There Is Always Something Happening At The Mendocino Art Center

Harlequin, Loraine Toth
As Free As An Artist Can Dream To Be, Maureen O’Hara Petersen
Art Critic, Dale E. Moyer
some of the shyer models out of their clothes!
Here are some of the calendar stories:
• Four of the calendar models are breast
cancer survivors, and their appearance in this
calendar is a tribute to their courage. Artist
Loraine Toth surrounded herself with her own
vividly colored paintings of nude, full-breasted
mannequins, and donned a plastic breastplate
painted like Joseph’s coat of many colors, and a
pink wig, for her calendar page. The result is a
uniquely compelling image, especially when you
know the story behind it. Georgia Ann Gregory
posed as bookends in front of a richly paneled
library of leather-bound books. Suzi Long
tackled the elements in nothing but her cowboy
boots and three unwieldy scarves which nearly
lofted her right off the ocean bluff. She eventually
settled for just one billowing orange scarf
(and the boots) in front of a spectacular sky.
Elyse Wyman posed with partner Don Paglia in
a recreation of Jean-Leon Gerome’s “Pygmalian
and Galatea,” incorporating their own art in
an image which is both funny and incredibly
clever.
• Several artists, in addition to Suzi Long,
chose the Pacific Ocean as a backdrop. David
Russell managed to find a few rocks at Belinda
Point comfortable enough to sprawl out on au
natural. Former model Jennifer Taylor donned
a pink dress and posed on the dunes at Cleone
for “Splendor In the Dunes.” Jessica Jade Norris,
calendar cover girl, had the ocean and even her
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