CLEARLAKE – Wild About Books will hold a reception for local artists on Saturday, April 18, from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m.

Rejoice with amazing local artists who have helped our community through arts and beauty.

In addition to our exciting artists (as well as a surprise or two) there will be chances to win prizes throughout the day for extraordinary items including local artwork, a coffee basket from Harbor House and bundles of books.

Guest artists include:

Mary Beth Alteneder – Fine art

Michael Barrish – Music CD

Barbara Jo Bloomquist – Music CD

Kevin Byrnes – Stone art

Donna Crawford – Purses and totes

Cathy Davis – Computer art

Andi Gletty – Fine Art and more

Carol Johnson – Tiles

Jeri Sofka – Photography

Renee Geare – Card art

Heather Munday – Bead and jewelry art

Andi Phillips – Light boxes

Doug Marble – Intarsia, inlay and knives

Sheila O’Hara – Weaving

Zack Peters – Tie dye

Amanda Rawlings – Bead art

Robert Roberts – Fine Art and more

J. P. Sarlande – Fine art

Rebecca Stark – Fine art and gourd art

Bernadette Straub - Sculpture

Sandra Wade– Poetry on CD

Karen Winkeller – Bead and jewelry art

Raul Wybo-Gilbert – Photography

Elizabeth Thiel – Card art

Wild About Books is located at 14290 Olympic Drive, Clearlake, telephone 707-994-9453,

www.wildaboutbooks.net.

MIDDLETOWN – The screenings for the April Coyote Film Festival include the multi-award winning film “Audience of One” by Michael Jacobs and the animation, “And Then Suddenly” by Oded Naaman on Saturday, April 25.

There will be two showings: a late matinée at 4:30 p.m. and 7 p.m. at the Calpine Geothermal Visitor Center, 15500 Central Park Road, Middletown.

The entire program will be approximately two hours including a question and answer session with Jacobs.

“Audience of One” is cinema verité about the making of a film by Voice of Pentecost Church in San Francisco.

Chris Garcia of the Austin American Statesman, sums up the film in his review. “Save for George Lucas, everyone needs a powerful excuse to make a big-budget sci-fi adventure epic. Richard Gazowsky, pastor of the Voice of Pentecost Church in San Francisco, stated, God told him to.  Gazowsky's grand movie idea is a futuristic retelling of the biblical tale of Joseph, with alien creatures, elaborate sets, costumes and special effects. He calls it ‘Star Wars meets The 10 Commandments,’ and, looking heavenward, prays, ‘Jesus, we are shooting this movie for you, an audience of one.’ Michael Jacobs' ceaselessly engaging, scrupulously nonjudgmental chronicle of Gazowsky and his flock going full-bore into a massive, $100 million film production is the ideal picture … where passion, can-doism, jots of naïveté and gobs of faith converge for cinematic dream-weaving. As the doc's main character, Gazowsky is endearing and sweet, a sanguine if irresponsible Quixote who enlists our goodwill — his movie is patent folderol, yet you cheer for him — before squandering it with faith-bloated hubris.”

The animation, “And Then Suddenly” by Oded Naaman, will begin the screening. A private moment of enlightenment is converted to a fable, illustrated using symbolism, imagination and a bit of self humor.

Tickets are $10 at the door and $5 for kids 16 and under. There is plenty of parking and fresh popcorn and concessions are also available.

Coyote Film Festival is a fundraising arm of EcoArts of Lake County, a nonprofit dedicated to bringing visual art opportunities and ecologic stewardship to the residents and visitors of Lake County.

For more information visit: www.EcoArtsofLakeCounty.org.

Venues are open to all Lake County students through age 18.

Become a "Youth Writes" poet. Show up at any warm-up venue and perform one or two original poems.

Poets under the age of 18 will need a permission slip signed by a parent or guardian. Students are encouraged to show up at as many warm-up venues as they can. There is no need to pre-register. All events are free and open to the public.

Warm-Up venues will be held at:

• Holy Joe’s, Upper Lake, Friday, April 17, 4 p.m.;

• Firehouse Pizza, Lucerne, Saturday, April 18, 3 p.m.;

• Mountain High Coffee and Books, Cobb, Sunday, April 19, 1 p.m.;

• Wild About Books, Clearlake, Friday, April 24, 3 p.m. to 6 p.m.;

• Calpine Visitor Center, Middletown, Saturday, April 25, 2 p.m.

For further information and to download permission slips, go to www.youthwrites.org or call Lorna Sue at 707-274-9254 or email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

“LitFest 2009, A Celebration for Word Lovers,” will begin at 10 a.m. and continue until 4 p.m. at the Lowery Library Building at Mendocino College, 1000 Hensley Creek Road.

Admission to the festival is free.

Writing workshops will round out the day’s events, and attendees will have an opportunity to meet the authors.

Bennett and Bojanowski are scheduled for morning activities at the Mendocino literary festival while Bazell and Siegel will round out the afternoon program, according to Mendocino College Head Librarian John Koetzner. Poets from Lake and Mendocino counties will give readings throughout the day.

Poets who will share their work include Dan Barth, James BlueWolf, Armand Brint, Armando Garcia-Davila, Mary Norbert Korte, Jim Lyle, Linda Noel, Mary McMillan, Richard Schmidt, David Smith-Ferri, Sandra Wade, Theresa Whitehill, and Carolyn Wing Greenlee.

A variety of writing workshops will feature authors Kim Green (“Writing Funny: How to Get Readers Laughing in Between All Those Big Ideas”), Rebecca Lawton and Jordan Rosenfeld (“Write Free Playshop: Attracting Publication”), Jody Gehrman (“Writing That Novel: How to Stay Sane and Enjoy the Ride”), Charlotte Gullick (“Artful Revision: How to Create Poetic Prose”), Amy Wachspress and Terena Scott (“Perspectives in Self-Publication and Independent Publishing”), and Jean Hegland (“Write What You Want to Know”).

It is recommended that writers who want to attend the workshops sign up in advance by visiting the LitFest Web site, www.mendocino.edu/litfest.

LitFest is sponsored by the Mendocino College Foundation and the Friends of the Mendocino College Library along with a variety of community sponsors.

For more information about LitFest 2009, call the Mendocino College Library at 707-468-3051 or visit the event website, www.mendocino.edu/litfest.

He invites all high school students in the First Congressional District to submit their original artwork for consideration.

The winner’s artwork will be displayed in the U.S. Capitol Building for one year.

In addition, the winner will be invited to a ceremony in Washington, D.C. this June and will receive three roundtrip airline tickets to Washington from either San Francisco or Oakland.

“Every year I look forward to seeing the creativity and inspiration of the artwork that is submitted from our district,” said Thompson. “Our district’s students are immensely talented, and I encourage all of our high-school aged artists to submit a piece of their work.”

The competition is open to high school students only and each student is allowed a single entry in the competition.

The categories for submission include painting, drawing, collage, prints, mixed media, computer-generated art and photography, and the pieces must be no larger than 30 inches by 30 inches, including the frame.

Submissions must be delivered to Thompson’s office in Napa. Before delivering a submission or to receive more information, please call 707-226-9898.

The deadline for submission is May 1.

The Congressional Art Competition began in 1982, and since then more than 650,000 students have participated.

Governor Schwarzenegger and California State Parks Director Ruth Coleman stand with photos being returned to the Oppenheimer heirs. Photo Credit: Peter Grigsby, Office of the Governor.

The three paintings were the subject of a “judenauktionen,” a coerced sale of Jewish assets by the Nazis in 1935. The paintings have been part of the Hearst Castle collection for decades – their history unknown.

“On behalf of the people of California, it is my great honor to return these historic paintings to their rightful owners with respect for the pain and hardships endured by this family,” said Schwarzenegger. “The Holocaust will long be regarded as one of the darkest crimes against humanity of the modern era, and I am humbled to play a role in undoing this terrible wrong for the heirs of Jakob and Rosa Oppenheimer.”

The paintings were deeded to the state in 1972 with the transfer of Hearst Castle to California State Parks. All three are shown in the Handbook of the Paintings in Hearst San Simeon State Historic Monument, published in 1976, and all three are identified in the publication as having been sold as part of the Galerie van Diemen sale in 1935 that was owned by the Oppenheimers.

William Randolph Hearst did not buy them directly from the Galerie van Diemen. There are indications that Hearst, or a broker acting on his behalf, acquired them from another gallery which got them from Galerie van Dieman and that Hearst was unaware of the circumstances surrounding their ownership.

The return of the paintings was prompted by a claim from the attorney for the Oppenheimer estate, Eva Sterzing, on behalf of the heirs on March 1, 2007.

What followed was an investigation by Supervising Deputy Attorney General Dan Siegel and California State Parks Chief Counsel Bradly Torgan, who researched the paintings and concluded that the family members had a viable claim.

With the full concurrence of the Hearst Corp., which has a reversionary interest clause as part of the 1972 deed transfer, it was decided the paintings would be returned to the heirs of Jacob and Rosa Oppenheimer. The paintings are being returned to two of their grandchildren, Peter Bloch of Boynton Beach, Florida and Inge Blackshear of Buenos Aires, Argentina.

In the return agreement, the family agreed to allow California State Parks to retain ownership of one of the paintings and to create reproductions of the other two. All three will remain on display at Hearst Castle. This agreement was made so that guides at Hearst Castle can tell the story of the paintings, the seizure of Holocaust era assets and the efforts to locate and return the assets to the rightful owners.

“More than one million people from all around the world visit Hearst Castle every year,” said Ruth Coleman, director of California State Parks. “We are proud to honor the memory of Jacob and Rosa Oppenheimer and share this story that touches countless families affected by the Holocaust.”

After the Nazis seized power in Germany, the Oppenheimers were subjected to racial and ethnic persecution, ultimately being forced to give up control of their art business and flee to Vichy, France. The Nazis sold the artwork at auction in April 1935, but neither the Oppenheimers nor their heirs benefited from the revenue of the sale. The proceeds went to pay the Reichfluchtsteuer (Reich flight tax) and other related punitive and confiscatory taxes designed to strip Jews of assets. Jakob Oppenheimer died in France in 1941. Rosa was arrested in France by its German occupiers and sent to the Auschwitz concentration camp where she became a victim of the Holocaust on November 3, 1943.

The paintings that are subject to the claim are as follows:

• Anonymous Venetian artist, first half of the sixteenth century, half-length portrait of a man with a book and necklace of shells around his shoulders, attributed to Giovanni Cariani (oil on canvas) (Tour #2, Doge Suite, north bedroom, a reproduction of the repatriated artwork);

• Paris Bordon (school of) Venetian, 1500-1571, Venus and Cupid (oil on canvas) (Tour #3, New Wing, 2nd floor, room #4, painting retained); and

• Jacopo Tintoretto (school of), Venetian, 1518-1594, Portrait of Alvise Vendramin (oil on canvas) (Tour #2, Doge Suite sitting room, a reproduction of the repatriated artwork).

From left to right: Oppenheimer family attorney Eva Sterzing, Jakob and Rosa Oppenheimer