Art View
Holiday Art and Ideas
By Jim Christiansen
Think local in your Holiday shopping plans, and visit the Arts Blocks downtown. Helps support local venues and local artists on display with art for sale. Keep in mind that Art Walk this month is December 19th for last minute art shopping. Consider more leisurely visits to venues like Dragonfly Art for Life, Tri-Chromatic Gallery, Caroline Huff Photography Gallery, Chartreuse Muse and gift shop area at the Mistlin Gallery. During regular business hours, look at art at DEVA, next door Crow Trading, Intrinsic Elements, and upstairs gallery of Nicole Slater. There is a lot of art to see and purchase in downtown Modesto.
Need to get a Holiday card off and want to make it personal? Mistlin Gallery offers a Screen Print Holiday Cards workshop December 6. Want an educational gift for the kids? Consider Central California Art Association’s Winter Sculpture Camp for Kids January 6. Need a December activity involving Superheroes? Carnegie Arts presents a showing of Superheroes – A Never-Ending Battle December 8 at 2 pm. The Documentary film covers 75 years of the genre, with more that fifty interviews with artists, publishers and exciting graphics. Nostalgic for television art instructor icons of winter scenes and happy little bushes? Tri-Chromatic Gallery hosting a Bob Ross Paint Night December 26. Just the ticket to try out those Christmas gift art supplies and review the classics.
Chella presents her annual show, “In the Pursuit of Light” at Trewin Farmery in the Shelton Flooring building out on Pentecost Avenue, off Kiernan. A selection of Chella’s plein-air paintings will be on display from December 6 to January 6, with a public artists reception December 10, 5 to 9 pm.
Home for the Holidays is the annual theme for the last Central California Art Association members show at Mistlin Gallery. I have 5 of my coffee cat original watercolors in the show, but many styles, price points in this show, and all for sale in the holiday season. And when I’m shopping art, I check out the gift shop jewelry and small art in the back of the gallery, same as I do at the main counters at Chartreuse Muse. All by local artists. In case you think you’ve had trouble finding Mistlin Gallery, look for the new banner at 1015 Tenth street, installed for the gallery by artist Phil Murillo.
I am finishing up the carport-art studio conversion at my house and made enough progress to begin organizing and using it before Christmas. And I need to, as I entered the 2020 Stanislaus Artist Open Studio Tour, April 25 and 26, so I must be up and running by then. If you don’t have a studio space, but would like to be a participating artist, you can share a space, as I will be with Richard Bradshaw at my new address, and the deadline to enter is January 15. This year, maps will be FREE, and online as an innovation for our successful event. Look for them, stocked at various locations in March, and save the date to come visit local artists where they work and create. See the Facebook page at Stanislaus Artist Open Studio or email stanislaus.openstudio@gmail.com<mailto:stanislaus.openstudio@gmail.com>
