UKIAH, Calif. – “YOUNG: Emerging Artists of Mendocino County,” the first exhibit of the 2013-14 academic year at Mendocino College, will present the work of ten artists under the age of 40.

Alyssum Wier, exhibit curator and Art Gallery Management instructor at the college, asked artists to respond to the following questions:

• If we define an emerging artist as someone who has entered the marketplace or exhibition arena with some degree of confidence or success, what does it mean to be an emerging artist of Mendocino County?
• In the 1960s, 1970s, and even 1980s, artists living in Mendocino County may have been working in intentional or unintentional isolation from metropolitan centers. In a new era of instant connectivity and collapsed distances from urban centers, what does it mean to be an emerging artist of Mendocino County now?
• Does living here offer a choice between isolation and connectivity?
• Do increased options for connection make it easier or more difficult to “emerge” as an artist?

In response, the work assembled for this show by participating artists Anne Beck, Hopi Breton, Genine Coleman, Tessa Crawford, Rose Easterbrook, Tobin Keller, Dietmar Krumrey, Adrianna Oberg, Andrew Power, and Solange Roberdeau may evoke the landscapes of Mendocino County (Breton, Coleman, Easterbrook, Keller, Power, Roberdeau) or it may hover in a placeless or abstract philosophical space (Beck, Breton, Crawford, Krumrey, Oberg).

Reflecting on the theme, participating artist Andrew Power of Redwood Valley states: “My relation to the remote county of Mendocino was and is a huge influence. It not only informs my work, but is a big part of my reason for working at all.”

Willits Artist Genine Coleman further reflects: “In many respects I feel that living and creating here in Mendocino gives me the opportunity to use the location as a beacon of a larger voice to be heard beyond Mendocino. I think this county has much to offer to those living beyond its boundaries in the way of example … as long as creativity is applied to the notion of ‘emerging’ this location fosters out of the box thinking as a necessary tool for survival.”

Whether from Mendocino County or transplanted here, these artists reveal through their work that they are innovative with materials, technically skilled, and emerging now.

The public is invited to an opening reception at the gallery on Thursday, Sept. 12, from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m.

Regular gallery hours are Tuesday through Thursday from 12:30 p.m. to 3:30 p.m. and by appointment.

The exhibit runs through Oct. 27.