Christina Waters

Two of my favorite artists’ visits in October happened 600 miles apart.

The new, enigmatic Blurred Landscapes large-scale photo montages by Sara Friedlander — created, cunningly manipulated, and ultimately altered by painted overlays, lingered long in my imagination.

These pieces have the impact of a childhood dream. To see them, is to have an immediate sense of recognition. And yet, Friedlander weaves images from geographically far-flung regions — images from Japan might be edited into a forest in the Czech Republic — in order to create these eerily soothing dreamscapes. After being printed, re-organized, and printed again on heavy archival paper, the images are then enhanced with oil and acrylic paint detailing. So the Landscapes are at once multiple-generational assemblages, and yet one-of-a-kind originals.

The best news is that Friedlander’s Landscapes are now lining the walls of old Lulu’s on Pacific Ave. so if you missed seeing these impressive pieces during Open Studios, you can feast on them over a morning macchiato.

or….“Bolts from the Blue” - a series of startling and provocative insights from ur-mathematician Ralph Abraham, shaped into a free, public talk this coming Wednesday, November 4, @ 7pm at the UCSC Music Recital Hall.

Abraham — a pioneer of chaos theory research, UCSC emeritus, and close personal friend of the late, great Terrance McKenna — offers some pithy remarks about the history of mathematics as it butts up against art, music, fractals and the space-time you-know-what. For everyone who fears numbers but is too chicken to admit it - Abraham will demystify much, if not all (and he promises to do it without one single equation!).

Be there, or be squared.

It must have been tough living in the shadow of Richard Wagner, but that’s just what powered the career of Richard Strauss, who like his contemporary Gustav Mahler, spent many a sleepless night wondering just how to channel Wagner’s mojo.

Just after the turn of the century Strauss unveiled his voluptuous version of Oscar Wilde’s naughty Salomé, and promptly had his opera banned in most world capitals the minute it hit the stage. As Wilde/Strauss have it, there was much more to Salomé’s desire than simply a baptismal tantrum. She was fatally obsessed with having the Baptist, in God’s way. And as enacted by pliant German soprano Nadja Michael, Salomé was a sensuous handful.

The San Francisco Opera’s current production of Salomé uses set design as well as dramatic motivation to heighten the sexual tension among John the Baptist (sung by a bare-chested Greer Grimsley), the lusting Herod (more…)

An Open House at Baskin Arts honored founding member of Oakes College and beloved UCSC art professor Eduardo Carrillo. The gallery that bears his name was dedicated and the life of this extraordinary painter celebrated, by friends, colleagues and students.

The newly-dedicated Carrillo Gallery will be open Monday through Friday 11-4pm, or by appointment (831/239-9411). And be sure to see the comprehensive show of Carrillo’s masterworks, on exhibit through November 22, 2009, at the Santa Cruz Museum of Art & History.

Paintings by the late Eduardo Carrillo are currently on display through November 22, in the Santa Cruz Museum of Art & History. Carrillo was a true shaman of light and color — prepare to be dazzled.

A bravura practitioner of magic realism in hallucinogenic large-scale oil paintings as well as subtle watercolor miniatures, Carrillo cast a long shadow in his ancestral Baja, his early Los Angeles stomping grounds, and ultimately in the Bay Area. Two dozen of his major works - including his neon-hued masterpiece of mythic time travel, Los Tropicanos — fill the main Solari Gallery of MAH. Even the final unfinished painting — a searing self-portrait — is on display, next to his studio table, chairs, easel and palette, in this retrospective of one of California’s path-breaking, multi-cultural iconoclasts.

Public reception will be held this coming First Friday, September 4, from 5-9pm.

It wasn’t simply a long week of long, sumptuous operas. It was a pilgrimage. A spiritual journey, in which — thanks to the power of music so beautiful we mortals don’t deserve it — the haunting fact of mortality was made thunderingly clear.

The four operas comprising The Ring of the Nibelungen created by Richard Wagner 150 years ago, require stamina, patience, a huge investment of time and money, and the willingness to be open to the magic of theatrical make-believe. For those able to surrender, The Ring rewards with what must be the ultimate performance experience. And every four years since 2001, Seattle has become a world shrine for Wagner’s devoted worshippers.

Valhalla’s leitmotif has been swirling through my head for the past week, blazing with French horns and diminished sevenths. I can only liken it to a biochemical firewalk — once your sensory tastebuds have been consumed in the flames, you’re never the same. And frankly, I still don’t know quite how to articulate the power (more…)

Once again the Museum of Art & History in downtown Santa Cruz hosts an alfresco event devoted entirely to al fresco artwork. The juried selection of 25 of the area’s top plein air painters — including several from beyond the Monterey Bay region— will be on hand this coming weekend to show, sell and demonstrate their expertise with the colors and forms, light and atmosphere of paintings made outside the studio. Yes it is the positively all-new Plein Air Affair.

The moody landscapes created by Andrew Purchin (Pogonip Path shown here) are included in the substantial show, which will fill the courtyard between Vinocruz and Lulu Carpenter’s from 11am to 5pm Saturday and Sunday, July 11 and 12. In addition to vibrant artworks by Charles Prentiss, Jennie McDade, Brian Rounds, Frank Galuszka and many others, plan on plenty of live music and refreshments throughout the weekend. And as a terrific bonus, you’ll also find Vine Hill winemaker Sal Godinez pouring his award-winning pinot noirs at the oh-so-conveniently-located Vinocruz, from 3-5pm, on Sat, July 11. All the more reason to add this downtown hot spot to your weekend calendar.

Full details on this year’s Plein Air weekend are available at the MAH website. Be there!

Give your eyes a plein air odyssey, at the 79th Annual Statewide Exhibit, filling the Santa Cruz Art League from May 30-June 28.

Irreplaceable Places: Contemporary Landscape Painters of California — showcases fine work from some of California’s leading landscape painters, including Santa Cruz painter Pat Woodman, a virtuoso of clouds.

Reception: Saturday, June 6, 3-5pm (more…)

Also opening this week is a substantial group show exploring the human figure. Nine area professionals, including abstract expressionist Claire Thorson (a true clairvoyant), show their work at five Santa Cruz County Bank locations, through September 4.

Curated by Joan Blackmer, the show features an Artists’ Reception, June 3 - 5:30-7:30pm, at the 720 Front Street location. . . .

and don’t miss the second installment of the Digital Arts/New Media InterACTIVATE exhibition, Opening Reception Friday, June 5, 6:30-8:30pm (free and open to the public). The show is a collection of MFA thesis presentations from UCSC’s digital artists, all astonishing, all tech.

Just to prove to you that UCSC arts scholars are messing with traditional art categories - check out this installation of day-glo orange cones. That’s Sesnon Gallery Director Shelby Graham doing the finishing touches.

At the Irwin Scholars 2009 show — reception May 27, 5-7pm. On exhibit through June 13.

Featuring the award-winning artwork of:

Dana Ashton, Jory Bidart, Ben Blair, Ivan Yi-Heng Huang, Anna Huemmer (the cone queen), Jordan Jurich, Conner MacPhee, Maya Manvi, Danni Tsuboi, Jordan Tynes, Bryce Walker, Vince Waring and Mathew Zefeldt.