Cover & front matter - Mendocino Art Center

1947 INDIAN MOTORCYCLE (PICTURE YOUR CYCLE, ORDERS NOW ACCEPTED) JEFF HILLIERThink VisualTHE ART OF PHOTOGRAPHY215 MAIN, POINT ARENA - 707 882-4042OPEN DAILY • HOURS VARYTATTOO ARTIST WANTED C/S WORK IN ESTABLISHED GALLERYINDIAN1

Mendocino Coast Botanical GardenOpen 7 Days A Week707 964-4352 www. gardenbythesea.org18220 North Highway OneFort Bragg, CaliforniaLocated two miles south of Fort Braggseven miles north of Mendocino2

Table Of ContentsPublished by the Mendocino Art CenterVOL. XXXIX NO. 3 October, 2008Bill Martin12Jeff HillierWalt Padgett624Bill Martin – A Visionary’s View 6Jeff Hillier’s Eloquent Eye 12Linda Shearin 14Fort Bragg – A Great Place to Shop 16Marc Chagall: Biblical Dreamer 23Walt Padgett 24Mendocino County Gallery Guide 28An Infatuation With Kaleidoscopes —An Interview with Skip Maclaren 32Restaurant Reviews 34Mendocino County Restaurant Guide 42Restaurant Art 44Mendocino Stories and Music Series 45At Home with Jim Stallings 46Bang! Bang! The Coates-Frost Gunfight of 1865 48Ken Franklin – Custom Guitar Maker 50Inland Mendocino County 52Cold Hands, Warm Art – A Stroll through Willits 58Gallery of Artists 60Writing Local History – Two Books byComptche Resident Katy Tahja 6550Ken Franklin – CustomGuitar MakerHow I Got to Mendocino – The Time Before the Art CenterFrom an interview with Bill Zacha 66Mendocino Art Center Fall Workshops 68All Is One – Gayle Caldwell 69Mendocino County Poets in the Schools:Imagining the Future 70Art and Spirit 72Silas by Marilyn Schoefer Wagner 74Calendar of Events 75Poetry 80Bill and Jennie Zacha66MendocinoArts promotes the arts by offering space to artists, writers, craftspeople andperformers and by providing information on arts and entertainment in Mendocino County.Submissions of unsolicited nonfiction articles, photographs or artwork for consideration inMendocinoArts must include a SASE or we cannot be responsible for their return. We welcomeannouncements of upcoming events to be included as space permits.3

GLASS FIRE GALLERYSea JelliesLightingVesselsSculpturesJewelryMARSHA BLAKER / PAUL DESOMMAVisitOurWorkingStudio18320 Hwy 1, Fort Bragg 707-962-9420NEXT TO THE BOTANICAL GARDENSCloisonnéby Marge StewartShown at theMendocino Art CenterCustom Designs available707 937-09994

MendocinoArtsART, CULTURE, CUISINE AND HISTORY IN MENDOCINO COUNTYPUBLISHERMendocino Art CenterASSOCIATE PUBLISHERSMarge StewartMike McDonaldEDITORPeggy TemplerART DIRECTORMarge StewartSALESSteven P. Worthen, North Coast – 707 964-2480,707 813-7669Jill Schmuckley, Inland – 707 391-8057Tonya DiAndrea, Inland – 707 391-3046Elizabeth Perillat, South Coast –707 882-1942David Russell, Artist Ads – 707 964-7085FALL/WINTER DISTRIBUTION – 15,000SPRING 2009 deadline –FEBRUARY 1, 2009MENDOCINO ART CENTER STAFFEXECUTIVE DIRECTOR — Peggy TemplerEDUCATION DIRECTOR — Peggy TemplerMARKETING DIRECTOR — Mike McDonaldGALLERY MANAGER — Mark CodyREGISTRAR/CASHIER — Linn BottorfPROGRAM DIRECTORSCeramics — Darrin EkernDigital Arts & Fine Arts –– Marge StewartFiber Arts — Kathy RoussoJewelry — Pamela Kahlo, Tara TurnerMusic –– Gayle CaldwellSculpture — David Russell, Gert RasmussenYoung Artists Program — Margaret PaulFACILITIES COORDINATOR — Gabe ArreguinHOUSING MANAGER — Jessi Adamson EkernMAC BOARD OF DIRECTORSMadeleine BrinkJames Cook - jamecook@aol.comJoan Gates - rgates@mcn.orgTerry Lyon - terrylyon@aol.comDon McCulloughDr. Richard L. MillerDale Moyer - dale@moyerdesign.comJanis PorterCynthia Crocker Scott - CCSWNS@aol.comBrandt Stickel - bstickel@mcn.orgLeona Walden - pacrdg@mcn.orgLucia ZachaMENDOCINO ART CENTER45200 Little Lake Street • P.O. Box 765Mendocino, CA 95460707 937-5818 • 800 653-3328FAX: 707 937-1764mendoart@mcn.org • www.MendocinoArtCenter.orgFounded by Bill Zacha in 1959 as a nonprofit organizationto support, foster, advance and promote artistic awareness,participation and expression in all areas of the arts — visual,literary and performing.Mendocino Art Center Mission Statement:The mission of the Mendocino Art Center is to be a vital culturalresource, providing a broad range of the highest quality educationaland exhibition opportunities in the arts to all people.COVER IMAGE: Fire Falls by Bill MartinFrom the EditorFall/Winter 2008Non-Profit Arts Organizations on the Ropes?The James Irvine Foundation and AEA Consulting published a workingpaper entitled “The Future of the Arts in California.” This document is a discouragingoverview of what’s happening in the non-profit arts sector. Here are someexcerpts:The cultural sector does not exist in a vacuum. It is being challenged by majordemographic, economic, technological, and social factors . . . The nonprofit arts sectorhas been particularly slow to respond effectively . . . Research suggests that nonprofit artsorganizations . . . are likely to become increasingly peripheral as the modes of creating,delivering, and consuming artistic content and experience are affected by large-scalechanges . . . Even as they see audiences and funders pull away, many cultural nonprofitgroups still insist that the current challenges are a result of a cyclical economic downturn.But evidence suggests we are experiencing a permanent change. The nonprofit arts sectorhas reached a breaking point and must adapt to changing technologies and consumerdemand or become increasingly irrelevant.As a result of the Internet and other communications technologies, there is a widerdistribution of artistic offerings and a proliferation of ways to participate in culture. Thereappears to be a simultaneous decline in public appetite for traditional forms of nonprofitarts presentation and interpretation.Nonprofit cultural organizations have grown exponentially in number and sizeover the past two decades, but the sector is fragmented, undercapitalized, and disconnectedfrom an understanding of its public value. Many believe the sector is over-builtand unsustainable at current levels of attendance and investment.Current demographic trends hold many implications for the arts. Younger andmore ethnically diverse populations will have different aesthetic tastes than previousgenerations, and different patterns of consumption and participation. The generationcoming to maturity now is unlikely to have appetite or appreciation for the great worksof the Western European canon that comprise our cultural institutions’ collections andrepertoire. New content, and new strategies, will be needed to attract them.Wow! This is pretty dire! In one sense this working paper seems like an obliqueexplanation for why the Irvine Foundation is not going to fund many arts/culturegrant applications from the non-profit sector. I also find appalling the notion that weneed to “chuck” the “Western European canon” in order to attract new audiences.(In this magazine is an interview with artist Linda Shearin, who describes visiting anart museum as a young child on a field trip, and being so awestruck by the paintingsof Van Gogh that she decided then and there to become an artist. This is hard to reconcilewith the theory that the old standbys will not attract new audiences. Good artis timeless and transcends all generational and ethnic lines.) Should the MendocinoMusic Festival quit offering classical music and offer work by Carrie Underwoodand Jay-Z in order to be “more relevant”? What do you think? How far should thenon-profits go in reinventing themselves to attract new audiences? Write to me andlet me know.Peggy Templer5