Thonson Gallery
10th Street Studio features work by four like-minded artists, Carol Andersen, Laura Corsiglia, Peggy Rivers, Van Shields, who recently entered into a shared studio space dedicated to creativity and mutual support. With over 110 years of art-making experience between them, Anderson, Corsiglia, and Rivers have all enjoyed successful careers. They each have works in significant public and private collections and have substantial exhibition records. Joined by emerging artist Shields, the exhibition represents each of their respective bodies of work.
Born in San Francisco, Andersen studied at Humboldt State University where she met Rivers and Shields while all three were pursuing MAs in painting. While her subject matter often focuses on wildlife, the deeper content of her work extends beyond animals alone. Her imagery serves as a metaphor for her reflections on human behavior, relationships, and our spiritual connection to nature. Regardless of life’s circumstances, her passion for painting and the creative process has remained constant.
Andersen met Corsiglia at Godwit Days decades ago when “Laura asked me if I’d join in washing oil off of Pelicans, claiming that artists were especially good at removing pollutants.” They became friends and colleagues with adjacent studios in Arcata’s Stewart Building.
Corsiglia makes works on and off paper, inhabiting drawing as habitat for the exchange of wild information. Born in Vancouver, Canada, raised on the northwest coast of BC, she lived seven years in Paris, surfacing with a degree from the Ecole des Beaux-Arts. Living up and down the west coast of North America, she was led by birds to Humboldt Bay in 2009, drawing here since. She received the Victor Thomas Jacoby award in 2015. “I am grateful” she says, “when an animal I’ve seen, in the hand or in a tree or in a daydream, decides to land in a drawing. And sometimes that animal is a triangle.”
Rivers spent her early years in her native Iceland and India before her family relocated to Southern California. She holds an M.F.A., Columbia University, and an M.A. & B.A. from Cal Poly Humboldt. A professional artist and art educator, she has built a career spanning more than forty years. “My painting practice is rooted in an exploration of color relationships informed by color theory. I typically work in series, which allows my subject matter to shift significantly from one body of work to another. Each series begins with a specific concept, often drawn from personal experience and observation. At times, however, the process itself generates imagery that feels entirely unexpected, images I could not have consciously imagined, but which emerge through the act of creating.”
Former museum director Shields was born in Virginia and lived in nine different places before leaving home. He describes his museum career as an art-adjacent deferred life plan and says he only claimed his “artist truth” since retiring. “After leaving grad school without finishing, I never stopped being creative but didn’t work at it. My art to date is an extension of my ‘in the moment’ nature, with a lot of one-off works in terms of imagery and content.”