Due to financial losses associated with the upkeep, Great Northern Coffee will no longer be in business as of December 31, 2019. Chico Art Center Board of Directors have loved sharing this adventure with the community. A volunteer transitioning committee will be developing new, income-based options for utilizing the train car. For questions or comments please inquire to Lisa Freeman-Wood lmfreemanwood@yahoo.com.
Focusing on local, threatened, and native plants. Biodiversity is important to the health of the regions we live in. Replanting after wildfires whether around homes, towns, parks or forests is needed. Increasing awareness and knowledge of plants, plant life cycles and how to use them effectively in our lives.
Generously Sponsored by Ann & Tony Slocum
$25 Members/$35 Non-Members
This annual community exhibit of 12x12” artworks is a celebration of tiny experiments in color, shape and materials by artists of all ages. Grab a small work while it’s hot!
$20 Entry includes an optional 12”x12” canvas.
This exhibit will be virtual, with the possibility of a physical exhibit, if Butte County is in Stage 2B by July 26.
Upload image/Drop Off: July 26, 2020
This is a jury-free exhibit of 12”x12” artworks. All skill levels are welcome to participate! Entry fee includes a 12”x12” (optional) canvas. You may use any medium you want. Collage, assemblage, textile, wire sculpture, paper clay, origami, found objects, you name it! Let your imagination run wild! Use it as a platform for a sculpture, hang it from the ceiling, make it a box, use the reverse side, stretch your favorite fabric over it, weave it, upholster it, knit over it, felt it, use encaustic wax, feather it, flock it, fleece it or frottage it! Questions? Contact gallery director at ckelly@chicoartcenter.com
ENTRY FORM available online May 30th, 2020.
"I cut my hair on this day, I just felt like it plus my parents said I needed it cut and nowhere is open. I let my brother cut my hair once in 4th grade, it wasn’t good. I did it myself this time, a buzz cut. I really like this picture of me in a tree with my eyes censored. I have taken a few photographs with my eyes covered, I guess it’s becoming a thing, my signature style. All of the photographs I have taken for this project have been self portraits, I like people in photographs. It doesn't have to be me, people make it more interesting." ~Sam Antongiovanni
Diogo Goncalves (Lisbon, Portugal), Dwell in thought #1, photography, NFS.
"The confinement projects us against the walls. The exterior light reflects us into the interior of our homes. Outside we are the projection of how we inhabit the house. In this time of physical interiorization, it remains for us to inhabit thought. Everything seems monochromatic. However, we are dissolving everything we are."
Muyuan He (New York, NY), Akabane #1, photography, NFS.
Born in Wuhan and currently living in New York City, I have had so many feelings since January. Not all of those feelings are positive. However, I am grateful for the fact that, after the global quarantine started, the distance between my apartment in uptown Manhattan and my colleague’s house in Queens feels the same as the distance between me and my friends in other countries. Not long ago, my friend in Tokyo sent me a message, “This is her mom, because I don’t have mine. We cannot change our current situation now, but when things get better, come and play with us again.” The warm message brought me back to my friend’s neighborhood that I visited a couple of years ago. It gave me hope that one day I could see the same sceneries that I remember, from her window.
Ryan Napier (Thornton, Colorado), Self Portrait II, mixed media, NFS.
I've had a lot of time to think in the last several weeks, which, on top of having a birthday in quarantine, has proven to aid the onset of a bout of depression. The piece is not particularly dark because it portrays in part, a hope of what my life might become, along with what few positive elements I do see at the moment. It is also about polarity, duality. I have given myself the freedom to explore, indulging in a wider variety of facets of my life and character. There are elements of the double-edgedness of medicine and healing, pulling from imagery of brain scans and mental health.
Sanpapié Dance and Physical Theatre (Milan, Italy), A[1]BIT at home, mixed media, NFS.
To RESIST is what we’re doing: firstly we’re trying to withstand the feeling of being separated, angry and trapped. We do live performances and we miss the audience, shared public space and presence, not replaceable through a screen. Even in this situation, we’ve chosen NOT TO GIVE UP DOING, NOT TO GIVE UP SEARCHING for the hidden inspiration, for the intrinsic possibility, for the opportunity to interpret the word EMPATHY in a deeper, more inclusive, poetic and ironic acceptation.
This open call, virtual exhibition features personal perspectives during this time of the COVID-19 pandemic; literal view from one's window, interpretive responses of emotional life, or aspirational views were welcome. Each image is accompanied by a short reflective statement about the creator's experience.
Some of the most inspiring artwork has come from the darkest of times. Pablo Picasso painted Guernica at his home in Paris in response to the bombing of Guernica, a Basque Country town in northern Spain, by Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy. A tour of the painting raised funds for Spanish war relief. Freda Kahlo transformed her body casts into mystical paintings during her many bed bound, post-op recovery periods. When Henri Matisse could no longer stand, he drew from his bed using an improvised staff. Ruth Asawa found her calling as an artist at age 16, in an internment camp. Early American Whalers passed their idle time by carving images into leftover whale teeth and bones. More recently, over the past two weeks, Kremena Todorova and Kurt Gohde of Kentucky, have been photographing community members on their porches as a community portrait project. How are you using your time? We want to see. Use your visual voice.
For questions or press inquiries contact Cameron Kelly, Gallery Director at ckelly@chicoartcenter.com
*Due to COVID-19 restrictions, the gallery was closed March 18th. Please take a virtual tour below and enjoy the exhibit online.
March 7 - May 29, 2020
If you love whimsical art and animals, this exhibit featuring zany portraits and 3D pop-out paintings by Ana Nelson & Phil Dynan is for you. Chico Art Center recognizes longtime members and dedicated animal rescuers, rehabilitating over 400 animals in our region.
Reception: Saturday, March 7, 2-4 pm
Bring the kiddos to the daytime reception for sweet treats and pose with a cut out of a furry friend!
Contact Gallery Director, Cameron Kelly to purchase artwork ckelly@chicoartcenter.com, text/mobile (415) 823-4418
This exhibit is very unusual because it includes their new 3D, Reverse Perspective, painted sculptures they call “viewer interactive art”.
The concept behind the sculpture is the brainchild of London artist Patrick Hughes, well-known, world- wide for his amazing sculptures. Dynan and Nelson have been working with Hughes for the past three years and this will be the first time showing the sculptures in an exhibition. “The art has motion and also morphs as the viewer changes positions,” explains Dynan, “and the more the viewer gets into the art, the more they appear to be dancing. They want to figure out how it is done. They will twist sideways, jump up and down, walk back and forth and try to approach the art (which is a little disorienting).”
“But it is impossible to understand the concept completely. It is a combination of geometry, math, science and a little bit of magic. “ Dynan adds.
There are several videos on Youtube showing the work that Dynan and Nelson have done, but the artists both quickly point out that a video only gives a viewer a “feeling” for what the sculptures are like. Seeing them in person is the only way to get the full effect.
All of the art in the exhibit is related to the Rescue Center that the two artists have had for the past ten years. Portraits include goats, dogs, cats, cows, a donkey, a llama, chickens and other animals.
“People started dropping off animals at our art studio (rural) about eleven years ago”, Anastasia says, “at first it was just a few kittens, then goats, llamas, dogs, and, well, it just turned into a zoo.”
To support the animals (food and vet bills) the two artists started painting pictures of the animals. It proved to be very successful and popular and they expanded into selling notecards as well. There is a section within the exhibit where people can pick out a card or print with their favorite animal. Proceeds from the exhibit will go to the artists' Accidental Animal Rescue Center.
For more information about the artists, visit http://www.blueoaksarts.com/
Butte County Art on Wheels is a mobile art studio that aligns displaced artists from the Campfire with positive community oriented projects for the betterment of physical, emotional, and mental health. Partnering with schools, companies, and community members!
Jessie Mercer is a local visual artist from Paradise. The 2018 Camp Fire claimed her art studio as well as her parents home. She has always wanted to help people and believes in the power of community. She's found her visual voice after many years of working in the field of foster care, youth counseling and special education, creating set design in collaboration with artists with developmental disabilities. Through her community passions, she received funding from the North Valley Community Foundation, with 501c3 affiliation with Chico Art Center and was loaned a utility vehicle from Phoenix Solar to produce her concept, Butte County Art on Wheels.
Jessie Mercer has been partnering with displaced artists and students to paint 11 murals at schools effected by the Camp Fire. Mercer also worked with the new Boys & Girls Club facility to create a mural with the children. She has also stationed Art on Wheels at local public events like Pioneer Day to offer art activities to one and all. Mercer is currently providing "You Matter" art kits for kids that attend Ridge Schools while they are home during the COVID-19 pandemic and creating a "Butte County Art On Wheels" YouTube channel for families to help maintain a sense of community.
Jessie Mercer can be emailed at jessiemercer15(at)gmail.com.
COVID-19 SPECIAL COVERAGE: Resources for parents staying home with kids
March 17, 2020
Jessie Mercer of Butte County Art on Wheels has used her grant for folks affected by the Camp Fire to prepare 1000 "You Matter" art supply kits for kids. Pick one up at the following schools. Way to go Jessie! Thank you! Check her out on minute 11:10 in the NSPR feature on resources for parents.
Ridgview High, Paradise Ridge Elementary, Pineridge Elementary, Cedarwood Elementary, Achieve Charter School, Paradise Charter Middle School
Follow Butte County Art On Wheels on Facebook
Action News Now featured Jessie Mercer and Butte County Art on Wheels as an independent community arts project that Butte County Office of Education has recognized as a proven value and used as a model, along with Sonoma County's Arts Residencies for Schools to apply for grants to implement a similar program for Paradise K-12 Schools.
PRESS
Featured Artist: Jessie Mercer brings Camp Fire community together through art, The Orion, May 10, 2019
Awarded "2019 Champion of the Arts" by Chico Arts & Culture, April 18, 2019
After Camp Fire, An Artist Helps Students In Hard-Hit Town Cope Through Color, Here & Now, WBUR April 3, 2019
Artist Jessie Mercer Paints Murals With Kids Who Are Camp Fire Survivors, NSPR MAR 21, 2019
#UnlockPossibilities – Paradise Arts Creates Town Memorial Out Of Keys, WNIN Dec 27, 2018
Paradise Artists Creates Piece for Town Made of Keys, Action News Dec 13, 2018
Paradise artist to make Phoenix from keys of Camp Fire victims, Dec 9, 2018
