Photograph by George Sakkestad
Fern Lawton, chairwoman of the Los Gatos Arts Association membership show at the Tait Museum, enjoys "Congruence," a sculpture by Minnie Phinn.
By Shari Kaplan
Titled "What's New in Art in 1996," the Los Gatos Art Association's traditional membership show features 89 pieces in various media and styles on display now through Oct. 27 at the Los Gatos Museum of Art and Natural Science.
All entries were juried by Jane Hofstetter, a longtime Bay Area arts teacher and nationally known artist, with cash awards given in each of four categories: 3-D sculpture, oils and acrylics, watercolors and pastels, and mixed-media (including photography and graphics).
"It's a very fine exhibit of art by local artists. I think it's nice to acknowledge local talent," says Fern Lawton, LGAA membership show chairwoman.
Lawton is also an exhibitor; the show includes two of her watercolors, including "A Walk in the Woods," in which a lone figure walking through misty late-autumn woods is dwarfed by the tall, spindly forms of nearly leafless trees.
Watercolors and pastels are the predominant media of this show. Among these is "The Dreamer" by Los Gatan Cheryl Boudreau, which although a pastel, also incorporates another media: tiny piles of salt crystals delicately glued to the canvas to represent either snow or crashing waves at a beach. At the right, the silhouette of a small boy contemplates a large, round sphere, around which snow is falling.
Los Gatos resident Catherine Politopoulos also uses soft white hues in her watercolor titled "White White Wedding," a second-place winner. It's the kind of painting whose subject one might not recognize from afar; from up close, it appears to be a zoom-in on the curling petals of a white flower, the center of which can be seen off toward one corner.
"Watercolor is clean; you can do it on the kitchen table or anyplace. You don't need a studio for it," she says of her preference for this art form. She also says she enjoys the way the colors "bleed" and spread depending upon how much water is used with them.
Many other artists also seem to gravitate toward the great outdoors, including San Jose resident Steve Wise with two oil paintings portraying majestic Yosemite National Park--"Reflections of El Capitan" and "Path of Yosemite Falls." LGAA and Los Gatos Museum Association member Ted Glauser also shows Yosemite in one of his oil works. In "Every Storm Passes," S. Durston of Los Gatos shows a barren promontory of rock--surrounded by the spin drift of crashing waves--that bares more than a passing resemblance to the head of a Sphinx.
A humorous sample of the 3-D sculptures is "Puss in Boots" by Andree Parker of Los Gatos, who has fashioned a proudly marching cat who seems unaware of the four cute mice scampering all over him and the nonchalant red bird perched atop his head. On a deeper level is San Jose artist Don Turner's bronze "Symbiosis," which depicts a lanky figure whose feet and lower legs are rooted to the ground like tree trunks. The figure's exaggerated hands embrace several tall and wavy flowering stalks in a reverential pose.
Appropriate to the cat-loving spirit of the town, Los Gatos potter Ida Cutler won third place in 3-D sculpture for "Flower," a glazed-clay cat painted with colorful garden flowers and flittering bees and butterflies. Cutler says her two mischievous felines, who often sit in a flower bed and munch on blossoms, inspired her to begin what has now become a series of perky cat statues.
Second-place winner in the mixed-media category is "White House Rain" by Saratoga photographer and artist Helen Riley. Dominated by warm earth tones, the photograph shows a secluded group of white cliff dwellings built by Native Americans of the Southwest. The cliff walls above are streaked with water, as from a recent rain. Another interesting photo is Los Gatan Carol Anne Blisard's photograph "Vasona," which shows a placid spot of Los Gatos Creek surrounded by a canopy of trees.
Art Association's What's New in Art in 1996 winners; Watercolors and Pastels
First place: "Farmers' Market," Mary Ann Henderson
Second place: "White White Wedding," Catherine Politopoulos
Third place: "Across and Beyond," Alice Laird
Oils and Acrylics
First place: "Adagio," Judy Anton
Second place: "Crystal Lake," Linda Mulvey
Third place: "Dog Afternoon," Amy Finger
3-D Sculpture
First place: "Soul of the War," Eugene Impey
Second place: "Symbiosis," Don Turner
Third place: "Flower," Ida Cutler
Mixed-Media
First place: "Stonehenge Journal," Ruth Rainie Condit
Second place: "White House Rain," Helen Riley
Third place: "Someday All of This Will Be Yours," Amy Finger
The Los Gatos Museum of Art and Natural History is located at the corner of Tait Avenue and W. Main Street. Hours are Wed-Sun, noon to 4 p.m.
This article appeared in the Los Gatos Weekly-Times, October 9, 1996.
©1996 Metro Publishing, Inc. All rights reserved