Fade – Reception

December 7, 2017

I had such a wonderful time at my Fade reception at Vargas Gallery last night! I was told that it was the best attended solo show in the history of Vargas Gallery (since 1986)! A BIG THANKS to everyone who came out – artists, friends, curators, students, collectors and faculty! I feel very honored to show in this space and to have such a great community come out and support me! A special thanks to Lynne Todaro for inviting me to exhibit this work which spans a decade, to my collectors who lent back some key pieces for this show and to Ashley for her help with the install and staffing the show! All the albino deer cookies were snapped up and three more paintings were sold!

An albino deer cookie and it’s inspiration, Bed of Ghosts.

With George Rivera (Artist, Instructor, Curator), Kristin Lindseth-Rivera (Sculptor, Instructor), Marianne McGrath ( NUMU Curator) and Lynn Todaro (Sculptor, Instructor, Director)

With Tamera Avery (Painter), Kathryn Arnold (Painter), Rozanne Hermelyn Di Silvestro (Painter, Graphic Designer), Karen Gutfreund (Artist, Curator) Susan Kraft (Painter) and Hadi Aghaee (Painter) to mention a few.

I love it when people take a pic with a painting, it is such a compliment! This student had an interesting take on the deer in the nest feelings like birds eggs – such a great fragility association!

Tamera Avery & Kathryn Arnold at the Fade Reception – Vargas Gallery.
I know both of these wonderful artists through the Triton Museum of Art. Tammy has two fabulous figurative paintings in the Salon currently, one (which I’m personally in love with) took first in painting! Kathryn had a stunning solo show, monumental assemblages of abstract painting on sheaves of paper inspired by specific selections of poetry and prose as I remember….how great to see and gab with you both!

Loved seeing my collectors David and Carol Ann!

My dear friend (and collector) Judy who has to be one of my biggest supporters!

Hadi was sweet to help me carry in my albino deer cookies!

Suki Ma has one of my Bird and Teacup paintings and kindly shared the reception with her Art Experience group!

Show continues at Vargas Gallery in the Gillmor Center of Mission College through to the 14th!

Fade – Artist Talk

November 29, 2017

I was delighted to give an impromptu Artist Talk at Fade (my solo show at Vargas Gallery at Mission College) prompted by my friend artist Lorraine Lawson who kindly rounded up a great group which included people with backgrounds in galleries, marketing and art. It is a special thing when artists come out to support other artists!

I loved sharing the stories behind these paintings, how I choose both medium and technique to help tell the tale and the symbolism I try to employ.

Telling the story behind Blooming Deadwood.

So nice to see artists Veronica Gross, Dotti Cichon, Lorraine Lawson and Linda Benenati! We are enjoying the suggestion that I get a scissor lift for my paintings like Hung Liu uses!

Sometimes you can better see what’s in your heart with your eyes closed.

Talking about employing chiaroscuro (light /dark) in both the lighting of the figure but also more figuratively in the lightness of the feathers and the darkness of the Bacchanal in the folding screen.

Talking about combining different experiences to create an image, the albino deer of Pine Mountain Lake, the dormant forest at Picchetti, a nest of branches at Kirkwood, the fawns that visit my backyard and the antler drops I have in my studio.

With gallerist Kumiko Iwasawa, Lorraine Lawson and designer Robin Sedgewick.

Kumiko Iwasawa in front of Blooming Deadwood – we spoke of exhibiting at her gorgeous gallery, Iwasawa Oriental Art, in the spring!

Fade Reception Date

November 15, 2017

Yay!

Director Lynne Todaro and I settled on a date for my Fade reception at Vargas Gallery, Wednesday, December 6 from 4-7 pm. Perfect timing for students, between classes and between holidays. I’m delighted to hear that the show, which began Nov 8, has been getting a great response and I am looking forward to entertaining visitors at the reception! I hope you can join me if you are in the area!!!

These are some of the “artist with her work” shots taken at the exhibit to come up with a show promotion…

Such a lovely space! Vargas Gallery is located in the Gillmor Center in the middle of the Mission College Campus. Gallery hours are Monday & Wednesday 11 am – 2 pm and Thursday 3:30 -6:30 pm.

Installing Fade my Solo Show at Vargas Gallery

November 8, 2017

I was so delighted to throw together a last minute solo show for Vargas Gallery at Mission College! I’m calling it Fade – it’s a collection of my Fade to White work, exploring albinism and leucism in our flora and fauna, laced with larger pieces I’ve done over the years that touch on themes of vulnerability and tenacity, beauty and mystery.

The show will run November 9 – December 14 (Reception TBA) Thanks to Director Lynne Todaro for the opportunity and to Ashley at the gallery for her help setting up!

Silicon Valley Small Art 2015

December 2, 2015

Tonight there was a reception at the Vargas Gallery for Silicon Valley Small Art 2015 which includes the work of artists Carmen Almlie-Martinez, Lynette Cook, Goran Konjevod, Dee Hooker, Diane Kreiter, Terry Kreiter, Won Ly, Adele Seltzer, Beth Shields, Peter Taber, Corinne Whitaker, Sheila Winner, and Tom Yacoe.

I knew my friend Tom Yacoe was in the show and I was eager to see his beautiful work. His acrylic paintings, Sierra Runoff, Russian River 3, and Seaside Looking South are on exhibit.

Tom Yacoe – Seaside Looking South – Acrylic on Canvas

I was happy to see Lynette Cook exhibiting as well, showing her oil paintings, I Can See Forever, City Geometry, It’s Always Time For Peace. The detail!

Lynette Cook – City Geometry – Oil on MDF

I asked Lynette Cook to show me the catalogue from her joint exhibit with her mother -“Mother & Daughter” – paintings and textiles on exhibit in Baltimore and coming to Stanford Spaces in May.

D. Hooker‘s mixed media pieces with Curator, Lynne Todaro.

D. Hooker’s mixed media on cigar boxes – so playful!

Goran Konjavad – folded paper.

A peek only of the very interesting 3D printed sculpture Jive by Corinne Whitaker.

Silicon Valley Small Art 2015 at the Vargas Gallery in the Gillmor Center at Mission College will run until December 19.

Monumental Fiber

February 19, 2015

Monumental Fiber : Threads Mapping Man, Cities and the Cosmos is the brainchild of Dotti Cichon which features the work of three artists, Eszter Bornemisza (Hungary), Anitta Toivio (Finland) and Dotti Cichon herself (USA). This exhibition incorporates photography, installation, painting and mixed media fiber art to convey altered perceptions of our environments and each other. It’s running at the Vargas Gallery at Mission College from February 18 – March 28. I had the pleasure of catching the opening reception last night.

Monumental Fiber : Threads Mapping Man, Cities and the Cosmos – Vargas Gallery

Mission College’s Gillmor Center, in which the Vargas Gallery is situated, is quite a spectacle at night!

I love Cichon’s work! She travels extensively taking architecturally inspired photographs which she then manipulates into kaleidoscopic patterns – printed in this exhibition on silk banners. To me, these pieces transform the familiar into something that seems to reveal the spiritual core of its source material.

Eszter Bornemeisza, from Budapest, Hungary, works with bits of ephemera to construct labyrinth-like layered maps as a launching point for exploring personal and community narratives. It’s easy to get drawn in to the tactile details, threads and netting, maps and cryptic equations of nuclear physics.

Detail from Bornemisza’s layered panels, Mission College Instructor and Sculptor, Lynne Todaro and Dotti Cichon, Vargas Gallery

Finnish painter, Anitta Toivio paints people not as she sees them but as she senses them, through the energy they emit the memories they hold onto, their auras. Emotional Portraits are spiritual portraits on silk.

The Landscape in Us, a collaboration by Cichon and Toivo are photographs, a Finnish forrest printed on fabric and a video projection of a California seascape video on an overlay of organza, melding two landscapes representative to each of these artists.

As you can tell I’m a fan of Cichon’s work, sporting one of her silk scarves, the wearable version of one of the panels in front of which we are standing. Mine is based on graffiti from Florence!