Saratoga News

Saratoga Sampler

Mary Ann Cook

Scenes from Saratoga celebrate the city

SARATOGA SCENES, Gallery Saratoga's July show, was named by potter Donna Padrick to celebrate the city, mid-summer style. It starts July 15, and nine members of the co-op at Fourth, off Big Basin Way, are Saratogans. Here's what they're offering:

Jane Garrod's watercolors are done from historic photos; she had to dip her brush into the new work in between preparing for her granddaughter's wedding--she made a quilt for the bride and was also the wedding cake-baker.

Felicia Pollock's photography is of such familiar scenes as Montalvo, vines ripening in the hills, the library and the Chamber of Commerce building.

Norman Carter's watercolors came out of the closet (he produces a watercolor a week, and "of course, some of them stay in the closet") showing such sites as trees at the entrance to town, Monte Bello ridge and Sunrise Winery. (His work also hangs at Marjolaine Bakery, along with other Community of Painters members, led by Judy Puthoff.)

Gloria Watson's painting in this show is of the red barn on Big Basin Way, a small oil. She started painting some years back so she could sketch her sister-in-law's children.

Lillian Isaacson's contribution is an oil called "The Ghost of Nelson Gardens."

Ruth Rainie-Condit will display "Saratoga Garden Offal." (Don't say that title out loud.) Its genesis: Rainie was pulling out the pumpkin vines in her garden that her children had planted but were now past their prime. As she tossed the refuse (or offal) into the box destined for compost, she realized how beautiful they were, in their glorious purples. So she stopped her cleanup and picked up her paints. The results were prize-winning paintings, all of offal. The watercolor is sold, but the collage will be on display at Gallery Saratoga. It won the mixed-media prize at the county fair one year. It's an abstract with vine and leaf forms, as well as her footprint, and incorporates ink, watercolor, acrylics. Glued at the bottom is a newspaper article from the Saratoga News written by a decorator, with the message: "Choose art you like for your home, not something to match the couch." The frame is in keeping, made from a weathered box. Rainie taught for 25 years in her own studio and at Montalvo. "My most lasting contribution is that I gave children (and her adult students) new eyes, a heightened appreciation and awareness of what they were looking at." Since she recently suffered a stroke, she is undergoing therapy and was exhilarated about "talking art and having my feet massaged at the same time."

Donna Padrick's platters with grapes pick up the winery aspect, and a vase has local bluebirds sculpted thereon.

Margaret Magill's hand-painted scarves will be on display, though they're not technically scenes. The process is called French serti (fence). A hollow needle called a gutta creates the line she wants and the line stops the flow of color, "fencing" it in as the title of the process tells us. She does commissioned work as well, and prices go from $20 to $45, depending on size. Most of the paintings range from $150 to $500.

Gallery Saratoga hours are 10 a.m.-6 p.m. every day but Monday.

Farther up Big Basin Way, Saratoga Motel is undergoing renovations. Helping in the construction are Lee Ann and Paul Hernandez, the offspring and family partners of owner Gladys Hernandez. The two, now grown, helped build the motel when their parents first bought it in the '50s. Lee Ann, then 11, remembers being up on the roof with her mother and brother, nailing down shingles. This time she's sticking to ground level. The refurbished units have air conditioning, new bathrooms, under-counter refrigerators and microwaves.

Dentist Nicole T. Pham had a grand opening recently to celebrate her office at 12297 Saratoga-Sunnyvale Rd., Suite 350 (between Cox and Prospect). After earning her doctorate of dental surgery four years ago, she joined the Army Dental Corps and served in Korea and Germany, as well as Texas and California. After being stationed all over, she chose Saratoga to start private practice.

Pham is active in local Vietnamese organizations: She is chairman of the Vietnamese Cultural Heritage Garden in San Jose, and she was an emcee for the 10th annual Miss Vietnamese of Northern California competition. Her new complete family dentistry practice she calls "gentle dentistry."

New officers of the Friends of the Saratoga Library are Carolyn King, president; Fran Krezek, first v.p., programs; Janet McLaughlin, second v.p., public relations; Jim Givens, third v.p., membership; Ruth Gipstein, secretary; Bill McDonnal, treasurer; Bernice Giansiracusa, past president. Mary Jeanne Fenn is Book-Go-Round manager. Go-Round sales netted $63,000 last year, with Sunday hours particularly brisk and totals rising. Good news, Go Round!

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