HOORAY FOR MAY

Okay, officially May Day was yesterday, but get ready for a big May Day Weekend that's all abloom with local art and art events.

Check out the First Friday Art Tour Friday night to get in the mood, but that's only the aperitif. On Saturday and Sunday (May 5 and 6), welcome back the Santa Cruz Clay collective for their 8th annual show and sale at Bargetto Winery. Participating artists include Jacquie Walton (that's her gorgeous dragonfly vase), whose Arts & Crafts Movement-inspired art pottery is streamlined, tactile, sophisticated and yet simply beautiful.

Also on the bill are two generations of the uniquely talented Hennig family—Dan and Laurie, and Iver and Jennifer—with their antic animal sculptures, reptile and bird bowls, and playfully surreal ceramic statuary.  You'll find the functional pottery of SC favorites Steven and Bonnie Barisof and George  Dymesich, the figurative ceramic sculptures of Nora Sarkissian, the slip-decorated pottery of Tasha High, and much, much more—20 booths in all, from the Bargetto parking lot into the charming, creekside wine-tasting courtyard. Showtime is 11 am to 5 pm, Saturday and Sunday.

Speaking of collectives, the 17th Avenue art studios in beautiful midtown Live Oak open their doors this weekend for their annual Spring Show. Look for a variety of paintings, sculpture, drawings, art papermaking, encaustic, and jewelry. Or just poke around; it's always fun to see who's new in the complex. Doors open Saturday and Sunday, 11 am to 6 pm.

Over on the Westside, there's a new Art For Art show at the R. Blitzer Gallery. Co-curated by artists Dee Hooker and Sara Friedlander, the guerrilla artists of AFA stage collective local shows a few times a year, with a percentage of the proceeds going to to the Santa Cruz Artists' Assistance Rlief Fund (SCAARF), which provides funding for local artists facing career-threatening emergencies.

There are 35 artists in the show, which features painting, drawing, photography, scupture and other 3D media, jewelry, and wearable art. FFAT reception is 5-9 pm, Friday, May 4. Artists Reception is Saturday, May 5, 11 am to 5 pm. The show runs at the Blitzer through May 26.

And while you're out there don't miss the annual May Day Garden and Art Show at  mosaic artist Nancy Howells' Painted Chair Studio (421 Gharkey Street, SC). Tour Nancy's beautiful wrap-around garden and enjoy the work of 15 participating artists, including Alena Byrnes with her distinctive jewelry, the "Serendipty" jams  and preserves of Lynette and Kristen Cederquist, these colorful Kimekomi "Everyday Ornaments" by Ann Ostermann, and many, many more.  (Salient tip: Mother's Day is just around the corner!)

Hours are 10 am to 5 pm, Saturday and Sunday. I'll see you there!

ON, BLITZER!

No, it's not Santa's eighth reindeer. The R. Blitzer Gallery, over on the west side, is the best-kept art secret in Santa Cruz. Occupying a vast, spacious loft area in part of the old Wrigley Building, this impressive space—less than a year old—is a new resource for local art lovers. Genial proprietor Robert Blitzer originally rented the space as a studio for building his own massive metal sculptures, but in recent months he has generously made it available for public art exhibits. Which is great news for the rest of us in a county bubbling over with artists, yet chronically short of designated art spaces.

Some 34 local artists are represented in the current Blitzer show, Art for Art. Originally scheduled as a weekend show earlier this month to benefit the Santa Cruz Artists' Assistance & Relief Fund (SCAARF), the Art for Art exhibit is held over by popular demand for the rest of this year and on through First Friday (Jan 7) in the new year. Now that the first wave of holiday madness is over, if you have some quality time to spare, I suggest you run right out and see it.

Of course, there are strengths and weaknesses in a show of this size, with so many artists working in a variety of media —painting, glass, sculpture, encaustic, ceramics, photography, assemblage and installation. But there's plenty to love, as well. I was mesmerized by Coeleen Kiebert's series of "Scouts" and "Navigators." In these ceramic sculptures, figures with piquant faces in steampunk goggles and gear-studded helmets float through weirdly organic, distressed Art Nouveau-type structures of flowering tubes in metallic colors (copper; patina green) that might be kelp beds underwater (or in deep space), prison bars, or labyrinths of the mind. These pieces pass the first essential test of successful art—they invite you to keep looking, and you find there's always more to see.



Intriguing too are the playful new figurative paintings of D. Hooker. (That's one of her new images, up top, used to publicize the show.) Best known for her close-up portraits of "real and imagined" subjects, her fresh, cheeky mixed-media paintings on wooden boards and cigar boxes, have plenty of attitude and brio. Jenny Morten shows an array of her evocative, sculptural porcelain bowls with their distinctive pinched or scalloped edges, many incorporating subtle citrus colors (lemon; tangerine) to complement her traditional palette of aqua and pale green.



Color and texture pop in Jim MacKenzie's abstract Graffiti series of photographic images laminated onto board. David Fleming offers a selection of loosely rendered, almost impressionistic new landscapes and cityscapes. Assemblages range from Jack Howe's surreal doll-and-found-object pieces to the precise, formalized, monochromatic work of Victoria May. Large installations are contributed by fabric wizard Kathleen Crocetti and Ned Greene. And this is just a fraction of the show. Plan to spend some time and wander around; there's a lot to see.

This is the third exhibit from Art For Art, an organization co-founded and co-directed by D. Hooker and mixed-media photographer Sara Friedlander to curate shows that raise money for the Santa Cruz arts community. Earlier this year, the group lunched SCAARF, a companion organization set up to assist local artists experiencing a career-threatening emergency by providing grants and resources. 20% of all sales at the Blitzer show go to SCAARF. Donations are also accepted at the gallery, and online. Read all about it here.

Then hie thee off to the Blitzer Gallery and check it out. (Here's the map.) Gallery hours are 10 am to noon, and 2 pm to 5 pm. Mon-Thurs this week (Dec 27–30), and Mon-Fri next week (Jan 3-7). The Closing Night reception will be Friday, Jan 7, from 5-9 pm, but trust me, by then it will be way too packed with artists, patrons, and bonhomie to see anything. So, to paraphrase the immortal words of The Moody Blues, if you wanna see the show, darlin', you better go now!