(For a show preview click image above)
Animals in Art
November 5 – December 4
Artist reception: Arts! Arcata, November 13, 6-8:30pm
Derek Bond, Jim McVicker, Theresa Oats, Linda Parkinson, Rachel Schlueter, Patricia Sennott and John Wesa.
Our November show, Animals in Art, is a group exhibit benefiting the Humboldt Wildlife Care Center (HWCC). For thirty years this local volunteer organization has raised and rehabilitated orphaned and injured native wildlife. For the duration of the show, twenty percent of all gallery sales will be donated to the HWCC.
During our Arts! Arcata reception come meet the artists as well as some of the HWCC’s living birds of prey including a great horned owl, western screech owl, spotted owl and a red-tailed hawk. Additionally the Care Center will be unveiling their Windshield Owl Pale Ale produced by the Lost Coast Brewery as a special fundraiser for the Center. This specially packaged beer with artwork created by Linda Parkinson can also be found at some of your favorite stores.
The painting for the Windshield Owl Pale Ale label acknowledges the most common source of injury. “A lot of birds of prey are hit by cars; it’s the most common thing, especially with owls,” said Linda Parkinson, an HWCC board member and artist in this month’s exhibit. “People throw food waste out their car windows, rodents eat the food and birds of prey get hit while going for the rodents. It’s that simple.”
The painting depicts an owl on a windshield giving a surprised look at the driver. “I tried to present a cartoon-like quality, to take a serious issue and cast it in a funny light,” she said.
Other Artworks on display expresses a wide range of animals and interpretation. Artists such as Linda Parkinson and Derek Bond are best known for their scientific representational depictions of wildlife where the careful attention to biology and form are as important as artful interpretation. Other artists such John Wesa use their creative license to depict chickens piloting UFOs while others such as Theresa Oats and Jim McVicker paint the animals as they may have been in the scene during their plein air painting.”When a bird flies into an area I’m painting they exhibit the life of an environment while implying space and air.” says Theresa Oats.
Also in the show is a unique collaborative monotype by Patricia Sennott with an imprinted poem by Anthony Lucero. This monotype was recently part of show at Piante Gallery in Eureka featuring a rich mix of collaborative imagery and poetry. We thought this artwork was a nice contribution to the animal in art theme. The Poem reads:
if you come back
from the dead
come back like a butterfly
come back like an
elephant come back like
a cricket come back
like a raccoon
come back like a wolf
with a shiny flower
behind your ear
if you come back from the
dead
put some heart into it
friend.
Learn more about the show by reading an article written by Andrew I. Jones for the Times-Standard: