Nature Times Three

The Gualala Arts Burnett Gallery is set to host “Nature Times Three,” a compelling exhibition that showcases the natural world through the artistic vision of three local artists artists. Kristin Coddington-Gordon, a sculptor, Gail Jackson, a photographer, and Chris Grassano, a painter, will present their unique perspectives on the beauty of the North Coast’s flora and fauna. The exhibit opens on Saturday, June 14th, from 4-6 pm and will continue through July 7th.  The exhibition promises to be a celebration of natural beauty, interpreted through three different artistic mediums, each with its own distinct approach to depicting the environment.

Gail Jackson

Gail is a local wildlife photographer on the Mendocino and Sonoma coast. Surrounded by nature and wildlife, she finds new scenes almost daily. She goes out to the bluff trails early grateful for the peaceful moments, aiming her camera towards cheerful and lighthearted images. She walks the trails when the sunrise wakes the wild flowers and the light on the river turns to glitter. Gail follows the wildlife tracks in the sand at the beach or in the mud by the river. She walks with the animal prints listening to the shore birds singing and waves breaking. Carrying her camera across her shoulder, she wanders hoping to capture bobcats and bunnies before they crouch in the tall grass, or a raven and eagle dancing in the sky, or the deer and coyote in the distance trotting over the hills. Gail hopes her photos make you smile. She shares her photography to spread cheer and inspire others explore their own kind nature, inside and out.

Kristin Coddington-Gordon

What Now Ceramics

Kristin uses her background in scientific illustration and natural history in her clay sculptures. Along with this, it is her love of animals and the space and time to explore and create without instruction or influence which she believes is critical to evolving into one’s own creative self. As a naturalist, a conservationist and an environmentalist, her passions are intertwined in her life and work. Her great hope is that her art stirs an emotion in people that inspires them to do what they can – to save the whales, be mindful of the path they tread on this earth, and to responsibly steward the resources that we all share.

Chris Grassano

Chris has been an artist since childhood. The beauty of the physical world in all its diversity inspires her, whether it is the texture of a feather, the richness of the color of a flower petal or the rhythm of a waving branch in the wind.

Chris received her BA in Fine Art from Montclair State College in New Jersey. She has worked in a variety of mediums, including acrylics, oils, glass mosaics, copper relief and pen and ink.

In San Francisco, she earned a BFA in Illustration from Academy of Art University. During her time there she was introduced to the work of Robert Bateman, a preeminent nature artist. This helped inspire her to further explore the natural world in her painting. For over 30 years Chris has been celebrating the natural environments of Northern California in her work.

Cazadero is Chris’s home now, part of the lower Russian River area. She takes her inspiration from the majestic coast redwoods and the nearby ocean. She finds her daily life made more human through interaction with the flora and fauna of this place.

Chris endeavors to capture the unique vitality of the many creatures and plants that live here. Her goal is to blend realism, imagination, emotion, and design in communicating a personal vision that touches the universal.