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Museum Exhibit: Third Annual Printmaking Exhibit ImPRESSED: Turning the Page

The third Annual ImPRESSED printmaking exhibit; Turning the Page, opens August 17 at the Mendocino County Museum.
This year the Museum will exhibit prints on loan from the San Francisco Center of the Book. These prints were created during the SFCB’s annual Roadworks Steamroller Printing Festival and were printed by the Roots of Motive Power using their 7-ton 1924 Buffalo Springfield steamroller. The SFCB hosted Roadworks for the final time after a vibrant twenty-year run in 2023.The exhibit will be a celebration of collaboration and creativity.
The Museum will also feature an incredible body of bright and bold new artwork from the progressive Art Explorers studio located in Fort Bragg. Art Explorers have contributed to this annual exhibit from its beginning. The artists generously share carved linoleum blocks to also display, which help convey the printing process and inspire visitors to try their own hand at printmaking.
This year’s exhibit, ImPRESSED: Turning the Page, is aptly named as the Museum and the Roots of Motive Power are fueling up to bring the same energy of the Roadworks Festival to the local annual ROMP Steam Festival. Which will be held on September 7 and 8 in Willits, CA.

3rd Annual IMPRESSED POSTER PNG(1)

Past Exhibits

 

In the Field: Exploring Botany in Mendocino County, January 17 - July 17, 2024

is a celebration of the study of unique plants that grow in our region. Building on past exhibit, Carl Purdy: A Passion for Plants, developed by Curator Dot Brovarney, In the Field reflects on the pursuits of Mendocino County Botanists from past to present.

Featured botanists will include Jim McNamee, well known as the proprietor of the McNamee Store in Fish Rock on the Mendocino Coast, Edith Van Allen Murphy, who worked to record and illustrate Native American uses of plants for the U.S. Plant Bureau, and world-renowned “Lily Man of Ukiah,” Carl Purdy.

The exhibit will feature sketches, illustrations, photographs, and pressed specimens, that showcase a passion for learning and observation by a variety of Mendocino County artists, students, and enthusiasts.

Her Side of the Story: Tales of California Pioneer Women, October 28 - December 23, 2023

Black and white photo of a woman standing on a high cliff overlooking Yosemite, a waterfall can be seen in the distance.

A traveling exhibit from Exhibit Envoy, Her Side of the Story: Tales of California Pioneer Women illuminates the hardships, joys, and lives of female pioneers in California and features 30 first-person accounts collected from women who traveled by land or sea to settle throughout California prior to January 1, 1854.

While on show at the Mendocino County Museum the exhibit was enhanced with the addition of women’s stories from across Mendocino County with special contributions from the Kelly House, the Grace Hudson Museum and Sun House, the Anderson Valley Historical Society, and the Mendocino County Museum collection.

Learn more about Her Side of the Story at www.exhibitenvoy.org.

 

Second Annual ImPRESSED Printmaking Exhibit, August 26 - October 15, 2023

Scene from Alice in Wonderland. Text - Impressed, Showing at Mendocino County Museum, Aug 26 - Oct 15

Best known for their restoration of Steam Engines, the Roots of Motive Power (Roots) are also avid supporters of the arts. Since 1998, Roots have been sharing their Buffalo 1924 Steam Roller, and talented crew, with Bay Area printmakers at the annual Roadworks Steam Festival in the Do.Re.Mi Arts District, hosted by the San Francisco Center for the Book (CFTB). Roots have provided this same opportunity locally at their annual Steam Festival in Willits.

In 2022 the Mendocino County Museum decided to spotlight the printmaking aspect of this great event, by showcasing a selection of works from the Museum collection and by hosting community linocut workshops. The Museum then exhibited the 60+ community prints made during the event. 

The second annual Impressed printmaking exhibit showcased the innovative work of Rik Olson, Meg Pohlod, and Solange Roberdeau. In addition Art Explorers returned to showcase their work, printing blocks, and products, to demonstrate the endless possibilities of this medium.

Cannabis in Mendocino County: Our Story, February 11 - March 19, 2023

Local historians Richard Jergenson and Annie Waters shared collections from the Counter Culture Museum and Archives at the Mendocino County Museum.

In addition the Mendocino County Museum shared a small selection of their archival materials pertaining to the Back to the Land Movement and Cannabis, available for public research.

About the Counter Culture Museum and Archive: Gathering from the collections of Richard Jergenson, historian and archivist, and through the use of exhibits, educational lectures, films, writings, and oral histories, the Counter Culture Museum and Archive (CCM Archive) interprets the diverse and complex roles that cannabis and counterculture have played in Mendocino County and beyond. The Counter Culture Museum and Archive continues to collect, preserve, and exhibit memorabilia detailing the history of hemp and cannabis in the Emerald Triangle and beyond.