Regina Case

Wild: Beyond the Domestic Images

Artist reception: Arts! Arcata, May 10th,  from 6-8:30 p.m.

Regina Case’s paintings are usually warm interiors where the outdoor views of mountains or ocean are equally important. Her new work, showing in May at Upstairs Gallery in Arcata, focuses on similar tranquil domestic spaces, but wolves or other wild species are now part of the story. “My paintings have always been intimately connected to nature,” Case says. “These are rooms I’d want to be in, quiet but filled with life- a book, a dog, with doors looking out on untouched river and ocean expanses. There’s open space to walk in and breezes blow leaves inside. The paintings in this show may still include a reading chair and sleeping dog, but a wolf may meet your gaze, or bear walk through, bringing another level of wild presence into consideration. Paint and light and image interweave the astounding wild planet around us with the quiet personal space of home.”

Steve Coppin

Artist reception: Arts! Arcata, April 12th,  from 6-8:30 p.m.

John Motion

through March 22, 2013

Artist reception: Arts! Arcata, March 8th,  from 6-8:00 p.m.

through February 22, 2013

Artist reception: Arts! Arcata, February 8th,  from 6-8:30 p.m.

Artist Statement:

As residents of the North Coast and more importantly, this small earth, we sometimes take our surroundings for granted.  We forget that these rocks and forests and streams all have names and stories.

Painting nature can remind us of how important, unique, and beautiful the world really is!  Sometimes, one sees a familiar place represented and is filled with excitement and fond memories.  These seemingly simple connections shift plein-air painting from casual observation to a conscious process of artistic expression.  With landscapes constantly changing, the simple act of planning and composing a painting is often quite challenging and the work is a balancing act, sometimes a difficult one. Look closely at the paintings, finished work often includes detritus from the local landscape; dust, sand, plant matter, and unfortunately small insects (they must be attracted to the oil)!

For over ten years I have been working in oil on canvas, painting landscapes throughout California. While I often create narrative, portraiture, and mixed media paintings, landscape remains my primary artistic focus. For the last few years I have been getting to know the lively Humboldt County arts scene,while immersing myself in Arts Alive showings. I am honored and humbled at the opportunity to share this work at the Upstairs Art Gallery and would like to extend my thanks to everyone who has helped make this show possible.

Yuma Lynch, Arcata, 2013

Rachel Schlueter

Friends and Neighbors

showing thru January 10, 2013
Artist Reception: December 14th at 6:00pm during Arts! Arcata

Rachel Schlueter, December 2012

John King

showing thru December 7, 2012
Artist Reception: November 9th at 6:00pm during Arts! Arcata

Artist Statement: Life could have crawled out of the dark muck and evolved into the many different forms of life now around us. Or perhaps it was brought down from space in the suitcase of a merchant traveling between different worlds. The atoms that make up everything in the universe came from the surrounding stars that blew away fragments and dust that swirled into planet forming eddies. The wonderful thing is that everything in our existence, from rocks to plants are made up of the same type of atoms, they are just arranged in different ways. I like this view of the universe. It is what I think about while I am working on art.

John King

http://www.johnkingartist.com

photography by David Howell

showing thru November 2, 2012

Artist Reception: October 12th at 6:00pm during Arts! Arcata live music by Chubritza

Looking at the world from a different angle can create interesting artistic images. People, patterns, and natural features become distorted and intriguing, especially if they tell stories about different cultures.

Howell describes the exhibition as, “a varied collection of photographs that will take you onto balconies, steeples, towers, walls, and shores to look down at the world below. The photos are examples of classical street photography and landscapes, but all from an overhead perspective. Foreshortening changes the objects below, and the ground (or water) replaces the horizon. The only time you will see the sky is in reflection.”

The photographs are from Estonia, Lithuania, Switzerland, France, Hungary, Spain, and Latvia.

Howell and his wife and friends are looking forward to hosting the reception. The Arts! Arcata reception on October 12th will be a fun international extravaganza! The great international folk band Chubritza will perform and there will be room for dancing or for just standing around and enjoying the music. I am excited to have them play for the reception because I love their music. It is jovial and authentic. The music and the photographs will help transport you to distant lands. The reception will also be a fundraiser for the Humboldt Community Breast Health Project with wines from Moonstone Crossing being poured for donations.

To learn more about Howell’s photographs and his travel blog at his website: www.earthmapphoto.com

showing through September 28

Artist reception: Arts! Arcata, September 14th,  from 6-8:30 p.m.

About the Artist:

Selected Works, from the collection of local artist Rita Pender Arena, will be exhibited at the Upstairs Gallery during the month of September. While this will be Rita’s debut solo show the general public is by no means unacquainted with her art. For over three decades the diversity of Rita’s drawings and calligraphy, in pen and ink, graphite and color pencil mediums have appeared in a myriad of local publications and posters. The exhibit will accent this component of her artistic life, highlighting original illustrations for Wildberries Marketplace and Lost Coast Communications.

Her imagery transcends mere utilitarian purposes providing a unique insight into the North Coast culture, community and the wealth of natural beauty–sources of inspiration from which the artist has always drawn. Rita’s work, which is largely narrative, is in her words analogous to “a film in one frame.” Engaging the viewer, her drawings invite the observer’s imagination to explore the story within each piece.

Within this intimate setting, Selected Works offers the gallery visitor a rare opportunity to view these illustrations, apart from media usage, in the full richness of the originals’ color and detail. The exhibit runs through September 28th with a reception for the artist Friday, September 14 from 6:00 – 8:30pm. As always, the Upstairs Art Gallery can be found in the Umpqua Bank at 1063 G Street, Arcata.
 Everyone is welcome.

Deborah Burke

through August 31, 2012

Artist reception: Arts! Arcata, August  10,  from 6-8:30 p.m.

Artist Statement:

This exhibit includes selected prints and quilts that I have created over the past 25 years.

After completing my Masters Degree in Printmaking from HSU, I continued to explore magnified shapes found in flowers. My choice of colors remained subdued as I combined embossing with silkscreened images. After a few years, I abandoned my embossing technique but was still interested in the abstract shapes I found in magnified flowers.

My next series of images were drawn from photographs I took of shadows and shapes that interested me in everyday forms such as doors and chairs.

After a trip to Europe, I continued to explore various shapes and forms found in buildings and doorways.

In all my work I have tried to reduce shapes to a simplified form that to me becomes an abstract piece of art.

For the last 8 years I have been designing fabric wall hangings. I have found the piecing of different colorful fabrics to be the most satisfying form of creativity.

paintings by Howard Rutherford

July 2-27, 2012

Artist reception: Arts! Arcata, July  13,  from 6-8:30 p.m.

Howard Rutherford was born in Texas in 1937. He has had a lifelong love of art and has expressed his talents by drawing, painting, sculpting, and carving. He studied architecture Design at Texas Tech University and served his country in the USAF.  Over the years Howard has taken classes in Freehand Drawing, Charcoal, Drafting, Mechanical Drawing, Oil Painting, and Watercolor.

He is inspired by the rugged beauty of the southwest where he grew up, as well as by his Air Force career. He spent a number of years in Colorado in the shadow of the Rocky Mountains. Howard now lives in Eureka and paints out of his home studio.

His two specialties are Oil Paint and Watercolor. He enjoys blending the technical aspects of mechanical drawing with the backdrop of a natural landscape.