The Arts Diva

Body count Kathleen Crocetti, a Santa Cruz-based artist, has been working on creating tens of thousands of 4-inch figures for an installation drawing attention to casualties resulting from the invasion of Iraq. Her piece “Making tangible an abstract measurement of grief” was installed on May 27 for Memorial Day weekend in a custom built 800-square-foot sand box at an outdoor sculpture garden in Watsonville. It consists of approximately 37,000 figures representing Iraqi casualties, and about 2,500 figures representing U.S. soldiers.

In her statement, Crocetti said: “Three years ago when the war in Iraq started I was numb for several months, unable to lift myself out of a fog of grief and disbelief. It took me about a year to get going on this project, and while I have not been working on it exclusively or consistently, it has helped me feel as if I were doing something constructive and worthwhile.”

Judge for yourself Projekt30.com is an online art gallery with some pretty cool features. Artists pay an entry fee to submit images for review—nothing new. But Projeckt30 enables anyone with the time and interest to click through over 100 artist submissions and rate what they see. The site uses a 1-5 rating system, and once judging closes, the highest-rated artists get presented in an online group show. The goal of the site is to connect artists with physical galleries and art patrons, and it features artist statements and contact information.

Play free In honor of the late theater aficionado and KCHO personality Kay Grace, the Alliance of Chico-area Theatres (Blue Room, Chico Cabaret, Chico Theatre Company, Ensemble Theatre Company, Theatre on the Ridge and Chico State’s Department of Theater Arts) is kicking off the first annual Kay Grace Theatre Festival. This month-long festival features an entire day of free admission to all ACT theaters on Sunday, June 11, and then an end-of-festival party with raffle prizes at Tres Hombres on Sunday, June 25.

Pushing paper Thursday, June 1, brings a reception for Paperwork, the latest exhibit at the Crux Art Collective: music, paper installations and a special play Catastrophe at Penelope’s Paper Palace.

Carla Resnick is a self-proclaimed arts diva, writer and musician whose day job is gallery director at 1078 Gallery. Send juicy art tidbits or questions to <script type="text/javascript" language="javascript"> </script>.