Arts & Entertainment

Art Opening Friday at ECHO gallery in Calistoga

Reception for summer show is 7 to 9 p.m.

ECHO gallery launches a new show Friday inspired by the summer season: saturated color, street culture, and strange characters.

Featured artists include: John Casey, Emma Higgins, Kim Ford Kitz, Shawn (AKO) Whisenant, plus Porous Walker and David Hopp. An opening reception will be held Friday, July 19 from 7-9 p.m.

The event celebrates ECHO's one-year anniversary as the alternative art space in Calistoga,

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John Casey is a prolific artist based in Oakland. His obsession with bizarre creatures comes from his youth when he began drawing monsters with distorted limbs and swirling eyes.

His obsession with the figure led him artistically to a concept he calls “emotional biomorphology” where the body is transformed by a person’s emotional state. Drawn spontaneously, their heads may drift off their necks, or flowers sprout from their eyes.

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He writes, “Mysterious, yet fertile with visual cues and references, these tall tales slowly reveal their meaning, sometimes weeks after a work is completed.” (bunnywax.com)

Kim Ford Kitz lives in San Anselmo, where she finds inspiration in the colorful patterns of land and the directional pull of a rustic road. In her saturated landscapes, she explores both the physical and spiritual dimensions of nature—growth, erosion, and renewal. Her figurative works reference childhood memories, often using multiple overlapping elements.

The narratives are deeper and more complex than they appear at first glance. Kitz received her BFA from Academy of Art in San Francisco and is represented in Marin by Seager Gray Gallery. (kimfordkitz.com)

Shawn Whisenant is a San Francisco based photographer, artist, graffiti writer, and skater. He creates much of his work from found materials he gathers on the streets and stitches together items such as ticket stubs, newspaper clippings, dry cleaning slips, and discarded photos.

Laboriously hand-sewn, his assemblages reflect the gritty reality of urban survival. He has participated in group shows worldwide and has had solo shows in San Francisco, Los Angeles, Philadelphia and New York. His art and photography has appeared in numerous publications including Thrasher Magazine, Transworld, Beautiful Decay, and Juxtapoz. (shawnwhisenant.com)

Emma Higgins is a Calistoga native who can sometimes be seen tattooing oranges at Yo el Rey Roasting or helping out at the Forni Brown Welsh Gardens. A professional tattoo artist, Emma’s career is just moving from flesh to gallery walls.

Her images of sea monsters, one-horned demons, and three-eyed geishas seem to be from another era, or just on the brink of a new one. Emma is the artist behind the ECHO gallery logo. Some of her tattoo flash (designs drawn on paper) will be shown with original artworks. (heavyhiggins.tumblr.com)

ECHO (Every Creative Hand Occupied) is an alternative art space in Calistoga. Our goal is to give artists a place to share their work and create an environment of discovery that will transform our town and those who visit. Open Wed-Sat, Noon to 6 p.m. More info can be found on the facebook page: www.facebook/echocalistoga.

 



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