LGAA’s GBAO at NUMU

August 3, 2015

HUGE turn out for the Los Gatos Art Association‘s Greater Bay Area Open juried exhibition held at the New Museums of Los Gatos on Saturday! Juror Peggi Kroll-Roberts chose 66 pieces for this regional show sponsored by the Los Gatos Art Association.

Mary Ellen Comport, on behalf of the New Museums of Los Gatos spoke eloquently about the important intersection of art, history and community and the important roles that NUMU, LGAA and LGMG play in this endeavor. Afterwards LGAA’s Elke Groves and Jeff Owen, co-chairs of the event, announced the awards.

Vincent Liu was awarded best in show for his oil Fireman and Dogs.

Maralyn Miller won first place for her oil, Lavender and Gold.

Craig Sanborn drew second place for his charcoal, carbon, pastel drawing, Deception of Independence.

Carol Bower took third place for her soft pastel, Kami.

Karen Olsen was awarded an honorable mention for her water color, French Pears.

Ron Dell’Aquila captured an honorable mention for his photograph, Spring Green and Yellow #3.

Wayne Adachi won an honorable mention for his painting, Bangkok Street Food #2 ( in the middle).

David Massey won an honorable mention for his watercolor, The Climb.

Ellen Howard received an Honorable Mention for her oil, Serve them Up!

Carol Collins with her intriguing digital photography composite, Join the Pink Warriors delves into her personal battle with cancer.

Kim Newell and her oil, Sophia.

Rebex Nie with her acrylic Magnolias II, Kerrie Brandau with her oil, George and Joan Drennan with her oil, Cherry Chevy.

Donna Orme with her acrylic, Wake Up.

Nancy Takaichi with her oil, First Snow.

Elwira Barbara Maszara and her watercolor Trufle.

Scott L Holtslander with his photograph, Merced River at Sentinel Rock, Veronica Gross with her watercolor, Painters at Moran Lake Park and me with my oil, Forget-me-not Tea II.

Al Shamble with his oil, Pirates Cove, Plein Air.

Anita Hittle with her oil, Molly.

The exhibition runs through to the end of August.

The Salon

December 14, 2014

I’m always impressed by the great quality and diversity of work that goes into this annual statewide competition and exhibition at the Triton Museum of Art, work that is made even stronger by the context of how it is paired with other pieces which reinforces aesthetics or meanings by drawing on similarities or emphasizing contrasts.

Amazing color and movement on this wall, topped off by a mixed media piece, Having Fun, by Jeanette Turkus.

Incredibly strong portrait it an interesting color to grey-tone ombre effect.

I think these red shoes (apart from Shards) might have been my personal favorite in the exhibit!

I love the way these prints were hung next to Shards, both works were ocean themed made up of swirling strokes.

Sequins, shells and Shards-Point Alones at the Salon!

Of course the big news of the night is who won the coveted solo shows that the Triton was offering …. this time the honor went to a painter and a photographer.

Stephanie Lam not only won Best in Show for her oil, African Child 3, but also an Honorable Mention for her oil, African Child 1!

Similarly, Yao-pi Hsu (who I know from the Los Gatos Museums Gallery) also won Best in Show for her photograph, Splash and Flow and took a third in photography for a second of three pieces she had juried into the show, Beyond the Surface!

Mei-Ying Dell’Aquila was awarded Third Place for her oil Her Muses.

Ron Dell’Aquila took First Place in photography with Toy Maker, one of two photographs he had int he show.

Kim Newell was awarded an Honorable Mention for her oil, After the Storm.

Cherryl Pape was awarded an Honorable Mention for her charcoal drawing, James.

Jeff Owen was awarded an Honorable Mention for his digital photo, Squeezer.

I see a David Lippenberger painting in the corner.

Great glasses combo on the right!

Belinda Lima with her mixed media piece, Perceived Realites.

Julia Watson with her oil, Nocturne 2.

Lynette R. Cook with her acrylic, All Lined Up (up top).

Vanessa Callanta with her acrylic, Bryan’s Hands.

In the end, there are just so many people to talk with – it was hard to catch everyone I wanted to! There were plenty of artist shots that I missed, and I definitely need to go back for a closer look at all the great work!

Thanks to all my friends who dropped by to say hello- It always means so much to me!

Brighter than I thought!

November 8, 2014

I thought I might find this exhibition, Science, Technology & The Future of Art, to be engaging and eye opening but I didn’t expect to find it moving – but I was moved! And largely due to the top award picks of Juror, Gail White, Associate Professor of Art at Stanford. It was the science and technology combined with aesthetics of beauty and the nature of the human heart and inquisitive mind that really won me over.

First Place was awarded to Howie Katz and Ytaelena Lopez‘s Cancer Stage installation. Photos of cancer cells applied to floor tiles, which could easily be mistaken for marble, provide a comfortable and empowering access point from which to examine the cells and perhaps our own fears.

Artist Howie Katz with his girlfriend Tania on Cancer Stage (above). Detail of Cancer Stage (below).

Second place went to Alexis Arnold‘s crystalized books, she had three on exhibit, Holy Bible, To Kill a Mockingbird and I think it was the Dictionary – all sparkling tributes to the decline of our literary culture. At first I thought this was like an icy Siberian equivalent to a good old book burning party but then I realized this was past the point were the written word held enough power for burning, it was more akin to the cobwebs of neglect and the rot of mold and mildew! Sublime!

Third Place went to Lennell Allen‘s Transition Electron Micrograph, Before You Take A Breath # 01. “Electrons focused on emulsion coated glass or film” give us a cellular, structural views of new forms and new possibilities.

Scotty Gorham‘s interactive light installation, Pulse, was a show stopper! By connecting to the circuitry of the piece the viewer’s pulse was expressed in violet light. “Cause mood rings are just too subtle!

Seda Saar was awarded an honorable mention for her C prints, Chroma Continuum which, along with her Chroma Dance work play with the illusions of depth, translucency and movement, exploring tensions between dimensions and containment and perception.

Seda Saar‘s Chroma Dance C print.

Photographer Ron Dell’Aquila not only had a beautiful photograph, Total Annular Eclipse Sequence, Hat Creek 2012, which took an honorable mention, on exhibit, he was also demonstrating the use of the BlueTooth Selfie Stick to promote his upcoming PAL selfie workshop on November 23. With it’s telegraphing rod, adjustible angle setting and remote shutter, the stick acts as a super long arm (Ron should also offer a course on how to shoot artwork under glass at exhibitions – my shot didn’t do any justice to his work). It was a real crowd pleaser and a lot of people had a turn at it.

I was excited to give it a whirl as my best angle is a bird’s eye view (hard to manage with short arms). Perfect solution! It also solved the the problem of gallery lighting which is designed to illuminate the work – not to flatter the people. By looking up into the light my entire face was illuminated.

Selfie with my Interference – Shimmering Water and Lavender Lake photographs.

Selfie with my Interference – Blue Pool photograph. Both these images courtesy of Ron Dell’Aquila and his iPhone 6.

My favorite art couple, Ron Dell’Aquila and Mei-Ying Dell’Aquila in front af a gorgeous mixed media painting, Entier, by Rosine Aberge Ferber whose solo exhibit Playful Vision was showing in the Corridor Gallery.

Keep it up Seth Schalet and Anna Speaker, these shows just keep getting better and better!

Ron Dell’Aquila’s Photography at the Triton

August 23, 2014

I was super excited to attend the opening reception of my friend, Ron Dell’Aquila‘s photography exhibition last night at the Triton Museum of Art. He was awarded this coveted solo show when he won the Triton’s Statewide Exhibition and Competition (no small achievement) and the show looked absolutely fabulous!

His work ranges from figure as landscape, actual landscapes, portraits and floral abstractions but my personal favorites, which I’ll feature here, are his night scenes from Taipei shot in glorious, saturated HDR!

They all seem to have this quiet, unobserved quality to their worlds which is beautiful, luminous and intimate.

These shop girls, shot in a busy night market are beyond gorgeous, their downcast eyes allow the viewer to gaze at their beauty in an extended sidelong glance.

Shop Girl 2, 2012 Printed Inks on Archival Paper

Shop Girl 1, 2012 Printed Inks on Archival Paper

Pastel Diners are exquisite, caught between layers of glass, steam, reflected light, and a narrow depth of field, the subjects are brought into a gentle focus, one that we as observers seem privileged to witness.

Pastel Diners : Tea, 2009 Printed Inks on Archival Paper

Pastel Diners : Children, 2009 Printed Inks on Archival Paper

Touch me Here , 2014 Printed Inks on Archival Paper

Red Lantern Alley, 2012 Printed Inks on Archival Paper

Ron explained how he was drawn to this alley, he just had a feeling about it and once all the people had cleared out he ended up using a motorcycle as a tripod for this shot!

Ron Dell’Aquila’s photographs seem stunning here but try to imagine how much better they are in real life! Try to see them. The exhibition runs until November 16, 2014 at the Triton Museum of Art at 1505 Warburton Avenue in Santa Clara, California.

Fur, Feathers & Fins – the Beat Goes On

June 8, 2013

First Fridays – It’s when all the arts all over the Bay Area seem to be on display. The Pacific Art League, for instance had an opening reception for four exhibits in their make-shift facility on Forest (their longtime, historic home next door is undergoing a major retrofit overhaul). There was a solo exhibition of watercolor paintings by Zhao Nan Duan, Fur, Feathers & Fins, a regional group exhibition juried by Michael Azgour, a group exhibition of contemporary abstract work and The Beats – Back Where It All Began, poetry and music presented by Leah Lubin. A lot going on in a very small space!

Poetry reading.

When I arrived with my family we had just missed the announcements and award ceremony. My painting, End of Spring, was hanging in the corner behind the large watercolor by Zhao Nan Duan which had been placed there to introduce him but remained for most of the evening. The poets and musicians were in full swing and my family left without getting to see my piece on exhibit. Sigh!

First Friday Opening Reception at PAL-Fur, Feathers & Fins & Poetry

Large turnout for First Friday reception!

The poetry and music was a big hit and there was a great turn out for it, something I may have been in the mood for if I was in a different frame of mind but I was really more interested in speaking with the other visual artists who were attending the reception.

Congratulations to Isaias Sandoval, who I know from the Los Gatos Art Association. He was awarded first place for his oil painting Sad Rose. He had both fur and feathers! The juror loved his use of metaphor.

Denise Howard took second place for her graphite drawing, Golfer’s Error. Here the juror appreciated her light consistent touch and the clear telling of a complete story. And I had asked my kids before the show if they thought I would have the only dead animal in the show! Denise tells me that she’d also drawn a sparrow, called Ascension, who had sadly hit her window.

Maura Carta was awarded third place for her oil painting Rabbit. Here the juror commented on the varied but cohesive brush strokes that beautifully evoked the softness of the plush toy and blanket.

My friend Mei-Ying Dell’Aquila was awarded honorable mention for Liberty Prometheus : Gift, the oil painting on the left. Her Liberty Prometheus : Punishment was also selected for the exhibition. Mei-Ying’s works are rich with symbolism and allegory, my photo caught too much glare and doesn’t do them justice.

Here’s a detail from Liberty Prometheus : Gift – her crow and pomegranate are two subjects I’m always drawn to and she’s rendered them so lushly!

I’m a big fan of my friend Jaya King’s work she has a playful and whimsical side as seen here in her painting, Black, White and Red All Over and a moving lyrical side which is evidenced in her work through Nieto Fine Art.

My daughter and I were quite taken with this oil painting by Ellen Litwiller entitled Quagga (Last One Died August 12, 1883). It’s faded sepia tones are like an old photograph, it has a loose ghostly quality so suitable for a tragically extinct animal, the repetition of vertical lines throughout bring to mind a cage and echo the pattern of it’s coat. The incorporation of text not only lends context but is a great graphic element that helps to anchor the piece.

The soft patterns and richly subdued color palette of Marte Thompson’s acrylic painting, Discussion (Discus) were really lovely.

FF&F at PAL Marie Cameron- End of Spring - oil

End of Spring unveiled!

Finally, my oil painting, End of Spring was revealed near the end of the reception, just in time for a snap – compliments of my photographer friend, Ron Dell’Aquilla (who just won first place in the the Triton Museum of Art’s 2013 Statewide Photography Competition/ Exhibition where he was awarded his own solo show)! I capped off my evening over impossibly viridian green Italian drinks, mint in name only, with my very first Californian friend, artist Ai Aroner, who used to work at the Pacific Art League in the days that I volunteered there back before the dot.com bust. Cin-cin!

Marin MOCA Reception with George Rivera

June 3, 2013

I’m so glad I hauled myself up to Novato for the opening reception of the 2103 Summer National Juried Exhibition at the Marin Museum of Contemporary Art where my painting Blue Corset is on exhibit for the next 6 weeks! The drive itself was much better than I’d expected – I loved crossing the Richmond – San Rafael Bridge which lies low and intimate over the broad expanse of the sparkling San Francisco Bay and shoots you out into Marin’s rolling farmland of the Lucas Valley. Not far off the highway is Hamilton Field, formerly known as the “Hollywood of Air Force Bases”. It now houses the museum in the Novato Arts Center in a 1932 Spanish Colonial stunner surrounded by magestic palms, tended gardens and other period buildings, one used as a bistro, another as a theater.

I love the Spanish Colonial Porticos that flank the main entrance with all the lovely period details!

This is the gorgeous foyer of what used to be the headquarters for the Hamilton Air Force Base. I wish I got a better shot of the painting of an arial view of the base that you can just about make out above the door. I must have been distracted by the strawberries and brownies! OK, here’s a photo I cleaned up a bit, still blurry but charming none the less.

This show was juried by George Rivera, a pillar in the arts community in the Bay Area. He just recently announced that he’ll be stepping down from his position as Executive Director and Senior Curator of the Triton Museum of Art where he’s been working for the last 28 years and focus on his own painting and plans to continue to teach. He’s taught and mentored so many artists in our community!

Juror George Rivera

I had resigned myself to the fact that juror’s don’t show up to these receptions of exhibitions they judge, after all, it is an immense amount of work to go through all the submissions and carefully judge each piece on its own merits. I’d probably be good and tired of looking at anything by the end of the process. Imagine how delighted I was when I discovered that George Rivera had come to deliver an inspiring address about his experience of jurying in general and of this show in particular! He spoke how each piece is assigned a number, (5s 4s and 3s) based on proficiency, aspects like technique, composition, freshness, consistency. The 5s had all of this in addition to something more that moved him, a point of view, much like great literature, a voice in which everything seamlessly supports what the artist was trying to convey. He said that having a lot of time to jury the work enabled him to enter each piece individually and learn its foreign language, like an opera in which he didn’t need to know each word to be moved to tears. How beautiful is that?! He said juried shows typically have a combination of 5s and 4s selected but in this national show there was so much quality work that they were all 5s and that all the artists had solo show experience and multiple awards or would in their future. He also encouraged artists whose work was not selected to email him for a personal critique -always the generous mentor!

I was honored to have George Rivera speak with me personally about my painting. In fact, I was so excited, let’s see if I can even remember what he said!

He spoke of how sometimes the background of a portrait fails to hold up its end of the painting, maybe it’s treated in a different hand, or distracts your attention or fails to contribute to the portrait in any meaningful way. He felt that in this case there was a nice interaction with the portrait, lending layers of context without competing for attention. He talked too of the intriguing contrast of the bold tattoo and the softly demure dress and pin, this combined with her challenging gaze and strength of character made for a dramatic work.

My friend Mei-Ying Dell’Aquila was awarded an honorable mention for her oil painting Knowledge from History. Can you pick out all the historical figures on her chessboard? Way to go Mei-Ying!

Here she is with husband photographer Ron Dell’Aquila and artist Kristen Lindseth-Rivera.

Lynette Cook explaining her precise painting techniques in her work, Connecting The Dots In My Life.

In this middle room you can see Sondra Schwetman’s sculpture Pain Train reigning over the floor and catch a glimpse of first place winner Glenn Carter’s Transparence on the back wall and Tom Gehrig’s Reconnoitering Site #1 to the right which was awarded second place.

Artist Kate Marsh with her friends in front of her oil painting Berryessa, CA #1.

George Rivera talking with Kate Marsh about her oil painting Berryessa, CA #1.

I wanted to include some of the fantastic work from the exhibition that I was quite taken with, click on the image for links to the artist’s work:

Marin MOCA SE 2013 Rachel Williams Forgotten Saint (detail)

Rachel Williams
Forgotten Saint
Oil on cnavas
(detail)

Marin MOCA SE 2013 Holly Blake Generator - Honorable Mention

Holly Blake
Generator
Oil on board
Honorable Mention

Marin MOCA SE 2013The Artist Hines Every Once In A While I Dream Of You

The Artist Hines
Every Once In A While I Dream Of You
Oil on canvas

Marin MOCA SE 2013 Jizelle Albright 21st Century Image #1 Signal / Noise

Jizell Albright
21st Century Image #1 – Signal / Noise
Collage on board

Marin MOCA SNJE 2013 Angela Young - Sight

Angela Young
Sight
Lithograph on German Etch Paper

Thanks to Mei-Ying and Ron Dell’Aquila for sharing in the transport of the works and for the great photos (and company) What would the arts be without a community?!

LGAA Fall Show 2012

November 6, 2012

It’s great to take part in the community art scene! Sunday was one of those unbearably beautiful fall days of bright blue skies and amber-red leaves and I made it to the opening reception of the Los Gatos Art Association Fall 2012 Juried Show at the Addison- Penzak Jewish Community Center with platter full of torrone in hand. Juror John Agg, executive director of the Art Museum of Los Gatos welcomed the rowdy crowd with pronouncements on the fine quality of the art before the awards were announced – my award was that both Imprint and Last Stand had been included in the exhibition in the largest category of oil. I got to meet lots of new faces and see some really outstanding work!