Upper Lake >> For any artist, an opportunity to display their work is one not to be missed, especially if that chance happens to be at a site as visible as the Tallman Hotel in Upper Lake. For the past few summers the hotel owners, Lynne and Bernie Butcher, have been hosting a sculpture walk, which winds its way through the flowering gardens of the hotel’s historic grounds. This year’s walk features eight artists and 14 sculptures.
This is the first year the focus has been entirely on the art. The last two summers, the hotel has included plant displays and sales in a barn next to the hotel, in addition to the sculptures. “We didn’t do the whole horticultural happening this year but we liked the idea of using our space to encourage outdoor artists,” Bernie Butcher said.
The hotel turned to EcoArts founder Karen Turcotte to curate. With nearly a decades worth of experience from organizing the EcoArts sculpture walk in Middletown, she had an extensive list of artists to draw from. She remembered every piece created for EcoArts, and contacted a few artists to see if they would be interested in showing at the Tallman. “Any time we can bring an EcoArtist outside of South County is a great opportunity,” Turcotte said.
Every artwork on display is available for sale. “I can go back to artists and say, ‘I have a potential venue for you,’ with the hope of actually making a sale because of course nobody’s more poor than artists in Lake County,” Turcotte said.
So far, the sculpture walk has been a success, which means they can continue with the event each year. Turcotte gets many requests to curate numerous venues, but she’s only involved if a sale is likely, otherwise curating feels much more like decorating. “It will only work as long as there really is a sale or two for an artist,” she said. “I don’t want to be a part time decorator, I want to provide a really viable for sale situation. The Tallman is really that.”
The hotel doesn’t take any of the proceeds, with the entirety of a sale going directly to an artist. During previous walks, the Butchers liked two pieces so much they purchased them for the hotel grounds. “Julie (a ‘humanobile’)” by Vincent Magni and “Making Connections” by Rick Foltz sit permanently at the Tallman Hotel.
Turcotte approached everything, down to the exact placement of the sculptures, with the intent of making a sale. “We will find the best site that we can that enhances the work and the potential for sale,” she said. “It’s always easy when the work is good.”
Assemblage artist Terry Church has two pieces on the walk and he’s grateful for the opportunity. The Tallman Hotel, which attracts visitors both near and far, is an especially good venue for selling as it exposes an artist’s work to a wider audience. “It’s wonderful that Karen put this together for people creating works of art,” Church said. “It’s really hard for people to sell art. There’s so much out there. There’s so many things people can see and can buy. When the economy’s not real great, that’s the last thing people buy.”
When Church finds the materials for his artwork, he’s never quite sure how it’ll all come together. One of his two pieces displayed on the walk, “Birds of Prey,” began at a flea market in Sebastopol. There, he found a bird mounted to a cross and, as the creative mind is wont to do, he knew eventually he’d find a use for it. He bought the knick knack, added more birds as well as some steel, and he had his piece.
He went through a similar process for his other artwork, “Moth to a Flame.” He found a large piece of bent metal and embellished it. “It’s trying to find things that fit and pull them all together,” Church said. “It’s like a scavenger hunt. I go to garage sales and Goodwills and I’m always picking up things that will spark my interest … Sometimes I’ll work from a name and sometimes the materials will spark something and I’ll go from there.”
This process stems from a determination to salvage everything, a desire that runs in the family. When he was young, his grandfather taught him how to bend out of shape nails back into place, “it was that serious,” Church said. “My grandparents and parents, going through the Depression, it was all about saving things … You can save all these things that are going to be thrown away and you can make something with them.”
While the intent of Church’s work surrounds reusing and recycling, he tries to connect with people through humor and double meaning. “Part of the process for me, is that you can have a voice through putting stuff out there,” he said. “I like to use humor and try to draw people in.” One could certainly see the double entendre in a bird mounted to a cross, with a title of “Birds of Prey.”
With six pieces in the Tallman Hotel sculpture walk, Anthony Johnson uses items like farming tools and wagon wheels to create rusted works of art. “I don’t like to change the found objects if I have to,” he said. “I try to work with what I’ve found and not change it much and to incorporate it into a composition.”
Johnson is always on the lookout for something to use in a piece, approaching people for their scraps. He found the wagon wheels decaying in a yard and knowing he wouldn’t be able to make anything like them, asked the owner if he could have the abandoned items. The owner obliged, and Johnson used the metal in four sculptures included at the Tallman Hotel. “They just were rotting in this landscape and I thought about just how beautiful they were,” he said.
As a gardener, he also has access to many a well-loved shovel. “If you look there’s a lot of tools, there’s a lot of farm equipment. I like to take very day objects and put the into a different context,” Johnson said. “I’ve worked for older ranchers up here that have plows and old saws.”
A graduate from Humboldt State with a degree in art, Johnson first discovered sculptures when he went off to college, though he’s been creating art all his life. “When I got into college I kind of went crazy because there were so many different areas that I hadn’t explored,” he said. “What I enjoy about creating sculpture is because it’s so physical. It’s about the country, it’s about the process, it’s about grinding and bending and welding. To me that’s really enjoyable, it’s almost a zen process.”
Like Church, Johnson enjoys bestowing creative titles upon his pieces. One of his creations, “Changing Direction,” is constructed from a wagon wheel with steel wire zigzagging through the middle. “I like to play on words, make them interesting and witty.”
And sometimes Johnson doesn’t title his work, allowing the viewer to create meaning for themselves.
Whether or not the work has a name, Johnson finds most of his ideas in the natural world around him. Then, he leaves his abstract pieces red and rustic to contrast his inspiration. “I like the juxtaposition of rust and the garden,” he explained. “You’ve got the green and then you’ve got this rusty warm color that kind of pops out.”
When Turcotte asked Johnson if he wanted to show his work at the Tallman Hotel, he jumped at the chance, creating a few new pieces specifically for the walk. “I work well under deadlines and I like deadlines. It gives me an excuse to create something under a deadline and create something new,” he said. “Out here at our house, I work on two or three pieces at a time. I feed off of all of them at the same time.”
Johnson took the grounds into consideration, putting in vertical, narrow pieces to compliment the tall buildings. He also ensured the work fit nicely into small niches so it wouldn’t overwhelm the space.
Being involved in the sculpture walk benefits Johnson in more ways than one. Of course, if he makes a sale he profits monetarily, but sending some of his work out into the world gave him the space to continue creating. “I have pedestals that I have all over my property and they’re [the sculptures] kind of my friends, they hang out on these pedestals. When I’ve taken these away, it’s given me inspiration to make more.”
Aside from benefiting the artists, the sculpture walk adds to the experience of visiting the Tallman Hotel. “People enjoy walking around the garden when they’re there,” Bernie Butcher said. “If we have local art, that’s so much the better. People enjoy coming to the place and seeing what the local artists can do.”
Jennifer Gruenke can be reached at 900-2019.
‘The Trickster’ by Mary Mattlage, part of the Tallman Hotel’s sculpture walk.
