The Cellarbration! for Education planning committee has announced Kim Matthews Wheaton as the featured artist for the 2011 event scheduled for May 21.
Wheaton's oil painting Vineyards on the Columbia will be used in Cellarbration! promotion materials and posters. The original will be sold at the auction during the Big Bend Community College Foundation's biggest annual scholarship fundraiser in the Masto Conference Center.
Known for her distinctive landscape paintings of wide expanses and dramatic coulees of the Columbia Basin, Wheaton has lived and painted here since 1997.
She was born in New York City and grew up in San Francisco, Berkeley and parts of Connecticut. She earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from UC Berkeley.
Wheaton sometimes works from her car, racing against fading light, weather systems and the whims of nature to capture the hues in her work.
"I was honored to be invited to create a painting for the BBCC Foundation," Wheaton said, whose work already hangs in the entrance to the BBCC library.
Cellarbration! is a premium wine dinner and auction that has raised $610,000 in nine years for student scholarships. The event is known for pairing a five-course gourmet dinner with the finest Washington wines, combined with exceptional service and decor.
Back again this year is the "Bling" raffle for a one-carat diamond from Harrison's Diamonds and Designs. A new auction item is a one-week stay at an ocean-front time share in Hawaii. The event again includes another Leonetti wine item — a chance to bid on wines unavailable to those not on the winery's waiting list.
The wines for the dinner are sourced by Butch Milbrandt, of Milbrandt Vineyards — one of the state's largest wine grape producers. Wine commentary is provided by John Allen, of Vino! A Wine Shop in Spokane. The popular Chuck Yarbro Jr. is the auctioneer.
The committee is in the process of soliciting sponsorships and auction items for the event. Those who would like to be involved can contact the BBCC Foundation at 793-2006 for sponsorship forms, auction donation forms or to make reservations.
Nickolas Hadzis won't give you the shirt off his back, but he will paint you another one.
For several months now, the 48-year-old artist has been creating a line of hand-painted tees and other shirts for men and women at his Distillery District studio in the Case Goods Building (No. 74, studio 303).
He shares space with two other artists. His cubbyhole includes a blue reproduction turntable that's playing David Bowie. "I'm old-school," he says. "I kept all my vinyl from when I was a teen."
Born in Toronto of Greek/Macedonian heritage, Hadzis is the classic starving artist. He still lives with his parents. (They're divorced, so he splits his time with them.) He has no phone and doesn't drive a car.
Some of his creations are done with fabric and acrylic paints; some are done with Sharpies. "They are hand-dyed, hand-cut and drawn," he says. "The shirts take 32 to 40 hours to do with a Sharpie, and then I paint them."
Custom shirts range from $300 to $1,000 (prices are negotiable). The custom tees are $30 to $50 — he is taking a screen-printing workshop to make his works more affordable.
The latter "are a steal for an original piece. I sold my first shirt for $300 — it paid my Metropass for three months."
We covet the circus/clown shirt, which isn't for sale.
"I did it when I was 19 and it got me into art school," he explains. "It was my dad's chef shirt from the ‘60s when he worked at the Cava-Bob. It took me a year — I drew the clowns from black-and-white photos and coloured them in the ‘80s. I left the back plain.
Hadzis went to OCAD studying painting, drawing and sculpture. "I graduated in the ‘80s but didn't commit to being an artist full time until 2001," he explains.
He worked in retail and bussing tables at Metro Toronto Convention Centre and had his first show in 2001 at Gallery Neubacher. "I had 50 oil paintings and I performed with my accordion," Hadzis recalls. "I started the fashion seriously this year. I love fashion. Being an artist I have a high sense of fashion, but I don't consider myself a fashion designer. I'm learning to sew."
"Corks and Canvas," benefiting Ronald McDonald House Charities of Montana,is set for April 9 at the Riverside Country Club. Tickets are $150 per person and semi-formal attire is suggested.
There will be a wine tasting and appetizers with musical entertainment, dinner and a live auction.
The featured auction item is an original oil painting of a bobcat by Harry Koyama titled "Blue and Gold" in honor of Montana State University. The artist is a graduate of Montana State University-Billings. The "bobcat" will also adore the wine labels for the evening's festivities.
The artist Karen Finley finds it hard not to think about Edward Hopper when she's working. Mainly because her studio, on the second floor of Nyack's Hopper House Art Center, used to be Hopper's bedroom.
"I do have a studio there and I used to live in Upper Nyack so I have a sense of memory and place in responding to Hopper," says Finley, who now lives in Sleepy Hollow, but continues to cross the bridge to draw inspiration from the private space. The bedroom, says Finley, was the setting for some of Hopper's paintings such as "Summer Interior."
"Much of Hopper's work responds to light, the same light that I see through the glass panes, the same windows I stare out to the Hudson River," she says.
Some of Finley's work, and that of two dozen artists, makes up a new exhibit at the Edward Hopper House Art Center that opens today. "Hopper Re-Imagined," is a multi-media group show that showcases the work of Hopper, a Nyack native, uniquely interpreted or "re-imagined."
"There is an amazing range of talents included in this show and I love that we can show how Hopper's influence has moved well beyond the two-dimensional picture plane to include video and sculpture," says Carole Perry, the executive director of the Edward Hopper House Art Center.
Later in the year , the Art Center will present poetry readings, films, plays, and a site-specific light installation based on Hopper.
Randy Ford's approach seems like a very literal exploration. His oil painting "Redemption" is a reimagining of Hopper's 1942 work, "Nighthawks," possibly the most recognizable of the artist's works.
Ford, a realist painter from Mississippi, captures Hopper's moody sense of place and time, and his modern coffee-shop denizens seem as isolated of those of Hopper. But if you look closer, the man in the hat is Steve Martin; his companion is Bernadette Peters!
"You know, it wasn't based on Hopper's painting at all," says Ford. "It's actually based on a series of freeze frame images from the film 'Pennies From Heaven.' Steve Martin was a huge Hopper fan."
All ongoing programs listed take place at Senior Coastsiders, located in the Ted Adcock Community/Senior Center at 535 Kelly Avenue in Half Moon Bay. For more information about any program.
Hot lunch
Hot lunch is served at 11:45 daily, Monday through Friday. Suggested donation for seniors is $4.
Health insurance counseling
By appointment on the first and third Fridays of each month.
Legal assistance
By appointment on third Friday of the month.
Pilates Plus
Pilates work improves overall fitness by increasing flexibility, strength, coordination and endurance. The class is held at 8:45 and 10 a.m. on Tuesdays and Thursdays.
Reiki
Reiki is a gentle system that utilizes touch to reduce stress. Free 15 -minute sessions available by appointment on the second and fourth Fridays of the month from 10-12 p.m.
Oil painting
Learn composition, color and more about oil painting if you are 60 or older. All levels are welcome. The class is held Wednesdays from 1-3 p.m. for a fee of $5 per class and does not include supplies.
Craft class
Work on your own craft projects with a group of like-minded people at 9 a.m. on Tuesdays.
Inner Fitness discussion group
Explore how growing older can be a rich, creative experience. Group meets Tuesdays at 10 a.m.
Rosen Method movement
Practice simple low-impact exercise set to music to help improve joint movement and flexibility. Classes are held from 9-10 a.m. Mondays. Combined with the "Gentle Exercise" class at 10 a.m. Wednesdays. $5 drop-in charge. Dress comfortably.
Gentle exercise for the lighthearted
Gentle stretches and reaches. Stay seated while increasing strength and flexibility of arms and legs. Newcomers welcome. Classes are held at 10 a.m. on Mondays. Combined with the Rosen Method class at 10 a.m. Wednesdays. $5 drop-in charge.
Writing workshop
If you have an interest in writing stories, poems, or memoirs, join this supportive and encouraging group of writers at 10 a.m. on Thursdays.