Los Gatos Weekly-Times

Photograph by George Sakkestad

Museum docent Janet Kerr enjoys the touch of sculpture by Ramón Montoya Brusuelas.

Tait features Bay Area artists

By Shari Kaplan

In its latest exhibit, the Tait Gallery of the Los Gatos Museum offers a mix of media from Bay Area artists Al Martinez and Ramón Montoya Brusuelas.

Born and raised in San Francisco, Martinez realized his innate abilities as an artist upon taking children's art workshops at the DeYoung Museum.

"I liked the atmosphere and environment of the museum. I was in awe of it and decided I wanted to do art with my life. Drawing and art always came to me naturally," recalls Martinez.

After earning a bachelor's degree from the California College of Fine Arts and studying under professional artists, Martinez devoted himself to oil paintings.

His favorite themes deal with landscapes, seascapes and people going about their everyday life in Mexico and the United States. The years in which he owned a yacht inspired some of his nautical paintings of ships and boats, he says.

The sea influences some of his landscapes as well, including serene portrayals of coastal farms and inlets of the sea along the Mendocino coast. Inland, a deserted brick building in Larkspur exudes a feel of the woods, while the abundance of summer appears in paintings of Lakeport.

"They're very relaxing and require less draftsmanship," he says of landscapes, which he usually paints from photographs he's taken. "What I like about landscapes is that I can move things around and set a mood."

Brusuelas, a native of Tularosa, N.M., did cabinetry for 30 years and became intimately familiar with wood and how to create things with it, such as "Sammie the Seal," "Penguins" and "Dino #1," three pieces sculpted from a decaying tree trunk.

"I love working with my hands, [and] wood has always been my first love. Everybody enjoys working with wood; it's therapeutic," he says, mentioning the aroma, look and feel of different woods. He also enjoys crafting unconventional walking sticks.

Brusuelas's other loves are ceramics, photography and weaving. His ceramic pieces are distinct in that most are hand-built rather than being thrown on a potter's wheel. Before he began exhibiting photographs, which include people, animals, landscapes and daily life, photography was just a hobby: "It gives me a record of where I've been and what I've done."

Weaving joined Brusuelas's repertoire after he tried out a loom in the art department at San Francisco State University, where he graduated with a bachelor's degree in industrial arts in 1982.

"I started thinking of all these colors and patterns. And I identified with the loom because most of it is made of wood!" adds Brusuelas, who weaves wall hangings and other items out of raffia, yarn, fishing line, colored telephone wire, fabric strips, plant fibers and even old neckties.

Near Brusuelas's art are "Please Touch" signs to remind viewers that some art needs to be felt. "Everybody went bonkers, saying 'I've always wanted to touch art!' " he recalls of past reactions.

The Tait Gallery, corner of Tait Avenue and Main Street, is open Wed.-Sun., noon to 4 p.m. For more information, call 354-2646.