To our guests on vacation at The Redwood Riverwalk Hotel in Fortuna, on California’s Redwood Coast: If you visit attractions in Old Town Eureka, put the nearby Morris Graves Museum of Art to your itinerary. It is housed in Eureka’s historic Carnegie Library and is the only art museum in all of Humboldt County! The seven galleries, courtyard sculpture garden, and Humboldt Artists Gallery are home to a wide variety of exhibits that change frequently. The permanent collection features works by Morris Graves, including seven of his major and minor paintings, plus those of other internationally recognized artists. In addition, the Museum has a performance rotunda, and a museum store.
Morris Graves Museum of Art offers free admission with live music, exhibition receptions, and a wine bar as part of Eureka’s Arts Alive! held the first Saturday of every month from 6 – 9 pm. The Museum hosts Wine & Jazz at MGMA the third Sunday of every month from 3 – 5 pm.
Current exhibits include:
- Fifty Years of Wire: Elizabeth Berrien’s Journey of Exploration-A Retrospective (through September 30, 2018). Elizabeth Berrien employs a unique textile technique to create her famous wire sculptures. Her work has received widespread worldwide recognition including a Clio, Obie, Cannes Gold Lions, and international Best of Show awards.
- Tony Machado: El Maestro en Reposo (through October 28, 2018). Anthony “Tony” Machado passed away June 7, 2018. For decades, this California artist employed a unique style of composition in his figurative oil paintings. After painting murals in the Bay Area during the 1970’s, he went on to produce statues for the 1984 Summer Olympics, and create silkscreen works such as album covers for Carlos Santana. Many recent shows highlighted his original art works in oil paints.
- William Ishmael: Wholeness and Fragmentation (through October 28, 2018). Ishmael’s works incorporate the concept of wholeness broken up into fragments. His premise is that the fragments gain greater meaning when integrated into the larger contexts of his abstract works and art installations. Ishmael employs paint, sand, rusted steel, mirrored surfaces, organic materials, and the effects of weather to create the weathered, multilayered effects in these works.
The Morris Graves Museum of Art is a great place to visit any time of year, and Saturday, September 22, 2018 is Smithsonian Museum Day there. Once a year, Smithsonian magazine hosts this annual event, when over 1,100 museums and cultural institutions across the U.S. offer free general admission to everyone presenting a Museum Day ticket. Museum Day Tickets are available to download now, and a limited number are available. Don’t wait to go online to get the free tickets for September 22, 2018 when you make your reservation at the Redwood Riverwalk Hotel in Fortuna, just a short drive from Eureka!
The Morris Graves Museum of Art
Location: 636 F Street, Eureka, CA
Phone: 707.442.0278
Days & Hours: Wednesday – Sunday from 12:00 pm – 5:00 pm
Closed: Mondays, Tuesdays, and major holidays.
Admission: Adults $5.00; Seniors (65+) and Students with ID, $2.00; Children 17 and under free.
Photo courtesy of Humboldt Lodging Alliance
