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Spencer Brewer & Esther Siegel

Multi Arts; Performing Arts: Music; Visual Arts: Constructions/Collage, Mixed Media, Sculpture

Spencer Brewer & Esther Siegel Overview Transforming the everyday cast-off into something extraordinary… Spencer Brewer & Esther Siegel have a passion for creating quirky and fantastical pieces of art out of re-purposed, or ‘found art’ materials. From the whimsical and humorous to the punk and dark, each piece is one of a kind. Creating “new compositions” from vintage or unusual objects, they inspire viewers with a sense of delight, surprise and sometimes awe. Working both separately and as a team, Spencer & Esther confer regularly on their artwork. “We don’t always have the same vision, but we always listen and that feedback can open new doors.” Their studio is a wonderland of eccentric odds and ends and then some. Nicknamed the “Barn of Curiosities, Oddities and Light”, one discovers a much venerated collection of eccentric obsolete ephemera & vintage electromechanical obscura giving these artists endless options for their transformative art. Esther Siegel Esther’s “late in life artist” emerged from the scrapbooking world. From there she expanded to unique one of a kind greeting cards and then moved into ‘found art’ sculptures. Her pieces are a mixture of the whimsical and dark humor. They range from Barbie Doll parts (Altered Barbies) to old neck ties (Awards), to horse and doll parts (Horse People) and antique toasters (Twisted Toasters). She describes her creative process as sometimes very slow and frustrating and goes through many variations on a theme before settling on the finished piece. Spencer Brewer Spencer Brewer has been creating art and music since he could walk. For much of his life his focus was on pianos, composing, creating, recording and producing music. He also worked on over 20,000 pianos, crank phonographs and pump organs which gave him the opportunity to collect unique and obscure vintage mechanical objects along the way. In 2006 he began to focus his creative energy on ‘re-purposed or found-art’, using parts he had amassed over the years to create unusual sculptures. “I love vintage 60-150 year-old beautifully designed parts and objects. The graphic design and engineering of the industrial to the science fiction eras inspire me.”

Doug Browe

Visual Arts: Ceramics, Functional and/or Decorative, Mixed Media, Sculpture, Visual Arts Instructor

Doug Browe, Potter, Ceramic Artist and Sculptor My work focuses on history, problem solving, and relationships. Humankind both anthropomorphizes vessels, to the point of manifesting them with power as if surrogate humans; and employs them as metaphors for humans and manifests them in architectural form, they become a protected sanctuary of containment. It excites me to be part of this connection and help move this timeless conversation forward. From the dawn of civilization humans have had a relationship with vessels; we have from the beginning, anthropomorphized them, manifesting in them the power and honor of being surrogate humans. In turn we use them to mimic our many archetypes. My intrigue of this relationship between humans and the vessel moves my work. Currently, I lead the Ceramics and Sculpture Department at Mendocino College in Ukiah CA and have a studio practice making utilitarian ceramics and sculpture in Elk CA. “I am intrigued by the relationship between the vessel, architectural form and the human figure, that place where the human figure finds form in vessels and architecture and architecture and vessels finds form in figuration. I use these narratives to express a variety of personal and social issues in my work”.

Sunny Chancellor

Graphic Arts; Multi Arts; Visual Arts: Architectural Illustration, Graphic Arts, Illustration, Mixed Media, New Media/Technology, Painting, Photography, Sculpture

Sunny has been experimenting with and around the digital arts realm for many years. With the digital realm comes a great vast expanse of possibility, and Sunny has enjoyed the expansive nature to it’s fullest. From digital photo-editing, to animation, to computer controlled routers, the endless possibilities reflect from his work. Color, shape, design; all interplay in this new, modern medium expression.

Kristin Coddington-Gordon

Visual Arts: Ceramics, Sculpture

Kristin Coddington-Gordon of What Now Ceramics is a ceramic sculpture living on the Mendocino Coast. She is a fierce fighter for the environment, a mother of three creative half wild daughters and married to a guy who knows not to get in the way of her clay. With a back ground in natural history and scientific illustration and most importantly a love for the planet and the self taught, unobstructed time to create Kristin sculpts expressive pieces that seem to be asking for your help. Each sculpture is made by hand without the use of a mold making each piece unique and individual. The sculptures are raku fired and waxed with bees wax. The wood used in Kristin’s sculptures is in collaboration with her husband Bob Gordon who mills local, salvaged wood. By creating sculptures of struggling species, Kristin gives animals a voice. The message is left undefined but is clearly in reference to environmental collapse. She hopes her art stirs up an emotion prompting others to do what they can. The question is asked. What now? See more at WhatNowCeramics.com Also Kristin’s sculpture can be seen at the Lansing Street Gallery in Mendocino & Northcoast Artists Gallery in Fort Bragg.

Meg Courtney

Visual Arts: Ceramics, Sculpture

William de la Mare

Literary Arts; Performing Arts: Spoken Word; Visual Arts: Ceramics, Photography, Sculpture

Growing up in the vicinities of London and New York, and coming from a family of artists and art lovers, I’ve been exposed to the arts all my life. I received my first camera as a child and developed the interest through high school. I was scouted in high school and given a scholarship to attend art school. Transferring into a more photography-specific path, I earned my Bachelor of Fine Arts degree with high honors from RIT. By that time, I was concentrating on photographing water and glass as a means of visually depicting spiritual/philosophical ideas pertaining to concepts of infinity. Along the way, I became a lawyer, ultimately focusing on global risk management, but continued to photograph, wrote the first book in a trilogy of epic novels on the theme of life, and also picked up practices in wood sculpture and porcelain pottery. More recently, I have returned my primary focus to art and water, concentrating on water’s various forms – snow, ice, rain, stream, sea, mist, steam, fog, cloud – and, for more than two years now, the Pacific Ocean from the Mendocino Headlands. Since being in Mendocino I have written the second part of my trilogy called Archetypes (Books I and II are now for sale in the Water Gallery) on the theme of death, and am currently working on the third – on the theme of Rebirth.

Judith Edwards

Visual Arts: Ceramics, Crafts, Glasswork, Jewelry, Mixed Media, Sculpture, Works on paper

My relationship with clay began at Grove Street College in Oakland in the 1970s and at Chico State I received a BA in Ceramics. My work is influenced by Mayan Art, Botany, my Marine Science studies & an attraction to Mysticism. Some of my early work also incorporated ceramic sculpture with textiles. Currently, the figurines, tiles and decorative pieces I have been working on are inspired by nature and the mystical use of spirit totems.

Katie Gibbs-Gengoux

Visual Arts: Sculpture

Keena Good

Visual Arts: Sculpture

Daniel Good

Visual Arts: Sculpture

Diego Harris

Visual Arts: Sculpture

Ling-yen Jones

Multi Arts; Visual Arts: Ceramics, Crafts, Glasswork, Graphic Arts, Jewelry, Mixed Media, Photography, Printmaking, Sculpture, Textiles, Works on paper

The Coast Highway Artists Collective (CHAC) was formed in March, 2012. The Collective includes artists working in various genres and media. Most of us live on or near the coast of the Pacific Ocean, in an area called “Mendonoma,” which includes the adjacent southern Mendocino County and northern Sonoma County in California. Our gallery in Point Arena has a long art history. The building, which is easily recognizable by its red paint and bright yellow sun logo, was originally a home for a family with five children. Decades ago, the building was converted into an art gallery and was known as City Art. Many artists in the local community contributed to creating the gallery and hosting art exhibits. Years later, the gallery became inactive and stood vacant for a time. CHAC was then formed and refurbished the building to use it for year-round displays of local members’ art. Guest artists are often invited to exhibit at the gallery. Our Collective member artists take turns staffing the gallery on its open days, usually four, including weekends (see our current schedule on the Home page), so that whenever anyone visits, there will be one of our artists there to serve them. The building, with its charming garden, is oftentimes used for community events. .

Marta MacKenzie

Visual Arts: Ceramics, Sculpture

Loren Madsen

Visual Arts: Functional and/or Decorative, Sculpture

ACMC Board member Loren Madsen has an extensive background in sculpture, conceptual art and other media and has exhibited internationally. His work has been featured in museums nationwide and in France, Japan, and Canada. Originally from the East Bay, he has received the New Talent Purchase Award from the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, grants from the National Endowment for the Arts and other sources, and Honorable Mention in the Vietnam Veterans’ Memorial Competition in 1981. His first solo exhibition, in Los Angeles in 1973, consisted of precariously balanced bricks rooted by gravity and friction. An earthquake destroyed the show before it opened. “Despite this divine critique,” says Madsen, “I continued with these early sculptures, which mutated into large site-specific installations, of which the only record is photographs.” By 1994 he was using the Statistical Abstract of the U.S. and other sources to turn data into sculpture and prints. “These are broadly historical if the viewer chooses to engage with the information,” Madsen explains, “and abstract if the viewer does not.” He also designs and builds furniture. Samples of his recent art can be seen at www.newloren.com.

James Maxwell

Visual Arts: Ceramics, Functional and/or Decorative, Graphic Arts, Illustration, Mixed Media, New Media/Technology, Painting, Printmaking, Sculpture, Visual Arts Instructor, Works on paper

Multi-media Artist, Author, Arts Educator, James Maxwell moved to the Mendocino Coast in 1973. A few examples of his prolific creative work can be seen below. Top of The Fen (From Visual Essay on Our Local Wilderness) 2’ X 4’ acrylic paint Some details: James E. Maxwell Born: June 15, 1941 Riverside, California Drew and Painted at an early age Riverside School District 1946 thru 1959 Childhood summer vacations with immediate family: 1949 thru 1958 Pacific Northwest and Western Canada Joined US Air Force 1959 After military testing for skills Studied Pattern Recognition and types of Military Codes Assigned Bremerhaven, Germany US Security Service Three years duty. My own one room painting studio in Germany 1960-1963 Traveled extensively throughout Western Europe Museums, and artists’ open studios College: BFA, MFA Art Center College of Design 1963 -1969 William Zacha’s Geranium (Brought Home) 3’ X 4’ oil paint w/copper and faux gold leaf Work: The Hollywood Chapter of The National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences Los Angeles Area Television Academy Awards 1970 Honors JAMES MAXWELL Graphics For Contributions to the winning of an Area Television Academy Award OUT OF THE SHADOWS KNBC-TV june 26, 1970 PBS-TV Staff Artist Los Angeles 1974-1976 One Man Showings: La Cieniga Blvd – Hollywood, CA each year 1973-1976 1976 Moved to Mendocino, Northern California Fine Arts-illustration Painting/Sculpture instructor Mendocino Art Center & College of the Redwoods Retired at 68 years of age Returned to Europe when 70 for six weeks visiting friends in England, France, Switzerland, Northern Italy. At 72 returned to England and Northern Scotland, Isle of Sky Traveled with painting supplies South Pacific, Hawaii, American Samoa, Western Samoa, Kingdom of Tonga, and New Zealand, Ireland East West and South for six weeks spring Summer 2016 Returned home overlooking Fort Bragg, CA’s Pudding Creek “I focus on what I can learn from images that question me as much as I question them.” JM

Sonya Popow

Visual Arts: Ceramics, Earthworks, Functional and/or Decorative, Sculpture

SONYA POPOW I’ve had my hands in clay for more than fifty years. I was rigorously trained as a production potter, spending two years as an apprentice to Charles Counts in Appalachia, then studying with his teacher, Marguerite Wildenhain at Pond Farm Pottery in Guerneville. In mid life I returned to graduate school and worked on a series of monumental sculptures. I enjoy making sculpture to fire in local atmospheric kilns. Many of my sculptures have come from explorations of the plants in my garden with various lenses. Lately I’ve been inspired by whale vertebrae and the amazing shapes of bones. I always wander in pictures of pots and sculpture ancient and contemporary. My wood fire pots are fired in either Leslie Campbell’s Albion/Aum Anagama or in Nick Schwartz’s Cider Creek Anagama. These Anagama kilns are fired entirely with wood for up to 7 days with a community of potters stoking constantly in 6 to 8 hour shifts. The pots may have a liner glaze, but the subtle ‘glaze’ on these pots is from the volatile atmosphere of the very hot wood fumes and ash in the kiln interacting with the clay body. SHAPESHIFTERS These small sculptures have no ‘right side up’. They can be hung, played with, turned and displayed in many directions. The series began as a symbolic Buddhist ‘mala’ of 108 prayer beds. Each piece is still made and fired with a quote from the Dalai Lama inside. During the firing process, the paper quote is burned but perhaps the energy remains or maybe you have some words of your own. “My religion is kindness” Dalai Lama I hope for pieces that evoke some mysterious found object – a seed, a leaf, a shell, a bone. If I am successful the viewer will ask, “Where did you find it?” and, “Can I touch? I continue to make medium fire (cone 5) functional pottery at my home/studio in Fort Bragg. Call for a visit at my outdoor showroom -707-964-5128.

Robert Rhoades

Visual Arts: Ceramics, Mixed Media, Painting, Printmaking, Sculpture

Creekwood Studios is a fine art and art travel business. As a recently retired professor of art, Bob continues to produce and show original art. For nearly 20 years, he and his wife have arranged and led small, upscale, art and culture trips abroad. Content, context and craft, the {“three C’s”} developed over decades of teaching is the technique Bob uses to help others understand and appreciate art and architecture. Bob makes both classical and contemporary work accessible to all. His vast knowledge of art processes is a unique approach to appreciating and understanding both art and culture As a skilled teacher, lecturer, scholar and storyteller, Bob will enable you to advance whether you are a beginner or an advanced artist. His instruction will push you to higher levels of accomplishment. On past trips we have created paintings from ochres gathered from the ancient quarries of Roussillion. We have strolled the streets of Florence where the rivalries between the Medici and the Strozzi families shaped the Renaissance. We have shared an afternoon glass of wine before a classical concert at St. Nicolas Cathedral in Prague, and joined in a local party for dancing after a home cooked meal in our villa in Tuscany. These are but a few of the experiences Creekwood Studios has created with new experiences waiting to be made.

Fred Sternkopf

Visual Arts: Film, Graphic Arts, Illustration, Painting, Sculpture, Visual Arts Instructor

Welcome to my world of art! Being born into a family with generations of German artists, I was almost destined to become an artist. At age 5, I had my first solo exhibition of paintings in Michigan . . . and Art continued thereafter as my central focus of life. I completed studies at Michigan State University, the University of Wisconsin, the Art Institute of Chicago and the San Francisco Art Institute. I live and work between the Northcoast of California and New Mexico. My work can be found in private, corporate, and museum collections throughout America and in Western Europe. Many forms of art have played a part in my world of expression. My sculpture ranges from figurative realism to minimalist abstract . . . monumental to minimal in size. Materials used include corten steel, stainless steel, wood, stone and more. Each new commissioned project dictates the range of expression. The rules come from the heart. Ravens have often been my muse. They’ve long played a role in the spiritual beliefs of many cultures worldwide, since the beginning of mankind. They’re considered the wisest of all birds, and often seem to express a special wisdom beyond the human realm. Since early museum exposure to the works of Alexander Calder, I’ve sought to expand in that direction with my own personal mobiles. Now often personal and corporate collections include my mobiles in addition to their Calders. Cartooning has played an important role in my life since the time I could hold a pencil as a small child. Over a thousand of my cartoons have been published to date in newspapers, magazines and books. For over 20 years my “Dr. Doo” political/social commentary cartoon strip has appeared in the Anderson Valley Advertiser, one of the last truly progressive independent publications. A weekly newspaper with distribution across the country and abroad, especially featured in college and university bookstores. “Dennis Rodman”Private CollectionChicago, ILAcrylic on Board Other graphic art has included portraiture of several well known sports and entertainment figures for their collections. Also I’ve worked with social activists, such as the Black Panthers. In addition to fine art paintings, I’ve done book illustrations …and several logo designs. My love of sports has taken me into commercial graphics for several professional sports teams, including Giants, A’s, Niners, Raiders and the Golden State Warriors. Film, video and photography have also played an important part in my creative life. My short documentary and docudrama films have won awards in several international film festivals, including the San Francisco, New York and Chicago festivals. I’ve also taught Film and Video Production with the assistance of a “California Arts Council” grant. In the commercial world of advertising, I’ve produced several TV commercials and corporate films for national distribution. “Women In Black”Sculpture CommissionStainless Steel & StoneCarolyn M. Owen CollectionMendocino Coast, CA Much of my work is political or spiritual in content. I strongly believe fine art should speak directly to the soul. With each encounter with a work of art, something new should be seen and realized…over and over. True art shouldn’t just be decorative, but add to the expansion of the inner self…the soul, and bring about personal reflection and insight. Every time one looks at the same piece of real fine art it should be a new experience…a revelation…helping to discover oneself. Frederick Sternkopf P.O.Box 743 Mendocino, CA 95460 (707) 962-0410 Frederick Sternkopf

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