Style Magazine - October - El Dorado County Foothills - 2021
No matter what type of good or service you're seeking (preschool, plumber, personal trainer, or a solid slice of pizza…), you’ve opened the right reading material. This issue, our biggest of the year, features the 2021 Readers’ Choice Award winners—the best our region has to offer in health, wellness, food, drink, home goods, arts, culture, shopping, and more. Turn to page 35 to find out if your favorite people and places made the list and use it as a pre-screened, reliable resource the next time you’re seeking a top doctor or memorable meal out. Besides the “Best of 2021,” we also delve deep into the spooky but oh-so scrumptious season of ghosts, goblins, and gourds in The 10 Spot (“Celebrate Halloween”; page 16), Editor’s Picks (“12 Autumn Essentials”; page 42), and Taste (“Must-Try Fall Foods”; page 62); introduce you to 5 local breast cancer organizations in “Fight Like a Girl” (page 20); and talk about the importance of home staging when it comes to selling your home in “Seal the Deal” (page 48).
No matter what type of good or service you're seeking (preschool, plumber, personal trainer, or a solid slice of pizza…), you’ve opened the right reading material. This issue, our biggest of the year, features the 2021 Readers’ Choice Award winners—the best our region has to offer in health, wellness, food, drink, home goods, arts, culture, shopping, and more. Turn to page 35 to find out if your favorite people and places made the list and use it as a pre-screened, reliable resource the next time you’re seeking a top doctor or memorable meal out.
Besides the “Best of 2021,” we also delve deep into the spooky but oh-so scrumptious season of ghosts, goblins, and gourds in The 10 Spot (“Celebrate Halloween”; page 16), Editor’s Picks (“12 Autumn Essentials”; page 42), and Taste (“Must-Try Fall Foods”; page 62); introduce you to 5 local breast cancer organizations in “Fight Like a Girl” (page 20); and talk about the importance of home staging when it comes to selling your home in “Seal the Deal” (page 48).
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| arts & culture |<br />
Also participating is<br />
Mya Louw (myalouw.<br />
com), classically trained<br />
in oil painting with a<br />
degree in fine arts<br />
from Rhodes University<br />
in South Africa.<br />
Louw’s process depends on her choice<br />
of medium; for oil paintings, she starts<br />
with sketching, then layering the canvas<br />
with thin oil paints, building from lights to<br />
darks, and continuing with thicker paint<br />
near the end. As for acrylic paint, she says,<br />
“you can do anything and everything, as<br />
there are no strict rules.” Many of Louw’s<br />
commissions and larger works are usually<br />
acrylic because it’s easier to clean up and<br />
complete in a shorter amount of time. Much<br />
of Louw’s inspiration comes from Northern<br />
California—particularly the rolling hills and<br />
vast spaces. As a challenge to herself,<br />
Louw depicts what she sees by pushing<br />
for happy and vibrant colors like yellows,<br />
oranges, and bright blues—and creates<br />
while listening to uplifting music. Her most<br />
notable achievement thus far would be the<br />
absolute privilege of being able to get up<br />
every day, paint, and continue to master<br />
her craft.<br />
Part of this year’s “Passing it Forward” story<br />
is father-daughter duo Paul and Alana<br />
van Altena (nicholsonvanaltenaglass.com).<br />
Alana will be showcasing her blown glass, while<br />
her father will display his wood slab art in the<br />
same Auburn studio. Alana developed her skills<br />
by working nearly five years for her partner’s<br />
parents, the Nicholsons, while her father used his previous<br />
experience as a contractor to build on his skills. Alana’s process<br />
usually begins with clear molten glass on one end of a pipe, adding<br />
layers of color in between layers of clear. If creating a blown<br />
glass piece, Alana and her partner, Hannah Nicholson, gather the<br />
mass onto a six-foot pipe and begin to slowly inflate it, whereas a<br />
sculptural piece requires hand tools to manipulate the glass. “[It’s<br />
cool] working with a medium in a state that most people don’t get<br />
to see,” Alana says when asked what attracts her to glass blowing.<br />
Meanwhile, Paul starts with a log or rough-cut slab that needs<br />
to be surfaced, straightened, and sanded. For Paul, the process<br />
isn’t linear, and he often finds that the results aren’t what was<br />
expected, which is what makes the medium enjoyable. He’s inspired<br />
by nature, much like his daughter, and is always on the lookout for<br />
cool pieces of wood. Now retired, he’s able to spend more time on<br />
his craft and is excited to explore more of his creative side.<br />
Top to bottom (right):<br />
Almost Home by Mya Louw<br />
Inner Landscape Collaboration by<br />
Alana van Altena<br />
Paul van Altena<br />
FOR MORE INFO ON THE TOUR AND AN INTERACTIVE,<br />
DOWNLOADABLE MAP, VISIT PLACERARTISTSTOUR.ORG.<br />
30 stylemg.com | OCTOBER <strong>2021</strong> | /stylemediagroup /stylemediagroup /stylemediagroup /stylemags