photo caption: Self-Portrait as Stele: Honoring My Journey, 2010

Happy/L.A. Hyder, Edgewater Gallery’s featured artist for March, is exhibiting pieces from her on-going feminist series in celebration of International Women’s Day. Using images from film and from digital photographs taken over her 49 years in photography, the series incorporates words with images.

One triptych uses Merle Woo’s ‘letter to Ma’ from This Bridge Called My Back; ‘Warning…’ blends ghosted images from her childhood and her own writing, a spoken word poem she’s performed internationally – and will perform as part of her artist’s talk at the Gallery on First Friday, March 1, at 6 p.m.

A writer as well as visual artist, she is hosting a reading for the recently published book Dispatches from Lesbian America, short stories and memoir by lesbian writers, on Saturday, March 2, 6:30 p.m. at the Gallery (doors open at 6 and books will be available).

Hyder’s color photograph ‘Cresting Kehoe’ recently placed 2nd in the Mendocino Art Center’s member exhibit/Ocean Theme. Her Spring Ranch imagery will travel for Mendocino’s Sister City bi-annual Omachi – Miasa International Art Exchange.

You can see Hyder’s images at Edgewater throughout the year. She says: “I moved here three years ago and was immediately embraced by the arts community. It is an exciting place and time to be here as an artist – the headlands, the exquisite Pacific, inspire me every day. And I’m truly pleased to be a member of Edgewater Gallery.”

Also in March, Edgewater Welcomes emerging artist Benjamin Stonecipher III. “I look at the colors, shapes and depth of the horizon for inspiration,” he tells us. “I am experimenting with new media and styles. My paintings are a result of several layers of different media, and their chemical properties create a surprising range of blending and separation of color and textures.”

Edgewater is open daily, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. 356 N. Main St, Ft. Bragg.