LOWER LAKE, Calif. – Renowned textile artist Sheila O’Hara is offering classes to all levels of students at her south Lake County studio.
Did you ever wonder how cloth was woven or how a loom works? Now you can learn the centuries-old art of weaving right here in Lake County.
O’Hara will instruct you in basic weaving techniques from yarn identification to handwoven cloth or artworks.
If you already know how to weave, O’Hara will help you explore new avenues and provide you with creative inspiration.
Classes are held every Thursday from 1:30 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. at O’Hara’s home studio, 14383 Spruce Grove Road, located between Lower Lake and Middletown.
Table looms are available to rent and floor looms at the studio available.
LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – Clear Lake Performing Arts, in conjunction with a generous grant from the Lake County Wine Alliance, is offering free after school violin lessons to elementary through high school students.
Classes begin on Feb. 8, and will meet each Friday at Lower Lake Elementary School Room 22 from 2:45 p.m. to 3:45 p.m. or 3:45 p.m. to 4:45 p.m.
Sue Condit is the instructor for the class and is a classroom teacher, member of the Clear Lake Performing Arts Lake County Symphony and the conductor for the Clear Lake Performing Arts Youth Orchestra.
Violins are not included with the class, but are available for rental through the instructor, Skelton’s Music and Bandbox Music.
The deadline for registration is Friday, Jan. 18.
Please contact Sue Condit at 707-994-5787, Extension 2619, to register or for more information.
LAKEPORT, Calif. – The Lake County Arts Council will host its next First Friday Fling on Jan. 4.
The fling will take place from 5:30 p.m. to 7 p.m. at the Main Street Gallery, 325 N. Main St., Lakeport.
Featured this month are the works of Steve Bellah, Carmon Brittain, Max Butler, Judy Cardinale, Terry Durnil, Ray Farrow, Lois Feron, Ruth Morgan, Leonora McKenzie, Shelby Posada, Linda Richmond, Bonnie Sears, Richard Seisser, Xian Yeagan, Ron Snider, Carol Yanagitsubo, Gary Simpson, Xian Yeagan, Beth Gilmore, Sherry Harris, Diego Harris and Carmon Brittain.
This month the Linda Carpenter Gallery will feature an exhibition of the work of artists from People Services.
There also will be wine, food and music.
For more information contact the Lake County Arts Council, 707-263-6658.
MENDOCINO, Calif. – The Mendocino Coast Brass Quintet, featuring five members of the Symphony of the Redwoods brass section, will hold an opus concert on Sunday, Jan. 13.
The concert will take place beginning at 3 p.m. in the Mendocino Presbyterian Church Sanctuary, 44831 Main St., Mendocino.
The traditional brass quintet will present music in a variety of styles – classical, folk, jazz, swing and ragtime.
When we began this column in 2005, I determined not to include any of my own poems because I wanted to introduce our readers to the work of as many of the other American poets as I could. But from time to time someone has requested that I publish one of my own.
So here’s a seasonal poem, for those who’ve asked.
Christmas Mail
Cards in each mailbox, angel, manger, star and lamb, as the rural carrier, driving the snowy roads, hears from her bundles the plaintive bleating of sheep, the shuffle of sandals, the clopping of camels. At stop after stop, she opens the little tin door and places deep in the shadows the shepherds and wise men, the donkeys lank and weary, the cow who chews and muses. And from her Styrofoam cup, white as a star and perched on the dashboard, leading her ever into the distance, there is a hint of hazelnut, and then a touch of myrrh.
Like most holiday seasons, this year has a few epics and a bunch of passable comedies.
In the former category, you’ve got “The Hobbit” and Russell Crowe singing during the 1832 Paris uprising, in a movie nearly as long as the French Revolution itself.
“Parental Guidance” falls into the grouping of the ostensible family comedies suitable for all ages at a time when kids are out of school and everyone is in a festive holiday mood.
There was a decent reason to believe that the pairing of Billy Crystal and Bette Midler, as traditional-minded grandparents with love in their hearts and hell-bent for family-oriented fun, would result in more than acceptable entertainment.
To a decent extent, Crystal and Midler bring a generational dimension of old-school parenting to the fore in a way that is alternately amusing and frustrating, the latter more so for their own kids than grandkids.
Artie and Diane Decker (Crystal and Midler) have been the type of carefree yet caring parents that proved embarrassing to adult daughter Alice Simmons (Marisa Tomei), now married with three children of her own.
The Deckers live in Fresno, Calif., where the sports-obsessed, motor-mouthed Artie has been the baseball announcer for the Fresno Grizzlies. Diane is as equally brash and loud as her husband.
Meanwhile, Alice and her husband Phil (Tom Everett Scott) live in Atlanta, which is almost as far away as you can get from Fresno while still remaining within the continental United States.
Alice and Phil want to slip away for a week’s convention trip, and Phil’s parents are not available for babysitting duty. As a measure of desperation, they call for help from the “other grandparents.”
Possessed of the Type-A parental gene, Alice and Phil are reluctant, to say the least, to turn over their three precious children to parents who may not follow their indulgent ways.
The kids have their own set of issues. The oldest, Harper (Bailee Madison), is pushed constantly to practice her violin. The older son, Turner (Joshua Rush), has a stuttering problem that causes him to be bullied at school.
The youngest, Barker (Kyle Harrison Breitkopf), is oddly attached to his invisible best friend, a kangaroo named Carl. But Barker is also the cagiest sibling, as he cleverly blackmails his grandpa into forking over hush money.
Before Alice and Phil can even pack their bags, the grandparents clash with the overly protective parents over child-rearing tactics. As a result, Alice becomes a nervous wreck, adding to the discomfort that is mined for comic effect.
Phil has designed an ultra-modern home where a computer monitors everyone’s movement, sort of a creepy Big Brother-is-watching surveillance system that decides, on its own power, to disrespect Artie.
Meanwhile, Artie decides to tackle problems with his own blunt methods. For one, he candidly confronts Turner’s speech therapist over her questionable techniques.
Since Artie was also recently fired from his announcer job, he makes the unwise choice of taking Barker with him on an audition with ESPN, making a fool of himself for trying to fit in with the extreme sports crowd.
Naturally, the grandparents make a ton of blunders in caring for the grandkids. Though sugar has been banned from the household, Artie figures that the sugary treat of a nice cake won’t do any harm. Big mistake!
What’s not a mistake, however, is that the loving grandparents and the kids finally reach a level of familial connection, though it involves something as simple as a backyard game of kick the can.
Artie also helps Turner overcome his stuttering with a clever use of a radio replay of Bobby Thomson’s walk-off home run hit on a pitch by Ralph Branca during the 1951 Giants-Dodgers pennant playoff series.
“Parental Guidance” falls into the trap of forging some of its comedy with the formulaic use of certain bodily functions. Apparently, the filmmakers had to resort to juvenile humor to fill the vacuum in a movie that is well short of two hours.
On the other hand, this is a minor quibble with a film that is, for the most part, a family-friendly entertainment that offers plenty of laughs and heartwarming moments.
“Parental Guidance” is not a film for jaded cynics. Sure, it is rather generic, but it is a welcome relief to some of the corrosive junk that’s out there.
Tim Riley writes film and television reviews for Lake County News.
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