Message from Abby Wasserman, Board President: I am delighted to share the news with you that O’Hanlon Center for the Arts will be honored this year with the Vera Schultz Award by the Milleys, Mill Valley’s Creative Achievement Awards! Six individual awards will also be given at the presentation. In 2002, the Vera Schultz Award was created to acknowledge achievements of organizations which embody her activism, leadership, courage and vision, and like Vera, have made lasting contributions to the cultural life of our community. Vera served as the Outdoor Art Club program chair and incidentally introduced members to the art of Dick and Ann O’Hanlon. Ann O’Hanlon was the first recipient of the (now-named) Milley Award for Creative Achievement. The dinner and gala program, which includes the six other awards, will take place Sunday, October 19, 2014. Please join us in celebrating O’Hanlon! Tickets are $75 and go on sale in mid-September. Call 415-721-1906 after Sept. 15th.

Dear Members—expect our summer fundraising appeal in the mail soon. We hope you will be able to donate. Members’ contributions are a major source of income towards Center programs and improvements, and we warmly appreciate every donation, no matter the size.

Coming Programs: Here is OHCA’s program line-up for Bay Area Women’s Month this August. Please mark the following on your calendars:

• “Bay Area Women Artists” exhibit opening Tuesday, Aug. 5; 6 to 8 p.m.

• Soulstone Performance with Margery Kreitman, Saturday, August 9; 7 to 9 p.m. $15, $12 OHCA members

• Local Women Writers Series, Thursdays, August 7, 14, 21; 7 to 9 p.m. $10, $8 OHCA members. Readers for Thursday, 8/7 will be Abby Wasserman, Catherine Flaxman and Ruth Gendler. Readers for Thursday, 8/14 will be Eve Pell, Holly Payne, Susan Trott and Molly Giles. Readers for Thursday, 8/21 will be Laurel Hilton, Janine Kovac, Marianne Lonsdale and Samantha Parent Walravens.

Also, be sure not to miss this other special events in August:

• Let Me Tell You Performance with ARTSHIP ENSEMBLE. Friday, August 15. 7 to 9 p.m. $12, $10 OHCA members. RSVP to save your space by August 12.

 

In Memorium: We were very saddened to hear of the passing of two former OHCA members: Nancy Emmons, age 101, and Caroline Muller, age 97, died on June 28, 2014.

Nancy and Donn Emmons and their family settled in Mill Valley in the 1940s. Nancy and Donn separated in 1955 and were later divorced. Nancy became very active in the local artistic community, and was a member of Ann O’Hanlon’s “Sight and Insight” gallery. She made large sculptural collages using found objects and natural materials, which were abundant in her large home garden just down the street from O’Hanlon Center. Plans for a future memorial will be announced at a later date. See more at: http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/sfgate/obituary.aspx?pid=171658370#sthash.jvKQ8jJ8.dpuf

Caroline and Frederick (Bill) Muller moved to California in the late 1970’s, where Caroline worked with the Oceanic Society. Over the years she also started several small import businesses. A curious and intrepid traveler all her life, Caroline took an epic trip with her brother to South America for 8 months in 1940, going up the Amazon to Machu Picchu and recording her experiences in an illustrated journal entitled The Voyage of the Heavenly Twins. Many journeys were to come, often to places unfrequented by tourists, including Nepal and Bali in the 1970s and China in the early 80s. She sought out destinations where she could explore Eastern religions and mysticism, and even made it to Bhutan at the age of 85! Art was another of Caroline’s great loves. She was a long time member of the Mill Valley studio Sight and Insight, where she introduced her grandchildren to the world of art and created paintings and sculptures well into her 90s. See more at: http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/marinij/obituary.aspx?pid=171700004#sthash.fqedOtgB.dpuf

Member News: OHCA’s Artists Trading Card group will have an exhibit this August at the Mill Valley Library! The ATC Show opens on the Mill Valley First Tuesday, August 5, from 6-8 p.m. Location: Mill Valley Library lower level, across from the Mill Valley History Room. Participating artists include: Carol Baum, Meredith Bruce, Julie Delmonico, Kate Dumont, Chris Francisco, Zoe Harris, Cary James, Elaine James, Donna Neal, Gabrielle Rilleau, Margaret Stawowy, Sandy Tresan, Monique Vasquez, Abby Wasserman, Megan Wilkinson, Emily Wong, and Nunu Wright. Stop by the Library after you see OHCA’s Bay Area Women Artists show that same evening.

Congratulations to Bernie Weiner, whose photo, “Riding Up the Eiffel” won Third Prize in Photography at the Marin County Fair.

Betsy Kellas is having a solo show in Gallery III at the Sebastopol Center for the Arts during the month of August (7/31-8/30). The show, called “Shifting Weights,” is a 42-foot installation of paintings on canvas, panel and paper. See: http://sebarts.org/index.php

Two members of O’Hanlon’s Photo Forum have collaborated on their new publication DUET: A Conversation of Words and Images. CB Follett, Marin County Poet Laureate (2010-2013), winner of the 2001 National Poetry Book Award, and nominee for numerous Pushcart Prizes, and Ginna Fleming, prize-winning social documentary photographer exhibited internationally, have together created a beautiful pairing of poems and images in this stunning full color book. Copies of the book can be ordered from runes@aol.com or ginnafleming@gmail.com. They will present a reading and slide show based on the book at O’Hanlon on October 30.

OHCA Member Profiles

One of the fun things about being a member of O’Hanlon Center for the Arts is getting to know one another at openings and events. Now we’re adding print! Diorama is featuring mini-profiles of a couple of members per issue, based on interviews via email and telephone. Here’s the second in our series.

PROFILE #2: CHRISTINE FRANCISCO

A relatively new member of O’Hanlon Center, Christine Francisco did us proud at the recent Marin County Fair’s Art Exhibit, winning three first place ribbons, a second place, a fifth place, and an honorable mention. One of her artworks was also awarded Best In Show—the quilted wall hanging she exhibited in our show “Red” last January.

Chris’s colorful and imaginative solo show in the Loft Gallery this July, “Progress Not Perfection,” demonstrates her multiple talents—as painter, printmaker, collagist, quilter, and polymer jewelry maker.

Chris was introduced to OHCA by Elaine James. “She invited me to her Artist Trading Cards class and introduced me to the place and made me feel welcome there. I’ve enjoyed seeing her and the other people who come to the class every month. A large part of my becoming a member is due to her and valuing her friendship,” Chris says.

O’Hanlon Center is the most recent artists’ community in Chris’s life. She has sought and found fellowship wherever her art has taken her. She attended Pratt Institute and was part of that community of young artists. Following that, she began making jewelry and selling it at craft fairs, then as a street vendor, on Telegraph Avenue and at Fisherman’s Wharf. “Those were communities too,” she points out. “When I had kids, that kind of took over everything….but when they were still pretty young I got involved in creative memory scrapbooking and that extended the friendships I had with other mothers, working together on our family scrapbook. That community supported my creativity.”

She grew up in Pennsylvania and has lived in the Bay Area for three decades—the Haight for 10 years, Berkeley for another decade, and now, Fairfax. The family moved to Marin when she was accepted for graduate school at the San Francisco Theological Seminary in San Anselmo. She earned a degree in Divinity and became an ordained Presbyterian minister, specializing in caregiving for elders with dementia. She taught classes in arts and crafts, projects doable for residents that would respect the fact that they were adults—things that they could successfully do. “I got to work with others in Alma Villa, an assisted living place, as well—that was another kind of community in my job. I worked there over five years, teaching paper crafting and jewelry making classes every week.”

When asked what it was like to study theology, Chris reflects, “I went to seminary because I was curious to know more about theology, but divinity studies actually just raised more questions. Instead of feeling ‘now I understand this,’ it makes you realize there is so much we don’t know and can’t really know. But it was a positive experience for me, and for my whole family.”

Chris’s children are now 23 and 21, and neither has picked up the art bug—yet. Her daughter goes to UC Santa Cruz and hopes to go to nursing school. Her son is living at home and working two jobs. During their formative years their mother was part of the faith community. It is only since they were grown that Christine has come back to her roots as an artist.

She has taken O’Hanlon’s Saturday Creativity Workshop with Cayen Robertson, has submitted artwork to a different shows, taught at the Center, and attended opening nights. She enjoys the First Tuesday Roundtable discussions and also likes to do the paper projects that Elaine James offers downstairs in the Loft on opening nights. She’d like to take more classes—“I like the idea that there is a local outlet for people to learn and get together and be creative”—but the commute from Fairfax can be complicated, and she is trying to concentrate on her own career. She wants to sell her artwork over the internet, and is in the early stages of designing a web site. “What would be useful to me would be help with marketing art, basically having it be a business,” she says. “That would be a really helpful thing to be learning about from somebody who is doing that successfully—to share what works, how they find outlets for selling their work. I’d like to be selling my work regularly. I would also like help with creating the web site. Maybe O’Hanlon could offer something like this. I think it’s not that hard to do, but I still could use hand-holding through the process.” She definitely would like to see O’Hanlon artists have more success selling their work.

Chris will teach again at the Center in August. It will be about using paper elements to make wearable art. Check the OHCA web site for details (www.ohanloncenter.org).

Chris feels at home at O’Hanlon Center. “It’s a great thing to have a place where people can make art, have chances to exhibit their work, and share about their process—the community piece,” she says. “Most of us doing artwork are older…we have the time. People raising a family are under the gun. That’s a huge systemic problem. We baby boomers are still on the planet and we can relate to each other and what we face—what is important to us—from retirement to wanting to be affirmed for any creative talent we have. Now that I’m in my 60’s I’m wondering if what I do is of value. We want to make a difference, change the world for the better. This is it—we’re not going to live forever—this is our chance to make a positive contribution.”

–Abby Wasserman

 

August in the O’Hanlon Gallery: On Tuesday, August 5, from 6 to 8 p.m., O’Hanlon Center for the Arts will present an Open House and Reception for its August exhibit, “Bay Area Women Artists,” a group show juried by Donna Seager and Suzanne Gray, owners of Seager-Gray Gallery in downtown Mill Valley. The show runs through August 21, 2014.

“Bay Area Women Artists” will feature mixed media artwork with emphasis on exploration, abstraction, and imaginative use of materials and content.

Jurors Donna Seager and Suzanne Gray are co-owners of Seager Gray Gallery in Mill Valley, which has as its focus the rich continuous history of art in the San Francisco Bay Area and beyond. Whether the spotlight is on figurative painting, ceramics, handmade artist books, abstraction or monumental sculpture, their commitment is to presenting the finest work possible in an atmosphere that gives focus and context to the presentation.

Also on August 5 from 4 to 6 p.m., the Center will host a Roundtable for the Arts dialogue, where the participating artists will discuss issues relating to their creative processes. The Roundtable is a monthly event sponsored by the Center.

The opening show on August 5 is part of the Mill Valley Art Commission’s monthly Gallery Walk, First Tuesday. The event is free of charge and open to all ages. Artwork on display is available for purchase. Proceeds from sales support local artists and the O’Hanlon Center as a non-profit organization.

Also on Exhibit in August: New Artworks by Pamela Will The O’Hanlon Center for the Arts’ Loft Gallery will present new artworks by OHCA member Pamela Will. Pamela started painting and taking photographs at the age of nine. She studied fine art at Georgian Court University, Lakewood, New Jersey and went on to the Art Institute of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania where she received a degree in Visual Communications, with an emphasis on illustration and photography. She was a member of the Pittsburgh Center for the Arts in Shadyside, Pennsylvania where she studied pottery (slab and wheel). Additionally, she studied at Pottery of the Americas in Fort Mason, San Francisco and illustration at the Academy of Art University San Francisco.

The series on view at the O’Hanlon Center for the Arts combines elements of craft and Pamela’s graphic vocabulary, together with her lighthearted and whimsical approach. For the “Weekend Tile” series Pamela completed one tile every Saturday and Sunday. The pairs were created with a similar subject though each tile has a unique glaze and composition.

The “Clipboard” series focuses on art making materials. Grouped into sets, these assemblages play with function and form as well as subject and medium as they relate to color pencils, crayons, and paintbrushes. The painting Pam is exhibiting again points to Pamela’s reductionist approach, allowing the material to sparkle and shine atop a bright background. For more information please contact: Pamela Will at pawcreative.tumblr.com

We Thank Our Donors! O’Hanlon recently received generous tax-deductible gifts from J.F. Ellman, Christine Francisco, Katy Kuhn, Alice Stern, Lisa Yount, and Eric Zener.

 

Other Great Ways to Give

Whole Foods Market on Miller Avenue in Mill Valley has chosen OHCA as the recipient for their “Dimes for Non Profits (DFNP)” program starting July 1 and through September 30, 2014! DFNP raises money for nonprofit groups at Whole Foods registers. Customers who bring their own bags may opt to take a 10 cent discount for each bag or to donate the 10 cents to a nonprofit. DFNP usually results in an $800-$1200 donation for the designated nonprofit. So remember to bring your bag while shopping and mention OHCA when you check out!

Do you shop online? Designate O’Hanlon Center for the Arts as the nonprofit you’d like to support and Amazon will donate 0.5% of the price of your eligible AmazonSmile purchases to OHCA! Contact Megan Wilkinson for more details about how you can give to OHCA using this program. We thank you in advance!

Did you know that by shopping at Mollie Stone’s, Fairfax Market, and Woodland Market that you can contribute to OHCA? Yes, just register your loyalty cards (cards issued by the stores themselves that provide you with discounts) for those stores and part of your receipt will get donated back to OHCA. Take a look at the Escrip website (Escrip.com) and enroll today!

Make your mark at O’Hanlon Designate OHCA as a beneficiary in your estate planning. Contact the OHCA office for details.

Mention “7078” at Mill Valley Market’s register and 2% of your sales will be donated to OHCA!

We Salute New and Renewing Members Alexandra Friedman, Ann Hollingsworth, Carolyn Bear Glaser, Carolyn Warmsun, Deborah Sullivan, Diane Green, Esther Munger, Gary Weatherford, Irene Belknap, Jannette Oriendain, Jinn Faurve, Joeann Edmonds-Matthew, Joyce and Feeney, Kellyann Gilson, Kit Skeoch, Robert Gumpertz and Marilyn Thomas, and Sandi Miot.