The Mendocino Art Center was fortunate to have world-renowned artists Mitch Iburg and Zoë Powell teach a five-day clay workshop, Introduction to Local Materials.

Mitch was a Mendocino Art Center Artist in Residence in 2014-15. Since then he and his partner Zoë Powell have established themselves as leading experts in finding, processing, and utilizing wild “foraged” materials in their ceramic work. They are currently based out of Saint Paul, MN, and produce incredible sculptural vessels and material sculptures utilizing Minnesota clays.

Students from Mendocino and across the United States, as well as Canada and England, came together to process and test materials sourced from around Mendocino. Using four distinct local clays, oak and almond wood ash, wheat straw ash, sea shells and horsetail, the students produced a range of tests to understand how to develop clay bodies for building, and slips and glazes for surface decoration. The results were quite beautiful and inspiring. Everyone left with promising next steps to continue with back in the studio, including the instructors themselves.

Some of the highlights included: a trip to the headlands to look at clay deposits and stones Mitch used to process when he was a resident here, bright blue glazes formed with Almond wood ash, the discovery of a plastic white kaolin here on the Mendocino Coast, and an always popular wood fired pizza party to wrap up the workshop. We already miss Mitch and Zoë and all the students that came to experiment with natural materials and build a generative relationship with the land and plants that are all around us. We’re certain they’ll be back again and hope that you join us if you’re interested. With the incredible resources here in Mendocino we’ll be doing more and more programs to foster a culture of working respectfully and responsibly with found “wild” materials.

MEET BARRY SCHRAGER, MAC JEWELRY COORDINATOR

*Barry Schrager, Mendocino Art Center Jewelry and Metal Arts Coordinator*

The Mendocino Art Center welcomes Barry Schrager as Jewelry and Metals Arts Coordinator. Barry, anative Californian, has forty years experience as a Goldsmith Jewelry designer and owner of Studio 2 Jewelry Gallery in Mendocino. He has shown work throughout the United States and Japan, and has been represented by galleries nationwide. Barry specializes in mixed metals, fabrication, casting, and utilizing precious stones and organic materials.

Drawing inspiration from the bisecting forms and shapes inherent in contemporary architecture and sculpture, Barry considers his work a journey of self-discovery, allowing each piece he creates to take on a life of its own that incorporates the symbolic as well as factual into the finished work.

“I have always enjoyed the act of creation that carries my jewelry designs from an inspired moment to a completed form, melding both the initial dream with everyday life,” Barry says.

A self-taught jeweler, Barry received a B.A. from Cal State Northridge, and left graduate school to apprentice with jewelry makers on the Zuni Reservation in New Mexico.

NEW SCULPTURE GARDEN INSTALLATIONS

Another phase of the sculpture garden at the Mendocino Art Center has been completed. Over the summer the installation process has been exciting to watch. Multiple sculptures by modernist sculptor Maxine Kim Stussy have been installed, pedestals have been formed, and sculptural works by former Mendocino Art Center Artists in Residence Austyn Taylor, Ian Hazard-Bill and Maxwell Mustardo, as well as other artists have been placed. Look for future installations of artists, including Howard Wheatley Allen’s two elegant bronze herons. Stop by and check out our new additions!