Pinole Artisans

Our new show at the Art Center is going well.  Lot's of new jewelry, imaginative gift items, local paintings and photographs, incredible wood crafting and pottery, and, come February, creative Valentines.  We invite you to come and see the Show, and give a big THANK YOU  to all who worked hard to install it.

Many THANKS also goes to Joyce Yamada this month as she retires from our Board of Directors.  Joyce served as Recording Secretary for the last year and performed many other activities which have improved the presentation of art to the community and strenghtened the Pinole Artisans financial status.  Joyce continues as a member and participant of Pinole Artisans but will take some time off to be with her newly retired hubby.

We welcome our new Board of Directors member, Carolyn Hess, a talented watercolor Artist in her own right, and a very supportive Pinole Artisans member.

This month we also say a good-bye to Claire J. Baker as contributor to the Poets Corner in the Newsletter.  Claire needs to take some time off to meet the many demands on her time as an active Poet.  She will be welcomed back when her schedule opens up. In her absence Tanya Joyce, Poet and Painter, will supply us with poetry and comments for our Poet's Corner.

Your Art Center Director

Joan Landis

Our current Show "DREAM AND CREATE" is a great display of the variety of artistic effort possible from our little band of artists.  We have had a slight increase in foot traffic and increased interest in membership, so things are improving.  I thank all who continue to participate in our Shows despite the depressed marketing.

The November Show will be our Holiday Show, "HOLIDAY FUN".  Let's make it a fun event !! Take-In of ART will happen on TUESDAY NOVEMBER 8, and we will install the Show onTHURSDAY NOVEMBER 10.  I will be contacting everyone early to find out if you want to participate.  Remember that we will be putting up a HOLIDAY TREE on SUNDAY NOVEMBER 27.  Hand made Ornaments are needed to decorate the tree, and there will be an Inventory Page in your paperwork for you to list these items.  They should be brought to the Art Center on Take-In Day.  Please let me know if you can help with the decorating of the tree. The Holiday Show will close on JANUARY 12, 2012.

November is a busy month for us, and we are counting on all of you to help out, especially for the Fund Raising Event at Chevy's on NOVEMBER 17.  Please call Vickie Resso to let her know what you can do to be helpful.

Last, but not least, the part of my Art Center News that I enjoy the most!  My THANK YOU TIME.  Special thanks this time goes to Nancy Mare for not only taking over the updating of our website ( we now have a two-man expert team: Nadine Robbins/Laurent and Nancy Mare),  but also taking over arranging jewelry in the cases on Show set up days.  These days can be very stressful for me, so Nancy I really do appreciate your help.

The Pinole Artisans are currently presenting "DREAM AND CREATE", a grand display of local Art at the Pinole Art Center, 2221 Pear Street in Old Town Pinole.  Bring family and friends and enjoy the Show.

On November 10 this Show will be replaced by our Holiday Show "HOLIDAY FUN".  Jewelry, Paintings, Sculpture, Photography, Cards, and many other gift itrms will be available at reasonable prices.

On November 17 the Pinole Artisans will host a Fund Raiser with a SILENT AUCTION at Chevy's Hilltop Restaurant, 5:30PM to 8:30PM.   Many wonderful items will be auctioned including paintings,  jewelry, sculpture, and other gift items.  We will also include two week long vacations donated to us by a local Time-Share owner.  Coupons for dinner at Chevy's are available at the Art Center which will activate  Chevy's to give 25% of your dinner ticket on that night to Pinole Artisans.  There will also be FREE Appetizors for OUR GUESTS!  Mark your calendars and join us for the FUN!

Creating a new Show or Event is a lot of work and many hands are needed to bring it to pass.  One of the persons who always makes an outstanding contribution to our Art Shows is Joyce Yamada, who labors for hours making the transparent wall tags that identify each piece od Art and it's Creator.  Thanks Joyce you make us Shine!  For this Show, however, Joyce had to be away and Heidi Rand, an outstanding artist in her own right, took time to learn the computor program used to make these labels and spent the whole day that we installed the Show printing and placing the labels.  Big Thanks go to Heidi for her willingness to take on this task for the Artisans.

Your Art Center Manager

Joan Landis

ART CENTER NEWS:

Our shortest show of the year, "Freedom With Form" is enjoying a good public response!  We were viewed by more than 85 people because of the outstanding success of the Chamber sponsored Business Expo on Friday August 19.  We had several requests for membership and many comments like "We didn't know we had an Art Gallery in Pinole".  Hopefully we will see a similar response to our upcoming "Art and Wine In The Park" event coming up Sunday the 28th of August.  Even if you are not participating, come and bring friends and neighbors.  This show will be at Fernandez Park, and will be open from 10AM to 5PM.  There will be Face Painting, a Bouncy House, Wine for sale, Soft drinks/Water for a modest price, and a large raffle to participate in as well as all kinds of local works of Art.  A fun for all Event!

The Pinole Plein Air Painters are meeting weekly (3 to 5 of us) and having a great deal of fun capturing the sites and moods of the local landscapes and persona.  Perfection is not required! Just come and enjoy the comraderie and fresh air!

I like to recognize people who work hard for our organization and sometimes are not so visible for all to see.  This month I would like to recognize and applaud Linda Thomas for consistantly producing an informative, organized and visually pleasing Newsletter!  Thank you very much Linda!!

We will change the Art Center Show on Thursday September 15.  The new Show will be titled "DREAM AND CREATE" and will give our artist's a chance to show artworks from their minds and hearts.  Art Take-In Day will be Tuesday September 13 from 10AM to 4:30PM.  If you have not yet signed up please call me at 510-758-2935.

Your Art Center Manager

Joan Landis

This is a reminder !  We still require a minimum of two Art Center shows prior to participation in the Holiday Show.  There is only one more Show beginning in September to meet that requirement!

Friday August 19 The Chamber of Commerce will be sponsoring the yearly BUSINESS EXPO ( This is the Event where local Business' set up booths and tents all around City Hall and advertise their products. ) We will participate in this event, and so will be open from early AM till 5-6PM.  We will need our regular Artists (4) for that day plus any one else who would like to help foe the extended hours.  It is a good opportunity to promote your art and you may want to donate something for the raffle we will have and/or bring an Art Project to work on and demonstrate.  Call me if you would like to participate in some special way.   (758-2935)

Plein Air Painting is continuing, and all of us who participate are making progress with our artistic decisions.  The joy of being out in nature and receiving help and support from each other is very rewarding.  There is currently a Show at the St Mary's College in Moraga, that I can highly reccomend.  The deceased Artist , Pam Glover, was a local person , and a fabulous plein air artist.  Her local and early works are on display at the College Art Center through mid September.

Thanks again go out to Jim Ott and Joyce Yamada for their classes offered for the benefit of Pinole Artisans.  Be sure to offer them your personal thanks for their dedication to our organization.

Amy Wooldridge, the director of the Youth Center, will be hosting the 10th Anniversary Gala on Friday, November 4 at the Senior Center.  It will include a Silent Auction.  She would be very grateful to any Artisan who would like to donate a piece of Art for this Auction.  You may call or email me or call or email Amy at the Youth Center if you want to do this.  ( This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it ).

Your Art Center Manager

Joan Landis

"LIBERATE LAUGHTER", our newest Art Center Show, is entertaining!  Many exhibitors did try to bring items to express the theme, and I think you will find this a very enjoyable show.  Remember that August 2 is TAKE IN DAY  for the next Show, and the title will be "FREEDOM WITH FORM".  Be thinking how you can play with this theme!

"SUMMER MADNESS", our nine day Show at the Fitzgerald location, has just ended.  It was less than spectacular, but still brought into Pinole Artisans reserves almost a months rent.  I thank all of you who participated for all your hard work, and for your persistant creativity.  Many people commented on how beautiful the space looked and how impressed they were with the presented Art.  People are, however, still hurting financially and were not able to consider the expensive pieces of Art, but chose the smaller, lower priced items.  It is nice to accomodate a public oppressed financially with easily affordable prices.  I had a wonderful response to conversations with folks wandering through the Art Exhibit.  They loved to know what inspired me  to do my  artwork and where all of these places were (I do mainly landscapes).  I urge you to talk to the people who come into our Art Center.  Even if they don't have money to spend now, when the economy improves they will remember that you were kind and thoughtfull.

The Beautification Project in down town Pinole went forward despite the rain and Pinole Artisans made a good showing at the event.  I was very impressed that so many Pinole Citizens responded to the call to help.  We truly were a small town taking a decisive step to care for and improve the place we call home.  I can honestly say that it was fun to be apart of this experience!

Plein Air Painting is an ongoing experience!  Three to five of us are going out once a week to try to capture the beauty of nature.  We share successes and failures.  Both of these refine our talents and challenge us to greater achievements.  I very much look forward to these weekly adventures.  If you would like to be brave with us call me at 510-758-2935.

Our current Show, "Courage with Color" is doing well--not great sales, but a slow increase.  The very successful Chevy's event gave us a very nice Art Center boost.  We will be doing another one of these events some time in the next few months because Linda Lee Ausejo has donated two more time share vacations for us to put up for auction!  The time shares did bring in a good sized lump of money, but what pleased me most was that the next largest amount of money was from bids on artwork.  Not one piece of artwork had to be returned to the artist who donated it!  I thank you all for your donations and applaud you for the quality of your artwork! 

Our new Show "Liberate Laughter" is meant to inspire you to have some fun with your art.  Be creative and aim to make someone else smile, or even laugh.  This Show will be installed on June 9.  Take In for this Show will be Tuesday June7.  Call me if you wish to be in this Show and I have not already called you (510-758-2935). 

We are also going to do another Satellite Show at 1360 Fitzgerald from June 10 to June 20 (The 10th is the set-up day and the 20th is the clean up day.  The fee for this Show will be $50 (reduced because of the success at Chevy's).  Applications are available on your email or at the Art Center.  Your application and a check will reserve your space.  Spaces can be shared.  The hours you will need to work will be determined by the number of participants.  We hope to be able to accomodate around 16 participants. 

Pinole Artisans are again participating in the Downtown Merchants Association.  We were part of it several years ago, but participation dwindled and the meetings ceased.  Now there is a core group of merchants wanting to give support and help to each other so we are meeting again.  The beautification of the vacant lot at Tennent and San Pablo is one of the projects that this group is supporting and participating in.  Some of you have already volunteered to help with this project, and the target date for the volunteers to work on this lot is Saturday June 4.  We will begin moving and smoothing rock into the newly formed pathways at about 9AM.  If you would be interested in helping please contact me or just show up.  This day is officially titled "Community Service Day".  There are many ways that we as citizens and merchants can help to make Pinole a destination worth a visit!

Bravo's to Jim Ott who is currently doing make up classes for his highly successful Colored Pencil classes!  There will be a demonstration of the Artwork accomplished by his students at the Monthly June meeting.  Enjoy!  Thanks also to Joyce Yamada who has been teaching drawing from the left side of your brain to a few brave souls.  Thanks also to Winnie Lai who is sharing her talent of Chinese Brush Painting .  This class is ongoing so you can still join if you wish.    We are lucky to have these talents to be shared with us.

A new Show now adorns the Walls of our Art Center. We have a wonderful variety of artwork including wood carving, pottery, many styles of jewelry, Chinese brush painting, computer painting, photography, as well as oil, acrylic, watercolor, and pastel paintings. Even if you are not participating, come and view the Show.

There are lot of inexpensive pieces for gifts for those of us who are "financially challenged" in this recessive climate.

My thanks to all those members who have donated art for our major fund raiser at Chevys Restaurant on Thursday, April 28th from 5 - 9PM. Let's all participate in this event and bring in lots of money to support our Art Center!!!

The beautification of the Empty Lot project is proceeding. On May 3rd the first part of the project will be presented to the City Council. Your presence at this meeting will be appreciated. The physical work will begin in mid May. Many laborers are needed to move crushed rock and spread weed-proof fabric for the pathways. Please call me if there is any possibility that you can help. (510-758-2935)

The May Art Show at Port Costa School begins with a reception on Saturday, May 7th from 3-5 PM, and will be open 12-4 PM weekends in May.

We have gained four new members this last month and many who delayed membership that had expired, have now renewed! Please acquaint yourself with the new faces you see in the Art Center, and extend a friendly Art Center welcome.

Our first fund raiser class will begin April 25th. Colored Pencil Art with Jim Ott. Day and evening classes are full, but let Jim Ott know if you are interested in another class in the future.