Los Gatos Weekly-Times

Photograph by George Sakkestad

Monte Sereno artist Ned Gault will demonstrate his glass craft during Open Studios.

Open studios show artists at work

By Shari Kaplan

In celebrating a dozen years of bringing artists and the public together in an informative yet informal setting, the former Open Studios of Santa Clara County is now Open Studios of South Bay Artists. The title includes the "South County" cities of Morgan Hill, San Martin and Gilroy as well as several cities in nearby San Benito County.

For four weekends--from April 18-19 to May 16-17--painters, sculptors, potters, metalsmiths and woodworkers, photographers and jewelers showcase their works and techniques as visitors filter through the artisans' studios, which often are in their homes.

April 25-26 is the weekend for the 94 artists participating in Los Gatos, Monte Sereno and Saratoga, as well as Campbell, Cupertino, Santa Clara, Sunnyvale and parts of San Jose.

Monte Sereno resident Ned Gault works in glass, which he heats, blows, bends and crafts at his garage workbench. Unlike professional glassblowers, who heat blobs of glass in a large furnace, Gault uses tools such as pliers and tweezers to hold and shape the glass he heats using a propane torch.

Now retired, Gault got interested in using glass rods and tubing for artistic purposes after years of using them in a lab setting. A chemistry major in college, he worked as a researcher in the semiconductor industry for a time, taught glassblowing at San Jose State University and taught chemistry at Leigh High School for 26 years.

"I suppose it's like getting very involved in anything, whether it's playing music or programming a computer; it's a pleasant process," Gault says of making art. Among his delicate specialties are glass snails housed in real snail shells, as well as butterflies, roses and oil lamps.

Los Gatan Janet F. Bajorek works out of her home as well, although for her, art is a professional endeavor. On the same property as her home on Clover Way is Iguana Galleries, which she began eight years ago to showcase her many ceramic pieces.

"It generally has a comment on everyday life, often with a touch of humor. People seem to really like it," she says of her art.

Her subject matter includes a young and middle-aged woman contemplating each other through a mirror; pieces documenting homelessness; free-spirited skateboarders; and frazzled Silicon Valley professionals. During the Gulf War, she created a Pietà in which a mother holds her fallen soldier son while Saddam Hussein and George Bush look on with bloody hands.

Bajorek say one of her strongest influences was studying at the University of the Americas in Mexico City. She identified with the Latin-American perspective on art as something with strong emotional significance, as opposed to what she sees as the American perspective, which puts more emphasis on technique than content.

"Whenever I'm not doing it, I always wish I were," she says of how she feels about ceramics. "It's a very deep satisfaction. The creative force in human beings is so strong that it makes you feel complete."

Other artists in Los Gatos and Monte Sereno opening their studios are Nahda Balaa, Lou Bermingham, Forrest Butler, Mark W. Dawson, Lisa DeWilde, Marian Gault, Ruth Geredes, Elke Groves, Deborah Haeffele, Oneida Hammond, Dolly C. Johnson, Judith Juncker, Amy Konsterlie, Anne Lamborn, Hugo Lecaros, Ed Lucey, Michelle Mickelson-Ruffo, Maralyn Miller, Bette P. Mohr, Lyn Orona, Shirley Preuitt, Mercy Smullen, Ruth Tunstall-Grant and Martha Zappe.

Artists exhibiting in Saratoga are Donna Alongi, Rosemary Berwald, Jeffrey B. Bryant, Ruth R. Condit, Kay Duffy, Howard Jameson, Edith Kallman, Ellen Kieffer, Nancy Koch, Yoju Kondo, Sharon Lips, Marylin T. Mori, Richard Osborn, Linda B. Spencer, Mariko Suzuki and Rick Waltonsmith.

Free maps are available in Saratoga at The Mitre Box, 20605 Third St., and in Los Gatos at Los Gatos Art Supplies, 61A Victory Lane, and Encore Gallery/Virtual Gallery, 59A N. Santa Cruz Ave. Catalogs with biographies and art reproductions are $12. Call 650/964-6575 for more information.

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