Coast Highway Artists


Gallery at 284 Main St., Point Arena, CA 95468 - 707-882-3616


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VISIT OUR GALLERY



Artwork & Gift Shopping



CHAC GALLERY



MONTHLY ARTISTS' RECEPTIONS



SPECIAL EXHIBITS



MULTI-MEDIA ART



CHAC Gallery Schedule



2023



CHAC Gallery Hours: Thurs. to Sun, 11 AM to 4 PM. Receptions for all New Exhibit Opening Days, 3 to 7 PM, unless otherwise noted. NEW, we are now open Thursdays - call for info.


Nov. 2-26 Reception Friday, Nov..3, 3-7 pm Jennie and Michael Henderson, weaving, ceramics, & drawings in graphite and charcoal
Dec. 2-30 Hometown holidays opening Saturday, Dec. 9th 11 am to 7 pm. Hometown holidays CHAC Holiday Magic fair opening
2024

January - Clean up days - closed for the month
February 2-29, Reception Saturday, Feb. 3 : 3-7 PM, Insight into Love, a Valentine's Day Exhibition

March 1-31, Reception Sat. March 2: 3-7 pm Polly Frenaye Hutcheson, Handmade Books - Collage, Liam Ericson, woodcuts

April 6-28, Reception TBA, Almost Fringe Festival, gallery's Festival support activities to be coordinated with Point Arena Merchants Assoc. activities.

May 3-26, Reception, Saturday, May 4: 3-7 pm Chris Hagie, abstract painting, James Docker woodworking inlay

June 1-30, Reception, Saturday, June 1: 3-7pm Peter Bailey, Jewelry David Brix, Photography

July 6-28, "July 4th" parade in Point Arena, & Exhibit Reception, Sat., July 2, 2024 Ron Bolander, photography, Doric Jemison Ball, sculpture

August 2-25, Reception Friday, August 2: 3 to 7pm Carolyn Zeitler, Baskets, Nara Pilgrim Wood, watercolor

September 6-29, Reception Saturday, Sept 7:
3-7pm Deborah Threlkel, jewelry, Chris Grassano, paintings

October 4-27, Reception, Friday, Oct. 4: 3- 7pm Geraldine LiaBraaten, photography, David Brix, photography

November 1-24, Reception Friday, Nov. 1: 3 - 7pm Tempra Board, jewelry & ink drawings, David Yager, photography & ceramics

December 2-30, Hometown Holidays, opening TBA, Group Holiday Gift show


winter magic holiday gift fair



Holiday shopping can seem overwhelming, but if you’re looking for a one-of-kind, hand crafted and locally made gift, forget online shopping and head to Point Arena when the Point Arena Merchant’s Association (PAMA) hosts Hometown Holidays. This special holiday is when many of the businesses stay open late and create a magical holiday event.


The Coast Highway Art Collective has participated in Hometown Holidays for many years, transforming its gallery space into a holiday wonderland, filled with gifts for everyone on your list. The collective members are excited to host an opening reception for their Winter Magic Holiday Gift Fair on Saturday, Dec. 9 from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m., featuring live music, meet the artists and all that art. Everyone in the community is invited.


Guest artists for the month of December include Mayrse Frivold, pearl jewelry Bill and Sue Halderman, wooden birdhouses and ornaments Debbe Hull, handmade glass jewelry Carol Williams, jewelry Semi-precious stones Lyra Peters, crochet hats and more, Jewelry Cindy Morey, Xmas Trees “Catch my Drift” and Shawn Quinlan, Misfit stockings and Pillows,


The members of the collective have been creating very special items for this event, including many handcrafted ornaments for the holidays. Collective artists bringing in special items are Sarah Alice Britton, jewelry Elizabeth Beronich Solomon, sculptural books, toys and wearable art Chris Grassano, painting Rozann Grunig, photography Jacqueline Mooney, Wildfire Fusion fused glass Scott Sewell, photography Deborah Threlkel, Abalone Queen Perry Hoffman, ceramics, photography, painting and more Ling Yen Jones, finely crafted jewelry Linda Green, ceramics Geraldine Liabraaten, photography Jack O'Rourke painting Nara Pilgrim Wood painting, and Brenda Phillips ceramics


Music for the opening reception will be provided by Bards of a Feather from 2 to 4 p.m., the musical duo of Sharon and Jim Lieberman. They play acoustic guitar, mandolin, tambourine and fiddle and specialize in old blues tunes from the 1920s to folk tunes from the 60’s and 70’s. Their repertoire includes music they learned on the streets of Mexico when they lived there in the 1970s, as well as works from some French songwriters the couple fell in love with

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Rozann Grunig




november exhibit - opening reception, Friday, Nov. 3

Handspun, Handwoven wool rugs from locally sourced wool, Small Expression Weavings, Ice dyed Napkins and Dish Towels, Botanical Print Silk Scarves, Graphite Drawings, Pit Fired Ceramics



Henderson Studios Point Arena


California natives Mike and Jennie Henderson came to the coast in the spring of 1977 to get away from the bustle of the “Los Angeles Metropolitan Area,” looking for the very life they found here. They had met during college in 1971 and discovered they shared more than the art experience of their younger days. Common to their upbringing were their stable families that encouraged their artistic expressions. Their parents enthusiastically encouraged and supported their pursuits with materials, books, or lessons. This set in each of them the expectation of full emersion into any endeavor, something they have carried into their adult lives. Both were – and still – are committed enablers, and their mutual support for each other’s artistic pursuits has been the theme of their lives.


The Henderson’s currently have three active studios in their home. Jennie’s textile studio, sharing what would be considered the living room (kitchen and fireplace included), is where she produces hand spun wool rugs, award winning tapestries, and elegant but utilitarian scarves and throws. A tireless producer, she typically has several looms and work stations with weavings in various stages of completion, year-round. She uses natural fibers and natural dyes in most of her weavings and tapestries, and is currently exploring the use of local plants as chemical-free dye sources.


Mike’s drawing studio has two large door-sized easels and one small one set up with works in progress, along with pre-sketches, notes, and photos posted around their outer edges. Shelves and drawers are stuffed with the tools of the trade. Tucked in between is an eclectic mix of sculptures, colorful pit-fired pots, photography, and assemblages. Framed work covers the wall.


There is no room in their two-car garage for automobiles. The Henderson’s ceramic studio takes up half the space while the rest is packed with the usual excesses of living, a laundry, and a workbench. Mike, a jack of most trades, keeps his tools and a work bench tucked against one wall. The studio consists of and electric pottery wheel, a kick wheel, a medium-size electric kiln, as well as the other essentials for production. Besides the kiln, outside there is a brick-lined pit for pit firing, a 55-gallon drum fashioned for downdraft barrel firing and several steel cylinders used in black firing.


The Henderson Studios’ show has a mix of the kinds of art they produce. While some visitors may not see beyond the art of two, separate individuals, Mike and Jennie hope that what they, themselves, sense as a difference in their work owing to their supportive approach to each other will shine through as that qualitative “something” that we all love to see, but find hard to define.





october exhibit - perry hoffman, digital collage & photos on metal, and colette coad, fused glass




Perry Hoffman

I am Perry Hoffman, artist, photographer, mosaic maker, tile maker and creator of the Tile House in the Mojave desert... specifically in wOnder valley, east of Twentynine Palms.

Born in 1953 in Los Angeles, California, at the Queen of Angels Hospital. My parents were New York Jews, Rose & Ben, who always taught, peace, love, understanding and compassion for all people and had a love of art and music. You learn these things early. Grateful.

Studied art in first grade and got in trouble for drawing a nude.
Studied art at California Institute of the Arts in Valencia in the early seventies. Played with Paul Reubens and David Hasselhoff. Causing a ruckus, with a few regrets but otherwise a fun time.

Migrated in 1975 to San Francisco, doing color xerox collage and mail art, photography and clay and small backyard gardens. Great classes with Toby Klayman in San Francisco, who taught Business and Visual Artist. Forever grateful being introduced to POSTCARDS... Participated in a few group shows with copy art artists in the Albany State Museum and a few in various locations in San Francsico, like La Mamelle Gallery. Those were the days. This part requires a book.

In 2ooo the stark and open, hard and hot, sometimes freezing desert embraced me til 2oo8 where I explored an in depth study of life and my surroundings with camera in hand and embarked on a mosaic project taking on an entire house inside and out, with the environs of Joshua Tree National Park at my side. The Tile House was inspired by my first visit to Watts Towers when I was ten years old and currently by the wildlife, huge skies and magic of the desert. Not to mention the fragments of tile one can find in the sand.

Met Douglas Smith in 2005 online and everything changed. Ocean desert ocean desert ocean desert... so I say, “I can fire it, break it, and make art out of it.” But wait...There is more. In 2o22 we moved to Gualala to make art, farm our beautiful acres, and help the bees.


Colette Coad
Colette loves glass. It is not only her medium, it is a source of great joy and sometimes great frustration. She started eight years ago with a class on glass fusing and fell in love with the medium. She bought a kiln and some glass (enough to fill a stand holding eight pieces). She now has two kilns, five stands and two crates of glass. Yes, she does love glass.

Glass has always intrigued and fascinated her. She thinks the dichotomy of it being both dangerous and fragile while being so beautiful is captivating. She loves the way it looks in different light and the almost endless combinations of colors and even textures that can be created. However, she now wishes she had bought stock in a band-aid company given how easy it is to cut oneself while doing glass.

In the words of Colette: “I had a very busy and fulfilling career in management consulting. I traveled extensively in North America and Europe while raising my family with my husband. I loved what I did and it offered many creative opportunities. None of those opportunities were artistic. After I moved to the coast and was retired for a while, I rediscovered glass.

"I had never thought of myself as an artist. I have never taken an “art” class. Over the years I have taken many glass classes that focus primarily on technique. I think I have found my “inner artist”. I have come to believe that this inner artist exists in many, if not all, of us. I was lucky to find glass with the first series of classes I took in Sebastopol. The Mendonoma area offers so many opportunities to explore and discover what will unleash your inner artist."







The following pieces are from the Henderson studio's collection, or may be on exhibit with the Henderson's selections at our Point Arena gallery for the November exhibit. You may telephone the gallery or use the email form on our About page to inquire about current availability, or if you have any enquiries about the pieces shown here.



Ceramics



Napkin Sets



Weaving



Weaving



Drawing



Multi-Media



the opening reception for the august exhibit, ocean + Earth, had to be cancelled. however, the artists' interviews were video recorded the following week- see below--and the exhibit will be open to the public throughout August.



Because of a family death, Maryse and Sarah Frivoldt have had to withdraw from participation in the opening reception of our August exhibit at the CHAC art gallery in Point Arena. However, the complete Ocean and Earth art work will be on exhibit at the gallery for the full month of August. Please visit the gallery at regular hours during the month and see this wonderful exhibit.



august exhibit: chac gallery in point arena, featuring Maryse & sarah frivold



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Maryse Frivold


Growing up in France in Brittany, Maryse spent all her summers on the rugged North coast, and has kept her love for living near the ocean. At 19, she came to the US and, with the exception of three years in New Hampshire, she has been living in California first in the Bay Area and for the last three years, enjoying the life on the Mendonoma Coast where she owns The Loft, a craft, yarn, and fabric store in Gualala.




From a very young age, Maryse was called “Madame Bijoux” (Miss Jewelry) due to her passion for jewelry which she loves to wear. She attributes her love of jewelry to her paternal grandmother who used to stay with her family for lengths of time every year and would always wear gorgeous pieces that Maryse admired. One in particular was a pearl necklace, very classic. Later, when Maryse discovered freshwater pearls, and all the different variations, she decided to start making her own pieces, incorporating Swarovski crystals, natural stones, vintage beads, coins, and more. Her collection ranges from dainty to bold. Every piece is one-of-a-kind. Her hope is that when you wear her jewelry, you feel good and unique, just like the one-of-a-kind piece you are wearing.


Sarah Frivold


Based outside of San Francisco, Sarah has been avidly photographing for over 20 years, starting back when film was still the primary medium. She is fortunate to share her passion by teaching art in a local high school. In her life, as in her art, she emphasizes the importance of family, heritage, folklore, and the tradition of storytelling. Her works are inspired by the overlooked simplicity, wonder of nature, and mundane of the everyday.

In this series, Sarah's focus explores natural materials, textiles, and textures, including terracotta, clay, cotton, wood, and more. She employs these natural materials to explore connectivity. Prompted by a fascination for the Möbius shape, she researched non-Euclidian mathematics, which in turn lead her to sacred geometry, which is only a jump away from alchemy and tarot. This series embraces the physical, mathematical, elemental and visual connection between all things.


Please join us at the opening reception for these two artists and their unique work. We will have beverages and finger food available, and a pleasant venue for viewing some exciting new, conceptual art and chatting up old and new friends. We hope to see you there, and at repeat visits during the month of August to view the art offerings.
















september exhibit - deborah threlkel, jewelry and dustin gaer-smith, sculpture and painting



Pioneer Coastal Artists, inspired by the Environment




Deborah Threlkel

I am inspired by interesting and unusual materials and the organic beauty that exists in nature. Whether beach combing or rock hounding, making a connection to the natural world is the most important element in my jewelry. I design and fabricate each piece by hand, matching colors and shapes using shells, pearls and gemstones combined with gold and silver metals transforming elements that are meant to be together into timeless wearable works of art.


I have been making jewelry most of my life, starting as a child making necklaces from shells leading to 12 years ago when Abalone Queen Jewelry was conceptualized in Gualala Ca.. My desire to create led me to introductory metal smithing classes in Mendocino the summer of ’22, wanting to add an enhancement to my designs. I have since been teaching myself new techniques mostly by improvisation, experimentation and online tutorials. The collection of Abalone Queen Jewelry represents a spiritual “Treasure” for me, a sort of quest in the discovery of knowledge, creative alchemy and what’s truly precious in the process.


Dustin Gaer-Smith, the son of a ballerina and a jazz musician, knew he was destined to be an artist before he was ten years old. Since Santa Cruz was his home town, he fell right into the love of the ocean wave, and learned to surf at the mouth of the San Lorenzo River alongside the Santa Cruz surf legends of the 1960s.


In 1969, Dustin and many other young people came to Point Arena. It was a time of immense change and many of these people have made their lives in this area for over 50 years. For Dustin, over 50 years of making art on the North Coast has included sculpture of carved wood and forged metal, drawings, paintings and constructions. It has included commercial signage, faux painted floors, forged gates and even a custom painted travel trailer covered with images of Arena Cove, forever a favorite subject. Dustin's art commentary has become legacy - it is historic folk art, capturing the significance of Arena Cove in the 1960s - 1970s.




July exhibit: chac gallery in point arena, emma hurley & Amanda pence



Art Concepts From The Exotic World of Seaweed




Emma Hurley: I was born on the ridgetop above the community of Point Arena. Growing up barefoot and tangle haired, I spent every possible moment exploring the wilds of river and woods with the ocean as an always steady backdrop. Summer was defined by sand between the toes and salt stained pant cuffs while the smell of washed up rotting bull kelp and the sound of loud surf characterized winters. As a teen, I took a workshop on the edible and medicinal uses of seaweed. I have included this local food source in my diet ever since along with the meditative quiet practice of early morning summer harvests.


Interest and love of the marine environment grew when I attended Prescott College, a liberal arts school valuing environmental and social consciousness and graduated with a bachelor’s degree in Conservation Biology with a marine emphasis. Learning the scientific method via tide pooling in an intensive Marine Biology field course in Mexico, gave my summer for-fun tide pooling in Point Arena a whole new dimension of resourcefulness, understanding and ID skills. My love of the ocean turned obsession and life driving force when I learned to surf at age 22. Salt veins and more knowledge of tides, swells, weather and changes in the ocean around me than any goings on in the human world defined my 20s living in Santa Cruz. The rugged Point Arena coast always pulled at my heart, and I made the long-term move home in June 2016.


It took a little while living in Point Arena full time, for me to start noticing changes were occurring. Both the tide pools and the nearshore waters where I would go surfing were not the same. The smell of ‘’winter-ocean” was missing. My surfboards no longer had giant pressure dings on the underside, which were from hitting big bull kelp “heads”at high speed. The kelp was missing and disappearance dramatically changed our marine landscape. XXXX The decline of the northern California kelp forests began with a double event in 2013 and 2014: the sea star wasting disease virus and then the stationary warm water mass known as the Blob, both thought to be influenced by climate change. Our kelp forests off the Mendocino coast declined by 93 percent in just a handful of years. The deforestation of our kelp forests off my home waters, pulls at my heart. It makes me anxious for all the animal life I know and love living on this coast. The kelp is food but also shelter and protection for countless fish, birds, marine mammals and invertebrates. Even us surfers are impacted the kelp smooths the sea surface at certain exposed reaches that are now rarely possible to surf without the kelp forest acting as a swell filter.


I find myself featuring KELP and its associated ecosystem more and more in my artwork as I see less and less of it. On my functional wheel thrown pottery, I carve the tangled fronds of bull kelp that I barely now see on the ocean surface when I am surfing. I carve the threatened fish and understory seaweeds in the underglaze painted on my cups and bowls to pass my love of these on to those who end up with these pieces. NorthCoast Brine, my line of original art screen-printed apparel, is inspired by the life and environment of the cold brine waters off of Northern California. My goal with the apparel is to encourage ocean stewardship through giving the wearer a beautiful rendition of our native rockfish, invertebrates and kelp and knowledge of what these species are. In this July art show at CHAC, I hope to celebrate with you though my artwork the beauty of kelp and the life it supports.


Amanda Rose Pence: My work uses the visual language of color to create an emotional feel, which connects directly to the heart and mind. The use of bright sensual colors, occasional subdued hues, and earthy elements brings about a range of feeling tones. The series of sensual flower paintings are meant to wet the palette by exciting the visual senses with their extremely bright hues and complementary colors. The most subtle hues and purest feelings I encounter when in direct contact with nature. The intricate patterns, finely composed colors, and rounded shapes fuel a constant curiosity of the organic. Ecological elements are missing from this current linear realm humans have built from concrete and synthetic materials. Thus my intention is to bring an ecological aesthetic into "built space". My art strives to insert pieces of the earth herself into man-made settings. Recently my love of painting and landscaping has combined into mixed media paintings which use found moss, bark, and seaweed with sensuously colored oil paint, to create an eco-sexual explosion of the senses. Whether collage, painting, drawing, sculpture, or mixed media the art these hands create combines sensual colors with an environmental aesthetic with the intention of exciting the senses while encouraging an awareness of nature.


I am a delicate colorful flower inserting itself into the crack in the man made linear dimension. My roots stretch deep traveling to fertile soils where cars aren't heard in the distance and the stars shine to light the dark. My intention is to bring nature, color, and a bio-dynamic aesthetic into "built space". My art strives to insert the inspiration of nature with pieces of the earth herself into man made settings. The earth provides for our bodies, the colors of her flowers nourish our visual sense, and the earth's energy heals our spirits. So often we plug into our i-pods, cell phones, and computers. We forget that fulfillment can be found in the soil and plants around us. Humans strive to control nature feeling that domination will bring us closer to power. Yet there is so much energy in the elements that we lose when we strive for control. I strive to be the change and go back to the land for my materials, ideas, and insight. Seeking the ancient wisdom of our planet. Materials do not always need to be processed and bleached, they can be found in our backyards. Thus these pieces of bark, flower petals, snail shells, and willow branches are inserted into the square dimension of humanoid to show us a glimpse of the green world we once came from.



video of Almost fringe festival in point arena, featuring local artist groups in street performances, and art displays in chac gallery



Our Almost Fringe Festival is loosely modeled after the annual Fringe Festival held in Edinburgh, Scotland. It features city-wide performances by local art groups in music, drama, art, dance, poetry, and costumed makeup, to name a few sectors. We include a brief tour of the Coast Highway Artists Collective art gallery in Point Arena, and their special exhibit for the occasion.



Coast Highway Artists Collective 284 Main Street PO Box 444 Point Arena, CA 95468 ph: 707-882-3616 contact@coast-highway-artists.com Follow us: Facebook and Instagram