Gualala Arts Promoting public interest and participation in the arts since 1961
About Scott Chieffo
In the 15 years that he has been living on the Southern Mendocino County Coast, Scott has developed an intimate photographic relationship with its unique landscape. His images capture the subtle beauty of the coast and forests with a highly unique, “painterly” style that emphasizes the quiet solitude of these landscapes. Scott’s main photographic goal is to be able to communicate this unique viewpoint to others, such that they are able to look upon his images, and develop a new and stronger appreciation for life’s details. He believes that a fine art photographic image is most powerful if it can be viewed with increasing pleasure repeatedly for many years, rather than simply have a strong initial impact.
“When I go into the field, I rarely carry any strongly preconceived ideas about subject matter for my images. I study the light, as it falls on the landscape, and look for ways in which it may bring out the hidden beauty around me. When things are going well, I literally enter a meditative state of mind, which allows me to create images that communicate the subtle emotions aroused by the scene surrounding me.”
While the vast majority of his artistry takes place looking through the camera’s viewfinder, Scott’s technical mastery in the “digital darkroom” allows him to optimize each image digitally so that the finished print matches his original artistic vision.
For the past several years, Scott has shown his fine art photography prints at galleries and exhibits along the west coast. His work is represented in private collections throughout the United States and beyond. His images taken within the Point Arena-Stornetta Public Lands were used in the public relations effort to eventually have that area added as the first mainland-based unit of the California Coastal National Monument in 2014. Additionally, Scott works as the Operations Manager at the Gualala Arts Center. You can view Scott’s work on his website, www.schieffophotography.com. His work can also be found at the Gualala Arts Center, the Artist’s Collective in Elk, and in various regional venues.
About Joann Cassady
As an artist, my life has gone full circle. After art school and a career in commercial graphics, I left the industry to follow my heart back to early childhood, playing in the backyard, squishing mud pies through my fingers. This time around, clay has replaced the mud but the pleasure I get from holding the earth in my hands is just the same. With the clay has come a passion for a firing techniquecalled “Raku” which in Japanese means, “pleasure or enjoyment’: My pieces are all made by 
hand using coiling & pinching techniques and fired using different firing processes. I’m drawn to create shapes that are simple yet elegant and in their simplicity, capture your eye’s attention. I don’t use molds and there are no short cuts. The clay and the process can be unforgiving, even humbling at times, and not all pieces reach the intended end. But when they do, the magic in that moment is the inspiration that drives the process and fuels my passion to do it again.
The Dolphin Gallery and Gift Shop is open Thursday-Monday, 11 am to 4 pm.
39114 Ocean Drive, Cypress Village, Gualala, CA 95445 . 707-884-3896.