Art @ the Source is an annual event sponsored by the Sebastopol Center for the Arts. On two weekends in early June, artists throughout West Sonoma County hold open studios so people may meet artists, and can view and purchase arts directly.

Bodega Bay artists have long participated, but given Bodega Bay's distance from Sebastopol and Santa Rosa, many art loving Art @ The Source patrons don't make it all the way out to the coast.

This year, we hope to suggest that many begin their tour in Bodega Bay and then work their way inland, or as John Hershey puts it, "Come for the art, and stay for the beach and the seafood."

Bodega Bay photographer John Hershey graduated from Syracuse University where he studied photo journalism. He and his partner Ted began Hershey Multimedia. Today, John enjoys photographing landscapes, coastal wildlife, and has a keen interest in local commercial fishermen. He's very active in community events such as the Fisherman's Festival and through his voluntary efforts is Bodega Bay's beloved but unofficial events photographer.

Bodega Bay sculptor Lillian Lehman is hosting Art @ the Source in her lovely Salmon Creek

Jean Warren is a signature member of the National Watercolor Society, the California Watercolor Association and the American Watercolor Association. Her inventive paintings are colorful and often abstract, and are available through her website and the Healdsburg Center for the Arts. Jean teaches classes, including The Creative Process in Watercolor through the Sebastopol Center for the Arts. Jean is an active advocate for Bodega Bay's sea mammals. She and husband Phil are local representatives for the Marine Mammal Center.

Janet Elmore as been involved in art all her life, mostly capturing rural landscapes in Oregon and in California. In the 1970's, she began Capri Arts and Crafts where she taught classes and became an expert in Tole painting. When Janet came to Bodega Bay in 2003, she began to experiment with watercolor with Susan Cornelis and has not looked back. Her current inventive watercolors and pieces of her Tole painting collection will be available during Art @ the Source.

LuAnn is excited and challenged by watercolor. She paints on canvas, not watercolor paper, and begins her paintings by coating her canvas with a clear resin. An avid gardener, LuAnn is inspired by nature's colors. With watercolor, LuAnn can creatively design patterns with amazing bold color in a loose style. With what she calls "the magic of watercolor," her paintings come alive.

Planning for Art @ the Source began last November. At that time, Linda Sorensen was fortunate to sign up to participate in Bodega Bay with artists Lillian Lehman and John Hershey. But in April, she received a call leading to the opening of her new studio at Atelier One, a warehouse containing artist studios in Graton.

Linda will be showing some of her work in Bodega Bay during Art @ the Source as a guest artist at Studio #72 in Bodega Bay. But her own new studio, which opened May 1, will also be available during Art @ the Source. Her husband Dan Rohlfing will be on hand to host, answer questions and make a sale or two.

Four of Linda's new Atelier One artist neighbors are participating in Art @ the Source. Marylu Downing and Becky Wells work in mixed media, Elizabeth Payton does intricate florals, and works in collage and watercolor, and Susan Proehl is an abstract artist, working in oil and collage.

Richard Dorment of The Telegraph wrote in 2013 on the occasion of a Turner Exhibition at London's National Maritime Museum, that for Turner,

"the Sea is the early 19th century equivalent of a disaster movie."

Dorment describes a Turner painting entitled The Wreck of a Transport Ship (not currently at the Tate) which records an imaginary scene, a work of fiction. Dorment says Turner "makes your stomach lurch by plunging you headlong into chaos. The scene is a storm at sea. With no land in sight and no barrier between us and the mountainous swells that rise up on either side of the picture we look down into dark roiling waters, our equilibrium destabilized by the up-and-down, back-and-forth rocking movement in a composition that has no centre on which the eye can focus."

Similar paintings are at the Tate. The Battle of Trafalgar from Mizen Starboard, Shrouds of Victory, done between 1806 and 1808, is a national treasure, memorializing the victory and its cost of life, including that of Admiral Nelson.

Turner's style seems beyond his time, at times most atmospheric and verging on abstractionism. By contrast, some of his earlier maritime paintings were done in a grand Dutch style, a style Turner studied and admired.

His later works show Turner's masterful ability to paint for the inner eye, to tell his stories in visual ways which spoke to the sub-conscious of his viewers.

Below are Turner's maritime paintings on exhibit at the Tate Britain during our visit in May 2017. Information below is taken from the museum's website and placards.

The Battle of Trafalgar, as Seen from the Mizen Starboard Shrouds of the Victory, 1806-08 ... In this battle scene where Admiral Nelson died, Turner creates a claustrophobic backdrop of sails and cannon smoke while bringing the action forward. The chaos of the scene is contrasted with a solemnness of Nelson's final moments. Here, Turner effectively used old masterly styles to create an historic marine painting.

The Shipwreck, 1805 ... With a somber and bleak palette, Turner captures the realism and horror as survivors struggle to stay afloat. It is unknown whether this painting refers to an actual incident, but in 1805, the image would resonate with English citizens as they were in the midst of a war, largely fought at sea.

Shipping at the Mouth of the Thames, 1806-07 ... This unfinished work is probably of the Thames Estuary off Sheerness. Turner pictures fishing boats and smaller craft with a man-of-war, perhaps a naval coast guard ship, stationed at the Nore where the river meets the sea. Here, Turner brushed in delicate colors over a pale background giving the scene atmospherics and luminosity.

Spithead Boats Crew Recovering an Anchor, 1808-09 ... This painting shows the arrival of ships from the Danish fleet captured by the British in Copenhagen in 1807. The English did not want these vessels to fall into French hands. Although Denmark was neutral, their ships could be confiscated and used by Napoleon. The British capture of these ships was unpopular in England and by the time Turner exhibited this painting in 1809, he removed the Danish references of the ships and changed the title to "Boats Crew Recovering an Anchor."

Fishing Boats upon the Blithe Sand, Tide Setting In, 1809 ... During the Napoleonic Wars, fisherman about their work in the wind, the weather and the tides was a reassuring sign of the continuity of England's national life. Turner did not particularly prize this painting as he apparently used the canvas as a cat flap.

Entrance to the Meuse Orange, Merchant on the Bar, 1819 ... During the Napoleonic Wars, the Dutch were allies of the British, and made investments in London. Turner's painting is making a political statement in fun, laughing at a Dutch ship grounded on a sandbank in the Meuse estuary with its valuable cargo of oranges washing out to sea. Fishermen scavenge for oranges, their valuable catch of the day.

A Ship Aground Yarmouth, 1827-28 ... This is based on the same format as a set of pictures commissioned by the Earl of Egremont for installation at Petworth. The subject was presumably offered to the Earl as a further alternative, but the Earl either rejected it or it was removed from consideration by Turner. Later, Turner adapted it for a picture exhibited in 1831, Fort Vimieux.

The Chain Pier, Brighton, 1828 ... Brighton's Chain Pier was built in 1823. Its function was to serve as a landing stage for packet boats to Dieppe, France, but the pier also provided a number of attractions, including a camera obscura. An entrance booth controlled access to an esplanade. Both J.M.W. Turner and John Constable painted the pier, which was a symbol of Brighton's status as a center of trade and tourism. This painting hung in the Carved Room at Petworth in Sussex, the great house belonging to the Earl of Egremont. The Earl collected art reflecting the local agriculture and commerce.

Van Tromp Returning after the Battle off the Dogger Bank, 1833 ... Dutch maritime paintings were an important influence on Turner's approach to seascapes. Here, Turner recalls a naval battle some 80 years earlier in the Anglo-Dutch Wars. Rather than showing the battle, Turner shows a Dutch state barge approaching Admiral Tromp's returning flagship. At the time Turner painted this scene, Belgium successfully seceded from the Netherlands, and Turner was critical of Britain's support of the Belgians.

Peace, Burial at Sea, 1842 ... Turner's good friend, Scottish artist David Wilkie, died of typhoid off Gibraltar in 1841. Turner paid tribute to his good friend on behalf of the Royal Academy. The picture represents Wilkie's burial at sea, and uses a lot of black, which turner said he wanted to make even blacker. This painting is called "Peace - Burial at Sea." It contrasts with another of Turner's paintings called "War - the Exile and the Rock Limpet," depicting the fall of Napoleon. "Peace" conveyed the calm and dignity of Wilkie's death with the defeat and disgrace of Napoleon's downfall. The two paintings hung side by side in an exhibition in 1842, and hang in close proximity today at the Tate Britain.

Fishing Boats Bringing a Disabled Ship into Port Ruysdael, 1844 ... Turner created a series of paintings referring to the Anglo-Dutch Wars of the 17th century, paying tribute to the Dutch painters for setting a high bar for historical marine paintings. There is no Port Ruysdael. The title is a tribute to the Dutch painter Jacob van Ruisdael, painted in his own expressive mature style. In this scene, fishing crews that rush toward the damaged ship risk much against the wind, all for the hope of claiming some salvage money.

Sunrise with Sea Monsters, 1845 ... Turner was interested in the subject of fishing throughout his career, and often set scenes against remarkable sunsets and sunrises. This painting was unfinished, and although the canvas has survived, Turner's explanation of it did not. Many interpretations of this work have been offered, and consequently, the painting is still is a source of speculation. The Tate Britain maintains the "monsters are just fish" while other critics say they are actual monsters.

Linda Sorensen's paintings currently showing at:

Linda Sorensen's Studio,
Atelier One, Studio #5, 2860 Bowen St., Graton, CA.
By appointment only, 707-875-2911 or lindasorensen@earthlink.net.

Bodega Landmark Gallery Collection,
located inland in the town of Bodega, west end of town a half block from the Casino, and just across from the (vacant) General Store and the Bodega Volunteer Fire Department.

Corrick's "Art Trails Gallery,"
located in downtown Santa Rosa on 4th Street, just steps from Santa Rosa's reopened Town Square.

Bentonville, AR
Crystal Bridges
Museum of American Art