LIDA PENKOVA:

LIVING IN DIFFERENT WORLDS AND PAINTING THEM

SEPTEMBER 7TH THROUGH OCTOBER 27TH

Lida Penkova has lived and traveled in different countries for most of her life, immersing herself in various cultures, their customs, celebrations, and ceremonies. When she started painting, these cultural themes became the focal point of her work, especially themes related to Mexico where she lived and worked for many years. It was during the pandemic that she began to paint a series of work about her granddaughter’s visits to California, which culminated in a book of those adventures. Most of these paintings will be featured in this exhibition along with other two series, one about Czech and another about Mexican cultural traditions.

JERRY PRUCE:

A RETROSPECTIVE OF ABSTRACT

ARTWORK FROM 70’S TO THE PRESENT

THONSON GALLERY, AUGUST 28 THROUGH OCTOBER 18

Over the course of 50 years, 5 major strains of artwork and a couple minor ones, Jerry Pruce has developed a visual language born out of an early fascination with cubism. The artwork has evolved but continues to represent a rite of passage from what he deeply loved as a child and couldn’t explain, to what he still loves as an adult and still can’t explain.Abstraction is the visual language and he has chosen to record the journey. Viewers will witness the evolution of Pruce’s process through visual representations of his major and minor strains with the intent being metaphorical, referential, and to impart some form of meaning.

FUNGUS AND FIRE: A GLASS MUSHROOM EXPERIENCE

BY JOHN GIBBONS 

SEPTEMBER 4 THROUGH OCTOBER 27

Fungus and Fire is a collection of larger-than-life hand-blown glass mushrooms. Fire plays a key role in glass making and is often seen as a destructive force, but it can also be a powerful tool for creation. In Gibbons' hands, fire is used to transform molten glass into beautiful and unique fungal specimens. The combination of glass and fire is symbolic in the duality of nature. Fire is both destructive and creative, while glass is a fragile and delicate material, both incredibly strong. Gibbons' mushroom sculptures capture this duality perfectly. The sculptures are both beautiful and fragile, just like the mushrooms that inspired them.

ALDARON LAIRD:

WIGI: A PHOTOGRAPHIC EXPLORATION

JULY 13 THROUGH SEPTEMBER 1

As an environmental planner and photographer, Aldaron Laird has been very fortunate to be able to explore and study Humboldt Bay (Wigi), his home, and the ancestral home to the Wiyot people. While creating a historical atlas of Humboldt Bay, Laird learned of the profound changes to Wigi that have occurred over the last 170-plus years. After documenting these historical changes to Wigi, he was given an opportunity to map Wigi’s present day shoreline and assess its vulnerability to sea level rise. He spent two years field verifying the shoreline mapping as he traversed the 102-mile shoreline perimeter by kayak or on foot. He continues to explore areas of Wigi seldom seen or visited by the public and has been fortunate to experience magical moments of light, atmospheric phenomena, beautiful landscape compositions, and birds everywhere! This exhibition shares his photographs from his recently published book and through these images he hopes people will come to appreciate the beauty that is Wigi.

Guy Joy

Joy: Celebrating Human Connection

July 6 through August 25

By the process of an individual viewer’s personal responses to his images, Guy Joy's acrylic paintings invite you to perceive and enjoy the richness of differences and similarities among us, focusing your awareness on the rewarding aspects of our interconnections and interdependencies, to perhaps rediscover what we genuinely value about ourselves and each other.

William Thonson Gallery

Those Who Taught: Selected Works by Former Humboldt State Faculty from the HAC Permanent Collection

June 29 through August 18

Works of art by Humboldt State University (now Cal Poly Humboldt) visual arts faculty have long been a part of campus and community life. Those Who Taught highlights a selection of paintings, sculpture, photographs and prints by former HSU faculty members who were dedicated teachers and makers of art for many decades. Well before the founding of the MGMA in 2000, many of these artists showed their work on campus, served on college committees, received teaching awards, and laid the groundwork for the University’s support of the arts. Those who paved the way include Maris Benson, Glenn Berry, Reese Bullen, Max Butler, Tom Knight, Mimi La Plant, David LaPlantz, Ellen Landweber, Louis Marak, Leslie Kenneth Price, Keith Schneider, Melvin Schuler, and William Thonson.

PETER HOLBROOK:

SMALL WORKS

MAY 25 THROUGH JULY 7

Peter Holbrook’s (1940-2016) landscapes and riverscapes capture mountains, valleys, and bodies of water with intricate detail as seen through his lens. Known for his contemporary landscape paintings of the Southwest as well as California, this selection of small paintings illustrates his strong relationship with the natural world. In an artist statement Peter wrote: "I'm interested in the question of what exactly it is that makes certain places endlessly fascinating to look at. There are no formulas, but scale (large against small) and clarity are often factors. The quality of the secondary (bounced) light that occurs where there are immense polished vertical surfaces to catch it makes some places extraordinary. Rhythmic repetition of shapes gives power and integrity to a composition, so I look for that and often find it in the shadow patterns of erosion (earth and water). I also look for the effects of vast distance on strong color (fire and air). Mostly I just try and be open and receptive to many visual possibilities, and I am often surprised by what shows up. I want the process of painting to surprise and challenge me."

JOAN GOLD:

ABOUT COLOR

MAY 4 THROUGH JUNE 23

Color has been Joan Gold’s focus from the beginning and collaging paint and paper bring her vision to life. Painting on paper, printing her own designs; juxtaposing colors, adjusting hues, lighter or darker, saturated, or muted, complex, or simple — these are the decisions that occupy her process. In response, the world of care and responsibility and the news of the day fall away. Images of the Holocaust that Gold saw as a child have haunted has life, along with the many horrors past and present that we know of, so she goes to her studio to make something about this beautiful world and her good life. The joy she finds in painting, using patterns, textures and stripes, and the pleasure of working with color brings her balance, serenity, and peace.

ANN SAVAGEAU:

GUARDIANS: SPIRITS OF PROTECTION

MARCH 16 THROUGH APRIL 27

Ann Savageau is a mixed-media artist and teacher whose career spans over 45 years. Her work focuses on the intersection of the natural and manmade worlds. It is in this space that she finds the most interesting issues, processes, and statements. She focuses on the natural materials and manmade detritus that are routinely discarded as worthless, combining, and transforming them into new entities that bear the marks of their origins, history and alteration. The underlying theme in Savageau’s work is the inherent worthiness of all matter and rejection of a hierarchy of values, and the urgent need to take the necessary steps to preserve our ecosystem.

Ann began creating the guardian spirits of protection series in 2018 after the death of her sole surviving child, as a way of coping with the profound loss of her three children. The project took 2 ½ years to complete; as Ann worked, she expanded the content to include protection from climate change, species extinction, the COVID pandemic, social injustice, and war. The seventeen life-size figures of animals and humans are composite beings fashioned from castoff materials, including driftwood, and found objects. The Guardians messages of loss, grief and healing are intended to inspire the viewer and it is Ann’s hope the element of community involvement will enrich and deepen the Guardians installation at the Morris Graves Museum of Art.

Drops and Tints: Metal Pincushion (Sondra Schwetman & Patrick Williams) 

January 17 through March 3

Schwetman functions as the political action committee of Metal Pin Cushion being that as a woman she has to function in the ‘lightly’ mad world of the patriarchy that we all find ourselves living under. Direct shifts between two series: clothing-based work and allegorical figures, constructs wary protests and the jaded observations of a southeast Texan refugee.  Working in fibers, fiberglass, bronze and steel the pieces are created to start a dialog about the human condition, particularly women’s issues from reproductive rights to creativity. Works such as “S.O.S” and “Witness” use black and white to denote the rearisen classic American issue of class dominance through non abstract racism. The allegorical figures are created using body casts, the tasteful figures are life scale and tend to be installed works rather than discrete objects.

Williams’ work consumes found mass gathered between time spent in nature and the man made. Organization of silk and driftwood pulls new organic forms out and into home and gallery space. The works reference wings, sails, insects and some said movement many taking advantage of the corner as site. The colorful wood and fiber constructions are conceived with vague fun and a tidy menace as visual options. They are often named after passages in books such as example work “Tuxedo from a dead man’s closet”. Williams’ work ranges in scale from the very intimate to fairly large. The corner dependent pieces tend to be larger.

Together the works create an array of features and visually tensioned object and situations. The title “Drops and Tints” refers to the unused ends of materials as well as life sometimes viewed through a rose-colored glass. Other times the glass is not so rosy or just plain half full.

We splash carnage and roughed up social flags in as much of a space as possible.

“SPRING IN EUREKA”

AN EXHIBITION BY

MARY SPRING

In The Bettiga Gallery

December 2nd,2023 - February 11th, 2024

Mary Spring is a new artist to the Morris Graves Art Museum. For as long as she can remember, color has always been a very important part of her life. She was raised in New Hampshire, where the fall foliage was intoxicating with the bright reds and oranges, versus the contrasting gentle greens of springtime. Mary states “I graduated from the childhood use of crayons, to experimenting with oils and watercolors as a young adult.” Although, Mary never got serious about painting until she was in her 50’s.

Just recently, Mary saw an advertisement for a program on PBS-KEET, about a TV program titled, “What’s on your Bucket list?” Her list included having her own art exhibit. She applied, and was accepted, but scheduling difficulties prevented that segment from happening. Mary was thrilled when notified that Morris Graves Museum was still interested in helping her check an exhibit off her list.

So here she is, 70 years old, presenting to you a small collection of her works in oils and watercolors. Mary states, “I have no special style of painting, I just paint what I see.” Join us at Arts Alive on December 2nd from 6-9pm and catch a glimpse of these amazing pieces!

OFF THE WALL EXHIBITION

&

FIRST LOOK FUNDRAISER

Off the Wall will be a fundraiser for the HAC from the Natsoulas Collection, a collection of curated pieces from contemporary west-coast artists that embody the essence of California.  

This unique event is a great opportunity for new and seasoned collectors alike to purchase original art at affordable prices ($100-$1000) that is ready to hang at their home or office. The event opens with a ticketed reception called First Look on Friday, October 27th, 2023 at 5:30 PM where guests will have access to purchase art on opening night as they enjoy an array of food and sip on a glass of wine or beer. Art will be available to take Off the Wall, after purchasing, and taken home the night of the event and during the duration of the exhibition.

First Look tickets are available to all for just $50. All proceeds from the Off the Wall Exhibition & First Look Fundraiser will benefit the HAC and MGMA.

Featured artists will include (but are not limited to!!!), Kerry Rowland-Avrech, Floyd Bettiga, Julie Smiley, George Van Hook, Laura Hohlwein, and Philippe Gandiol.  

The sale and exhibition of work continues October 28th,2023 through February 24th, 2024 in the Anderson Gallery during regular museum hours Wednesday-Sunday, noon-5pm.

NOELLE COX:

UNDERNEATH THE SURFACE

JANUARY 20 THROUGH FEBRUARY 25

Through the motions of life, on the surface, shiny and clean, but just beneath, there is a storm, she rumbles and swirls. 

This is a showing of 20 years of expression and digestion.

Born in 1979, she lived a moderate childhood with 2 loving parents, and one younger sister. Youth for Noelle was steeped in the SoCal culture of entertainment, brimming with tanning beds, diet, pills, hair, bleach, and boob jobs. Luckily, she took her chance to escape here in Humboldt, where the “grass is greener,” but still, she was not left unscathed. This culture, or the lack thereof, had a huge impact on how she learned to see herself and the world. Noelle believes that it is important for a people to feed a healthy culture and knows that and essential part of that ingredient is honesty. Dealing with the emotional impact of an artificial culture, the unrealistic expectations and self-judgment will never be fully wiped clean. Instead, she says, “I’ve learned to manage ‘the storms’ with a paint brush.” Raw and intense, come witness the 20-year journey of a woman, mother, and lover, The artist named Noelle.

SHAWN GOULD:

THE ART OF GETTING LOST

MARCH 30 THROUGH MAY 19

The Art of Getting Lost is the result of Shawn Gould’s multiple trips to the Punta Gorda Lighthouse on the remote stretch of coastal wilderness called the Lost Coast. This new body of work is due in large part to Gould receiving a Victor Thomas Jacoby Award from the Humboldt Area Foundation in 2021. It was the spark that he needed to return to a subject he began to explore decades ago. The Lost Coast Trail and Punta Gorda Lighthouse caught his interest on his first camping trip in 2002 and he has returned a number of times since. Over the years he had created a few paintings based on these trips, but inevitably got pulled away by other projects and commitments. Despite this, he always hoped to go back and continue what he had started. Who travels to an abandoned lighthouse in search of enlightenment you might ask? An artist who had to get lost to find new inspiration.