings Friday, May 22nd, 7 p.m., doors open at 6:30 Friday, May 29th, 7 p.m., doors open at 6:30

Monica Schill: Encased in Concrete 88

May 2 through January 2010

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

8th Annual Northwest Eye
Regional Photography Competition & Exhibition

May 14 through July 5 2009

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.

Robin Robin: Flora Photographica

May 28 through July 19 2009

Acclaimed photographer Robin Robin’s exhibition Flora Photographica focuses on images of Humboldt County flora from May through July at the Morris Graves Museum of Art. The exhibition is a collection of large format studio photographs featuring an intimate look at the native plants and flowers of the North Coast.

Museum Art School

June 7 through July 24 2009

This exhibition features works by the Museum Art School. Works in this exhibition are based on themes and subject matter reflected in exhibitions on display at the Morris Graves Museum of Art. The Museum Art School offers visual arts after-school classes for youth age’s six to twelve.

Images of Water

July 16 through August 23 2009

Celebrating 22 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.

Curtis Bartone: The Ocean Through Our Large Windows

July 23 through September 6 2009

Curtis Bartone's paintings, drawings, and etchings focus on the uneasy relationship between human beings and the natural world, exploring the idea of wilderness and how it has changed from being a real place-mysterious, unknown, and pristine-to a distorted fiction. Curtis’ pieces fuse Italian Renaissance painting, 17th-century still life, 19th century scientific illustration with a twenty-first century aesthetic informed by photography and mass media to explore and to question our attempts to tame, control, and consume our surroundings. Painting and drawing, filtered through art history and mass media, still have the potential to make sense of seemingly disparate elements, revealing connections, beauty, and order in apparent disharmony. Bartone attended the Columbus College of Art and Design, where he received a BFA in painting in 1988 and an MFA in painting in from Northwestern University in 1991. Bartone has lived in Savannah, Georgia since 2001

New Work by Nicole Jean Hill

July 30 through September 27 2009

Through her anthropological approach to art making, Hill photographs familiar spaces and activities within the American cultural landscape. She is currently a faculty member in the art department of Humboldt State University in Arcata, CA.
Nicole Jean Hill received a BFA from the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design in Halifax, Canada and a MFA from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. She has exhibited her photographs extensively throughout the United States, Canada, Europe, and Australia.

HAC Annual Art Auction

September 6 through September 18 2009

Pre-bid on artwork and items to be auctioned at the annual Art Auction Gala on Saturday, September 26, 2009.

15th Annual Junque Arte Competition & Exhibition

October 1 through November 22

Designed to celebrate artistic creativity on the North Coast and heighten the awareness to renewable resources in the art making process, each artwork in this juried exhibition is made from 100% recycled materials.

A Complimentary Compilation

October 4 through November 8

An invitational exhibition of some of Humboldt County’s most unique artists paired with a handful of work by artists from out of the area. This mixed media compilation highlights the current work by this group of artists.

HAC Member Exhibition 

November 19 through January 3, 2010

The annual member show is a juried exhibition designed to highlight the fabulous art being produced by our artist members. As always, this exhibit is eclectic, surprising and enjoyable.

Corpus Perspicuus: Transparent Body

December 3 through January 24, 2010

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. Awareness, which is complex, many layered and transitory, is experienced in transparent, reflective and mobile acrylic materials. Through the body we move from sensations to emotions to ideas of being-feeling who we are. 

Thekla Hammond’s work recreates alternating experiences of separation, connection, separation and connection with separation. Figures painted on hanging acrylic panels and mirrors rotate to reflect multiple transparent images, building the viewers’ experience through the senses, the emotions, and conscious awareness. Come With Me, is an invitation to see, hear, feel and become conscious of the movement between isolation and community, separation and connection, in human experience. 

Cheryl Calleri work focuses on microscopic human sensory receptors in the skin, and their physiology. Her constructions are built by laminating multiple painted acrylic sheets. The forms and the surfaces combine to express the emergent and transitory states of being, focusing on the physical experience of touch which is elemental in the development of human consciousness. 

Tobin Keller expands the definition of portraiture by layering images of the figure in a careful process that is analogous to the way the brain constructs and stores memory. Keller uses multiple acrylic panels and includes experimental techniques such as digital transparencies, hair and monofilament.