Gualala Arts Promoting public interest and participation in the arts since 1961
Art in the Redwoods Fine Art exhibit entry form
Art in the Redwoods Artist Entries
The Art in the Redwoods Festival returns to Gualal
a Arts Center for the 54th annual event.
What began among the redwoods on Gualala ridge in 1961 has grown to a weekend attraction for thousands. This popular weekend event features art from near and far along with free entertainment and artists booths. This fabulous Festival would not be possible if not the the generosity of our Art in the Redwoods Sponsors and Donors, to whom we give a HUGE Thank You!
Fine Art Exhibit
The heart of the festival is the Exhibit of Fine Art throughout the building, including oil paintings, acrylics, watercolors, pastels, drawings, photographs, sculpture, woodworking, stained and fused glass, jewelry and fiber arts – most of them for sale. Award-winning artwork is selected by the Fine Art Exhibit judges.
For those unable to attend the festival, these works will remain on display through Sunday, August 30.
The Gualala Arts Center is open weekdays from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. and on weekends from noon to 4 p.m. Admission is free.
2015 Art in the Redwoods Award Winners
Best of Show, sponsored by Sea Ranch – Gualala Real Estate, was awarded to Marion Patterson for her monochromatic photo “Transcendence.”
Most Popular Award, sponsored by Gualala Community Center and voted on by the AIR attendees from Thursday through Sunday, went to the beautifully crafted Adirondack Guide Boat by Larry Nelson.
The Emerging Artist Award for best work by an artist under 18 years of age, sponsored by Colette Coad and Rozanne Rapozo, was presented to Chase Olson of San Rafael for his ceramic piece “Friends.”
The complete list of AIR winners is available by clicking HERE.
Top Hat Dinner
This special evening of fine food, wine and art was originally held on Friday night for many years but since its 2007 moved to Thursday and has become the opening event of the annual Festival. After being closed since Aug. 3 to prepare the building, take in and hang the art, the Arts Center will open its doors to the public for the first time to the Top Hat Dinner guests, who will be the first people to view the fine art exhibit and purchase the art before it is judged on Friday.
Each year Gualala Arts has presented the Top Hat Dinner it has been fortunate to have an amazing Executive Chef to prepare the outstanding appetizers, salads, main courses, side dishes and desserts. The two previous Top Hat Dinners were generously donated and tastefully prepared by Rosemary Campiformio and Eric Black of St. Orres Inn and Restaurant, supported by many of the St. Orres staff and members of the Gualala Arts Culinary Guild. Other past chefs include Phillip M. Kaufman and Robert Schneider from the Black Point Grill at The Sea Ranch Lodge, retired San Francisco Bay Area caterer and event planner John Linderman, Riley Huddleston and Jon Mortimer of Alexander’s at Timber Cove Inn. This “Evening of Evenings” never fails to impress guests with the artfully prepared and delicious food, premium wines from award winning wineries and tasteful table and room decorations by Kristin Carnes and her team of volunteers.
The dinner will feature the amazing and creative North Coast cuisine created by this year’s Top Hat Dinner Executive Chef, Point Arena’s own Shannon Hughes, previously of the Pangaea restaurants in both Point Arena and Gualala. Hughes, during her years as an emerging artist and writer, began cooking in restaurants in Los Angeles and worked briefly in the film business. During this time she discovered she loved cooking more than anything else. She returned to Portugal in 1981, a place where she had spent much beloved time during her teenage years. Upon returning to the U.S. in 1985 she moved to Point Arena. After years pulling cooking stints in all “The Best Places on the Coast” beginning at St. Orres, then The Old Milano Hotel, she opened her own restaurant, Pangaea, on Earth Day of 1994. During her seven years as chef/owner, Pangaea thrived and drew critical praise and patronage both from the local community and from the wider San Francisco Bay Area and Sonoma/Napa wine country. She sold the business in May of 2000 to return to her painting and writing, with her blog ShannonFood.blogspot.com covering her continuing love of local, sustainable and organic food and its creative preparation and presentation.
Hughes is driven by the ritual of the cauldron and the greening of the Earth and is self-taught in the culinary arts. Her cuisine is devoted to the season’s whimsy, to the practice of sustainable agriculture, to small organic farms and farmers, and to the great traditions of indigenous, unpretentious cooking. The idea that food is truly nourishment, and sacred and must arrive to the belly filled with love and devotion is her watermark, and here she draws inspiration and sensibility from the ethnic traditions that marked her childhood and life. The cuisines of Europe, and especially of the Levant and Mediterranean, punctuate her skill by honoring recipes that must take at least three days to prepare.
Hughes has created a tantalizing menu for this year’s Top Hat feast. The evening will start with three bruschetta appetizers, then move to a serving of roasted heirloom tomato gazpacho. Guest will be offered their choice of one of three main courses. The first choice is roasted wild local king salmon with Yukon Gold potato galette and a tangle of crispy fried julienned heirloom carrots, leek & haricot vert, drizzled with chive oil and lemon butter cream. Meat lovers can select the confit of Muscovy duck with fried sage leaves, thyme glaze and crispy new red potatoes and braised summer greens. For vegetarians and vegetable lovers, the terrine of French green lentils, Chevre, eggplant and a tangle of julienned carrot, leek and haricot vert is sure to please. All guests will top off this culinary adventure by enjoying a nectarine and wild blackberry parfait. As always, the food will be accompanied by a selection of outstanding red, white and blush wines from such noted winemakers as Annapolis Winery, Handley Cellars, Husch Vineyards, Navarro Vineyards and Woodenhead Vintners.
Top Hat Dinner celebrants will get a sneak peek preview of the Fine Art Exhibit and have the opportunity to purchase art before it is judged, and receive VIP Festival Passes that will admit them to the Friday Champagne Preview and the Festival itself. Tickets to the Top Hat Dinner are by reservation only, and are $150 per person which includes a $100 donation and VIP Festival passes to the Champagne Preview on Friday, Aug. 14 from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. and the Festival itself on Saturday or Sunday. Reservations can be made by visiting the Gualala Arts Center or calling (707) 884-1138 and are recommended as it usually sells out.
Champagne Preview
The Champagne Preview is on Friday evening from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. (admission $10). Champagne will be served until 6 p.m. when the judges’ award presentation and critique begins.
Outdoor artist booths will be open for a sneak preview from 4 – 6 p.m. The Fine Art exhibit sneak preview is from 4:30 – 7 p.m. Award presentations and judge’s critique will take place Friday at 6 p.m. in the outdoor amphitheater. Artists should be present to receive awards but are not required.
Exhibit Judges
Gualala Arts is pleased to have three distinguished and capable judges for this year’s Art in the Redwoods Festival. Judith Selby Lang, Pierre-Francois Galpin and Marja van der Loo will bring a diverse set of art background and experience to the difficult yet rewarding task of determining the winners of the many AIR awards.
van der Loo has had the unique opportunity to live between the United States, the Netherlands, and Mexico for the majority of her life. This experience has greatly informed her interest and outlook on art. Her research focuses primarily on post-colonial theory specifically related to contemporary practices in Latin America. Recently, she has been looking closely at ceramic sculpture with particular interest in the innovative clay movements coming out of Northern California.
Currently a curator for the San Jose Museum of Art, van der Loo has been working on commissions for the museum by emerging artists and the development of exhibitions such as Character Studies: Clay from the Collection and Covert Operations: Investigating the Known Unknowns, opening this fall. She has worked on exhibitions at the Museu de Arte Sacra in Salvador, Brazil, Tropenmuseum in Amsterdam, The Clark Art Institute in Williamstown, MA), and Flagstaff Arts Commission in Flagstaff, AZ.
Selby Lang, in her multimedia art installations, explores the global impact of plastic pollution. She is committed to the creation of positive symbols and life-affirming images to energize the conversation about environmental issues. By giving aesthetic form to what is considered to be garbage, Selby Lang serves as both cleaner and curator. While the content of her work has a message about the spoiling of the natural world by the human/industrial world, her intent is to transform the perils of pollution into something celebratory. Since 1999 Selby Lang and her husband Richard Lang, as a collaborative team, have gathered hundreds of pounds of plastic debris from Kehoe Beach, a remote stretch of the Point Reyes National Seashore. They combine their love of nature with their interest in science to produce an ongoing series of art works about the oceans and the environment. Their artwork has been featured in over 60 exhibitions in galleries and museums; educational and science centers including the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art Artist Windows, the United Nations World Environment Day, the Cummings Gallery at Stanford University, and the University of San Francisco. Their work was recently exhibited at the California Academy of Sciences, Sausalito’s Marine Mammal Center, The Oakland Museum, Hong Kong’s Ocean Film Festival.
Her ephemeral public art works have graced the San Francisco Civic Center Plaza, the Palo Alto Baylands Nature Preserve, and Stanley Harbor in Hong Kong. She shares her enthusiasm for art making with groups of all ages. For over 30 years she has been an art instructor, guiding students in exercises and projects that encourage personal expression and helping them to realize their own artistic visions. She has a BA in Art from Pitzer College and MA in interdisciplinary arts from San Francisco State University.
Pierre-François Galpin is a contemporary art curator and writer, whose artistic interests intersect between photography, new media, and performance art. Originally from France, he relocated to the San Francisco Bay Area in 2012 and is now Assistant Curator at The Contemporary Jewish Museum in San Francisco. He is currently working on several exhibitions at the museum, including a traveling exhibition on the British singer Amy Winehouse. His current research focuses on artists’ approaches to history, family past, and collective memory.
Prior to this current position he has had experiences at the Centre Pompidou in Paris, France, the Independent Curators International in New York and SF Camerawork in San Francisco, among other places. His writing has been published on different media, including The Exhibitionist, Art Practical, and exhibitions catalogues. He holds a MA in Curatorial Practice from California College of the Arts, San Francisco and a Masters in Regional and Urban Strategy from Sciences Po, Paris, France.
The Art in the Redwoods Festival is honored to have this talented crew of judges for this year’s fine art exhibit.
Festival weekend
The Festival is open to the public on Saturday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. and on Sunday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. for the indoor fine art exhibition and outdoor festival activities. Admission is $6.00 for adults, and youth 17 and under are free.
Festival Schedule
Saturday, August 15, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.
10 a.m. Gates Open
10:45 ~ 11:45 a.m. White Hackle Pipe Band, JAMI Amphitheater Stage
11 a.m. ~ 3 p.m. Open Clay Studio – Try the Potter’s Wheel for free!
12 p.m. ~ 1 p.m. Barbara Johannes, Picnic Band Stand – Beautiful accordion
1:15 ~ 2 p.m. Ernest Bloch Bell Ringers, Coleman Auditorium Stage
2:15 ~ 2:45 p.m. Kashaya Storytelling with Eric Wilder, Fairy Ring
3 p.m. ~ 4 p.m. White Hackle Pipe Band, JAMI Amphitheater Stage
5 p.m. Gates Close
Sunday, August 16, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.
10 a.m. Gates Open
11a.m. ~ 11:45 a.m. John Micka – Classical Guitar, Mohr Mezzanine Landing
11a.m. ~ 3 p.m. Open Clay Studio – Try the Potter’s Wheel for free!
11a.m. ~ 12 p.m. Barbara Johannes, Picnic Band Stand – Beautiful accordion
11 :45 a.m. ~ 12 p.m. Tessa Howard Dance Troupe, Dance Performance, Coleman Auditorium Stage
12:15 p.m. ~ 12:30 p.m. Tessa Howard Dance Troupe, Dance Performance, Coleman Auditorium Stage
1:15 p.m. ~ 2 p.m. Ernest Bloch Bell Ringers, Coleman Auditorium Stage
2 p.m. ~ 4 p.m. BAKU, JAMI Amphitheater Stage
3 p.m. Art in the Redwoods PPQG Quilt Raffle Drawing & Most Popular Award, JAMI Amphitheater Stage
4 p.m. Gates Close
Live music and dance will be presented on the auditorium stage, in the outdoor amphitheater and by strolling musicians throughout the festival weekend – most of it performed by local musicians and dancers.
The grounds will be filled to the brim with vendor booths offering a host of items including jewelry, ceramics, wood, tiles, weavings, specialized apparel, leather goods, photographs, textiles and artwork.
Enjoy our fabulous selection of food and drink booths, including fresh baked pizza from our outdoor brick pizza oven located in the picnic area next to the bandstand! Gualala Arts Culinary Group offers a great grill, salads and soups. Beer and wine are available for purchase. Your sweet tooth will have lots of choices between home-made cakes, cookies and a great ice cream bar.
Quilt Raffle
The Art in the Redwoods Quilt Raffle prize is “Celestial Magic,” quilted by Sharon Malachowski and pieced and finished by Joyce Gaudet, Renata Lopez, Dee Goodrich, Laura Hamilton and Judy Riddle. Proceeds from the raffle benefit the Gualala Arts Young Artist Scholarship Fund, which has awarded over 50 local graduating seniors who are interested in pursuing a career in the arts scholarships totaling over $50,000 since its inception 15 years ago. Raffle tickets are $2 each, three for $5, seven for $10, or fifteen for $20. “Celestial Magic” will be on display at the Arts Center through Art in the Redwoods and the winner will be selected on Sunday, August 16 at 3 p.m. You need not be present to win.
Purchase your raffle tickets at Gualala Arts Center and the Dolphin Gallery. Tickets are $2 each, three for $5, seven for $10 or fifteen for $20.
Gualala Arts thanks PPQG for its many year’s of support to the Young Artists Scholarship Fund with this Quilt Raffle. To see the 2005 through 2014 Quilt Raffle quilts, visit the 2014 AIR Quilt Raffle History page.
Festival Map
Artists: How to Enter
The Art in the Redwoods Festival, the most popular and largest north coast art show in California, will take place on the 3rd weekend in August; the Fine Art exhibit runs through Labor Day weekend. Artists and artisans are invited to show and sell their works and to compete for generous awards, which include cash prizes and ribbons.
The Art in the Redwoods Fine Art exhibit entry form, complete with entry rules, available category options and list of awards, is available for download and at the Gualala Arts Center (707-884-1138).
Entries must be postmarked by the 3rd Monday in July. The first 420 entries will be accepted; entries received after that will be put on a waiting list. You must be a member of Gualala Arts (you may join when turning in your form), and there is $10 fee for each piece with a maximum of 2 pieces per artist. The artwork must be dropped off in person on the second Sunday in August. We do not accept mailed artwork.
The outdoor artist vendor booth spaces are handled directly by Gualala Arts. The non-refundable jury fee is $10, the space fee is $150, and Gualala Arts will receive a 10% commission on sales. The application must be postmarked by March 15.
A fifteen minute booth sitting service will be available to artists who are alone. Additionally, artists with booths will receive complimentary food tickets.
The 2015 Vendor booth registration form is available on our website or by calling Gualala Arts at (707) 884-1138. Applications must be accompanied by images of artwork, plus image of booth. For additional questions regarding the application process, please contact Walt & Susan Rush.
For more information please call (707) 884-1138 or e-mail to info@gualalaarts.org.
Important Dates
March 15
Vendor booth application deadline
3rd Monday in July
Art Exhibit entry deadline
Sunday of 2nd weekend in August
Drop off artwork
3rd weekend in August
** Art in the Redwoods Festival **
August 31 – September 1
Pick up artwork