Artists Create – and the Gardens Rock! - Mendocino Art Center

Spring/Summer 2011
COMPLIMENTARY
MendocinoArts
ART AND CULTURE IN MENDOCINO COUNTY
PUBLISHED BY THE MENDOCINO ART CENTER

Nature Paints – Artists Create –
and the Gardens Rock!
Mendocino Coast Botanical Gardens…
the place to be!
Every day — Spring, Summer, Fall and Winter — our
Gardens are bursting with color and floral displays.
This is the place to enjoy outdoor concerts, art, theater events,
and workshops throughout the year.
Come and experience this dazzling display within 47 seaside
acres; ADA accessible and dog friendly.
For event schedule and information visit
gardenbythesea.org.
www.gardenbythesea.org | 18220 North Highway 1, Fort Bragg, CA 95437 | 707-964-4352
Spring/Summer 2011 1

OCEANFRONT INN
& COTTAGES
Just steps to the beach and
a stroll to fine restaurants, galleries and
the Mendocino Art Center.
ocean views • decks • fireplaces
An enchanting refuge for
rest and renewal...
On Main Street at Evergreen
Mendocino Village
800 780-7905 • 707 937-5150
www.oceanfrontmagic.com
2 Mendocino Arts Magazine

Table of Contents
10
18
6
14
Published by the Mendocino Art Center
Vol XLII, No 1, May 2011
Editorial: From Our Board President 5
Sudden Voices Exhibit 6
Rita Crane: The Photograph as Mandala 10
Arlene Reiss: City Girl to Country Woman 14
MAC Summer Workshops 16
Meet Gallery Director Jessica Jade Norris 18
Meet the Teacher: Brian Ransom 20
Meet the Teacher: Jason Collingwood 21
Meet the Teacher: Jeannie Vodden 22
Meet the Teacher: Paul Graf 23
Meet the Teacher: Yvonne Giambrone-Martin 24
In Memory of Miriam Cohen Rice 28
2011 Mendocino Coast Garden Tour 30
Poetry 31
Que Onda 33
Mendocino County Gallery Guide 34
Mendocino County Restaurant Guide 40
Gallery of Artists 44
Curtain Call 52
Calendar of Events 54
Mendocino Arts promotes the arts by offering space to artists, writers, craftspeople and performers and
by providing information on arts and entertainment in Mendocino County. Submissions of unsolicited
non-fiction articles, photographs or artwork for consideration in Mendocino Arts must include a SASE
or we cannot be responsible for their return. We welcome announcements of upcoming events to be
included as space permits.
52
Spring/Summer 2011 3

GALLERY OF DECORATIVE
AND FINE ARTS
For the Art Collector
and the Craft Lover
45052 Main Street, Mendocino, CA
707 937-3132 • www.thehighlightgallery.com
Kaleidoscopes G Art Glass G Mirrors G Jewelry
10400 Kasten Street • Mendocino, California
www.Reflections-Kaleidoscopes.com • Open Daily
FAMILY HANDS
• Discover
• Decorate
• Design
A gallery of unique furnishings for your home!
Lighting • Art Rugs • Furniture
Gifts from around the globe
At the corner of Franklin and Redwood,
Fort Bragg
707 961-0236
Mendocino County Museum
Discover unique artifacts and exhibits that reflect
our heritage: Frolic Shipwreck, Wine History,
Stagecoaches and Wagons, Traveling Exhibits and
much more.
EXHIBIT: Carl Purdy: “A Passion for Plants and Place”
April 16–October 30, 2011
ROOTS OF MOTIVE POWER, Inc
See restored and working steam
machines:
· Historic Logging Equipment
· Steam Engines and Caboose
Browse in our Museum Shop
400 East Commercial Street, Willits, CA
Call 707-459-2736 for more information
Email us at Museum@co.mendocino.ca.us
Open Wednesday through Sunday, 10:00 AM – 4:30 PM
www.MendocinoMuseum.org
4 Mendocino Arts Magazine

MendocinoArts
ART AND CULTURE IN MENDOCINO COUNTY
PUBLISHER
Mendocino Art Center
ASSOCIATE PUBLISHER
Mike McDonald
EDITOR
Peggy Templer
ART DIRECTION / GRAPHIC PRODUCTION
Elizabeth Petersen, RevUp Creative Media
SALES
COAST: Steven P. Worthen – 707 964-2480,
707 813-7669
INLAND: Jill Schmuckley – 707 391-8057
LAKE COUNTY: Linda Kelly – 707 367-9038
GALLERY Of ARTISTS ADS: David Russell – 707 513-6015
SPRING/SUMMER DISTRIBUTION – 15,000
fALL 2011/WINTER 2012 DEADLINE – June 15, 2011
MENDOCINO ART CENTER STAff
INTERIM EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR: Lindsay Shields
COMMUNICATIONS DIRECTOR: Mike McDonald
EDUCATION COORDINATOR: Phyllis Weeks
GALLERY DIRECTOR: Jessica Jade
REGISTRAR/CASHIER: Michele Cheyovich,
Kath Disney Nilson
PROGRAM COORDINATORS:
Ceramics — Derek Hambly
fiber Arts — Nancy Collins
fine Art — Marge Stewart
Jewelry — Marge Stewart
Sculpture — Gert Rasmussen
fACILITIES: Gabe Arreguin, Wes McCormick
MENDOCINO ART CENTER BOARD Of DIRECTORS
PRESIDENT: Liliana Cunha
VICE PRESIDENT: Patrick Keller
TREASURER: John Cornacchia
SECRETARY: Dale Moyer
Janis Porter
Eileen Robblee
Nick Schwartz
Marge Stewart
Bob Treaster
Lucia Zacha
MENDOCINO ART CENTER
45200 Little Lake Street • P.O. Box 765
Mendocino, CA 95460
707 937-5818 • 800 653-3328
fAX: 707 937-4625
register@mendocinoartcenter.org
www.MendocinoArtCenter.org
Mendocino Art Center Mission Statement:
The mission of the Mendocino Art Center is to be a vital
cultural resource, providing a broad range of the highest
quality educational and exhibition opportunities in the arts
to all people.
founded by Bill Zacha in 1959 as a nonprofit organization
to support, foster, advance and promote artistic awareness
and participation.
COVER IMAGE: Peggy Magovern, Past-Present, colored
pencil
From Our Board President…
SPRING/SUMMER 2011
As I sit down to write, it is still winter in Mendocino, but the
January weather was so balmy that it prompted one local to suggest
we were experiencing June-uary. Thanks to our donors, members, dedicated
staff and board, the Art Center is also experiencing June-uary.
In December of last year, local artist and Art Center Zacha Legacy
Society patron Don Paglia gave the Art Center a $25,000 matching funds
donation. The match was to be completed by January 31, 2011, and I am
happy to report that not only did we make the match, but we exceeded it
by $7,000 for a grand total of $57,000. Thank you, Don! Workshop listings
for spring were posted on our Web site in mid-November, summer
listings were posted on the Web site by February 18, and memberships
have doubled over last year. Thank you all.
The news is all good; however, we should not be complacent. The
matching funds grant was a great kick-off for fundraising for the year,
and the board is working to find ways to get corporate sponsorships and
grants that will enhance our programs. We are also planning a series of
fundraising events that we hope you will attend. Please join us for our
Dine-outs, Rhododendron Ball, Garden Tour and Board of Directors
Dinner. Go to the Art Center Web site or tune in to KOZT, KZYX, and
KMFB for more information.
Supporting the Art Center is a long-term proposition, so I invite
you to consider becoming a sustaining member of the institution that
we all hold so dear by joining the Zacha Legacy Society, named in
honor of our founders, Bill and Jennie Zacha, and add your name to
the patron wall.
There are many ways to give: some members are giving monthly,
quarterly or annually, via their checking account bill pay, as part of the
annual giving program; some have remembered the Art Center with a
bequest; some have donated to our capital campaign, and some have
made general operating funds donations for our benefit.
Many thanks to those of you who are contributing so much already.
And with your continued support, I am sure it will be June-uary all
year round.
~ Liliana Cunha
Board President
Spring/Summer 2011 5

Sudden
voices
ON ExHiBit JuNE 30–July 30
By Jessica Jade Norris
In May of 2005, the Mendocino Art Center
featured Doug Desmond in a cover story in
Mendocino Arts magazine titled “Doug Desmond Creates Stories for You
to Tell.” He was also featured in a retrospective exhibit in the Main Gallery.
The exhibit was amazing! It was great to see so many incredible works in
a multitude of media, together in one room. Imagination, execution and
pure talent saturated every wall — a sort of controlled diversity. Each piece
had its own story to tell, either unique, or in some way connected to the
next. His upcoming show, “Sudden Voices II,” brings that same exciting
diversity back to the Mendocino Art Center.
The “Unforgettable Exhibition” first emerged in July of 2010, with multiple artists offering
alternate views and unusual art. The show was hugely popular. Doug Desmond and his
team of “Sudden Voices” will reunite with a new show June 30 through July 30.
When asked about putting the group show together
Doug said, “This is the most uplifting thing I have done in
years (since I bought my first car).” He adds, “The artists
in this show are all good and different. They shine through
their unique and strange personalities. That’s what I like
about working with them.”
Here is the line-up of artists from Mendocino County
and other parts of Northern California for the “Sudden
Voices II” exhibit:
Left: Barbara Stanton. Above: J. Robert Griego
6 Mendocino Arts Magazine

Jesse Allen
Born 1936 in Nairobi, Kenya
For over 40 years, Jesse has
been expressing the vivid colors,
images and emotions in his
heart through art. “Jesse Allen is
an artist of astonishing intensity
and power. Across his precise
visual language he has found
ways to express the beauty and
cruelty, the passion and the harmony,
of the life process itself.”
– Norman Bryson
DAvID l. Cross
Born 1950 in Chico, California
David started painting surrealism
at the age of 16, and merged
into painting seascapes in the
late 70’s. His dramatic use of
lighting and shadow lend well
to both art forms. He can make
rocks look cold and wet and
also handle water superbly with Doug Desmond
fluidity and force. His surreal
paintings are both imaginative and well handled.
Doug DesmonD
Born in the past century in Austin, Texas
Over 60 years ago Doug’s third grade teacher, Miss Pauline
Greene, wrote on his report card: “Douglas is a friendly
child who usually does as he is told. However, his constant
day dreaming causes him to ignore assignments.”
J. robert grIego
Born 1969 in Los Angeles, California
Griego’s iconic work resists easy categorization —
symbolist, surrealist, expressionist, etc. — and his
use of materials and dynamic approach creates
sculptures that have a raw and organic beauty
echoing the Japanese philosophy of Wabi Sabi —
the art of finding beauty in imperfection and the
profundity in the natural order of things.
JACob Hewko
Born 1981 in Roseville, California
An enigma in training. Currently
apprenticed to the tattooing trade.
“My latest works are studies of
smoke and shadow in my paintings.”
Jacob was mentored by Doug
Desmond from an early age.
Peggy mAgovern
Born 1953 in Hayward, California
“I spend a fair amount of time thinking
about the ‘story’ in my art. But I
also hope that my work provokes,
inspires, and allows people to find
the meaning for themselves. I’ve
discovered that creating an image is
a malleable process. Art can change
with moods, or when applying
additional elements. Sometimes it
changes when mistakes happen, or
by taking unexpected risks.”
stAnley “mouse” mIller
Born in California
Stanley’s father was an animator with Disney Studios who
worked on Snow White. Stanley grew up in Detroit where
Motown music and the city’s obsession with motorcars
combined with his genius at drawing and made Stanley’s
life path clear at an early age. Stanley is well known for his
rock poster art in San Francisco during the ‘60s wartime
era of social revolution, political passion and musical
innovation.
Peggy Magovern
Spring/Summer 2011 7

JessICA JADe norrIs
Born 1973 in Hollywood, California
“I really enjoy printmaking and drawing. I call my pen
and ink work ‘Tribal Graffiti’ because for me, it’s a result
of inner knowledge and release. Lino cuts are a way for
me to use bold lines and work with positive and negative
space. Etchings show a more delicate line with dry
point.”
JAnet rAyner
Born 1951 in Connecticut
“Through my art I seek and strive for refinement in myself
and in my life. I am a self-taught artist. I have learned by
reading books, observing the world, having a family and
dreaming my wild dreams. I have learned from other artists
as well as from people who say that they ‘can’t draw a
straight line.’ I have learned by trial and error (and trial
and success) working with mediums such as oil paint,
pencil, pastel, glass and porcelain.”
gAIl rusHmore
Born 1950 in Seattle, Washington
“I imagine many stories and some of them become
sculpture. My background is in design and graphic arts.
Working in clay has brought excitement back to my work.
My imagery comes from an interest in design and ornamentation
of other cultures. I begin with sketches, then
hand build, using slabs. Raku firing adds spontaneity to my
process. There is a controlled pyromaniac within — loving
how each firing puts its unique mark
on the sculpture.”
wIllIAm (bIll) sAlA
Born 1930s in Oakland, California
Bill is one of the pre-eminent surrealist
artists working in America today,
and perhaps the world. His unique
approach to his graphic use of color
and thematic style is unparalleled
by other contemporary surrealist
artists. Bill has developed his natural
talent over many years of studying
classical artists and surrealists.
Gail Rushmore
Bill Weber (El Gallo), see page 9
Antony De sennA
Born 1945 in Boston, Massachusetts
“I have been painting with acrylic
and oil in Mendocino since 1976.
I would describe myself as a magic
realist.”
ArIAnnA sIegel
Born 1957 in New York, New York
Through the years, Arianna has
expressed her creativity through
various media, including painting,
drawing, stained glass, photography
and writing. Last year, she did
a series of iconic pencil portraits
of rock artists which were exhibited
in several shows. Her current
work is a series of surreal, dreamlike
oil paintings with historical period
references.
8 Mendocino Arts Magazine

ArbArA stAnton
Born 1959 in Oakland, California
“My miniature paintings can have a profound
effect on people. How ironic that
when I paint tiny, people notice the subject
for the first time. The images may
remind you of the beauty this world has
to offer. I invite the viewer to share the
feelings I had when I first discovered my
subject. Feel that moment, and remember
their own sacred moments.”
IlJA tInfo
Born 1947 in Elmshorn, Germany
“I just make ‘stuff.’ There are no hidden
meanings or agendas, no narratives, no
deep insight. It’s just what the viewer
makes of it. To me, it’s a construction. I
start somewhere and end somewhere. I concern myself
with formal elements... composition, color, tone, texture,
edges, balance, harmony, space, and try to end up with
something that I think works.”
bob treAster
Born 1940 in Sacramento, California
“By using humor, color, odd juxtaposition, and most any
device available to an artist, I attempt to point out the
absurdities and dichotomies of life, from the sublime to
the ridiculous.”
bIll weber (el gallo)
Born 1949 in Tokyo, Japan
“I believe humankind to be the proper goal and measure
of an artist’s work. I feel that I’m painting something
worthwhile only to the extent that it glorifies mankind’s
existence in a worthy manner. I share Leonardo da Vinci’s
encompassing embrace of life and have a great regard for
any work of creation that elevates the humanity we share.
I’ll always be passionate about this.”
Mendocino Art center’s
Artists Open Studio Tour
Enjoy a behind-the-scenes peek at the private art studios of
some of the Mendocino coast’s finest artists
on this free, self-guided tour.
Meet the artists · Watch demonstrations · See and buy original artwork
Ilja Tinfo
september 17–18 & 24–25, 2011 · 10 am–5 pm
Mendocino Art center
45200 Little Lake Street at Kasten Street, Mendocino
707 937-5818 • 800 653-3328
www.MendocinoArtCenter.org
Spring/Summer 2011 9

featured artist
By Peggy Templer
Rita Crane lives in an eclectic, charming rural home that she and her partner, Peter
Temple, designed and built over a period of years. The home fits naturally and unobtrusively
into its wooded surroundings, and seems like the perfect place for a gentle
soul who has spent a lifetime passionately seeking harmony and beauty in her artwork
as well as her personal life.
Photography is Rita Crane’s medium and she comes by it naturally. In fact, though
her development as an artist and photographer was a slow and circuitous process, that
she now captures images of beauty with a camera completes a circle that begins with her
father. Ralph Crane was an acclaimed photojournalist, working for the New York Times
and Life magazine, photographing all the newsworthy events, people and places from
the 1930s into the 1980s. At age 16, emulating her father, his daughter first picked up a
single lens reflex film camera and started shooting in black and white. All her spare time
was spent working in what to her was a magical realm: her high school darkroom.
Her father’s job also impacted her in another way, providing her with the subject
matter — Old World Europe — that distinguishes her work: “I spent my childhood in
northern Europe when he was working out of the Time/Life bureaus in Bonn and Paris.
This left me with an abiding love for the Old World scenes I grew up around: the layers
of human endeavor that one can see through their expression in buildings, patterns,
and everyday objects. I like to observe and reflect on the consciousness of humanity as
it has unfolded over centuries, leaving its mark on these objects and environments…
Evening View From Navarro Ridge. All photos ©2011RitaCranePhotography.
10 Mendocino Arts Magazine

The Duomo on a Rainy Evening, Florence.
Documenting Old World scenes puts
me in touch with the slower, more
grounded pace of life that revolves
around the seasons and careful, handcrafted
art… a different way of life
that for the most part we have all left
behind in the West.” She also photographs
northern coastal California,
finding in those landscapes the same
sense of a slower, more meaningful
pace of life that she finds in Old World
Europe.
Rita went to UCLA and majored
in Art and Art History, originally considering
a career in teaching. But she
didn’t want to give up her camera, so
she joined the campus Photography
Club and became enamored of
the work of photographer Edward
Weston, intrigued by his ideas about
“the essence of the Thing Itself.” Upon
graduating from UCLA, she married
a Frenchman, moved to Paris, then
to New York City, San Francisco,
Tahiti, and New Mexico (losing the
Frenchman along the way). In New
Mexico, she and a friend designed
and hand built a beautiful territorial
adobe house while Rita studied
silversmithing, lapidary, and stained
glass.
In 1979 Rita left for Odiyan, a
Tibetan Buddhist retreat center in
Sonoma County, where she completed
a nine-month meditation
program based on the book Time,
Space, and Knowledge by Tarthang
Tulku Rinpoche. She then participated
in a four-month stained glass
project under the direction of the
same head lama, where she helped
build the stained glass panels for the
entry pagodas at Odiyan. The entire
13-month experience was pivotal to
her subsequent professional life as an
artist, and the guidance she received
deepened her understanding about
what it meant to “make art.” Tarthang
Tulku’s suggestions to her, in response
to drawings she submitted to him,
didn’t revolve so much around personal
expression, creativity or composition,
but rather focused on the
idea — the way Rita understood it
— that the entire image could be seen
metaphorically to resemble a mandala
in meaning. In other words, the background
and foreground were equally
important in that they needed to
resonate with one another, and were
interconnected.
From Berkeley, Rita moved to
Boulder, Colorado, and continued to
design stained glass windows. There
she met glass artist Peter Temple, and
they began their collaboration on a
highly successful glass art partnership,
Temple-Crane Studios (later renamed
Denali Crystal). Their crystal glass
sculptures were commercially successful,
garnered major commissions
and enabled them to make the move
to Mendocino County, where they
built their home and Peter’s recording
studio on Albion Ridge.
There have been many influences
on Rita Crane’s development as an artist:
her father, of course, but also her
mother, a passionate supporter of the
arts; growing up in Europe; what she
refers to as her “meditative process.”
In addition, her partner Peter Temple
“has been a big positive influence. All
I can say is that Peter’s creative spirit is
astonishing and inspiring!” Another
big influence has been Rita’s appreciation
for Asian art, with its understated
portrayal of nature’s innate harmony.
Years of experience with art glass also
affects how she composes her fine art
Spring/Summer 2011 11

photographs: “Designing leaded glass windows and crystal
glass sculptures trained me to see shapes and lines in a
very fundamental way.”
Also influential were her favorite artists: Vermeer,
Bonnard, Sisley, Matisse, Derain, Monet, Van Gogh and
Cezanne; she loved them all for their use of color and
they influenced how she shapes two-dimensional space.
She also admired the photographers Brassai, Edward
Stieglitz, Eugene Atget and Henri Cartier-Bresson. And
there was her favorite childhood book,
Edward Steichen’s The Family of Man. Her
father had several photos in it and, as a
child, Rita spent hours going through it,
getting a “sense of the world from it.” She
also believes that her lifelong avoidance of
television has kept her imagination and her
artistic vision clear.
Rita says that she has always enjoyed
“the art of arrangement.” As a child, she got
a real sense of fulfillment from arranging
the furniture in her dollhouse. She derives
the same satisfaction from composing a
photograph — creating a composition by
arranging objects in space and choosing
their relationship to other objects in a way
Gran Caffe Chioggia, Venice
that is unique to her.
According to Rita, when she looks through
the lens of her camera, what she wants to create
is an image that will touch a person’s heart
in a healing way. Convinced that art has the
power to heal and uplift, she consciously aspires to create
compositions that evoke balance and harmony as her way
of “giving back to the world.” She also deliberately creates
images that are meant to be shared with others — a
conscious and meaningful attempt to communicate the
beauty that she sees and loves.
Rita Crane’s photography can be viewed on her Web
site at www.ritaCranestudio.com, where a link will take
you to a portfolio of her photography on Flickr.
12 Mendocino Arts Magazine
Left: Peaceful Evening in the Castello, Venice.
Right: Little Dog & Bicycle, Florence.

Friday Boogie
& Baseball
with B Thomas
5pm til 10pm*
Boogie woogie, rhythm & blues,
rock & roll
Followed by the Joy of Baseball...
songs and stories to
celebrate our national pastime
Prizes during the 8th inning of every
Friday Giants Game
*Times subject to change for each game. Joy of Baseball
starts 15 minutes before Kruk & Kuip.
Harbor Village Artists
6193–6199 East Highway 20
Lucerne, CA 95458
Wed–Sun 11:00am–4:00pm
The Gourd Gallery
Decorative Artistic Gourds
707-274-2346
Pomo Fine Art Gallery
Native American Art
707-348-6045
Serendipity Art & Boutique
Clothing, Accessories & Paintings
707-245-7512
Lakeside Art
Paintings, Furniture, Jewelry & Hats
707-739-7010
“MORE USED BOOKS, PLEASE”
MAIN ST. BOOKSHOP
990 MAIN ST. MENDOCINO
937-1537
OPEN DAILY
“THE ONLY USED BOOKSTORE IN
TOWN”
April 28–May 29
June 9–July 17
The Pillowman
By Martin McDonagh
Directed by
Ann Woodhead
She Stoops to
Conquer
By Oliver Goldsmith
Directed by
Dan Kozloff
July 28–september 4
The Pavilion
By Craig Wright
Directed by
Kennedy White
TickeTs: 707 937-4477 or
www.MendocinoTheatre.org
Spring/Summer 2011 13