The Art Walk of August 11, 2007
Report by Horst Wolf with Photos by Steve Combs

The Record crowds attended the August Art Walk in Brookings. Pete Chasar, Brookings artist and Art Walk tour guide, collected his crew of visitors at 4:15 at the parking lot across the street from the Redwood Theater. He led the group to the Banana Belt Music, where owner Jonathan and artist/musician Tom Tanzi introduced them at 4:30 to modern keyboard technology: explanations as well as demonstration. You want to give your grandchildren the chance to learn playing the piano? This is the way to go without having to mortgage your house all over again. Visitors had a chance to see a number of paintings by locals artists of "Musicians and Their Instruments."

Next stop was Signatures Gallery, where surfing legend Greg Noll showed his collection of "art surf-boards." Instead of canvas, long boards provide the surface for a large variety of artistic motifs. In addition, Greg signed copies of his book "The Art of Greg Noll" for surfing enthusiasts of all ages. A large variety of other "surfing art," including action photographs and prints could be seen.
At Exotic Wood Gallery, 5:00 sharp, the Limericists started their readings under strict control of their "Limerick Queen," Lynne Guild. The target of their twisted poetry this time was "Tourists." The laughter could be heard out on the street. The locals laughed the hardest. The tourists wondered what it all was about, since they considered themselves locals too.
At 5:30, at Words and Pictures, Gina Ledoux read from her works of poetry (real poetry, NOT limericks) to an attentive audience that seemed to appreciate the quality of her penmanship. I didn't have time to go to the source of rumor floating around, that half of her audience had listened to the limericists just 15 minutes ago and had applauded them with with equal enthusisam. There is no accounting for taste. In the back gallery, Dale Wells and Horst Wolf presented their most recent watercolors of Brookings scenes, works ranging in size from a 3x5 miniature to 30x40 full-sheets, all offered at very reasonable prices. Wolf challenged visitors to name the various locations shown in those paintings and promised to buy a beer for the one who could identify 'em all. But, when Elmo Williams wanted to collect his prize, Wolf was nowhere to be found.

Chasar ended his tour at the Library, where three consecutive events kept the audience entertained. First, Debbi Weist of the dance studio "Dance with Debbie" in Crescent City, gave the audience a taste of ballroom dancing. She explained and demonstrated with her partner about a dozen dances, starting with the waltz and ending with the rumba. This was the first time the art form "dance" was part of our Art Walk. The audience loved it. Debbie will be back - I hope she liked Brookings as well as we liked her.

Second, Rick Bennett of Gasquet, CA, gave a brief lecture on Arthur Van Deventer, the artist whose floral illustrations were displayed in the gallery, and on Ruby, his famous botanist wife, for whom Arthur did the illustrations. Bennett also explained the role Arthur played in the early history of Brookings. Rick is presently spear- heading the efforts to put together a book describing the role of the Van Deventers in the early history of our coast.

The evening concluded with the Renaissance Singers (Sharon Bello, Christina Olsen, Sirci Kiter and Dorothy Power, all from Brookings). After presenting a few melodious multi-voice pieces from times gone by, the inspiring girls distributed text sheets to the audience and got them to sing along popular old time songs. Everyone left the place happy and in the best of humor. Another successful Art Walk.

An apology: I could not possibly mention all the happenings going on in the 11 venues that now participate in our Art Walk. There isn't enough space on this page. Don't get disgruntled. Your turn will come - maybe next time.

Tune in again toward the end of August, when you will find the program for the September Art Walk.

Horst

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