Visuals 04.02.20

Erin Lee Gafill’s Awaken the Artist Within

Big Sur painter Erin Lee Gafill, who was a 2008 recipient of the Arts Council for Monterey County’s Champion of the Arts award, is a published author (Drinking from a Cold Spring), and teaches creativity and painting workshops in Tecate in Baja California, Mexico, as well as every fall in Italy, and at Esalen Institute in Big Sur. Those are not free; but now she’s teaching a workshop series online that is (although the materials list is long and specific). Awaken the Artist Within has a YouTube Channel with 180 subscribers so far. But even if you don’t tune in to paint along, Gafill’s gentle voice and the delicate manner in which she paints is soothing in an ASMR kind of way. Plus, it’s a fascinating tutorial on painting that will give viewers an appreciation for the process, even if you don’t yourself participate. Her website iseringafill.com.

Jo Mora Presentation by Peter Hiller

Jo Mora was one of the most fascinating artists to trek these parts and the wider West. He was an adventurer, cartoonist, comics illustrator, muralist, cowboy, ethnographer, painter, photographer, sculptor and author. Peter Hiller, former art history teacher and current Jo Mora Trust Collection curator, was invited by Jessica Potts, executive director of the Monterey County Agricultural and Rural Life Museum in King City, to do a presentation as part of their annual winter lecture series in March. Then, of course, there was this whole coronavirus thing. But Hiller has not backed down; he’s gone ahead and done the presentation anyway in a 45-minute YouTube video. It’s the first time he’s done something like this, but his authority on and fascination with his subject shine through. Search YouTube for “Jo Mora Presentation by PeterHiller.”