Los Gatos Weekly-Times

Photograph by George Sakkestad

Los Gatos artist Genie Even's painting 'Bain de Soleil' is one of the award-winning works on display at the Tait Museum.

Juried show brings the best to the Tait

By Shari Kaplan

It's hard to believe the works of nearly 100 artists can fit in one small museum, but such is the case with the 1998 Open Juried Show, presented by the Los Gatos Art and Museum associations at the Los Gatos Museum of Art and Natural History.

Artists throughout the Bay Area are represented in four categories: water media and pastel; mixed media (including photography); oil and acrylic; and three-dimensional. The juror is San Jose State University graduate Dale Laitinen, a full-time painter and workshop instructor residing in Mountain Ranch, Calif.

"Good art must have an idea or truth that is expressed with originality, craftsmanship and authority. The exhibition reveals a community of ideas and a variety of ways of looking at our existence," Laitinen explains in his juror's statement.

Many artists enjoy studying the existence of others. Helen Scheel uses pastels to create two portraits, both named for their clothing. The dreadlocked "Tie Dye Man" wears a multicolored shirt and contemplates the viewer; in "Red Bandana," a wistful, raven-haired woman contemplates something only she can see.

Watercolorist Lisa DeWilde evidently contemplated a photograph of herself while painting "Self-Portrait." Wearing bright spearmint green, DeWilde reclines on a matching green sofa, her hair spread out and her hand casually resting beside her.

In "Spring Peti Jean," San Jose artist Sukha Carfagno used a photograph her brother having a heart-to-heart with a nephew against a backdrop of a barren tree and rolling hills.

"I was always identified as the artist in the family," Carfagno recalls of her early artistic propensities. "As a child, I had a blackboard, and I loved it. I drew whole stories on that blackboard."

Although she once worked as a nurse, she says she always felt her true calling lay in art. She now works as a graphic artist/illustrator, along with painting, which she calls her "home turf."

Other artists feel at home portraying plants, animals and scenery. In "Valley Guardian," Judy Welsh uses richly hued watercolors to depict a mighty oak whose leafy branches sweep the top of the painting. The tree holds fast to an outcropping and overlooks rolling valleys like a weathered sentinel.

In "Telluride Colors" and "Road Home," Elaine Frenett and Jolene Anderson, respectively, paint attractive outdoor scenes. Frenett offers a view of Colorado's sweeping mountains and fluffy clouds from a meadow, while Anderson paints the evergreen-covered mountains one might see along Highways 50 or 80 coming home from Lake Tahoe.

Los Gatan Genie Even chose her cat, Woody, as the topic of "Bain de Soleil." Even says she saw the orange-and-white cat basking in sunbeams and found the lighting so perfect that she had to make it a painting.

"I like to paint things that I have a strong feeling about. The way the light is striking a particular object really catches my attention. Then there's the challenge of capturing the moment [on canvas] that meant something to me," Even explains. She also says that something about the colors and lighting in California makes it very conducive to her chosen medium, watercolor.

Along with paintings are more than two dozen three-dimensional and mixed-media pieces made from a variety of materials including clay, wood and metals. Among these are Laura DeSantis' "Platypus Whistle," a tribute to those suffering life-threatening illness; "Tree of Life" by Kathi Cambiano, which shows a treelike "Earth Mother" figure; the vibrantly colored, astrologically inspired "Aquarius" chair by Michael Stanley; and two metal sculptures of fish by Ella Fisher--"Ecstasy of the Deep" and "Survival."

The exhibit runs through May 24. The Los Gatos Museum of Art and Natural History is located at 4 Tait Ave. Hours are noon to 4 p.m., Wednesday through Sunday.

1998 Open-Juried Art Show winners

Best of Show

Diane Cassidy, Cupertino Water Media and Pastels

First place: Genie Even, Los Gatos

Second place: Mary Ann Henderson, Saratoga

Third place: Genie Even, Los Gatos

Honorable mentions: Lisa DeWilde, William E. Cunningham, Marjorie Kruger, Elaine Frenett

Mixed Media

First place: Kathy Roberts, Los Altos

Second place: Judy Anton, Campbell

Third place: Ellena Steiner, Portola Valley

Honorable mentions: Amy Finger, Jade Bradbury-Kalogeros, Stephen Gillen

Oil and Acrylics

First place: Sukha Carfagno, San Jose

Second place: Sergio Galli, San Francisco

Third place: Toni Ellis, Los Altos

Honorable mentions: Amy Finger, Shannon Grissom, Maralyn Miller

Three-Dimensional

First place: Bela Harcos, San Francisco

Second place: Kristin Herrera, San Francisco

Third place: Ella Fisher, Los Gatos

Honorable mentions: Tom Azevedo, Ruth T. Gray, Francisco Jimenez

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