High Off the Land

Cannabis has a long and colorful history in Mendocino County, and it affects both residents and visitors in diverse ways. It has fueled our economy for years, and has recently become legal. With 20/20 hindsight on half a century of local cannabis cultivation and use, Art Center Ukiah board members decided that it’s time to do a show about the different aspects of how it speaks to all of us. 

With the thought that this topic is relevant to the entire county, ACU collaborated with the Willits Center for the Arts and the Gualala Center for the Arts to create a larger show than any one of us could not have managed to organize alone. The call for artists was spread to all corners of the county with the support of all three art centers, the Arts Council of Mendocino County, cannabis dispensaries around the county and announcements on the KZYX “Cannabis Hour” program. Each art center chose semi-finalists from their respective geographic areas, who were then juried for the show by the expert team of Alyssum Weir (Arts Council of Mendocino County) and David Burton (Grace Hudson Museum).

Artists were challenged to interpret their own experiences with cannabis in any medium, both two and three-dimensional. Both positive and negative responses were welcomed and encouraged. The result was a collection of thirty wonderful pieces in a huge variety of mediums and styles, by artists from the Ukiah Valley, the North County and the Coast.

This first-ever collaboration of art centers made it obvious to the organizers from the very beginning that this would be a traveling show. It opened at the Willits Center for the Arts on May 6, where it will stay through the month before moving to Art Center Ukiah for the month of June, with the First Friday opening celebration on June 2nd. The last venue will be the Gualala Center for the Arts from July 14 through August 6th.

The Arts Council of Mendocino offered guidance and support throughout the planning of the show. The show is sponsored by Sparetime Supply in Willits.

Featured image: Trim Shack by Jazzminh Moore