Photograph by Paul Myers

Among the art by Saratogan Starr Davis at Aegis Gallery are ceramic representations of the trigolyte structures she saw in Cappodoccia, Turkey.




Artist travels to exotic destinations

By Shari Kaplan

Nestled among the lush islands that make up the Republic of Indonesia, Bali is about as different as it gets from the large, dry expanses of Turkey, a country at the convergence of Europe, Asia and the Middle East.

What the locales have in common--aside from being exotic destinations unseen by many travelers--is that Saratoga artist Starr Davis has brought them together in one exhibit at Saratoga's Aegis Gallery of Fine Art. Titled "Far Corners: Bali to Turqui" (the French spelling of Turkey), the exhibit combines ceramics, mixed media collages and watercolor paintings.

The ceramics, which Davis fires in her home kiln, depict the buildings she saw while in the Cappodoccia area of Turkey, mainly trigolytes and mosques. Trigolytes are tall volcanic cones whose interiors were dug and carved into homes and early Christian churches centuries ago.

Davis says the trigolytes' windows and doors are particularly interesting, as they are simply holes in the sides of the earthen structures. Over time, blowing sand can change the size of the holes and sometimes even the shape of the trigolyte.

A turquoise glaze can be seen on most of the ceramic pieces, particularly on the roofs of the mosques. Its name means "Turk's stone," according to Davis, who says she likes the stone's blue-green color because it blends the spiritual aspects of the sky (blue) with the grounding elements of the earth (green).

The collages also follow a Turkish theme, combining drawings and cut-outs of desert landscapes, trigolytes, mosques, topographic maps and Arabic writing. Although they may look like they were easily "thrown together," Davis assures viewers that they took much forethought.

The soft, colorful watercolors of Bali show buildings such as thatched-roof huts and spiritual mehrus in serene natural settings. In Bali, where Hinduism is the predominant religion, the people honor especially beautiful outdoor places by building a mehru, a pagoda-like building with several roofs in descending size that represent the earth meeting the sky--similar to Davis' feelings about turquoise.

She painted the Balinese images on-site, at times on the verandah of her cottage in Ubud, a town known as the cultural center of Bali. She stayed there for a month, which she says was very reasonable at $7 per night, including daily breakfast and a private cottage with its own lotus pond.

"It was wonderful to be part of the culture," she says. "What appealed to me about going to Bali was having heard from a friend about how spiritual the place is."

To give gallery visitors an additional taste of life in Turkey and Bali, Davis has left two travel journals at the exhibit, one for each of the countries. They're filled with pencil and watercolor sketches, photographs of people and places and detailed handwritten notes.

Although not part of the Far Corners theme, several paintings of mussel shells are also on display. The mussel is one of Davis' favorite images, she says, because of its unusual shape and texture and also for its contrasts: a rough, dark, gnarled outside and a smooth, light, iridescent inside.

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Aegis Gallery of Fine Art is at 14531 Big Basin Way. For gallery hours or more information, call 408.867.0171 or visit www.aegisgallery.com on the Internet.

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