Art Center Ukiah

Special exhibit of Haitian art

2010-03-03T14:57:15-08:00

Art Center Ukiah is featuring a special exhibit of Haitian art. Kirsten Gantzel Turner has generously put together an exhibit from her private collection of Haitian art in support of the fundraiser benefit for Haiti to be held Saturday March 6. Donations of Haitian art to be offered in a silent auction are also on display. The art will be on exhibit through March 27. For more information on benefit for Haiti please call Lynn Meadows at 707-462-2439.

First Friday featuring Christos Nikopoulos on March 5th

2010-03-03T14:54:43-08:00

In March, Corner Gallery Ukiah features Christos Nikopoulos with his unique creation of “ARTGRAPHY…the blending of art, lens and technology…” His dynamic expressions of every day experiences take the viewer to a new perspective of the world. Meet Christos at the First Friday reception on March 5th.

Christos is professionally trained in photographic portraiture, commercial photography and is an expert with enhancement skills. He is also the creator of “Design Art Images,” a boutique art form where he photographs a portrait of you or one of your personal items, and artistically enhances them, creating your personal one-of-a-kind work of art.

Christos resides in nearby Anderson Valley. He was winner of Best of Show at the 2007 Art in the Redwoods Fine Art Exhibit. He also shows his work at the Dolphin Gallery in Gualala, the Burnett Gallery, Gualala Arts Center, Howard Fine Studios in Hollywood, and Third Dimension Gallery at the Mauna Lani Resort, Kohala Coast Hawaii.

At the First Friday reception on March 5th, Chris Gibson with the Broadcasters will provide musical entertainment. Wayne Bauer of Tahto Winery will pour his local Mendocino County wine and the gallery will serve appetizers.

Alex de Grassi performing music for 1934 movie A Story of Floating Weeds

2010-02-04T16:38:52-08:00

Alex de Grassi will perform at Art Center Ukiah on Saturday, February 27th, in a West Coast premier of his original music for Yasusjiro Ozu’s 1934 silent film, A Story of Floating Weeds, along with a screening of the movie.

De Grassi was commissioned by the New York Guitar Festival to compose and perform this work, which premiered in January 2006 at Flushing Town Hall in New York. Reconstruction of the score was commissioned by Krannert Center for the Performing Arts, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, for its 2009 Guitar Festival.

This one night only performance is a benefit for ACU. After the film and a brief break, Alex will be available for a question and answer session with interested audience members.

Doors open at 7 pm. Film begins at 7:30 pm and runs 84 minutes with no intermission.

Advance tickets will be available at Dig! Music and at the Corner Gallery Ukiah for $12.

At the door price is $15.

Art Center Ukiah presenting Japanese Traditions - Contemporary Expressions

2010-02-04T16:37:28-08:00

For the month of February, come see artwork in the Japanese tradition by Satoko Barash, Bonnie Bell, Laura Fogg, Cassie Gibson, Mac Magruder, John Marshall, Anita Sison, and Red Wolf, shown along with traditional Japanese prints, silk screen, and a wedding kimono. Reception for the artists is First Friday, February 5th, from 5 to 8pm.

First Friday featuring Ree Slocum and Bonnie Belt

2010-02-04T15:30:52-08:00

The Corner Gallery Ukiah is showcasing "Landscapes and Beyond" by inland photographer Ree Slocum, author of "Artists of Inland Mendocino County." Showing with Slocum is clay artist Bonnie Belt, displaying her signature tree, sea, and heron bowls and vases, along with bamboo design mugs and plates. Come talk with Ree and Bonnie!

Ree has recently published a beautiful photographic book profiling inland Mendocino County artists. Most of us are familiar with Ree’s fine art flower photographic studies. Her talent of working with natural light and f-stops to create landscape images brings us yet another inviting view of the natural world — her rarely shown framed landscapes.

George Husaruk will play flute and Jim Milone of Terra Savia Winery will pour wine. The wildlife that inspires Terra Savia just happens to fit the theme of landscapes and nature of this show. As their website says, "Our integrated farming and limited cultivation provide pleasure and purpose for all involved, but also serve to finance our conservation plan. A portion of our revenues directly supports several wildlife rescue and conservation groups in the communities where we work and play."

At the Crab & Wine Salute, the demonstration of painting on silk was really popular. So this time you'll also get a chance to see potter Adriana Dakin demonstrate how she makes salt and pepper women sculptures.

What's Happening for the Holidays

2009-12-02T22:47:16-08:00

Our member artists and guest artists have brought in new pieces for the holidays! Our front window this month gives a taste of what's inside by highlighting a piece from each artist.

It's always changing ... come see!

For the holidays, we are open daily, Monday through Sunday, from 11 am to 6 pm.

Friday, December 4th, 5 to 8 pm: Holiday Showcase at First Friday Artwalk, Featuring All Artists

All two dozen artists from the artist cooperative will select pieces to show for this holiday season First Friday. From the Ukiah symphony, we're happy to announce we'll have a "String Quartet and Guest" playing for the evening.

As he did last December, Josh Metz from the Magnanimus Wine Group will pour wine for the occasion. The wines reflect sustainable, organic, and Biodynamic methods and the bucolic aesthetic of Mendocino County.

Santa Workshops in December

As part of the Main Street Program’s “Home for the Holidays,” the Art Center Ukiah Annex will host Santa Workshops on:
December 10th from 3 to 6 pm
December 12th from 1 to 4 pm
December 17th from 3 to 6 pm
December 19th from 1 to 4 pm

Kids can have their photos taken with Santa. We will have a holiday tree with artistic decorations. While you’re here, see the gallery and learn about upcoming classes.

Book signings: Member Ree Slocum signing her new book, Artists of Inland Mendocino County, on December 5 in Ukiah and December 20 in Willits. Read more.

News: Member Ann Maglinte was presented an award on October 25 — she is the 2009 Mendocino County Art Champion in the category of Artist! Read more.

Book Signings: Artists of Inland Mendocino County, by Ree Slocum

2009-11-29T22:19:16-08:00

Following on the path set by Mendocino Coast photographer Larry Wagner and his two volumes of Artists of the Mendocino Coast, Ree Slocum’s book Artists of Inland Mendocino County profiles some of the most committed, talented, and creative artists found in inland Mendocino County, CA. Slocum photographed portraits of each artist and wrote an informative page about each artist that includes images of their work.

Ree's background is as a black and white film photographer, working as a freelance photojournalist and B&W lab technician in the early 1980s. She has a fine art photography business, Arcadian Images, sells her work in the Bay Area at art fairs, and is part of Corner Gallery Ukiah. Her work can also be seen at Blue Sky Gallery and JD Redhouse in Willits.

There will be two book signings:

Location: Willits Center for the Arts, 71 E Commercial Street, Willits
Date: Saturday, December 5 from 7 to 9 pm, in conjunction with the Willits Photo Club Exhibit downstairs

Location: Art Center Ukiah Annex, 203 S State Street, Ukiah
Date: Sunday, December 20 from 3 to 6 pm

It's a great chance to meet the artists, view their work, and buy an autographed book. Part of the proceeds will be donated to both art centers. Refreshments will be served at both events. The book sells for a special low price of $60 at both events. It will be for sale at bookstores and online for $65.

Member Ann Maglinte to be Presented Award on Oct 25

2009-10-25T22:55:31-07:00

The Corner Gallery artist cooperative congratulates Ann Maglinte as the 2009 Mendocino County Art Champion in the category of Artist!

Come to the presentation of awards and public reception:
Tuesday, October 27th at 10:30 am
Mendocino County Board of Supervisors Meeting
County Administration Building, 501 Low Gap Road, Ukiah

The Arts Council will host a public reception in Conference Room B, nearby the Board of Supervisors chambers, immediately following the awards presentation. Please join the Arts Council on October 27th in recognizing the contributions of these exceptional individuals and organizations!

Willits artist, musician, and educator Ann Maglinte is being honored for her artistic excellence in painting, drawing, and sculpture, her tireless promotion of the arts countywide, her service as a teacher, and her leadership and collaboration with others in creating the First Fridays Art Walk in Ukiah. Ann has taught art privately as well as in local charter and public schools. She has served in two schools (La Vida Charter School and Sherwood School) as an artist-in-residence. She is a recipient of multiple grants including a California Arts Council grant to teach history through the arts, and a Get Art in the Schools Program (GASP) grant to present arts programming in Mendocino County public schools. Ann is co-owner and art designer for the business Midnight Moon, which she and her husband started in 1975. She is a founding member of the Ukiah Art Center/Corner Gallery, as well as a member of the Northcoast Artists Gallery in Fort Bragg. She is also a new commissioner for the Willits Art Commission (Willits Center for the Arts). Ann is being honored for her work as an artist and performer and for her contribution to the community through teaching, exhibiting her own work and the work of others, and through her activism promoting the arts.

The Mendocino County Art Champion awards are annually presented in October to coincide with National Arts and Humanities Month. National Arts and Humanities Month is a coast-to-coast collective celebration of culture in America, dedicated to giving millions of Americans the opportunity to explore new facets of the arts and humanities in their lives and encourage them to begin a lifelong habit of active participation. To learn more about National Arts and Humanities Month, visit the website for Americans for the Arts at or the website for the California Arts Council .

Other recipients of the award are: Helen Klembeck in the category of Individual Patron; Harvest Market in the category of Business; and Dana Gray Elementary School in the category of Education. Nominations for the Art Champion awards were received from members of the community and the winners were selected by the Board of Directors of the Arts Council of Mendocino County.

For more information on the awards, click here or call (707) 961-5449.

Nancy McHone Featured at First Friday, October 2nd

2009-09-28T15:04:00-07:00

The Corner Gallery is happy to feature the work of Nancy McHone in October, with the opening reception at the First Friday Artwalk on October 2nd, from 5 to 8 pm. At the reception, Simaine Wine will pour and appetizers will be served.

Artist Statement

I am a sculptor who makes armatures from wire, foamcore board, canvas and found wood and then lays a skin of paper and glue over them. While most of my work is wall-hung, this recent series (called Rural Weave) has many free-standing pieces. A basket-like nexus of warp and weft creates an interdependence of parts that are painted with the spirit of wood as textures, branches, leaves and stems interwoven. These artworks are containers of this spirit and an associative memory of my rural lifestyle.

As part of a group of artists I call Mendocino County Ruralists - mostly urban people whose art chronicles their relocation to Northern California in the 1970’s as part of the back-to-the-land movement - I helped support a family and rural homestead through private and public art making, community arts organizing and teaching. For me, art is therapeutic and this intention is the source of its value. An ethical purpose makes it visually engaging and that is why my artwork recalls the multiple strands of my life as a ruralist. My “extroverted” art (masks, figurative and still life) reflects commitment to home and community, and my “introverted” art (non-objective based on natural forms) patterns a personal response to the world of nature that surrounds me. Each piece is a reminder of the moment that created it, but all are linked through their shaped and layered surfaces which parallel the layers of my life. Early experiences with theater design taught me to make forms that were held together with a glue soaked cloth called Celastic. This translated into a personal art medium that has always involved sculpting base shapes and covering them with my version of papier mache – materials devalued in the art world but accessible, cheap and plentiful for me.

My work is real in itself rather than a representation of reality. Outlines re verify the constructed shapes; surface texture and brushstrokes, and value added with glazes of transparent and opaque color all emphasize the 3D of real and invented shadows. I create variety in a more physical, satisfying way by bending forms to an internal feeling for the shape of things rather than what would come from observing the real variety of nature and humans. I am making art to restore health – metaphors for an increasingly unpredictable world as “topographies” exploring asymmetrical balance. These are surfaces on which I can have some impact in a world in which I have trouble trying to do so.

First Friday Featuring Ree Slocum and Katie Gibbs, Sep 4th 5 to 8 pm

2009-08-31T17:31:32-07:00

This month we feature the work of metal sculptor Katie Gibbs and photographer Ree Slocum. Come talk with them at our reception on September 4th, from 5 to 8 pm, while listening to guitar music by Michael Guleff and tasting wine poured by Mendocino Wine Company.

Katie does metalwork and is currently working on a very large steel garden gate with the design of a Valley Oak. She is also making steel garden sculptures. Her current sculptures are of sylvan creatures who might be hiding in the oaks. She works with steel plate and tube, and cuts the design with a plasma torch, sometimes grinding and welding. Most of her work is done for a specific site, and she enjoys working on commission.

Ree Slocum's photographic flower images have been shown in shows and galleries in Northern California since 2004. Her work is in private collections in many countries around the world. Ree's use of natural light and color tantalize the imagination...one is drawn into the heart of a flower, and the image is continually unfolding, as the flower is frozen in time.

Classical Guitarist Michael Guleff will play at the opening with selections from the baroque and classical period as well as some contemporary work. Michael has a Masters Degree in classical guitar and teaches world music for Mendocino College.

All Mendocino Wine Company wines are inspired by (and essentially connected to) Mendocino County, the place and its people. Paul Dolan along with Tom, Tim, and Tommy Thornhill Jr. have come together to create Mendocino Wine Company, which acquired Parducci Wine Cellars and is developing several new brands and wines consistent with a theme of sustaining what's best, and creating what's next.