The two artists who run this residency, Paula Wilson and Joan Malkerson, were welcoming and infinitely helpful. Visiting their studios and talking with them inspired me, and whenever the rare, small problem arose, their help was instantly on the way: I felt very supported. My studio space was quite large and the front room had wonderful natural light: a wonderful place to work. My living quarters were in a lovely casita filled with Paula's husband's remarkably handsome handmade furniture. But, of course, the best part for me was the incredible desert around Carrizozo, bordered by high mountains and topped with a limitless sky. How lucky I was to get this artist's residency, where I could spend my days learning how to draw what was for me a new and challenging territory!

Another remarkable coincidence was that a dear friend, poet and ceramic artist from California, Vince Montague, who had a residency there at the same time and gave a poetry workshop. We would meet every day at 5:00 to take a walk through the town. What a gift to have that companionship!

Back home in my studio, I have been working on drawings of the lava beds outside Carrizozo which made unworldly forms when they oozed up out of the ground. Soon some will appear on this website.

I just found out I have been accepted to the Artist-in-Residence program in Carrizozo, New Mexico for the month of February, 2019! Last year I visited my friend Vince Montague when he had a residency there, during which he made large, beautiful clay sculptures. The AIR lives and works in a big building, a fine place to work, the townspeople and the local artist community are friendly and supportive, and the gallery spaces are filled with impressive work. My purpose there will be to explore the landscape, so different from northern New Mexico, and to learn how to depict how it looks and feels to me to be in the middle of it. How lucky am I?

When I enter a new geography, it takes me awhile to actually see it, to internalize the natural forms so I can draw them without preconceptions that come from other places. I believe that is beginning to happen in my drawings of New Mexico. I am very, very thankful to be living in the middle of so much beauty.

The Pacific Grove Art Center show was great, except that it happened while we were moving from the Bay Area to New Mexico (!), and I couldn't spend much time at the exhibition. However, this move was precipitated by our landlady's putting our house on the market, so we had very little time to find a place to go. But everything came to us so easily, from finding a house in Santa Fe in 3 days (!!) to realizing what a beautiful, peaceful and art-filled place this is. It is a whole new life, and a whole new environment. The process of learning to really see those mountains, those indescribable clouds and dawns and sunsets and to be able to live here and draw them is an enormous gift for which I am very grateful.

What a wonderful, spacious place to show work (May 6 - June 23, 2016)! And I was especially honored to have my work displayed in a gallery next to the one where Juan Ramon Gimeno was exhibiting his extraordinary ceramic sculptures. The opening was lovely: there was a good crowd, and I had some fine conversations with local artists and PGAC members. PGAC gives so much to the community: dance classes, music classes and concerts, art classes and studios - the list goes on and on. It was a privilege to be a part of it, however briefly.

Another show in the beautiful Monterey area! This one will be a large solo exhibition in one of the gorgeous big galleries at PGAC, from May 6th - June 23rd, 2016. The opening reception will be Friday, May 6th, 7-9 pm.

I'm so glad I could show my drawings here! Not only was the venue beautiful, but I was exhibiting with Ruby Rudnick, whose post-apocalyptic, immensely skillful ink drawings were a remarkable counterpoint to my work. I had the honor and pleasure of giving a talk at the opening reception and a drawing demo later on to drawing students from MPC, who were impressive in the articulate, insightful questions they asked and their enthusiasm. One of the best parts of having this show was being able to work with Melissa Pickford, the gallery curator, whose energy, warmth, professionalism and wonderful eye made all aspects of this exhibition a joy for me. Thank you, everyone!

I'm still inspired by the Humboldt Wildlife Refuge, where I went every day when I was in Eureka during the time of my exhibition at the Morris Graves Museum. Somehow the light, the fog, and the tidal wetlands have, fortunately, remained with me. Lifting Fog and Out to the Ocean are two of the drawings I've made this summer, based on that landscape.

From November 17 - December 15, 2015, I will be having a 2-person show with Ruby Rudnick at Monterey Peninsula College. In mid-April I went down to meet the curator, Melissa Pickford, and see the space and discuss the logistics of the exhibition with her. She is extremely personable, organized and supportive, and now I am very much looking forward to working with her on the show.

Laurey Sullivan did a stellar job of installing my drawings in the Tom Knight Gallery in the rotunda of the museum, and the opening on March 7th was wonderful! More than 900 visitors(!) came to the museum that day and evening to see the work of the three of us artists having solo shows there. Although I'm not local to that area, people were enthusiastic about my drawings and eager to talk with me about them, so I met some interesting folks and had lively conversations. Because Humboldt State is nearby, many art students were in attendance, and it was especially great to talk with them. The people of Eureka and the surrounding towns hunt, fish, hike, and generally spend a lot of time outdoors; they are very aware of their environment, are proud of it and cherish it, so I was grateful for their praise and sense of kinship with my drawings.

On May 8th, the day after the opening reception, I gave an art talk and demo to an engaged group of people in the Tom Knight Gallery, where my exhibition was. First we compared the drawings to the photos that served as the raw material, and people identified how and why the differences in the composition between photo and drawing changed the space and feeling of the drawing.Then we discussed my process and I made a small drawing to demonstrate how I work, and the audience asked a lot of excellent questions and made astute comments. It was a very enjoyable time!

It's such a privilege to show my work at community-based museums which engage the community in various ways. When I was showing my exhibition to a friend from Rhode Island on March 25th, Janine Murphy, the incredibly organized and helpful Programs Manager at MGMA, realized there was a kids' art class going on at the same time, so she asked the teacher if she'd like me to talk with the children, and she was all for it, because they were going to do charcoal drawings in class. This art talk was completely impromptu, but I was so impressed with the insights some of the kids articulated! For example, I was talking about how I like to spend time alone in nature, and that's why there are no people in my drawings; that way, people can imagine they're in the landscape by themselves. And a little girl said, "So we can make our own story." Exactly!

Also, the museum has a monthly Family Art Day, and at the one in March, the kids and parents first looked at my work, then made their own charcoal and pastel drawings. Janine sent me photos of some of the children holding up their drawings, which were great.

Beautiful catalogs designed and produced by Gary Barten have arrived! They will be for sale in the Humboldt Arts Council gift shop during the exhibition at the Morris Graves Museum. Museum Director Jemima Harr kindly added a lovely introduction to the catalog, and Helayna Thickpenny, art historian and Humanities Chair at Mission College, wrote a marvelous essay putting my work in the context of landscape in art history.

Delivered 22 large drawings to the Morris Graves Museum of Art the morning of Valentine's Day. Will return March 5 to hang the show with Assistant Curator Laurey Sullivan, and then get ready for the opening March 7 and Art Talk on March 8, 2015.

Inspired by a completely black drawing I did for the Plus Minus show at Norton Factory Studios, my next piece was mostly black, and I though of Goya the whole time I was working on it. You can see it in the California portfolio under San Francisco Bay.

This will be a 2-person show, the other artist being a drawer from New Orleans. The gallery decided they wanted an all black-and-white show of drawings: excellent! Although the 2015-2016 schedule is a work in progress, this exhibition will probably be in the fall of 2015. More soon!

Join 20+ artists Saturday, December 6th from 4 - 9 pm for wine, music, food and magnificent art: both evocative and provocative. 3094 East 10th Street, Oakland, across from the Fruitvale BART. NJS is a participating member of the Jingletown 2014 Art Walk. Hope to see you there!

This holiday season, NFS will hold open studios for one day only, December 6th, from 4 - 9 pm. There will be wine, a food truck, and all the extremely talented and hard-working artists at Norton Factory Studios. Again, I am amazed at my luck in having a studio there!

After I saw the rotunda space at MGMA, I decided I wanted to try to make all new work for my solo exhibition there, and I now have 18 new pieces to show there.

In late August I went to Eureka to meet Jemima Harr, Executive Director-Curator, Janine Murphy, Programs Manager, and Laurey Sullivan, Curatorial Assistant. They were all very welcoming, helpful and organized! It will be a pleasure to work with them to make my solo exhibition a success.

The rotunda exhibition space is large, with good sightlines in spite of the columns holding up the rotunda. When we were thinking about how my work would look best, Laurey encouraged me to experiment with some new formats if I wanted to, which I am happily doing: 24" x 46" horizontal pieces and 27" x 37".

This year's residency on Norton Island, sponsored by the Eastern Frontier Education Foundation, was as inspiring to me as my previous three stays! Even though the landscape there is now familiar (some rocks feel like old friends), I could challenge myself with trying new compositions and using texture more to define forms. Examples of work completed during and after this residency are in the Portfolio section: please take a look!

Open Studios at Norton Factory Studios (6/7-8 and 6/14-15) was very well attended this year, and the visiting artists who joined us were outstanding! This ProArts event gives all the artists a chance to see what each other is doing and hang out a little bit, plus we meet many other artists and art-lovers. It's gratifying to hear other people's reactions to my work, and I had some illuminating conversations with visitors to my studio. One happy surprise: John Jerney came to my studio! He wrote a thorough, cogent and positive review of my show at the Triton Museum on examiner.com, and it was great to meet him in person.

Many thanks to Walter Craven, Lisa Pfeiffer and Lara Hoke for all their energy and dedication to getting NFS better known. There were many more people in attendance this year than last, thanks to their efforts plus the high quality of the work produced in these beautiful studio spaces.

March 7 - April 19, 2015! What a privilege to be showing there!

From 5/31 to 6/15, I had 3 drawings (Behind the Airport, Tallest Trees and Changing Light) at the Berkeley Art Center in "Known Associates", an exhibition of 10 artists selected from all those participating in Pro Arts Open Studios in the East Bay. The opening reception was May 31, and it was great! This gem of a museum sits beneath the trees of Live Oak Park. There's one spacious, well-lighted exhibition space, and a small but choice sculpture garden outside. The best part of the opening was meeting the other artists, especially Rebeca Garcia-Gonzalez, whose portraits of people and neighborhoods in the north Bay are moving and unforgettable. It was also a pleasure to meet Wayne Shaffer and see his beautiful bronze sculptures. Curator Aimee LeDuc and her assistant Amanda Klymek did a great job!

From 6:00 - 8:30 pm on April 17th, from 6:00 - 8:30 pm, the Triton Museum will be celebrating Third Thursday with artists' demos (I'll be doing one), poetry readings, music, wine and hors d'oeuvres. Plus, right across the street, Santa Clara City Hall will be having their opening reception for their annual sculpture show, which this year includes two pieces by Gary Barten. Come to Santa Clara for a great, art-filled evening!

My proposal for a solo exhibition at the MGMA in Eureka, CA has been accepted! Dates will be forthcoming. This is a beautiful, community-oriented museum housed in a respectfully re-purposed Carnegie Library, and it's a great honor to have a show there.

On January 31, 2014, art writer John Jerney wrote a fine review of my exhibition at the Triton Museum.

Please take a look at: http://www.examiner.com/article/under-the-radar-art-around-the-bay-area

Please read Chief Curator Preston Metcalf's introduction to my work!

You can see it at http://www.tritonmuseum.org/exhibitions_Meyer.php.

The Vargas Gallery show will include small drawings which will complement the larger works at the Triton.

The show will still open on February 1, 2014, but the opening reception will now be on February 21st, and the exhibition will run until May 4th!

My solo exhibition at the Triton will be up from February 1 - April 6, 2014. The beautiful rotunda space where my work will be hung will accommodate 15-20 large drawings of landscapes from Calfornia, Hawai'i and Maine. Please join me at the opening on Friday, February 7th!

In the spring of 2014, I will have the honor of a solo exhibition at the prestigious Triton Museum of Art in Santa Clara, CA!

In the spring of 2014, I will be privileged to show small drawings at the Vargas Gallery at Mission College, Santa Clara, CA.

My drawing "Down the Beach" (you can see this image under Portfolio / California / San Francisco Bay) will be included in this fine group show! The opening reception will be Saturday, June 1st from 5 pm to 7 pm, and the exhibition continues until Sunday, July 14th at 4 pm. For more details, please go to http://marinmoca.org.

At the end of April 2013, I was extremely lucky in finding a beautiful studio to rent at Norton Factory Studios in Oakland! It's a 345' space with lovely daylight all day, and colleagues in the other studios whose work is exceptional!

As of March 3, 2013, two of my drawings are now on permanent display at Great Mountain Forest, a beautiful, 6,000 acre private forest preserve in the hills of western Connecticut. One drawing depicts Canaan Mountain; the other is of woods in the vicinity of GMF.

At the end of July 2013, I will be privileged to have an artist's residency at the Eastern Frontier Society's arts colony on Norton Island, a small, remote island off the coast of Maine. Since some of my best drawings have been inspired by that astonishingly beautiful place (please see Portfolio / Maine / Norton Island), it's wonderful to have thisl chance to work there again.

There will be an image of one of my drawings, "Behind the Airport" (please see Portfolio / California / San Francisco Bay) on the cover of the February 2013 issue of Art Opportunities Monthly, an online newsletter for artists. It's put together by Benny Shaboy, who vets all the information about galleries, museums, contests and artist residencies in the listings. Here's the main link: www.ArtOpportunitiesMonthly.com