Nishiki Sugawara-Beda: Spirit of the Day

July 6 to August 11

Nishiki Sugawara-Beda is a visual artist working primarily on painting. Her multicultural background through travels and immigration from Japan to the United State as a young adult has formed her interests in examining various cultures. To speak to the core of humanity, she seeks the connections among cultures both from the past and present, and she focuses on tracing traditional Japanese activities back to their origins through her research.

Spirit of the Day is an attempt to highlight an oft-forgotten engagement in contemporary society—a deeper connection with their own spirit. The paintings present a moment of this spiritual engagement through mindfully cultivated marks on the surface. Sumi-ink brings out subtle and nuanced shifts in values and highlights a myriad of layers so that viewers may get lost in them and find their core of shared humanity and the core of their humanity.

Lida Penkova: Dreams of Far Away Places

July 20 to September 1

My show will present a selection of some of my favorite black & white and hand colored linocuts, canvases and painted driftwood sculptures created in the last 8+ years. My art works are memories of different cultures, their customs, ceremonies, myths, as well as honoring their artists and artisans. I lived and traveled in some of them, have studied and admired others. My inspiration comes from self-taught artists of aboriginal Australia, Mexican and Nepalese villages, Inuit communities, from Irish and Indian festivals, etc. They all tell stories reflecting their everyday life, religious beliefs and folk celebrations. Last, but not least, Humboldt County, my home of the last 11 years, has inspired my later pieces. Exhibition Sponsored by Lucy Quinby

Jack Sewell: Dance Like Nobody is Watching

September 7 to October 27

“You've gotta dance like there's nobody watching,
Love like you'll never be hurt,
Sing like there's nobody listening,
And live like it's heaven on earth.”
― William W. Purkey
 

The process of creating art is different for every artist, but the urge to create is common to all of us who call ourselves artists. Sculpture, especially figure sculpture, is my most compelling means of artistic expression. Conditions of the human predicament are easily conveyed using the human figure.  My work can show beauty, grace, movement, struggle or humor, all aspects of the human condition. I use sculpture to illustrate particular moments of life. The time that I spend creating these images is intense, stimulating, thought provoking, frustrating, and ultimately, rewarding.

This collection depicts people dancing as if they are free in the moment. I enjoy watching dancers: the focused concentration of the professional, the practiced grace of a couple moving seamlessly together, and the wildly free movement of the street dancer. My dancers are children and adults, moving to their own rhythm, as each of us must do in life.

I’m drawing these figures in three dimensions using steel rods, many of which were salvaged from old factory uses. For this project I use a primarily constructionist process, in that I begin with nothing and bring the materials into alignment and fix them in place to create the image. The forms of the figures are created by the positive surfaces and negative spaces, and I aim to animate the steel in this fashion. These pieces combine representational imagery with abstract expression.

HAC Member Exhibition

November 2 to December 15

The Annual Humboldt Arts Council Member Show is a juried exhibition designed to highlight the fabulous art being produced by HAC Artist Members. As always, this exhibition is eclectic, surprising and enjoyable.