MIDDLETOWN >> The Middletown Art Center (MAC) recalls the 2015-2016 wildfires with “Witnessing” — a poignant art exhibition, beginning with an opening reception and performance on Saturday.
Marking the second anniversary of the Valley Fire and the first since the Clayton Fire, MAC extended an invitation to local artists and the community at large to submit work in any media that speak to the fire and recovery experience. Many pieces included in the exhibit depict or utilize natural elements or objects burned or altered in the blazes. Others speak to the emotional impacts of the experience or the resilience of nature.
“The arts have helped us heal and cope with this traumatic and challenging experience by allowing us to express and transform the chaos around us into beauty and meaning,” MAC director Lisa Kaplan said. “We can shift our attention from pain and devastation to the striking contrasts and changes we witness daily as the natural world revitalizes.”
Along with giving artists a space to share their work, Kaplan said, “Witnessing” is an opportunity for the community to come together and collectively hear, see, speak and feel the broad range of emotions brought on by the disaster.
“Sharing expressions of our collective experience at the first-year anniversary exhibition and concert Ashes to Art, was powerful and healing for all who attended,” she added. “We encourage everyone to join us for this milestone event!”
The opening reception is Saturday, September 9 from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m., with music and spoken word performances from local musicians and poets. The event is free to the public.
Since the Valley Fire, the art center has provided continuity, community space, subsidized classes and enrichment through the arts to residents of the fire-impacted areas and beyond. Whether personally, psychologically, environmentally or economically, the devastating fires have affected all Lake County residents. This especially rings true for at MAC as nearly half of the 60 artist members and nine of ten board members lost their homes, studios, artwork, and/or place of employment in the Valley Fire.
While many friends and neighbors left the area, others are in the midst of rebuilding.
MAC was recently awarded a Local Impact Grant from the California Arts Council with additional support from Adventist Health and other local organizations, to expand access to the arts in our rural and fire-impacted region through the Resilience project.
The Resilience project offers low cost ($5) workshops in Photography, Creative Writing, Painting, and Printmaking every first through fourth Saturday until May 2018. It will culminate in countywide exhibits and a book of participants’ writings and images. Adults and teens 12 and up throughout the county are encouraged to attend! Learn more and pre-register at www.middletownartcenter.org/resilience.
MAC is located at 21456 Highway 175 at the junction of Highway 29 in central Middletown.
Witnessing will be on view through Oct. 22. The reception and performance is Saturday, September 9 from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m.
Gallery hours are Thursdays 11 a.m. to 4 p.m., Fridays 11 a.m. to 6 p.m., Saturdays 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., and Sundays 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. or by appointment at (707) 809-8118.
