This is a golden time of the year for the arts, with the days growing shorter and people drifting back indoors, resigned to early nightfall but not quite ready to stop playing. One by one, arts venues around town turn their lights up a little brighter, inviting people in to linger a while. This fall in Santa Cruz brings the usual markers of the season—the Cultural Council of Santa Cruz County’s Open Studios tour, for example—as well as relative newcomers to the calendar, like the Museum of Art and History’s new slate of interactive programs . And of course there’s the monthly explosion of arts appreciation, flaneur-style, known as First Friday. Read on and keep your calendar handy!
Making It at MAH
Wood shavings fly through the air and a fine film of sawdust settles on the cement floor of the Atrium. It’s just another Sunday at the Museum of Art and History (MAH), and the Makers at the MAH pilot program is in full swing.
Santa Cruz County Fair Fight
Max Kelley’s house on Rancho Brazil Lane, a pink Victorian with a blossoming flower garden and a water fountain, is about a mile and a half drive from the fairgrounds. It’s about a tenth of a mile as the crow flies. “It’s very quiet normally,” says Kelley, looking out from his wraparound porch at the tall eucalyptus trees that shield the fairgrounds from his view.
First Friday Fever
Mainstays like the Museum of Art and History and Felix Kulpa Gallery can always be counted on to stage stimulating shows, but half the fun is discovering the gems assembled by the amateur curators whose galleries are nightclubs, sex shops and hair salons by day.
The Westsiders
Back in 1996, 11 local artists started getting together on a bi-weekly basis. The figure drawing group they started brought together members from varied backgrounds, the pedigreed graduate of the Rhode Island School of Design sketching next to the self-described “product of local public handouts.”
Stinky the Whale Stars in Santa Cruz
Very little is known about Stinky the whale, except that it likes anchovies and sardines (who doesn’t?).
What’s Next for the Tannery
The site of the Salz Tannery, the commercial leather manufacturer that made the luggage used by President Harry S. Truman, is getting ready for its next wave of changes. At the Tannery Arts Center, which rests on the 8.2-acre former factory grounds, the former Tanyard Building and Beamhouse building will be called the Digital Media and Creative Arts Center.
The Dogs Are Back in Town
For the first time in 35 years, Santa Cruz residents were able to stroll down Pacific Avenue with their dogs. It marked the trial lifting of a downtown ban on dogs, in force in Santa Cruz since 1976. The new ordinance is only in effect from sunrise to sunset—every dog has its day, but nights are reserved for cats—and all dogs must be on a leash and within 3 feet of their owners. The animals must also have collars and vaccination certification. And of course, owners must clean up after their dogs in the event of any unfortunate accidents.
Sorokin Murderer Beaten in Jail
Kenneth Clamp, 41, who was convicted in the murder of Elias Sorokin two weeks ago, received a severe beating from three other inmates in the Santa Cruz County Jail.
Heart of Glass
Over the course of an exceptionally prolific career he has written symphonies, operas, musicals and film scores and collaborated with everyone from artist Richard Serra and choreographer Twyla Tharp to Allen Ginsberg, David Bowie and even Stephen Colbert, so it’s no surprise that Philip Glass’s inaugural Days and Nights Festival spans genres, mediums, time periods and audience demographics.
