Coming Home is a group exhibition coinciding with Bear River High School’s Class of 2007’s 10 year reunion, of which will be held on December 23rd. It features work from Emily Baker, Dane Brown, Amanda Evans, Amanda Kiefer, and Lindsey Nick; students who went on to pursue a career in the arts. Bear River has a range of art classes including photography, drawing and painting, and ceramics. Ag Mechanics also offers a range of technical and making skills. The choir, band, and dance programs also provide numerous performance opportunities, of which greatly benefitted a few of the the artists in the show as teachers in the arts.
While the artists in the show weren’t particularly close in high school, they’ve come together for this event and will continue to remain friends, resources, and colleagues in the field. It’s nice to look back and see the influence that the art, mechanics, choir, band, and dance teachers had on these artists. Curated by Emily Baker, Coming Home will be showcased online from December 23rd - February 23rd, 2018.
Questions? Contact Emily at emily@arts.ucsb.edu
Attended: Alta Sierra - Magnolia - Bear River
Emily took photography as a senior with Mrs. Ammon and was in choir with Mrs. Hayes all four years of high school, in addition to being a member of Starlite Express, the show-pop choir, for three years. She also took dance as a senior with Mrs. Gouveia. After high school she attended CSU, Chico and got her BFA in Interior Design with a minor in sculpture. After college, she moved to San Diego to pursue sculpture and to coach gymnastics competitively. She went on to receive her Master of Fine Arts from UC, Santa Barbara with a focus in bronze casting, metal work, and performance art. She currently teaches sculpture and other art courses at UCSB and Allan Hancock College.
Attended: Sierra Hills - Placer Hills - Magnolia - Bear River
Dane took Ag Mechanics with Mr. Kemp and Art with Ms. Laughlin. He started working on cars independently in high school as well. He began pinstriping cars after high school and started attending car shows all over California. This led him to lettering, signs, and gold leaf application. He had a studio in downtown Auburn in 2011 which recently opened up again. He has started a family and continues to use his art training from high school while managing his own shop, Brown Custom Signs.
http://www.browncustomsigns.com
Attended: Bear River
Amanda took ceramics with Ms. Laughlin in both her junior and senior years. She also took two years of jazz band with Mr. Ahrens and played the piano and alto sax. After high school, she went to college in Southern California and double majored in Sculpture and in Sociology/Cultural Studies. She went on to get her Masters of Fine Arts in Art + Social Practice in Portland, OR, where she currently resides. She’s worked at a respected contemporary art gallery, developed long-term public artwork projects, made drawings as an artist assistant, taught classes at several universities, coordinated a museum inside an elementary school, and started an alternative art school.
Attended: Alta Sierra/Cottage Hill - Magnolia - Bear River
Amanda took art in her junior and senior years with Ms. Laughlin, who allowed her the freedom to pursue her own artistic interests. She studied 2D and 3D game art at Chico State and worked as a professional graphic designer for apparel. After college, she fine tuned her passion as a concept artist, working on freelance indie games while taking classes in art business and figurative art. She got hired as a character-focused concept artist for games at Skydance Interactive. Her work has been published in ImagineFX and Savage Worlds in addition to the creation of tokens for the Warmachine games.
Attended: Alta Sierra - Magnolia - Bear River
Lindsey took drawing and ceramics at Bear River with Ms. Laughlin. Since taking a Sierra College ceramics class with Richard Hotchkiss in 2009, throwing on the wheel has been an ongoing practice of hers. With Professor Hotchkiss as a mentor and inspiration, she took various ceramics classes in Nevada County and continues to create in her small home studio. She enjoys making dinnerware and experimenting with inviting shapes that feel good to the touch and bring comfort to those who use it.
