Sculpture Is: 2017 “In the Garden”
Presented by the Pajaro Valley Arts
June 1 – October 31, 2017
Reception: June 29th 5 – 7pm
The eleventh annual Sculpture IS: exhibition is taking place on the beautiful two-acre Sierra Azul Nursery demonstration gardens with over 90 sculptures. This critically acclaimed exhibit showcases work in steel, wood, ceramics, bronze, glass and concrete. Come visit the gardens!
Sierra Azul Nursery and Gardens
2660 East Lake Avenue
Watsonville California
If you made it to the Spring Studio Sale a few weeks ago, you saw the latest pieces from the Lichen Series | Spore Patterns hanging on my studio walls. I’m really loving these new pieces which are mounted to reclaimed barn board I found on my mother in law’s property.
The ceramic pieces are arranged on the boards to mimic the composition of mushroom spore patterns and play with ideas of death and new growth. These can be hung on the wall both indoors and out, and will give a modern rustic feel to the space they encompass.
They will be hitting the online shop soon, but if you’re interested please contact me for details.
ceramic & reclaimed wood, sizes range from 8″ x 20″ to 30″ x 30″ and prices range from 150. – 250.
THANK YOU to everyone who came out to the opening of Environmental Installations at the UCSC Arboretum this past Saturday- it was really so fantastic to see the whole exhibit come together and to chat with everyone. I loved seeing patrons walk the path of my Umbel Series Installation. If you haven’t been to the exhibit yet, be sure to get out there, this show is up until November 17th.
If you would like some Umbel Flowers for your own garden, they are available for pre-sale in the online shop! You can order as many as you would like and you will be invited to the Arboretum towards the end of the exhibit for a ‘picking day’ where you can choose the umbel flowers you love and transplant them into your own garden. The picking day will be just before the holiday season starts so you can get flowers for yourself or others!
Umbels are only $65 each and every flower is handmade and unique.
Be sure to add a steel stem (no additional cost) to your shopping cart as well when ordering and to choose ‘local pick up’ to avoid shipping charges. If you are out of the area, you can still order flowers with or without the steel stem and they will be shipped to you after the exhibit closes.
INTERVIEW WITH JENNI WARD
APRIL 2017
Jenni Ward is a California-based ceramic sculptor who creates abstract pieces and installations inspired by nature. Her mission is to share the beauty she sees in the natural world through her art. Jenni is the owner of Earth Art Studio; an art studio offering community clay classes to children, teens, and adults since 2005. She has shown her work at the Santa Cruz Museum of Art & History, the de Saisset Museum and at the annual exhibition of the NCECA conference. She has been featured in Ceramics Monthly and Ceramic Now magazine. Annie sat down with Jenni for a get-to-know you interview as follows… read more
Join me for a workshop at Annieglass on Saturday May 27th for the launch of the Craftbar!
If you can’t make it out to see these installations in person, well, that’s just sad.
But the good news is that you can check them out on my website!
Click the links below to learn more about my two newest installations at the UCSC Arboretum for the Environmental Installations exhibit curated by Susana Arias.
Environmental Installations | May 20 – Nov 17 | Opening May 20, 3 – 6pm
This one has been a long time in the works and you’ve seen the process evolve from sketches to prototypes to unloading the final pieces from the glaze kiln. Now it’s time to get these Umbels planted into the garden at the Arboretum.
I took up a batch of 90 stems and flowers (less than half of the total to be installed) to start arranging them. This is the exciting part about doing an installation, you really don’t know if or exactly how it’s going to all come together until it has to.
I played with hammering the stems into the soil in a variety of placements to see how they looked and I wasn’t really happy with any of the compositions, so I sat down in the grass to think about it. And as I sat, I was looking at the trail I had created by walking through the grasses unloading the work, which led from one established path in the arboretum to the other and I realized the formation I wanted these pieces to follow. They are lined up in rows that stretch over 40′ and I think the stripe of mustard yellow through the meadow will make a big impact on the garden space. I love how adding a geometric structure to their arrangement helps balance out the organic forms of the individual pieces. Today, I’ll be bringing the rest of the Umbels up to the arboretum to install, hope you can come see this piece in person!
Join me for the opening of this fantastic exhibition at the UCSC Arboretum, May 20th from 3- 6. The exhibit will be up until November 27th. Pieces from this series will be made available in the online shop and then there will be a ‘picking day’ where you can pick your umbel flowers and transplant them into your own gardens.
Environmental Installations | Art in the Arboretum | curated by Susana Arias
Thanks to everyone who came out to support the arts last weekend for our Spring Studio Sale! We had a great time, showing art, eating tacos and enjoying the music with you! Now, on to the next art event…
Join me for the opening of Art in the Arboretum: Environmental Installations
Exhibit runs May 20th – Nov 27th
Opening May 20th from 3 – 6
($5 admission fee to the arboretum for non-members)
I have two installations as a part of this exhibit, the Umbel Series which was inspired by the tale of California explorers using mustard flower seeds to mark trails from mission to mission and Tree Pools, seed pod inspired ceramic forms nestled into the earth around the base of trees, echo the ripples of a stone thrown into water.
Hope to see you in the gardens!
MISSION INDUSTRIAL SPRING STUDIO SALE
MAY 6th & 7th
11 Art Studios Open | 1 – 6 | Saturday & Sunday
Food Trucks A Go Go with G’s mexican tacos & Live music by The Dooners | 5 – 7 | Saturday
Movies & Marshmallows around the Campfire | 7 – 9 | Saturday
On the weekend of May 6th & 7th, 11 artists in the Mission Industrial Studio complex will open their studios to the public for a weekend of creativity. The artists will have works on display for sale and will be available to discuss their process, some will offer demos and have hands-on activities for visitors.
The eleven artists include, Jamie Abbott, Lucia Bruer, Barbara Downs, Nora Dougherty, Sefla Joseph, Joey Kochlacs, Majio, Kirk McNeill, Stacey Pollard, Susan Wagner & Jenni Ward. The artists range in medium from painting, to glass, to metal, wood and clay, offering something for everyone’s artistic taste.
Highlights planned for the event include a clay seed bomb making activity at Jenni Ward’s earth art studio; Kirk Mc Neill’s large scale sculpture the Sharky-Go-Round will be on display; and Work. shop. – a mobile gallery inhabiting a vintage trailer, will pull up to share art during and day and offer a campfire with marshmallows into the evening.
We know you have a lot of choices in your art events this weekend and we hope to see you at the Mission Industrial!
Before I lived in Santa Cruz, I would visit my then boyfriend (now husband) on the weekends and I fell in love with Santa Cruz (and him) for its long walks along west cliff, hikes through the redwoods, the quirky fun of downtown and rides on the giant dipper. On one of my weekend visits, I was wandering around town by myself and couldn’t figure out what these bright green signs were all about. I followed the arrows which lead to a series of artist studios that were open to the public for the weekend. I didn’t know anything about the event but was so impressed with the artwork I saw and how many green signs were showing all over town. After asking around about the event, I realized that not only was Santa Cruz a beautiful, fun place to visit but it also had a serious art scene. Flash forward to what feels like a million years later and here I am with 12+ years of my own Open Studios Art Tour events under my belt and so proud to be part of the art community of Santa Cruz County.
So yes, Santa Cruz is about big waves and big trees and it’s about the accepting, compassionate community but a big part of the heart of Santa Cruz is about being an incredible art destination and that’s a reason to visit all in itself. The weekend of May 6 & 7th is no exception. It will be a beautiful weekend to visit Santa Cruz if you’re from out of town or to participate in your creative community if you’re a local. There are so many art events happening but still, there is enough time to take it all in.
Kick off the weekend at First Friday, with art events from Felton to Watsonville, many concentrated in the Santa Cruz downtown region. Saturday & Sunday you can join in on the fun at Ceram-A-Rama at the Santa Cruz Mountain Art Center, the Spring Art Market at the Tannery , the 17th Ave Artists Spring Art Show & Sale AND you can join me at Mission Industrial Studios for our Spring Studio Sale. There is A LOT of art to see, buy and share that weekend but I’m pretty sure that you can handle it!
Please click the links for details on each of these fantastic events and I hope to see you out there!
Thanks for supporting local artists and the arts!
#madeinsantacruz