December - January Member Newsletter
Hello 2022!
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Dear MAA Members:
As 2021 is winding down, we are looking forward to a new year ahead with the return of community art events (fingers crossed).
Though we were unable to host our usual events in 2021, through conservative management we were able to continue certain programs. We awarded our second annual Community Arts Award to Tim Hon who has several murals around town. Alhambra HIgh School senior Joey Lopes was the recipient of this year's MAA art scholarship. We also awarded three art project grants recently to Martinez teachers to support their classroom activities. See the article in this newsletter for details. Your continued support helps make these programs possible, thank you! Please invite your friends to join MAA, it's just $25/year and tax-deductible.
MAA members were featured in a group show of wall art at the Main Street Arts Gallery in September. We are currently showing Warren Dreher’s plein air work in the Campbell Theater, and a group show in the Martinez Library community room downstairs features Irene Bergamini, Carol Wiley, Peggy O’Farrell, Cathy Riggs and yours truly. These two shows will be updated with new art January 8, 2022.
We are optimistic that county guidelines and City permits will allow MAA to host events in 2022.
Tentative dates are:
April 2….SWAN Day
August 21…Art in the Park
October 29…Dia de Los Muertos
December 3…Holiday Boutique
With the start of 2022, we have two MAA Board vacancies that need to be filled due to officers cycling off the board after several years of service. We have an urgent need for a volunteer or new board member to continue publishing our newsletter and manage social media posts. This could be a great hands-on opportunity for a high school student to gain marketing communications experience working with a non-profit while earning community service hours. Training will be provided. If you know of anyone who could help, please reach out via email.
Please consider volunteering and bringing fresh energy into our organization. We'll need help to make SWAN Day, Art in the Park and other events happen. Come to the next board meeting on Dec. 6th (most likely on Zoom) to see what it's all about. Hope to see you soon!
Wishing you all very happy holidays,
Dorrie Langley
MAA President
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Save the Dates:
- Monday Dec. 6, 6:30 pm MAA Board/Member Meeting
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Meeting details TBD. All MAA members welcome! Please email us if you would like to attend.
Thank you to all of our supportive members! Join or renew here.
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Spotlight on MAA Member Artists:
Meet Terry Blair
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I grew up in the town of Ojai in southern California where I took my first watercolor painting class at age seven. It wasn’t a class for kids, I was there with adults facing the same struggles they did such as how to get that vase of flowers to look more alive and less “still.” I kept on painting and majored in art at St Mary’s College in Moraga.
Over the next fifty years no matter what boring clerk job I had, I always painted and sold my work at open studios, art fairs, to friends, co-op galleries and eventually ETSY. I started to feel that I had painted everything and while I know that can’t be true, it’s what I felt.
I decided to take a beginning weaving class at Ghost Ranch in northern New Mexico. Georgia O’Keefe once lived there and created her landscapes with bones and blossoms there. I have visited New Mexico often and was fairly familiar with the local Hispanic and Navajo weavings. We wove chenille scarves on locally made walking looms with the instruction of a gifted teacher, Suzanne Halvorson. The looms were a little bit stubborn and later I learned that chenille has a difficult reputation but somehow despite almost constant confusion that week, I wove my first scarf and I became a weaver.
That was in 2010 and I have painted very little since then but I have woven many miles as weavers say. I still use all the rules of color, texture and proportion that I learned in my art classes. I still propose problems to myself and solve them at the loom or warping board instead of the easel. I weave lots and lots of cotton and linen kitchen towels and napkins because they sell well. A splash of color for our busy kitchens. In the fall I sell many scarves in rich colors and soft textures. But my favorite thing to weave is probably tapestry which is so much like painting only glacially slower. I don’t get to show them off very often because of galleries' hanging rules. I’ve mounted a few on canvas but feel they lose their “clothness” their “weaverliness” so I am not satisfied with that. The small simple tapestries do sell on market days and in my ETSY shop so that is some consolation. . I keep them simple to balance the time to price equation.
I know its very possible that I will die before I officially become a master weaver since I started so late but every day I look forward to going to my studio and using the yarn that has never failed to inspire me.
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2021 MAA Teacher Grant Awards |
MAA teacher art grants were recently awarded to Pam Galletti (John Muir Elementary) for a supply of oil pastels to create California poppy art and other state symbols; Katie Collins (Martinez Junior High School) for 50 9"x12" lino blocks ; and Jacqueline Chapman (Martinez Junior High School) for Origami supplies and other materials to make various cultural masks and mosaics.
MAA membership dues help make this program possible. Thank you for supporting our local teachers.
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Stop by the Campbell Theater to see Warren Dreher's plein air paintings on display through January 8th.(first photo)
Also check out the art in the Martinez library (downstairs in the community room). Second photo shows some of the work by Irene Bergamini and Carol Wiley. On view through Jan. 8, 2022.
One of the benefits of MAA membership is the opportunity to show your work in local venues. If you would like to participate in these or other future exhibit opportunities, please email Dorrie.
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Several MAA members are participating in the LAA Inspired by the Greats show at the Orinda Library. This show will feature 80 original pieces of art showcasing a wide variety of media such as printmaking, stoneware, welded steel, photography, collage, mixed media, oils, acrylics, watercolors, and colored pencil. Included in the exhibit are brief statements by each artist describing who has inspired and influenced their work.
Please join us for our reception with the artists at the Art Gallery at the Orinda Library, Saturday, December 4th from 3pm – 5pm.
The Art Gallery at the Orinda Library is located at 26 Orinda Way in Orinda. The Gallery is open Monday – Thursday, 10:00 am to 8:00 pm, Friday – Saturday, 10:00am – 6:00pm.
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Main Street Arts Presents: Eric Carlstrom |
Eric Carlstrom is once again exhibiting his art at Main Street Arts through November 21. This is Eric's 5th year exhibiting with us! Eric is a long time member of the Pinole Artisans and runs their Pinole Artisans Gallery. Eric and his art truly embody the love of tattoo art.
Eric Carlstrom lives and works in the San Francisco Bay Area. He has been interested in art from an early age. In fact, his first Halloween costume was an artist wearing a beret, holding a pallet and brush and with a handlebar mustache paint on his face. The use of bright colors and heavy black in his paintings makes them visually vibrant and give them a distinctive look. You’re invited to come and see these works of art in person, along with the art of Main Street Arts Member Artists in downtown
We're excited about our Christmas tree that is packed with artist designed ornaments and gifts. Our guest wall will be filled with Christmas inspired art. Also we are participating in the Main Street Martinez Coupon Book. We are offering $25.00 off any purchase over $200.00
We are open Friday and Saturday from 10 to 6 and Sunday 10 to 3
December hours: 11-4 Thursday to Saturday & 10-2 Sunday.
Main Street Arts, 613 Main Street, Martinez, 925-269-8049
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November 9 - December 22, 2021
Art Cottage 10th Annual Holiday Boutique
Great gifts from 20+ local artists & makers
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Contra Costa Plein Air Group |
Organized by local artist Nancy Roberts, this active group connects plein air artists in and around Contra Costa County. Paint-outs are announced in the "Events" section of the Facebook site. Join the group to know about upcoming paint-outs. You can also follow Nancy on Instagram.
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Support Network for Artist Re-use - SNARCC |
With many of us working on house projects and cleaning out our studios, don't forget about SNARCC on Facebook. A network for exchange of re-usable art supplies, resources, and ideas. Post items you have or items you need.
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Founded in 1968 as a nonprofit organization, the MAA organizes and participates in many community events throughout the year. Our goal is to encourage art culture and education for local youth. Fundraising proceeds provide scholarships to graduating seniors as well as art grants for elementary through high school teachers.
Check our website for news from other art organizations.
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PO Box 2304
Martinez, CA 94553
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