Healdsburg Highlights By Barbara Barrielle - May 2017
I keep honey bees in Healdsburg and this past weekend we just set up 350 hives that went out locally to backyard beekeepers. There are a lot in Sonoma County but people came as far away as Oregon and Santa Cruz... one even flew up from San Diego. We have good survivor bees in Healdsburg! No chemicals ever used. If you want to get ahead of the curve and get some research and visits set up ahead of time, you are invited to come over in the next month or two and jump in one of my bee suits. We can look in a hive – you can see a queen – you can see larva…you can see baby Bees. Experience how the hive is set up and you can see the worker bees 98 percent all girls and the boy drone bees 2 per cent. They just eat and are fat but go out and breed with other queens then die as a result. The queen only breeds for 5-7 days and then is in the hive for the rest of her life laying 1,500 eggs a day! There are a lot of backyard beekeepers in Sonoma County! Contact April lance 707-478-1008.
Homelessness Reflections in Art
Homelessness Reflections in Art is at the Paul Mahder Gallery, 222 Healdsburg Ave. May 13-22, 2107. The opening reception is May 13, 4-7 pm. Student Film Night is on Thursday, May 18, 6 pm. with a special performance
on closing night, May 22, 6 pm. Info: northsonomacountyservices.com
Artist Harvey Brody was content to stay in his studio and create art but an opportunity to help create art classes, especially for the under-served children of Healdsburg, got him out into the community as the director of education for the Healdsburg Center for the Arts.
At the request of a friend he made a presentation to the Healdsburg Sunrise Rotary about the importance of art programs for children. It was there that he met Colleen Carmichael, the executive director for North Sonoma County Services. Later that week she showed him the artwork of third graders from The Healdsburg School reflecting their responses to a presentation on homelessness. He was overwhelmed by the emotion expressed and the insight these children had into a plight few of them had ever seen and never known.
Harvey realized this should not be the end of the road for these artworks as they were a route to knowledge and understanding for the children, their parents and anyone who viewed them. Together, Harvey and Colleen, formulated a program to go into the Healdsburg schools and talk about homelessness and encourage the students to respond with any form of artistic expression they chose.
This is the basis for the second annual exhibit of students’ artwork on homelessness. This exhibit is sponsored by North Sonoma County Services and will be held at thePaul Mahder Gallery (222 Healdsburg Ave, Healdsburg) May 13-22.
North Sonoma County Services partners with people in North Sonoma County who are struggling with or at risk of losing housing. The organization transforms lives by engaging clients in an action plan for their success and provides them with the skills needed to attain permanent housing. NSCS provides services to the homeless and those threatened with homelessness by offering temporary housing, shower services, interim apartment units, food assistance in conjunction with the Food Pantry and Farm to Pantry, medical assistance in conjunction with Alliance Medical Center and Alexander Valley Healthcare and temporary financial relief. The goal of NSCS is to increase sobriety, income and independence and reduce homelessness in our communities.
As an extension of the art for students program, Harvey now does art with the homeless one day a week. Many of these works will be part of the exhibit May 13-22 and help to individualize and personalize these clients, make them real people. In addition, professional artists have been asked to be part of the Paul Mahder Gallery display. All of the artwork will be for sale and all proceeds from work of the homeless goes directly to them. Professional artists will donate a portion of their sales to NSCS while the sales of art created by the students benefits NSCS.
A new focal point of this year’s exhibit is prototypes of mobile pods: one is being created by Healdsburg High School students under the direction of art teacher Linus Lancaster and another by Sebastopol artist Ken Berman. These pods, designed to provide housing and storage to those without permanent housing can be towed by bicycle and parked anywhere for instant shelter.
Another highlight of this year’s exhibit will be a short film on local homelessness by recent Healdsburg High School graduate Marcus Cano, who created his first film on homelessness as his senior project. He has since revised it and become a full-time filmmaker heading to film school shortly. We will have the opportunity to see Marcus’ revised film on the evening of Thursday, May 18th at the Paul Mahder Gallery.
On Closing Night, Monday, May 22, a special one-person show written and performed by Summerfield Waldorf studentBronwyn Smith, will be shown via video recording, along with three short films created by students from Healdsburg Jr. High. This presentation will also be at the Paul Mahder Gallery.
More artists and projects are being announced in the months leading up to what will surely be a memorable and multi-dimensional exhibit that evokes and educates as to the crisis that is homelessness and potential solutions in Northern Sonoma County.
Harvey Brody hopes to raise funds for NCSC through ad sales in the programs and plans on seeking sponsors for the mobile pods once the design has been finalized. They may even make an appearance in the annual Healdsburg Memorial Day Parade.
Harvey, Colleen and the entire staff and board of NCSC intend to continue to remind our community of the plight of homelessness and their efforts to reduce despair and increase hope for the future. What better way to look to the future than through the eyes of our children?
