Closing Weekend: Celebrating the National Lands of California
Nancy Yaki, Santa Monica Mountains, Acrylic on canvas, 2019, Courtesy the Artist
James Hodgson, Above the Valley (Yosemite National Park), 2006, Oil on linen, Courtesy the Artist
Sunday, January 19, 2020
3 - 4:30 p.m.
Join the Wildling for the closing weekend of Celebrating the National Lands of California as we sit down with featured exhibition artists Patricia Hedrick, James Hodgson, Alan Sonneman (First Place), and Nancy Yaki (Third Place) for a fascinating panel discussion.
Learn about the artists' individual processes and inspiration, as well as their own personal experiences in California's national lands.
Admission to this event is $5 for current Wildling Museum Members and $10 for Non-Members. Click the button below or call (805) 686-8315 to reserve your tickets.
Celebrating the National Lands of California is a juried exhibition featuring 63 artworks by 57 artists from across the U.S. Locations featured in the exhibition include Carrizo Plain National Monument, Channel Islands National Park, Death Valley National Park, Golden Gate National Recreation Area, Joshua Tree National Park, Kings Canyon National Park, Mojave National Preserve, Point Reyes National Preserve, Redwoods National Park, San Jacinto National Monument, Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area, Sequoia National Park, and Yosemite National Park.
Generous support for Celebrating the National Lands of California provided by the Wood-Claeyssens Foundation, Pete and Becky Adams, Tierra Alta Vineyards, and Donors to the Patti Jacquemain Exhibition Fund.
About the Artist Speakers
Patricia Hedrick
Patricia Hedrick is a native Californian and was raised in Ventura and Santa Barbara Counties. She earned a B.A. in fine art from Pitzer College, Claremont, CA and has practiced as a freelance illustrator for the Santa Barbara News-Press, Santa Barbara Museum of Art, University of California, Santa Barbara (UCSB), among other organizations and businesses.
After moving to the Santa Ynez Valley in 1989, Hedrick joined local Save the Sedgwick Ranch efforts to preserve the land from development. Inspired by the natural landscape and open spaces of the Santa Ynez Valley, Hedrick has dedicated her attention to the landscape with a particular interest in atmospheric effects, typically captured in pastel. Hedrick has exhibited at local museums and galleries, including individual and group shows at the Easton Gallery in Santa Barbara and Young’s Gallery in Los Olivos, as well as a 2013 retrospective at the Elverhøj Museum of History and Art in Solvang.
James Hodgson
James F. Hodgson was born in Alberta, Canada in 1956 and grew up in Santa Barbara, California. Hodgson began his love of bird watching at age eleven when he went on his first Audubon bird watching trip. He later began sketching and painting birds and wildlife as part his lifelong study of birds, reptiles, and mammals. Hodgson’s successful career as a mechanical designer in the engineering field has honed his illustrative technique – his precision and attention to detail is reflected in his unique painting style, which combines accurate detail with muted abstract backgrounds. He spends countless hours in the field drawing inspiration from actual experiences and encounters with his subjects. Hodgson uses field notes, sketches, and his own photography to compose his pieces in the studio. Careful attention is given to the authenticity of habitat and anatomy of his subjects.
Hodgson believes it’s imperative that we protect our remaining wild lands and habitats to ensure rich biodiversity and ecological health of the planet. “It would be such a loss for future generations to not know the beauty of these creatures,” says Hodgson. He hopes his paintings will help the viewer appreciate how much is at stake and motivate them to protect our environment.
Hodgson is a self-taught painter and works primarily in oil on hand-stretched linen canvas and custom frames each piece. He never compromises on the quality of materials to ensure his paintings will be around for hundreds of years. Hodgson’s paintings hang in private homes and collections throughout the Western United States and Canada. For more information about James Hodgson’s work, visit: www.hodgsonfineart.com.
Alan Sonneman
Alan Sonneman was born and raised in Winona, Minnesota. He briefly attended Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois before graduating from The San Francisco Art Institute in 1975. He spent several years working for galleries and museums on the East Coast before moving back to California in 1982 to divide his time between the fine arts and the film industry.
Sonneman’s work has been exhibited in galleries and museums across the United States, including the Corcoran Gallery of Art and the Katzen Center at American University in Washington, D.C.; the Southwest Center for Contemporary Art, Winston-Salem, NC; the Chrysler Museum, Norfolk, VA; and the Riverside Art Museum, Riverside, CA, in conjunction with his mural for the Riverside Hall of Justice. His mural commissions include the lobby of the Biltmore Hotel in Los Angeles, CA. His work has also been featured in the Washington Post, the Washington City Paper, the Los Angeles Times, and the Guardian.
He has received grants and fellowships from the Neddie Marie Jones Foundation, the National Endowment for the Arts, and the Sequoia Parks Foundation. In film, Sonneman has contributed to such movies as Cliffhangers, Dante’s Peak, Fifth Element, Titanic, Matrix Revolution, A.I., and What Dreams May Come. From 1997 to 2001 he was an artist for Steven Spielberg’s company Dreamworks. He resides in Palo Alto, California and spends his summers in the high-country of the Southern Sierra. For more information about Alan Sonneman’s work, visit: www.alansonneman.com.com.
Nancy Yaki
Nancy Yaki has a taste for adventure. The Alaska and California-based artist feels most at home wherever she can find the powerful elements of nature and translate them into works of art. Traveling with her watercolors to capture scenes on-site, she might be sailing along the Aleutian Islands or trekking in the high western desert. Internationally known for her daring, contemporary and evocative style, Nancy regularly embarks on these far-flung journeys for artistic inspiration. After amassing raw material along the way in the form of her watercolor sketches, Nancy returns to her studio and carefully curates the most compelling images to transform into larger works.
Although her work elicits many comparisons to historical and contemporary masters, Nancy’s work is simultaneously acknowledged as stunningly original and inventive. Nancy’s work has been published worldwide and has earned multiple international awards. She has been featured in art textbooks and major art periodicals, as well as countless museums and gallery exhibitions. For more information about Nancy Yaki’s work, visit: www.nancyaki.com.