I s playing in the mud the begin-ning of art? In the case of Kristin

Gordon, the answer would be a resounding yes!

Mendocino sculptor Kristin Gordon was raised in both Mendocino and Lake County. She is married to Bob Gordon, who works for the CAL FIRE Mendocino Unit. They have three daughters, ages 24, 22 and 19. The Gordons moved back here from Lake County four years ago and as Kristin emphasizes, “I’m living my dream!”

Kristin grew up in a family that allowed their chil-dren a lot of space for exploration and cre-ativity. “My dad was the original hippie. I spent a lot of time in this town as a kid. My grandma lived on Albion Street and was friends with Bill Zacha. We would

visit them and Grandma would send us to summer camps at the Mendocino Art Center. In high school, I took classes from Bill Brazill. I didn’t see any of this as the beginning of art, but it really was. Being creative was just accidental.”

Sam Gordon, Kristin’s oldest daughter, is, in her own words, “into throwing on the wheel and

sgraffito (an Italian word that means, literally, “to scratch”). Raised near Calistoga, Sam and her sisters were home-schooled by Kristin. “Growing up,” Sam tells me, “I was always exposed to art. I remember my mom working with papier-mâché. Art was just a part of our household. For me, doing ‘my thing’ resulted in art!”

Kristin and Sam both work for State Parks – Kristin as an interpreter and Sam as an outreach coordinator. After Sam moved back here two years ago, both mother and daughter started taking ceramic classes taught by Evan Hobart at Mendocino College. Sam says, “This was the first time in a long time that we had worked in the same place together, although I’m on the wheel and Mom is doing sculpture. We don’t work a lot together, but we do

By Debbie L. Holmer

10 Mendocino Arts Magazine

Kristin Gordon, The Rescue, ceramic/raku fire, 3' high.

Sam Gordon, Salmon Cup, B mix clay.

Fall 2017/Winter 2018 11

bounce ideas around at the dinner table.”In their conversation with me, both Kristin and Sam

expressed gratitude to Evan Hobart for encouraging them to show at the March 2017 Marine Wildlife Exhibit at the Mendocino Art Center, which celebrates the oceanic wild-life that is such an integral part of the local environment. They both agreed that they are “gratefully surprised that our pieces are selling.”

What do they recommend for the young artist starting out? Kristin: “Develop your own style. If you have wabi-sabi, embrace it!” Sam: “Slow down and listen to yourself.”

Kristin and Sam are both conservationists and natu-ralists at heart. This shows through in their work. “At State Parks,” Sam says, “we try to set a good example of being environmentally conscientious. And we carry this into

our art, using it as a form of activism. We try to make people ‘aware’ and I can see us building this into our message more and more.”

“When looking at my mom’s animal sculptures, you can see the distress in their eyes. Hopefully, this is thought-provoking for those seeing her work.” Sam started moving toward more func-tional ware as she became more aware of the “plastic” issue in our world. Although her work shows a lighter side than

her mom’s, nature or animal themed mugs hold a quiet message. Perhaps, “Please use me and not a plastic cup.”

How do you begin a work? Kristin: “I go by what I’m inspired by at the time. I was into bears and whales; now I’m drifting into bears and horses. I love raku (a Kanji character meaning “enjoyment” or “ease”) for a few reasons. One, I am impatient and it is fast. It is like some sort of volcanic action! I also love the wabi-sabi out-come. Although sometimes that can work against me, at other times it’s like ‘Wowee! Look at that!’”

Sam: Sam’s sgraffito mugs (where one paints with an underglaze which is just colored clay, then carves out the details, like a relief) are all

Sam Gordon, Buffalo Bowl, ceramic/high fire, 6" x 6".

Kristin Gordon, Discussion on Range and Habitat Loss, ceramic/raku, 8" x 10".

Left: Kristin Gordon, Sam Gordon photo. Right: Sam Gordon, Derek Woods photo.

12 Mendocino Arts Magazine

different. “One day I’ll make 12 mugs, another day I’ll make one. Sometimes the animal depicted on the mug is realistic, sometimes it is goofy.”

Sam gets her inspiration from the ocean/nature and being around the animals at home. She spent a lot of time working with the animals at Safari West in Sonoma County and this has also been an influence on her work. Sam says her next project will have something to do with the diminishing salmon population.

Who are the heroes in their lives? For Sam, there are three that stand out in her mind. Naturalist David Attenborough, Jane Goodall and Dian Fossey. Kristin’s hero is her husband, Bob.

Sam would love to attend Humboldt, taking a scientific illustration course. If she pursues this dream, it would lead her to a split major, wildlife/

art. They give a lot

of credit to Evan Hobart. Kristin: “Evan has taught me patience, tech-niques and helped me to explore on my own.” Sam: “We got lucky taking Evan’s classes. He’s allowed my creativ-ity to take flight!”

It’s truly a wabi-sabi world for Kristin and Sam. Humble and grateful for all they have, they appreciate being surrounded by natural, changing, unique objects and through their art they hope to share their environ-mentally conscientious message with all of us.

You can see Kristin’s sculptures at the Mendocino Art Center and Sam’s mugs can be purchased at the Art Center when they are in stock.

Visit Kristin and Sam Gordon’s website at whatnowceramics.comSam Gordon, Octopus Vessel, ceramic/high

fire, 6".

Kristin Gordon, Four, ceramic, prior to raku firing, 9" x 9".

Fall 2017/Winter 2018 13

October 28, 2017–January 28, 2018

Mastering the Molten: Mendocino County Art Glass

Savor this dazzling exhibit featuring the work of contemporary glass artists.

July 8–October 8, 2017

California’s Wild Edge:The Coast in Prints, Poetry,

and HistoryWoodcut ar tist Tom Killion’s prints and excerpts from admired California authors portray the coast’s ever-changing moods.

Glass art by Kale Haschak.

Point Reyes, Double Point, woodcut, Tom Killion.

Wed–Sat 10:00am–4:30pm, Sun 12:00–4:30pmgracehudsonmuseum.org

431 S. Main Street, Ukiah(707) 467-2836

14 Mendocino Arts Magazine

V irginia Sharkey is a native mid-Westerner who had absolutely

no doubt from the age of five that she was an artist. Arts in Ohio and Indiana public schools were highly valued and she was designated the classroom “artist” and “writer.” By the 9th grade she was performing violin in a college orchestra, and had won first prize in the national Scholastic Magazine Writing Competition for her poetic essay about the magic of orchestral playing.

Virginia went off to Vassar College as a de facto studio art major. The college did not then offer a studio art major so she declared English instead, writing a poetry book for her thesis though she practically “lived in the studio.” Inspired by a teacher, New York painter Rosemary Beck, she learned how to see abstract art. For her last three years her men-tor was the acerbic, highly political mytho-poetic social realist painter Alton Pickens, whose work was the polar opposite of Sharkey’s lyrical abstract bent. Pickens encouraged Virginia to go to New York City after graduation, and her first loft was a sublet from poet Denise Levertov with whom she shared anti-Viet Nam war activism. “At that time I felt very estranged from the art world,” she says. “Minimalism was touted and it left me cold.” Nevertheless, she painted, immersed in the great museum paintings and conversation of other artists, Peter Golfinopoulos in particular. After nine years in New York, she received a grant and was able to travel to Europe. At her exhibition and talk at Vassar she had met Ezra Pound’s grandson, who invited her to the family castle Brunnenburg in the Italian Alps, where she was inspired by the sublime mountain scenery and the Pound tradition. When returning to New York City at the grant’s end, “Everything was just grey. I had to leave.” 

This feeling and a romantic partnership led her to Mendocino County, where she has maintained a studio ever since, first living with her husband off the grid on the McNab ranch near Hopland and later on the coast. Living on a 20-acre former sheep ranch was a little incon-venient,” she says. “I remember calling my gallerist at the phone in a

Virginia Sharkey

Top: Dawn, acrylic on canvas, 48" x 33".

Bottom: Dusk, acrylic on canvas, 48" x 33".

THE COLOR OF MUSIC

By Peggy Templer

Gisela Linder photo.

Fall 2017/Winter 2018 15

mailbox three miles up a dirt road from the house and opening the mailbox lid, feeling its cold fog drip run down my arm. His wife said he was in the shower; could I call back in 20 minutes? NO!”

Living in Mendocino County, “It’s inevitable that my work is earthier, less cerebral,” she says, “but I have always been interested in the essential and elemental, which living in nature enhances. I even ventured off into a few jogs into quasi-representation; for example, the series of a dozen dogs I painted of my retriever’s face in various combinations, something quite crude, rather primitive. And then the monumentality of Yosemite struck me, so for a while I worked on abstracted variations of waterfalls.” These paintings were awarded one of the top prizes each year she entered the Yosemite Renaissance Exhibition at the Yosemite Museum. 

Her paintings, either acrylics or oil, are large, vibrant, and expan-sive. She prefers the large scale, being “interested in a deep space, you could call it symphonic. I try to convey a realm like music with its open-ings and structure of something ineffable.” Having practiced meditation for over 45 years she has also experienced a kind of spacial inner realm:

“The elements of color and line are merely tools for me. I’m not interested in making clever compositional arrangements, I want to actually have the work present meaning, to affect an experience. My intention is existential: I try to convey the quality of being, as it is felt in a crystalized presence of memory and time, like that prehistoric fly caught in amber – a kind of suspended musical color tone. I love suggestion and ambiguity, the emerging and coalescing, something imminent and mysterious, and the power of deep time and space. I try to summon the essence of an emotion or deeply felt experience and transmute it onto canvas until it coalesces into a familiarity that strums a chord for me.”

As those on the coast may know, Virginia regularly performs as violinist in the Symphony of the Redwoods, the Mendocino Music Festival and various chamber groups as well as teaching violin, all per the advice Rosemary Beck once gave in an oracular manner: “If one is to be a painter, then one should have a trade – like rug weaving!”

Her recent investigations concern the idea of time: the seasons, the times of day, and the days themselves. Recent poems are for the first time progenitors for her Days series (see Poetry, page 48), each painting roughly aligned to its poem. She was chosen last June as one of 28 artists entrants included in the Chautauqua Institution’s National Exhibition in New York and honored that her painting Monday was awarded the prestigious Bellringer prize, the top award of the exhibition.

Artists who inspired her in particular are Peter Brueghel, Goya, and “Matisse, above all.”

Virginia Sharkey’s work can be seen on her website at virginiasharkey.com, or the Partners Gallery website partnersgallery.com. During the month of October, she will have a Main Gallery exhibit at the Mendocino Art Center, with an opening reception on October 14.

Top: Sunday, acrylic on linen over panel, 50" x 52".

Middle: Tuesday, acrylic on linen over panel, 50" x 52".

Bottom: Traces, acrylic on linen over panel, 50" x 52".

16 Mendocino Arts Magazine

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Spring Irises, oil, Graydon Foulger

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LIFETIME MEMBERSBill & Jennie ZachaDick & Janet BilasBill BrazillJoyce BrownMarion & Chuck BushJohn CornacchiaTerry Lyon & James CookRhoda & Richard MeskerDonald E. Paglia, MDH. Lindsay ShieldsJoan & Jeff StanfordCharles Marchant Stevenson,

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For information about becoming a Mendocino Art

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THE MENDOCINO ART CENTER WISHES TO THANK…all of our generous donors and members who have provided support from July 1, 2016 through June 30, 2017. Memberships and donations at every level are appreciated and vital to the Mendocino Art Center. Members and donors who provide sup-port at $250 and above receive annual recognition in Mendocino Arts magazine.

Capturing

Through the Architecture of Glazing

By Linda Cloonan

arrived in Mendocino in the fall of 2016 to complete an artist in residency at the

Mendocino Art Center. I had just jumped out of corporate and was delighted to land in the Winona Studio where, for the next seven and a half months, I had the coveted opportunity to get reacquainted with my art.

For the previous couple of years, the internal prompt-ings to make a change had gotten louder. Time started to matter more than money. Freedom started to matter more than convention. Having my creative voice seemed to matter most of all. So, I quit that day job to pursue my art and writing full time. I haven’t had a single regret.

During my term I explored many different techniques and documented my processes. Among them, three-color “pours” in saturated pigments, bold under paintings over washed with grayed neutrals; multiple glazes limited to three transparent staining colors; and lastly, a limited palette with progressive masking and carefully planned sequential washes.

I

Fall 2017/Winter 2018 17

The latter technique is what I used to create the painting Alcove at Alcazar. The use of masking fluid for progressive masking is a meticulous process, but I was pleased with the result. I began with a photo reference and applied the rule of thirds in cropping by determining the area of greatest interest. For this piece, the greatest value contrast occurred where the light hit the interior tile of the alcove, so this became my focal point. I did a value study to familiarize myself with the image and made design decisions. Lastly, I laid in the drawing on a full sheet of 300lb Arches watercolor paper.

Next I created my palette (Image #1). I spend a fair amount of time building my palette. I plan my color transition bridges, glazing sequences, and determine the value range and color variations I can achieve with secondary and neutral colors. It is not uncommon for me to be inter-rupted for a few days before I can return to a painting, and since I have already worked out the details, I can jump right back in without too much thought. I aim to use three colors in a painting, looking for a Yellow-Red-Blue combination. For this painting I chose Naples Yellow, Quinacridone Burnt Scarlet, and Cobalt Blue.

I preserved my pure white areas by masking, and painted in the detailed area in the distance as seen through the archway. Once complete, I masked over that finished area and let it dry (Image #2).

Next I began with the washes. In order to get a continuous smooth wash, I position my board on a slant. There are special easels available, but creating a gentle slope is as easy as placing a roll of 2” masking tape under your board. Most anything will work. I say save your money and buy good brushes. I mixed up an ample container of each color (approximately ¼ cup), keeping the same water to pigment ratio at a level of “light and transparent.” Working left to right, top down, I worked in approximately 2” vertical sections at a time using a Windsor & Newton series 7, size 10 Kolinsky standard sable brush. My goal was to apply the washes without any breaks, blossoms or hard lines. The key here is to keep the bead of paint in your wash generous and full and then to keep moving.

The color sequences of my washes were important. I began by toning the entire page with Naples Yellow to warm it up. I progressively masked areas as I went along where I wanted to preserve a lighter value of yel-low: the glow of reflected light at the top of the archway, interior walls and those in the foreground for texture, and most importantly, the tiles that would eventually become green. This was key. I needed to preserve the yellow before I laid in my next wash. You’ll see why. In order to build the value range, I applied several washes of Quinacridone Burnt Scarlet to the interior alcove and floor. When this was complete, I removed the masking on the tiles, exposing the yellow underneath.

The next step was to apply washes of Cobalt Blue over the entire page. The exposed yellows now took on a green cast and the Quinacridone Burnt Scarlet shifted to hints of lavender. When the tiles and foliage reached the saturation level of green I desired, I masked over them (Image #3).

From there, I began with a series of variegated washes over the page

Image 1

Image 3

Image 2

18 Mendocino Arts Magazine

– Naples Yellow, bridged with Quinacridone Burnt Scarlet, transitioning to Cobalt Blue (Image #4). The painting began to take on the glow that can only be achieved by applying multiple glazes. I continued with the washes until I reached the color and value I desired, and lastly laid in the foliage and final detail work.

Once a painting is complete, I let it rest. I lean it against a wall, find a comfortable chair and let it speak to me. Each painting has a story to tell me. I let the narrative lead me where it will. I am frequently surprised by what comes through, and occasionally hit with strong emotion as I write. I always take that as an indicator that truth is being spoken. The words are not mine to censor. I am simply the scribe. These writings most often accompany my finished paintings (Image #5).

Linda Cloonan is a second year Artist in Residence and MAC’s Fiber Arts Coordinator.

Visit Linda’s website at studioLcreations.com.

Image 4

Image 5, Alcove at Alcazar, watercolor, 24" x 18".

Fall 2017/Winter 2018 19