Gathering paintings and collages and poems for an exhibit at Upstairs Art Gallery Feb. 24-Mar. 24.
Discovering connections and stories in my own artwork, how collage making laid ground for constructing Murder of Crows paintings. What Vanitas symbols can you find?
Artist reception and short poetry reading with my daughter Reba on Sunday afternoon March 10, 2-5 pm. You’re invited!
Upstairs Art Gallery, 306 Center Street, Healdsburg, CA 95448
Poetry reading with Marsha Connell and Reba Connell, 2:30-3 pm.
Thinking About Bonnard, Murder of Crows oil painting series
Press release:
The March Featured Artist, Marsha Connell, presents works that articulate an artistic evolution initiated in collage and leading to the “Murder of Crows” still-life oil paintings.
Connell had long been a painter and sculptor when her daughter, Reba, invited her to make a collage for shared communication while she was having her junior year abroad in Israel, a year that coincided with the first Gulf War.
The collages became an unexpected healing process, fueled deeper by a dream of war preparations that suggested she bear witness. The collage “letters without words” to her daughter grew into a series of 150 “Dream Vessels” that speak with a visual vocabulary, like Vanitas paintings, symbolically merging awareness of death and the passage of time with the beauty of life.
When words finally came, they emerged from the “dreaming in the day” dance practice of Authentic Movement. The resulting poems were often written in the presence of the collages and arose from a similar place of finding connections among discovered fragments. They accompany the Dream Vessels, but do not describe or explain them.
The arranging and rearranging of found images in collage-making, laid the groundwork for assembling and staging objects in the “Crow” series. “Spirit birds” and wings play a supporting role in the collages; birds star in the still-life series.
Thinking about Hokusai, Murder of Crows oil painting series
“Through this work, I found a way to bring hope together with darkness. Assembling these found images was like taking the broken pieces of the world and putting them back together.”
Both the collages and the crow paintings entice the viewer to look closer and follow a path of discovery. The paintings are also homages to other painters, such as Thinking of Bonnard and Thinking of Emily Carr. And there is humor, Connell confided, “The longer these crows were in my studio, the more trouble they got into!” evidenced by their activities and positions in the paintings.
Dreams of 1990’s Gulf War inspired Santa Rosa artist Marsha Connell’s ‘Dream Vessels’ series.
Like surrealism, the political-art movement opposing totalitarianism in the aftermath of the horrors of WWI, the power of art and dreaming in these turbulent times holds the possibility for social change.
Last week, less than a month before the 2018 midterm elections, a cadre of Northern California artists shared their art and held a dialogue to raise awareness about U.S. domestic and foreign policies in the month-long mixed-media exhibition “Wake-Up! The Political Power of Art and Dreams,” held at the Claudia Chapline Gallery in Stinson Beach on Oct. 28, that now continues online.
Works in that show included Flag of Death, created by artist and gallery owner Claudia Chapline, which graphically depicts the reality of U.S. foreign policy. Chapline says the piece came from a dream she had on March 11, 2006, the third anniversary of the U.S. invasion of Iraq.
“I was standing on a ladder painting a large [American] flag,” says Chapline of the dream. “The stars resembled exploding bombs; the stripes, missiles. A skeleton’s head emerged from the war machinery. When I awoke the next day, I sketched the flag in my journal, and then I made a small painting from the drawing/dream.
“For me, the flag painting symbolizes the discrepancy between American ideals and manifest American policy,” says Chapline.
Santa Rosa artist Marsha Connell’s “Dream Vessels” collage works, featuring landscapes spiked with light, were inspired by dreams Connell had a month after the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait in August 1990. She dreamt that women writers, artists and poets were brought to observe preparations for the first Persian Gulf War when a voice boomed out, “The women soldiers will go first!”
“I felt a distress so profound there were no words for it,” Connell says.
A friend suggested the dream meant the artist was to bear witness, and the collages became her way to communicate and begin a healing process that ultimately brought her peace.
She calls the collages “Dream Vessels,” because each dreamlike picture contains a vessel. “The vessel offers the possibility of transformation, hope and reconciliation of opposites,” she says.
In “They Never Stood a Chance,” a seven-foot-tall installation inspired by a dream, artist Jennifer Lugris envisions a metaphor for the North Korean government’s treatment of its people.
“When I was a child, I watched my parents stack receipts on a paper spike at their dry cleaning business,” remembers Lugris, a first-generation American. “In mid-2017, I started having a recurring dream about life-sized paper spikes, except instead of paper, clothing was spiked through and stacked tall, towering over me,” says Lugris.
“As I walk through and around the installation, I am reminded of the lives of my North Korean family, and I continue dreaming of the day the border will open and we will reunite.”
Joyce Lynn is founder and editor-in-chief of Plum Dreams Media. See works from ‘Wake-Up! The Political Power of Art and Dreams’ at plumdreamsmedia.com.
THE POLITICAL POWER OF ART AND DREAMS by Joyce Lynn, Exhibition Curator
For centuries, dreams have guided nations toward (or away from) their destinies. Dreams have revealed the divine plan for countries, cultures, and citizens. Think of Joseph’s biblical interpretation of the Pharaoh’s dream proscribing public policy to prevent the Egyptians from starvation. Or consider the Roman philosopher Cicero’s Dream of Scipio imparting the essence of statesmen-like virtues.
Abolitionist Harriet Tubman dreamt routes to safety for fugitives slaves during the 1850s. Her nighttime visions helped thousands of slaves escape to freedom via the clandestine Underground Railroad.
In 1968, President Lyndon Johnson dreamt he was stuck in the middle of a huge river, unable to reach either side–signifying the Vietnam War could not be won. Weeks later he announced he would not seek another term as president, making way for Democratic peace candidates.
Before the Presidential debates in October 2000, Amy S. of Sausalito, California, dreamt George W. Bush, “greenish with demonic eyes,” was “scratching like a dog” to break into her house. She was trapped. Amy’s precognitive dream (I call it “FrankenBush) foretold not only the Republican Party’s theft of the 2000 election, but the state police powers Bush imposed under the guise of fighting terrorism.
Dreams have illumined the way of political activists from student Nazi resistance fighter Sophie Scholl to peace “mom” Cindy Sheehan.
An artist, known as Angry Dove, dreamt in mid-March Donald Trump asked her to marry him. She considered the proposal and the idea she would be the last person in the room with him every night to implant humanitarian and peace policies in his mind. Upon waking, she realized reading so much news about Trump was “messing with her head.”
These dreams and dreamers show the profound power of remembering, understanding, listening to, and expressing our dreams. Our nighttime dreams upend government, corporate, and media propaganda. Once inner wisdom is tapped denial is impossible; positive action manifests.
Such timely, insightful sometimes witty wisdom gleaned from dreams and depicted by artists can lead to personal and planetary well-being. Dreams give a picture of reality. Dreams enable us to see clearly, revealing hidden truths. When we listen to our own dream guidance, we the people can reclaim our power to govern for the public good.
Like surrealism, the political-art movement opposing totalitarianism in the aftermath of the horrors of World War 1, the power of art and dreaming in these turbulent times holds the possibility of social change.
Art and dreams are conduits to truth, paths to healing and transformation. Art and dreams wake us to reality and response.”
“Wake-Up! The Political Power of Art and Dreams,” a mixed media exhibition, was an exhibition at the Claudia Chapline Gallery, Stinson Beach, California, during October, the month before the 2018 Congressional elections to create dialogue and raise consciousness about U.S domestic and foreign policy. It continues online to expand its reach at PlumDreamsMedia.com.
WAKE-UP! includes works derived from dreams by Northern California artists: Dream Vessels by MARSHA CONNELL; Flag of Death and other images of war by CLAUDIA CHAPLINE; works by artist-activist RICHARD KAMLER; FrankenBush, commissioned by PLUM DREAMS MEDIA; They Never Stood a Chance, an installation of remembrance and survival by JENNIFER LUGRIS; and a dream about Donald Trump’s Art of the Deal with God captured by NICOLE FRAZER.
WAKE-UP! is an activity of the 50 State Initiative of ForFreedoms.org, a platform for civic engagement, discourse, and direct action for artists in the U.S.
A percentage of sales from the exhibition will be donated to Bay Area peace candidates.
(While this online exhibition is being updated, contact Plum Dreams Media info@PlumDreamsMedia.com, 415-267-7620 for more information.)
ABOUT THE ARTISTS
Claudia Chapline cchapline.com
Info@cchapline.com
Flag of Death by Claudia Chapline
On March 11, 2006, the third anniversary of the US invasion and subsequent occupation of Iraq, artist, activist, and gallery owner Claudia Chapline of Stinson Beach, California, dreamt:
“I’m standing on a ladder painting a large (American) flag. When I awoke the next day, I sketched the flag in my journal, and then I made a small painting from the drawing/dream. The stars resemble exploding bombs, the stripes, missiles. A skeleton’s head emerges from the war machinery.
“For me, the flag painting symbolizes the discrepancy between American ideals and manifest American policy.”
The U.S. war on Iraq was initiated by GW Bush’s lie of weapons of mass destruction. Fifteen years after “shock and awe” was inflicted on the people of Iraq, Operation Iraqi Freedom has killed 2.4 million Iraqis and cost US taxpayers $1.1 trillion.And under President Obama US extended its hegemony. Today, the United States is fighting in seven countries. Donald Trump has increased the number of drone attacks and bombings in those countries. There was a 215% increase in civilian deaths in 2017, Donald Trump’s first year in office from Obama’s final year as US-led bombing is increasingly “indiscriminate.”
Mars scroll by Claudia Chapline
Claudia’s dream and the Flag of Death as well as her other torn-from-war images in Wake-Up! graphically depict the US war machinery often hidden from the American people by propaganda and a complicit corporate media
Artist, writer, curator, Claudia has exhibited her paintings and sculptures since 1954. Her art has been shown in collections ranging from the Rosicrucian Egyptian Museum to the Thoreau Center for Sustainability. Claudia is a pioneer in the environmental and art as healing movement.Her exhibitions raise consciousness and make comments on contemporary society.She has written ten books of poetry and art. In 2006, Claudia received the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Northern California Women’s Caucus for Art.
The Claudia Chapline Gallery and Sculpture Garden has shown Northern California contemporary art since 1987, a cultural crossroads for visitors to the Pacific coast and to residents of Northern California.
A month after the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait in August 1990, artist Marsha Connell dreamt that women writers, artists, and poets were brought to observe preparations for the first Persian Gulf War from the bottom of a hill. A voice boomed out: The women soldiers will go first!!
This view that appeared in a dream began a healing process that ultimately brought her peace.
A friend suggested the dream meant the artist was to bear witness. Before this dream, Connell felt artists lacked power to elicit change. Then she wondered, “Could I create art about the war, but not beautify the destruction?”
Connell cut up magazines and photos, made two collages and duplicated them on a color copier to allow travel as letters to her daughter in Jerusalem for her junior year. This shortly became an aesthetic choice as she discovered how the printmaking process enhances the visual unity of the images, montaged from found sources. When she contemplated her images, she says, “They shocked me. They moved me so much. There was a lot of darkness but also hope. They had hope for the world.”
Collages, dark landscapes spiked with light, became her way to communicate. “I felt a distress so profound there were no words for it,” Connell says.
Separation – collage/print by Marsha Connell
She calls the collages “Dream Vessels” because each dreamlike picture contains a vessel — a pot, a vase, a ship. In her poem, “Dream Vessels,” Connell writes: “The vessel offers the possibility of transformation, hope/reconciliation of opposites…Vessels poise/between her story and history, bridging nature and the human-made, bridging hope and forces of destruction.”
Warning – collage/print by Marsha Connell
“Somehow, through doing this, I felt I was finding a way to bring hope together with darkness,” she reveals. “As the work told me its stories, it was bringing more sense to the world. The collages were my healing. Gradually, I found my own center again and my own peace through doing this.”
Piano Rose ll collage/print by Marsha Connell
The Dream Vessels series took on its own momentum, now almost one hundred fifty images, printed in editions numbered up to twenty-five. Like intimately scaled murals, the collages incorporate stories about family, culture, history, and the environment, including the devastation of ongoing wars, oil spills, firestorms, the disasters of Three Mile Island and September Eleventh, as well as simple pleasures and life’s mysteries, dance, music, motherhood. They also function as homages and memorials.
Freedom Dance Blues – collage/print by Marsha Connell
The content emerged from dreams, and the process of creating them is like dreaming in the day, elusive and speaking in metaphor, gradually revealing layers of meaning to both artist and viewer.
Imagery appearing in his dreams influenced the art of Richard Kamler, although the process of translating the imagery into art was for Richard, like for most artists, mysterious. His Skinny Figures series arose from dreams and from Richard’s 1981-83 artist-in-residence with prisoners on Death Row at San Quentin State Prison, California.
The prisoners in the art classes became his friends. He took their last statements, humanizing the men. The phantasmagoria-like figures in Richard’s Skinny Figures drawings hover as if in purgatory — somewhere between life and death — analogous to the fate of those languishing on Death Row.
Richard’s work with prisoners at San Quentin changed his work as an artist, launching decades of socially-oriented art. Other projects like “Seeing Peace” manifest this intersection of art and activism. Richard, who died in 2017, wrote, “Art (like dreams) can heal, reveal, and transform.” He saw the imagination as an active participant in the process of envisioning peace.
They Never Stood a Chance Installation by Jennifer Lugris
Jennifer Lugris
They Never Stood a Chance, 2018
“When I was a child, I watched my parents stack receipts on a paper spike at their dry cleaning business. In mid-2017, I started having a recurring dream about life-sized paper spikes, except instead of paper, clothing was spiked through and stacked tall, towering over me. There are a large number of these clothing spikes, making up a strange and dark wilderness. As I walk through and around them, I am reminded of the lives of my North Korean family, whose communication was cut off when a wall to divide the country was built. Although I may never know my great aunts and uncles and the generations that came after, I continue dreaming of the day the border will open and we will reunite.”
“They Never Stood a Chance” -Installation by Jennifer Lugris
In They Never Stood a Chance, the 7 feet tall and 2 feet squared width installation created from her dream is exhibited in “Wake Up! The Political Power of Art and Dreams” as one clothing spike. Jennifer envisions the initial spike as part of a series of spikes for a larger installation. The clothing has been bleached, a metaphor for the cleansing of its citizens of their free thought by the North Korean government.
Jennifer’s paintings and installations are a reflection of a personal narrative of survival. “As a first-generation American with North Korea, South Korea, Argentina, Spain, and Uruguay roots, many circumstances needed to fall perfectly into place for me to be alive, ” she said. “In my paintings, I highlight the beauty within the everyday, the ordinary, and the mundane to show gratitude and appreciation for this opportunity.
“Under a nation so divided, it is imperative to point out experiences that unite us and remind people to have faith. Hence, in my practice I incorporate senselessness and humor to show the simple world as astonishing and spread love and positivity to the viewer. As I share my appreciation for the world, I, too, hope others find appreciation in theirs.”
Jennifer was born in North Bergen, NJ in 1986. She earned her MFA from the University of California, Santa Barbara in 2018. Her paintings have been exhibited and published internationally and have won prestigious awards. She received a residency at New Pacific Studio in Vallejo, CA as an Ernest J. Gaines Fellow, provided to artists for creative work engaging with issues of contemporary education and social justice.
To raise awareness on social issues, she has curated successful fundraising exhibitions including Compassion, which aided Typhoon Haiyan victims in the Philippines; Pacha Mama, which supported the California redwoods, and SWAN Day, which raised funds for WomenArts a nonprofit organization in Berkeley. She currently lives in Sacramento, CA with her husband, dogs, cats, and chickens.
FrankenBush
commissioned by Plum Dreams Media
PlumDreamsMedia.com
FrankenBush collage/print
Amy S. of Sausalito, California, in October, 2000, before the Presidential Debates, dreamt: “Darkness fills the house where I grew up. Something hovers outside the dining room window. It’s scratching like a dog to come inside. I move closer and realize it is George W. Bush. He is greenish with demonic eyes and a pale face. I am terrified and try to escape, but I feel I am trapped. He is finding a way to break in through the window.
“I wake up.”
Amy’s dream not only preempted the stolen 2000 presidential election result, but her nocturnal message also tells of a presidential candidate, who would do (and did) anything to win; then during his eight years as president, metaphorically and literally, broke into our homes. Her dream predicted the 2000 election theft and expansion of State police powers. The dream prompts each of us to consider our dreams during the upcoming Congressional elections, to determine.if they impart clues for positive action, what it is, and how to implement it.
Nicole Frazer
nfrazer.art@gmail.com
Nicole Frazer
The Art of the Deal with God
Art of the Deal with God – monotype by Nicole Frazer. Ann R. of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, dreamt a dramatic scene April 3, the night after she watched footage of the White House Easter Egg Roll. From the balcony, Donald Trump with his wife Melania and someone dressed as a bunny Trump repeatedly called “Gary” or “Barry” by his side thousands of children and their parents celebrating the rebirth of Jesus bragged about the US military prowess and the economy under his regime.
Eventually, Trump descended to the lawn. There, surrounded by the parents and children and reporters Trump continued inappropriate ramblings–this time about DACA (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals). Ann said she found Trump’s preemption of the children’s party for his own political objectives “really offensive–and very sad.”
Ann dreamt of a family celebrating a child’s birth in a church while Trump sits at the head of a table shaped like a cross and makes a fascistic-Trumpian deal with God about hurting the child.
Art of the Deal with God – monotype by Nicole Frazer
Interested in the power of journaling dreams and interpreting experiences in a visual way, artist Nicole Frazer created the stained-glass-like illustration of Ann R’s dream using a process called chin colle. The monotype collage began as ink sketches of the three scenes Ann described after she watched media coverage of the Easter Egg Hunt at the White House. As Nicole formulated the composition and selected the materials, she found more symbolism emerged in the process.
Nicole drew three scenes — Trump on the White House balcony with eggs symbolizing the commercialism of the Easter holiday; Trump at the top of the table in the shape of a cross, and Trump, like a king higher than anyone else. At the top of the illustration, the scale of Justice signifying Trump’s sadistic deal with God and the punishment democratic institutions will ultimately mete upon those who harm innocent children.
“The table in the shape of a cross brought me back to the symbol of the crucifixion” and its connection to Easter. The ripped paper symbolizes broken justice,” Nicole said.
Nicole has a studio art degree from Scripps College, Claremont CA, and has worked in the museum field for ten years.
ART NEWS FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE - AUGUST 27, 2018
EXHIBITION: WAKE-UP! The Political Power of Art and Dreams
AT: Claudia Chapline Gallery, 3445 Shoreline Highway, Stinson Beach, CA 94970
DATES: October 6 – 28, 2018
ART EVENT: Reception: October 6, 2018, 2-4 P.M.
Like surrealism, the political-art movement opposing totalitarianism in the aftermath of the horrors of World War 1, the power of art and dreaming in these turbulent times holds the possibility of social change. Art and dreams, conduits to truth, are paths to healing and transformation. Art and dreams wake us to reality and response.
“Wake-Up! The Political Power of Art and Dreams,” an exhibition at the Claudia Chapline Gallery, Stinson Beach, California, October 6-October 28, is scheduled the month before the 2018 Congressional elections to create dialogue and raise consciousness about U.S domestic and foreign policy. An opening day reception will be held from 2-4 pm on Saturday, October 6.
At the reception; attendees can share/write/sketch their political dreams to inspire positive action. There will be a drawing for the exhibition’s commemorative poster.
This exhibition in the pop-up gallery will include works derived from dreams by Northern California artists: Dream Vessels by MARSHA CONNELL; Flag of Death and other images of war by CLAUDIA CHAPLINE; works by artist-activist RICHARD KAMLER; FrankenBush by ADAM HARMS; They Never Stood a Chance, an installation of remembrance and survival by JENNIFER LUGRIS; and Dream Veritas! From Tragedy to Transformation, a multimedia presentation of dream profiles by journalist and exhibition curator JOYCE LYNN, and more.
Several graphic pieces will capture dreams about Donald Trump.
Exhibition curator Joyce Lynn is a journalist, including eight years as a political reporter in Washington D.C. She has profiled political activists from student Nazi resistance fighter Sophie Scholl to peace “mom” Cindy Sheehan, whose dreams have illumined their way.
The exhibition is located in beautiful Stinson Beach, 12 miles north of the Golden Gate Bridge. Artist/writer Claudia Chapline has received numerous honors and awards for her promotion of community arts. WAKE-UP! is an activity of the 50 State Initiative of ForFreedoms.org, a platform for civic engagement, discourse, and direct action for artists in the U.S. A percentage of sales from the exhibition will be donated to Bay Area peace candidates.
Dual businesses: Healdsburg bookstore serves as grand entrance to art gallery
Levin and Company bookstore has been in business for 27 years and Upstairs Art Gallery opened six years later. While the original store was also on Center street, the move to the center of the block on the Healdsburg Plaza quadrupled their business.
The bookstore, which started selling used books, developed a committed following of loyal customers who asked it to order new books. Now, only the sidewalk cart holds used books and the store is filled with new publications.
Owner Aaron Rosewater has hung out in bookstores since he was an 11-year-old, first in the long-gone Toyon Books, where his mother Adele Levin worked, then in the store his mother started with business partner Jacquie Robb. He bought out Robb in 2001.
Adding an art gallery has complemented the bookstore. Walk through Levin and Company, head up the stairs and the conversion to art gallery begins on the walls and shelves of the stairwell carry some art objects and visual art.
The gallery began with artists from the Santa Rosa Art Guild who wanted to show their work. They saw the available space and created an artist-owned gallery.
Only 16 artists belong to the gallery at a time because of the available wall space. Each artist-owner pays monthly rent and a 20 percent commission to the gallery.
Current manager Carolyn Wilson has been in the position for seven years. The first manager was Phyllis Rapp, who just returned as a gallery artist. Over the years about 60 artists have been part of the gallery.
“It’s a perfect match — the gallery and books,” said Wilson.
Levin and Company and Upstairs Art Gallery are located at 306 Center St.
My Studio 2180 Beverly Way, Santa Rosa by appointment. (Showing Anchor Bay Inlet, above, and many other paintings in oil, watercolor and pastel) marsha@marshaconnell.com 707·527·7754 main; 707·331·0105 cell Open to public during Art Trails Open Studios October 13, 14, 20, 21, 2018. Save the Date! Bring your friends!
Corrick’s (showing Pond in Bloom above), 637 4thStreet, Santa Rosa,
10 am to 5 pm Mon – Sat
Art Trails Gallery at Corrick’s, and My Daughter the Framer
Receptions every First Friday 5-7 pm
Upstairs Art Gallery (showing Mimi’s Garden 1 & 2), 306 Center Street, Healdsburg, 11 am to 6 pm daily 21st Anniversary Celebration June 23 Saturday 2-8 pm. Join us!
Empire College, 3035 Cleveland Ave, Santa Rosa 10 am to 6 pm Mon-Sat
On the walls outside the Law Library
Please join May’s featured artists MARSHA CONNELL and DAN SCANNELL Saturday May 12, 2-5 pm for our artist reception
Petits Bijoux Small Painting Jewels by Marsha Connell
Plein air painter, Marsha Connell, is exhibiting a collection of Petits Bijoux, Intimate Scale Paintings from France to California, in the Upstairs Gallery’s Small Works Showcase. The Showcase is uniquely situated to be viewed as you climb up and down the staircase.
These “Small Jewels” celebrate encounters with wild and domestic landscapes, and traveled home in suitcases to tell the story. Marsha’s expressive and rhythmic brushstrokes are a dance of color, in oil and pastel.
Reaching the top of the stairs, you can meander in Marsha’s larger scale garden paintings, from the coast to tabletop bouquets.
Creek at Bowling Ball Beach by Marsha Connell, oil, 12 x 12″
Upstairs Art Gallery is on the Mezzanine above Levin Books on the Healdsburg Plaza, across from the Gazebo.
Stop in anytime to view this month-long show, open daily 11-6, hosted warmly by the dozen plus artist/owners.
Snow and Wildflowers 1 by Marsha Connell, oil on canvas, 12″x12″
I’m a new partner and will be hosting the gallery: Saturday May 19, 3-6; Sunday May 20, 2-6; Sunday May 27, 11-6.
Renoir’s Bridge 1 by Marsha Connell, oil on canvas, 7 ½”x 9 ½”
Flora and Fauna in Silver and Gold by Dan Scannell
Dan Scannell’s new series was inspired by Japanese screens from the 19th century.
He became interested in the highly stylized nature scenes, and thought it would be interesting to create paintings based on Sonoma county flora and fauna. He then finished the backgrounds of these paintings using gold and silver leaf as Japanese artists did when making screens.
In the spirit of an offering, a gift to our community, about 130 Art Trails artists throughout Sonoma County, will open studios and hearts to the public, sharing beauty and hope. My studio, #24 on Art Trails map, 2180 Beverly Way, Santa Rosa, will be open both weekends, 10am – 5pm.
Just as music can be inspiring and soothing, light and dark, taking us on emotional journeys without words, seeing wonderful art can be uplifting, inspirational, moody and joyful, bringing comfort, solace, contemplation, refuge, and pleasure. I invite you to visit, and have a hug, share a story, tea and cookies, and travel through my plein air paintings to healing landscapes, places of memory, dreams and renewal.
Our hearts are breaking for those who have been devastated by fire. Several Art Trails artists have lost homes, studios and/or their entire art inventory. The Art Trails Artist Relief Fund has been established. Donations can be made directly at many Art Trails studios and exhibits, and on-line at www.SonomaCountyArtTrails.org or www.SebArts.org. Make checks payable to SCA, with a notation indicating Art Trails Artists Relief Fund; checks may also be mailed to Sebastopol Center for the Arts, 282 S. High St., Sebastopol, CA 95472.
I will be donating a percentage of painting sales, and will also be offering my contemplative Dream Vessels collages and some hand held carved clay sculptures.
An updated list of artists and maps showing participating studios will be posted by the weekend on the www.SonomaCountyArtTrails.org home page. We encourage visitors to stay up to date on road conditions.
Thank you for supporting the arts!
Marsha Connell, Chair Art Trails Steering Committee
I’ve recently joined a business referral networking group (a stretch and an education for an artist!). We are supporting The Living Room here in Santa Rosa through Sonoma County’s outstanding annual Human Race, a truly creative and open-hearted event. Some of the fun takes place on the pavement through efforts by thousands of runners and walkers, and some of the fun and good works take place behind the scenes, for example right here. (In 2016 there were over 8,000 participants with almost $600,000 raised to date for over 225 nonprofits who will benefit from the event. The first Human Race in 1981 raised $1,800.) I invite you to learn about the important services that the Living Room provides for homeless and at-risk women and children and to make a contribution if you are so moved. $10, $20, $50, or an amount of your choice. This is a straight donation fundraiser. No Pledges. Thank you so much for caring and helping our community thrive. Follow link to donate: humanracenow.org/Participation/BNIMidDayPowerPartners
These painting workshops will be held at stunning Sonoma County sites that are only accessible via the conservation groups that protect them from development, Pepperwood Preserve and Laufenburg Ranch. Painting in community, with guidance and support from an enthusiastic and practiced plein air painter, could be a great way to kick off your summer painting season or vacation time. You are welcome to join us for one or both sessions, whether you are an experienced painter or haven’t picked up a bush or pastel since childhood. Scientists, hikers, and students, painting and drawing deepen your powers of observation which translates to many disciplines.
Dream Vessels #125: Metronome
Thinking About Bonnard, Murder of Crows oil painting series
My Studio 2180 Beverly Way, Santa Rosa by appointment. (Showing Anchor Bay Inlet, above, and many other paintings in oil, watercolor and pastel)
Empire College, 3035 Cleveland Ave, Santa Rosa 10 am to 6 pm Mon-Sat
Snow and Wildflowers 1 by Marsha Connell, oil on canvas, 12″x12″
