CC Case is an eclectic local artist, showing for the first time at CHAC with her husband, potter Eric Harald Nordvold. Her journey to the coast took 60 years, starting in upstate New York, and including almost thirty years in western Colorado. After graduating from Elmira College she worked in the fields of printing and advertising, beginning as a paste-up artist in New Jersey in the pre-computer days. In the Caribbean, her calligraphy and illustrations were featured on menus and tee shirts, and in western Colorado she was co-owner of a small advertising agency. She left commercial art to work with adults and children with developmental disabilities, craving more interaction with people. She went on to earn an MA from the University of Northern Colorado and become a special education teacher and consultant.

Art was always an interest and part of the journey, first drawing and painting as a young child, taking occasional classes and art workshops through her adult years, and then creating learning materials and environments. Case has participated for many years in life drawing sessions at Gualala Arts and strives to depict the human figure with sensitivity, to render the organic form believably and also capture some sense of spirit or mood. She paints both abstractly and realistically in a variety of media, depicting either the natural beauty of her surroundings or the inner world of imagination, impressions and energy. She also will be showing "photo collage paintings," digitally manipulated photographs. For the past eleven years Case has made her home in Gualala, drawing inspiration from quiet time in the forest and regular walks on the beaches and bluffs, appreciating and gaining nourishment from the peace and beauty of the coastal surroundings.

Eric Harald Nordvold has been a potter for over 40 years, making a variety of stoneware and porcelain pieces using the name Viking Pottery. He splits time between homes in Santa Rosa, where he maintains his studio, and Gualala, where he finds inspiration in the colors, patterns and energy of the natural environment. He is known for his bowls, mugs, vases, trays and plaques and for the luminous multicolored and ash glazes he has formulated and mixes himself, which are what set his pottery apart from other work. His pieces are high fired in a kiln of his own construction to create a durable and vitrified product. The kiln allows him to work with a range of natural materials to develop glazes that have the fluidity of water and blend into each other in various ways as do the colors of nature. He has been working with wood ash glazes for many years with other minerals added to create glaze surfaces reminiscent of tide pools or ocean currents through kelp forests. The interaction of the glaze materials with the manipulation of the kiln atmosphere and temperature create the magical alchemy that brings life and spirit to his work. Nordvold remarks, "Every firing brings surprises, like when one happens upon a brilliant sea star or anemone at low tide."

Nordvold's throws work on the potter's wheel, with consideration for the form and function of each piece, and in recent years has added rectangular and square shapes, and experimented with a variety of textural effects and different clays. He finds great satisfaction from creating pieces that people enjoy using everyday. He says, " Drinking from a mug is a trivial thing we might take for granted- one chooses a mug with a pleasing color and shape, but the touch of your hand on the handle and lips on the rim are intimate and sensual- I find great satisfaction when someone tells me they love to drink from my mug." Nordvold cites the influence of potters Warren Mackenzie, Bernard and David Leach, and Shoji Hamada. Growing up in San Francisco, he was also influenced by his father, a Norwegian immigrant who worked with wood to build cabinetry, furniture and even his own skis, and his mother, who came from South Africa and worked with her hands as a dressmaker. He received his BA from Sonoma State College, and has taught pottery there and at the Mendocino Art Center.