May Happenings at Gold Country

Anza Borrego El Nino by Paul Cockrell

There is so much coming up downtown that it is hard to know where to start! Not only has Spring come to Placerville and the surrounding area in all its glory, but there are several events on Placerville's Historic Main Street this month and early next month that we're excited to be a part of. And, of course, we have two of our wonderful artists featured this month: Paul Cockrell and Susan Preissner.

Featured Artist: Paul Cockrell

Paul has been interested in photography since he was a child and learned basic black and white developing and printing from his father in his garage darkroom. He has used medium and large format film cameras since 1984 and now primarily shoots with a Canon 5D Mark II digital SLR. Paul uses Photoshop CS5 to process his images and prints with an Epson 4880 printer. He strives for as much control as possible over his photography and he shoots, processes, prints, mats, and frames all his work.

Paul has many of his works at the Gallery this month and will be there on Saturday, May 19 during the Third Saturday ArtWalk to talk about and show you his work. Paul's work, Anza Borrego El Nino, appears at the top of this month's blog.

See more of Paul's work on his Gold Country Artists Gallery web page and his own website.

Featured Artist: Susan Preissner

After many years working as a para-professional in law and social work, Susan began her life of creating art by making a unique line of greeting cards using dried, pressed botanicals along with embossing inks and powders.

Necklace & Earrings by Susan Preissner

During a visit to her hometown, she was introduced to the medium of fused glass by an old friend. After a class and much experimentation, Susan found great joy and satisfaction in the process of selecting colors, shapes and patterns in creating her one-of-a-kind pieces. Susan also creates many custom pieces for people, has had many one-person shows, and sold at many arts and crafts fairs.

Susie has many of her works at the Gallery this month and will also be there on Saturday, May 19 (Third Saturday ArtWalk) to talk about and show you her work. One of Susie's works, a pair of fused glass earrings and a necklace, is shown here.

See more of Susie's work on her Gold Country Artists Gallery web page.

Flowers Going Up on Main Street

The Flower Baskets will be going up on Main Street this month and everyone is looking forward to that! Gold Country Artists Gallery is one of the sponsors of the Flower Baskets on Main Street this year and we hope you come downtown as the summer progresses to see the beautiful flowers!

If you would like to donate to this project yourself, you can donate directly at Placerville News Company (very near Gold Country) or you can donate online at the Placerville Downtown Association website.

Hangtown Car Show

The Hangtown Car Show will be on Main Street on Sunday, May 20, 9am-3pm. This is a great show with great cars lining Main Street from the Court House to Center Street. Lots of chrome, great colors and car talk with dominate Main Street that day.

Come downtown for the show, then come into Gold Country Artists Gallery to see some wonderful artwork.

Who knows, you might find that one-of-a-kind gift for Father's Day, a summer birthday or a wedding. Come see what we have during May!

Just a Teaser for June

Ok, this is about it for May and here's a bit of a teaser for June: banners going up on Main Street in early June and the Wagon Train and Rib Cook-Off event. Lot's doing in June too!

Twentieth Anniversary Coming in July

The big event for us this summer is Gold Country Artists Gallery's 20th Anniversary celebration in July culminating with the main event on July 21 (Third Saturday in July). We have some special things lined up for July and for July 21, so stay tuned!

Did you know that Gold Country Artists Gallery is the longest-running gallery in El Dorado County? We've got lots of things planned for the month of July and hope you will come by and help us celebrate.

Help us celebrate our 20th Anniversary in July, 2012!

www.goldcountryartistsgallery.com

facebook.com/goldcountryartistsgallery

April and Spring is Here!

Majestic Peaks by Joyce Bahnsen

Ahhh, spring in the wonderful foothills of the Sierra Nevada! The blooms are starting to show their new selves and color is coming back to the foothills once again. At Gold Country Artists Gallery, we have a couple great Featured Artists to talk about.

Featured Artist: Joyce Bahnsen

Truly an art entrepreneur, Joyce's focus has long been watercolors of scenic Tahoe and most recently renditions of several historic Placerville homes. She adds variety to her work to include wall murals with commissions in Chicago, Phoenix, Los Gatos and Monte Sereno, California. Walls of Monet's famous water lilies can be seen at "The Seasons Bed & Breakfast" in Placerville.

Her artistic background also includes her fondness for creating painted, wearable art, winning 2nd prize in the national Costume.com competition; painted furniture and teaching Art Journaling.

Joyce's Majestic Peaks opens our GCA blog this month (above) and you can see more of Joyce's artwork on her Gold Country Artists Gallery web page.

Featured Artist: Deborah Bridges

Deborah Bridges is an award-winning sculptor of stone, clay and bronze. With 24 years of experience sculpting professionally as well as teaching the art of figurative sculpture, she keeps her attention on the inner depths of being so that her work is fresh, honest and authentic.

Deborah shows many of her wonderful sculptures at the Gallery, along with her newest works of encaustic paintings.

You can see more of Deborah's work on her GCA web page.

The reception for both of these fine artists will be on the Third Saturday in April (4/21), 4-8pm at the Gallery.

Girl's Night Out Coming May 4

Placerville Downtown Association will be sponsoring the Girl's Night Out event on Friday evening, May 4, 6-9 pm on Main Street in Placerville. Cuatro de Mayo will be an all new take on Girl's Night Out this year. Powell's Steamer will be serving their great fish tacos, margaritas will be sold by the PDA Girl's Night Out Committee and there will be a new and improved Scavenger Hunt.

At Gold Country Artists Gallery, we will have demonstrations, Mother's Day gifts, and a gift for you with your purchase over $30. Many of the other businesses downtown will have special events going on too. We hope to see you at GCA for Girl's Night Out!

www.goldcountryartistsgallery.com

facebook.com/goldcountryartistsgallery

March at Gold Country

Inside Gold Country Artists Gallery

It's March at Gold Country Artists Gallery and we have two of our wonderful artists featured this month: Judy Perry and Shelly Thorene. Also, we have several new artists to tell you a bit about.

Featured Artist: Judy Perry

Judy Perry's pastels are wonderful representations of the beauty of California. The foothills of the Sierra, the North Coast, Yosemite—Judy has painted all of these places and more. California never fails to inspire her and she feels lucky to live in such a wonderful place. Her pastel painting entitled High Sierra Splendor is shown here.

She captures the beauty and mystery of California from the rugged California coastline to the Sierras and southern deserts in her beloved medium of pastels. “When I’m painting, I can feel myself in the middle of the scene just reveling in the beauty of this wonderful place we call home – California”.

Judy's pastels are beautiful and you can see more of them on her GCA web page and on her website. Come by the Gallery on the evening of March 17, view her artwork and talk with her about it.

Featured Artist: Shelly Thorene

Shelly Thorene has returned to Gold Country after being away for a short time and we're glad to have her back at GCA showing her wonderful, heart-felt photography. Shelly has been an artist for most of her life and loves the photographic process.

The camera is an instrument she uses for understanding and focusing on the people, places and things in her world. Her work reflects her strong desire to create and communicate. Her photograph entitled Goin Home is shown here.

Come to Gold Country on the evening of March 17, meet Shelly and see her photography. You can see more of her photography on her GCA web page and her website.

New Artists at Gold Country

We have several new artists at Gold Country Artists Gallery that have joined recently.

• Paul Cockrell has returned to Gold Country and brings his great photography back to our walls. Paul has many fans and we are glad to have him back at GCA!
• Craig Koski is a new member of the Gallery and is a great photographer. Come by and see his work!
• Mike Ryan just joined Gold Country this month and is showing his photography in our Gallery.
• Roy Moffatt just joined Gold Country this week and is showing his watercolors on our walls.

Welcome to all our new artists and when you come to GCA on Third Saturday, March 17th, make sure you not only look at the Featured Artists, but also look at the work of our new artists.

March and Flower Baskets

The Flower Baskets will be going up on Main Street in a couple months and March is Placerville Downtown Association's 'Flower Power Fundraiser' month. Gold Country Artists Gallery will be sponsoring one of the Flower Baskets on Main Street this year and we would love to have our readers help the effort.

You can see information about the Flower Baskets at a couple places on the web:

• PDA website – This is a page that describes the Flower Basket project and gives you a place to go on the web to donate if you are so inclined
• Facebook – This is sort of a fan page for the Flower Baskets—please go here and 'Like' the page to help us not only get the word out but show your support!

If you are downtown during March, there is a big sign at the Bell Tower showing the contributions so far during the month. We want to see that number burst at the top!

Also, if you would rather just give a donation somewhere locally, you can do that at Placerville News Company (right near Gold Country and the Bell Tower).

2012 Banners on Parade

Another big project downtown every year is starting up again—the 2012 Banners on Parade. This project is also one that Gold Country Artists Gallery sponsors and we want to help get the information out to a lot of people about the project. To that end, here are a few items about it:

• The deadline for artists to submit an application to paint a banner is March 16. To download the application, you can get it from the Placerville Downtown Association (PDA) website.
• If you are interested in donating money online to help fund this project, you can see that page also on the PDA website.
• You can help the project by going to the Banners on Parade Facebook page and clicking the 'Like' button.

If there is any way you can help with this great community art project, please contact PDA!

Hope to see you this month at Gold Country Artists Gallery!

website: www.goldcountryartistsgallery.com

Facebook: facebook.com/goldcountryartistsgallery

Love is in the Air

Love is in the Air by Carlotta Tormey

Love is in the Air!

GCA's annual Love is in the Air show is going on during the month of February, 2012, at the Gallery. Come by and see some wonderful items that have the theme of "Love". Many of our artists have created Valentine's Day cards, paintings, photographs, jewelry and many other items for this special show.

About the Image

The wonderful image at the top of this blog and on the poster in our window is, in fact, called Love is in the Air and it is by our Promotions Chairperson, Carlotta Tormey. Carlotta is graciously allowing Gold Country Artists Gallery to use the image she created to help promote the show. You can see the 20x30 poster of it (and buy your very own!) in our window during the month of February.

GCA Member Wins National Art Competition

The Artist's Magazine recently held a national competition for artists 60 and over (the competition itself is called The Artist's Magazine Over 60 Competition). Rod Williams, a member of Gold Country Artists Gallery, submitted one of his works and it was one of the 10 (out of 3000+ entries) that was selected by the magazine as a winner.

Temple Bar by Rod Williams

The piece is entitled Temple Bar and it depicts a saloon in Dublin, Ireland. The piece itself is an oil, 18x36 and will be on display at Gold Country beginning around the 13th of February through the end of the month. The magazine is on newstands now and it is the March issue of The Artist's Magazine where you can see the work of all 10 artists, including Rod.

Congratulations Rod!

Third Saturday

This month, being our Love is in the Air show at the Gallery, we will be having our Third Saturday reception and showing off the love-themed work of our artists. We will have live light jazz by Caroll Tuttle & Friends and some light munchies for you to enjoy.

Also, you will be able to view Rod's winning painting.

Come by—we would love to see you!

goldcountryartistsgallery.com

January Delights!

Panzano Market by Rod Williams

Featured Artists

January and a whole new year to play with! We are starting the year with very talented Featured Artists: Rod Williams and Carlotta Tormey.

Featured Artist: Rod Williams

Rod has always been interested in art, even from an early age. He took art classes in high school and upon graduation, he spent a year at the American Academy of Art in St. Louis, Mo., majoring in illustration. He started his career as an art buyer for the advertising department at Sears, Roebuck and Co., then left Sears to work as a graphic designer for a design firm that specialized in designing retail store environments. He later became the Design Director for that firm, then was hired by a firm that manufactured store fixtures as their Design Director. In that capacity, he was involved in the design of store configuration, store decor and fixture design.

When Rod retired, he and his wife came to California to be close to their grandchildren. He then became serious about working as an artist and works in most media always trying to portray a snippet of everyday life. Being fortunate enough to travel out of the country, cityscapes and people situations have become some of his favorite subjects. The image at the top of this blog is Rod's Panzano Market.

You can see more of Rod's work on his Gold Country Artists Gallery web page and at www.fineartstudioonline.com/rodwilliams. Contact Rod at Gold Country Artists Gallery or call 530-350-7361.

Featured Artist: Carlotta Tormey

A Faire Morning by Carlotta Tormey

Born into a family of both fine and commercial artists, Carlotta has held positions as an illustrator, conceptual designer and art director. She spent several years as a staff illustrator at an advertising design firm in San Francisco winning several awards and mentions for her illustration. This was a great opportunity for growth as it afforded her a chance to work with a variety of clients, challenges, art styles and media. During this time she was also a guest teacher at the Academy of Art in San Francisco. In 1992, she embarked on her freelance career working with a compendium of clients all over the United States from wineries to publishing houses.

Carlotta is moved by a person's face, costume or employment of the individual. She finds beauty and romance in a rusted truck, old building or character. She loves capturing a moment in time that tells a story and she enjoys doing portraits and period pieces.

When she is not dreaming something up, she generally works from photographs. She lets the subject determine how realistic she wants to get, often varying from what she has sketched—she just let's the painting happen. Her favorite medium is watercolor and pencil, though she often employs other material as well. She sometimes mixes styles within a painting.

For more information and views of her work, see her Gold Country Artists Gallery web page or visit her website at www.carlottatormey.com. She also accepts commissions for portraits or any illustration needs by phone at 530-622-1451.


Third Saturday ArtWalk

On January 21, 5pm to 9pm, Gold Country Artists Gallery will be open for Placerville's Third Saturday ArtWalk. Come and meet the Featured Artists, listen to some great music by local musicians Jenny Rutherford and Alan Fuller and have a munchie or two. We also have lots of great art from other local artists for you to enjoy. Hope to see you there!

Starting Out the New Year

Our artists are some of the best in the area and we look forward to helping you select your art in this, our 20th year in business! Come by (we're open 11-5 every day) to see great art and meet the artists who are always the ones working at the Gallery.

We are a Cooperative Gallery whose 40 members all work at their art and help run the Gallery.

See more about our Gallery at goldcountryartistsgallery.com and follow us on our Facebook page.

Welcome to 2012!!

December: Large & Small Wonders

Many artists from Gold Country Artists Gallery created works of art on 6" x 6" pieces of wood for our 2011 Small Wonders Show that is on display at the Gallery through December, 2011. These inexpensive works of art (paintings, photography, 3D works) make great holiday gifts and all are for sale. It's a great way, too, to begin or continue collecting the art of your favorite artist at GCA!

In addition, we have a Holiday Boutique with unique art created especially for you for the holiday season. Check it out!

Our holiday hours are 11am-5pm every day and 11am-8pm on Thursdays and Fridays in December

Festival of Lights

If you didn't make it to this year's Festival of Lights on Main Street on the Friday evening after Thanksgiving, you missed one of the great happenings of the year downtown! The lights on the huge tree near the courthouse were lit and the businesses (including GCA) were all decorated and wonderfully lit for the holidays.

Also, Davey "Doc" Wiser was giving free stagecoach rides that evening around the block near the Bell Tower in his Wiser Christmas Express stagecoach. He will be also be giving rides on the two weekends before Christmas.

If you have never ridden in a stagecoach, this is a golden opportunity!

Christmas Parade

On Sunday, December 4, the annual Christmas Parade took place on Historic Main Street in downtown Placerville. It was a gloriously beautiful day and there were lots of great floats and entertainment in the parade.

One group that is always great is the combined group of local high school marching bands. It's probably one of the largest marching bands you will ever see playing! And, they were great to boot!

There were also a couple local dance studios that danced all the way and they were great too!

And of course, Santa and Mrs. Claus ended the parade. It was a great day!

December Downtown

There are lots of activities planned during the Holiday season downtown.

• 12 Days of Christmas Gift Basket Giveaway (see below)
• Stagecoach Rides
• Visits with Santa
• Special happenings at different merchants, such as Gold Country's Small Wonders show

We hope you will come downtown to do your shopping for those special folks on your holiday list. There is so much to see and many great merchants to help you with your gift needs.

The weather is brisk, the lights at night are beautiful (including the decorated and lit Christmas trees along Highway 50, the Bell Tower and all the light poles downtown) and you have a great community of merchants from which to choose your holiday gifts.

12 Days of Christmas Gift Basket Giveaway

This year you have an opportunity to enter a drawing for one of 12 gift baskets containing merchandise from over 40 merchants downtown. All you have to do is spend $15 or more at a participating merchant and you can get an entry ticket from that merchant right then to fill out and enter the drawing.

Shop at several merchants, spend $15 or more at each merchant and get an entry ticket from each merchant for more chances to win. The tickets will be given out at each participating merchant from November 25 through December 16 with winners chosen on December 17.

If you come by Gold Country Artists Gallery, you can see two of the Gift Baskets in our windows (one of them is shown in the picture here).

In addition, there is one Grand Prize—a Benton Studios print of a Placerville Main Street scene.

Third Saturday

The Third Saturday ArtWalk is on December 17 from 5pm-9pm. Gold Country will have snacks, live music and, of course, our Small Wonders show, Holiday Boutique and many other fine pieces of art for you to select from during that evening.

We hope to see you there!


Happy Holidays and Happy New Year!

www.goldcountryartistsgallery.com

Into November

November is here and with it comes the wonderful event at the end of the month that is the Festival of Lights. During that evening (Friday, November 25—the Friday evening after Thanksgiving), the lights on the huge Christmas near the courthouse will be turned on, as well as the lights on the wonderful decorated Christmas trees along highway 50. We hope you come to Main Street and enjoy the festivities!

Featured Artists

Our Featured Artists for November are Valerie Bye and Lorrene Davis.

Valerie Bye

Valerie believes that "Life can be beautiful"—that there is beauty all around us: in nature, in people and their cultures, in music and love. She prefers to create paintings that are cheerful and uplifting. When she paints, the combination of color and the unpredictable nature of watercolor puts 'a song in my heart' and she hopes that the viewer will also experience that feeling.

Valerie's main medium is watercolor and she has received numerous awards in juried shows and she is a signature member of the Society of Western Artists (SWA).

The image here is of Valerie's watercolor, Syncopated Roses. You can see many more of Valerie's works on her Gold Country Artists Gallery web page.

Lorrene Baum-Davis

Lorrene is drawn to working with metals and clays because of their malleability and their permanence. The clays—Art Clay Silver and polymer—enable her to produce organic forms with great textures and colors. In addition, adding fused glass enables her to bring startling colors into the meld.

With the clays as her art medium, she is able to have the work flow organically as well as geometrically. Both media allow her to create one-of-a-kind pieces of wearable art.

Shown here is a photo of some of Lorrene's most recent work, her rings. See more of Lorrene's work on her Gold Country Artists Gallery web page.

Merchant's Open House

Along with the Festival of Lights on November 25, there is a Merchant's Open House on that evening and the following evening, November 26, from 5pm-8pm. Main Street merchants (including Gold Country Artists Gallery) will have some seasonal goodies for you to munch on and our great artists will have many great items for you to consider as holiday gifts.

In addition, Davey "Doc" Wiser will be giving free stagecoach rides on Main Street on Friday evening, 11/25, from 4:30pm-6:30pm and during the day on Saturday, November 26, from noon to 4pm.

Many more holiday events are planned for Historic Main Street during the holiday season and you can read all about them on the Placerville Downtown Association website.

Gold Country Artists Gallery on Facebook

Keep up with what's going on with Gold Country by going to our Facebook page at Facebook.com/goldcountryartistsgallery. We hope you will "Like" us!

Happy Thanksgiving!

www.goldcountryartistsgallery.com