Photo Essay: The Arts in Isolation
How Sacramento-area artists and art businesses are creating content and engaging with the community during the pandemic
Many organizations and artists around the Capital Region, including dancers, musicians and comedians, are getting creative with technology to continue sharing their work.
Art Exposed: Manuel Fernando Rios
A West Sacramento Chicano artist confronts ethnic identity in his work
Mentored by Ricardo Favela of the Royal Chicano Air Force artist collective, Manuel Fernando Rios describes his artwork as “neo-Expressionist, neo-Chicano, mixed in with pop culture.” His solo show scheduled for May has been postponed because of the coronavirus pandemic, but he is continuing to make new work.
Getting to Know: Caroline Winata and Josh Daniels
Giggle & Riot cofounders reimagine business to bring joy to customers and support to local businesses
Until recently, Giggle & Riot was providing photo booths for up to 400 events a year. When events were canceled under California’s shelter-in-place order, owners Caroline Winata and Josh Daniels responded with new services.
Creativity in Quarantine
Artists and art gallery owners in the Capital Region are finding ways to connect to the public while in isolation
As county and state orders compelled most people to remain at home, the Sacramento art world took a huge hit. However, creativity has continued to flourish in quarantine.
In the Making: Set for Showtime
As soon as a B Street Theatre show closes at The Sofia in Sacramento, the old set is torn down and installation of the next set begins later that same day. Here are shots of the work that went into the set of “Byhalia, Mississippi” before it closed over coronavirus concerns.
Sign of the Times
Sacramento band streams benefit show instead of playing before live audience
The alt-country band JonEmery & the Unconventionals performed a set on Facebook to benefit the 10 employees of the Torch Club, where the band had been scheduled to play on March 25.
Art Exposed: Serena Cole
After 15 years in the Bay Area, Serena Cole returns to Grass Valley to make art and find community
Cole uses mixed media — watercolor, gouache, colored pencils and vinyl paint — to create vulnerable, delicate and harsh portraits that reflect the way women are viewed in art and society and how the artist digests it all.
In the Making: Bringing Colors Alive
Tonja Wilcox has created a lot of watercolor paintings of trees, mainly birch and aspen, but the exact number is unknown. “I stopped counting after 600,” says the Sacramento-based artist.
Getting to Know: Micah Kearns
Meet the man behind the Sacramento chapter of a global speaker series devoted to making mistakes
Micah Kearns is no stranger to mistakes, failures, snafus or rock bottoms. Life experience, along with a gentle demeanor that suggests he is the physical embodiment of a “safe space,” make him quite the fit as chapter organizer of F—up Nights Sacramento.
Art Exposed: Eden Halbert
Founder of Sierra Luna Photography used misfortune as an impetus to create her own business opportunities in the foothills
“If you had told me 30 years ago I would be a professional photographer, I’d be professionally working with dogs, I would have laughed,” Halbert says. “Now that I’m here, this is the only place I should be.”