New Pacific Studio

My dear friend Elissa Shanks Stewart has continued this impressive family heritage working as a lifelong educator , wife of Ward Stewart, mom, timeless fashion model and community activist in Vallejo CA.Bravo, Elissa!

Great to see movement in youth arts!

The Ranter in Decline Goodbye, traitor. No one is above the law.... We turn to the sun after four years of winter in a cave of lies. A time of hope is here. Share the path on our crowded star.

Spread the word!

New Pacific Studio mourns the passing and celebrates the life and continuing voice of poet Q.R.Hand Jr., who was honored by NPS with a Lifetime Achievement Award in September 2020. His forthcoming collection of poetry, Out of Nothing, is to be published by Tongo Eisen-Martin's Black Freighter Press. Sing on!

What I Love about Vallejo-focus on nature, since this week has involved massive garden clean-up. Such a breath of fresh air after weeks of smoke, and a great escape from our ugly political atmosphere.

Check out our latest news ! Thanks to Terra Fuller for her fine work. https://resartis.org/res-artis-news/

A wise and understanding scientist, and a good friend of New Pacific Studio:

Paul Richards and Nina Serrano are former artists in residence (November 2019) at NPS Vallejo with rich histories of decades of cultural activism in the Bay Area. So glad they are now part of our Vallejo community! Love this video!

INVITATION! Feeling shut in? I invite you to travel via the web on this poetic diary of my journey a year ago from Vallejo to the three cities of Liverpool, Be...rlin and Trondheim. It was inspired by a collective wish (2017 on) to see a beautiful Riverwalk developed on both sides of the Napa River in Vallejo, and learn from other river cities. *I wanted to see how Liverpool , on the river Mersey, had reinvented its now obsolete 19th century dock system (especially Albert Dock) into a 21st century global tourist destination with museums,restaurants and housing in former warehouses. (I love Liverpool, and lived there from 1973-75 and 1980-83. I'm also working on an oral history, People of the Lane, begun in 1980.) * How had Berlin's historic district, post-1945 part of 'East Berlin', the DDR, re united since 1989 with 'West Berlin', reactivated its river frontage? I've been a regular visitor to Berlin since 1979, and I feel at home in this city. I try to speak German, but every second person insists on speaking English! * and visit Vallejo's first sister city of Trondheim, Norway. Sons of Norway were an active group here some decades ago. As a story-collector in New Zealand and Vallejo, I have taken special interest in the stories of Scandinavian migration from the 1870s. River to River 1 Journey from Silvergate, October 2019 From shining Silvergate and towers of San Francisco I cross by silver bird to a quiet London garden near Primrose Hill. Then north by train to Liverpool and a small white room on Seymour Terrace. Grey mornings woken by seagulls. High above the Mersey two copper cormorants keep watch: Bella gazes seaward, Bertie watches crowds on Paradise Street. New boots on cobblestones. This week I walk the Mersey shore. In Albert Dock old ships are anchored beside a carousel. Central Library is overflowing with young voices. City of students, city of ghosts. * Goodbye seagull mornings beside the Mersey. Goodbye, dear people of Lark Lane and Sefton Park. Your voices travel with me night and day. 2 Berlin California burns again while I wander from the Mersey to the Spree. Outside my window in Berlin golden leaves are falling. 3 Trondheim Now Johannes guides me along wet cobbled streets in Trondheim, ancient Nidaros, St. Olaf’s shrine beside the river Nid. * To enter the Town Hall, turn this earnest bronze. In the cathedral, spirals in stone honor green life renewed each spring. * Gentle sleet is falling. Cold October night, Kari’s fresh-baked bread. A crying newborn grandchild is gently rocked to sleep. 4 Return to Vallejo Light snow falls in the night. At the airport, we wait for de-icing of the wings. We fly to Amsterdam, and on to San Francisco. Here the rains have not yet come. Carquinez cliffs are black and bare from last week's fires. From my book-lined cottage a short walk from the Napa River I send messages to friends old and new. We are all one, living on a crowded star, forever building and rebuilding cities beside our rivers, fjords and oceans. This was a time of gathering. Soon will come a time of sharing. But first, the bliss of sleep. KF 2 November, 2019, rev. Sep 2020

Wolf and Saints Elections are approaching. I cannot watch that cruel wolf-like face and eyes or listen to his rasping voice... but I read his words. Cruelty, greed, arrogance and lies spill out of that downturned mouth. Seventy years ago as a schoolgirl in colonial Dunedin on a South Pacific shore I wore the daily memory of two Northern saints-- first Hilda of Whitby, then Columba of Iona-- across my chest. ‘Blessed are the Pure in Heart’ (in Latin, naturally) said my grey blazer. ‘Grace and Good Discipline’ (Latin, too) said my green jacket. Joe is no saint. Kind, yes. And with our help I think he can lead this shaken land and people forward to grace, discipline, and shared community and drive the wolf away.

Watch for mural progress by the talented and motivated teens participating in ARTIVATE: public art now, a collaborative project led by City Studio and Collective Action Studio.

On Sunday night strong winds ignited fires that have swept from Mt St Helena down the Napa Valley. The city of Calistoga has been evacuated. A tortured time. The fire is 0% contained. My friend Fabrice lives in the Napa Valley and operates from Vallejo, so I think especially of him, his wife Paula and their two children at this critical time.

New Pacific Studio welcomes international visual artist and gallery director Gina Chiao back to Vallejo after a 2-year stay in Taiwan, where she was caring for ...her elderly parents, who were together for over 70 years. Gina has now brought her widowed mother Pearl back to Vallejo, and combines sculptural work with tender family care. Bravo on both counts, Gina! See more

Keep One Cow Apart! As a writer, I spend most days at my desk on my books in progress, in a world of yesterday and tomorrow. Current projects include * an or...al history of Liverpool -Lark Lane, UK from 1980-81 --- * and a mad 190- mile sailing and rowing escape off the coast of Greece undertaken by 5 Kiwi and 1 Aussie soldier on seven days in April-May 1941, as they stole an 18 ft open boat and fled from the German invasion and a future as prisoners of war or worse to possible 'freedom' in Crete. My Kiwi dad was the skipper, and an Aussie sergeant kept a brilliant visual and verbal diary. How amazing to have a camera and film present at such a fraught time! Hope we can make a video documentary! In today's world, this past week I have moved between Davis, my old college town between 1984-2001, and San Francisco. In the world of writing, I celebrate Jesse Hartley, designer of the amazing Liverpool dock system, and Ernest Bruce Haydock's photo of my dad(second from right), another Kiwi soldier, and a wonderfully hospitable Greek farming family in Velanidia on May 1, 1941. The climate news is bad, another extreme heat wave is on the way this weekend, with temperatures due to rise by 30 degrees and high winds.

In autumn 1980 in Liverpool I saw an exhibition of Irish-born and Liverpool-based photographer Tom Wood. I gave him a modest commission to take photos of the people and places of Lark Lane, Liverpool, whose oral history I had just started recording. This month RRB Photobooks ([email protected]) are publishing Tom's new book 101 Pictures. I've just ordered my copy online.... Over the past 40 years he has won many awards for his brilliant skill at capturing intense moments in the lives of individuals and crowd. Check out this recent August 2020 review article in the Guardian by Sean O'Hagan. Congratulations, Tom! See more

Judith R. Shamp has done multiple residencies at New Pacific Studio. Always a delightful presence. Her Napa ancestral roots have added an extra dimension to our Vallejo soil. Thanks to Judith, NPS visited the Oxbow School long ago, and explored Mt. Veeder family sites now finding new uses.