Lake County News,California

Arts & Life

: CITY OF LAKEPORT; Posted On Saturday, 01 October 2022 00:55; 01 October 2022

Lakefront Park public art project deadline extended to Oct. 11

LAKEPORT, Calif. — The deadline for proposals for mid-range to large-scale sculptural and/or innovative, mixed or multimedia installations to be showcased in the new lakefront park development in downtown Lakeport at 800 and 810 N. Main St. has been extended to Tuesday, Oct. 11, at 4 p.m.

Awards to successful applicants will range from $5,000 to $20,000, depending on the scale and budget of the proposed work, which includes materials, artist’s labor, installation needs, and any necessary travel expenses.

Proposals with interactive components are encouraged.

Lake County artists and Black, Indigenous and people of color, or BIPOC, are strongly urged to submit proposals; there are no geographic restrictions for applications.

Proposed art works must be made of materials that can endure the outdoors and extreme weather in a public setting.

All object-based sculptures must be securely mounted to the ground or a plinth base at the designated site; all work must be safe for pedestrian traffic.

The call for artists may be viewed on the city’s website.

The request for proposal includes specific application requirements and a map of the lakefront park with designated spaces for art.

In January 2020, the city of Lakeport was awarded a competitive grant from the California Department of Parks and Recreation funded by Proposition 68, the California Drought, Water, Parks, Climate, Coastal Protection and Outdoor Access for All Act of 2018. After two years of design, the project is ready for construction.

The new park consists of approximately 6.9 acres and will include, in addition to the public art, a basketball court, splash pad, skate park, concession building with restrooms, shade structures, picnic areas, fitness equipment, a pavilion, lighting, irrigation, and landscaping.

Estimated completion date is Spring 2023.

For more information, contact Jenni Byers, Community Development director, 707-263-5615, Extension 201, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

: Tim Riley; Posted On Sunday, 25 September 2022 00:22; 25 September 2022

The future of the CW Network comes into greater focus

Last month, Nexstar Media Group announced that it was taking a 75% ownership interest in The CW Network.

Nexstar claims that, together with its partner stations, it is the nation’s largest local television broadcasting company.

This could be good news for The CW because it is apparently the lowest-rated broadcast network when compared to the big four of FOX, ABC, CBS and NBC. The network has been tagged as appealing only to the younger demographic.

Trade publications like “Variety” reported last month that the Nexstar president stated the average viewer of The CW is 58 years old. Hardly anyone could believe this until Nielsen data backed it up.

How to explain the interest of older viewers to tune into youth-oriented programming like “Riverdale” and “All American?” A plausible answer may be that the younger crowd are watching on platforms other than traditional television.

Now that the fall season is upon us and major networks are launching new series in September, we can take a closer look at The CW’s new slate of programs, all of which will premiere in the early days of October.

One of its most successful franchises, “Supernatural” ran for more than a dozen years. Now along comes “The Winchesters,” a wild-west origin story to this big hit.

Told from the perspective of narrator Dean Winchester (Jensen Ackles, “Supernatural”), “The Winchesters” is the epic, untold love story of how John Winchester (Drake Rodger) met Mary Campbell (Meg Donnelly).

Putting it all on the line to not only save their love, but the entire world, when John returns home from the war in Vietnam, an enigmatic happenstance sparks a new mission to trace his father’s past.

In his journey, John crosses paths with 19-year-old demon hunter Mary, who is also searching for answers after the vanishing of her father. Together, they join forces with young hunters-in-training to unearth concealed truths about both their families.

The action-packed “Professionals” follows Vincent Corbo (Tom Welling), a top-tier security operative who is paid to protect the interests of wealthy clients by any means necessary, whether legal or not.

After a next generation medical data satellite explodes on launch, Corbo is hired by the rocket’s designer, billionaire futurist Peter Swann (Brendan Fraser), who suspects sabotage.

Complicating Corbo’s gig is his former courtesan and now Swann’s betrothed, medical visionary Dr. Grace Davila (Elena Anaya), who is racing to help avert a global calamity.

As Corbo and his team of veteran security pros investigate the rocket disaster, they expose a poisonous scheme of Swann’s corporate foes, corrupt government officials, and a shadowy crime syndicate, all working to take control of Swann’s empire.

Worse, Corbo must also contend with Swann’s overindulged, mischievous teen daughter (Jazzara Jaslyn) and a rogue Europol agent (Ken Duken), who is hellbent on busting him for past sins.

Set in the late 1800s, “Walker Independence” is an origin story for the current hit series “Walker.” The new program follows Abby Walker (Katherine McNamara), an affluent Bostonian whose husband is murdered while on their journey out West.

After crossing paths with Calian (Justin Johnson Cortez), a curious Apache tracker, Abby arrives in the town of Independence, Texas, where she encounters assorted free-spirited residents running from their pasts and pursuing new dreams.

Quirky burlesque dancer Kate Carver (Katie Findlay) has perhaps too keen an interest in Abby’s origins, and Kai (Lawrence Kao), a soulful Chinese immigrant runs a local restaurant and offers Abby friendship without an agenda.

Abby literally runs into Hoyt Rawlins (Matt Barr), a slippery rogue, thief and con artist with a dented heart of gold who quickly eyes Abby as a mark, until she turns the tables on him.

In seeking justice for her husband, Abby encounters noble deputy sheriff Augustus (Philemon Chambers), and his new boss, Sheriff Tom Davidson (Greg Hovanessian), who she has reason to believe is a very bad man.

Abby and Hoyt soon find themselves precariously aligned, both seeking to discover the truth about the identity of the person who killed Abby’s husband, and vowing to save the frontier boomtown of Independence.

“Family Law” centers around Abigail Bianchi (Jewel Slaite), a high-paid personal injury attorney who’s good at blaming others, particularly when it comes to her own problems.

After Abigail’s husband boots her from the family home because of alcoholism, she goes on a bender, shows up drunk in court and retches on a client. Suspended and fined, she can only practice law if she secures a senior lawyer willing to mentor her for a one-year probationary period.

One man inclined or foolhardy enough to take that risk is Harry Svensson (Victor Garber), the top practitioner of a family law practice, just so happens to be Abigail’s estranged father.

Conflicts arise with half siblings in the firm and a stepmother from Harry’s third marriage. An odd dynamic takes shape at Abigail’s new workplace, but the greatest challenge is working under the thumb of the man she’s spent a lifetime resenting.

Tim Riley writes film and television reviews for Lake County News.

: E. Evans; Posted On Tuesday, 20 September 2022 01:02; 20 September 2022

‘Mother May I?’ raises funds for Lake Family Resource Center

LAKE COUNTY, Calif. — Rehearsals are going strong for the smash comedy, “Mother May I,” written and directed by local playwright Marcello Bice.

The show, which includes dinner, wine and dessert, will run Sept. 23, 24 and 25, and the curtain opens at 6 p.m.

Lake Family Resource Center is hosting this fundraising event to support the local Meals on Wheels Program.

Senior Services Director Denise Johnson, who also serves as an executive producer, is excited about launching more theater on the stage at the senior center.

Starring in the play is Ukiah resident Laurie Strantz, a veteran actress from the Middletown Repertory Theater, who has delighted many audiences by starring in local shows like “Crimes of the Heart,” “Noises Off,” “Beyond Therapy” and Cobb Mountain Elementary School's “Peter Pan.”

Ms. Strantz will be playing the lead role of Dottie, the ghost of a mother who cannot help but meddle in the love life of her daughter, Sarah, played by Bre'ana, also a resident of Ukiah and veteran actress for Middletown Repertory Theater.

Her love interest, Jack, is played by local police officer Juan Altamirano.

Joining the cast in the other starring role of Madam Vajra, is Lake County Theater Co.'s own Laura Barnes who will play a psychic medium hired by Sarah on Mother's Day to perform an exorcism.

Barnes brings to the production an extensive and impressive 15 year theatrical background in many successful local productions from the LCTC, including the recent Shakespeare at the Lake.

One of the many highlights of this type of “immersive theater,” as Director Bice calls it, is an ensemble who will be performing comic improvisation as waiters and waitresses in an imaginary restaurant.

“The last time we created a restaurant,” said Bice, “people called for reservations months after the show closed to go to this place that never existed!”

Bice is a graduate of UCLA's prestigious School of Theatre, Film and Television, and is known locally for his unusual avant-garde theatrical productions. His new film company Savant Garde Inc. is working in association with Lake FRC to raise money for Meals on Wheels.

“Mother May 1?” is the winner of a playwrights' festival and was performed originally to standing ovations at the Luther Burbank Center in Santa Rosa.

“When I won, I was excited, but I wasn't allowed to cast the play or be at any rehearsals,” said Bice. “I'm grateful to the executive director, Lisa Morrow, and everyone at Lake Family Resource Center for letting me be part of that creative process."

The ensemble cast has been rehearsing comic improvisational skills each week and is enthusiastic about exploring their new skills in the upcoming performances.

The supporting cast will be Cindy Jasser, Lillie Bower, Richard Crow, Margie Loesch, and Amirah Jasser.

“I just think the community needs this right now, and I'm so excited to see all this talent come together for such a good cause,” said production coordinator Alicia Adams.

Tickets are $50 each. Purchase them here.

: Kwame Dawes; Posted On Monday, 26 September 2022 01:17; 26 September 2022

American Life in Poetry: Illusion

Rachel Eliza Griffiths has written poems and composed photographs in response to the loss of her mother.

She has always been fascinated by the exchange between birth and death that characterizes their relationship.

“Illusion” is doing the same work of connecting the haunting memory and spirit of her mother to her own awareness, her own mortality, and her turn to live and fill the space vacated by her mother.

I typically do not quote poets speaking of their work in this column, but I found this gem by Griffiths from an interview that seems a fit introduction to this poem: “With the death of my mother, the woman (myself) can’t go back out of the world until she mothers herself. I must go forward to my own beginning and to consider my own death.”

Illusion
By Rachel Eliza Griffiths

Waiting inside of the night,
I could make out the mound
& my mother's eyes, the blank embrace
of innocence when she returned
from the other side of the light
where everything wept
as it was loved & forgotten.
It's your turn, it's always
your turn,
the night says.

American Life in Poetry does not accept unsolicited manuscripts. It is made possible by The Poetry Foundation, publisher of Poetry magazine. It is also supported by the Department of English at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Poem copyright ©2020 by Rachel Eliza Griffiths, “Illusion” from Seeing The Body (W.W. Norton & Company, 2020.) Quote from “Anatomy of Grief: A Conversation with Rachel Eliza Griffiths” By Sarah Herrington, LA Review of Books, October 13, 2020. https://lareviewofbooks.org/article/anatomy-of-grief-a-conversation-with-rachel-eliza-griffiths/. Poem reprinted by permission of the author and the publisher. Introduction copyright ©2022 by The Poetry Foundation. The introduction’s author, Kwame Dawes, is George W. Holmes Professor of English and Glenna Luschei Editor of Prairie Schooner at the University of Nebraska.

: Elizabeth Larson; Posted On Thursday, 22 September 2022 01:34; 22 September 2022

Mendocino College Art Gallery to host faculty art exhibition

UKIAH, Calif. — The Mendocino College Art Gallery is proud to announce a faculty art exhibition, opening on Tuesday, Oct. 4.

There will be a reception for the exhibition on Thursday, Oct. 6, from 4 to 6 p.m. Light refreshments will be served.

Regular gallery hours are Tuesdays noon to 3 p.m., Wednesdays from 3 to 6 p.m., Thursdays from noon to 3 p.m., and by appointment.

Ukiah Symphony ticket holders will have early access to the show on Oct. 1 and 2. To purchase Ukiah Symphony tickets, visit www.ukiahsymphony.org.

The exhibition highlights the diverse creative talents of instructors who contribute to the high quality of art education at Mendocino College.

A dynamic selection of work includes sculpture, ceramics, painting, drawing, mixed-media, photography and woodworking.

Eighteen faculty members, representing the college’s four campuses and the Krenov fine woodworking school are participating in this exhibit.

For more information visit www.mendocino.edu/events or email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

: Kwame Dawes; Posted On Monday, 19 September 2022 01:38; 19 September 2022

American Life in Poetry: Fieldwork

There is a posture that poets sometimes take, that of the prophet speaking predictions into the world, or simply proclaiming what is happening in the moment.

More often than not, the role is reluctantly embraced, for who wants to speak of calamity in the face of calamity?

Joan Naviyuk Kane’s poem “Fieldwork” assumes a knowing that carries the authority of ancestral memory. It becomes urgent in this calamitous moment, a moment of drought and heat that is familiar to us these days.

If there is hope, it lies in the expectation of movement: “as we move, / moon into moon.” The reluctant prophetess, too, wants to survive.

Fieldwork
By Joan Naviyuk Kane

Another day of heat-
strangers continue to wobble
across the horizon, bringing drought
when instead we should have deluge.

I steep snow-lichen in water I
drew from a lake
which has since gone dry.

At sea few understood me,
as though I induced a sickness
that deafened, then healed.

As before, I predict lies,
to be pushed from the boat
time and time again.

Nevertheless, I expect
to get by while their widowers·
seek refuge with their provident

families; perhaps a storm will pile fish
at their doors when the red tide rises,
perhaps they will not follow as we move,

moon into moon, under another sky.

American Life in Poetry does not accept unsolicited manuscripts. It is made possible by The Poetry Foundation, publisher of Poetry magazine. It is also supported by the Department of English at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Joan Naviyuk Kane, “Fieldwork” from Dark Traffic (University of Pittsburgh Press, 2021.) Poem reprinted by permission of the author and the publisher. Poem reprinted by permission of the author and the publisher. Introduction copyright ©2022 by The Poetry Foundation. The introduction’s author, Kwame Dawes, is George W. Holmes Professor of English and Glenna Luschei Editor of Prairie Schooner at the University of Nebraska.