As far as Ingrid Tracy Peters is concerned, she’s always played violin.
“I started violin at age 3 because my mom saw a group class advertised, but I have no memory of this,” the Long Island native says. “It’s just something I’ve always done. It very quickly became who I was, even as a young child. Violin was core to my development.”
clayARTstudio814 is equipped like any serious ceramics studio. There are squat kilns, wide wood-top work surfaces, potter’s wheels and glaze jars nestled on shelves, in crates, everywhere. What you won’t find is the tired trope of the suffering artist laboring in solitude.
About 14 studio artists rent spaces there, plus Sunday, a border collie/golden retriever mix who diligently patrols the building with ball in mouth. They (not the dog) come and go as they please, sharing projects, tools, advice and an abiding passion for ceramics.
Thomas Cannell is in the business of making beautiful, useful things.
A native of Newcastle, England, Cannell is the expert woodworker behind Block & Bowl, a new venture he launched with his wife Rosemarie in April to merge his passions for cooking and carpentry.
As a youngster, Cannell spent weekends building things in his grandfather’s backyard woodworking shop. He also loved to spend time in the kitchen and intended to become a chef upon graduating from high school. But his mother insisted he learn a trade.
Cannell set off on a two-year carpentry apprenticeship that turned into a five-year job as a cabinetmaker—in between some work in local kitchens.
Running an arts organization is difficult in the best of times. It’s all the more trying during a global pandemic.
But Donald Kendrick is unfazed. As the founder and music director of the Sacramento Choral Society & Orchestra, he’s helped the organization survive and thrive for the past 25 years—and he’s not stopping anytime soon.
“We founded this organization to provide world-class choral orchestral music for the greater Sacramento community,” Kendrick says. “We take our job very seriously—to inspire people, lift them up, touch them in ways that nothing else can. It’s a huge responsibility and we don’t take that for granted.”
It’s easy to smile at Cara Gregor’s artwork. The Curtis Park resident uses bright happy colors to create grin-inducing images of reimagined rainbows, energetic abstracts and bold florals, plus unique jewelry in equally vibrant tones.
As the artist herself says, “Art is fun. That’s why we do it.”
