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Local painters exhibit at Triton Museum Watercolor paintings depict scenes on Triton grounds 
Saratoga artist Judy Puthuff and Ron Garcia
of the Triton Museum of Art in Santa Clara
hang paintings for a new exhibit by the
Saratoga Community of Painters, of which
Puthuff is a member.
By Shari Kaplan The last time the Saratoga Community of Painters (SCP) pooled their talents for a group show on a common theme was in late 1998, when they exhibited in the art gallery at Montalvo. The subject matter couldn't have been more fitting for the gallery, as every work of art featured imagery the artists had painted while working on the picturesque grounds of Montalvo. That endeavor caught the eye of Susan Hillhouse, curator at the Triton Museum of Art in Santa Clara, who some time later contacted Saratogan Judy Puthuff, the SCP's coordinator and co-founder. The end result of their meeting was the SCP obtaining a one-month slot on the Triton's exhibition schedule. Now through July 28, watercolor paintings by the group's 20 members - who hail from Los Gatos, Monte Sereno, Cupertino and Los Altos, as well as Saratoga - are on public display as "New Works by California Artists: The Saratoga Community of Painters." All 41 of the watercolors depict scenes of the Triton or the surrounding area. Many of the SCP members created the paintings on location, following in the group's plein-air tradition. Plein-air refers to painting done outdoors using the light, atmosphere and surroundings present at the time. Those who didn't or couldn't work on the grounds of the Triton worked from photographs. "When we first thought about it, it took some getting used to the site. It seemed like there might not be as much subject matter as there was at Montalvo. We went back a couple of times to explore it," recalls Puthuff, who discovered that there was, in fact, much subject matter. "I went back at different times of day: early morning, mid-morning, early afternoon and late afternoon. I wanted to see the differences in lighting conditions," adds Puthuff, who says she was fascinated by a trio of elderly women she saw wandering the Triton's gardens and outdoor statuary on several occasions. They now appear in two of her paintings. "As we went along, we found more and more things to paint," agrees Ann-Marie Mix, a founding member and longtime docent at the San Jose Art Museum, who also exhibited with the SCP at Montalvo. The Los Gatan's contribution to the Triton show is a veranda from one of the buildings. What caught her eye was a plaque on the structure, which revealed it was once on the home of local judge Hiram Bond, whose grandson is her husband's cousin. "When I realized the relationship, I decided to paint it," Mix says of the veranda that no one else chose to paint. "I like to paint plein-air because I love nature and being outdoors, and I love the process of painting," adds Mix, who majored in art at UC-Berkeley. Saratogan Dan Tellep also enjoys this technique, as well as the medium of watercolor. "I like the spontaneity of the medium, and the transparency and luminosity of watercolor," he says. "It's not as unforgiving as some people think. You can make corrections, but it's not as easy as with oils or acrylics." Like Mix, Tellep's eye was caught by something on the Triton grounds. "I was strongly taken by the statuary behind the museum. One piece reminded me of my daughters when they were young," he says. And so Tellep created a series that combines the "metallic" girls with real ones; he named his trio of evocative pieces Youth, Youth Memorialized and Youth Remembered. SCP members exhibiting at the Triton are Karmen Askew, Dennis Augustine, Norman Dana Carter, Nancy De Weese, Kay Duffy, Maureen Fisher, Jane Garrod, Donald Geoffroy, Carol Heeter, Mary Ann Henderson, Art Hubbard, David Hunt, the late Fern Lawton, Roben Martin, Mix, Nancy Patka, Puthuff, Mary Ann Snedeker, Dodie Tabari and Tellep. "New Works by California Artists: The Saratoga Community of Painters" runs through July 28. The public is invited to an artists' reception on July 11 from 6 to 8 p.m. The Triton Museum of Art is located at 1505 Warburton Ave. For gallery hours or directions, call 408.247.3754. For information about the SCP, call Judy Puthuff at 408.867.2581. |
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