Small town: BIG ART - Humboldt County

10/20/2024

The concept of the 2014 small town: BIG ART calendar existed in my head for ages before it came to fruition. The idea was a calendar that celebrated the humans behind the local art we all know and love.

I shared the idea with Peggy Loudon at a holiday party when I first met her, and she brought it up years later, once Kickstart became a totally viable way to raise funds for the endeavor... Peggy let me come to her studio and shoot some video of her slingin' clay, and the rest is history.

The 2014 small town: BIG ART calendar features Matt Filar, Rae Robison, Colin VANCE BANJOS, Elizabeth Berrien, Scott Cocking, Linda Mowry Wise, Scott Hemphill, Darin Mitchell, Peggy Loudon Porcelain, Christina Anastasia, Laurel Skye (R.I.P.), and Duane Edward Flatmo.

Why bring this up now? Because 2025 shares the same date layout as 2014! You can use this little slice of Humboldt County artist love for another year, for the low, low price of a donation to small town: BIG ART, a DreamMaker project of the Ink People Center for the Arts.

We'll have calendars at all Rock Chick Designs vending booths through the end of the year, as well as at the Ink People's office at 627 3rd Street in Old Town during the week.

We love the intersection of retro and utilitarian!

~Monica Topping-Adams~
st:BA dreamer/photographer

01/19/2022

Whoa, there's less than $1,000 left for this Kickstarter -- Humboldt's first published collection of plein air painters -- to raise before they hit their all-or-nothing goal!

For $65 you can get dibs on a hardcopy of the book (and, if you're like me, look through it and say "Hey, I know that artist!" on every other page), and there are other bigger and smaller support levels, as well.

Help us print a museum-quality hardcover book that's the first known collection of Humboldt County painters (and yes, that's verified!)

12/20/2021

small town: BIG ART is back! We've been re-approved as a DreamMaker project of the Ink People with goals that include accessible, family friendly public art.

Now we're doing some research... what are your favorite hidden gems of a) Eureka, and b) Humboldt County? Where do you take out of town folks that aren't, say, the Carson Mansion.

Our ears are open!

01/10/2017

Last month, I got the nickel tour of Fire Arts Center - Arcata, CA from Sara Starr, and got to poke around with my camera while she worked on her new tile piece for the Humboldt Steelhead Days 2017 art show.

Sara Starr/ Styles Tiles

Photos by Monica Topping.

12/09/2016

Blue Ox Millworks ceramics studio. Dec. 8, 2016