Learn how to paint winter whites with Joan Hoffman during her three-day water color workshop at Sorensen’s Resort in Hope Valley, January 23-25, 2012.

Joan will teach you all about the use of white: when to leave the white paper to make a statement, and when to tone the paper an off-white to make the snow glow like Monet’s snow scenes.

Monday Jan 23, 3pm – 4pm (Introduction), Tuesday Jan 24 & Wednesday Jan 25, 9am – 12pm & 1pm – 4pm (Thursday a.m. optional)

$175 guests | $225 non-guests

“I adventure paint en Plein Air. I am inspired by the people, history and power of nature. I am integrally connected to the landscape by painting, teaching and preserving the wild places I explore.” Joan Hoffmann

Joan teaches painting techniques to capture the processes of landscape painting. Beginner to advanced students are welcome in all classes. Learn painting techniques: shapes, values, colors, and brushwork.  She demonstrates her classic style in each class and gives insightful critiques and painting evaluations.

For more info about this South Lake Tahoe event, lodging reservations and/or workshop sign-ups, call Sorensen’s in Hope Valley at 800.423.9949.

The photography of Nina Aegerter will be showing in the Foyer Gallery this winter and the considerable talent of the LTCC Art Department Faculty and Staff will be on display in the Student Gallery. These shows will run from Jan. 7 to March 17 and are free and open to the public during normal campus hours.

There will be artists’ receptions for all three exhibits Thursday, Jan. 12 from 6 to 8 p.m. at the Lake Tahoe Community College.

It’s “Art in the Morning”.

Shown here is Kit’s impression of one of our favorite locals – the Mountain Chickadee.

“Nature’s winter mascot in our neck of the woods is the Mountain Chickadee. Their chirps and tree trunk acrobatics animate our forests all year long. But their little round warm-gray bodies and dashing eye slash bring a particular warmth and charm to a peaceful winter scene. They’re content in their quiet industry and good ambassadors of the season.” -  Kit

About once a week, Kit emails a painting, hot off the easel, for you to enjoy with your cup of coffee, tea or chocolate before you dive into your work day.  It’s just a moment to relax.

Kit wants to make art a part of our every day lives. She believes that all of the arts should get out of the cloisters and into the moment. Any moment.

Kit invites you to share your cup of daily art with your friends. They can simply send Kit an email at Kit@KitNight.com with “Please Add” in the subject line.

And, sure to visit www.KitNight.com to learn more about Kit, her amazing artwork and her exhibit schedule so you can see her in action and purchase her art.

à la bonne vie

Morning Light on the River’s Edge by Kit

“I brought my easel to the bank of the river to catch the morning sun as it came over the mountain in this corner of the valley. In stocking cap and sweater, I savor this peaceful time. Birds dart from cool shadow into splashes of sunlight. I always thrill at the sound of hummingbird wings. I try to work fast in the quick-moving light.

The colors shift from cool blues, grays and lavenders to greens, reds, yellows and orange. Brooding reflections on the river become silver bits of glimmering light.

The only thing that could’ve been better would be to have slept on the bank under the moon and awake to this view over the edge of my sleeping bag.” Kit

Well known by college art students, she is currently featured on Lake Tahoe buses and t-shirts.

Meet Phyllis Shafer.

Her whimsical landscapes are capturing the attention of many in the art world and collectors, who consider Phyllis one of the greatest landscape artists of our time.

We agree.

Most of Shafer’s landscapes are set in Lake Tahoe and the Arizona desert where she gets her inspiration. The end result is a lively painting that dances in rhythm with Phyllis’s obvious deep connection to nature.

Expressive landscapes are punctuated with characteristic soulful movements and animated clouds. It’s a very refreshing twist to the traditional landscape paintings we often see.

“The more time I spend in any setting, the more I become connected to the cycles of nature,” she says. “I don’t just paint in a realistic style. Instead, it’s a marriage between observation and fantasy coming from a felt response to the landscape.” (American Style Magazine, Dec 2008)

Shafer has been an arts instructor at the Lake Tahoe Community College since 1994. She is also the director of the college’s new Art Gallery.

Currently, several of Shafer’s Tahoe landscapes grace the sides of Lake Tahoe buses raising awareness of the environmental programs that will be funded by Lake Tahoe license plates. And, one of her Yosemite landscapes has been selected as part of the Patagonia art series t-shirts. Look for it spring 2008.

Her paintings can be found at the Stremmel Gallery in Reno, as well as Reno’s McKinley Arts and Cultural Center that features her interpretation of the Nevada landscape on a 3-dimensional fiberglass bighorn sheep she calls Lambscape.

To accentuate nature’s interrelationship, she painted her landscape on the entire body of the sheep integrating the subject into her art. It’s an amazing piece of work.

Like Phyllis.

For more about Phyllis and to see her inspired creations, please visit her website at www.phyllisshafer.com.

Featured Artwork:

• Monitor’s Vigil: Oil on canvas
• Autumn Aspens: Gouache on paper
• Lambscape: 3-D Fiberglass Bighorn sheep

All classes and projects run in four-week sessions, starting the first week of every month.  Classes are on Tuesdays with beginning classes from 2 to 4:30 p.m. and intermediate/advanced from 6-8:30 p.m. These classes are ongoing and new students are welcome to join in at any time.

Teri, a transplant from Phoenix, Arizona to Gardnerville, Nevada, was a successful interior designer for 20 years. She now focuses all of her time on creating art and teaching art classes, many at the TAL Art Center. Teri has become a real force in the expanding Carson Valley art scene and opened Artistic Viewpoints Gallery and Studio with her husband Bill, in the Copeland Cultural Arts Building in Minden.

Teri has participated in numerous juried shows and has won many awards. For years, she has been exploring the various facets of watercolors and has played a big role in the evolution of the South Tahoe art scene.

In her own words:

“The distinctive qualities of watercolors intrigue me and keep me experimenting with different ideas. I love the fluidity and transparency of the medium and try to let those elements represent my vision in each painting. My goal is to not give a photo realistic impression of a subject, but my artistic rendition through the many unique and surprising ‘accidents’ that can happen when using watercolors. Although I have a tendency to try to control my art, I strive to turn the control over to the medium and still achieve a recognizable image.”

Watercolor Workshops with Teri Sweeney

Every Tuesday for 4 week blocks

Beginning -  from 2:00 to 4:30 pm

Intermediate/advanced from 6-8:30 p.m.

$150 (Includes materials)

Tahoe Art League Art Center
3062 Lake Tahoe Blvd. next to the Senior Center
South Lake Tahoe, CA

For more information or to sign up call 790-9261 or terisweeneyart@hotmail.com.

If you’re looking for something truly unique and memorable, look no further.  Santa’s elves, cleverly disguised local artists, have been very busy making one-of-a-kind gifts for even the most persnickety on your list.

You’ll find:

• Paintings of snow scenes on children’s ice skates, and painted Santa rocks
• Whimsically hand painted and formed wooden Christmas tree ornaments and holiday decorations
• Tole painted animal rocks
• Hand painted original silk Christmas cards
• Nativity scene Christmas cards from original silk paintings
• Wildlife paintings on wood rounds, and tile
• Fused Glass jewelry
• Skillfully thrown, and well designed pottery

The TAL Christmas Boutique is open Tuesday through Sunday, from 11am to 4pm, located at:

Tahoe Art League Art Center
3050 Lake Tahoe Blvd. in South Lake Tahoe

For more information, call TAL at (530) 544-2313.

The Tahoe Art League is a nonprofit organization dedicated to promoting fine art and art education on the South Shore of Lake Tahoe since 1964. TAL provides free monthly art demonstrations for the public, art workshops, classes, summer outdoor shows, fine art exhibits, college scholarships and many other activities. To learn more about TAL or become a member, visit www.talart.org

Photos by Julie Zeid of South Lake Tahoe

Enjoy a glass of wine or a mug of hot chocolate and some holiday treats surrounded by Dirk’s famous images of Lake Tahoe and international destinations.

You might event win a free raffle for a matted 16 x 20 photograph!  In addition, from now through December 31, 2011, they are offering a 10% discount on all purchases including their gorgeous notecards and framed photographs. Discounts will be applied to phone orders as well as purchases made at their Gallery at the Ski Run Marina or at our Studio / Gallery on Shady Lane, Kingsbury Grade.  Visit www.dirkphotoz.com for a preview.

Dirk’s passion is travel, so travel photography makes up a fairly large portion of the images. To further qualify the term travel photography, most of the photos are either artistic or photojournalistic in nature (rather than documentary or abstract). Having lived 11 years in Japan, Dirk and Lisa have built up a good collection of beyond-the-average-tourist view of Japan images. They also have a large selection of Ecuador and Bali photos, a broad spectrum of Europe images, and of course Lake Tahoe/ mountain images.

Dirk Yuricich Photography Gallery

Ski Run Marina
900 Ski Run Blvd, Suite 105
South Lake Tahoe, California 96150
530-542-2000

Dirk Yuricich Photography
Studio / Gallery: 171 Shady Lane
Stateline, Nevada 89449
1-800-652-6388 or 775-588-5816

Join artist Robert Schimmel as he explores the expanding opportunities for bringing more art to our local community.

In his own words:

“My current vision for this 15-20 minute program is to create enough lake-wide listener interest through personality interviews and themed discussions that KTHO will want to expand it to be the “Arts Conversation Center” for Lake Tahoe. As the current economic times challenge most of us, we see Tahoe’s “face” and base of support needing a makeover. Many of us have been part of myriad programs, projects, and collaborations to create new financial horsepower and Arts development options for the area, and some of those efforts have left some great legacies and fertile ground on which to build a new paradigm. Such debates, exchanges and chats are made to order for radio and this format, and I look forward to hosting whatever is current and pertinent to the success of the Arts which will in turn be a “win” for the area.

My guests for 9 months have been artists of all media, students, teachers, marketing and consultant gurus, non-profit executive directors, gallery owners, framers, etc. and there is room for more variety and unique input. Until recently I tried to include a weekly arts calendar of events but now realize the brief time slot is better spent focused on relevant community interest happenings (events, projects, people, etc.) From all around the Lake, I’d like to include appropriate City personnel and political folks, involved and insightful business owners and community members, special projects leaders, and anyone with something constructive to add to the mix that leads us to more awareness of and openness to our economic challenges and solutions via the Arts. From the artist to the tourist and the dollars spent here, “The Tahoe Art Scene” is all about the actions, lives, opinions and solutions that involve the ARTS!

Join me every Thursday at 1:15pm on KTHO am590/96.1fm and streaming live on www.kthoradio.com for an informative and fun connection with our Tahoe Arts scene. If you’d like to be added to my weekly update/reminder email or have suggestions for the program, please contact me at 530-544-5041 or rjschimmelstudio@sbcglobal.net. And on a very practical level that will aid in creating a better program and air times, please consider advertising on KTHO and using this as your referring program.”

About Robert Schimmel:

Robert’s primary medium is watercolor though he loves them all and uses charcoal, ink, pastels, and acrylics whenever the subject or client demands. His body of work includes over 40 limited editions, hundreds of originals in private, public and corporate collections, and a “Creative Portrait” direction that fits perfectly into his overall love for the figure and unique viewpoints. Travel and plein air painting are the most significant influences in Schimmel’s development and style that have evolved since he was in his mid-twenties. As a result, his subjects range from “St. Basil’s” (cathedral, Moscow) to “The Remarkables” (mountain range, New Zealand) to “Returning Home” (elderly ladies, Venice), which is part of his Portals collection.

“God’s incomparable sense of composition, drama, and beauty in nature and the human figure has always amazed and touched me. The contrasts, rhythms, color chords, sensual passages, and dramatic statements set before us are the very elements I seek to mix my own way to communicate a viewpoint not previously considered,” Schimmel says.

Having studied academically and privately with his father and many other nationally known artists, taught in private and public venues, and shown in numerous galleries around the world, Schimmel is currently focused on reviving a career he put on hold off and on over the last 20 years to raise a family, work in the gallery side of fine art, and contribute to the Tahoe region’s overall arts development through non-profit organizational leadership.

Robert looks forward to creating more painting time in 2011. And, we can’t wait!

To see more of Robert’s amazing artwork, please visit www.rjschimmelstudio.com.

Kit Night, South Lake Tahoe oil painter, has an extraordinary gift.  She can take the ordinary like fruit, a table glass or dessert, and bring it to life with an injection of dramatic color and poetic lines.

Kit’s delightful oil paintings are influenced by Jazz and her love of color. Bright color. Bold color.  Color allows her to play with light, while the sweet sound of Jazz inspires her to push the limit adding dimension and animation to her Citrus Jazz and Glass Harmonies paintings.

Most recently Kit has been busy painting desserts, including a tantalizing series of ice cream sundaes with names like Harlequin Romance and Sundae Baroque.

And, her four-part Goodbye Kiss is a wonderfully playful romantic study of our love affair with this decadent little treat.

With a Bachelor of Fine Arts, Kit has won awards from Maryland to California including the National Orange Show, is in collections across the country, and is licensed by Grand Image in Seattle. Kit is a member of the Tahoe Art League and an avid outdoor enthusiast.

Kit counts herself fortunate to have received praise for her work from art critic, essayist and Pulitzer Prize winner John Updike, jazz composer, pianist and creator of NPR’s “Piano Jazz”, Marian McPartland and best-selling author of “Art & Physics”, Leonard Shlain.

So, how did she get her taste for painting the obvious, sprinkling it with Americana culture, right here in Tahoe?

“My work is influenced by Jazz. Miles, Coltrane, Dizzy, Evans, Brubeck and, as Count Basie used to refer to him, “Oscar Pete.” I love listening to the old guys tell their stories and talk about their struggles. Listening to Jazz Profiles on NPR, it’s like hanging out with them late at night. The music is alive, always changing. They push space. They push themselves to take risks. This is what I try to do with my paintings.

What else inspires me as an artist? Color, of course. I get endorphins from it! I love creating radiant light with color. And, space. I like to push the envelope by shoving flattened abstracted space up against “realistic,” deep space. It’s like riding the edge on a sailboard or skiing downhill fast.

The thrill is enjoying the ride and not knowing if you’re going to crash. Some of the artists I admire and continue to learn from are the innovative Japanese Ukiyo-e printmakers like Hokusai, Hiroshige, Utagawa, and painters of Persian miniatures. Also, painters such as Diebenkorn, Hockney, Bonnard, Giacometti, Jacob Lawrence, and Matisse, always Matisse.

I’m interested in the cross-pollination of the arts. There are great parallels between what makes a good story and a good painting, between what makes spatially dynamic dance, music or art: strong characters, tension, advancing the plot, surprise, tempo, dynamic range, the pieces distilled to their essence.

And, of course, one can’t do better than to spend time in nature. My motto: when in doubt, go out.”

All of Kit’s paintings are oil on either wood or canvas. See more of Kit’s paintings at www.KNightFineArt.com.

Kit can be reached at her studio in South Lake Tahoe by calling 530-544-8949 or via email at embracebeauty@knightfineart.com

“Written on the Body” is the first public exhibition of a group of oil paintings and figure drawings focusing on women. Zentner, a South Lake Tahoe resident originally from North Wales, U.K., has long had a fascination with the human form and what it reveals. “I’m sensitive to body language, facial expressions, and other non-verbal clues about people. I tend to analyze everyone, looking for a story in their faces,” Zentner said. “The portraits and figure paintings I create are the result of the fascination I have with wordless storytelling.”

Zentner’s work will be on display at Bona Fide Books throughout the month of November.

Bona Fide Books is a local independent press located at 1069 Magua Street, #4, behind the Getaway Café in Meyers. Bona Fide also hosts classes, book launches, and literary events throughout the year. To learn more about upcoming events, please go to www.bonafidebooks.com/events.