Willits Center for the Arts

09/06/2026

Photograph by James King
Top contributor
3 days ago
Frankie Howard and his puppies. Bronze statue by Stan Watts. It is in front of Howard Memorial Hospital in Willits.

09/06/2026

# # # Bison, Cave of Altamira, Spain

This magnificent bison was painted by Upper Paleolithic artists on the ceiling of the Cave of Altamira in northern Spain, approximately **14,500 years ago**. The artist combined **red ochre and black charcoal** with engraving, using the natural cracks and contours of the rock to give the animal a powerful sense of volume and three-dimensionality. The bison’s massive body, curved back, muscular legs, and carefully observed posture demonstrate an extraordinary understanding of animal anatomy. Rather than simply decorating the cave, the artist transformed the irregular surface of the stone into part of the image itself—a remarkable example of how prehistoric artists used **observation, imagination, and the natural environment** to create some of humanity’s earliest great works of art. ([cultura.gob.es][1])

[1]: https://www.cultura.gob.es/mnaltamira/en/cueva-altamira/arte.html?utm_source=chatgpt.com "The art of Altamira - Museo Nacional y Centro de Investigación de Altamira | Ministerio de Cultura"

09/06/2026

09/05/2026

Vincent van Gogh’s Café Terrace at Night (1888) captures a lively evening scene in Arles, France, transformed by the artist’s expressive use of color and brushwork. The brilliant yellow café glows against a deep cobalt-blue night sky, creating a striking complementary contrast. Van Gogh applied short, energetic strokes throughout the cobblestone street, buildings, and sky, giving the scene a sense of movement and vitality. Rather than simply recording what he saw, he used color and paint to convey the emotional excitement and beauty he experienced in the night.

09/04/2026

Rembrandt’s Bellona is a striking early painting, created in 1633, that depicts the Roman goddess of war not in battle but in a moment of poised theatrical grandeur. Dressed in richly detailed armor and glowing fabrics, she stands as both a mythological figure and a display of Rembrandt’s fascination with dramatic light, texture, and costume. The painting blends strength with elegance, using shadow and warm illumination to give Bellona a powerful, almost stage-like presence that reflects the artist’s early interest in history and character.

09/03/2026

Join us for the opening of an amazing collection of contempory ceramics from the Mendocino College Ceramics faculty,including Department Head Wesley Wright, Heather Law, Sarah Logan, Grace Potter, Jacque Adams, Ryan Schnirel, and Alberto Lozano Ruvalcaba. This festive opening with Mendocino College instructors from multiple locations around the County will celebrate countywide art & arts education on Saturday September 5 from 6 to 8pm, with food, beverages and community. The show will remain up through Sunday September 27, with galleries open Fridays through Sundays from 11am-5pm, at Willits Center for the Arts, at 71 E. Commercial St. in Willits. Check our website at www.willitscenterforthearts.org.
Art shown here L-R by Wesley Wright, Heather Law, and Sarah Logan.

09/03/2026

Kara Walker’s A Subtlety, or the Marvelous Sugar Baby (2014) is a monumental sculpture created for the former Domino Sugar Refinery in Brooklyn, New York. The colossal figure, approximately 35 feet tall, depicts a n**e Black woman in the form of a sphinx, confronting viewers with the history of slavery, race, labor, and the sugar industry. Constructed from polystyrene covered in white sugar, the sculpture’s enormous scale and brilliant whiteness create a striking contrast with the painful history it evokes. Walker transforms the refinery itself—once a major site of sugar production—into part of the artwork, making A Subtlety a powerful meditation on the connections between American industry, slavery, and the exploitation of Black bodies.

09/02/2026

Clara Peeters (c. 1587–after 1636) was a pioneering Flemish still-life painter and one of the earliest women artists to specialize in the genre. Her flower paintings are remarkable for their precise observation, delicate handling of petals and leaves, and jewel-like colors set against dark backgrounds. In this bouquet, the abundance of flowers—roses, tulips, lilies, and irises—is carefully arranged to create both visual richness and a sense of natural disorder. Peeters also includes fallen flowers, reminding viewers of the transience of beauty and life, a central theme of seventeenth-century Dutch and Flemish still-life painting. Her work helped establish flower still life as an important independent genre in European art.

09/01/2026

Caravaggio’s The Cardsharps, painted around 1594, is an early masterpiece of the Italian Baroque. The painting depicts a naïve young man being deceived in a game of cards by two experienced cheats. Caravaggio draws the viewer into the scene through his close cropping, naturalistic figures, and carefully observed gestures and expressions. The young man’s elegant clothing contrasts with the more worn appearance of the cardsharps, emphasizing his vulnerability. Rather than presenting an idealized subject, Caravaggio focuses on ordinary people and a moment of deception, anticipating his revolutionary interest in realism, psychological tension, and dramatic storytelling.