Los Gatos Weekly-Times Photograph by George Sakkestad Henri O'Connor's portraits are among the works on display at the Tait Museum. Exhibit shows the many textures of art By Shari Kaplan Textura is an appropriate name for the latest double exhibit at the Los Gatos Museum of Fine Art and Natural History by longtime Los Gatans Henri O'Connor and Anne Lamborn. Although one medium is visual and one tactile, they both possess unique textural qualities imparted by their creators. O'Connor is a former art instructor in Los Gatos, Saratoga, Campbell and San Jose school districts and adult education programs. Born in France of a French mother and an American father, he was accepted into drawing classes at age 14 at the Ecole des Beaux Artes in Nantes. He credits his mother and uncle--the latter "a frustrated artist"--with encouraging the creative propensities O'Connor showed even as a young boy. Following studies at French art academies and under influential French painters, O'Connor moved to Sacramento around the age of 20. He first worked at the Sacramento Art Center, then as a commercial art illustrator in San Francisco. Settling in Los Gatos with his wife and children, O'Connor worked in both artistic and non-art fields. At the Los Gatos Museum, O'Connor exhibits some of his favorite topics: models, trees and seascapes, with a few still-lifes thrown in for good measure. Rather than forcing his subjects into the "smile and say cheese" pose, O'Connor catches them with more deeply textured emotions such as wistfulness, disdain, plaintiveness and pensiveness. His paintbrush also portrays a cross-section of society: people of both genders and of various age groups and ethnic backgrounds. "Working with another human being, there's a special kind of communication there--or lack of, sometimes," O'Connor says. "When I work with a model, I try to discover something unique about that person. If I succeed, I end up with a good painting. If not, it ends up in the garage." Trees are a common element in O'Connor's landscapes, a case in point being "Guardians of Saratoga 2" and its near-twin, "Guardians of Saratoga 3." Both are romanticized views of the towering Italian stone pines--surrounded by flowers--that stand at the entrance to the Saratoga Village at Big Basin Way and Highway 9. O'Connor also favors Vasona Lake county park for its own towering trees and Corralitos for its blooming apple orchards. Many of his seascapes are also familiar terrain--scenic stretches of Highway 1 that run through Santa Cruz County. Some offer sandy beaches and iridescent waters, and others show the sea in moments of turbulence. Lamborn, whose main medium for the past 26 years has been weaving, exhibits many colorful examples of her tactile art. A former Los Gatos arts commissioner and art instructor, Lamborn employs three techniques: ikat, warp painting with dyes and space dyeing. More information on these is available at the museum. To top off her carefully woven and dyed textiles, Lamborn often adds an eclectic array of materials, including spray lacquer, puff paints, acrylics and stenciled designs. 'Textura' runs through Feb. 28. The Los Gatos Museum of Fine Art and Natural History, at 4 Tait Ave, is open from noon to 4 p.m., Wednesday through Sunday. [ Back to Contents Page | Los Gatos Weekly-Times Home Page | Archives ] This article appeared in the Los Gatos Weekly-Times, February 3, 1999. ©1999 Metro Publishing, Inc. All rights reserved.