Carl Cherry Center for the Arts

Natural Histories
2020-01-17 17:00 - 2020-02-22 16:00 (America/Los_Angeles)
Natural Histories, an exhibit celebrating western landscape in painting and photography, opens Friday, January 17th, with an artists reception from 5 to 7 p.m. The event is free and open to the public. The exhibition will include recent paintings by Paul Roehl and photography by Claire Lerner.
Organized to explore various styles and themes in landscape painting and photography, Natural Histories investigates the relationship between abstraction and landscape painting, the effects of photography on landscapes, and the consideration of the materiality in both mediums. The exhibit reflects 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 Friday from 11 to 4 p.m., Saturdays, 12 noon to 4 p.m. or by appointment through February 22nd, 2020.
Pictured above: “Carmel” – Paul Roehl

Sphere of Mortal Life Series # 7 – Claire Lerner
About the Artists:
Claire Lerner was born and raised in New York, New York. She received her MFA and BFA in Fine Art from both the State University of New York at Buffalo and the State University College at Buffalo. After graduate school Claire moved to California where she was a member of the photography faculty at Monterey Peninsula College, Monterey, California for ten years. In 2000 she began teaching black and white darkroom photography, alternative photographic processes, studio art, and digital arts at the Santa Catalina School in Monterey, California. Her work has been collected by a broad range of private and public institutions, including the Monterey Museum of Art, Visa Corporation, Redwood City, CA, Cowell College, UCSC, PMI, Corporate Headquarters, Walnut Creek, CA, Kaiser Permanente, and the Community Hospital of the Monterey Peninsula, Monterey, CA.
Paul Roehl was raised in California, primarily in the South Bay Area. He received an MA in painting and an MFA in pictorial arts from San Jose State University. He has taught college level painting, printmaking and drawing as well as art history and art appreciation for over twenty years. His work has been shown at the San Jose Art Museum, Santa Cruz Museum of Art and History, Monterey Museum of Art and the Berkeley Art Center. Though his primary interest is in contemporary non-objective or abstract imagery, he enjoys sketching plein-air and accurately recreating the techniques and style of late 19th and early 20th century landscape painters. He also turns to earlier Barbizon school painters for inspiration as well as American tonalist painters such as George Innes and William Keith. He finds the visual poetry of these artists’ subtle, fresh and inspiring

SOLD OUT Comedy Variety Showcase
2020-01-18 19:30 - 21:30
Attention Comedy Lovers: 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 with cake and sparkling beverage! For more information, visit comedyvarietyshowcase.com
Tickets are $15 general admission, available on brownpapertickets.com or by calling (831) 624-7491. Saturday, January 18th at 7:30pm. Carl Cherry Theatre for the Arts.
Program Note: Some material may not be suitable for children.

About the Director:
Maria Dawson was born and raised on the Monterey Peninsula. She started acting and directing at Monterey Peninsula College. Maria began her teaching career as an intern under the late Marcia Hovick, and Marianne Rousseau at Children’s Experimental Theatre in Carmel, and mentorship with actor/director John Farmanesh-Boca, before receiving a MAE, with an emphasis in theatre from CSUMB.
Maria has been teaching theatre arts to all ages for over 20 years. Her résumé includes the Magic Circle Theatre in Carmel Valley for the late Elsa Con and the School of Dramatic Arts in Carmel. Maria has also been performing live, improvisational theatre for the same amount of time. She was a founding member of Monterey Playback Theatre, Women of Whimsy (WOW), the Mirth O’ Matics (MOM), and is a current member of 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.

Janka
2020-01-24 19:00 - 2020-01-26 14:00 | Carl Cherry Center for the Arts
The Janka Project and the Fresno Arts Council in conjunction with the Carl Cherry Center for the Arts present Janka, an eyewitness account of the Holocaust journey of Janka Festinger. This powerful performance will put you into the middle of Hitler’s Final Solution. The play was written by Janka’s son, Oscar Speace, and stars Janice Noga in the title role.
Janka’s courageous journey of survival and hope, through two of history’s most notorious death camps – Auschwitz and Dachau, to the shores of the United States and the embrace of the American Dream, is adapted from a sixty page hand-written letter describing the events following the Nazis’ internment of Romanian Jews in 1944.
Performances are Friday and Saturday, January 24 & 25 at 7:00pm and Sunday, January 26 at 2:00pm. The Cherry Hall Theater is located at Guadalupe & 4th, Carmel. Tickets are $25, available on brownpapertickets.com.
About the Cast:
Janice Noga
Janice has performed her concerts at theaters in Central California and clubs in New York, New Orleans, Los Angeles, Mexico City, and London. She was a founding partner with Jeanette Bryon of Valley Women’s Theater.
For more information about JANKA, go to JankaProject.com.

Thinking Out Loud - Monterey County High School Art Exhibition
2020-03-07 - 2020-03-28 | 4th and Guadalupe, Carmel, CA, 93921, United States
Thinking Out Loud, our annual Monterey County high school student art exhibition, opens Saturday, March 7th, with an artist reception from 3:00 – 5:00 p.m. in the Cherry Center’s gallery on Fourth and Guadalupe, Carmel. The event is free and open to the public. The exhibit can be seen through March 28th, 2020, during regular gallery hours: Wednesday through Friday from 11:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m., Saturday noon to 4:00 p.m., or by appointment.
This program is made possible in part through grants from the Arts Council for Monterey County, and funding from the Monterey County Board of Supervisors, Community Foundation for Monterey County, Pebble Beach Company Foundation, Nancy Buck Ransom Foundation, Carmel-by-the-Sea Rotary, Volunteer Services for Monterey County, and Yellow Brick Road Benefit Store.
Photo above: Caitlin Sullivan, Santa Catalina

POSTPONED Rick Forschino Trio - Jazz at The Cherry
2020-03-21 15:00 - 17:00 | Carl Cherry Center for the Arts, Northwest Corner, 4th and Guadalupe, Carmel-by-the-Sea, CA, 93921, United States
This program is postponed. A new date will be posted shortly.
Jazz at The Cherry is proud to present the Rick Forschino Trio. Together, they will cover the work of renowned jazz artist, 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. This wonderful program will also include a few compositions by master Italian jazz pianist, Enrico Pieranunzi. Joining Rick will be bassist, Bill DeLap, and drummer, Greg Janusz.
Please join us for some great music, wine, and light fare–all included in the ticket price. Saturday, March 21st, 2020. Doors open at 2:00pm; performance from 3:00-5:00pm. Tickets are $25, available online at brownpapertickets.com or by calling (831) 624-7491.

Imagining Carmel
2020-06-26 - 2020-08-29 | Carl Cherry Center for the Arts, Northwest Corner, 4th and Guadalupe, Carmel-by-the-Sea, CA, 93921, United States
The Cherry Center gallery is temporarily closed to observe state COVID-19 mandates.
Imagining Carmel, an exhibit focusing on the main turning points in the cultural history of the Carl Cherry Center for the Arts, opens Friday, June 26th, during new gallery hours: Wednesday through Saturday 12:00 pm – 4:00 pm.
The exhibition will feature poetry and artwork by Jeanne d’Orge, founder of Cherry Center, and other Carmel artists of the era. Over thirty paintings, drawings and photographs from the center’s collection will be on display, as well as historical photographs and memorabilia of the center and Carmel-by-the-Sea.
To practice safe social distancing, we will limit the number of visitors in the gallery at one time, and follow all mandatory state and local COVID-19 regulations. For any questions before your visit, please call (831) 624-7491.
About Jeanne d’Orge (Mrs. Carl Cherry):
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.
Jeanne d’Orge died on May 1, 1964, at the age of 87. Although her painting was recognized in her lifetime for its forcefulness and spirit with exhibits at the Santa Barbara Museum of Art, the Park Avenue Galley in New York City, and the De Young Museum in San Francisco, d’Orge insisted that her paintings never be sold, saying only, “I’m just a paintbrush for God.”

Online Poetry Reading: In the Shadow of Corona
2020-08-30 15:00 - 17:00 | Online Event, Fourth and Guadalupe, Carmel-By-The-Sea, CA, 93921, United States
In the Shadow of Corona, a poetry reading exploring the Covid-19 Pandemic, will be held Sunday, August 30th at 3 p.m. on Zoom. Monterey County poets Jennifer Lagier Fellguth, George Lober, Elliot Ruchowitz-Roberts and Patrice Vecchione will read recent poems drawn from the pandemic and shelter-in-place.
As we are coming to terms with the pandemic in Monterey County, many of us are pivoting to literature as a way of understanding and confronting the virus and its challenges. Poetry can help us meet and digest something that may seem too large and formidable to process. At the same time, the best poetry grasps moments of our ordinary lives in difficult times and renders them extraordinary.
$15 suggested donation. For login and password, please write cherry_center@yahoo.com. For questions regarding this program, use this email address or call (831) 624-7491.

Top (L to R): Patrice Vecchione, George Lober
Bottom (L to R): Elliot Ruchowitz-Roberts, Jennifer Lagier Fellguth

About the Poets:
George Lober is the author of “The Bridge to There,” and “Shift of Light.” Lober is a recipient of the nationally awarded Ruth Cable Memorial Prize for Poetry. His poetry has appeared in numerous magazines and journals.
Jennifer Lagier Fellguth is an Italian American writer, poet, and retired college librarian/instructor. Her scholarly essays on digital resources and online education have been published in peer-reviewed journals; her poetry has appeared in many literary magazines and blogs. She is the author of seventeen books of poetry
Patrice Vecchione is the author of “Writing and the Spiritual Life,” as well as two books of poetry. She has taught creative writing and collage workshops at universities, libraries, in community and spiritual centers, including Esalen Institute, and privately for over thirty years.
Elliot Ruchowitz-Roberts is the author of two chapbooks of poetry, To Mary (after eight and The Sweet Taste; co-author of Bowing to Receive the Mountain: Essays by Lin Jensen and Poetry by Elliot Roberts. His poetry has appeared in various journals and anthologies. White Fire, a collection of his poems, was published in 2017.

Exhibit: In the Shadow of Corona
2020-09-04 - 2020-10-16 | Online Event, Fourth and Guadalupe, Carmel-By-The-Sea, CA, 93921, United States
Isolation is rapidly re-configuring how we understand shelter, and sense of place. For better and worse, shelter-in-place is defining who we are. Home can be a sanctuary—representing protection from a vague, lethal menace, but can also be something akin to a jail cell. All of us are meeting new uncertainties—social, emotional, spiritual and economic. In this anxious moment, photography can help draw meaning from our experience.
“In the Shadow of Corona,” a group exhibit exploring the social, psychological and imaginative responses to COVID-19 and shelter-in-place, is scheduled to open at the Cherry Center Friday, September 4, 2020. The exhibition explores issues related to isolation, creative adaptation, novel ways to connect and vision for the future. An online version of this exhibition can be viewed here.
ImageMakers participating in the exhibit include Mary Aiu, Janet Beaty, Dixie Dixon, Richard Cannon, Ginger Chih, Matt Connors, Eduardo Fujii, Ruth Grimes, Louis Hembree, Bert Ihlenfeld, Roger Lundblad, Jeanne Marino, Carolyn Moore, Rick Murai, Robert Nielsen, Mark Overgaard, Peter Paluzzi, Ken Parker, Jacqui Turner, Steve Zmak, and Victor Klinger.
The exhibit has been extended through Friday, October 16, 2020 during gallery hours: Wednesday through Friday, 12:00 pm – 4:00 pm, or by appointment. In observance of social distancing guidelines, the gallery will be limited to two guests at one time. Masks are required.
Pictured: “Four Granite Boulders, Bald Rock, Berry Creek, California” – Kenneth Parker

The Breakfast Group — A Second Cup of Coffee in Carmel
2020-11-06 - 2020-12-05 | The Carl Cherry Center, Fourth and Guadalupe, Carmel, CA, 93921, United States
The Breakfast Group –A Second Cup of Coffee in Carmel art exhibition opens at the Carl Cherry Center for the Arts on Friday, November 6th, 2020. The exhibition covers a broad spectrum of visual exploration. The Breakfast Group, a cohort of Berkeley artists who have been meeting weekly for decades, hosted a virtual artists reception on Friday, November 6th – watch the video here. Additionally, a Virtual Breakfast with The Breakfast Group was held on Saturday, November 14th – watch the video here.
The Breakfast Group have been working in their studios, teaching in classrooms, curating in local institutions and then joining every week for discussions of exhibitions they have seen, books they have read, and films they have viewed. They mix the topical of sports with the immediacy of politics and circle back to the ever-present workings of the art world – all with a good cup of coffee in hand.
A Second Cup of Coffee in Carmel will feature works by Donna Fenstermaker, Lin Fischer, John Friedman, Nancy Genn, Katie Hawkinson, Stan Huncilman, Carol Ladewig, P.G. Meier, Loren Rehbock, Robert Simons, Joseph Slusky, Kim Thoman, Sandy Walker, and Jan Wurm.
The exhibit can be seen online here and the Cherry Center’s gallery on Fourth and Guadalupe, Carmel, through Saturday, December 5th, 2020. Gallery hours are Wednesday through Saturday from noon to 4:00 pm or by appointment.

Pictured: The Breakfast Group
Pictured, top: “French Potted Plant 2” – Lin Fischer

Art Sparks Online Newsletter
2020-11-07 | The Carl Cherry Center, Fourth and Guadalupe, Carmel, CA, 93921, United States
Read the current issue of our weekly online newsletter here.

Monterey County Gives! 2020
2020-11-12 - 2020-12-31 | The Carl Cherry Center, Fourth and Guadalupe, Carmel, CA, 93921, United States
As an institution, the Carl Cherry Center for the Arts is an enormous idea. For seventy years we’ve presented art exhibitions, plays, workshops and readings that support creative expression on the Central Coast. Just the knowledge and reassurance the Cherry Center is still here is good for our spiritual health, even if we only set foot through its doors once a year.
The Carl Cherry Center is committed to discovering outstanding new artists, writers and performers from all over the county and presenting programs and exhibits in ways that celebrate their worth. Since 1948, the center has remained an iconic locus of arts and ideas in Monterey County, from its intimate stage to its pristine gallery to its serene gardens.
If you’ve ever encountered something engaging or thoughtful or surprising in our gallery and theater, or realized a new perspective on the world, we hope you will show your support by making a donation to MCGives and the Carl Cherry Center for the Arts. 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 donation today.
Robert Reese, Executive Director
Cece McCoy, President
DONATE NOW

CALL FOR ARTWORK - Nine Days of Artmas
2020-11-24 | The Carl Cherry Center, Fourth and Guadalupe, Carmel, CA, 93921, United States
Artists, photographers and sculptors in all media are invited to contribute to the Carl Cherry Center’s annual fundraiser, The Nine Days of Artmas. The event will be held online and in the gallery December 11-19, 2020. During that time, community members, friends and family will be invited to view the artwork and purchase in support of their favorites.
To contribute artwork to The Nine Days of Artmas, please call our office at (831) 624-7491 or email cherry_center@yahoo.com.

The Nine Days of Artmas
2020-12-11 - 2020-12-19 | The Carl Cherry Center, Fourth and Guadalupe, Carmel, CA, 93921, United States
The Nine Days of Artmas — a “pop-up” exhibit and silent auction of 40 paintings, photography and sculptures by artistic friends of the Carl Cherry Center for the Arts — will be held December 11th through December 19th. Artwork can be viewed online and in the Cherry Center during regular gallery hours: Wednesday through Saturday from 12:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. Be advised masks are required and all times and gallery entrance limited to three visitors at one time to follow social distancing guidelines.
All work will be for sale with proceeds benefitting the Carl Cherry Center for the Arts. The exhibit offers a wide range of artistic styles, imagery and influences, including a variety of mediums ranging from traditional paintings and drawings to pieces created with elements of photography, collage and sculpture. Artists and photographers include Eleen Auvil, Dixie Dixon, Robin Sawyer, Jan Wagstaff, Peter Hiller, Robin Winfield, Ginger Chih, Eduardo Fujii, Jim Dultz, Richard Cannon, Mary Liz Houseman and many others.
VISIT ARTMAS ONLINE
Pictured: “Botanical” – Christel Dilbohner (online only)

Days of Heaven: Jeanne D'Orge and Brad Schwieger
2021-02-19 - 2021-03-26 | The Carl Cherry Center, Fourth and Guadalupe, Carmel, CA, 93921, United States
Days of Heaven: Jeanne D’Orge and Brad Schwieger art exhibition opens Friday, February 19, 2021. The exhibit can be seen during regular gallery hours: Wednesday through Saturday from noon to 4:00 pm or by appointment.
One of Carmel’s preeminent visual storytellers, Mrs. Carl Cherry (Jeanne D’Orge) employed Modernist forms and muted colors to narrate an internal experience so readily indefinable in her paintings of processions, landscapes, rituals and ceremonies. This month, the Cherry Center unites one of Cherry’s most groundbreaking series—Paintings Under Glass (1947–1954)—with the ceramic work of Brad Schwieger.
Cherry’s use of blues and greens, contrasting with the whites of the figures, grants the work a nocturnal, dreamlike quality. Some critics have questioned the extent to which the piece draws on spiritual principles, suggesting instead that it might depict figures from Mrs. Cherry’s own imaginative pantheon, as its visionary intensity seems to suggest. The work is complemented by Mr. Schwieger’s large, vase-like ceramic sculptures, which suggest and refer to the Mrs. Cherry’s figures.
Brad Schwieger has participated in more than 300 exhibitions including: The Seto Ceramics and Art Glass Center, Seto Japan, 2002; The 2nd Cheongju International Craft Competition, Korea, 2001; American Shino, Babcock Galleries, New York, New York, 2000 Different Stokes: International Wood Fired Ceramics Invitational, at The University of Iowa Museum of Art in Iowa City, among others. He was an Artist in Residence at The Archie Bray Foundation for Ceramic Arts in Helena, Montana and the Watershed Center for Ceramics in Maine, both in 1998. He has conducted more than 50 workshops and lectured across the United States, Europe and Asia. His work has been published and reviewed in American Craft, Ceramics Monthly, and many other periodicals and books.
The exhibit will run in the gallery through March 26, 2021.

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 | 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 | 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 | 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 | 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 | 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.
