SEBASTOPOL GALLERY
We passed the one year mark on April 20! Our community & visitors from far & wide have responded warmly, & our business is doing surprisingly well. We’ve been rotating our shows every 6 to 7 weeks, with a reception for each one. In December Duncan Gray became our first live musician. Since then Francis Small, John Davis, & Terry Mills have played at our receptions. Our current show is Spring Fever, & features our first guest, glass artist Cathey White. Our next show, Animalia, begins May 19. We’re doing something different this time: featuring crafts by Rehoboth: Deepsea Women’s Self Help Group of Nairobi, Kenya. Our new Director, Rebecca Love, visited Deepsea, an impoverished village in Nairobi, in 2006. She learned that Pastor John Kabota dreamed of a collective for the women to use their skills to provide better food, education, & health care for their families. Rebecca found support from Kids for the Kingdom, & returned last year to help set up the crafts cooperative in a rented garage. Now 30 women have fellowships in their cooperative business. We’ll be showing their colorful baskets & jewelry (90% of sales goes directly to the women), along with our members’ show of paintings, pottery, sculpture, prints, jewelry, & photography—many exploring our relation to other animals. Milka Kabota, one of the Deepsea craftswomen, will be present at our reception on Saturday, May 24, 5-7 pm. Talking Tree, the guitar duo of Mike Lesch and Davey Dijoux, will play traditional African folk music. Open daily 11 - 6, 150 North Main, www.sebastopol-gallery.com, 707 829-7200. 

I’m showing one of the original images of the ISLANDS series at Spring Fever. Island Fox is acrylic on canvas, 48" x 36", $2000.

The poem:
across the water
my mate calls
how sweet
the musky smell
how fierce
our longing
how delightful
the moon!

I’m also showing Surf Scoter, Gull Heart Sutra, Understanding Gulls, Gull on the Beach, Watershed 2, Couple 1, & Great Blue Heron, as well as a variety of matted watercolors, linocuts, & reproductions.

RADISHES AND ...
Robert has a new watercolor in the gallery called Radishes and Klee. It happens to be hanging right across from the desk. When I worked the gallery shortly after he hung it, I wasn’t too impressed at first. But by 4 pm I was completely mesmerized by this simple bunch of red radishes in a zigzag border. I began asking myself vexatious questions about my own work, its fanciful, mythical nature, in contrast to this very physical, immediate, ordinary, present bunch of root vegetables. So coming weeks I may become more intimate with simple things via watercolor. Whether I ever understand what’s so fascinating about that border....

PEPPERWEED LABYRINTH: progress & disaster
I was delighted last fall when Sebastopol Independent Charter School’s 6th grade class chose the labyrinth as a service project. These amazing kids came & walked the labyrinth, beautifully in tune & vibrant. They returned with shovels & moved 30 wild roses from the baseball fence to the labyrinth edge. They held a bake sale & raised $200 for native plants. One of the parents & I went to California Flora in Fulton, & bought a big leaf maple, a dogwood, a redbud, some ceonothus, sage, snowberry, prunella, bunchgrass, & yarrow. The class planted them just before the rains, letting winter wet help establish them. When warm weather returned, the grass grew fast. I was scrambling to keep the paths clipped enough for people to walk the pattern. On April 1, Kenyon Webster, Sebastopol Planner, e-mailed me that Public Works had mowed the labyrinth by mistake. I went to assess the damage. The maple, dogwood, & snowberry had been protected by habitat logs. The roses & most other plants were gone. I thought of abandoning the project, but found that the pepperweed & chicory stalks had left dark marks, keepng the pattern visible. Kenyon & I have talked about ways to restore & protect the site. However, during this month I’ve seen that Pepperweed Labyrinth needs a real team to keep it going. I’m seeking 4 to 10 people committed to a 2 or 3 hours a month to water, clip, procure a bench & signs, & absorb peace & beauty. Please contact me soon to continue this dialog between Laguna & town.

COLLECTOR PROFILE: Jim and Celine Passage
I met Jim & Celine Passage years ago at English Country Dance, a wonderful event—with live music—every 1st and 3rd Sunday at Wischemann Hall. Fabulous dancers, Jim & Celine are pivotal in creating June’s annual Mad Robin Ball, & dance Scottish Country as well. Avid supporters of the arts, they enthusiastically visit my studio & Sebastopol Gallery. They have my Woodwind Quintet, Oaks on a Hill, & Early Morning Oaks, as well as a print of Robert’s Two Fish in New Water. An inventive woodworker, Jim recently complicated his retirement by becoming Chairman of the Board for the Sonoma County Museum. At Jim’s request, 7 members of Sebastopol Gallery donated work valued at $1185 for the Museum's annual auction. Jim & Celine bought my Sun Daisies & Christine Cobaugh's Reflections, which "we are enjoying immensely".

NON-PROFIT PROFILE: Sonoma County Museum
Sonoma County Museum, 425 7th St, Santa Rosa, celebrates & interprets our region's rich history, art, & culture by exhibiting & collecting art & artifacts, providing a community gathering place, & inspiring visitors. Since 1985, the Museum has expanded its collection from its original 3,500 artifacts to nearly 25,000 items, including historic regional photographs, costumes & textiles, paintings & prints, ceramics & glass, industrial tools & machinery, wood sculpture & furniture, & documents. Every year the Museum serves over 15,000 visitors & offers education programs to more than 4,000 schoolchildren. www.sonomacountymuseum.org.   

MUSICIANS
Early this year I painted a portrait of Riggy Rackin for his forthcoming new CD, Somewhere in Between. Riggy plays English concertina & guitar, has amazingly extensive knowledge of traditional music of the British Isles, & sings hauntingly some very old & peculiar stuff. Recently I finished a linocut of singer-songwriter Michael B. Serious to use on his CD & on tee shirts. Michael’s songs & interpretations of others’ songs resonate with unique & crusty integrity. Both Riggy & Michael play often at Coffee Catz.

Still Looking For!
• Musicians to improvise music with experimental paintings.
• Someone with a large, attractive house to host show & sale.
• Corporate patron.
• Business partner for Flag projects.
• Author or filmmaker to write articles or produce a video about my work.
• Underwriter for cards & other reproductions.

Next Issue...
Chemicals
Journeys

Contact

I welcome your comments & studio visits. Please phone 707 824-8189 or e-mail sandoak@sonic.net.
Please pass this newsletter to others. If it was forwarded or came by post, please send your e-address.

By hearing plants, animals, stones, and rivers, I am at peace.
Painting Spirits, Cycles & Waters