Let’s Party: Seven Artists on Display in the First Month

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We Will Celebrate With Another Art Opening Party Friday, June 31 –

By Glynn Wilson –

COULTERVILLE, Calif. – It’s been one month to the day since we opened the groundbreaking new Yosemite Arts and Crafts Center with a blockbuster, conversation changing party in this historic Gold Rush era town, and we already have shows on display by seven local artists and one famous Disney painter.

A Toast to a New Day in Coulterville California

Eat your heart out Mariposa.

While the new Arts and Crafts Center will always seek out and showcase the best work of local artists and crafts makers in our region, we also strive to feature more prominent art and artists as well, such as Disney artist James Coleman.

New Yosemite Arts and Crafts Center Features Famous Art as Well as Local Artists

We feature information about the artists here, starting with this video interview with Rustic Metal Artist Tom Rogers.

Yosemite Arts and Crafts Center Artist Interview Series One: Tom Rogers

The Gold Rush still inspires tourism, travel and the creation of art in our area, so we feature the work of Coulterville resident Mark Nordeen.

Known for his guitar work and vocals in regional bands, he is also an artist now with his own gallery show in the new Yosemite Arts and Crafts Center. When he was a boy, he and his dad explored gold mines and ruins in the “motherlode” area, which inspired his interest in Gold Rush history and art.

Yosemite Arts and Crafts Center: Original Gold Rush Art

Then, we talked to Cathy O’Donnell, an award-winning artist who transforms reclaimed metal, found objects, and discarded pieces into sculptural works that honor history and the human connections woven into everyday objects.

“From my earliest memories I’ve been attracted to pattern, textures, and the quiet richness of old things – the hidden stories of the lives and hands that have touched them,” she says. “I am deeply humbled by the appreciation and emotional connections people find in my work.”

We also talked to Christine Maka, whose water color paintings of animals and nature scenes you will love.

“Creating art brings me endless joy,” she says. “The world melts away as I paint, and before I know it hours have disappeared. Nothing else matters and my confidence soars. Art is my zen.”

We feature the nature photography of Brandon Reeder, who says he loves “getting out into God’s country, capturing something awe-inspiring and then sharing that with others, a lifelong pursuit.”

“You are that one person, at that one time, in that one place, capturing that one special thing,” he says. “Photography is one of the purest acts of catharsis and introspection.”

Then, of course, there is our indefatigable Art Director, Erica Wolfsen, who teaches art and creates it.

“I paint to honor the Earth’s quiet beauty, layering brushstrokes and antique printings into dialogue. … Each piece is a conversation between beauty and detritus, chaos and care.”

Erica Wolfsen

Future Plans

We are planning a student art show soon, will feature one Ansel Adams photograph for sale, and we are working to put together a special dealer only show featuring four Goya’s and a Rembrandt.

Spanish romantic painter and printmaker Francisco Goya was a lithograph printer as well as a painter, and Dutch Golden Age painter Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn was also a printmaker and draughtsman.

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