Tombaugh Gallery hosts invitational exhibit focusing on the songs of the folk singer Phil Ochs in January. The exhibit opens with a reception 11 a.m.-1:30 p.m. Sunday, Jan. 7 at the gallery in the Unitarian Universalist Church at 2000 S. Solano Drive. A second reception will be held 6-8 p.m., Friday, Jan. 19 at the gallery, and is expected to include live music.
Ochs was born in 1940 in El Paso. He died in 1976. Ochs released eight albums and nine singles. His best-selling album was “Pleasures of the Harbor” (1967).
A still Small Voice (ASSV) nonprofit is sponsoring the art show, as it has done in the past, according to ASSV founders Ron and Kathy Cooke. They are offering a $100 award for the artist whose work is the best interpretation of the Ochs song “I’m Gonna Say It Now.”
Ochs’ songs “addressed social issues of his time, most of which are pertinent today. Through art shows, folk concerts, scholarships and awards to artists, singer/songwriters and academic researchers, A Still Small Voice seeks to bring his music and dedication to social justice to today's audience.
The awards and recognition are ways to “help artists who are trying to make a living,” Kathy Cooke said in an interview with Bulletin reporter Mike Cook last January.
“We need art,” she said. “We need music. We need people to be drawn to issues in a variety of ways.”
“It’s the synergy that happens,” Ron Cooke said. “It’s how you build community.”
Awards will be given on Jan. 19 for first-, second-, and third-place works of art. In addition, there will be an award for People’s Choice.
The gallery is open 10 a.m.-2 p.m. Thursday through Saturday, and 11:30 a.m.-2 p.m., Sunday.
