Discover Petaluma’s Hidden Gems

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Since 2005, the National Trust for Historic Preservation has celebrated May as National Preservation Month, encouraging communities large and small to celebrate their rich, diverse heritage, and draw more Americans into the growing national preservation movement.  This year the Petaluma Arts Center is proud to sponsor a lecture series that draws attention to the many architectural treasures in our community.

FREE with a suggested donation of $5.00

Sponsored by Heritage Homes of Petaluma, Century 21 Bundesen, Callie & Mircea Kindrish

Sunday, May 6, 4pm

Restoration of Petaluma’s 1914 NWP depot and associated buildings

Glenn David Mathews, AIA – Architectural Resources Group

Thursday, May 10, 7pm

From Grain Elevators to Hatcheries: Petaluma’s Agricultural History as Told Through its Architecture

Katherine J. Rinehart, Historian & Author

Book Signing will follow lecture

Thursday, May 17, 7pm

Julia Morgan: Architect of Beauty

Mark Anthony Wilson, Architectural Historian & Author – Book Signing will follow lecture

Sunday, May 20, 4pm

Adaptive Re-Use of a Petaluma Livery Stable

Bill Wolpert, AIA – Green Building Architects

Sonoma County artist Micah Schwaberow has practiced the craft of the Japanese woodblock print for over three decades. In the early 1980’s he studied for a year in Japan with the traditional master printmaker Toshi Yoshida and his professional carvers and printers. Micah will bring tools and extensive step-by-step examples to walk you through the elaborate process of mokuk-hanga, Japanese woodblock printmaking. Micah will have some of his exquisite prints on hand for sale.

$5 Members $10 General Public. Reservations are required. Please call 707-762-5600

Episode 2: Boundaries – April 15 at 6:30 p.m.

This episode presents artists who synthesize disparate aesthetic traditions, present taboo subject matter, discover innovative uses of media, and explore the shape-shifting potential of the human figure. David Altmejd, assume vivid astro focus, Lynda Benglis, and Tabaimo are featured.

Tabaimo was born in Hyogo, Japan in 1975. Tabaimo’s drawings and video installations probe the unsettling themes of isolation, contagion, and instability that seem to lurk beneath daily existence in contemporary Japan. She draws aesthetic inspiration for her animated videos from a combination of Japanese art forms—ukiyoe woodcuts, manga, and anime—while she often sets her layered, surrealistic narratives in domestic interiors and communal spaces such as public restrooms, commuter trains, and bathhouses.

Saturday April 14, 1:00 to 3:00 p.m. The  Sonoma County artist Micah Schwaberow has practiced the craft of the Japanese woodblock print for over three decades. In the early 1980’s he studied for a year in Japan with the traditional master printmaker Toshi Yoshida and his professional carvers and printers. Micah will bring tools and extensive step-by-step examples to walk you through the elaborate process of mokuk-hanga, Japanese woodblock printmaking. Micah will have some of his exquisite prints on hand for sale.

$5 Members, $10 General Public. Reservations are required. Please call 707-762-5600

The following episodes will be screened on four Sundays in April. 

Episode 1: Change – April 1 at 6:30 p.m.

This episode features artists who bear witness, through their work, to transformation—cultural, material, and aesthetic—and actively engage communities as collaborators and subjects. Ai Weiwei, El Anatsui, and Catherine Opie are featured.

Episode 2: Boundaries – April 15 at 6:30 p.m.

This episode presents artists who synthesize disparate aesthetic traditions, present taboo subject matter, discover innovative uses of media, and explore the shape-shifting potential of the human figure. David Altmejd, assume vivid astro focus, Lynda Benglis, and Tabaimo are featured.

Episode 3: History – April 22 at 6:30 p.m.

In this episode, artists play with historical events, explore and expose commonly held assumptions about historic ‘truth’, and create narratives based on personal experiences. Marina Abramović, Glenn Ligon, and Mary Reid Kelley are featured.

Episode 4: Balance – April 29 6:30 p.m.

Through sculpture, paintings, and installations, the artists in this hour grapple with equilibrium and disequilibrium as they create highly structured works that challenge conventional notions of perception and representation. Rackstraw Downes, Robert Mangold, and Sarah Sze are featured.
Art21 Access ’12 is an international screening initiative created to increase knowledge of contemporary art, ignite dialogue, and inspire creative thinking. Through in-depth profiles and interviews, the four-part series reveals the inspiration, vision and techniques behind the creative works of some of today’s most thought-provoking artists.

“The central goal of these screenings is to stimulate dialogue inspired by contemporary art and the ideas it expresses,” said Susan Sollins, Executive Producer of Art21. “Our goal is that these events spark new conversations, and expose all kinds of viewers to the important work of the artists profiled in the series.”

Virginia May, director of the Petaluma  Arts Center, has just returned from NYC where she met with the Art 21 producers. She will share her experience of the New York art scene and information from the National Art Educators Association conference.  Other educational components are planned for future events, such as talks by local artists; lectures; panel discussions; interactive art-making projects and question-and-answer sessions.

ABOUT ART21  art21.org

Over the last decade, Art21 has established itself as the preeminent chronicler of contemporary art and artists through its Peabody Award-winning biennial television series Art in the Twenty-First Century. The organization has used the power of digital media to expose millions of people of all ages to contemporary art and artists and has created a new paradigm for teaching and learning about the creative process. 

In addition to its PBS series and year-round series-based education and public programs efforts, Art21 has expanded its film production and educational efforts in recent years. Several new initiatives have been launched in the past year including New York Close Up, a new documentary series on Art and Life in New York City, and the premiere of Art21’s first feature film, William Kentridge: Anything Is Possible. Art21 also offers Art21 Educators, an ongoing professional development program for teachers now entering its fourth year.

Saturday April 28, 2:00 p.m.

$5 Members  $10 General Public. Refreshments will be served

Thursday May 3, 6:30 p.m. An Evening of Sake. Learn the history and culture of sake, how sake is made and enjoy a sake tasting with Izumi Motai, Marketing and Tasting Room Manager  for Sho Chicku Bai Sake. He was born in Tokyo, Japan, and holds a Masters in Fine Arts from the San Francisco Art Institute and an A.A.S. in graphic design and advertising from Parsons School of Design in New York. He designed sake labels and promotional materials for the Berkeley-based Takara Sake, U.S.A.  and helped create the Sake Museum and Tasting Room in 1997. Coming from a long line of sake lovers and connoisseurs, he is delighted to be able to play a role in the introduction of sake into the American market.

$15 Members $20 General Public. Reservations are required. Please call 707-762-5600

Saturday May 12, 2:00 p.m. – Kimi Kodani Hill author of Topaz Moon will present a slideshow and talk on the art and life of Chiura Obata. One of California’s most prominent Japanese American artists, Obata (1885-1975) was born in Japan and came to California in 1903. A master in the traditional Japanese sumi ink and brush technique, he also excelled in art education and taught at the University of California, Berkeley from 1932 until 1954, except for his years of internment during World War II.Obata was one of more than 100,000 Japanese Americans forcefully relocated in 1942 from their homes and communities to the stark barracks of desert internment camps. As an artist faithfully recording the world around him, Obata’s work from this period gives us a view into the camps that is at once honest in the details of austerity and hardship, and strikingly lyrical in its portrayal of hope and beauty even in incarceration. Topaz Moon presents more than 100 of Obata’s sketches, sumi paintings, and watercolors from the internment period.  Kodani is the granddaughter of Obata.

$5 Members $10 General Public. Refreshments will be served

Friday May 25, 7:00 p.m. – Poetry Reading and Discussion –  of Heart Mountain, poems by Jodi Hottel, followed by a conversation with Japanese American Citizens League oral history members, Marie Sugiyama, Jodi Hottel, Henry Kaku and others.  Jodi Hottel is a Sansei, third generation Japanese American. Her mother’s family was interned at Heart Mountain, Wyoming. Her work has been published or is forthcoming in Nimrod International, Naugatuck Review, Spillway, Touch, English Journal, Frogpond and anthologies from the University of Iowa Press, Tebot Bach, Wising Up Press and the Healdsburg Arts Council. Heart Mountain, published by Blue Light Press is her first chapbook.

FREE to General Public.  Refreshments will be served

Dance for Art
Pop-up Benefit for Petaluma Arts Center 

Saturday March 3, 2012
7:30 till Midnight
Location: P.O.S.T. Wellness by Design
224 Weller Street (at D ST) Petaluma

Dance for Art Flyer – Please Post

Come dance to the hottest dance band in Sonoma County
The H.O.T.S with Pete Hale

Swoon to the liquid voice of  Vanessa Pritchard  R&B Rock~Soul Sister

Food + Beer + Wine
No cover
Information: 707-479-3383

Opening Reception:  Sat April 14, 4-6 p.m.
Jazz by the J-Town Ensemble – Featuring Ayako Hosokawa 

The Petaluma Arts Center is pleased to present this timely exhibit featuring the work of Henry Sugimoto, an iconic figure in 20th century art, and a man whose life (1900-1990) is emblematic of the Japanese American experience. The exhibit will include works by Chiura Obata, a contemporary of Sugimoto, both of whom managed to pursue their art while incarcerated.

The exhibit includes a collection of approximately 30 of Sugimoto’s woodblock prints that portray life in a relocation camp during WWII. Paintings from his formative years in the San Joaquin Valley, his student days in Paris, nascent career, his internment, and his life as an artist living and working in NYC. Selected pieces will be loaned from the Japanese American National Museum in Los Angeles.

Photographs from The Heart Mountain Story by Hansel Mieth and Otto Hagel of the World War II Internment of Japanese Americans will also be exhibited.

Japanese American Art of both the 20th and 21st century will be represented by groundbreaking fabric artist Kay Sekimachi, ceramicists Harry Nakamoto and David Kuraoka, Wendy Yoshimura, born in the Manzanar Interment Camp, painter Chiyomi Teneike Longo, and glass artist Pamina Traylor, among others.

Related Films, Book Talks, Workshops and Demonstrations are scheduled throughout the exhibition. CLICK HERE now for more details

This exhibition is generously sponsored by:

Garth Bixler, Credence Construction and Hamilton Cabinets, Friends of Sawtelle Boulevard, Kings Art Center, Juliana Navarro and Dr. Jack E. Miller, Karen Petersen, Michael Frost and Katherine Plank, Nancy Paulding, P.O.S.T. Wellness by Design, Ren Brown Collection Gallery, Sonoma County Japanese American Citizen’s League,  Scout Construction, Jane & Jack Stuppin. The H.O.T.S. Liz and Mario Uribe

And our 2012 Program Partner:  Spaulding McCullough & Tansil LLP

The Center is open 12 to 4 pm, closed on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and most national holidays. For information, call 707.762.5600

2:00 to 4:00 pm 
Members are invited to join us for a facilitated conversation designed for our artists members to engage in a in an open spirited conversation about the arts. http://www.conversationcafe.org/

Topics
(Suggestions are Welcome) contact Virginia May at 707-762-5600

April – Artist Habits of Mind
May – Discipline vs Inspiration
June – What is Art?
July – Aesthetics of Beauty
Aug – Visual Thinking Strategies
Sept – Making  a Creative Livelihood
Oct – Politics of Art
Nov – Personal  expression and social representation
Dec – Art and the traditional Give Away

March 15-31, 2012

Opening Reception:
Saturday, March 17, 4 to 7 pm.

At the Petaluma Arts Center
230 Lakeville Street, Petaluma

Visitors are invited to participate in a Community Art Project. $5 to make a tile. Funds support the exhibition.

Best in Show:

Haley Lamos  “Lost”

Honorable Mentions:

Alayna Jay  “Lady in Water”Jason Holtz “Self Portrait”

Jay Odenthal “Die”

Emilia Flores “Bedeviled”

Nicholas Cameron “In the Trees”

Courtney Johnson “Silver Reflections”

Teachers Choice:

Jay Odenthal – Casa Grande

Jesse Velex – Casa Grande

Alayna Jay – Petaluma High

Emilia Flores – Petaluma High

Anthony Neve – St Vincent de Paul

Students from Casa Grande, Petaluma and St. Vincent DePaul high schools advance placement art classes  present their art during the High School Masterworks exhibition  in professional gallery spaces at the Petaluma Arts Center.  Students have participated in all facets of planning, marketing and installing a high quality art exhibition. Some students will be offering their work for sale.

The opening reception, Saturday, March 17 from 4 to 6 pm, will be catered by Casa Grande’s culinary students, and music will be performed by each of the three high schools.

The exhibit will be the first of its kind in Petaluma. We hope this will establish a precedent for an annual exhibition that creates a pathway for students to enter the public, professional art arena. Collaborators include teachers, parents, community members and Petaluma Arts Center staff and volunteers.

Special Activities for Participating Students Include:

1. Nick Van Krijdt – Professional Artist and Exhibit Installation:
Installation and Exhibit Design Layout (select students pre-opening) March 13 –  4pm -6pm?

2. Joe McDonald – Digital Grange: Photographing Artwork

3. Nick Van Krijdt - Professional Artist and Exhibit Installation:  Exhibition Design open to all students

4. Chuck Pile –  Academy of Art University: Artist’s Portfolio Design, Advice for applications

This exhibition is generously sponsored by:

Frederick and Linda Frost; Petaluma Art Association; Bank of Marin; Whole Foods Market; North Bay Association of Realtors, Petaluma Chapter; Petaluma Art Supply; Bank of Marin, Connie Mahoney; McNeill-Gentry Family; Academy of Art University and Aqus Café