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Artist: Marti Weidert Marti Weidert combines a love of nature with a commitment to teaching others about its offerings. These elements are reflected in her art, an avocation that has taken center stage in her life in recent years. She was born in San Diego in a rural setting featuring goats, gardens, and a nearby creek. Her father's U.S. Navy career produced many changes in where she lived growing up. . When she resided in Washington D.C., she received painting instruction at the Corcoran Gallery of Art in Washington D.C. when she was ten years old. It ignited the spark that led to her lifelong interest in creating art. Marti was a born teacher. On Guam, at the age of 18, she created a preschool for the children of naval officers. She had them do nature walks, study native flora, and draw what they saw. After returning to San Diego and acquiring a law degree, she moved to Redding in 1991 and worked as a paralegal. She also taught art in varied workshops sponsored by the City of Redding. In 1998 Marti settled down with her new husband, biologist Carl Weidert, in the community of Inwood near Shingletown. She has since been spending more time in the outdoors and memorializing local places, people, and themes in artistic renditions. Marti became one of the leading outdoor enthusiasts in the area, principally as an outings leader for the Shasta Group of the Sierra Club. She has led hikes, walks, snowshoeing outings, and overnight camping ventures. She tries to visit and study a location—its human history, geology, biology—ahead of the outing and impart what she has learned to the participants. She also ventures out to special settings, such as the Pacific Crest Trail, Lassen National Park, varied rustic places, among many others. She usually produces one or more art works—in addition to painting, her work includes drawing, mixed-media, and photography—of her discoveries. She states: "I enjoy painting bright, loose images. I like to paint from unusual perspectives, like looking up at the subject, or from an aerial perspective where I'm looking down on a landscape. There's a moment in every work where frustration presents a challenge, followed by resolution." In 2015, she was chosen as one of ten artists by the San Francisco's DeYoung Museum Curator for the program, "Artist in Residence 2015 at Whiskeytown National Recreation Area." Across nine days, she produced several works, involving landscapes as well as people enjoying the water. Several of these works were purchased by the park and now hang there in Park Headquarters and other locations. A few employees of the park also purchased Marti's paintings. In addition to Whiskeytown, her paintings can be viewed in Lassen National Park, Shasta Land Trust office (Redding), Bureau of Land Management office (Redding), and other facilities in northern California, as well as in private homes in several western states. Marti occasionally writes articles on nature for Redding's The Record Searchlight. It was her article in January 2014 on the rich bird life at the Ash Creek Wildlife Refuge off Highway 299 near Bieber that caused this writer and his wife to visit it, and capture photos of hundreds upon hundreds of snow geese bursting from the water to splatter the blue sky with countless specs of white. Besides her own efforts promoting nature, Marti's husband, Carl, is one of the most foremost environmental activists in northern California. He has co-founded the Bear Creek Watershed Group, which is dedicated to restoring salmon and steelhead runs in the creek. (Bear Creek flows from its headwaters above the town of Shingletown 35 miles to the Sacramento River. Throughout this long run, which is mostly in an inaccessible canyon, it holds an abundance of wild rainbow trout.) MARTI WEIDERT's paintings and art work, as well as giclees and prints focusing on local landscapes are available for viewing or purchase at her studio by appointment. For an appointment call her at (530) 356-9719 or email her by using the contact form. Giclees and prints range in price from $15 to $175. Originals range in price from $75 up to $800. |
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