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Mendocino resident Clinton Smith has been involved in the full-time pursuit of excellence in fine art photog-raphy since 1971, when he opened Light Impressions Gallery – at the time, the only gallery in Southern California dedicated to the exhibition of photographs. Some of those exhibited include Edmund Teske, Ansel Adams, Wynn Bullock, Ernst Haas, Eliot Porter, and Bruce Barnbaum’s first exhibition. Born and raised in Tallahassee, Florida, Clinton graduated high school on a Friday and left on Sunday morning. He never looked back! Three days later he passed a rigorous physical and was inducted into the U.S. Air Force. While serving in the air force, Clinton par-ticipated in the Gemini launches and attended the launch

and recovery of Apollo 11. In 1967-68 Clinton was assigned to Headquarters Military Assistance Command in Vietnam, (Saigon) where he experienced the terror of war during the Tet offensive. In June of 1971 Clinton began his college studies, majoring in Gallery Exhibition and Management, and Photography at El Camino College and other universi-ties in the Los Angeles area. He moved to Carmel, in 1975, to work for Wynn Bullock (Clinton calls him his “metaphysical muse”), Morley Baer and Ansel Adams (his “technical muse”) and the California State Park Service at Point Lobos. For the next five or six years, Clinton found himself wandering through the forests and national parks with a 4x5 camera searching for subjects to photograph,

and built a small body of work. He had his first one man photogra-phy show in 1981 at the Bruised Reed Gallery in Monterey during the Society for Photographic Education Conference at Asilomar Conference Grounds. A “chance” encounter with David Lyman and Kate Carter, the owners of the Maine Photographic Workshops, led to a one-man show at that institution in Rockport, Maine, as well as guest speaker engage-ments at a dozen workshops. As the featured teacher with a one-man exhibition at Parson School of Design/New School in New York City in 1982, Clinton continued to exhibit, travel and photo-graph extensively. In 1983 Clinton’s Tufa, Mono Lake image was selected as the theme photograph for the exhibition “At Mono Lake” at the world-renowned California Academy of Sciences in Golden Gate Park,

C l i n t o n S m i t h

Cover Feature

by Debbie L. Holmer

“I shall forever remain awed by creation.” – Clinton Smith

Floating Leaves in Congaree Swamp

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and was also the cover image of the exhibition catalogue. In 1988, the Dallas Museum of Art exhibited six of Clinton’s photographs in the exhibition “Ansel Adams and American Landscape Photography.” The NBC Today Show featured a 15-minute segment on the phi-losophy of his work in 1989. The above is just a brief summary of Clinton’s early career. So I was more than a little awed when I found myself sitting on a wood bench on Laurel Street in Fort Bragg interviewing this internationally acclaimed landscape photographer. He put me at ease instantly. I learned that this is a man of many col-ors, somewhat like his body of work. His photographs are of landscapes, seascapes, the sky, the forest; they are deep, power-ful, evoke feelings of

happiness and sadness and melancholy and joy (his heart is in his work), almost three-dimensional – just like the man himself.

After meeting Flurry Healy and Peter Wells of the Albion River Inn, who were interested in doing a series of photography work-shops, Clinton moved to Mendocino in 1994. He found a small studio to rent and never left (well, except to go on his photography treks, of course). “I love the people and the weather here, even the winter storms are punctuated with light.” What does Clinton recommend for the young photographer starting out? “Learn your craft; spend ten years learning your craft while making 10,000 mistakes. At the end of those ten Petrified Sand Dune & Sage

Bowman Lake

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years then start to seek a market. Begin by picking 12 of your best photographs – that will be your first show. During those ten years work on it full-time, while you work at a job on the weekends to pay for food and rent. It will take you ten years (no shortcuts) of full-time work to develop a style of your own.” Clinton’s work is about “goodness and beauty” and he hopes that the end results provoke an emotional response on the part of the viewer. Although Clinton’s work is really that of person-al exploration, his work has often been used for environmental purposes; for instance in the “Save Mono Lake” campaign and commissions for The Nature Conservancy. Clinton most admires the work of Henri Cartier Bresson, his “intellectual favorite,” and his “emotional favor-ite” is W. Eugene Smith. “Their pictures are full of joy and sadness.” I asked him what makes a “subject” dif-ficult to photograph? “It’s about the light,” he answered. “It’s all chal-lenging to photograph – the moment is here and – snap – now it’s gone! You have to be ‘present’ and ‘prepared’ for that moment. Patience is the greatest virtue of a land-scape photographer, that and a highly developed intuitive sense.” Clinton’s other passion in life is early American history and he

has tied it to his own family who came to America in 1774 from Scotland. He loves the period of American history from 1753-1832. “It’s in my blood,” he says with a charm-

ing smile. “My Scottish ancestors were in the middle of the American Revolution.” He does get himself involved in politics from time to time. He is a past Vice Chairman of the Mendocino Historical Review Board and was a founding member and President of the Board of the “Save Navarro Inn by the Sea” movement. Clinton is a proud father. His son Kyle, born in 1983, a Mendocino High School graduate, Class of 2001, obtained a master’s degree from Columbia University in Environmental Science and Policy, and is now in law school. Clinton Smith is a man who lives his life pas-sionately and constantly strives to be “present to the moment.” For more information about Clinton Smith and to view some of his landscape photographs, go to his Web site at www.ClintonSmith.com, or visit the Highlight Gallery on Main Street in Mendocino.

“My father taught me that it’s okay for a man to cry and my mother taught me to always do my best at whatever I do.”

– Clinton Smith

Forest & Ferns III

A Broad Path

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Having just completed a photo documentation and book, Mendocino County Mobile Memento, for the Skunk Train, I found Friedman’s collections of photos in his book, Summer of ‘42, fascinating. Summer of ‘42 is one of the best, if not the best, coming-of-age flicks ever made. Anyone who has seen ‘42 will never forget the raging hormones of Hermie, Oscy and Benjie in their quest for losing their innocence with local high school girls or the bittersweet moments of Hermie with Dorothy after the death of her husband in World War II. Dave Friedman was Still Photographer for the filming of the movie here in Mendocino. His book is a documentation of the making of Summer of ‘42. Many of the photos were taken while the cameras were rolling, capturing actual moments we saw on screen. Others are photos of the filming sites showing the cam-eras and lighting, snaps of the cast between shoots, or scenes used in the picture. I enjoyed the book on three levels. First, Friedman’s photography is first class. Some in color (though faded with time) and some in black and white are works of art in themselves. His portraits of Dorothy (Jennifer O’Neil) are particularly noteworthy. Jennifer did for Summer of ‘42 what Julie Christie as Lara did for Dr. Zhivago. Second, the photos he has included and his suc-

cinct descriptions of where and how the shots were taken and where they fit in the movie bring the film vividly back to mind. The movie is set on Nantucket’s Packett Island where author Herman Raucher was the real life Hermie. Interesting that Mendocino can pass itself off as New England, but I doubt many view-ers suspected. Most of the settings were buildings in Mendocino with just the décor changed to make them authentically 1942 (the film was shot in 1970). Only Dorothy’s home on the Headlands (for some reason Friedman calls the area the Highlands) was a set that was torn down after the filming. Third, it is always fascinating to see where the movie was shot and how those areas have or have not changed over the forty years since the filming. I suspect a lot of people will buy this book and use it as a tour guide for a walk around Mendocino. Most of the build-ings are still there – some still painted the same color. The Mendocino Hotel, Mendocino Jams and Jellies, the Art Center and the building that houses Artists Co-op are just a few of the sites used. The book is carried by the Mendocino Art Center’s gallery shop.

From August 5 – 29, the Main Gallery exhibit at the Mendocino Art Center will be a retrospective of Dave Friedman’s Summer of ‘42 photographs.

by Dave Friedman

Reviewed by Larry R. Wagner

Summer of ‘42:Then and Now

Book Review

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Her work is featured in museums, private collec-tions and galleries in Europe, Canada, Japan, Greece, and across the United States. Cynthia Myers was all grown up and had children of her own when, in her dad’s barnyard, she saw a woman sandblasting art onto a panel of glass. Dust, sand and dirt were everywhere, but the first thought that came to Cynthia’s mind was, “I want to do that!” Nowadays there are only four or five others in the United States who etch their artwork on blown glass like Cynthia. Born and raised outside Healdsburg, California, on a farm, Cynthia’s folks still live in Alexander Valley. Her

dad lives in the house that Cynthia’s great-grandparents built. Cynthia has lived on the Mendocino Coast for 18 years. In fact, her parents met on Van Damme Beach in 1946, so the family made many camping trips here and nowadays her backyard in Little River is bordered by Van Damme, which she thinks is “pretty special.” What led her to become an artist? “I just always was. My aunt, grandma and great-grandmother were artists. In high school, I was the one doing the posters for plays. I painted, threw pots, weaved, did macramé, then when I saw glass etching, that was it.”

by Debbie L. Holmer

A t H o m e w i t h C y n t h i a M y e r s

Detail of Aspen Tree Panels with wild geraniums, ferns and quail. Glass Symphony Gallery, Bend, Oregon

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Although Cynthia is self-taught (she taught herself glass etching using her family’s air compressor, which was part of their vineyard operation), she lived in Chico before moving here and worked with renowned glass artists Valeria Surjan and Mary Alice Hawke. The colorful glass Cynthia uses for her art is hand blown exclusively for her by craftsmen in West Virginia, North Carolina and Brazil. From this colorful glass, she creates exquisite sand-carved art glass with designs fea-turing floral and animal themes. Her work ranges from simple designs on small glass pieces to large, one-of-a-kind master-works. She begins her craft by first covering the surface of each vase with resist tape on which she draws a unique design. Following the lines of her draw-ing, she then cuts through the tape with a razor blade. Once in the sandblasting booth, her 25-plus years of experience with glass etching are reflected in the thoughtfulness of her designs. As the tape is pulled from each flower petal, grape or feather, and sandblasted one at a time, the depth and shadowing of her artwork is etched into the glass. The cutaway lip is a sig-nature of Cynthia’s technique,

changing the shape of the vase and making it a part of her art-work: Gingko leaves may circle the top of one vase while the wing tips of a great blue heron reach out as if to take flight in another. In addition to her art glass, Cynthia also does commissions for architectural glass projects, and you can see examples of sand-carved doors, windows, and showers on her Web site, www.cynthiamyersglass.com. At the moment she has archi-tectural glass sidelight pan-els showing and available for sale at Randy’s Glass in Fort Bragg. Panache Gallery in Mendocino has carried Cynthia’s art-glass for over 20 years; in fact they were the first gallery to buy from Cynthia. “Panache is one of the most beautiful galleries in the village and they have been very sup-portive of me over the years.” What does she recommend for the young artist starting out? “Make sure you get the pricing right and that you have all the right safety equipment.” When not in her studio, Cynthia enjoys her garden; in fact it was one of the featured gardens on the Mendocino Art Center’s Garden Tour last year. She also enjoys travel, snorkel-

A t H o m e w i t h C y n t h i a M y e r s

Mom’s Peony blown glass scarlet/saffron 15”

Tropics and Frog blown glass olive/citron 15”

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ing in warm water, cooking, kayaking and fishing “anywhere I can.” Although busy with her work (she runs her business herself), she’s always made time for her three children and one grandson. She donates to “Winesong!” every year and is a member of the Mendocino Art Center and the Three Rivers Studios and Art Center Ukiah. Cynthia is published in three books: Craft of Northern California; 500 Glass Objects: A Celebration of Functional and Sculptural Glass and Artists of the Mendocino Coast. Cynthia is excited about this time in her life and career. Her grown children have left home, so she now “feels the creative juices will get even stronger. I want to continue giving pleasure and I’m always hoping to bring light and warmth to my clients’ homes and into their hearts.” Cynthia’s work is featured at the following upcoming events:• Art in the Gardens, Saturday, August 7, 2010, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., Mendocino Coast Botanical Gardens• Mendocino Art Center’s Artists Open Studio Tour, September 25 and 26, 2010• Corner Gallery, Art Center Ukiah, Every First Friday Ukiah Art Walk reception with wine and music

Cynthia’s studio and workshop are located at 43000 Little River Airport Road, two miles south of Mendocino, two miles up Little River Airport Road, near the airport and Pygmy Forest. She has open studio most weekends from 10 a.m. However, call first if you’re driving a long distance: 707 937-2355.

Cynthia drawing on a vase in her studio. Cutting the tape on a vase with a razor knife.

Front door vineyard panel. Private residence.

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17 Mendocino County Artists!

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Ceramics students will have the plea-sure of learning a wide variety of surface techniques possible in the low-fire range from Keith Schneider. Keith’s own whim-sical ceramic figures have been exhibited widely. He is an instructor of both ceramics and drawing at Humboldt State University, and is also a painter. Keith’s ceramic figures and his paint-ings show his affinity for found objects and assemblage. His assemblage materials come “from many different sources. But whether culled from thrift store bins, beach debris, or sidewalk trash, the unifying factor in most of my pieces is that they are made with the quality of assemblage in mind. This quality is most evident in my two-dimensional work, but my ceramic work shares many of the same concerns. . . In my ceramic work, I often invent my own ‘found objects’ and materials and try to create in them a sense of age comparable to what I see in actual objects I have collected.” In his newest ceramics pieces, Keith uses clay ‘fabric’ to “dress up my characters, and clay tape and stitching to hold them together.” He is especially adept at defining his clay characters through their facial expressions, using “wrinkles, tears, and holes in the clay fabric” to accomplish this. His pieces are constructed from earthenware clay and fired to cone 03. He “often begins pieces with a wide variety of wheel thrown forms, and puts them together in

combination with other elements, sometimes extruded pieces, sometimes press molded or handbuilt.” Keith says of his pieces, “Often, as I am working, these pieces take on a life of their own and it is interesting to me

that some of my characters seem anxious and overwhelmed, some worried and perplexed, some quiz-zical and amused. As I live with these characters, I believe that they speak to me about myself.” Keith Schneider has an MFA degree from the University of California, Santa Barbara. He has been teaching since 1987, and looks forward to showing MAC’s ceramic students wheel throwing as well as handbuilding techniques, and the characteristics and uses of under-glazes, stains, slip, glazes and lus-ters.

Meet the Teacher

KEITH SCHNEIDERLOW-FIRE: FORM AND SURFACE

Mendocino Art CenterAugust 2 – 6

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Meet the Teacher

DANIEL GABRIEL ANGELO JEAN-BAPTISTEJEAN-BAPTISTE SILK ARTMendocino Art CenterAugust 9 – 13

Master silk artist Daniel Gabriel Angelo Jean-Baptiste was born and raised on the West Indies island of St. Lucia, to parents of Dutch Jewish and African Carib descent. He has been an artist since the age of five, encouraged by his mother to paint in watercolor the plants and fish that fas-cinated him. Even by the age of 12, his ability to capture the vivid colors of his local surroundings was attracting attention, and visitors to the island who saw him painting on the beach often bought his work. “Some days I made as much as $400,” he recalls. His family moved to Canada, cutting him off from the beauty of the tropics that inspired him, but he studied art and was successful doing commercial projects. In 1981 he began working with silk. In 1995, he moved back to St. Lucia with his wife and family. Jean-Baptiste’s workmanship reflects the fact that he has been working with silk for nearly 30 years, and for at least 12 hours a day. His style is unique and fresh, deeply influenced by the beauty of his surroundings. Each piece is hand painted on 100 percent Chinese Hobatai silk, using water-based silk liquid color and resist. “I buy one-and-a-half miles of silk from China every year to work

with,” Jean-Baptiste says, “and it has to be from the spring crop, because it produces the best quality silk.” This talented artist’s work can now be found in the art collections of internationally celebrated figures such as South Africa’s past president, Nelson Mandela; St. Lucia’s own Nobel Laureate, Derek Walcott; singer and song-writer, Paul Simon; and U.S. General Colin Powell. He returned to Canada in 2004 to explore new opportunities for his children and his art, but, having inherited an estate on St. Lucia in 2007, he now divides his time between St. Lucia and Canada. Jean-Baptiste says, “My only interest is in that which is beautiful. Nature hides so many treasures that are only visible when we take the time to observe and become aware of their unique existence. In my art I capture a moment of light and color from my heart and it tran-scends beyond the brush stroke.” Students in Jean-Baptiste’s workshop will learn the basics of silk art, including composition line work, water-based wax application and various painting techniques using liquid silk paints and Sumi bamboo brushes. The goal is to create frameable fine art.

To view Jean-Baptiste’s vibrant, boldly colored silk art, go to his Web site at www.jean-baptiste.com.

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Jeweler and metalsmith Marne Ryan has perfected a process that transforms sheets, scraps and frag-ments of metal into beautiful jewel-ry, vessels and hollowware. Working intuitively and organically, she fuses metals to create different textures and patterns that give her own work its unique appearance, as of ancient, unearthed treasure. Marne comes from a family of inventors, musicians, blacksmiths, and seamstresses, and art seemed to be her destiny. She enrolled at Moore College of Art in Philadelphia, intending to major in fashion design, but wandered into the metals studio and never left. Several important teachers influenced her work and career, including Eleanor Moty and Olaf Skoogfors. She earned a BFA in Jewelry and Metalsmithing (later, an MFA in Sculpture from Delaware University), and then started her career in jewelry-making doing repair work, which she considered an invaluable background for learning the techniques

involved in rolling, melting and fus-ing metal that define her own work. Flame is Marne’s tool. With it, she takes bits and pieces of metal and fuses them, “allowing new forms of beauty to emerge through heat and chance. The resulting works mark an intimate celebration of life in all its decay and destruc-tion, renewal and promise. . . Using 18, 22 and 24-karat gold and ster-ling silver, Marne works with a roll-ing mill and a torch to create a vari-ety of patterns and surface finishes. By fusing together the thin layers of high karat gold and silver (and more recently platinum, too), Ryan creates new sheets of her own mar-ried metal combinations. Sections are cut from the multiple layered sheets, and arranged into painterly-

like compositions. Twenty-four karat gold is often fused to the front and back surfaces, creating the unique frame-work for her singular pieces. Through this use of fire . . . Ryan harnesses its often overlooked ability for regenera-tion and growth, giving birth to new forms of beauty in metal. Gleaming bits of gold shine against dimpled and patinaed slivers of silver. Polished, curved gemstones are juxtaposed by angled, gritty laters of metal . . .” (Jill A. DeDominicis, Ornament Magazine #2, 2009). Students in Marne Ryan’s class will learn how to tex-ture metal with fire, creating patterns by fusing thin layers of silver, then learning to use high karat gold and sterling together, creating rich contrasting patterns and textures.

To learn more about Marne and her work, visit her website at www.marneryan.com

Meet the Teacher

MARNE RYANORGANIC METALS STERLING SILVER FUSING WORKSHOP

Mendocino Art CenterAugust 23 – 27

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Meet the Teacher

MICHELE COLLIERFIGURATIVE SCULPTURE USING PAPER CLAYMendocino Art CenterAugust 2 – 3

Clay has played an important role in Michele Collier’s personal as well as professional and artistic life. After graduating from the Academy of Art College and begin-ning her career in illustration and fine art painting, she found herself constantly returning to the joy of clay when-ever her soul needed nurturing. A move to an urban setting in Oakland, California, in 2000 affected her adversely, throwing her “off balance” and leaving her emotionally unable to paint. She returned yet again to clay to “get her bearings.” This time it turned out to be a career change. The cups she was making on the wheel sprouted sculptural elements for handles and it wasn’t long before she made the shift to pure sculpture. Curiously, the subject of her paintings had now become the subject of her sculptures. The same deeply held emo-tional themes started to surface and the clay, her old friend, was ready to fully express them. Michele is inspired to create with clay when vari-ous moods, feeling, sights and sounds fill her mind with images. “The strongest of these images will keep return-

ing to me and nagging me until I discover how it might become manifest in clay. I plan the piece in my head and make sketches, but I don’t touch the clay until I can feel what I want. When I’m clear about what that is, I pick up my rolling pin and start work-ing the clay into a slab. I tear away large swaths only to add them back again as I keep rolling. When the slab has taken on a certain energy, I begin construction. As I stretch and compress the clay, it is as though it has come to life. The surface of the slab becomes the very human-like surface of the sculpture. After much wrestling, the clay and I come to an agreement. What I am trying to express is the upheaval in my own life. The surface appears calm, but if you look closely, you see the underlying chaos. I have come to think of that chaos as beautiful because it is so truthful.” Michele will be teaching MAC’s sculpture students how to express form by using paper clay slabs. No arma-ture is used; she will be demonstrating “new ways to build.” She will also demonstrate finishes and will send the students home with raw pieces to be fired. She assures students not to worry about breakage along the way because, “this is paper clay!”

To view images of Michele Collier’s figurative paper clay sculptures, visit her Web site at www.burningclay.com