Back in the late 1950s, we played daily in the pit, the vacated sand and gravel site located directly behind the houses on the east side of Janey Way in East Sacramento. Today, St. Francis High School occupies the site; but back then, the pit became the source of many unforgettable stories. Local barber John Waldren related the following story to me recently.

 

One day, John, his friend Sonny and cousin Joe went down into the pit to play. They climbed up on a dirt pile in the center of the pit and heaved clods off the top of the mound. As they did this, they beheld an incredible site – a horse running loose in the pit. John had idea. “Let’s capture the horse, then find its owner. We will get a reward.”

 

So the boys worked as a team and managed to herd the animal up to a wall on the north side of the site. Carefully, one of the boys grabbed the horse’s rein. After calming the animal, they led it out of the pit up to the line of backyard fences located on the west side of the site. There, they tied the horse to a fence post. They walked over to M Street and then east toward 62nd Street, looking for yards large enough to stable a horse. Eventually they found a likely farmhouse off Elvas Avenue. They knocked on the door and spoke to a woman.

 

Sure enough, she said that she owned the horse. So the boys returned to the pit and waited for the owner to come and pick up the horse. After a while, a truck towing a horse trailer drove up and parked. The woman they spoke to exited the truck, walked up, unhitched the horse then walked away from the boys without even saying thank you. The boys were dumfounded. No reward, no thanks – nothing. They learned a valuable lesson that day. Sometimes in life, the most honorable deeds go unrewarded.

 

 

Spartacus revisited

This following story comes from my friend Tom Hart. In 1960, a group of the younger Janey Way boys went to the Alhambra Theater to see the movie “Spartacus,” the story of the gladiators who staged a rebellion against the Roman Empire.

 

The boys were so taken by the movie that when they returned home they fashioned shields out of cardboard and twine, made make-believe weapons by taping boxing gloves to the end of broomsticks and wore football helmets depicting the Roman headgear. Then they marched down into the pit and over to Mt. Everest, the large mound in the center of the great hole. There they staged seemingly-realistic gladiatorial fights, bopping one another’s shields with their homemade lances. As they did this, a group of older boys saw them and decided to chase them off the top of Mt. Everest. A battle ensued. The older boys cast dirt clods up at the boys atop Mt. Everest. They young boys returned fire, but the older boys moved inexorably up the side of the hill. In response, the younger boys rolled an empty 55-gallon oil drum up to the edge of Mt. Everest and down the hill toward the attacking boys. Naturally, the attackers fled in all available directions and did not return. Realizing they had won the battle, the younger boys raised their hands in the air and yelled, “Victory, victory, victory!” The battle for Mt. Everest had become another swashbuckling Janey Way memory.

 

E-mail Marty at marty@valcomnews.com.

The American Red Cross is sending money, supplies and staff to Haiti to support relief efforts there after the recent earthquake, which caused catastrophic damage and loss of life.

According to reports, as many as three million people may have been affected by the quake, which collapsed government buildings and caused major damage to hospitals in the area.

On a national level, the Red Cross is contributing an initial $1 million from the International Response Fund to support the relief operation, and has opened its warehouse in Panama to provide tarps, mosquito nets and cooking sets for approximately 5,000 families.

In addition to Red Cross staff already in Haiti, six disaster management specialists from National Headquarters are being deployed to the disaster zone to help coordinate relief efforts. At this time, the American Red Cross is only deploying volunteers specially trained to manage international emergency operations, with the first wave of volunteers coming from Red Cross chapters closest to Haiti. However, the Red Cross is always looking for volunteers on a local level and anyone interested in becoming a volunteer can contact the Sacramento Sierra Chapter at  916-993-7070 .

If you, your school, community, church, or business is interested in raising funds to donate to the American Red Cross in support of the relief efforts in Haiti, please contact Matt Lingo at the Sacramento Sierra Chapter at  916-993-7081  or e-mail lingom@sacsierraredcross.org. This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. Visit the Sacramento-Sierra Red Cross directly at http://sacsierraredcross.org. 

There has been an outpouring of support from the public. To help, people can make an unrestricted donation to the International Response Fund at www.redcross.org or by calling 1-800-REDCROSS ( 1-800-733-2767 ). The public can also help by texting “Haiti” to 90999 to send a $10 donation to the Red Cross, through an effort supported by the U.S. State Department. Funds will go to assist American Red Cross relief efforts in Haiti.

The economic forecast for the Sacramento region is better than that of 2009 but it is still precarious, and job losses are expected to continue at least through most of 2010 according to the Sacramento Business Review.

The bi-annual Review, published by Sanjay Varshney, dean of Sacramento State’s College of Business Administration and Jason Bell of the CFA Society of Sacramento, is an independent review and forecast that focuses specifically on the economy of Sacramento.

“Although economists have already declared the official end of the national recession, we believe that the Sacramento region will lag behind the rest of the country in emerging from the recession,” Varshney says.

The Review, now in its second year, has hit the mark in its previous economic forecasts including a prediction in early 2009 that Sacramento’s unemployment rate would approach 13 percent by the end of that year.

“The unemployment rate for the Sacramento region has steadily climbed to 12.4 percent (as of November 2009) with a loss of nearly 83,000 wage and salary jobs since June 2007 and a loss of 43,800 jobs over the last 12 months,” Varshney says. 

The dean says Sacramento has likely already seen the worst of the job losses and believes the regional economy is starting to show early signs of recovering.  The bad news, he says, is that the recovery, particularly as it relates to the employment picture, will likely be very gradual over the next two years.

 ”We forecast that the unemployment rate in the Sacramento region will reach 13.5 percent in early 2010 with an improvement in the employment picture unlikely until later in the year,” he says. ”Even then, we expect the unemployment rate in the region to remain elevated through 2012.”

The Review also reports on emerging trends and forecasts in the areas of capital markets including the stock market, corporate performance, and real estate that includes housing.

 ”While virtually all of Sacramento’s banks have thus far survived the residential mortgage crisis, some may not be so fortunate in 2010 now that problems have migrated toward commercial real estate loans,” he says. “We continue to see formidable headwinds to the local economic and employment recovery, including moderate growth expectations, tight credit, excess capacity and consumers still looking to deleverage and rebuild wealth.” 

The new issue of the Review is available online at http://www.sacbusinessreview.com. A printed version will be available at the College of Business Administration.

For more information on the College of Business Administration, visit www.cba.csus.edu or call  (916) 278-6578 . Information on the CFA Society is available at www.cfass.org.

Some of the best local journalists in our area have recently been put out of work as newspapers around the Sacramento region have closed. But the creative force of these individuals is hard to extinguish. Some, if not most, have found a second life online, writing as sophisticated citizen journalists and bloggers.

The following is a short list of blogs developed by these orphaned journalists. Although a few traditional news outlets have found successful online vehicles (kudos to you, Sacramento News and Review, with your delicious SNOG blog, http://www.newsreview.com/sacramento/snog/blogs), I believe these new media journalists represent the best of what’s to come online.

 

 

Sacramento Sports Informant (http://thesportsinformant.com/)

A transplant from Washington State and a sports reporter by trade, Gonzaga graduate Patrick Ibarra knows how to get to the meat of any athletic event and deliver in-depth analysis and biting commentary.

The strength Patrick has as a reporter (and now a blogger) is that he does more than tell you what happened, he shows you. He takes his readers on a journey, placing athletes and their managers as players in larger dramas. You can get the scores from the Bee, but from Patrick you get the blood, sweat, tears and struggle that went into every basket, every hit and every goal. An example: Patrick’s coverage of local ultimate fighter Urijah Faber has been second to none; when Faber broke his hand while in a comeback fight last year to rebuild his career, Patrick delivered a pounding story, shadowing every punch and blow as Faber pressed on for an additional four more rounds, bruised, bloodied and knowing he would likely lose. In that story, Patrick did more than coolly chronicle the fight, he provided witness as to the human agony and toil that is entrenched within defeat while also displaying the redemptive qualities that are inherent to any hard-fought contest. Like some kind of sports night troubadour, Patrick deftly narrates the drama that exists behind every us-versus-them battle, adding nothing but the real life emotions of the athletes present. And since Marcos Breton was foolishly moved from the Bee’s sports page to the metro section (or “Our Region”), I don’t see anyone else doing that here in Sacramento.

Patrick, the former sports editor of the Sacramento Union and the Folsom Life (two papers now closed), is simply the best in his field. Now, he runs his own sports Web site, working with his own staff (one of his writers, Scott Levin, is a chip off the Ibarra block), and he does this pro bono because he enjoys his craft. I invite you to enjoy it as well. His “Weekly Snitch” column is priceless.

 

 

An Emerging Author’s Chronicle (http://darbysbooks.blogspot.com)

In this blog by longtime local journalist Darby Patterson (who now doubles, from time-to-time, as a ValComNews columnist), a face and feeling are finally placed onto the otherwise anonymous life of a Sacramento writer/reporter.

Finally gone from the day-to-day battles of the newsroom and pursuing political and personal causes, Darby’s quest to become a successful author is stimulating – especially because she has to act as both artist and agent, sowing the tale while selling her story. Herculean as her labor might appear, Darby’s sharp wit acts as a friendly guide through the troubled seas that is the literary world.

While topics roam from her struggle publishing her children’s book to quirky observations of Sacramento midtown living, the blog is brilliantly authentic – perhaps because Darby comes from a stock of journalists that are a dying breed – no nonsense, direct and unflinching. In an era when people have more reasons to look away while having a conversation (“Excuse me, I just got a text, tweet, voice mail), Darby stares at you squarely in the eye.

Darby’s blog, although seemingly unbound to any one topic regardless of its header title, is nonetheless an insightful, expansive chronicle of one woman’s work to fit-in to our ever-increasing endurance culture.

 

 

Katy Grimes (http://katygrimes.blogtownhall.com/ , http://thesaccitizen.squarespace.com/)

It doesn’t matter from what side of the political spectrum you come, these blogs will incite a fire in your belly. Written from a strong local perspective (with a noted dose of politically conservative philosophy), Sacramento Citizen is the product of former Sacramento Union reporter (and regular blogger) Katy Grimes. A longtime Sacramento resident, Grimes, who also operates another blog on blogtownhall, has a great political mind, delving into the juiciest of topics here locally – including her thoughts on the Sierra-Curtis railyards development and the proposed strong-mayor initiative of Sacramento Mayor Kevin Johnson (which has recently been stalled by court order, read here for more).

Grimes’ take-no-prisoners attitude is, well, refreshing in this era of scrubbed-clean journalism. She bloodies noses and praises those who she deems worthy – often her victors agree with her politically, sometimes they don’t. But what really makes Katy shine is that she takes an everyday, levelheaded, real world look at the news around her and gives an honest, well-thought-out opinion. It’s for that reason that this blogger has been selected many times by the Sacramento Bee to appear in their op-ed pages.

The reason to read: Grimes is a brilliant authority on her own opinion, which is surprisingly not so common when opportunities for self-expression abound. These days, it’s easier for people to re-tweet slogans to describe how they feel – Katy is the type coming up with those slogans. She’s an original in an increasingly postmodern, self-referential, un-original world. Whether or not you agree with her politically isn’t the reason to read her blog; it’s how she says what she says that makes you compelled to go back.

E-mail Ryan Rose at ryanrose@valcomnews.com.

Sacramento Mayor Kevin Johnson’s plan to reorganize Sacramento city government into a strong-mayor system is in free fall. Today, Judge Loren McMaster of Sacramento County issued his final ruling that officially removes the Sacramento Charter Reform Initiative from the June 8 ballot.

According to the judge’s Jan. 21 ruling, the initiative, which Mayor Johnson has been advocating since his 2008 election, was not an amendment to the Sacramento City Charter, but a revision of the charter itself. It is against California state law to make wide-sweeping changes to a city’s charter through the initiative process.

Sacramentans for Accountable Government, the citizen group behind getting the charter reform initiative on the ballot, immediately responded to the ruling, vowing that today’s verdict was the start of a protracted legal fight to keep the measure on the June ballot.

“This is nothing more than a legal hurdle in our path to modernizing Sacramento’s governance structure,” the group said in an e-mail statement. “One judge’s ruling will not silence the 50,000 voters who signed a petition to put the strong mayor initiative on the ballot.”

 

Changing the city charter

Ultimately, the Sacramento Charter Reform Initiative would grant Mayor Johnson and all future Sacramento mayors the power to run the city government directly as a chief executive. Called a strong-mayor system, the city council would work as a deliberative legislative, oversight body and the mayor would act as the executive of the city government, with the power to hire and fire employees and conduct the city’s day-to-day business.

Most cities with a population of 400,000 or more (San Francisco, Fresno, Oakland, Los Angeles, San Diego) have this system; only San Jose does not. According to publically available population data, the city of Sacramento’s population was 463,794 in 2007.

Currently, the Sacramento City Charter authorizes a council-manager governing system; such systems, employed by the vast majority of California cities, provide for public representation and oversight on a city council as a city’s day-to-day business is run by a city manager. In the current system, the responsibility of Sacramento’s mayor is mainly as an at-large councilmember that chairs city council meetings. Although the role comes with a large cache of political power, the mayor alone has no real authority over the inner-workings of the city government.

Johnson believes that changing the City Charter would help him accomplish the goals he spoke of during his 2008 election run.

“During my first months at City Hall, I am hearing residents that demand more action from their government. In these tough times, you want less red tape. A greater vision. More emphasis on public safety, economic development, and our schools,” wrote Johnson in an online statement to Sacramento residents. “You rightly deserve a Mayor and Council that reflects your views, and will make the decisions to move Sacramento to the next level as the world-class city it deserves to be.”

 

E-mail Ryan Rose at ryanrose@valcomnews.com.

It is said that great cities have great museums. If that is so, one might also postulate that great communities have great museums. The Crocker Art Museum in Sacramento, as the first art museum established in the Western U.S., is greater than the sum of its parts. It is both a great city museum and a great regional museum.

A $100 million expansion project, slated for completion next October, will permanently establish the Crocker as a museum of national significance for generations to come. A brilliantly conceived “classic contemporary” structure by the late architect Charles Gwathmey, the expansion will improve visitor amenities, enhance museum operations and provide new resources for collections care. The project also ensures that the Crocker Art Museum, founded in 1885, will enjoy another 125 years of inspiration and education.

The numbers are impressive. The new Crocker expansion adds some 125,000 square feet to the existing museum. The structure will contain: 8,200 square feet of glass, in the form of windows that feature views that highlight the beauty of the original Crocker and the natural beauty of Sacramento’s many trees. The exterior will be covered by 4,000 aluminum panels and 4,500 zinc panels. Underlying it all at the foundation, some 320 auger-cast piles were driven 60 feet deep to support the three-story structure.

Spacious new galleries already have 15 skylights specially designed to let in natural light – but without its destructive effects.

There is 12,000 square feet of exhibition space to display works of art.

“Not only will we have the ability to host some of the larger traveling art exhibits, we will be able to display some of the more massive works of art that were originally intended for display in grand homes or castles,” said Kathleen Richards, marketing communications coordinator for the Crocker. “These pieces can be very tall. The new expansion has spaces where these art works will be able to be seen and appreciated.”

A 7,000 square foot open air courtyard at the new museum entrance will allow the Crocker to host more than 1,200 people at outdoor events. The design of the courtyard allows visitors to enjoy and appreciate the architectural styles of both structures. A beautiful two-story atrium will have the capability of seating 400 for dinners. There is a 250 seat auditorium for presentations and educational events. There is handicapped access throughout. And – the new facilities will be available for special events, making Sacramento now capable of hosting some national cultural events.

“All of us at the Crocker are very excited to serve our community in ways that literally weren’t possible before and to be an even more integral part of civic life in Sacramento and the region,” said Lial Jones, museum director.

“This is an exhilarating time for the city of Sacramento, and the Crocker Art Museum’s expansion exemplifies the changes taking place,” said Sacramento Mayor Kevin Johnson. “The museum is vital to the region’s cultural and economic development, and the new Crocker is an important icon for Sacramento’s ongoing emergence as a cultural destination and a world-class city.”

 

The new Crocker

There will be more to the Crocker’s expansion than the 14,000 cubic yards of concrete and 1,400 tons of steel that make up its infrastructure.

“This will be one of the largest venues in Sacramento, if not the largest,” Richards said. “Hospitals and museums are the most expensive structures to build, due to the massive amount of infrastructure that is required. The building has to be able to withstand having many people visit it every day, year after year. The walls have to be able to bear the weight of heavy artwork. There has to be climate control and light control to preserve the art, and so on.”

Visitors will be able to walk up to windows on the first floor that look into the conservation area. It will be an opportunity for everyone, from school children to adults, to learn about the science of preserving art.

“Conservation is a very interesting field,” Richards said. “You have to have a master’s degree in chemistry and a master’s degree in art. The conservation center will enable us to provide better collections care and restoration, as well as education.”

The museum staff will have something they have never had before: ample modern office space. Located on the third floor, the architect’s design provides each worker with desk space and personal space, while opening the larger space to the eye.

The opening of the new facility is planned for Oct. 10. The Crocker plans a series of special exhibitions that will feature highlights of the museum’s permanent collection. Many pieces have never been displayed to the public before.

The Crocker’s expansion is supported by a $100 million capital campaign. More than $90 million has been raised to date. The campaign has received generous donations of $1 million or more. The new wing of the museum will be named the Teel Family Pavilion in recognition of a lead gift from the Joyce and Jim Teel Family Foundation. Building on this success, the museum is launching a broad-based fund-raising and member campaign.

 

E-mail Susan at susan@valcomnews.com.

 

Crocker Art

The Crocker Art Museum is located at 216 O Street in downtown Sacramento. Admission is $6 for adults, $4 for seniors 65 and better, $3 for students with a valid ID and free for children ages six and under. Thanks to a generous grant from Bank of America, admission is free on Sundays from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m.

Museum hours are 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday through Sunday, with extended hours on first and third Thursdays until 9 p.m.

For more information about the Crocker, call (916) 808-7000 or visit www.crockerartmuseum.org.

Sacramento’s Dave and Mike Compton have sold the last of their family’s chain of locally-owned grocery stores, known as Compton’s Markets.

The final link in this chain, the East Sacramento store at 4055 McKinley Blvd., will officially changed hands last month, during the early part of December.

But fortunately for the neighborhood, the store’s new owners, Pam and Sunil Hans, have vowed to maintain the store’s name, employees and overall offerings that have made this store a community treasure.

Pam, Dave said, will head the operations of the store, while Sunil will maintain his high level position with the 7UP Bottling Co.

Although many customers are disappointed with the sale of the business, Dave assures the public that very few notable changes will be made to the store.

Additionally, Dave, 60, said that his brother, who is 57, plans to assist the new owners as an advisor in helping them understand what type of operations work best in this neighborhood store.

 

Building a business

The McKinley Boulevard store, which opened in about 1973, was once among eight Compton Market’s in the Sacramento area. The first of these markets – the 2703 24th St. store, which is now known as the Curtis Park Market – opened in 1957.

The stores were originally owned and operated by Dave and Mike’s father, Bill Compton, and their uncles, Loy and Lou Compton.

Bill, who passed away a little more than a year ago and was the last of the surviving original owners of the markets, gifted his sons the 24th Street and McKinley Boulevard stores upon his retirement.

Dave recently met with the East Sacramento News to discuss the sale of the East Sacramento store, as well as the history of his family’s longtime grocery venture in the capital city.

Sitting behind his desk, wearing a blue Polo sweater and flashing the same friendly smile that has greeted thousands of patrons of his store throughout the years, Dave said that he felt the timing was right to sell the store.

“I’m 60 and I’ve been doing this since 1966, so that’s about 45 years, so it’s time to try something new,” said Dave, a 1967 graduate of Bella Vista High School in Fair Oaks. “My brother and I had been kicking around the idea of selling this store for the last three years. We both knew that we were getting toward the ends of our careers and neither one of us wanted our kids to be in the grocery business, so we discouraged that and we told them to go to college. My dad used to say, ‘I don’t think the store will be around when your kids are grown up.’ I’m sure my dad is smiling from on high that we got to get out.”

Despite his upbeat attitude regarding the sale of the store, Dave, who plans on becoming a part-time Weight Watchers representative, said that he will strongly miss his many loyal customers.

“I’m really going to miss the people who I had a chance to get to know throughout the years,” Dave said. “We’re on a first name basis with most of the people who come into the store. I have a lot of casual acquaintances and a lot of good friends (who are Compton’s customers), so working with the public is the part I’m going to miss the most. That’s always been my sort of forte to just say, ‘Hi, how are you doing?’ and to learn something about their families. I’ve always been fairly outgoing when it comes to that. I’m just really happy to have had an opportunity to do that and I’m going to miss that a lot.”

 

Changing hands

Many customers have expressed their gratitude for the East Sacramento store and their disappointment with its recent sale.

Louisa R. Vessell, who lives less than a mile from the store, said that she was surprised to learn of the sale of the store and called the store upon learning the news.

“I was really saddened when I heard the news (about the sale of the store) and I immediately called the store and talked to Dave and asked, ‘Why?’ Vessell said.

Jeanette Ashton, 92, who also lives nearby the store, said that she has been shopping at Compton’s in East Sacramento since the year that it opened.

“I have been coming here since April 1965 when this was a Stop-N-Shop store,” Ashton said. “(Compton’s) has been really handy for me for many years. You can get anything you want here. You don’t have to go all over. Boy, I’ll miss the (Compton family).

They’re very accommodating. They are very good, very friendly and they call you by your first name.”

Another noteworthy patron of Compton’s is Paul Guidera, who Dave said often purchases flowers from the store to place on the East Lawn Cemetery grave of his late wife, Anita.

In addition to the store’s many dedicated customers, Dave said that Compton’s stores have had a variety of long-term employees, including Royal Clark, who managed the 45th and D streets store for about 20 years, Harry Nakamura, a produce worker for about 12 years and Bob Colby, who worked for about six years in the meat department in the 14th Street and Broadway store.

Another very notable employee, Elaine Davies, is enjoying the final days of her 42-year career working in Compton’s Markets.

“I started working for Compton’s in 1967,” Davies said. “At this time, there were a lot more independent grocery stores like Van’s markets and Tom Thumb markets. I started working at 14th (Street) and Broadway in a little office adjacent to the store. I originally worked for Bill Compton. Bill did not know a stranger. We would have a luncheon for employees and people would walk up and say, ‘Man, you guys are having the best time of your lives’ and the next thing you know, Bill would have them sitting down next to us and talking to us. He was just a very congenial man. In fact, all three of the brothers who started Compton’s were just loved by everybody. It’s just been a great time working here. It has been the wildest ride of my life and I never had a day that I didn’t want to come to work.”

New era for Compton’s

Being that Compton’s Market is not closing, but is simply changing ownership, Dave invites the public to continue to shop at this longtime East Sacramento grocery store once the new ownership begins operating the store.

The store will continue to offer USDA choice meats, a self-service deli and conventional and organic items in its produce, grocery and frozen foods sections.

For additional information about Compton’s Market, call (916) 456-2443.

 

E-mail Lance Armstrong at lance@valcomnews.com.

A very strong jet stream is making its way across the Pacific and will result in a transition to wetter and windier weather across Northern California. An extended period of much needed significant precipitation is expected to develop Jan. 17 and continue through next week.

A relatively weak weather system will move into the coastal mountains the evening of Jan. 15 and spreads into the rest of interior Northern California on Saturday. That storm will possibly bringing some light precipitation. a stronger and wetter storm will move inland on Jan. 17 and continue until early Jan. 19. This system will bring significant rain to the valley and heavy snow with gusty winds to Northern Sierra Nevada Mountains and the mountains of Western Plumas County and Lassen Park. A winter storm watch is in effect for that area.

 There may be a brief lull the morning Jan. 19, followed by additional storms continuing with little break through the rest of the week. The strongest of these storms is expected to be on Jan. 20 and into the night.

Considerable rain in the valley and snow in the mountains is expected with these storms. Snow levels around 5,000 to 4,000 feet expected and may briefly go lower…extending into the upper foothills. Rainfall totals by the end of next week could reach 3 to 6 inches in the valley with higher amounts in the foothills. Depending on timing of systems and precipitation amounts, minor flooding concerns may develop during the latter part of next week. Significant snow is likely in the mountains with several feet of snow around the 5,000-foot elevation level. Also, the region can expect 10 feet or more over the higher Sierra Nevada by next Friday. There is also likely to be periods of strong winds – especially in the mountains. The combination of heavy snow and very windy conditions will impact travel into the high country – including the major passes.

Those with travel or outdoor plans late this weekend (Jan. 15-17) into next week (Jan 17-23)  should continue to check weather.gov/sacramento or NOAA weather radio for the latest weather information.

“I like to think that I’m walking down a dream path, taking pictures of what I see.”

That is how local artist Mark Niemeyer describes his creations. His ability to create these dreamlike scenarios has just always been there, he said.

“My interest in art wasn’t taught,” he said. “It just poured out of me.”

Niemeyer, a native of Nebraska, moved to northern California 25 years ago. “Friends told me that my art was strange enough to sell in California,” he chuckled.

His first stop was Marysville and then Woodland. He realized quickly that if he was going to make a dent in the art world that he needed to make his way to Sacramento. Within a month of moving here, he had some works in a gallery.

Many of his paintings are surrealistic, taking real-life images and warping them in some way.

“I’m proud that I don’t get stuck on one form,” he said. “I’m doing a series of birds right now and when I’m done with that I’ll move on to something else.”

Along with his many works that include people and animals, Niemeyer has developed a fascination with parts of California that Nebraska simply didn’t have to offer.

“Being in Nebraska you don’t really see any rocks,” he said.

This created his motivation to start doing some landscape paintings of rock formations in the area. Also not present in Nebraska is a certain type of tree.

“I did a series of paintings called ‘Midtown Palms’ and ended up with about 10 or 12 of them,” he said. “Those sold pretty well, actually. I sold half of them.”

Nearly all of his paintings are done using oil pastels, which he refers to as “adult crayons.” He discovered them nearly 30 years ago and he remains an avid user.

 

Prominently displayed

Niemeyer’s works can be seen all over the Sacramento area. He has pieces in The Supper Club on Del Paso Boulevard; Crepeville at 18th and L streets; Burgers and Brew at 15th and R streets; and Matteo’s at Arden and Fair Oaks.

As far as how he was able to get his art featured at these locations, he was largely in the right place at the right time.

Niemeyer works at The Supper Club as a cook. He describes himself as “a chopping and cutting machine” and he assists the chefs in preparation for their creations. The owners, Matt and Yvette Woolston, took notice of his art and decided to put some of his works up. At first Niemeyer thought they put them up just to be nice, but with the opening of Matteo’s in Carmichael, he knew that they really enjoyed his work.

“Yvette asked me if I could do three flower paintings for the opening of Matteo’s,” he said. “The problem was that it was opening in three weeks.”

The 15 feet of flowers that adorn the walls at Matteo’s is one of his proudest works. “I didn’t have time to go back and measure out what I wanted to do, I just had to do it and I think it turned out really well.” The title of the paintings is “Bee’s Dream”. He described it as what a bee would dream about, a vast expanse of flowers.

Conversely, there is also a painting of a rooster and hen in the restaurant entitled “Bee’s Nightmare.”

“I always try to put some humor in my art, especially in the titles,” he said.

The pieces that hang in Crepeville and Burgers and Brew can be purchased. Each has a card accompanying the piece with his number on it.

“There are plenty of ways to get a hold of me if you need to,” he said.

Most of his pieces range in price from $400-$700.

He is also featured at the new Maiya Gallery at 2220 J St. As of now, he has four pieces hanging inside and he has been penciled in to be a featured artist sometime in 2010. Some of his newest creations include a series of warped faces. One of the most striking is a piece titled “Yellow Nose Man.”

“I like the human face,” he said. “People are instantly drawn in by the eyes. ‘Yellow Nose Man’ was one of the first times I cut down the face into sections using different colors.”

To find out more about Niemeyer’s work, e-mail him at elzoharm@att.net or see some of his pieces at www.myspace.com/markharmart. Or, for a live encounter, perhaps just look up the next time you’re out to eat. You might just find yourself staring into a dream.

 

E-mail Benn at benn@valcomnews.com.