ArtBeat – 2023 Preview

By Ed Goldman

If you collect art because you hope it appreciates as time passes, congratulations: Everything you collect is now officially a year older. 

On the other hand, if you buy art because it adds fuel to the furnace of your soul, 2023 will absolutely warm and energize you.

At Archival Gallery, for example, upcoming shows include:

– Jim Marxen, who specializes in landscape, contemporary art and urban art, and the Laureen Landau Legacy Collection, January 5-31;

– Carol Mott-Binkley and Don Yost, February 1-25;  

– In March, which is Women’s History Month, featured artists will include Maureen Hood, Erin Martinelli, Linda Nunes, Mariellen Layne, and others to be announced; 

– April will bring “Gone Fishin’”, a group show in memory of Ron Wagner. This will be a fundraiser in support of the Parkinson Association of Northern California;

-– Recent works of Leslie McCarron and Gary Dinnen will dominate the walls from May – 4-27 ; and  

– Topping off the first half of what promises to be an exciting year, in June, an architecture-themed show will feature William Peterson and Kiny McCarrick. 

Archival Gallery—which celebrates its 40th anniversary during a month-long celebration in August—can be reached at 916.923.6204 or by visiting online: archivalgallery.com

*                                            *                                            *

Meanwhile, in the literary arts corner, check out “Churchill: A Drinking Life/Champagne, Cognac and Cocktails,” the newest book from Gin Sander, collaborating with Roxanne Langer. “Gin Sander” is the appropriate pen name of longtime arts patron, author and editor Jennifer Basye Sander whenever her topic includes adult beverages (she used it for her popular book “The Martini Diet”). Langer, a sommelier and international wine judge, served as not only co-author but also, as Sander told me in a recent interview for my column The Goldman State, “our technical consultant when it came to what went into certain drinks favored by Churchill.”

The book, which includes classic drink recipes, debunks some of the myths surrounding the habits and drink preferences of the greatest British prime minister. 

For example, he did not, Sander and Langer report, covet gin-and-tonics; instead, he went through the day nursing weakish (but  continual) whiskey-and-sodas, yet also enjoyed brandy or Cognac nightly and adored Champagne. In fact, it was estimated that in the course of his adulthood, he consumed 42,000 “imperial pint” bottles of Champagne.

Lest you think the smallish serving showed some restraint on the PM’s intake, bear in mind that the British imperial pint is roughly 20% larger than the American one. Since Churchill was larger than life, that seems only fitting. 

You can find “Churchill: A Drinking Life” wherever books are sold or damn well ought to be.

#