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.