Kodiak Greenwood - Mendocino Art Center

Kodiak Greenwood
by Peggy Templer
Kodiak Greenwood is a native of both Big Sur
and the Mendocino Coast, and he cites those landscapes
as major inspirations in his development as a
photographer and artist.
Born in Big Sur, and a current resident there,
he came to Mendocino at a young age to live with
his father, and attended Mendocino schools through
high school. His father was poet, writer and environmentalist
Robert Greenwood, friend and contemporary
of Byrd Baker. The family has ties to the old
logging community of Greenwood (Elk).
Kodiak was always artistic, constantly drawing
and painting from a very early age. His first introduction
to photography came at age 12, on summer
vacations, when he travelled to British Columbia
with his father, who had given him a camera to
take along on the trip. His
love affair with landscape
photography began then,
capturing the magnificent
mountains, lakes and skies
of Canada.
He describes himself
as “a distracted artistic kid,
not much of a student.”
He was more interested
in surfing, playing lacrosse
and taking photographs
than studying. Although
he struggled in school, he
nonetheless was inspired
and influenced by the
teachers he had at the old
Mendocino alternative
high school, then called
Mendocino Academy.
His teachers included Julie
Brazill, Mike
M o r e l a n d ,
Bill Lemos,
Beth Ryan and
Adam Strupp.
Bill Brazill, his
photography
teacher, was
the first one to
teach him the traditional and alternative techniques
of photography. In addition, a friend and photographer
from Elk, Justin Lewis, provided adventure
and inspiration – the combination of the outdoors,
nature and cameras were a perfect fit for the two
of them. They spent hours hiking through the hills
and along the empty beaches of the Lost Coast and
p h o t o g r a p h e r
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Big Sur Coastline

Full Moon and Wildfire, Big Sur
the Headwaters, often sleeping overnight in their pickup
trucks to catch the sunrise, with cameras always at the
ready.
After high school, Kodiak and several friends went
to Indonesia on a six week surfing safari, which he documented
with his Nikon N80. He returned from that trip
with such a compelling interest in photography as a possible
career that he went to Santa Barbara to check out
the prestigious Brooks Institute of Photography. He was
Zion, Water Crevice
completely enthralled with what he found there, and
couldn’t get over the idea that doing a classroom
assignment meant taking photographs! He enrolled
at Brooks and completed the three year program and,
a sure indicator of his passion for photography, this
former distracted student graduated with honors.
Three teachers at Brooks, Nick Dekker,
Christopher Broughton and Paul Meyer, were
particularly inspirational, not only for their technical
mastery, but for their emphasis on following your
heart and your passion. Broughton taught him the
importance of previsualization, of seeing the composition
in your mind as you want it to appear in the final
image. Nick Dekker, a friend fond of the Big Sur, taught
the advanced fundamentals and the use of large format
cameras.
Kodiak returned to Big Sur after graduating from
Brooks, determined to make a living at photography while
living in the natural environment that inspires him (“the
bohemian history of Big Sur was a continual influence on
the development of my artistic vision,” he says.). His
career really accelerated with architectural and travel
photography assignments, which he continues to do.
He is currently working on a book about the history of
bohemian handmade houses in America and Europe
which is due to be published in 2011 by Rizzoli.
Kodiak’s chief passions are nature, travel, and environmental
photography. Recent assignments took
him to the World Climate Conference in Copenhagen;
the Atlas mountains in Morocco; Sardinia, Italy; Fiji
and more. In addition to photographic assignments,
Kodiak specializes in fine art photography featuring
nature and landscapes, and his work is in several private
collections. For his fine art photos, Kodiak uses
both color and black and white and prefers, rather
than digital, a large format camera, film, and a darkroom.
Kodiak’s work has won a number of awards, and
has been featured in many prominent publications,
including The Los Angeles Times, National Geographic
Adventure Magazine, Conde Nast Traveler, The New
York Times, Travel & Leisure, The Washington Post,
San Francisco Chronicle, Santa Barbara Independent,
New Zealand Magazine and others.
To see more of Kodiak’s work, visit his website at
www.kodiakgreenwood.com, or contact him by email at
kodiakgreenwood@gmail.com for more samples of his
work.
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Cover Feature
Birgit O’Connor
Birgit O’Connor has long been one of the most
popular and highly-regarded artists teaching in the Fine
Arts Department at the Mendocino Art Center. She is
a self-taught artist who works exclusively within the
challenging media of transparent watercolor, and is a
nationally and internationally sought-after instructor.
Birgit says about her work, “I strive to show that
Canna With Water Drops
watercolor can be bold, rich and dramatic.
“I feel that when you are accustomed to seeing
something in the same way day after day you seem to
forget the beauty that is held within it. I feel as though I
have the opportunity to take someone into a place they
have seen before and give them a different perspective.
I would like people to feel as if they could be part of
another world. To see beauty and simplicity, within that
complexity.
“Within the challenging media of watercolor, I am
able to express my interpretation of Nature’s unique
beauty. I began painting landscapes and have enjoyed
painting mist and valleys, homes and gardens. I found
that my paintings reflected the way that I viewed the
world – as from a distance. As I grew in my art, I became
fascinated with the unusual, the odd little corners of
a backyard, the world within the flowerbeds. I began
studying the intricate details of these hidden places, like
the layers of overlapping leaves and petals, the shadows
and the water droplets. Retrospectively, I liken this to the
increasing complexity of my own thoughts.
“Fascinated with depth, shadow and movement,
I found that the watercolor medium gave me a feeling
of working with subconscious emotion, that the landscape
or the flower itself became a vehicle for color and
form.”
Birgit lives in Bolinas, California, but has had a
long and fruitful relationship with the Mendocino coast:
“The Mendocino coast has always been a special place to
me. When I was a child my family would come to this
area to camp while my father would dive for abalone.
We would stay at Van Damme, Albion, and Russian
Gulch, to name just a few. This area has always had
such an inspiring magical quality to it, which I now try
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to bring into my paintings. The
clear water in which you can see
to the bottom and the sounds of
the waves and buoys have inspired
many of my seascapes and paintings
from the shore. The spring blooms
of rhododendrons and azaleas, and Santa Barbara
summer’s Peruvian lilies, Matilija
poppies, and the pink naked ladies that line many of the
older gardens have inspired many of my floral paintings.
“I remember coming to the Mendocino Art Center
in the beginning of my career and thinking what a
wonderful place this would be to paint. Now, as an
established artist, it is like a dream come true to be
here sharing my knowledge with others. The Art Center
has such a great location, where students are in walking
distance of many of the inspiring subjects that we
paint. Many times a workshop at the Art Center has
become a life changing experience for some of my
students, as the class, the environment, the location
and synchronicity of events combine for a magical
experience. The wonderful thing about the Art Center
is that students are able to stay at this facility and take
a workshop for a reasonable price and are often able
to paint late into the night. The Mendocino, Fort
Bragg area is a special place where magic happens and
long lasting friendships are made.”
Birgit says, “I am a self-taught artist inspired by the
stories of my family. I thought that it would not be possible
to be a recognized woman artist. I developed my art
while having a family, being a full-time wife and mother.
Currently I am represented in collections around the
world, and my work has appeared in more than 35 publications.
I believe in dreams.”
Birgit is the author of two books, Watercolor in
Motion and Watercolor Essentials (published by North
Light Publications), and her production company,
Purple Gate Productions, has produced
16 instructional DVDs. Many art teachers and
schools are now using these books in their curriculum
or as required reading material. The DVDs
are available on her Web site www.birgitoconnor.
com or as a downloaded version through www.
artworkshops.tv or www.artistsnetwork.tv
Birgit will be teaching several workshops this spring
and summer at the Mendocino Art Center: April
24-26, “Rhododendrons”; July 12-15, “The Essence
of the Flower”, and July 17-18, “Rocks, Shells, Sand
& Shore”.
Rocks, Shells, Sand & Shore
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Larry driving the Art Car in the Mendocino Fourth of July Parade, 2009
© Nicholas Wilson
LA R R Y F U E N T E :
N EI G H B O R H O O D V I SI ON A R Y
by Michael Potts
Toasters, rhinestones, plastic figurines, antique
picture frames, and millions of assorted beads encrust
the walls of Toad Hall’s 32 rooms: precious art supplies
Larry Fuente has amassed over the decades.
Larry’s Art Car and Game Fish are familiar to admirers
in venues as unlike as Mendocino’s Fourth of
July Parade and the Smithsonian’s Renwick Gallery.
“There must be fifty projects in progress here... and
regress then progress again,” Larry explains. “I
started Mona Looza in 1989,” he says, introducing a
bespangled mannikin, part of a planned all-girl punk
jazz rock band installation. “Hopefully, I’ll finish her
before I die. Mostly, I’m janitor, taking care of...” –
he gestures meaningfully at the walls and ceilings,
every square inch embellished with a jack-daw’s
delight of shiny treasures – “… the art supplies.”
After a typically unconventional upbringing near
Chicago and a couple of years at the Kansas City Art
Institute, Larry found himself, one day in 1968, walking
up a street in Larkspur, California’s Madrone
Canyon looking for a telephone. Instead he found his
artistic guru. “Mandalas, a treehouse... Everywhere I
look, something new. Finally, a human: a wild-eyed
goat god melting colored candle wax onto his curlytoed
Aladdin shoes. ‘Use your phone’ I ask.” When
Larry met psychedelic artist Dickens 44 Bascom, “I
was living a very regulated life, but wanted to be
free. For me, ‘breaking out’ meant painting on walls
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“Samurai Swordfish” 1986, 36” x 96”. “Dangerous decor. In case of fire, leave
area immediately (with fish if possible).”
instead of stretched canvas. Here was Dickens, raiding
people’s basements for ‘art supplies’ and hanging
stained glass windows from their trees, spreading his
‘Undeniable Breakthroughs’ like fungus down the canyon.
‘Everything’s Okay’ was his mantra. Great ideas,
but poor execution. I could see how to do better.”
When men in white coats arrived in an ambulance,
Larry and Bascom made a break for West Marin to continue
hanging art from trees and engaging neighbors in
making art. “He was an expert at getting people, whole
families, to do art together.” The art and the lifestyle captivated
Larry. Gentle reader, you cannot be surprised to
learn that mind-bending substances were involved. This
was the Summer of Love, a time for Merry Pranksters.
Larry found his way to Mendocino, joining selfdescribed
woods hippies living in a meadow in the State
Forest. Foresters knew
they were there, but
didn’t know what
to do about them,
so that summer they
were left alone. “It
was a magnificent
summer, naked in
Big River, my girlfriend
pregnant,
meeting
people from everywhere, getting my mind
blown on every level. I was so impressionable...
“The Street is where I want to be. Elsewhere,
museums and galleries tell you when they open and
close... but the Street is always On.” Larry’s iconic
wheeled works began with the prize winning float
he and Bascom entered in Larkspur’s Fourth of July
Parade. Powered until its clutch burned out by “The
People’s Car,” also known as The Millennium Falcon,
the float featured George Washington in a gas mask
and a precious Blue Willow plate gleaned from the
Larkspur Free Store. “You see, better stuff makes better
art,” Larry explains triumphantly. Other memorable
rolling artworks include Cowasaki, a street-legal
three-wheeler that looks like a Hereford cow and
roars like a muscle car, and Derby Racer, declared
“Most Beautiful Car” in the San Francisco Museum
of Modern Art’s 1978 Artist’s Soapbox Derby.
Larry’s life and work rival Salvador Dali’s.
Larry’s antic collection of found objects and meticulously
accretive style find their equal only in
Dali’s ornate Figueres, Spain, museum. Both artists
wring inspiration from the interplay between
language and vision. Like Dali, Larry is a press magnet:
Dali gets the cover of Life, Larry gets National
Geographic. While many belittle their art, both
sold works to the most renowned art institutions.
Asked what motivates him, Larry takes a moment,
his eyes roaming the art supply laden walls. “I guess
most artists are stretching for immortality,”
he replies, his gaze still wandering.
“I’ve got that covered. Game Fish is one of
very few permanent displays at the Smithsonian.
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Derby Racer #2, 1978. “Power Source: energy captured from bowlers’ ‘frozen motion’
ecologically sound.”
The 100% street legal Art Car on Main Street, Mendocino, Fourth of July Parade, 2009.
© Nicholas Wilson
Hey, I’ve got my own section in the gift shop!”
He refers to a nearly ten foot long sculpture of a
sailfish adorned with thousands of game pieces –
poker chips, badminton birdies, ping pong balls,
dice – that was purchased by the Smithsonian in
1991. After being displayed for a decent interval,
it was routinely warehoused along with the
Institution’s million-plus other artifacts. The
resulting outcry from visitors returning specifically
to see the piece propelled Game Fish
back onto a prominent wall. It is still counted
among the Smithsonian’s Top Ten highlights.
His eyes focus and his face takes on a hawklike
intensity. “An artist has the obligation – no,
wrong word – the opportunity and obligation, to
see what’s really going on, to reveal.” His voice
hammers the emphasis on revelation. “Drugs,
and the visions they bring, force me to evolve,
and at times I have no idea what I’m doing.
Sometimes this leads to deep depression... but
luckily I have friends to buck me up. I am, and
have been, a political animal all my life. This
article seems like a great (and possibly last)
opportunity to ‘introduce’ myself to my neighbors
and friends (who all think they know me.
They don’t.)”
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“At the Cafe” by Mike Smart, watercolor
Art Explorers, Inc.
A nonprofit program with studio
and gallery. Offering unique and
affordable art, hand-made crafts
and cards.
Open Tuesday, Thursday and
Friday 9-3; Saturday 12-3.
305 E. Redwood Ave. Fort Bragg
707 961-6156
• Ceramics
• Sculpture
• Paintings
• Jewelry
• Furniture
• Photography
Laurel Street
FORT BRAGG
17 Mendocino County Artists!
Open Daily 10-6
356 N. Main St, Fort Bragg
www.edgewatergallery.net
964-4668
View more Edgewater Art in this issue’s Gallery of Artists!
L aurel S treet
FORT BRAGG
In the garden filled corner of
Main and Evergreen streets
Comfortable rooms & suites with
private baths, beach access,
fresh baked continental breakfast
800-780-7905
www.alegriaquartet.com
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y Peggy Templer
Danish sculptor Gert Rasmussen loves to work
with steel. Even though he has worked in other media,
he keeps coming back to the clean lines and simple
forms of metal. “Steel is
so different from other
media,” he says. “For one
thing, you can’t actually
touch it while you’re
working with it.” He likes
the way it moves, and the
way it “stands up to anything.”
Gert started out,
as many artists do, as a
youngster preoccupied
with drawing. In his
family’s living room in Copenhagen, Denmark, was
a “presentation black board,” always up, and Gert
would spend hours in front of it, drawing with chalk.
For the boy, the “possibility
of being an
artist was far-fetched
but always on my
mind.” At age 15,
Gert dropped out of
school to apprentice
as a steel fabrication
worker. He also
went to “decoration
school,” learning to
design posters and
do window dressing
and other promotional
artwork in the days before computers.
In 1975, Gert moved to Sweden with his wife
and children and began working for a large glass
company, Kosta Boda, that
also did smith work. His
job was to fabricate fancy
candelabras, fountains, and
an array of other pieces
from designs given to him.
This job put him in touch
with some well-known artists
and designers, including
the glass artist Bertil Vallien.
Gert’s employers “turned
him loose” in their facility,
allowing him unlimited
after hours access to acres of junk, glass, brick, clay,
steel – “ruined things” – as well as the entire smithy.
He began designing and creating his own pieces
and began to seriously
consider himself an artist.
(In fact, from a very
young age Gert identified
with the artist Van
Gogh, possibly because
he was self-taught, possibly
because of the
“misunderstood artist
thing,” and perhaps
because of the slight
disconnect with reality!).
When the Kosta
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Boda facility shut down, Gert returned
to Denmark, and worked on state
funded art programs for schools. He
again came into contact with some
outstanding artists and designers, and
the school projects were exceptional.
He recalls one project that involved
filling an unused elevator shaft with
hanging sculptures. Not able to get
his own smithy going, during this time
Gert started making jewelry and also
doing some glass work. He became a
“practicing artist,” making and selling
paintings, castings, metal work, jewelry
and ceramics.
Gert’s ex-wife returned to the
United States (to Berkeley/Marin) with
their son in 1990, and Gert came over
for a visit and stayed. They bought
and operated a 54-acre vineyard
in Middletown for a few years, but
moved to Mendocino when schooling
for their young son became an issue.
When they moved to Mendocino,
they knew only that the schools were
good; Gert knew nothing about the
Mendocino Art Center and was
“astounded” to find such a complete
facility in the small coastal town. He
jumped right into the art scene in
Mendocino, becoming a regular at the
Tuesday night sculpture open studio
at the MAC foundry. Gert enjoyed the
camaraderie of the open studio, and
went back to working almost exclusively
with his real love, steel. He was hired
as the co-coordinator of the sculpture
program with David Russell, a job he
held until just recently, and also teaches
blacksmithing to children and adults.
Gert’s work is constantly evolving,
but it is always about design. He thinks
in terms of design only – that is how he
views the world around him. He also
loves great craftsmanship – anything of
high quality and well-made.
Gert’s work is functional as well as
ornate in nature and he usually works
from his own pre-drawn designs to
create candelabras, candlesticks, lamps,
chairs, mirrors, and more, occasionally
giving in to undesigned impulse as he
works. His work is inspired by modern
Scandinavian design and also by
Japanese/Eastern design, with its similarly
clean lines and “lightness.”
Gert’s work can be seen at the Mendocino
Art Center, through his Web site, www.
grasart.com, or by contacting him by
email at gert@grasart.com.
15

M
Dorr Bothwell, Snowball and Nasturtiums
endocino Art Center’s
18th Annual Home and Garden Tour:
A David Clayton Retrospective
June 19th, 2010, 10am - 5pm
Submitted by Marty Roderick
This year MAC’s popular Home and Garden Tour
will feature several local houses designed by architectural
pioneer David Clayton (1933 – 1983). David
Clayton did not come
to the Mendocino
coast to build houses
– he came to create
modern paintings,
using acrylic on canvas.
He regularly showed in
Mendocino’s galleries
with Jim Bertram, Bob
Ross, Ken Brandon,
Dorr Bothwell, Emmy
Lou Packard and Hilda
Pertha, to name just a
few. He was invited by
the Vorpel Gallery to
have a one-man show
in San Francisco. He could have become famous for
his paintings.
David learned architecture from such luminaries
as Cedric Hollingsworth,
Albert Reynolds, Harold
Brayton (who taught him how
to use bridge timbers) and Bob
Nelson. Mike Neilsen was his
foreman, and the two of them
taught a whole generation of
builders. His high intellect and
artistic vision produced some
of the most interesting houses
on the coast. Sunset Magazine
featured a beautiful bay window
he designed and built
using wood and glass for Dick
and Estelle Grunewald. He was
concerned about the commu-
16
David Clayton

Mendocino Art Center’s
18th Annual Mendocino
Coast Home & Garden Tour
A David Clayton Retrospective
Tony and Mary Anne Graham Home
photo by Larry R. Wagner
nity, and worked closely with the Coastal Commission
and the Mendocino Historical Review Board. Barry
Cusick, who was on the Historical Review Board at
the time, was quoted in praise of one of David’s projects:
“One of the best blends of contemporary and historical
renditions this board has ever seen.” David’s wife
Mary was an integral part of his success.
During the racially turbulent 60’s, David organized
a group from Mendocino to go to Mississippi, to
help the Quakers rebuild churches that had been burned
out by arsonists. David Clayton was an icon.
This year for your luncheon experience, we are asking
our faithful Garden Tour fans to support us through our
local restaurants. Your Garden Tour ticket will include
a list of participating restaurants. Tickets are available
by calling 707 937-5818 or by going online at www.
MendocinoArtCenter.org. Tickets for the tour are $40.
Dorr Bothwell, Snowball and Nasturtiums
Saturday, June 19,
10 am - 5 pm
Featuring a selection of beautiful homes
designed by iconic architectural pioneer
David Clayton, and the homes’ gardens.
This year’s luncheon…
Check your Garden Tour ticket for
participating restaurants
$40 per person
Rain or Shine • Tickets are Limited!
Tony and Mary Anne Graham Home
photo by Larry R. Wagner
Visit the Garden Shop & Plant Sale
Mendocino Maples’ gorgeous maples and
many other surprises!
707 937-5818 • 800 653-3328
45200 Little Lake Street,
Mendocino
www.MendocinoArtCenter.org
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