SPREAD THE JOY

Look at the cool Yule card we received from my sister-in-law in the Virgin Islands! It was handcrafted in Haiti; the applied material spelling out NOEL is banana bark (which is shed naturally from the trees, according to the back of the card).

Gathering and prepping  the bark provides a source of income for impoverished families in one of the oldest and least wealthy of Caribbean Island republics.

I don't know where the image of the Wise Men comes from, but I love it! Notice how all the faces and beards are slightly different. And look at their wizard robes! This reminds us that "Magi" is the plural of "mage," as in magician, or a wise person.

(Although it's a bit surprising that they're all white. Traditional representations generally show at least one of the magi as a man of color, as befits a story set in the Middle East.)

What makes this card extra special to us is that came with a donation to the Heifer International organization in our name. This is an outfit that supplies vital livestock, like milk cows or goats, to rural village families worldwide. Helping to spread peace on earth, one cow and/or one card at a time!

Speaking of which, here is another of my favorite 2012 holiday images. Our friend, Liz Lyons Friedman made this card from her recent linocut print, simply called "Peace." Simple, elegant, and to-the-point!

Noel (from the French word for Christmas carol, or song) and Peace. May you enjoy plenty of both this holiday season!

ART, WINE & WILDLIFE

Listen up, me hearties.

The Capitola Art & Wine Festival celebrates its 30th anniversary this year. The fest itself doesn't take place until September, but the kickoff party is this Thursday night, 6-9 pm, at Bargettos Winery in Soquel.

This year's event has a "Pirates & Pearls" theme, and the public is invited to come dressed like a "pirate, scallywag, or saucy wench."  $35 procures you a 2012 Art & Wine Festival Glass, wine-tasting from 21 Santa Cruz Mountain Wineries, Caribbean-style hors d'oeuvres provided by E & J Catering, participation in a silent and live auction, an art auction, and music by platter-spinning Music Now DJ. Call 831 475-6522 for tickets.

In the meantime, feast your eyes on this year's Festival poster by printmaker extraordinaire Liz Lyons Friedman.  (I love the handy corkscrew stuck in among the paintbrushes!) Liz will be signing copies of the poster at the kickoff party, so stop in and claim your fair share of the booty.

Another anniversary on the horizon is the first birthday of the spacious new family-friendly Scotts Valley Library. To celebrate, SVL has commissioned ten life-sized, papier-mache animal sculptures from Santa Cruz artist Beth Allison Gripenstraw, to be unveiled at the SVL birthday party this Saturday.

Beth showed some of her papier-mache cheetahs at the library earlier this year, and they were such a hit with the public, she was asked to make new animals for the library's permanent collection. Seeing an opportunity to do something educational, Beth chose animals from the endangered species list.

This is Sasha, the Siberian Tiger, so soulful and lifelike, you can almost hear his rumbling purr. Other critters in the collection include a Snow Leopard, a Siamese Crocodile, and an Iberian Lynx, and I can't wait to see what the other ones are!

Beth will be at the SVL birthday party from 2 to 4 pm. Cake and refreshments will be served. Also, check out the "gently used" book sale from 10 am to 4 pm. Click here for more information.

ART AND SOLE

Feeling shoe-ish? Why not hotfoot it down to the Sockshop in downtown Santa Cruz this Friday night (November 11) for the Sockshop and Shoe Art, Wine and Shoes Benefit. Back by popular demand (they initiated the first event of this kind back in 2009), it's a celebration of art, shoes, and wine, built around a silent art auction to benefit the Homeless Services Center.

And we're not taking about just any old art auction. It's all about the shoes, with all donated work from local artists revolving around everyone's favorite fetish object. Printmaker Liz Lyons Friedman offers a giclee of her popular linocut, "Change Your Shoes, Change Your Attitude." As usual, James Aschbacher (aka Art Boy) has a slightly different take on the subject in his original painting, "Good Taste In Shoes."

In addition to art about shoes, the auction also features some pretty amazing artwork painted ON shoes. Check out the Santa Cruz Patch page on this event, and be sure to look at Judi Oyama's slideshow of shoe art being featured in the auction. Don't miss Jimbo Phillips' rad, hand-painted "Santa Cruz" surfer Vans, and his companion painting of a mermaid on the rocks near Lighthouse Point.

Other shoe art painters include Kori Thompson, Danny Sun, and Joey Vela. Much of the artwork is on display for your perusal at the Sockshop right now, so go check it out. The event is scheduled for 6 to 9 pm, Friday evening, November 11, at the Sockshop, 1515 Pacific Avenue. (In the old ID Building, for all you old-timers.) Food and drink will be provided by Chocolate; music provided by Blake Redding. Be prepared for a festive evening of art and sole.

MERRIE MIDSUMMER

Here comes the sun (do-da-doo-doo), and you might as well get out there and bask because today is the Summer Solstice, the longest day of the year. It's all downhill from here; starting tomorrow, the days start getting shorter again, so go soak it up while you can.

This is also the first day of summer, according to our modern calendar, which is weird because this season is also traditionally known as Midsummer. (Wrestled out of the grasp of the pagans by the Church, as usual, and co-opted into Christian mythology, the festival of Midsummer now technically falls on June 24, St. John's Day in the Christian calendar.) But it makes more sense if you go back to the seasonal Celtic calendar, when summer was reckoned from May 1 to August 1, with the Summer Solstice landing smack in the middle—hence, Midsummer.

And if you remember your Shakespeare, you also know that Midsummer is one of those uncanny times when fairies and sprites are said to run amok in the world of mortals. The yellow flowers of St. Johns Wort are recommended, draped over doorways and across thresholds to keep the most mischievous of Puck's legions at bay.

Of course, here in Santa Cruz, one of the best parts of summer is the summer produce now flooding our local farmers markets. Strawberries, apricots, peppers, oh my! In celebration of this phenomenon, Aptos printmaker Liz Lyons Friedman has produced this fabulous new linocut, which just won the competition for 35th Anniversary commemorative poster for the Monterey Bay Certified Farmers Market organization. Congratulations, Liz!

Liz will display this poster, along with a selection of her original hand-colored linocuts and woodcuts, at the Aptos Farmers Market at Cabrillo College this Saturday, June 25, until about noon. And mark your datebooks for Saturday, July 23, when Liz will be back at the Market signing copies of her poster at the Farmers Market 35th Anniversary celebration.

Whatever calendar you prefer, what better way to celebrate the season than strolling among the bins of local bounty, listening to live music, and soaking up the rays? These are the days we wait for all year, so make them count!

PRE-HOLIDAY SPIRIT

Good grief, it's December already—panic in the streets! And as usual, there's way too much going on in Santa Cruz. As the Red Queen says to Alice, "It takes all the running you can do to stay in the same place. If you want to get somewhere else, you must run twice as fast as that!" Boy, that's the story of my life.

For starters, our monthly First Friday Art Tour returns this week, with art of every description by local artists on view in a staggering variety of venues countywide—cafes, home design shops, beauty salons, a bank, a tattoo parlor, a winery, Loudon Nelson Center, and even a few designated art galleries, like the Santa Cruz Art League, Felix Kulpa, Artisans, and the MAH. (That's "Christmas Tree," by veteran local artist David Fleming, who's showing new work at the Center Street Grill, along with Kathy Cheer.) Get a complete list of exhibits and venues at the First Friday website, and don't forget to bundle up, cuz, baby, it's cold outside!


Speaking of art in frozen climates, the annual Art in the Cellars holiday art show takes place at Bargetto's Winery in Soquel this weekend. Art Boy and I had the pleasure of presenting our wares at this event a few years ago (back when I was making my "Weird Sisters" line of fabric dolls, like my "Infinite Jester" icon over there in the menu column). It was a fun show to do—lots of interesting art tucked into the nooks and crannies between the wine barrels, live holiday music, and plenty of bonhomie. But, ye gads, was it chilly in there!


It has something to do with keeping the vats at a consistent temperature as the wine ferments, and heaven knows no one wants to interfere with the delicate alchemy by which grapes transform into festive libations. But here's a word to the wise: pack a down jacket and mittens as you prepare to go spelunking into the cellar. (It's actually a warehouse adjoining the parking lot, but it might as well be subterranean). Still, local artists like printmaker Liz Lyons Friedman (above), photographer John Gavrilis, and many others are well worth the trip, and whats a little cold, anyway, at this wintry time of year? Nothing that can't be cured with a glass or two of Chaucer's Mead. Drop in Saturday or Sunday, from 11 am to 5 pm.



Still looking to jump-start the holiday spirit? Forget Black Friday, Cyber Monday, Ruby Tuesday, Wingnut Wednesday, or any other artificial, media-contrived shopping frenzy. Instead, how about opting out for a slow, scenic drive up the Slow Coast to Davenport for a Holiday Open House this Sunday at La Sirena Antiques & Gifts?

You'll find an eclectic mix of goodies, with a special emphasis on French country antiques, international textiles, and hand-crafted ethnic beads from around the world. In keeping with the spirit of the season, you'll also find a groaning board of cookies, nibblies, and Yuletide cheer of the bottled variety set up in the courtyard to welcome you in from the cold. Hours are 2-5 pm, Sunday afternoon, at 500 Highway 1.

And as long as you're up there, stop in at the New Davenport Gallery (450 Highway 1) and check out the December "Metal Is Magical" show. This hit parade of local metalworkers includes everything from massive sculptures by Fred Hunnicutt, Jamie Abbott, and Holt Murray to precious metal jewelry by Lynda Watson and Lynn Guenther, to name just a few. That all these creative, talented artists live and work right here in our little corner of the world is enough to put anybody in a holiday mood.

And while we're on the subject of overflowing talent, the Santa Cruz Film Festival is hosting an "Open Projector" event tonight (Thursday, Dec 2), from 5 to 8pm at the Vino Tabi Winery in the Swift Street Courtyard (334 Ingalls St. SC). Aspiring filmmakers are invited to bring your movie in DVD format, 10 minutes or shorter, for a public showing before a discerning crowd of film enthusiasts. First come, first served; no prizes, no pressure. And it's free! What could be more festive?

ART IN THE STREETS

There's a new buzzword being bandied about these days by professional artists as a mantra for surviving in a sputtering economy.

No, not "plastics." The word is "commissions."

At the Capitola Art and Wine Festival a couple of weekends back, a potter, a glassblower, and a mixed-media painter ran into each other in one of the booths and started comparing notes on coping strategies for artists in the new recession. What they discovered they all had in common, Numero Uno on each one's list, was commission work. Sales may be sluggish at outdoor shows or in galleries these days, but commissions appear to be on the upswing; some are for public art, but most come from private collectors who know exactly what they want and aren't afraid to ask for it.

Understand, by "collectors," I don't mean billionaires in stretch limos, or swanky nobles, à la the Medicis, throwing around purses of gold (not that every artist alive wouldn't love to have a patron like that, but let's try to stay on track, here). In real life, especially here in Santa Cruz, collectors are ordinary working folks with mortgages, families, and property taxes, just like the rest of us. In tough economic times, an artist's best friend can be the collector who already knows and appreciates his or her work. They've been affected by the economy too, and with less disposable income to dispose of on art, it makes sense for them to save their money for a piece over which they've had some personal input, something the artist makes just for them.

Not every piece of commission work has to be a strictly lifelike rendering of a person, place or object—or the Sistine Chapel. It can be abstract, edgy, a flight of fancy, whatever fits in with the artist's unique style. (Just look at some of the amazing things d hooker does with mixed media, paint, and photographs of her client's facial features.) If a collector already loves an artist's work, he's generally willing to trust her instincts. And artists shouldn't fear commission work as Art by Committee. Think of it more like a jazz improv—the collector plays a riff, the artist adds a little bass, harmony, a certain syncopation, and with a little savvy and a little alchemy, voila! Behold art.


If there's one artist in Santa Cruz who knows commissions, it's Liz Lyons Friedman. Not only was she asked to design the cover art for this year's 25th Anniversary Open Studios Catalogue/Guide, her original artwork has graced posters for the Sausalito Art Festival, Capitola Art and Wine, and the Begonia Festival. Catch up with Liz at the York Gallery today, from 5 to 7 p.m., where she'll be signing copies of this year's OS poster featuring her image, "Studios by the Sea." Posters sell for $20 at the shop, $30 signed.

The York Gallery is located at 2724 Soquel Avenue (831 426-0313), in beautiful, unincorporated Live Oak.


(Top: Capitola Art and Wine 2008, poster art by James Aschbacher)

"STUDIOS BY THE SEA"

Believe it or not, Open Studio is only a month away (the first three weekends in October), so break out those comfy shoes and start building up your stamina. The Cultural Council of Santa Cruz County announces that the Calendar/Guide to this year's event (including a handy fold-out map) will be available as of this Friday, September 3, at discerning outlets countywide. Art lovers can take this self-guided tour of artists studios from Davenport to Watsonville on their own, but the truly savvy will pick up the calendar first; the map is essential for plotting a relatively sane course through the 300+ artist's studios on view, and the calendar (with its thumbnails of every single participating artist's work) will make sure you don't overlook someone fabulous.

To celebrate the 25th Anniversary of this venerable art event, CCSCC has commissioned an original linocut from printmaker Liz Lyons Friedman to decorate this year's calender cover. No medium is left behind in Liz's gorgeous image, "Studios By the Sea" —painting, drawing, ceramics, pastels, sculpture, printmaking and photography are all included in her vivid and intricate design, along with the sun, the sea, and the redwoods of Santa Cruz County. (And if you know Liz, you can be sure she's got a bunch of grapes and a wine glass in there somewhere!)

Liz's cover image has been made into a commemorative poster, which will also be available as of this Friday ($30 signed and numbered, or $20, unleaded). Check out the CCSCC Open Studio web page for details. Liz will also do a poster signing later in September at the York Gallery, but more about that later.

Out of over 300 artists in this year's event, why was Liz chosen for the Silver Anniversary poster? She's the only artist in the county to have participated in OS every single year since it began in 1986. Talk about intrepid!