Art & Yo-Yos Make A Colorful Weekend Escape
by Sheila Sobell©
 What do kid crafted “palio”
horses, world famous art glass blowers, and the U.S. National Yo-Yo
Championships have in common? All play a pivotal role in transforming
college town Chico to arty Chico for the month- long celebration of
Artoberfest. While other cities celebrate autumn with traditional bratwurst
and other Southern Germanic accents, Chico’s Artoberfest is all about the
art produced in this vibrant college setting.
It starts with a homemade fanfare – neighborhood kids and young adults using
“found” material like chicken wire, duct tape, mops and paint to sculpt
horses for their version of
Palio di Sienna, Italy’s centuries old horse race. There are prizes for the
first human -carried horse over the finish line, best designed horse and
best designed flag. Then it’s on to open studio tours, photography exhibits,
music, theatre, dance, film, plus visits to the National Yo-Yo Museum. In
all, it’s a great art party for its size that’s earned it the designation of
the number 10 best small art town in America.”
September 26, 2009 will mark Chico’s 3rd Palio competition between
neighborhoods and communities and 5th annual Artoberfest. Expect to discover
an entertaining mix of professional and emerging artists’ works displayed in
enticing settings.
Art Glass Puts Chico on the Map
Chico’s art claim to fame lies in the vast talent of its resident
glassblowers, drawn to the city by the opportunity to study glass making in
an innovative program introduced 41 years at Chico State University. Only
the second such program to be put in place at a Cal State University, it
attracted budding enthusiasts from across the country. Until then, their
only option had been the glass program at the University of Wisconsin,
Madison started in 1962 by Harvey Littleton, the “father of the American
Studio Glass Movement.” Today Chico State offers both undergraduate and
graduate courses and degrees in glass. That’s probably why the city now
boasts about a dozen professional artists who make a living glassblowing.
Their studios are open during Artoberfest.
Among the most prominent are Richard Satava of Satava Art Glass Designs, and
Douglas Boyd, Scott Beyers,
and Bruce Sillars of Orient & Flume – all but Boyd are Chico State
graduates. Satava’s studio is located downtown in a charming one-story
bungalow built originally in 1976 as a home for his family. Now converted
into a gallery and studio, Satava, with his dog at his side, works with
three assistants at his outdoor furnace overlooking a paved patio and garden
where bamboo runs amok around sculptures made by friends that lie side
–by-side in the sun next to works in progress, with which Satava is
experimenting. His signature
jellyfish have become to art glass what Wyland’s dolphins are to acrylic
sculpture Inspired by an
exhibit of real jellyfish of the Outer Bay at the Monterey Bay Aquarium,
some of Satava’s jellyfish sculptures weigh as much as 50 pounds each. World
Art Glass Quarterly describes them as lifelike, semi-transparent creatures
“frosted with enough color so that the skin glows as it captures the light,
but also transparent enough so that the viewer can see through the skin into
the mysterious inner workings.”
Orient & Flume Art Glass first
attracted international attention with its unique ability to create Art
Nouveau inspired blue and gold iridescent finishes for paperweights and
vases reminiscent of Tiffany and Steuben.
Under the direction of Douglas Boyd, president and founder, the fine
art glass studio introduced
another innovation - a
line of clear glass vases, paperweights and perfume bottles with intricate,
realistic and brightly colored three-dimensional designs of flowers, insects
and fish. The studio’s work is
collected by the Smithsonian Museum, Metropolitan Museum, Corning Glass
Museum, and fine galleries and museums worldwide.
Art World Giants in Intimate Settings
Much of the magic of Artoberfest lies in its ability to arrange appearances
by artistic legends like Ira H. Latour, photographer, filmmaker, art
historian. An art history emeritus Chico State professor, Latour studied
under and was close friends with three of America’s greatest photographers –
Ansel Adams, Edward Weston, and Minor White, and has himself become one of
the country’s most celebrated image makers. At a reception celebrating seven
decades of his photography, the 89-year old talked about his work and the
images that mean the most to him. Standing in front of “Girl’s Feet,” a 1938
black and white print, he said, “This is one of the photographs that means
the most to me because it’s an image I took of my sister’s feet, She liked
this Edward Weston kind of photograph taken up close with an abstract
quality. I can’t find the negative, so this print is very valuable to me. In
the end, I’d have to say that good photography happens by accident. I can
spend the whole day in the darkroom and then discard almost everything. My
most important tool is a garbage can.”
 Grab some java at the Empire
Coffee Car, a restored 1947 Pullman, and pick up a self-guided tour map of
the more than 100 artists participating in the Open Studios Art Tour during
Artoberfest. The distributor is the Chico Art Center, a charming space
located in the town’s original
1877 railroad depot constructed by the California and Oregon Railroad.
Now on the National Register of Historic Places, the Center’s gallery
showcases high quality juried art by
members, as well as mounts a sneak preview of the artists’ work on
view in the open studio tours program. A must (just $10!) is their sumptuous
calendar studded with 80 small photos of the work on tour. The Open Studio
Art Tour map leads you on a veritable treasure hunt of visual aesthetics–
from internationally recognized art glass galleries to heavy cement
sculpture for the garden, photographers, printmakers, watercolorists
and craftspeople.
 Don’t leave town without
visiting the National Yo-Yo Museum, showcasing everything from the largest
public collection of yo-yos to yo-yo related gifts,
and memorabilia like the
giant newspaper photo of President Richard Nixon yo-yoing on stage at the
opening of the Grand Ole Opry
in 1974. If you’re lucky enough
to combine your Artoberfest visit with the National Yo-Yo Championships held
the first Saturday in October in downtown Chico City Plaza, catch kids from
everywhere taking Nixon’s stunt to another amazing dimension.
Says 20-year old Augie Fash, a six year California reigning
champion, “When I was growing up, I couldn’t do Rubik’s Cube or catch
a football very well, so I needed to find something to fill up recess time
with. I got into yo-yos and it’s a great icebreaker and a way to meet
people. “
If You Go
Where To Stay
If you want to stretch out in a masterpiece of a bed, check your email, use
the business centre services, and be pampered by an attentive staff, check
out Oxford Suites,
www.oxfordsuiteschico.com.
If you’re more the B&B aficionado, the historic five-bed Goodman House built
in the colonial revival –craftsman style offers fireplaces, European
antiques, private baths and superb hospitality.
www.goodmanhouse.net.
What to See/Do
For more information on art glass, visit
www.orientandflume.com
and www.satava.com.
Explore the Chico Art Center at
www.chicoartcenter.com.
Learn about this history of yo-yos at
www.nationalyoyo.org.
Plan your Artoberfest visit at
www.artoberfest.org.
Sheila Sobell is a professional worldwide travel photojournalist.
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