2021 Thinking Out Loud Regional Art Competition
2021-03-13 - 2021-05-11 | Online Event, Fourth and Guadalupe, Carmel-By-The-Sea, CA, 93921, United States
The Carl Cherry Center for the Arts is proud to announce the 2021 Thinking Out Loud, a regional art competition that challenges high school students to create works inspired by their lives. Students from across Monterey County were invited to digitally display their artwork across a wide range of media. Visit the online exhibit here.

Established in 1948, the mission of the Carl Cherry Center for the Arts is to enhance the quality and diversity of artistic, educational and cultural programs in Monterey County by encouraging public programs and interactions between artists and the community.
Thinking Out Loud is made possible, in part, through a grant from the Arts Council for Monterey County, and funds from the Hazen Family Foundation, Monterey County Board of Supervisors, Carmel-by-the-Sea Rotary, Nancy Buck Ransom Foundation, Pebble Beach Company Foundation, and the Yellow Brick Road Benefit Store.
Pictured: “Apple of My Eye” – Claire Giffen

Standing, Walking, Sitting and Lying Down - Lin Fischer: New Perspectives on the Figure
2021-04-16 - 2021-05-20 | Carl Cherry Center for the Arts, Northwest Corner, 4th and Guadalupe, Carmel-by-the-Sea, CA, 93921, United States
The human figure has been central to art ever since people began painting. Providing the literal edge between a person’s physical and mental realms, the human figure has become a significant form for artists to make their interior realities apparent to us. Some artists use a processes of representation and elaboration, procure symbols to make their interior worlds visible to others, or infer art history while replicating the world in which they live. By presenting Lin Fischer’s newest paintings, the exhibition considers how traditional interpretations of the body continue to convey narrative, content and also enhance awareness and engagement with lived experience. Visit online exhibit here.
Standing, Walking, Sitting and Lying Down online exhibit opens April 16 through May 21, 2021.
Pictured: “Dark Beach Scene” – Lin Fischer

2021 Robert Campbell Monterey County High School Poetry Awards
2021-05-01 - 2021-06-01 | Online Event, Fourth and Guadalupe, Carmel-By-The-Sea, CA, 93921, United States
READ AWARD WINNING POEMS
The Carl Cherry Center for the Arts and Monterey Public Library Friends & Foundation is pleased to announce the 2021 Robert Campbell Monterey County High School Poetry Awards. The program was established to recognize and promote excellence in high school poets and develop an interest in creative expression through the written word.
Over the past twenty-seven years, the awards have inspired hundreds of students to discover classic and contemporary poetry. The awards program provides students an opportunity to master public speaking skills and build self-confidence as they learn the craft of poetry.
An online reading and awards ceremony honoring the student poets was held at 2:00 pm on Saturday, May 1, 2021. During the ceremony, student poets were invited to read their award-winning poems to fellow students, teachers, family and friends.

The Robert Campbell Monterey County High School Poetry Awards are held each year in conjunction with Thinking Out Loud, the Carl Cherry Center’s annual high school art exhibition.
Thinking Out Loud is made possible, in part, through a grant from the Arts Council for Monterey County, and funds from the Monterey County Board of Supervisors, Carmel-by-the-Sea Rotary, Nancy Buck Ransom Foundation, Pebble Beach Company Foundation, and the Yellow Brick Road Benefit Store.

Pictured: “Daydream” – Viktor Klinger

Becoming (in)Visible: Countering Asian Hate
2021-06-04 - 2021-07-09 | The Carl Cherry Center, Fourth and Guadalupe, Carmel, CA, 93921, United States
Becoming (in)Visible: Countering Asian Hate, a multimedia group exhibit, opens Friday, June 4, 2021.
Organized by the Carl Cherry Center and Celadon Arts, the exhibition addresses issues of bias, scapegoating and xenophobia. It also stresses the importance of visibility, representation and cross-cultural connection. With the significant, troubling increase in anti-Asian hate crimes and bias incidents, the exhibit hopes to directly address these troubling events and support affected individuals and communities through avenues for education, unity, and action.
Becoming (in)Visible will feature artwork by Lucien Kubo, Joe Aki Ouye, Karen Nagano, Lisa Solomon, Monica Tie, Jerry Takigawa and Belle Yang. The exhibit can be seen through July 9th during gallery hours: Wednesday through Friday from 11:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. and Saturday from noon to 4:00 p.m.
VISIT EXHIBIT
Pictured: “Like Goes With Like” – Jerry Takigawa

The Interview - POSTPONED
2021-07-16 19:30 - 2021-08-08 14:00 (America/Los_Angeles) | The Carl Cherry Center, Fourth and Guadalupe, Carmel, CA, 93921, United States
POSTPONED: NEW DATES ANNOUNCED SOON

The Interview is written and directed by Tom Parks and stars two of the Peninsula’s finest actors, Carol Daly (Gertrude Stein) and Keith Decker (Charles Lindbergh).

The Interview is a mystery of identity. A seasoned newspaperman in a small town is assigned to write a profile of a aged artist who confounds him at every turn. Is she really who she says she is? Maybe yes, but probably, no. And if she isn’t who she says she is, then our man may have the story of a lifetime.

The Interview opens its extended run on Friday, July 16th, through Sunday, August 8th, 2021. Carl Cherry Center for the Arts, Carmel. Masks provided upon request.

Tickets are $25. Friday and Saturday performances begin at 7:30pm; and Sunday matinees at 2:00pm.
POSTPONED: NEW DATES ANNOUNCED SOON
For more information, please call (831) 717-7373.

COVID-19 Update: Your health and safety is important to us. The state of California has lifted capacity restrictions for indoor events. We ask all visitors remain mindful of social distancing. Unvaccinated individuals must continue to wear a mask to protect themselves and others. Visiting the Cherry Center’s gallery, theater, and grounds could increase your risk of contracting COVID-19. By visiting our property and/or attending events held here, you are voluntarily assuming the risk of illness.

Monterey Comedy Improv - POSTPONED
2021-08-14 19:00 - 19:30 (America/Los_Angeles) | The Carl Cherry Center, Fourth and Guadalupe, Carmel, CA, 93921, United States
POSTPONED: NEW DATE ANNOUNCED SOON
Monterey Comedy Improv is back! The Premier Improv Comedy Troupe on the Peninsula will be back in action Saturday, August 14th, at 7pm at the Carl Cherry Center for the Arts.
Similar to “Whose Line is it Anyway,” Monterey Comedy Improv takes audience suggestions or volunteers and instantly creates hilarious scenes right on the spot. Join us for a night of fun and laughs! For audiences 16+
Tickets are $20

COVID-19 Update: Your health and safety is important to us. The state of California has lifted capacity restrictions for indoor events. We ask all visitors remain mindful of social distancing. Unvaccinated individuals must continue to wear a mask to protect themselves and others. Visiting the Cherry Center’s gallery, theater, and grounds could increase your risk of contracting COVID-19. By visiting our property and/or attending events held here, you are voluntarily assuming the risk of illness.

Comedy Variety Showcase - POSTPONED
2021-08-24 19:00 (America/Los_Angeles) | The Carl Cherry Center, Fourth and Guadalupe, Carmel, CA, 93921, United States
EVENT POSTPONED. NEW DATES ANNOUNCED SOON.
Comedy Variety Showcase is back! Come watch some of the best local comedic acts performing various styles of comedy such as stand up, sketch, improv, stories and more. We can all use a good laugh these days! Celebrate with us after the show, enjoying some refreshments and sweet treats! For more information, visit comedyvarietyshowcase.com.
Program Note: Shows are for ages 16+, however some material may not be suitable for all children.
Performance dates and times:
Saturday, August 28th at 7:00pm. General Admission: $15
Sunday, August 29th at 2:00pm. General Admission $15, Frontline workers $10
EVENT POSTPONED. NEW DATES ANNOUNCED SOON.

About the Director:
Maria Dawson was born and raised on the Monterey Peninsula. She began her teaching/acting career under the mentorship of actor and director John Farmanesh-Boca, before receiving a MAE, with an emphasis in theatre from CSUMB. Her résumé includes the Magic Circle Theatre in Carmel Valley and the School of Dramatic Arts in Carmel.
Maria has also been performing live, improvisational theatre as a founding member of Monterey Playback Theatre, Women of Whimsy, the Mirth O’ Matics, and Monterey Comedy Improv. She is now setting her sights on a new adventure of bringing together different genres of local comedic performers to showcase their talents with Comedy Variety Showcase.

COVID-19 Update: Your health and safety is important to us. The state of California has lifted capacity restrictions for indoor events. We ask all visitors remain mindful of social distancing. Unvaccinated individuals must continue to wear a mask to protect themselves and others. Visiting the Cherry Center’s gallery, theater, and grounds could increase your risk of contracting COVID-19. By visiting our property and/or attending events held here, you are voluntarily assuming the risk of illness.

A Timeless Spring Online Exhibit
2021-09-04 - 2021-10-31 | The Carl Cherry Center, Fourth and Guadalupe, Carmel, CA, 93921, United States
“A Timeless Spring,” an exhibit exploring the artwork of Mrs. Carl Cherry and Reuben Kadish, closed September 4th. The exhibit can be seen online through October 31, 2021.
VISIT EXHIBIT
In the years around World War II, modernist art produced in the United States was varied in style and subject matter. Artwork from this era was produced by an increasingly diverse group of artists working in a range of media, as revealed by the works in the current exhibition. The muscular surrealism and abstract expressionism of Reuben Kadish meets the churning forms of an early WWII-era Carmel art by Mrs. Carl Cherry (Jeanne D’Orge). Focusing on the period of 1935 to 1980, the exhibit is not a unified conjuring of American modernism, but rather a cross-section of many-sided–even incompatible–art forms, media and themes.
Reuben Kadish–painter, muralist, printmaker and sculptor–was born in Chicago in 1913. At fourteen he began studying with Lorser Feitelson. Politically outspoken, Kadish caught the attention of Jackson Pollock and they became friends. Kadish taught at the Pacific Institute of Music & Fine Art and assisted muralist Siqueiros in Mexico and in southern California. During the 1930s, he was in San Francisco and head of the mural division for the Federal Art Project. During WWII Kadish was an art correspondent for Life magazine. After the war, he purchased a dairy farm in New Jersey and withdrew from the art world until the late 1950s. Mr. Kadish then took up sculpture and taught at the Cooper Union in NYC. Kadish died in NYC on Sept. 20, 1992.
Born in 1887 in England, Jeanne D’Orge spent her childhood in Edinburgh, London, and Paris. Her book of verse, Voice in the Circle, published in 1955, focuses on her childhood in Europe. After moving to New York in 1906, D’Orge became associated with “The Others,” a group of iconoclastic poets that included Marianne Moore, William Carlos Williams, and Wallace Stevens. Her poetry was included in the anthology The Others and The Poetry Journal. In 1923 Scribner’s Magazine published her award-winning “Lobos” poems.
Pictured: Untitled Bathers – Reuben Kadish

Art Sparks Needs You!
2021-09-05 - 2021-10-31 | The Carl Cherry Center, Fourth and Guadalupe, Carmel, CA, 93921, United States
Attention local poets, photographers and artists: We are looking for submissions for our weekly online newsletter, Art Sparks. Please send your submissions to info@carlcherrycenter.org for consideration.

Both Ways Will Take You There - Sarah Klein and David Kwan
2021-09-17 - 2021-10-16 | The Carl Cherry Center, Fourth and Guadalupe, Carmel, CA, 93921, United States
Pictured: “Mind Bottles” – Sarah Klein

Both Ways Will Take You There features individual and collaborative works by Sarah Klein and David Kwan, reflecting their interests in experimental animation, visual music, and serial processes across a range of media. The exhibit opens in person and online Friday, September 17th through Saturday, October 16th. An artists’ reception will close the exhibit. The event will be free and open to the public. Cherry Gallery hours are Wednesday through Saturday from noon to 4:00 p.m.
VISIT ONLINE EXHIBIT

About the Artists:
“Faster Firecracker”Sarah Klein, 2015
Sarah Klein is a visual artist working in animation and printmaking. She employs drawing, paper cutouts and live-action footage to create both narrative and abstract pieces. After a decade of working in stop-motion animation, she continues to investigate the language of movement in her print-based works. Using image sequences and repetition, she focuses on individual parts that make up the whole work.

“Waveshaper” David Kwan – Sound Generated Video
David Kwan is a sound and visual artist, who adapts musical structures into visual compositions. For the work in this exhibit, he takes inspiration from visualizations and analyses of sound, such as oscilloscope displays and spectrograms, and uses electronic synthesis techniques to produce signal patterns in sound and image. Layering and arranging these signals into chords and clusters, he plays with harmony, counterpoint and phasing, to highlight the interplay of line and pattern, and light and color. Watch video here.

MCGives! "Big Idea" 2021
2021-11-11 - 2021-12-31 | The Carl Cherry Center, Fourth and Guadalupe, Carmel, CA, 93921, United States
We are writing to invite you to support the energetic role of art and literature in these difficult times. Throughout this season, we’ve been reflecting on how the arts have taught us to comprehend and perceive. More than just another lens through which to look, they’ve been a prism, a means of seeing more deeply. To see through the lens of art is to flush from the deep undergrowth of the self some thought, feeling, comprehension, question or music you didn’t know was in you, or in the world. It instructs us how to relax; how to pay attention, not just to the notes but the silences amid the notes. This is true for discovering some newness of the emotions or uncovering new ideas—which is essentially the mission of the Carl Cherry Center for the Arts. That indeed is an enormous idea. Please join us!!
A contribution through the MCGives! program can increase your gift with generous matching funds. Please add to the contributions of 100% of our Board of Directors and make a contribution by visiting MontereyCountyGives starting Thursday, November 11th through Friday, December 31, 2021.

The Gift of Art: Nine Days of Artmas 2021
2021-12-10 - 2021-12-18 | The Carl Cherry Center, Fourth and Guadalupe, Carmel, CA, 93921, United States
The Gift of Art: The Nine Days of Artmas, our annual fundraiser to benefit the Carl Cherry Center for the Arts, will open in-person and online on Friday, December 10th, though Saturday, December 18th . The exhibit will feature jewelry, painting, photography and sculpture by local artists just in time for the gift-giving season. An opening reception will be held Saturday, December 11th from 3:00 p.m. – 5:00 pm. The event is free and open to the public.
VISIT ONLINE ART SALE HERE
Pictured: “Carmel by the Seascapes” – Nicole Cromwell, Acrylic on panel, 6″ x 12″ x 2″ – one of the many pieces available in the upcoming auction.

Reflections on Emily DIckinson with Barbara Mossberg
2021-12-10 17:00 - 18:30 (America/Los_Angeles) | The Carl Cherry Center, Fourth and Guadalupe, Carmel, CA, 93921, United States
‘Tis so much joy!
IN WHICH
BARBARA MOSSBERG
DOES EMILY DICKINSON pop up–
A BIRTHDAY CELEBRATION OF LIFE

CHERRY CENTER FOR THE ARTS
Dr. Barbara Mossberg
CALIFORNIA LAUREATE/Poet in Residence, City of Pacific Grove
DECEMBER 10, 2021
Me—Come! My dazzled faceIn such a shining place!Me—Hear! My foreign earThe sounds of Welcome—there!The saints forgetOur bashful feet—My holiday shall beThat They—remember me—My Paradise—the fameThat They—pronounce my name—
HEAR HEAR! And so we shall! Thank you for coming today, to celebrate the life of a poet and to consider how and why it is that an obscure little self-named Nobody would matter! Would become a celebrity! An influencer! Broadway! Apple TV+! But even more—someone who matters to you, who lights up the darkest days and seasons and plates this feast of consciousness. How, how? We’ll go backstage, that is, in the kitchen, and see what she cooked up, and upstairs at her desk, where a window was a portal to the world, its infinite majesty and heartbreak . . . and joy. And, a cherished Cherry tradition since 2004, Dr. B’s HOMEMADE GINGERBREAD WILL BE SERVED!
A California laureate, Poet in Residence for Pacific Grove, Dr. Barbara Mossberg is known to this community on the stage and page as our “wild genius,” an exuberant actor, playwright, dramaturg, radio and podcast host (Barbaramossberg.com), restaurant reviewer, orator, professor, educational leader, and scholar. Leader of flash mobs chanting “I’m Nobody” with 50 local high schoolers at Cannery Row, internationally recognized authority on Emily Dickinson, she has lectured on Dickinson around the world, twice holding the Senior Fulbright Distinguished Lectureship, a federal appointment as U.S. Scholar in Residence American Studies specialist, and President of the Emily Dickinson International Society; her first book on Dickinson, When a Writer Is a Daughter, was named ChoiceOutstanding Academic Book of the Year. Recipient of national awards, she has been a part of the Carmel, Peninsula, and Cherry Community since 2002, serving on the Board of the Cherry, Bach Festival, Forest Theater Foundation, and others, and as president of the Forest Theater Guild, acting in the Cherry production by Rosemary Luke of Lettice and Lovage (Lettice), covering Jeanne D’Orge, and regaling Cherry audiences with original programs on John Muir, eco creativity, her own life in Fat Lady Flying, and of course Emily Dickinson. Her recent book, Here for the Present, A Grammar of Happiness in the Present Imperfect, Live from the Poet’s Perch, as well as Sometimes the Woman in the Mirror Is Not You, and other hopeful news postings, features her own poems on Dickinson, and will be available at the performance.
As the concert will be held indoors, proof of vaccination is required, as well as mandatory masking while indoors.
Tickets: $10. Purchase tickets online through Eventbrite or call 624-7491. The Carl Cherry Center for the Arts is located at Fourth and Guadalupe in Carmel. Space is limited. Per current Monterey County mandates, masks will be required indoors at all times.

CANCELLED "Seicento" with The Cherry Trio
2022-01-02 14:00 - 15:30 (America/Los_Angeles) | The Carl Cherry Center, Fourth and Guadalupe, Carmel, CA, 93921, United States
The Cherry Center seeks to put the welfare of our audiences first. Due to the rise in Covid cases in Monterey County and the aggressive transmission of the Omicron variant, the Cherry Center is canceling the performance scheduled for January 2nd. We apologize for any inconvenience. Ticket holders will be contacted for a full refund.
The Cherry Trio (Elizabeth Gaver – baroque violin, Penny Hanna -viola da gamba, Michael Peterson – harpsichord) with guest violinist David Wilson will perform music from the seventeenth century on baroque violins, viola da gamba, and harpsichord. The program includes trio sonatas by Purcell, Rosenmüller and Muffat, a Marais suite for viola da gamba, and harpsichord solo by Fischer. The French, Italian, German, and English styles of this period stand in contrast to one another in creative ways that are often combined within the same piece. Typical for the early Baroque period, these works express a wide range of “affects” or emotions – the melancholy adagio, stately allemande, exuberant passacaglia and much more!
The Cherry Trio has performed at the Cherry Center annually for ten years to welcome the New Year. Unfortunately we couldn’t carry on that tradition last year, but we are very happy to be together again in 2022! As the concert will be held indoors, proof of vaccination is required, as well as mandatory masking while indoors.

Face It: Artists' Portraits at The Cherry
2022-01-14 - 2022-02-19 | The Carl Cherry Center, Fourth and Guadalupe, Carmel, CA, 93921, United States
Face It: Artists’ Portraits opens on Friday, January 14, 2022. The focus is on portraits by artists: self-portraits, portraits of someone important to them, a spirit animal–whatever matters to them. The 21 artists represented work in a number of different styles and media, from abstraction to realism, painting, photography, printmaking and mixed media. An outdoor, closing reception, free and open to all, is scheduled for Saturday, February 19, in the Cherry Center courtyard.
Curated by Martha Manson, the exhibit includes artwork by Aki Ouye, Karen Nagano, Rick Deragon, Denese Sanders, Meg Biddle, Marcia Perry, Huntington Witherill, Martha Casanave, Jose Ortiz, Kimm Barnes, Paul Richmond, Noro Partido, Will Bullas, Robin Winfield, Andrea Johnson, Jan Wagstaff, Jerry Takigawa, Pamela Takigawa, Karen Warwick, Don Hughes, Mary Hill, Pamela Carroll, and Ellen Gust.
VISIT ONLINE EXHIBIT
Pictured: “DNA Self 2021” – Don Hughes
Ink, acrylic and colored pencil on found paper

2022 Thinking Out Loud Regional Art Competition
2022-03-05 - 2022-03-26 | The Carl Cherry Center, Fourth and Guadalupe, Carmel, CA, 93921, United States
The Carl Cherry Center for the Arts is proud to announce the 2022 Thinking Out Loud, a regional art competition that challenges high school students to create works inspired by their lives. This year, the students’ artwork will exhibit in our gallery and online March 5- 26, 2022.
SEE THIS YEAR’S WINNING ENTRIES
Pictured: “South of the Border” – Anthony Miguel, Stevenson School (2021 Thinking Out Loud First Place winner)

Established in 1948, the mission of the Carl Cherry Center for the Arts is to enhance the quality and diversity of artistic, educational and cultural programs in Monterey County by encouraging public programs and interactions between artists and the community.
Thinking Out Loud is made possible, in part, through a grant from the Arts Council for Monterey County, and funds from the Hazen Family Foundation, Monterey County Board of Supervisors, Carmel-by-the-Sea Rotary, Nancy Buck Ransom Foundation, Pebble Beach Company Foundation, and the Yellow Brick Road Benefit Store.

Mountains and Waters Without End
2022-04-08 - 2022-05-14 | The Carl Cherry Center, Fourth and Guadalupe, Carmel, CA, 93921, United States
Mountains and Waters Without End, an exhibit celebrating western landscape, opens Friday, April 8th at Carl Cherry Center for the Arts. Comprised of approximately 20 paintings, the exhibit will include recent work by Margaret Rinkovsky and Jan Wagstaff. A reception for the artists will be held Friday, April 8th from 5 to 7 p.m. The event is free and open to the public.
Organized to explore various time periods, styles, and themes in landscape painting, Mountains and Rivers Without End investigates the relationship between abstraction and landscape painting, the effects of photography on landscapes and the examination of the materiality in painting. The exhibit brings together two artists who have been working with landscape and may lack conventional aesthetic hooks of expression, narrative, and beauty. However, these paintings are powerful aesthetic statements that reflect the complex and ambiguous relationship between humans and the environment—a relationship of particular importance here in the West.
The exhibit can be seen Wednesday through Saturday from 12 to 4 p.m. through May 14, 2022.
VISIT ONLINE EXHIBIT
Pictured: “Along the River” – Jan Wagstaff

Meet the Artists:
Margaret Rinkovsky
Margaret Rinkovsky is a painter currently living in Santa Cruz, California. She received her Bachelor’s of Fine Arts degree from UCLA. She also holds a Masters of Arts degree in Printmaking and a Master of Fine Arts degree in painting, also from UCLA. Ms. Rinkovsky is the recipient of the prestigious SECA Award from the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, was a nominee to the American Academy of Arts in New York, and received the Distinguished Artist Award from the Santa Cruz Art League.
Margaret Rinkovsky’s paintings and drawings are referential to landscapes. For this artist nature serves as the stimulus for her oeuvre, not as a literal reflection but as a private and personal interpretive experience. Her work seems to synthesize the “material and spiritual” in nature—where meaning resides in and is communicated by the formal visual elements of painting.” George W. Neubert, Associate Director, SFMMA
Jan Wagstaff
Over the past four decades Jan Wagstaff’s paintings have been exhibited in museums and galleries world-wide and acquired for private and public collections around the globe. Her artwork has garnered extensive reviews, and she has been awarded numerous Artist-in-Residence opportunities, grants, fellowships and prizes. Wagstaff’s imagery derives primarily from nature, which she renders in oil on canvas. She is especially drawn to marshland grasses, aspen canopies, birds in flight, waterways and reflections. Says Jan, “As I observe the natural world, I am ever conscious of how I am experiencing it – how all of my senses play a part in my perception. My work is about seasons, sounds, texture, movement and shapes. It is about blending colors, subtleties of light and dark, and things near and far. About seeing and celebrating the ordinary such that it becomes extraordinary. My paintings are visual entertainment but even more, I hope they encourage viewers to recall places that hold special meaning to them.”

2022 Robert Campbell Monterey County High School Poetry Awards
2022-05-07 14:00 - 16:00 (America/Los_Angeles) | Online Event, Fourth and Guadalupe, Carmel-By-The-Sea, CA, 93921, United States
The Carl Cherry Center for the Arts is pleased to announce the 2022 Robert Campbell Monterey County High School Poetry Awards. The program was established to recognize and promote excellence in high school poets and develop an interest in creative expression through the written word.
Over the past twenty-seven years, the awards have inspired hundreds of students to discover classic and contemporary poetry. The awards program provides students an opportunity to master public speaking skills and build self-confidence as they learn the craft of poetry.
A reading and awards ceremony honoring the student poets will be held at 2:00 pm on Saturday, May 7th, at the Carl Cherry Center for the Arts, located on the corner of Fourth and Guadalupe, Carmel. During the ceremony, student poets will be invited to read their award-winning poems to fellow students, teachers, family and friends.
The Robert Campbell Monterey County High School Poetry Awards are held each year in conjunction with Thinking Out Loud, the Carl Cherry Center’s annual high school art exhibition.
Thinking Out Loud is made possible, in part, through a grant from the Arts Council for Monterey County, and funds from the Monterey County Board of Supervisors, Monterey Peninsula Foundation, Monterey Public Library Foundation, Carmel Woman’s Club, Carmel-by-the-Sea Rotary, Community Foundation for Monterey County, Gibson Family Foundation, Hazen Family Foundation, Nancy Buck Ransom Foundation, Pebble Beach Company Foundation, and the Yellow Brick Road Benefit Store.
Rules:
1. Submissions must be original poetry in English, Spanish, or a combination of both.
2. The author must be presently enrolled in a Monterey County high school.
3. No more than three poems allowed per author, and no poem may be more than 40 lines in length.
4. There are no restrictions as to content, style, form or metrical device.
5. All entries must be typed. Student’s name, address, phone number, school and name of English teacher must be printed on each poem. Poets should also retain a copy of their poem.
Please send entries to thinkingoutloud.art.poetry@gmail.com or mail to: Carl Cherry Center for the Arts, P.O. Box 863, Carmel, CA 93921
All entries must be emailed or postmarked no later than Tuesday, April 5th, 2022.
Pictured: “Simplicity in Red” Emily Oh, Santa Catalina School

The Most Beautiful Mistake You Can Make
2022-06-03 - 2022-06-25 | The Carl Cherry Center, Fourth and Guadalupe, Carmel, CA, 93921, United States
The Most Beautiful Mistake You Can Make, an exhibit exploring errors, omissions and faults in art, opens Friday, June 3rd at the Carl Cherry Center for the Arts. A reception for the artists will be held from 5 to 7 p.m. The event is free and open to the public. The Cherry Center is located at the corner of 4th and Guadalupe, Carmel.
The exhibit intends to emphasis how random errors can become an artistic catalyst to an aesthetically complete work of art. In some folk art traditions artists insert “intentional” errors into handmade textiles as a gesture to the perfection of divinity—or, at least, the imperfection of humans. In the Japan, the practice of “kintsugi” (gold splicing) uses errors to enhance ceramics. Instead of discarding marred vessels, practitioners of the art repair broken items with a golden adhesive that enhances the break lines, making the piece unique. Abstract Expressionism is built on enhancing and using errors in painting.
The exhibit will include recent artwork by Tracey Adams, Rob Barnard, Allen D. Carter, Laurel Farrin, Judith Foosaner, Nancy Genn, Francie Hester, Barbara Johnson, Tom Nakashima, Sammy Peters, Tony Sheeder, Mark Tanous, and The Temple Sisters.
The exhibit can be seen Wednesdays through Saturdays, 12 to 4 p.m. or by appointment through June 25th. Visit online exhibit HERE.
Pictured: “Kintsugi” – Tracey Adams, Encaustic, Collage and Japanese Papers on Panel, 45 in. x 45 in.

Silents: Before Movies Talked
2022-06-17 19:30 - 2022-07-03 14:00 (America/Los_Angeles) | Carl Cherry Center for the Arts, Northwest Corner, 4th and Guadalupe, Carmel-by-the-Sea, CA, 93921, United States
A new play by writer-director Tom Parks.
Hollywood! All the glitz, the glamour, the pulse, and the romance of the movies! One of America’s most honored film critics said it: “Everything I know I learned at the movies.” So true for the millions of people the world over who celebrate each occasion they step in front of a cinema box office today. But what about yesterday, some 100 years ago? Silents: Before Movies Talked is a multi-media show all about the romance of the silent screen, the stars, the directors, the legends, few of whom have survived into a new century, but so many others who are still with us in appreciation and memory.
Our narrator, a spritely former screen actress of the ‘20s, will be our guide through the fabulous years of the silent silver screen. Won’t you join us for a return to the movies where the car chases were fun, the cops were called Keystone, the girls were known as vamps, and the music came from an old upright piano in the pit. What a swell show!

Silents:Before Movies Talked opens Friday, June 17th through Sunday, July 3, 2022. Friday and Saturday performances start at 7:30PM; Sunday matinees at 2:00PM. Tickets are $30, available by calling (831) 717-7373.

Here For The Present - A Poetry Memoir In Two Acts
2022-06-30 19:00 - 21:00 (America/Los_Angeles) | The Carl Cherry Center, Fourth and Guadalupe, Carmel, CA, 93921, United States
Here For The Present/(P)raising the Dead, an intimate evening with Barbara Mossberg in which we consider how to be alive/and tell about it WITHOUT INTERRUPTION, will be held 7:00pm on June 30th at the Carl Cherry Center, Carmel.
ACT ONE: “(P)raising the Dead” – A Divine Comedy in and about poetry (the “difficult” and “despised” art, if truth be told), in which the Poet’s magic is worked before our eyes, the Poet telling the truth, but wait—it goes South.
ACT TWO: “Sit Down/Stand up” – The zany but earnest playwright who gave us “Fat Lady Flying” in Jill Jackson’s Playwright’s Jambalaya, “Emily Dickinson’s Pop Up Kitchen,” “John Muir Birth/Earth Day,” and others, including enacting our own inimitable Mrs. Cherry, and the inimitable Lettice in Rosemary Luke’s “Lettice and Lovage,” shares her work in progress and reads from her recent book, set here on the Peninsula, Here for the Present.
Tickets are $15, available online through Eventbrite or calling 624-7491. Due to the intimacy of the space, masks are required inside the theater regardless of vaccination status.
About Barbara Mossberg:
A California laureate, Poet in Residence for Pacific Grove, Dr. Barbara Mossberg is known to this community on the stage and page as our “wild genius,” an exuberant actor, playwright, dramaturg, radio and podcast host (Barbaramossberg.com), restaurant reviewer, orator, professor, educational leader, and scholar. Leader of flash mobs chanting “I’m Nobody” with 50 local high schoolers at Cannery Row, internationally recognized authority on Emily Dickinson, she has lectured on Dickinson around the world, twice holding the Senior Fulbright Distinguished Lectureship, a federal appointment as U.S. Scholar in Residence American Studies specialist, and President of the Emily Dickinson International Society; her first book on Dickinson, When a Writer Is a Daughter, was named ChoiceOutstanding Academic Book of the Year. Recipient of national awards, she has been a part of the Carmel, Peninsula, and Cherry Community since 2002, serving on the Board of the Cherry, Bach Festival, Forest Theater Foundation, and others, and as president of the Forest Theater Guild, acting in the Cherry production by Rosemary Luke of Lettice and Lovage (Lettice), covering Jeanne D’Orge, and regaling Cherry audiences with original programs on John Muir, eco creativity, her own life in Fat Lady Flying, and of course Emily Dickinson. Her recent book, Here for the Present, A Grammar of Happiness in the Present Imperfect, Live from the Poet’s Perch, as well as Sometimes the Woman in the Mirror Is Not You, and other hopeful news postings, features her own poems on Dickinson, and will be available at the performance.

Monterey Comedy Improv
2022-07-16 19:00 - 20:30 (America/Los_Angeles) | The Carl Cherry Center, Fourth and Guadalupe, Carmel, CA, 93921, United States
Monterey Comedy Improv is back! The premier improv comedy troupe on the peninsula will be back in action Saturday, July 16th, 7:00pm at the Carl Cherry Center for the Arts, Carmel
Similar to “Whose Line is it Anyway,” Monterey Comedy Improv takes audience suggestions or volunteers and instantly creates hilarious scenes right on the spot. Join us for a night of fun and laughs! For audiences 16+
Tickets are $20, available on Eventbrite or by calling (831) 624-7491.

Imagining Carmel: The Art of Jeanne D'Orge and Poetry of Dora Hagemeyer
2022-07-29 12:00 - 2022-08-20 16:00 (America/Los_Angeles) | The Carl Cherry Center, Fourth and Guadalupe, Carmel, CA, 93921, United States
When Carmel was a small community of artists and bohemians, many studios and living rooms doubled as galleries or performance spaces. With few formal venues available, non-conformist artist and poet, Jeanne D’Orge, and her inventor husband, Carl Cherry, opened their home to share new ideas, creations, and perspectives. Their passion to enrich the community’s culture through support of experimental and intellectual arts has continued over the Cherry Center’s nearly 75-year history.
Our latest exhibit – “Imagining Carmel” – honors the spirit of two such bohemians, featuring the artwork of our founder, Jeanne D’Orge, paired with prose by noted poet and painter Dora Hagemeyer. Ceramics by Brad Schwieger complement the exhibit’s visual and literary storytelling.
“Imagining Carmel” opens Friday, July 29th through Saturday, August 20th, 2022. Gallery hours are Wednesday through Saturday from noon to 4:00pm or by appointment.
Pictured: Untitled – Jeanne D’Orge, Oil on Glassine

SOLD OUT Evenings with Birdsong
2022-08-03 19:30 - 2022-08-04 19:30 (America/Los_Angeles) | The Carl Cherry Center, Fourth and Guadalupe, Carmel, CA, 93921, United States
Evenings with Birdsong
Two avian performances at the Carl Cherry Center for the Arts
Join two of Australia’s most adventurous musicians, Simone Slattery (violin, vocals, PhD, Churchill Fellow) and Anthony Albrecht (cello, The Juilliard School), for a pair of avian-inspired concert events at the Carl Cherry Center, described by critics as “spectacular.”

The Bowerbird Collective produces multimedia works that tell conservation stories, with the aim of strengthening emotional connections to the natural world. They tour extensively, with a focus on performing in regional areas, deliver exceptional educational outreach opportunities to school age children, and work with national and international conservation organizations to explore nature through the arts.
Where Song Began – Wednesday, August 3rd • 7:30PM
Performed more than 80 times in sold out halls and accessible for all ages, Where Song Began is a celebration of songbirds. The program includes music spanning 300 years, from Johann Heinrich Schmelzer and J.S. Bach to Arvo Pärt and new commissions, enhanced by a film of evocative visual projections and an immersive soundscape.

Life on Land’s Edge – Thursday, August 4th • 7:30PM
Life on Land’s Edge takes audiences on an epic journey alongside migratory birds as they connect continents and cultures. The performance draws on art, science, and music from across the ages. Spectacular footage and soundscapes will immerse you in one of nature’s greatest stories. “Truly beautiful”

About the performers: Simone Slattery was a 2018 Churchill Fellow, received a Ph.D. in Music Performance from the University of Adelaide and performs regularly with Australia’s finest ensembles. Anthony Albrecht is an Australian graduate of The Juilliard School’s Historical Performance program and enjoys an international career.
Performance length: 60 minutes without interval, including a Q&A.

For more information about these programs and the artists visit www.bowerbirdcollective.org
Tickets: Adults $30 and $5 for children 18 and under, available online (https://bowerbirdcollective.us/carmel) or by calling (831) 624-7491. *Purchase a combined adult ticket, see both concerts for $50 — a $10 discount!

For the health and safety of all, masks are required while inside the Cherry Theater.
Tickets: www.bowerbirdcollective.us/carmel
Facebook event

Program information:

Where Song Began
Arvo Pärt – Fratres for solo violin, 1977
Sarah Hopkins – Reclaiming the Spirit, 1993
Vaughan Williams – The Lark Ascending, 1917
Chris Williams – bird, songs, seas, 2017
Ross Edwards – Ecstatic Dance No.2, 1990
Johann Heinrich Schmelzer – Cucu Sonata, 1664
J.S. Bach – Prelude from Cello Suite No.1, c.1720
David Lang – Anthochaera carunculata (Red Wattle Bird), 2017
Ngarra Burra Ferra – Yorta Yorta hymnSpotify Album Link here.
Promotional videos here and here.
ABC Radio National feature interview here.

Life on Land’s Edge
Simone Slattery – Invisible Connections (2020)*
Philip Glass – Opening (1981)
Anne Cawrse – Sanctuary (2021)*
Chris Williams – (Codex) on the Flight of Birds (2021)*
Corrina Bonshek – Far Eastern Curlew Lament (2021)*
Corrina Bonshek – Between Sea and Sky (excerpt, 2022)*
Anne Cawrse – Ruddy Turnstone (excerpt, 2021)*
Dai Fujikura – Star Compass (2020)
Gambirra Illume – Wind Birds (2022)*
Vivaldi – Violin Concerto “per Chiareta” in B flat major RV 372a, Andante (c.1720)
Simone Slattery – The Godwit and Curlew (2020)*
* New Commission

The Way We Fell Out of Touch
2022-08-06 | The Carl Cherry Center, Fourth and Guadalupe, Carmel, CA, 93921, United States
A New Play in Development
Award-winning screenwriter and author Toni Ann Johnson will perform her new play, The Way We Fell Out of Touch, based on the true story of the unique and surprising relationship between Johnson’s African-American mother and their family’s white maid during the 1970s in upstate New York. The play is an adaptation of two of Johnson’s award-winning short stories (Lodestone Fiction Award ~ 2017) and she will be performing both characters.
The play reading is developed in collaboration with Director Robin McKee. This is a special opportunity to enjoy the birthing of a new play. Please come and enjoy and give us feedback in an informal after performance discussion. Due to COVID and limited space, we request everyone wear a mask during the performance.
One night only: Saturday August 6th at 7:00PM. The performance is free, but seating is limited, so please RSVP to (831) 236-7825 to be put on the guest list.
About the Playwright and Actor:
This is Johnson and McKee’s second collaboration. Ms. McKee directed and served as dramaturg on Johnson’s play Gramercy Park is Closed to the Public, which went on to receive productions in Los Angeles by the Fountainhead Theatre Company and in New York, by The New York Stage and Film Company. The play also earned Johnson a fellowship to the Sundance Screenwriter’s Lab.
Johnson won the 2021 Flannery O’Connor Awarad for short fiction with her linked story collection Light Skin Gone to Waste, which was selected for the prize and edited by Roxane Gay. The book is available for pre-order and is forthcoming in October of 2022 from UGA Press.
Johnson has won two Humanitas Prizes and a Christopher Award for her TV Movies which include Ruby Bridges (ABC), Crown Heights (Showtime) and The Courage to Love (Lifetime.) She has written numerous YA dance related television and film projects including Step Up 2: The Streets, the second installment in the internationally popular Step Up Franchise. Johnson’s novel Remedy For A Broken Angel earned her an NAACP Image Award nomination for Outstanding Literary Work by a Debut Author in 2015. A novella, Homegoing, won Accents Publishing’s inaugural novella contest in 2020 was was published by them in 2021. In June, Homegoing was announced the grand prize winner of the CIBA 2021 Laramie Awards. Johnson’s short fiction and essays have appeared in The Los Angeles Times, The Emerson Review, Hunger Mountain, Callaloo, The Coachella Review and many other publications. She recently won The Missouri Review’s Miller Audio Prize for prose with her short story Time Travel which can be found on Soundcloud. Johnson is an alumna of Antioch University’s MFA in Creative Writing program where she currently teaches fiction and screenwriting.

The Testament of Mary
2022-08-12 19:30 - 2022-09-11 15:00 UTC | Carl Cherry Center for the Arts
The Testament of Mary is a ninety-minute, one-woman play depicting the mother of Jesus at the end of her life. It describes the story leading up to her son’s crucifixion from Mary’s own perspective, not as the religious icon she came to be, but rather as a woman, a wife, a mother, and a human being.
The play opens Friday, August 12th through Sunday, September 11th, 2022. Friday and Saturday performances begin at 7:30pm, Sunday matinees at 3:00pm. Masks required inside the theater. Tickets are $23 general admission, available for purchase online with no booking fee at eventbrite.com or by calling (831) 233-1941. $20 for military (available at the door only).
Photo credits: Background image by Angelo Mamone, Jane Press photographed by Sam Danielson
Meet the Cast and Crew:
Jane Press (Actor/Producer/Production Designer) has been performing on stage since the Kennedy administration, She is the Founder / Artistic Director of PRESS THE BUTTON PRODUCTIONS, whose mission it is to give voice—on stage and off—to women over the age of fifty, in reclamation of our matriarchal heritage.
Maryann Schaupp Rousseau (director) is a director; actor; choreographer and theatre arts educator, working in these capacities on the Monterey Peninsula from 1989 until the present. She served as Dean Emeritus for the Pacific Repertory Theatre (in Carmel) School of Dramatic Arts for eleven years.
Sound design by Marylee Sunsari and lighting design by Steve Retsky. Production design in collaboration with Jane Press by Janice Rocke.

In Their Own Likeness: Carmel Bohemian Painters
2022-09-02 - 2022-10-01 | The Carl Cherry Center, Fourth and Guadalupe, Carmel, CA, 93921, United States
In Their Own Likeness: Carmel Bohemian Painters, an exhibit of contemporary Carmel artists’ portraits and their art, opens Friday, September 2nd at the Carl Cherry Center for the Arts. A reception for the artists will be held Friday, September 2nd from 4:30 to 6:30 p.m. The event is free and open to the public.
Artist studios have always been absorbing venues, crowded with copious materials, paintings and tools. They are places of alchemy, revealing the mysterious origin of artwork and the rituals of creation. There have been a range of approaches to studio representations, including the famous Courbet’s studio, which is a combination of reality and allegory, while some contemporary representations display just fragments of studios, often done in styles the artists supported.
“The study celebrates local working artists who carry on the legacy of the Carmel Bohemian art culture. It is an homage to both the artists and the art colony of Carmel by the Sea,” says photographer Randy Tunnell who created the portraits of artists in their studios. “The collection of photographs will be the graphic record of Carmel artists from this time period and be a historic narrative of the creatives that helped to build the town over a hundred years ago.”
Randy Tunnell is a Carmel based photographer with over thirty year’s professional experience providing photography to agencies and clients, large and small. Portrait sittings include Muhammad Ali, Henry Kissinger and Oprah Winfrey.
The exhibit includes work by Johnny Apodaca , Eleen Auvil, Ernie Baber, Jeffrey Becom, Ashley Bennett-Stoddard, Cyndra Bradford, Delia Bradford, Lisa Bryan Will Bullas, Miguel Dominguez, Mark Farina, Scott Jacobs, Barbara Kreitman, David Ligare, Keith Lindberg, Kevin Milligan, Jennifer Perlmutter, Patricia Qualls, Kathy Sharpe, Jeff Daniel Smith, Mary Titus, Joaquin Turner, Belinda Vidor, Jan Wagstaff, Chris Winfield, and Robin Winfield.
In Their Own Likeness: Carmel Bohemian Painters can be seen Wednesday through Saturday from 12 to 4 p.m., or by appointment, through Saturday, October 1st, 2022.
VISIT ONLINE EXHIBIT

SOLD OUT. Comedy Variety Showcase
2022-09-16 19:00 - 2022-09-17 19:00 (America/Los_Angeles) | Carl Cherry Center for the Arts
The Comedy Variety Showcase will feature comedic acts and embrace every style of comedy performance such as stand-up, sketch, improv, monologues and more. The Showcase is produced and directed by Maria Dawson. For more information, visit their website, www.comedyvarietyshowcase.com.
Masks are required in the theater regardless of vaccination status.
Tickets are $15, available on Eventbrite.com. Some material may not be suitable for children under the age of 16.

SOLD OUT - Rick Forschino Trio - Jazz at The Cherry
2022-09-18 | The Carl Cherry Center, Fourth and Guadalupe, Carmel, CA, 93921, United States
SOLD OUT.
We are pleased to announce that after a two year absence, Jazz At The Cherry is back! We will open with the Rick Forschino Trio invoking the music of renowned jazz artist and composer, Michel Petrucciani. During his brief thirty-six year life, Petrucciani stunned the jazz world with his expansive compositions and stylistic renditions. His unbounded approach to the medium inspired Monterey Jazz Festival icon, Charles Lloyd, to come out of retirement in 1982 and begin touring with him.
Rick Forschino’s arrangements artfully capture the musical spirit and essence of Petrucciani’s work. Joining Rick will be bassist, Bill DeLap, and drummer, Mike Shannon.
Masks are required in the theater regardless of vaccination status.
Please join us for some great music, wine, and light fare–all included in the ticket price. Sunday, September 18th, 2022. Doors open at 1:00pm; performance from 2:00-4:00pm. Tickets are $25, available online at eventbrite.com or by calling (831) 624-7491.

Lucas Blok at Arts in Progress
2022-09-22 17:30 - 18:30 (America/Los_Angeles) | The Carl Cherry Center, Fourth and Guadalupe, Carmel, CA, 93921, United States
Arts Habitat, a Monterey County non-profit, invites you to an Arts in Progress presentation by renowned Carmel painter, Lucas Blok on Thursday, September 22, from 5:30 to 6:30 p.m. The event is free and open to the public, and is a program in support of the Monterey County Artists Studio Tour, taking place October 8, 9 & 15, 16. Go to ArtsHabitat.org for Tour catalogs, maps, and more information.
Come get inspired by Blok’s presentation of his artwork, influences and technique. His paintings are developed from his delight of exploring the why and how of his visual and emotional world. He is fascinated by our ability to take the energy from sunlight and convert it into a process that can become an esthetic, informative, and spiritual experience. The artist ushers the viewer into a world of color relationships that play on optical nerves and emotions alike. Adjacent color areas harmonize or generate delicate discords that become, like musical compositions, harmony, rhythm, discord, balance.
