by Christina Waters | Sep 27, 2010 | Art, Home |
Make plans to come visit the Eloise Pickard Smith Gallery at UCSC’s Cowell College, where two visually opulent shows will open on October 12.
Astonishing large-scale images by visual technologist Peter Harris, Flowers in the Digital Age will be shown in the Main Gallery, and in the Annex Gallery, a show of new work by painter Betsy Miller.
Closing Reception for both artists is on Sunday, November 21, 2-4pm. The artists will be present. The public is invited. Gallery hours are 11am – 4pm Tues-Sun. Contact gallery director Linda Pope, 831 459-2953, for details.
by Christina Waters | Sep 27, 2010 | Art, Home |
Sensitive figure paintings from a trio of top local artists, Tom Maderos, Barbara Downs and Claire Thorson, will be on exhibition through October 29 starting First Friday at Michaelangelo Gallery.
The Artist’s Reception – Friday, October 1, 6-8:30pm – will be held at the gallery, 1111-A River Street.
Sharing studio sessions together, the three painters have evolved rich and varying perspectives on the same model subjects, and this show will offer a vivid glimpse into the differences that style, perspective and palette can make on a finished artwork.
Shown here: Amanda Seated, by Tom Maderas, mixed media on linen, 20 x 16 inches, 2009.
by Christina Waters | Sep 26, 2010 | Food, Home, Wine |
Report from the Vineyards: Yes, it’s true that wild man winemaker Richard Alfaro has cut his locks — “I donated a 15-inch pony tail to Locks of Love,” he revealed a few days ago. (You can see why I didn’t pry any further.) Alfaro also says he’s experiencing a “reverse Samson” effect from the hair cut: “my strength has doubled and my six-pack abs have returned.”
Alfaro officially started the harvest of 2010 as of September 27 – “bins are being cleaned and loaded on the trailer for delivery…. winery equipment is being sanitized….. lab work has started…the phone is ringing off the hook with fresh information from my growers…the fridge is stocked with beer and the margaritas are being mixed!!!!” Alfaro says he expects to pick until the end of November. “The fruit is late but WONDERFUL” he added. Most of his Corralitos and south appellation colleagues are ready to begin their harvests too — “the action is started.”
I chatted last week with Peter Rinaldi, a third-generation Santa Cruzan who’s about to open Rocco’s at 503 Water Street. Why am I telling you this? Because Rocco’s is the new Italian-influenced dining place occupying the site of the late Limoncello, that’s why.
We’re happy to know that there will soon be a fresh new restaurant in this familiar old location, and Rinaldi — who also manages next-door Callahan’s — said that he wants to make sure the restaurant is casual, inviting and uses as many local purveyors as possible. Stay tuned! . . . .
And Chris leVeque tells me that his long-awaited El Salchichero house of artisan charcuterie is moving along — the interior tilework is, in a word, awesome. But he’s thinking that perhaps Thanksgiving might be a more realistic opening date than Halloween. Stay hungry!. . . .
by Christina Waters | Sep 23, 2010 | Art, Home |
Through September 29 you can catch the electrifying work of painter Frank Hyder, at the Walter Wickiser Gallery, 210 Eleventh Ave., Ste. 303 in Manhattan’s Chelsea district. Hyder’s large-scale artworks are front-loaded with richly saturated colors and threaded with visible and invisible spirals, votices and mysterious webs.
The title of the show — Persistent Dream — says it all. Hyder is a longtime artist and teacher, both in his native northeast as well as in South America.
A spicy feast for the eyes.
by Christina Waters | Sep 21, 2010 | Home, Movies |
Dutch director Anton Corbijn makes beautiful people and places look, well, beautiful.
Corbijn hasn’t an idea in his head, but he knows how to make ancient cobblestone stairways look blitheringly atmospheric. He knows how to show off buck naked actors, and their assets, to voyeuristic perfection.
He knows how to photograph George Clooney’s best angles. (And yes, there are quite a few of those.)
But he really has no clue as to how to create an absorbing cinematic experience. Pity really.
So much to work with, so little point.
The American is a non-film disguised as (more…)
by Christina Waters | Sep 17, 2010 | Food, Home |
Somebody once said that one picture was worth a thousand sips of sangiovese.
Like this one.
