Tamera Avery: Threshold
Thonson Gallery
January 25 through March 9
As if plucked from a folk carnival or political protest, Tamera Avery’s masked and costumed protagonists reappear in curiously liminal spaces: on the edge of a glacier, in a post-nuclear bunker, in a forest gloaming. Each surreal environment is rich with possibility and wrought by uncertainty. Within them, young wayfinders (based on the artist’s children and their peers) forge unlikely paths, transforming ordinary things – plastic gloves, an upturned handbag, abandoned toys, an old scarf – into extraordinary armor for selfhood as they come of age in a time of extraordinary environmental and sociopolitical change. Perched at the precipice of the in-between, in geographies simultaneously seductive and unknown, Avery’s figures navigate the duality of despair and hope – of ambivalent futures – at play in the contemporary moment.
Tamera Avery is a painter who lives and works in San Francisco. Her work has been critically acclaimed throughout California in exhibitions ranging from the De Young Open to the Crocker Kingsley exhibition (where she received first place in 2019) and in publications including New American Paintings (issue #145). She currently has a solo exhibition, 'Slipstream,' on view at the Triton Museum of Art in Santa Clara. She is represented by the Andrea Norris Gallery in Burlingame, California.
Invoking a sense of both the sublime and surreal, Avery’s monumental oil paintings are nonetheless deeply influenced by real-world environmental, political, and social concerns. Her work celebrates the young as champions of change, as well as the inheritors of flawed and failing systems. By creating works that suggest an unresolved narrative, she aims to catalyze dialogue about urgent issues such as climate change in a form that is simultaneously provocative and approachable.
Lisa Marie Barber: Alegrías
February 8 through March 23, 2025
Lisa Marie’s aesthetic sensibility is rooted in Central American Folk Art and the Mexican Catholic shrines of her heritage and upbringing in Tucson, Arizona. Deliberate with showcasing the “handmade” quality of her work, she uses low-tech methods to create large assemblage ceramic sculptures and installations, as well as mixed media quilts, pottery, and clothing. Her work encompasses imagined conceptions of home, gardens, peacefulness, playfulness, and celebration. She strives to have her work be accessible to audiences of all ages and backgrounds.
Lisa Marie lived for several years in the San Francisco Bay Area before beginning a professorship at University of Wisconsin-Parkside. She is currently a full professor there, teaching ceramics and leading interdisciplinary academic programs. She has exhibited in over 50 solo exhibitions across the country, and has served as an Artist-in-Residence at multiple notable venues, including the City University of New York, Hunter College; Northern Clay Center, Minneapolis; Watershed Center for Ceramic Art, Newcastle, ME; and Clay Studio of Missoula, Montana. She has received numerous honors and led workshops from New York to California.
Alegrías brings together a group of Lisa Marie’s figurative ceramic sculpture, mixed media quilts, and playful functional vessels. Alegrías—Spanish for “joys”—is an ode to the play and happiness Lisa Marie hopes to communicate through her process of making.
Youth Arts Festival- Celebrating Humboldt County Youth in Visual and Performing Arts
February 19 through March 23
The Morris Graves Museum of Art in partnership with the Humboldt County Office of Education proudly presents the Youth Arts Festival; a celebration of student creativity in visual, media, and performing arts. This exhibition features various styles of visual artworks in both traditional and communication media created by Humboldt County pre K-12 students in their public and charter classrooms during the school year. The exhibition highlights the promise of equity and access in quality arts education for all students preK-12, in every school, every day, made real by Humboldt County’s Arts Education Plan. The festival itself is the living portfolio, where all who attend may see for themselves the inspiration and creativity inherent in all of Humboldt County’s Youth. We welcome students, parents, teachers, artists, and community members to see, hear, and feel what has been taught and experienced in so many classrooms across Humboldt. Become the beneficiary as you stand in wonder at what our children are capable of; the enormity of their creative dreams becomes immediate and evident, viewed in the context of a historical museum. Join us in this annual culminating event that celebrates the creative power of all students of Humboldt County.
28th Annual Images of Water
Photography Competition & Exhibition
March 15 through April 20
After a pandemic-related hiatus, the HAC is excited to bring back one of our longest running juried exhibitions--Images of Water! Celebrating 28 years of creative visions of water, this annual competition highlights the inspiring beauty of water. From images of lakes and streams to 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 photographers and photography disciplines, this is an exciting opportunity for the residents of California to become involved in the arts on the North Coast.
The Call for Entries and juror information will be released at the end of January 2025!
