Exhibit dates: January 18 – February 26, 2023

Opening Reception: Sunday, January 22, 2023
from 2:00PM – 4:00PM

Pajaro Valley Arts invites you to join us for our first exhibit of 2023, New Beginnings. The annual PVA Members’ Exhibit is a favorite tradition and encourages our members to explore a huge range of topics, insights, and new approaches. This year’s theme, New Beginnings, uses the promise of the new year to encourage us to explore new artistic ideas as we all begin to emerge from the last three years of Covid-19 isolation.

This diverse annual Members’ exhibit features local artists from Santa Cruz County. The art on view includes a wide variety of mediums including: sculpture, drawing, ceramics, fiber, mixed media, encaustic (wax), print-making, photography, glasswork, and more. This exhibit features ninety-five of the county’s most notable artists:

Mary Altier, Susana Arias, Jeff Arnett, Davina Midori Baker, Wendy Ballen, Jean Sheckler Beebe, Mike Beebe, Eva Bernstein, Shinehah Bigham, Bonnie Britton,
Barbara Brundage, Karen Card, Ruth Carroll, Elizabeth Chavoor, Linda Christensen, Jaki Christeve, Jennifer Colby, Judy Cooper, Erica Crawford, Kati D’Amore,
Sarah Diaz-Bastin, Amy Diaz-Infante, Sally Diggory, Mary Jo Dunn-Ruiz, Myra Eastman, Susan Else, Janet Fine, David Fleming, Angela Gleason, Jane Gregorius,
Kathryn Hannay, Anita Heckman, Hedwig Heerschop, Joan Hellenthal, Bridget Henry, Robert Irwin, Bianca Jimenez, Lindsay Johnson, Rebecca Jordan, Sefla Joseph, Jadwiga Juszkiewicz, Lynne Karst, Lucien Kubo, Terrie Kvenild, Cheryl Lemon, Diane Levin, Gaby Litsky, Judi Ludewig, Lucinda Lynch, Lyn MacDonald, Sheila Malone, Charles Manske, Evelyn Markasky, Francine Marshall, Ann Baldwin May, Suzanne McCourt, Marty McGillivray, Cece McNeil, Ercilia Medeiros, Reiko Michisaki, Keith Millar,
Bonni Minardi, Chris Miroyan, Dawn Motyka, Ernesto Muñoz, Margaret Murray, Mary Neater, Bruce Nicholson, Caroline Nicola, Nancy Niles, Melanie Oldach,
Becky Olvera  Schultz, Rosy Penhallow, Bela Ravikumar, Jane Reyes, Tim Robinson, Josefina Rocha, Jewel Rogers, Suzanna Roth, Jaime Sánchez, Nora Sarkissian,
Cristina Sayers, Ann Scobie, Wendy Siegel, Katie Simpson, Randie Silverstein, Judy Stabile, Carol Streib, Lee Taiz, Lynne Todaro, Graciela Vega, Susanna Waddell,
Lynda Watson, Melissa West, Chad Williams, Donald Bruce Wright

KSQD radio interview with Curators Carol Walberg and Jane Gregorius

Image credit: Dedication to Mother Earth – ©2022 José G. Ortiz, sculptor

Mi Casa es Tu Casa; Life Changes, Life Continues/La vida cambia, la vida continúa

Exhibit Dates: October 26 – December 4, 2022
Opening Reception: Sunday, October 30, 1:00PM-3:00PM

Mi Casa es Tu Casa is PVA’s annual exhibit inspired by Día de Los Muertos/Day of the Dead, tradition in many parts of the Americas that commemorates community members and family who have passed away. This year, curators José G. Ortiz, Graciela Vega, José G. Nolasco, and Juan Carlos Padilla invited the community to consider the aftermath of the pandemic by exploring the themes of home, work, gatherings, health, and spirit, while commemorating the resilience, struggle, and humanity of our loved ones.

Performances by: El Sistema, Ballet Folklorico Olin, and Activities 4 All

Mi Casa es Tu Casa es la exhibición anual de PVA inspirada en el Día de los Muertos, una tradición en muchas partes de las Américas que conmemora a losmiembros de la comunidad y familiares que han fallecido. Este año, los curadores José Ortiz, Graciela Vega, José G. Nolasco, y Juan Carlos Padilla invitaron a la comunidad a considerar las secuelas de la pandemia explorando los temas del hogar, el trabajo, las reuniones, la salud y el espíritu mientras conmemoran la resiliencia, la lucha y la humanidad de nuestros seres queridos.

Presentación por: El Sistema, Ballet Folklorico Olin, and Activities 4 All

Exhibition opening reception sponsored by Santa Cruz County Bank
This exhibit is sponsored by:

Threads, made from a variety of plant or animal fibers, are universal. Cloth, made from various fibers utilizing unique methods, is universal. Every culture in the world makes, wears and uses textiles from birth through death. Materials and natural resources used for the production of cloth and cultural artifacts varies by geography
and what is available. Diversity of threads making diverse cloth for diverse purposes is the theme of Many Threads – One Cloth.

Thursday, August 25, 11:00am – 3:00pm – Yarn Bombing
Members of the Knitting Guild of Santa Cruz County and Santa Cruz Textile Arts Guild are bombing the PVA porch….literally, with colorful yarn designs and patterns. Come watch the bombing action, but beware, you might be drawn in to participate.

Workshops during the month of September: check PVA’s website pvarts.org

Saturday, October 1, 1:00pm – 3:30pm – Wearable Stories, a fashion show featuring the work of local artist Rachel D.K. Clark.
Rachel D.K. Clark is a contemporary folk artist, teacher and lecturer who comes from a long line of sewers, beginning with her great-grandmother. She has been creating wearable art since 1973 and teaching on the national circuit since 1990. Eclectic fabric mixes, vibrant designs, and a keen sense of humor characterize Rachel’s work.

This exhibit is sponsored by:

ANNUAL MEMBERS’ EXHIBIT 2022
LOCAL VISIONS
CURATED BY LYN MACDONALD

Exhibit Dates: June 15 – July 31, 2022
Opening Reception: Sunday, June 26, 2022
2:00PM – 4:00PM

This year’s Members’ Exhibit, Local Visions, was inspired by the desire to honor the richness of our community: wildlife, nature, agriculture, people, and cultures. We live in an area full of beautiful landscapes, colorful people and caring cultures. We asked artists to share work that reflects their love of our locale. Through a variety of media they shared their insights about the immediate world around them.

DEDICATION ROOM TO DIANE PORTER COOLEY
Curated by Susanna Waddell

This year, we dedicate a room to one of PVA’s founding board member Diane Porter Cooley, who passed on March 10, 2022, and was dedicated to the land and the people of Pajaro Valley. The room will feature work by artists who have painted at the Cooley’s Circle P Ranch, for both PVA’s Plein Air exhibits in 2010, 2019 and this year. Together we honor Mrs. Cooley’s legendary passion for the land. Thanks to the Nicholson Family for their generous sponsorship of this portion of the exhibit.

This exhibit is sponsored by:

Artwork: Green Nests in Winter Trees, ©2022 by Susana Arias

Sculpture IS: In the Garden 2022, marks our sixteenth sculpture exhibit in partnership with Sierra Azul Nursery and Gardens in Watsonville, CA.

Curators Susana Arias, Hedwig Heerschop, and Jeff Rosendale selected over ninety sculptures created by forty-eight artists and collaborators.

Visit the stunning two-acre demonstration garden, relax under the umbrellas, and spend an afternoon enjoying the exhibit.

This exhibit is sponsored by:

Alma Sagrada: Cultivando Ritmos Naturales
Sacred Soul: Cultivating Natural Rhythms

Curators: Ome Garcia, Ana Paula Teeple, and Josefina Rocha

Exhibit Dates: April 6 – May 22, 2022
Opening Reception: Sunday, April 10, 2022 1:00PM – 4:00PM

Featured Artists: Natalia Anciso – Abi Mustapha – José Ortiz – Hermelinda Vasquez

Invited Artists: Guillermo G. Aranda – Raymond Arredondo – Emmelie Avila – Shinehah Bigham – Graciela Vega Cendejas – Linda Cover – Sahar El Khatib – Sid Enck Jr – Stacy Frank – Ome Garcia – Yolanda Guererra – Bridget Henry – Rosa Hernández – Paola Inclan – Alexandria Jean-James – Carina King – Carmen León – Leslie Lopez – Carla Macal – Jose Medina – Amara Miller – Chris Boggan Miroyan – Isa Moreno – Devi Pride –  Eva Quintero ­– Jennifer Wildermuth Reyes – Lauren Ringelman – Andre Rosenzweig-Rivas – Josefina Rocha  – Jaime Sánchez – Cristina Sayers – Martha Schwanbeck – Sea Sevilla – Joel Michael Smith – Ana Paula Teeple – Alejandro Valle – Jasmin C. Vega – Susanna Waddell

Connect through Alma Sagrada: Cultivando Ritmos Naturales, an art exhibit at Pajaro Valley Arts in Watsonville, CA. It is our responsibility to acknowledge our past and current relationship with the land we occupy as a way to learn about and help revitalize its sacred systems, as well as our own vitality, and the vitality of our communities.

We recognize this land has been heedlessly stripped of its natural inhabitants through colonization, exploitation, and industrialization. For generations, all of us, regardless of personal origin and history, have been affected by this devastation and we can no longer ignore our collective responsibility to heal from this cycle of trauma.

We have witnessed the resulting imbalance and disease within our soil and water, air and fire. These sacred systems are not separate from us; the soil is our body, the water is our blood, the air is our breath, and the fire is our spirit; we mirror each other in a cosmic dance of symbiotic reciprocity.

Join us in reflecting on and reimagining our sacred and righteous relations with ourselves, our ancestors, each other, and all sacred life-giving systems. By honoring Indigenous stewardship, by learning environmental justice practices, and by embracing the joy, health, and abundance that comes with inter-connectedness.

Visit this exhibit virtually.

Exhibit Themes:

• Culturally and Historically Relevant Relations with the Natural World

• Indigenous Sovereignty, Land Protection, and Environmental Stewardship

• Healthy and Sustainable Water, Soil, Energy, and Food Systems

• Healing within Ourselves, Our Communities, and Sacred Life Systems

Programs and Events: