FarmArt.org

The Foothill Farmlands ARTS Festival gives us a chance to share our story with all of you–The richness of our land, the struggle to carve out a living in this rugged part of California, the magnetic pull of our mountains as they draw creative, hard-working people to settle here.   We all have stories to tell!

And here in Tuolumne County we’re lucky to have a close circle of professional storytellers who show us all how to tell a good tale!  During the Festival we will feature those fine tellers.

At our first event, “Golden Hills Traditions,” you can visit Mt. Brow Winery to hear the stories of Cynthia Restivo (one half of The Story Quilters), teller and puppeteer Jennifer Aguirre and our Bay Area friend the witty and wild Tim Ereneta, a Fringe Festival standard. Tim is active with the Bay Area Storytelling Festival, held each May at Kennedy Grove Regional Recreation Area in El Sobrante, CA.  Throughout the day these tellers will take the stage to share tales.  Plus, I might even jump to to mic to share some of my stories (I’m the other half of the Story Quilters).

That evening we’ll gather at Hurst Ranch in Jamestown for “Wild West Music and Western BBQ.” Bill Roberson and The Story Quilters will tell tales and sing some rousing songs of those raw days on the western trails.  You’ll even get to hear “Prairie Dog Biscuits and Old Coyote,” one of Cynthia and my favorite tales to tell.

On Sunday, cowboy tellers and poets will gather at Aspen Meadow Pack Station as we hit the trail for our High Country Cowboy Day.

Wednesday evening the Story Quilters will tell stories FOR ADULT EARS ONLY at Rosemary’s Roses.  Joining us will be the Sonora Bach Festival Chamber Ensemble.

Then join us Friday night in downtown historic Sonora for our Art & Music Stroll.  Storytellers will be scattered around town in different locations.  Out of Hand will host a family program around 7pm.  And look for a teller or two at Sonora Children’s Theatre HQ on the corner of Bradford Ave. and Washington St.

I keep hoping that Sonora will some day host a storytelling festival.  Maybe the Foothill Farmlands ARTS Festival is helping us plant those seeds!

Keep the sun on your back, and the earth in your hands…

bz

We’ve been working on fund raising to help support our Festival.  Imagine trying to host a big party without the “back up” to cover the costs–like the porta-potties!  Well, up stepped my good buddy Greg Popovich at Gold Rush MotoSports, and now we’ve got a Very Cool Raffle!

1st Prize–A 2008 Honda Rincon 4-Trax ATV, perfect for the farm or off-roading.  This “baby” is a $8800 value!  If you’re a road-ripper or you just want to get that bale of hay to the Back 40, this is for YOU!

2nd Prize–A $2500 value Art Collection by Tuolumne County’s finest artists.  I will personally take you on a shopping spree so that you can select your preferred pieces, and meet the artists, too!

3rd–$1000 worth of Farms of Tuolumne County members’ Gift Certificates.  Everything from eggs to kohlrabi, Christmas turkeys to Christmas trees! You can enjoy the Fall 2008 with a pantry (or freezer) full of Local Foods!

Tickets cost $20.00 each.  Only 2,000 will be sold–That makes THIS raffle WAY better odds than the California Lottery.  Plus, we’ll be doing two Early-Bird Raffles!  If you buy your tickets before August 15th, you’ll have a chance at extra prizes–A $100 Gas Card, 2 tickets to Sierra Repertory Theatre, $100 Farms of Tuol-Co gift certificates. Then there will be another Early Bird Raffle on August 31st.

The Biggy will be at our Gala on Saturday, September 13th, at Twain Harte Tree Farm. 

AND WHO ELSE IS A BIG WINNER?  

Our local farmers!  25% of the profits will help FOTC build a new website and promote our farmers’ services and products.

Our local artists! 25% of the profits will help Central Sierra Arts Council expand and develop our Tuolumne County arts programs.

Our local forest visitors and forest rangers!  25% of the profits will help Stanislaus National Forest to support their Summer Interpretive Programs.  Each summer thousands of families visit our forest to experience the wilderness, our lakes and streams, our hiking trails.  Your support will keep these adventures safer, cleaner and will also provide rich family programs, such as Bill Roberson’s Silly Songs and Stories program at Pinecrest Lake.

And our Festival! 25% of the profits will benefit this year’s festival and help lay the groundwork for future festivals!

So, come on by the Sonora Farmers’ Market to buy a handful of tickets!

Well, time for me to get rolling and meet you at the Farmers’ Market. See you there…

bz

Wonderwomen

From left: Alexa Janicki, Rebecca Schmidt & Lauren Sutherland are here having a great time chatting and doing inventory!  Come and join the fun!!!

Our Sierra Foothills–Red clay* and granite. We dig our lives out of this.  But one outstanding artist in Tuolumne County takes that same clay, and give us inspiration, expression and beauty.

Harry Nakamoto creates amazing Raku-fired art pieces.  He uses a wood-fired kiln, an Anagama kiln, a process used in Japan for hundreds of years.  This timeless process brings an unique, earthy quality to each piece of pottery.  Nakamoto, an Emeritus member of the Association of Clay and Glass Artists of California,  is widely known for an elegant gesture that is represented in each piece of pottery.  There is mystery in that elegance as if this quiet man is holding a deep, but very powerful, secret. He reveals that secret in clay and fire.

Nakamoto is also well loved for his dedication to students as he strives to carry on this ancient process.  Many of his students live in our area.  Two of them are connected to the Foothill Farmlands ARTS Festival: Kathy Gregg will be an artist vendor at Mt. Brow this year. Her incredible and curious pieces will be for sale. Many of her pieces take on that same powerful mystery that is portrayed in Nakamoto’s work.  And ceramicist Laurie Sylwester, an art instructor at Columbia College, was one of last year’s presenters at Mt. Brow.  Laurie’s work is now available at the Post Gallery in downtown Sonora.  An award-winning photographer, Laurie has photos of potters working together at Harry Nakamoto’s studio with the Anagama kiln. (*About that Red Clay–Our Sierra Foothills are deep with clay.  Local potters are lucky to have Quyle Kilns near Murphy’s, CA, which supplies them with a variety of high quality clays.)

If you “google” Harry Nakamoto, you will see that his work is shown all over the U.S.  Almost every major ceramics exhibit will include the works of Nakamoto. And if you join us for our Gala on Saturday, September 13th, you’ll have a chance to big on a beautiful piece.  Oh, by the way, to take this elegant vessel home you’ll have to outbid ME!

Well, speaking of that Red Clay…I’d better get a little bit of water going in my garden.  I’ve been so busy with Festival details that my poor tomatoes and squash are barely surviving.  See you soon!

bz

ARTISTS AND PHOTOGRAPHERS…Join us this Sunday morning (7/20 at 8:30am) at Rancho Torales Olive and Lavender Farm in Richards Ranch for our last pre-festival event.

Farmers Joy and Sandy Severin invite Plein Air artists and photographers to enjoy the morning light at their exquisite farm.  If you’d like to be a part of this group, please contact us at info@farmart.org to reserve a space. There is no charge to attend.  Just plan to bring all of your equipment, sun protection and a snack or lunch.  Joy will have beverages on hand.

On that same day, Farms of Tuolumne County will be hosting a Farm Tour Day with Rancho Torales as a “Diamond in the Farm Tour Crown.”  Tickets to attend the Farm Tour are $10, a fund raiser for Farms of Tuolumne County.  BUT the art and photo portion is free with a reservation.  And you can check out Joy’s art studio.

Plus, all art and photo participants will receive a coupon to enter one piece of art in the Foothill Farmlands ARTS Festival’s art exhibit.  Entry forms should be posted at the website ANY DAY NOW.

AND, here goes a big shout-out to The Severins for the new award they received for the delicious olive oil!  Yeah!  A bronze award in an international competition–how’s that for a Tuolumne County Farm Product?  Plus, I hope all you locals had a chance to read the wonderful newspaper article in Tuesday’s Union Democrat’s “Food and Flavor” section.  Great pictures of our friends and their product.

I’ve got to learn how to post pictures here so I can show you some of the gorgeous places!

Well, the sun is up now….I’d better go see if the gophers got my heirloom tomatoes.

bz

I met Zac Calbert on Thanksgiving 2007.  Sullen, dark, seething with an under-current of intense strong fire!  But my pal (and fellow born in 49er) Dave Williams said, “You need to meet Zac.”  And thus, a new creative friendship was born. (OOH, HERE’S THAT WORD AGAIN:  VOLUNTEER)

Zac is a recent grad of Cal-State Long Beach’s Studio Art program.  His artistic passion is TEXT, FONTS. He is a hot graphics designer with a youthful eye. His work is edgy and expressive.  After graduation, he ventured out in the L.A. area for a while, but these golden hills kept whispering, “Come home.”

Zac’s fire has a source.  He wants to awaken the Youth Art movement in Tuolumne County.  He wants his generation, those Nex-Genners, to step in and get ready to grab the torch!

Zac is one of our Team Leaders for the Foothill Farmlands ARTS Festival.  As a result of our new found friendship, I managed to rope him in!  ”Tell me what to do, B.Z.”  So, he is coordinating our outreach at the Sonora Farmers’ Market.  You’ll see us both there THIS Saturday as we launch this element of the festival. (GIANT P.S.–LET ME ROPE YOU IN, TOO!)

He is also making a huge contribution at our Mt. Brow Event.  Zac is bringing together the young artists from CSAC’s winter show:  The Returning Show.  Joining him at Mt. Brow will be Joshua Cripps, Lindsey Lutts, Forest Stearns (I think) and maybe that Flaming Lotus Girl Jess Hobbs.  Some of these great Nex-Gen artists will be on hand; Zac will present these others at this Festival Venue.

This young guy is fueling his fire by learning about community activism and leadership in the arts.  He is giving over 100 hours of volunteer time as a Team Leader.  If you know Zac, give him a nod and say, “Thanks for helping.”  If you haven’t met him yet, come by the Foothill Farmlands ARTS Festival’s booth at the Sonora Farmers’ Market.  You can get your festival tickets and a cool raffle ticket there starting THIS Saturday.

Gardening takes many forms.  As a mom and grandma, I hope that part of my garden work is cultivating our next generation.  I’m sure that Chris deRose and Mike Calbert look at their ‘wild plant’ Zac, and smile…

Time for a little dirt in my hands..

bz

When we first envisioned this festival, some people said, “What’s the connection?  Why farm and art together?”  Some even said, “I don’t get it.”

How do you explain to someone to see with Vincent Van Gogh’s eyes?  How to do encourage someone to take a look at the art of the ancient world and its clear inspiration from the land?  Food and People:  They kind of go together.  Therefore, farms and art do, too.

Dennis Garcia, one of Tuolumne County’s stellar artists, is known for his geometric layered pieces that express tones of color.  His work is exclusively non-representational, meaning that it really is not intended to LOOK like anything specific.  However, it is in his palette that he brings dynamics, mood, evoking an image in the viewer’s mind.  He talked once about moving from Los Angeles to Tuolumne County, and how that move affected his paintings.  In L.A. his palette was muted in steel, grey and black.  When he moved to the foothills, the colors jumped into him!  Gold, umber, royal purple, the spectrum of greens and blues.  He said that this change was his response to the land, the light, the open landscape that now renewed and inspired him. His painting, Sonora Autumn, is on display at the Square I Gallery in Claremont, CA.  But you can see his work IN Sonora, too. Dennis has just opened his new gallery–The Ventana, at 19 W. Bradford Ave. in the Bradford Building (corner of Washington & Bradford).  Get yourself in there!  You won’t believe it–quite hip with exquisite pieces of contemporary art, juxtaposed with antique paintings.  Dennis is one of California’s most prestigious collectors of California Impressionist paintings.  Some of them are available at the Ventana, along with amazing contemporary works by other well-established local artists:  Sherman  Hay, Corey West, Joy Willow and Mike Dwaileebe.

Give yourself a treat!  Call up a friend.  Invite her/him to lunch at one of our great downtown restaurants, and then go visit the Bradford Building.  It now has four art galleries!  Then how about meeting me for a glass of wine at Muir-Hanna, which is right next door?  Or maybe you’d rather visit the Mother Lode’s hippest DERELICT BAR–Servente’s!

I can take a little break from the garden to show you around my town, my home–Sonora in Tuolumne County, California.

Wow!  Have I got a lot of exciting festival news!  Where to begin?

CALLING ALL ARTISTS AND PHOTOGRAPHERS! The Foothill Farmlands ART Exhibit is coming soon.  Entry forms are available at Central Sierra Arts Council, 48 S. Washington St. in downtown Sonora.  OR you can call CSAC at (209)532-ARTS to request a copy in the mail (Be sure to leave an AUDIBLE message with snail mail address).  This show is for all media.  Our art theme–Can you guess it?  Foothill Farms, of course! How you interpret that is up to you, oh, creative and artistic ones.

This is a JURIED ART SHOW with two outstanding judges:  Daniel Kasser of University of the Pacific art department and Chella Gonsalves, a well-known Stanislaus County multi-media artist.

So, put  yourself out on the edge, and leap!   We hope to have a good response from our local artists and photographers.  Plus, we’re sending out announcements to Stanislaus, San Joaquin and Merced Counties. There will be some prizes for the show.  Plus, the opportunity for thousands of people to see your work because our exhibit is going to be on display for one month in downtown Sonora in local shops and restaurants.

MORE HEADLINE NEWS:  My pal, Greg Popovich at GoldRush Motorsports, is helping us set up a great RAFFLE!

First Prize:  A Honda “Rincon” ATV.  Farmers & Ranchers, this baby will help you out!  You can load bags of feed, hay or planting materials onto its front and back, then cruise to your corner of the world. ($8500 volue)

Second Prize: A Ten-Piece Art Collection by some of our best Tuolumne County artists. ($2500 value)

Third Prize: $1000 worth of FOTC gift certificates.  Christmas trees, grass-fed beef, wines, turkeys, greens, lambs, olive oils, lavender products–All grown in Tuolumne County!

PLUS, WE’RE GIVING AWAY PRIZES TO TICKET EARLY-BIRDS! If you buy  your tickets before August 15th, two tickets will be drawn for #1–Two full festival passes, and #2– A $200 gas card. We’re lining up a couple of other EARLY TICKET give-aways.   Tickets are $20.00 each (that’s just One Andrew Jackson).  We will only sell 2,000 tickets in all, so your odds are good, if you’re the gambling kind.

WATCH FOR OUR BOOTH AT THE SONORA FARMERS’ MARKET.  WE’LL HAVE RAFFLE TICKETS AND FESTIVAL TICKETS ON SALE VERY SOON!  THE GRAND PRIZE WINNING TICKETS WILL BE PULLED AT OUR GALA ON SATURDAY, SEPT. 13TH AT TWAIN HARTE TREE FARM!  Tickets for that are at the Festival website:   www.farmart.org

Now, I suppose I should be out in the garden, but right now my mind is filled with all the things I have to do for the festival….VOLUNTEER ANYONE?

I SURE HOPE A LOT OF YOU HAVE READ OUR CALL FOR VOLUNTEERS!  I NEED YOU TO STEP UP TO MAKE THIS EVENT BE GLORIOUS FOR ALL OF US!  Tell me how you can help!

WE NEED YOU!  We’ve got cool jobs throughout the Foothill Farmlands ARTS Festival.  You can help for 2 hours or for a month!  You get to plan it and pick it. To thank people who give at least 15 hours of time, we’ll have a Festival T-Shirt for you!  Plus, we have a limited number of discounted tickets for the BBQ, Classical Musings and the Swinging Gala!  If you donate up to 20 hours, you’ll get a chance to purchase your ticket for 1/3 off–first come, first serve.

Here is a PARTIAL LIST of volunteer jobs coming up to help this festival run smoothly:

AT ALL OF OUR FESTIVAL WEEK VENUES, FROM SEPTEMBER 6TH TO 13TH:

Bartenders (cool, hear great music)

Recycling Team (cool, because you’re helping keep our world beautiful. AND WE WANT OUR FESTIVAL TO BE GREEN!)

Cashier (cool, if you get a thrill from handling raw currency. Not so cool if you don’t count real well)

Festival Floaters at Mt. Brow & Aspen Meadow (Cool.  Enjoy the ambience and give our vendors breaks and assistance)

Set-Up Crew (cool, if you’re working on getting buffed!)

Take-Down Crew (cool for the same reason)

ART SHOW VOLUNTEERS:

Art Show In-Take Folks (Cool.  Meet all the great artists when they drop off their work for our competitive show)–PICK YOUR DAY BETWEEN AUGUST 14TH & AUGUST 19TH.

Art-Show Hangers (Cool.  You always wanted to be an interior designer, right? Come and “hang” out with us!)–SEPT 1ST & 2ND.

Art Show Judges’ Assistant (Cool.  Be on the inside of this first competition!–ONE DAY ONLY ON AUGUST 22ND.

Art Show Receptionists (cool, hang our with amazing talent)–ONE NIGHT ONLY ON SEPT 12TH.

PREPARATION TEAM:

Inventory & Prepare Art Supplies for Hands-On Art Activities (moderately cool ‘cuz you’re learning about what to do)–PICK A DAY IN MID-AUGUST.

SO, JOIN US AND HELP OUT!  SHOOT ME AN EMAIL AT info@farmart.org.  I’LL GET BACK TO YOU FOR SURE!  Now to the garden while there is a glimmer of sunlight.  I’m pulling up my sweetpeas.  They were stunning and sweet now they’re a bit dry and tired.  But I now have seeds for next year!

bz

Why is it that we learn to honor the hard work of our fathers later in life?  I can attest to the strength of Marian’s commitment to helping farmers.  Perhaps, in memory of her own father, she and her husband Allan, are donating time and service to Farms of Tuolumne County.  Thanks, Marian & Allan, for all you do.  AND I’m so grateful that you have given acknowledgment to our dedicated farming community.

Central Sierra Arts Council is honored to work with our local agricultural community.  That’s what this festival is all about!  Bringing the best of our community–its creative impulse and its industrious spirit–together to not only celebrate, but spread awareness of how good our life in Tuolumne County is!

When we started the Foothill Farmlands ARTS Festival, quite a few people asked, “Why art and agriculture?  What’s the connection?”  My jaw just about dropped!  I wanted to scream, but being the polite, well-bred, “good girl” that I am, I simply smiled.  ”I suppose I can understand your confusion, but just think…”  From there I lit into a LITANY of connections. From Van Gogh’s golden haystacks to Bruegel’s markets and fairs, to sacred cow sculptures of the ancient world to the painted cows of Chicago’s boulevards (that famous cattle town–the end of the line for lots of cows; the beginning for lots of hamburgers).

Both are as basic as it gets!  We express that which is MOST important to us.  The sustenance that we glean from our fields fills not only our bellies, but our hearts and minds, too.  Then we are “called” to express their image.

One of my favorite photographs is one of hard-working hands.  I don’t remember the photographer (maybe one of you does), but this black and white photo clearly tells the story of a hard working man, who has tilled and planted to satisfy our hunger.  As we gaze at the photo, we can stop, admire the art piece, and remember the struggle, the diligence of those who bring food from farms to tables.

Please keep telling us about your farm heroes.  What a rich testament this could be to the rugged folks who feed us, nurture us!