The Mother Lode Art Association will hold a special meeting no sooner than one month from 7/1/2024 in order to discuss and enact amendments to the organization's bylaws and other MLAA Business. The exact date, time and location is currently being determined.
 (Left) Caroline Hodson Grade 6 Sonora Elementary School Mrs. OBrian Greek Vase Chalk Pastel (Right) Lenor Montosano Grade 6 Sonora Elementary School Mrs. OBrian Greek Vase Chalk Pastel Todd from Sierra Printing was on hand with a presentation of different projects that you might want to consider for your art practice. Todd has produced cards, greeting cards, canvas paper wraps, images on cloth bags . . . let your imagination run wild!
 Connie Cassinetto Connie Cassinetto gave a presentation information on a three-week trip she took on a 230-foot expedition icebreaker ship, in November-December 2023, to photograph wildlife in the Falkland Islands and Antarctic Peninsula. The presentation included some trip background information and a slideshow of the animals and landscape scenes she photographed while there. Connie is a member of the Sonora Photography Club. See her work in the Aloft Gallery.  The internet will take you to many examples, both funny and disconcerting. We had a great turnout for a game of f "Exquisite corpse". This artistic exercise, made popular by the French Surrealists, calls for each collaborator to add to a composition in sequence, without seeing previous contributions. Many thanks to our hardworking and imaginative program chairs, Marilyn Zimmer and Jamie Shower, who will be providing all necessary materials for this exercise.
 Multimedia work by Carlie Vogt
Our first presenter for 2024 was Carlie Voigt, a Sonora native who has been an artist since childhood and has experimented with many different mediums. Her current passion and the subject of her demo is multimedia projects on wood, using wood burning and bright color to bring out natural textures and dimensions. Carlie demonstrated how adding an image on paper to the work on wood can enhance the project in a very modern way.  Charis Hernandez and her demo sketch Our presenter for November was portrait artist Charis Hernandez. Her fascinating sketching demo was about that tricky feature, the eyes, which are critical in creating a likeness. Charis describes herself as a self-taught artist currently focused on oil painting and sketching. She says, "Faces in particular are beautiful in all forms because each hair, line, color is the make-up of who that person is. In my art my goal is to capture the person and who they are."
October 2023 Artist Demo: Marilyn Zimmer and Jamie Showers, a Hands-On Still Life Workshop10/16/2023  "African Sunrise" mixed media, by Marilyn Zinner Our demo chairs, Marilyn Zimmer and Jamie Showers, offered a hands-on still life workshop. Three different tables with a still life on each were be lit to provide those all-important shadows. Marilyn and Steve provided a wide assortment of art materials. People just pulled up a chair to their chosen subject and sat and drew. It was totally fun. Many thanks to our presenters for their generous donation of supplies!
 "Family Farm", 2022, by Judie Cain For our September 18, 2023, demo, Judie Cain offered critiques to a large group of artists who arrived with work in hand. Judie is an experienced teacher whose thoughtful and constructive critique, based on the fundamentals of artistic composition, are always popular.
Primarily an oil painter, Judie strives to capture the light and mood of the moment using brush and/or palette knife. Her colorful paintings are uplifting and inspiring. She is an award-winning artist who has been represented in galleries in Washington, Oregon, New Mexico and California, including Murphys, Sonora, Copperopolis and Carmel. Be sure to visit the new show in the Library at 480 Greenley Road. The theme: Portraits!   Cheyenne Radanovich Cheyenne Radanovich is a native to Tuolumne County with a deep love for the mountains and natural landscape it offers. She graduated college with an associate degree in photography as well as elementary teaching. Her company, Wildbud , located on Washington Street in downtown Sonora, thrives on natural organic designs created with local flowers. Cheyenne's engaging and instructive demo drew an enthusiastic audience. Turns out everybody loves flowers!
 Charles Waldman Sonora-based landscape painter Charles Waldman is widely known for his colorful, direct, impressionistic style. Tuolumne County scenes often provide his inspiration. A good crowd attended Chuck's lively presentation, which covered tips for painting outdoors with slow-drying acrylics and insights into the artist's approach to composition and color.
 Collage by Stacy Lindsay Our demo artist this month was Stacy Lindsey. This was a hands on demo! Stacy gave a brief description of color theory and discussed color harmonies, and show a series of images meant to inspire. Participants went on to make tiny collages using a chosen color harmony!
 Rana Ford and her painting gear Our March 20 demo was something different! Some of MLAA's active group of Plein Air painters were on hand with their outdoor gear to share their insights and demonstrate their techniques. A lot of people like the idea of painting outdoors but aren't sure where to begin. To inspire them, we had many examples of plein air work on hand and half a dozen participants narrated their own plein air experiences and discussed their preferences for equipment, media and subject matter. We're hoping some members will be inspired to join us when the weather warms up and we head outdoors!  Joy Willow Starting off a new year of art demos, Joy Willow was our February presenter. Joy is a Foothill-based painter, poet and musician. You can see her striking nature-inspired abstracts on her website and in the Aloft. Here's what Joy said about her presentation: "I will share the exciting, un-planned experience of process painting: adding and subtracting elements, staying loose and layered with spontaneity as the guide. Organic fields of texture along with gestural mark making get things started; then its “just" about letting go and being spontaneous." MLAA members love a hands-on demo and Joy's presentation enticed us to sit with our eyes closed making marks on paper, then watching Joy herself demonstrate how she starts a painting.
 Photo by Connie Cassinetto, 2022 The Mother Lode Art Association demonstration artist for October 2022 was Connie Cassinetto, an award-winning photographer and member of MLAA, Sonora Photo Club and American Photographic Artists. Connie is an Adobe Certified Expert and instructor in Adobe Lightroom and has written articles for Nikonian.org. Connie has been concentrating on wildlife photography and recently returned from a camera safari to Eastern Africa. She shared captivating photographs of wildlife, plus insights into her techniques and details about her equipment, with a large group of attendees. |
