Richard Lang and Judith Selby Lang @ Gallery Route One

Posted on April 10, 2013 by Satri Pencak

Currently showing at Gallery Route One, in Point Reyes Station is an exhibition of work by Richard Lang and Judith Selby Lang. The show, titled The True Cost of Plastic, is part of a larger, ongoing collaborative project by the artists. The Lang’s have been visiting a particular segment of Kehoe Beach in the Point Reyes National Sea Shore since 1999. During their beachcombing they gather plastic debris that has been washed up on the shore from the Pacific Ocean. The process has become an amazing journey for them. They approach their work like archeologists, noting that each “finding” has its own story to tell, as well as contributing to the bigger picture of human history and the “throw-away” culture.

The Lang’s carefully examine and sort the bits of plastic refuse they find, and then use it to create works of art. With minimum modification, the pieces are arranged into abstract or narrative compositions, which are then photographed and printed. The resulting colorful images can be deceptive in their beauty and matter-of-fact presentation. While being drawn into the design and assortment of objects, the deeper meanings begin to arise. Thoughts begin to surface; such as the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, or the various threats to marine life, and the fact that plastic never goes away. I am reminded of the article “Polymers Are Forever” published in Orion Magazine. The article talks about how plastic doesn’t bio-degrade, but breaks down into tiny nurdles that are getting into our food chain.

The first exhibition from this project, titled One Year, One Beach, was exhibited at Gallery Route One in 2001. After that things really took off for the Langs. With over 50 exhibitions to date, their work has been shown in cities throughout the United States and Europe. They currently have work on view at the Marine Mammal Center, in Sausalito. In June 2013 they will install a permanent display in the Natural Sciences department of the Oakland Museum of California.

Thirteen years after that first show, stuff keeps washing up, and the Lang’s are still energized by the task of picking up trash. The current exhibition, The True Cost of Plastic, takes on a more somber tone about complex issues. Over the years they have amassed a collection of plastic toy soldiers. Looking at these, the artists said that, “Wracked by a long life at sea, some of the faces are gnarled, [and] abraded by the sand. When we looked into the tiny faces we were amazed by their expressions. Each soldier is a poignant reminder of the ravages of war and the extremes to which nations will go to preserve dominion over the petrochemical world.” The exhibition includes large-scale photographs of toy soldiers, a re-enactment of a battle scene, and some rare and amazing pieces of plastic they have collected.

Also showing at G R O are paintings by Dorothy Nissen, and photography by Eric Engstrom. The exhibitions continue through April 28, Gallery Route One is located on Highway One, in Point Reyes Station. For more information check their website, galleryrouteone.org. To learn more about the Lang’s, go to their website, beachplastic.com.

"Ten Hut"

“Ten Hut”

Sand Table

“Sand Table”

 

Images from galleryrouteone.org
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Hung Liu: Offerings @ Mills College Art Museum

Posted on March 9, 2013 by Satri Pencak

A taste of the Bay Area’s East-West cultural fusion can be seen at Mills College Art Museum in Oakland, where the current exhibition, Hung Liu: Offerings, is on view. The exhibition consists of two large-scale mixed media installations along with related paintings and prints. Oakland based artist, Hung Liu, reflects on her personal journey of leaving one changing culture to merge with another. Through her own stories she tells a deeper history of complex and melding cultures. Using edible commodities for continuity, the work examines themes of immigration, memory, history, and cultural identity.

Hung Liu was born in Changchun, China, in 1948. Trained in Beijing as a socialist realist and mural painter, she came to the United States in 1984 to attend the University of California, San Diego. After receiving her MFA, she moved to Northern California and began teaching in the Art Department at Mills College in 1990. She continues to live and work in the Bay Area and exhibits her work locally as well as internationally. Hung Liu is primarily known for her paintings that speak of cultural migrations and are often inspired by historical Chinese photographs. This is a rare opportunity to see two of her large installations that combine currently completed work with new iterations of earlier projects.

Jiu Jin Shan, 1994, detail.

Jiu Jin Shan, 1994, detail.

Jiu Jin Shan (Old Gold Mountain), 1994, uses rich visual metaphors to communicate the history of Chinese people in California. Originally exhibited in 1990s at the de Young museum, the piece retains a contemporary potency, perhaps even more so now. In the well-proportioned piece, hefty segments of railroad tracks form a cross on the floor; implying the crossroads or intersection of cultures. Historically the track builders in California were primarily Chinese immigrants. The laborers called San Francisco “Old Gold Mountain”, as a place of wealth and hope in the new world. Instead of gold nuggets the tracks are heaped with golden fortune cookies, over 200,000 of them. The center is piled high with cookies and the resulting pyramid shape evokes traditional Manchurian Chinese burial mounds. The fact that the fortune cookie is said to have been invented in San Francisco by a Japanese entrepreneur further reflects on the East-West mingling of cultural ideas, styles, and cuisine. The appropriate pairing of materials—heavy metal tracks with fragile cookies—both symbols of hope and irony in their own way, convey the complex content and inspire curiosity to know more of the deeper layers of the story.

The installation is accompanied by number of correlated paintings on the surrounding walls. Hao Yun (Good Luck) is a series of 21 square panels completed in 2012. At a distance what looks like large delicate pink and white blossoms painted on gold leaf, turns out to be fortune cookies—the Westernized symbol of Chinese good luck.

Tai Cang -- Great Granary, 2008, detail

Tai Cang — Great Granary, 2008, detail

In the next room, the concept of food staples as cultural context is continued with Tai Cang—Great Granary, 2008. The installation, shown for the first time in the U.S., is comprised of two major parts. Arranged on the gallery floor are 34 antique dou, which are a traditional Chinese food containers as well as units of measure. The presentation roughly replicates a map of China with its 34 provinces or regions. Each dou is filled with food staples, such as grains, beans, or mushrooms from different regions of China. The staples were not only traded between regions of the country, but also far beyond its borders, helping to build the country’s economy. The other component, a huge 40-foot painting called, Music of the Great Earth II, 2008, is a reconstruction of a mural painted by Liu as student in China that had been destroyed. In the recreation, Liu took elements from the old painting, which were saved in photographs, and overlaid them with contemporary motifs. The units work together to describe how aspects of personal and ancient histories can change, merge, and endure through distance and the passage of time.

The show at Mills College closes on March 17. A special dance performance is scheduled during the closing weekend. The performance, Haunting, is a new piece created by choreographer, Molissa Fenly, in response to Hung Liu‘s artwork. For more information check their website, www.mcam.mills.edu.

If you miss the Mills College show, there will be other opportunities to see her work in the Bay Area. Summoning Ghosts: The Art of Hung Liu opens at the Oakland Museum of California on March 16, and continues through June 30, 2013. The retrospective features approximately 80 paintings, as well as personal ephemera such as photographs, and sketch books. It also includes work completed in China before she arrived in the U.S. For more information check their website, www.museumca.org.

 Images from Mills College Art Museum website.
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Revolutionary Island: Tales of Cuban History and Culture @ Sonoma Valley Museum of Art

Posted on February 25, 2013 by Satri Pencak

Cuba, a small island nation located in the Caribbean, is just 200 miles South of Miami across the Straits of Florida. Yet the name alone conjures up so many things, from food and music, to cigars and baseball, as well as revolutions and radical ideologies. Its complex and turbulent history is partially the result of its important strategic location. A glimpse of this intriguing and romantic land can be savored through its art in an exhibition called Revolutionary Island: Tales of Cuban History and Culture, The Sarah & Darius Anderson Collection, currently on view at the Sonoma Valley Museum of Art.

This compelling and informative exhibition features just a small selection of the art and artifacts gathered by two passionate collectors during more than twenty-five years of travel to the island. Begun by Darius and then enthusiastically supported by his wife Sarah, the Anderson Collection represents their deep love for the land and culture. The exhibition portrays many different facets of the country and culture—the passions, beauty, and opportunities, as well as the suffering, deprivation, and political failures. Yet, the overall vision is presented through Anderson’s own sensibilities and life’s journey.

26 de Julio

26 de Julio

The exhibition includes a diverse array of historical objects, artifacts, and contemporary art in a range of media. The paintings, sculptures, prints, posters, photographs, and videos tell a story of Cuba’s culture and history from 1911 to the present. After entering through the lobby, decked out with Cuban baseball jerseys, the small side gallery displays early photographs of Fidel Castro and original pro-revolution posters. To intensify the revolutionary zeal, a black and red military tank, 26 de Julio, commands the central area of the room. The tank was inspired by the one driven into Havana by Fidel Castro and Ché Guevara to celebrate their victory. While most of the artwork in the exhibition is by Cuban artists, the tank was commissioned by Darius Anderson, and built in 2003 by Sonoma County artist, David Best, who is known for his distinctive art cars and involvement with the Burning Man project.

After viewing the ruckus of the revolution, another room, painted a tobacco brown, addresses Cuba’s cultural pastimes and interests, such as baseball, cigars, and rum. Photographs, artifacts, and ephemera portray, without judgment, the workers as well as the elite. Ornate humidors, elegant rum bottles, and sumptuous service ware represent commodities and diversions that had a historical impact on the country. They also reveal a noticeable contrast to the utopian communist ideologies of another era.

Underwater Kingdom

Underwater Kingdom

As the exhibition moves into contemporary times, the focus of much of the artwork expresses social and political narratives, and some of it is quite moving. Several paintings by Franklin Alvarez Fortun, from his Underwater Kingdom series, 2005-2006, take up one wall. The paintings reference a mythical underwater world, but the figures are portraits of Cuban’s who lost their lives in sinking vessels, trying to find a better place. Children hug their toys and people carry their belongings in buckets and boxes, as they continue their journey to a promised land beneath the sea.

 

Space Occupied by a Dream

Space Occupied by a Dream

In Space Occupied by a Dream, 2000, a mixed media sculpture by Esterio Segura Mora, a figure of a man rests upon bundles of newspapers. Behind him, rows of old typewriters ascend the wall. Is he dreaming of fame, words to be written, or freedom of artistic expression? The meaning remains obscure. Perhaps a bit less ambiguous is an untitled piece by Mario Miguel Gonzalez Fernandez. From the edge of the gallery wall hangs one half of a swinging bar door—one side is painted with the Cuban flag, the other side with the American flag. No explanation was given, but it can be interpreted as a commentary on the complex and entangled U.S.–Cuban relations.

Untitled

Untitled

Though it is important to note that the work here is a reflection of the collector’s aesthetic and perspective, the exhibition gives broad insight into contemporary Cuban art. Early on, the Castro regime created state-sponsored art schools which were available to everyone. In the early years the schools promoted avant-garde aesthetics, and encouraged expression of culture, place and Cuban identity. The Instituto de Arte Superior was founded in 1976, and its students organized the first Havana biennial in 1984, which now includes work by international artists. These schools have endured even after the collapse of the Soviet Union and its economic support. In recent decades the sensibility of contemporary Cuban art has evolved, reflecting more outside influences from technology and increased tourism.

El Piano

El Piano

A piece towards the end of the exhibition, El Piano, 2006, by Rene Francisco Rodriguez, conveys the idea of the past informing the future. Set in a room of its own the painting shows a young girl sitting at the piano, hands on the keys, a spirit-like grandmother figure sits beside her, singing along. A video of traditional handwork is projected onto where the sheet music would be, while the sound of piano music plays in the background. The installation connects the past with the future, suggesting that national identity and Cuban heritage is still an important subject matter, and that art education continues to be a national value.

The exhibition continues through April 14, 2013. For additional information and related events, check their website, www.svma.org.

Photo credits:
Underwater Kingdom from svma.org.
All other photographs by the author.
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Inez Storer @ Seager Gray Gallery, Part II

Posted on January 25, 2013 by Satri Pencak

I originally posted this article on January 10, 2013, but recently I discovered a painting by Edouard Manet, called The ‘Kearsarge’ at Boulogne, 1864. I found it on the Metropolitan Museum of Art website. I don’t know if Inez ever saw this painting, but the similarities seem marvelous to me. By the way, the Inez Storer show is at Seager Gray Gallery until January 31, in case you have not seen it yet. The two images are at the bottom.

Storer

Sailing with Matisse to Tahiti, 2012, by Inez Storer.

Then at the Seager Gray Gallery in Mill Valley, the current exhibition is Inez Storer: Made up Stories from an Imagined Past. Inez is an accomplished and fascinating artist who lives near Point Reyes Station in West Marin. Her mixed-media work makes use of digital technologies along with traditional methods of painting, drawing, and collage. Using a story-board flatness of space, she combines illustrative renderings with bits of text. In this way she narrates her personal stories, blending them with popular imagery as well as imagined and real histories. The artwork suggests various aspects of her life, including objects in her daily surroundings, her connections to Russia, and a mixed cultural background that had been kept hidden from her as a child. The work occasionally makes art historical references to the likes of Matisse, Velasquez, and Rauschenberg. Each of the medium- to large-scale canvases or panels is like a page from a travel journal or postcard—layered with notes, stamps, and other markings collected during its journey through time. In Sailing with Matisse to Tahiti, from 2012, a steamship chugs jauntily through a blue-gray sea, with only a simple horizontal line distinguishing sea from sky. An oversized easel with a canvas is stationed on the back deck, suggesting that the Master may be on board. In the foreground a small green sail boat announces the title in its wind banner, as it sails toward a still life with vase of flowers and pot of brushes, curiously floating on the sea—perhaps some jetsam from the ship. A tiny image of a reclining nude is adhered to the upper right corner of the panel, like a postage stamp assuring delivery of the message. Overall, the collection of work reflects a life long-lived, well-travelled, and mulled over with wry amusement. A reception for the artist will take place on Friday, January 11 from 6 to 8 p.m. The exhibition will be on view through January 31. For more information check their website, www.seagergray.com.

The Kearsarge at Boulogne, 1864, by Edouard Manet.

The Kearsarge at Boulogne, 1864, by Edouard Manet.

Storer

Sailing with Matisse to Tahiti, 2012, by Inez Storer.

Inez Storer image from www.seagergray.com.
Edouard Manet image from www.metmuseum.org.
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Terry Sauvé @ RiskPress Gallery; Inez Storer @ Seager Gray Gallery

Posted on January 10, 2013 by Satri Pencak
CA Hills, Fields

California Hills and Fields, by Terry Sauve.

The new exhibition at RiskPress Gallery in Sebastopol is Scenic Journey: Sonoma County and Beyond, paintings by Terry Sauvé. Terry begins her landscapes by painting en plein air, which is a French expression that means “painting out-of-doors”. Typically when an artist works in this way they must be quick and keen observers to capture the scene directly before them, as the light and other conditions can change rapidly. While Terry paints what she sees, she does not simply record the view. By also being attuned to the sounds, smells, and mood of the moment, she interprets the essence of the location with greater depth and insight. For example she may intensify a color, or adjust the composition of shapes and patterns to direct the viewer’s eye. Her soft-hued oil paintings are classic in their composition but contemporary in their uncluttered imagery. A good example of this is California Hills and Fields, where, in the foreground, arcs of freshly cut hay are gently bathed by the late afternoon sun, while the last rays glance off golden hills in the background. Sauvé uses the arcs of cut hay to direct our eyes to the homestead, now in the shadow of the hills. The colors and composition evoke a sense of peace and stillness at the end of a good day’s work. The exhibition continues through January 29. For more information check the gallery’s website, www.riskpress.com, or go to the artist’s website, www.terrysauve.com.

Storer

Sailing with Matisse to Tahiti, 2012, by Inez Storer.

Then at the Seager Gray Gallery in Mill Valley, the current exhibition is Inez Storer: Made up Stories from an Imagined Past. Inez is an accomplished and fascinating artist who lives near Point Reyes Station in West Marin. Her mixed-media work makes use of digital technologies along with traditional methods of painting, drawing, and collage. Using a story-board flatness of space, she combines illustrative renderings with bits of text. In this way she narrates her personal stories, blending them with popular imagery as well as imagined and real histories. The artwork suggests various aspects of her life, including objects in her daily surroundings, her connections to Russia, and a mixed cultural background that had been kept hidden from her as a child. The work occasionally makes art historical references to the likes of Matisse, Velasquez, and Rauschenberg. Each of the medium- to large-scale canvases or panels is like a page from a travel journal or postcard—layered with notes, stamps, and other markings collected during its journey through time. In Sailing with Matisse to Tahiti, from 2012, a steamship chugs jauntily through a blue-gray sea, with only a simple horizontal line distinguishing sea from sky. An oversized easel with a canvas is stationed on the back deck, suggesting that the Master may be on board. In the foreground a small green sail boat announces the title in its wind banner, as it sails toward a still life with vase of flowers and pot of brushes, curiously floating on the sea—perhaps some jetsam from the ship. A tiny image of a reclining nude is adhered to the upper right corner of the panel, like a postage stamp assuring delivery of the message. Overall, the collection of work reflects a life long-lived, well-travelled, and mulled over with wry amusement. A reception for the artist will take place on Friday, January 11 from 6 to 8 p.m. The exhibition will be on view through January 31. For more information check their website, www.seagergray.com.

Terry Sauve image from www.riskpress.com.
Inez Storer image from www.seagergray.com.

 

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2012 in review

Posted on January 2, 2013 by Satri Pencak

Thank you to all my readers for making 2012 a fun and satisfying year to write and share. Here is the annual report from W.P. of my most popular posts and other details.

The WordPress.com stats prepared a 2012 annual report for this blog.

Here’s an excerpt:

600 people reached the top of Mt. Everest in 2012. This blog got about 2,000 views in 2012. If every person who reached the top of Mt. Everest viewed this blog, it would have taken 3 years to get that many views.

Click here to see the complete report.

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Larry Thomas & Handmade Paper @ Sonoma Valley Museum

Posted on November 30, 2012 by Satri Pencak

Tree bark and leaves, seed pods and grasses can be a source of creative inspiration for artists as well as the components of papermaking. Being both delicate and tough, such fibrous elements are the focus of two inspiring exhibitions at the Sonoma Valley Museum of Art.

In the front part of the museum is Larry Thomas: Coastal Echoes. This exhibition of recent paintings, prints, drawings, and calligraphy comes from a body of work inspired by the Northern California coast. Thomas’ abstract imagery captures the changing moods of the coastal landscape, where water and land interact in a ceaseless shifting of patterns and rhythms. The exhibition consists of five different series that reflect on this coastal theme with poetic abstraction. After passing through a field of dangling paper prayer flags in the entryway, the gallery opens to a group of about ten large paintings called the Hawk Field Series from 2012. Muted pastel tones and curvilinear markings capture the feel of a wind-blown hill top. Like clouds in the sky, you can gaze at the paintings and see things, animals or birds, or something just on the edge

From "Hawk Field Series" by Larry Thomas.
From “Hawk Field Series” by Larry Thomas.

of familiar. In one I saw what could be a hare hiding in the grass, and thought of the fine etching of a hare by the fifteenth-century German artist, Albrecht Durer.

Another series is called Grass Mountain Drawings, from 2011 to 2012. The 14 drawings are displayed on a long low shelf along the wall. The ink and pencil drawings use calligraphic lines to describe what could be leaves and grasses, and perhaps skulls and feathers. The linear elements are softened and held together with an atmospheric wash of acrylic paint. Thomas worked primarily as a printmaker in the early years of his career before experimenting with other media, including calligraphy. Currently he is working on a series of larger-scale oil paintings. Larry Thomas was a professor of printmaking, and Dean of Academic Affairs, for many years at the San Francisco Art Institute before retiring to the Fort Bragg area in Northern California, where he currently lives and works.

Toward the back of the museum is a well-matched companion exhibition called The Art of Handmade Paper. This informative exhibition explores the connections between past and current papermaking traditions and practices of both eastern and western cultures. The curator, Simon Blattner, is a noted scholar and collector of handmade paper. Included are historic Japanese papers which date back several centuries, paper-making equipment, videos of the process, as well as examples of contemporary papermaking. One rare and remarkable piece is a 21-foot antique Japanese scroll that illustrates the stages of the traditional papermaking process, from the gathering of mulberry bark through the completion of the final product. This fine piece shares company with some excellent works by contemporary U.S. artists, such as Amanda Degener, Lynn Sures, John Babcock, Beck Whitehead, Helen Heibert, Michelle Wilson, Peter and Donna Thomas, and Susan Mackin Dolan. This recent work both honors the traditions, as well as pushes the boundaries of the medium by incorporating new materials and techniques. Executive Director, Kate Eilertsen, states, “The exhibition serves to remind that paper is not a simple utilitarian technology, but also an art form of the highest order.”

Japanese Papermaking Scroll, detail.

Japanese Papermaking Scroll, detail.

Both exhibitions continue through December 30. For more information check their website, www.svma.org.

Images from SVMA website.
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Sound, Image, Object: The Intersection of Art and Music @ SSU

Posted on October 12, 2012 by Satri Pencak

The hills are filled with the sound of art, or . . . is it the sight of music? Actually it’s both, at least at the Sonoma State University Art Gallery, where currently on view is Sound, Image, Object: The Intersection of Art and Music. The exhibition features work by twenty contemporary artists from around the country whose art makes reference—either literally or conceptually—to music or sound, and includes sculptures, photographs, prints, video, and installations.

Music and the visual arts have a long history of mutual influence and cross-referencing. Composers, especially from the Romantic era, such as Tchaikovsky, endeavored to evoke visual images through their symphonies. In the visual arts of the Western world, the portrayal of music, singing and dancing goes way back. Images of angels playing stringed instruments appeared in early Renaissance paintings, and even before that, depictions of music and dance appeared in Egyptian art and Greek vase painting. But these were generally static images of figures with instruments. It wasn’t until the mid-nineteenth century that a French artist, Eugene Delacroix, painted a portrait of Paganini that was an attempt to express the sound or at least the passion of the music being played. Then later, in the early twentieth century Wassily Kandinsky strove to express the spirit of music through color, line, and abstract forms. In the mid-twentieth century, Abstract Expressionist action painters, such as Jackson Pollock, were known to listen to jazz music while they worked in their studios. Eventually, as the ability to record and reproduce sounds improved, artists began including actual music and sound in their work. Or, in the case of the avant-garde composer John Cage, whose 1952 composition, 4’ 33” (Four minutes, thirty-three seconds), only involved the ambient sounds of the concert hall, thereby making a firm reach into the realm of Conceptual Art.

J, Cage

Score without Parts, by John Cage

For artists today the possibilities of using sound are quite endless, especially through use of new media and the Internet. The work on view at the SSU Art Gallery reflects different ways music and art interact, and influence each other, literally or conceptually. While most of the work in the exhibition is by contemporary living artists, homage is paid to the late John Cage, who would have celebrated his centennial this year, with a piece called Score without Parts. The print was created by Cage in 1978 as part of a body of work he produced at Crown Point Press over a fifteen-year period.

Musical instruments play their part in the exhibition where there are both actual instruments as well as objects that make reference to them. For example the assemblage sculptures of William T. Wiley, Banjo for J.B., 1985, and Robert Hudson, E Flat, 1986, aren’t intended to be played, instead they evoke musical personalities and concepts. Whereas the sculptures of Terry Berlier are actual instruments and can

T. Berlier

Pan Lid Gamelan II, by Terry Berlier.

be played by gallery visitors. These include Pan Lid Gamelan II, 2010, made of old pan lids arranged like a xylophone, and her Stairdrum, which is fashioned from wood, metal, and drum parts. Both have sticks available for creating your own inspired sounds in the gallery. Then, from a more conceptual stand point is Tom Marioni’s, Musical Instrument that Cannot be Played, 2003. Made of black lacquered wood, and looking like a miniature piano with no keys, it can only be pondered and not played. This static piece is accompanied by photographs of Marioni’s performative art, including historical events from the early 1970s, and his more recent, Drum Brush Drawing, which consists of marks made on sandpaper by a drum brush.

P. Kos

I Saw The Light, by Paul Kos

Musical compositions can also be expressed in visual formats. One example is the 2007 kinetic multimedia installation, I Saw The Light, by Paul Kos. This tongue-in-cheek, very literal, interpretation of the old Hank Williams’ tune by the same title includes an old timber saw, set in a pendulum sawing motion, illuminated by a hanging light bulb. The swinging saw and its shadow moving on the wall keep beat to an audio recording of the song, as they “saw the light”. The whimsical arrangement is very much in keeping with Paul Kos’ 1970 piece, The Sound of Ice Melting, which is comprised of a block of ice surrounded by a several standing microphones and speakers, and was recently seen at the Berkeley Art Museum.

I. Sorrell

Cantilena, by Isabelle Sorrell.

In a different approach to visual interpretations of music, is Isabelle Sorrell’s, Cantilena, 1987. In this plain-framed piece, overlapping strips of white embossed paper, and penciled-in annotations, give it an appearance of simplicity. However, the piece is much more complex in its concept. Referencing, Beethoven’s IXth Symphony, Sorrell distilled the composition down to four alto voices, represented by four rows of paper strips. In the background the four alto voices, singing a capella, can be heard in the accompanying audio recording.

Other artists participating in the show are Mauricio Ancalmo, Brian Caraway, Chuck Close, Bruce Conner, Lewis deSoto, Chris Duncan, Jacqueline Kyomi Gordon, Victoria Haven, Christopher Janney, Jack Ox, Sarah Rara, Steve Reich, and Alice Wheeler. The exhibition continues through October 14. For more information, gallery hours, and parking updates, check their website, www.sonoma.edu/artgallery.

Photo of Pan Lid Gamelan II, from the artist’s website, all other photos by the author.
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Adela Akers @ Quicksilver Mine Co.

Posted on August 27, 2012 by Satri Pencak

Currently on view at Quicksilver Mine Co., in downtown Forestville, is Adela Akers, Threads of Illusion. The exhibition features large and small-scale hand-woven tapestries created over the past ten years, including work completed just this year. Adela’s beautifully crafted weavings are composed of abstract geometric patterns, inspired by pre-Columbian, African, and other textile-based cultures, as well as architecture and more contemporary abstract art modes. The repetitive geometric structures suggest language, coded messages, and forms of record keeping. For Adela, whose work is strongly influenced by her science background, the mathematical principles contrast well with the organic process of discovery, allowing for her inner visions to unfold.

Circles in the Square, 2010

Akers considers herself an artist first, who happens to use fibers and weaving as her medium. This assertion is well supported by the complexity of her materials and process, which results in rich and detailed weavings. She begins with finely woven linen strips that are sewn together. Then additional materials are applied or incorporated. For example she weaves in horse hair, which historically has been used for upholstery fabric, but here adds elements of fine lines that soften the more hard-edge forms. She also applies paints and inks directly to the warp threads, or even to the finished woven cloth. Finally she adds thin bands of metal, which are recycled from the foil seals of wine bottles. These she cuts into narrow strips, then stitches onto the woven linen segments.

End Section, 2012

Adela currently lives and works in West Sonoma County, but her long distinguished career has taken many curves and turns. Born in Spain in the 1930s, and trained in science, she began her career as a biochemist in Cuba. She eventually moved to the United States, and studied at the Art Institute of Chicago, and the Cranbrook Academy of Art in Michigan. Later she taught textile arts at the university level on both coasts until her retirement. Akers has exhibited her work extensively, including solo shows in New York, San Francisco, Philadelphia, and Los Angeles. Her work can be found in the collections of the Smithsonian Institution, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Museum of Art and Design, as well as the Sonoma County Museum, and many private collections around the country.

You can also see a well-done video interview of Adela on the KQED Spark program. The video shows her working at her loom while she talks about her materials and process. The exhibition continues through September 23. For more information check the website, www.quicksilvermineco.com

Photos from Quicksilver Mine Co. website.
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Best Bets, 7.9.12

Posted on July 9, 2012 by Satri Pencak

Here are my Best Bets in the visual arts for this week.

Bob Cat

“Bob Cat” by Trish Carney

Currently at di Rosa in Napa, is Entering the Wild, an exhibition that features over thirty pieces by six Northern California artists. Some years back Barry Lopez wrote an essay called The Near Woods, in which he described “the elusive and magical space between the wild, deep woods and the civilized space of humans”. This premise is the binding thread for the theme of this exhibition, and a special edition of the book, designed by Charles Hobson, is on view. Many of the other works in the show reflect on this margin between the animal and human world, bringing up questions such as; “How are we like them, and what can we learn from the mystery and wonder of their behavior?” In a large-scale wall installation called Up From Under the Edge, artist Adriane Colburn, uses various materials to investigate the complex relationship between human infrastructure and the natural world. She includes a viewing tube that’s set at about knee level, and if you make the effort to look in, you’ll see video footage of bugs and microbes that live beneath the soil.

In Animals Around Me, Lukas Felzmann uses photography to capture images of animals we may encounter, including wild, domestic, and dead ones, as well as those destined to be a food source. The piece as a whole is quite thought provoking. One of my favorite pieces, by Jane Rosen, White Scarf Skyscraper, is a hawk made of cast glass that is perched on a marble pedestal. To me it stands as a monument to the birds of prey that inhabit and nest in urban areas. The exhibition continues through September 23. For information check their website, www.dirosaart.org.

Then, at Sonoma Valley Museum, on Broadway, we have Cross Pollination; the Art of Lawrence Ferlinghetti. The title, Cross Pollination, is quite apt for this exhibition as it pulls together a number of influences and thematic parallels that have been consistent throughout his career. Most of us know Ferlinghetti as the beat era poet and co-founder of City Lights Bookstore in San Francisco, and both of these are true. However, Ferlinghetti, who is 93, has also devoted much of his career to the visual arts, and the show includes a very recent set of lithographs that he created to illustrate is latest poem book, Out of Chaos.

out of chaos

Out of Chaos

The paintings, prints, and drawings in the exhibition are a sampling of his work, which touch on the themes of politics, his relationship to women, and his time spent at sea. Through the work he also engages in direct dialogue with other artists and writers. The exhibition curator, Diane Roby, states that “In Ferlinghetti’s art, words give rise to image-making, and word and image meld in the paint.” A powerful painting, titled Moloch, sums it up. On the large canvas, iconic elements from The Scream, by Edvard Munch are painted in white on a black background, lines from Allen Ginsberg’s poem, Howl, are written across the top, and as the gallery label states, this is where “Howl meets the Scream”. The exhibition continues through September 23, for more information check their website, www.svma.org.

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