Among the Vines © 2019 Erika Perloff

Our Bounty: Plein Air
Curator: Susanna Waddell
Co-Curators: Judy Cooper, Bruce Nicholson

Exhibit Dates: August 14 – September 29, 2019

Opening Reception: Sunday, August 18, 2019
2:00pm – 4:00pm

“Love of the land lies deep within the human spirit.”
—Diane Cooley

Fifty-five artists were invited to brave the weather, climb hills, lug easels, paint, and canvases to sites in southern Santa Cruz County. Painting outside on the land, en Plein Air, has long been a traditional pursuit in the Santa Cruz area because of the natural light and beauty of our collective landscape. Generous land owners, directors and ranch managers have granted access during the month of July for the painting.

We hope you will enjoy the different artist interpretations of the  same properties and appreciate the importance of protecting “Our Bounty” and being stewards of the land.

  —Curator: Susanna Waddell, 2019

Click here for virtual tour of Our Bounty – Plein Air  Virtual Tour

Image credit: © 2019 Routine, by Linda Christensen

Annual Members’ Exhibit: MIRRORS
We are pleased to present Pajaro Valley Arts annual members show. This exhibit is a collection of fine art works contributed by seventy-seven of our members. The work in this years’ exhibit includes; paintings, drawings, photography, printmaking, sculptures and mixed media.

PVA annually honors our loyal members, who are comprised of visual artists and art appreciators, with an exhibition featuring their own fine art works.  And each year, these artists are challenged by a theme which, it is hoped, will inspire them to stretch their thinking and ideas to contribute a lively, interesting show.

The theme of this year’s show is Mirrors.  A mirror is a reflecting surface that produces an image of whatever is in front of it. As a verb, it means to represent something honestly or to give a representation of something that is similar to something else. The pieces in this exhibit explore these meanings and how language, culture, personal identity, politics, and customs are reflected in today’s society.

OPENING RECEPTION
Sunday, June 23
2:00PM – 4:00PM

Take a virtual tour of the exhibit!

Vote! Your Vote is Your Voice
¡Vote! Su Voto es Su Voz

Exhibit dates: April 3 – May 26, 2019
Opening Reception: April 7
2:00 – 4:00PM

Curator: Maria Gitin
In Memory of Bob Fitch

Bob Fitch Photography Archive, © Stanford University Libraries

This visual art and history exhibit seeks to inspire, inform and develop greater interest in the nonpartisan democratic process. Monterey Bay residents who were active in the Civil Rights Movement of the1960s and Chicano voting rights movement will share their stories and perspectives through art, educational panels and documentary film.

The exhibit features selections from Stanford University Libraries – Bob Fitch Archives and from Maria Gitin’s archives from their experience as young voting rights workers in the Deep South. Artifacts from Watsonville voting rights history and contemporary art that expresses the meaning of voting rights from a variety of perspectives will be displayed. Take a virtual tour of the exhibit. Voting Rights Timeline

Thursday April 4, 2019 7:00-9:00 PM
Voting Rights Films, Watsonville Film Festival
Films: SPLC Selma: The Bridge to the Ballot
PBS Willie Velasquez: Your Vote is Your Voice
275 Main Street,
Watsonville Civic Center, 4th Floor

Thursday April 11, 2019 7:00-9:00 PM
Film: Councilwoman, Watsonville Film Festival
275 Main Street,
Watsonville Civic Center, 4th Floor

Sunday April 14th 2-3:30
Curator’s Talk Maria Gitin
Guided Tour in the Gallery

Thursday April 18, 6-8 PM
El Florecer De La Mujer

If you missed this panel, you can watch the video here.
275 Main Street
Watsonville Civic Center, 4th Floor

Latina leaders discuss their history of community organizing that led to Gomez v. City of Watsonville case.
Moderator: Shirley Castillo, MSW
Panelists: Cruz Gomez, Shirley Flores Munoz, Naomi Quinonez, Odelia Galvan Rodriguez, Rosie Murillo, and Raquel Mariscal.

Thursday  April 25, 6-8 PM 
This Bright Light of Ours: Stories from the Voting Rights Fight
275 Main Street
Watsonville Civic Center, 4th Floor

Maria Gitin will share historic images and stories
from grassroots workers in the nonviolent army
that risked their lives for voting rights.

Saturday May 18th 2-4 PM
Landmark Voting Rights Victory: Gomez V Watsonville
275 Main Street
Watsonville Civic Center, 4th Floor

Moderator: Samuel Torres Jr., former Santa Cruz County Counsel
Panelists: Paule Cruz Takash, Anthropologist
and Watsonville Chronicler Daniel Dodge, MALDEF paralegal on Gomez v Watsonville, and former Mayor
Karina Cervantez, former Mayor and UCSC
Doctoral Candidate

Exhibit Design by:
Judy Stabile, Carol Walberg and Joshua Moreno

Cultural & Exhibit Advisor:
Ana Ventura-Phares,
Samuel Torres Jr.

This project was made possible with support
from California Humanities, a non-profit partner
of the National Endowment for the Humanities. Visit www.calhum.org.

Take Aways: Art To Go!

Opening Reception
Sunday, January 27, 2019
Time: 2:00 – 4:00PM

Exhibit Dates: January 23 – March 10, 2019

We invite you to join us for our first exhibit of 2019, Take Aways: Art to Go! This annual invitational exhibit features seventy of the county’s most notable artists. As a fundraising event these artists are presenting works that fit into many budgets. In this wildly popular show everyone benefits; you take home fabulous art the day of your purchase, the artists and PVA get their normal commissions, and new art comes into the gallery every day! Take a virtual tour of the exhibit.

Redeemer © by Mary Tartaro
All Rights reserved.

Mi Casa es Tu Casa is PVA’s annual exhibit inspired by Día de Los Muertos (Day of the Dead), a traditional holiday in Mexico that celebrates ancestors and others who have passed away. Altars (ofrendas) are built in homes and public spaces to honor and remember the dead. Similar customs exist throughout the world and we share common ground with many cultures in our desire to honor and remember those whom we have lost.

Living Stories/ Historias Vivientes

Loved ones lost are best remembered through the tales we repeatedly tell about them. Of all these, it seems to be the humorous ones that best commemorate the true spirit of the departed. Narrative altars convey these cherished memories through familiar scenes that hope to draw the dead back into the realm of the living where their legacy lives on through shared stories. —Curator Mary Tartaro

Opening reception:

Sunday, October 28, 2018

2:00PM-4:00PM

Performances by:

Senderos: featuring dancers and musicians from Oaxaca tradition

White Hawk Dancers

Workshops: Making La Catrina figurines, and make your own altar

Take a virtual tour of the exhibit!

Learn more about the altars and art in this show by clicking on the the following: Curator Mary Tartaro’s Statement, Connections, Gifts, Santa Cruz Children’s School Remembers, Nuestras Historias que Trascienden el Tiempo, Vó – Grandma, Sentinels, The Family Silver, 23 Known, The Web of Life, Our Tree of Stories, Mariposa’s Arts, As The Sun Sets, Tree of Life, San Juan – Truth in History, La Muerta Bella, The Little Lost Mariachi, Butterflies of Our Beloved, Mary Catherine, Finding Beauty in Ordinary Places, Honoring My Mother’s Art, Our Ancestors Voted for Our Present, Ancestral Home, Celebrating Our Black Ancestors , Hijos Ausentes de Sta Gertrudis y La Escondida.

Artist Talk: September 15 from 2:00-3:30pm at the Watsonville Civic Plaza Community Room with Susana Arias,  Amy Díaz-Infante, Dionicio Mendoza and Juan R. Fuentes.

Curators’ Tour: September 16 from 2:00 – 3:00pm at Pajaro Valley Arts Gallery with Juan R. Fuentes and Michelle P. Mouton.

Curated by Juan R. Fuentes and Michelle P. Mouton, Hablamos Juntos explores visual dialogs created by prominent California Latinx artists at the Pajaro Valley Arts gallery in Watsonville. In this extraordinarily rich exhibit, you will experience how our artists give voice to and navigate: daily life, current events, social, political and cultural issues, community, ethnicity, as well as personal narratives, myths, and history. Click here for a virtual tour. Visit our Facebook page for additional photos.

Educational Materials: Pre-Tour Discussion Guide, Timeline: Latinos in America; Migration, Immigrations, Incorporation- 1492-1990 , Timeline: Latinos in America 1990-2018  Hablamos Juntos Curriculum

Curators: Juan R. Fuentes and Michelle P. Mouton
Curator Statement

Artists:  Susana Arias,  Eduardo Carrillo,  Yreina D. Cervántez,  Pablo Cristi,   Amy Díaz-Infante,  Juan R. Fuentes,  Daniel Galvez,  Lorraine García-Nakata,  Carlos Jackson,   Carmen León,  Jose Lozano,  Dionicio Mendoza,  Amalia Mesa-Bains,  Viviana Paredes,  Pancho Rodriquez,   Michael Roman,  Ivan Rubio,  Manuel Santana,   Linda Vallejo,   Cruz Ortiz Zamarron

A collaboration between Pajaro Valley Arts, Museo Eduardo Carrillo, and the Young Writers Program, this project is supported in part by an award from the National Endowment for the Arts.

The Hablamos Juntos exhibit is also presented in partnership with the San Jose Museum of Art, New Terrains collaboration. Through New Terrains: Mobility and Migration, South Bay arts organizations band together to present a series of cross-disciplinary exhibitions, programs and experiences that explore how bodies move through spaces—social, political, literal, and figurative. Projects address timely topics such as transportation and urban planning, navigation and orientation, public protest, immigration and migration, and mobility in its many forms. For more information on New Terrains: https://sjmusart.org/new-terrains/connect

Happy 150^th birthday, Watsonville, and congratulations on the building of a great successful community over all these years.

Members of Pajaro Valley Arts join in the sesquicentennial celebration with this exhibition, What Nourishes Us, exploring the idea of how our community nourishes our bodies, our souls, our imaginations and our arts. Using a wide variety of mediums, artists from Santa Cruz County and beyond share their interpretations on what nourishes them from this community and from their lives in general.

Image Credit: Loading Docks, by David Fleming

OPENING RECEPTION: Sunday, June 3 from 2:00pm – 4:00pm

Curators: Jane Gregorius, Susan Matulich, Mary Neater & Carol Walber

Take a Virtual Tour Here

This exhibit is dedicated and  in memory of our
dear friend and Board Member James Aschbacher