Photograph by Kathy De La Torre
The work on display through April 2 at the Villa Montalvo Gallery take their inspiration from nature.
Organic forms inspire artists in current show
Former Montalvo residents featured
By Shari Kaplan
Four is a number that recurs throughout nature. It is found in the quadrants of a compass; in the changing of the seasons; and in the elements that all life requires or is affected by in some direct or indirect way--air, fire, water and earth.
It is appropriate that an exhibit incorporating inspirations from the natural world, also directly or indirectly, involves four participants. Former Villa Montalvo artist residents Claire Beaulieu, Nicole Lenzi, Glen Rogers and Kerry Vander Meer have each contributed to The Gallery at Montalvo's current exhibit, Four Montalvo Artists Reflect on Organic Forms.
"Coming to Montalvo and working essentially unencumbered in a setting known for its natural beauty has for some artists created a turn-around moment; for others it's solidified a direction," explains gallery director Theres Rohan. "[This exhibit] offers the public a glimpse into the essence of what it means to come to Montalvo for a residency."
Canadian Beaulieu, who has exhibited in Canada, Mexico, Switzerland and the United States, describes her technique as employing analogies and metaphors to depict the relationships between life's microcosm and macrocosm, between the profane and the sacred, and between creation and procreation. Her five mixed media paintings and one floor installation combine bright acrylic paints, cellular motifs, lace and celestial bodies in patterns that defy easy explanations.
According to Marylander Lenzi, her pieces are the first formal, representational drawings she has done in three years. "Ironically, they were inspired by a series of studies I made at my Montalvo residency four years ago. I rediscovered the work this past summer after hitting a brick wall with my abstract art," she explains. Her large charcoal-and-pastel-on-paper drawings, Clotho's Rose II and Good Tidings are both images of blooming roses, flowers she says are symbolic not only of love but of a propitious start to a new year.
Rogers, who stayed at Montalvo in autumn, was inspired by the trees' changing colors to create a palette of yellow, ochre, orange, sienna, brown and red. The Oakland resident also collected leaves and seedpods on her daily walks at Montalvo and brought them to her cottage for inspiration. One of her triptychs depicts three ovate vessels surrounded by warm colors; the other resembles lotus petals united by a running spiral. "I often use the vessel as a metaphor for the female body, as a giver of life, and as a sacred tool to capture the precious essence of water," her artist's statement reveals.
Vander Meer, also of Oakland, is intrigued, and worried, by the disappearance of many species of amphibians throughout the world, especially frogs and toads. Her five pieces all incorporate these animals, from the Frog Web II installation of 20 leaping little frogs sewn from a tantalizing variety of material textures and colors, to Female Surinam Toad, which appears to be a bloated toad's skin stretched upon the wall. (It's actually just rubber!)
The Artist Residency Program brings American and international artists to Montalvo for working residencies of one to three months in a setting that offers privacy, creative reflection, inter-artist dialogue and, during open studios, a chance to meet the public. The program is funded through the Friends of Montalvo.
The exhibit runs through April 2. The Gallery, at 15400 Montalvo Road, is open Wednesday through Sunday, 1 to 4 p.m. For more information, call 408.961.5820 or visit www.villamontalvo.org on the Internet.
Saratoga, California Since 1955
