A COMPASSION AND CALM IN THE FACE OF THE LARGER SCHEME OF THINGS

By Erin Goodwin-Guerrero

In a show that includes drawing and a variety of graphic processes, Robynn Smith reveals her technical diversity and amplifies our view of her narrative concerns.  Her prints revisit some of the familiar translucent coloration, images of raw nature and scenes of a female figure with her dog on the beach that we know from other recent exhibitions.  New are surprising drawings that incorporate a windstorm at a worlds fair, a WWI gas mask and a print with images of the garment district of New York.  The range of references seems so broad that the viewer struggles at first to find the connecting thread.  Yet there is a point of view and a worldview expounded in Smith’s work.

Robynn Smith’s photopolymer etching, Coiled and Ready

Without rancor, Smith acknowledges the fragility and vulnerability of the human experience.  Through references to such astounding events as a volcanic eruption, a world war, 9/11, loss of world habitat or the Holocaust she reminds us of the brevity of life, devastating shifts that can alter life for survivors forever and even the remarkable ability of life to persevere.  There is humility in the beauty that Smith is able to attribute to situations that should be upending, but are indeed part of the larger and longer adventure of evolution, trial and error of life forms, and movement of planet earth in concert with the universe.

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Survey Reveals the Depths of Ikemoto’s Painting

By Erin Goodwin-Guerrero

Howard Ikemoto’s  large abstraction, Shozuku, 1995, Enamel on paper

If you saw the 2007 exhibition of Howard Ikemoto’s small landscape watercolors at the Santa Cruz Museum of Art and History, perhaps you wondered if Ikemoto, an artist/professor with a long history of influence in the South Bay area, still painted on canvas.  The current Triton Museum’s survey exhibition of his painting from watercolor through abstraction and symbolic landscapes on canvas answers that question and shows a fascinating continuum between the abstract and the representational.

Ikemoto’s Empty Boat at Midnight, 2008, Acrylic on Canvas

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“Arts District” Seeks New Arts Residents

Local artist and Martha Gardens resident Tony May contacted ARTSHIFT last week to post information about an interesting property in the City of San Jose’s designated arts district that is coming onto the market. We agreed that this could be an opportunity to attract more artists and arts-related individuals to locate in the area. We thought it was a good idea to let our readers know of such opportunities.

The property is located at 847 South Third Street and is about to come back on the market. It is a charming old Victorian that has experienced some hard times but still possesses real character. It is currently set up as a duplex (How about this for a couple of graduate artists that want to stay local?) but it would be easily returned to a single unit if so desired. Located on an extra extra large lot it has great potential for a big sunny garden and/or building addition. Sheds in the rear with alley access could make a great pottery or sculpture studio. Its location makes it an easy walk from the South 1st Street galleries and other downtown theatre, music and visual art attractions. Being sold as a foreclosed property, it could be a real bargain.

For more information interested parties may contact:

PETER VAN DAM

REAL ESTATE BROKER

DRE # 01148865

408-947-0303 office

408-313-2035 cell

408-273-6864 direct fax

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Oh! that TANTRUM!

by Erin Goodwin-Guerrero

Shooting flames and firing serial explosive bursts, Tantrum circled the grounds of the Art Ark

On Saturday, December 12, Andrew Hedges gave a supportive, albeit wet, audience an entertaining inaugural show of his newest vehicle, Tantrum.  Gas, oxygen and acetylene power the functions of this single seat convertible that cavorted nimbly around the grounds of the Art Ark, shooting fire and making startling sounds like a fusillade of gunshots. Red banners, echoing the contours of the panels in the sculpted body of the vehicle flapped in the breeze, possibly implying “caution, gangway!” A brave few boarded for a test ride of what constituted Hedges’ MFA exhibition project.  Although this light industrial neighborhood is somewhat inured the sound of gunshots, apparently the police did appear to investigate, found the source of the complaint to be benign enough, enjoyed the “spectacle” and moved on.

Tantrum appears to be hybrid of Mad Max art car, car machismo, alternative fuel vehicle and hissing frill-necked dragon lizard.  It is best seen with the inventor himself at the helm, a self-satisfied and slightly demonic grin lighting up his face.   Hedges has managed, once again, to combine into sculpture his love of machines that move, make noise and incorporate some sort of naughty if not downright antisocial elements, (his motorized bicycles notwithstanding).

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Two Hours at the San Jose Museum of Art with Young Art Students

By Pantea Karimi, Artist/Art Teacher

Studying art using computer screens, posters and books cannot evoke the same reaction as seeing the actual pieces in a museum or a gallery. Sunday December 13^th was the last day of Alexander Calder’s show, Color in Motion, at the San Jose Museum of Art. Additionally, two other wonderful exhibitions were on display: Chuck Close prints: Process and Collaboration and Ansel Adams: Early Works. I took a few of my students, 7-11 years old, to the San Jose Museum of Art on December 13^th for a two-hour field trip.

Sara Emami’s drawings, Yellow Whale and Dots and Dashes after Alexander Calder, December, 2009

We started our tour with Chuck Close gallery. I told my students about his life, media and work process before we entered the gallery. Screen-print and Intaglio printmaking techniques sounded mysterious to my students and they were amazed by how Chuck Close has been using these two processes in his works. Chuck Close’s twelve-step etching, Self Portrait-Scribble, elicited a stirring reaction; my students tried to figure out how Close used the metal plates, colors, and layers in order to create his self-portrait print; they counted and matched the layers for a few minutes. I let them figure out the process and when they finally did it, they got excited and started a commotion, which also engaged other visitors around us and put a smile on the gallery guard’s face.

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SFAI Community Mourns The Passing of Bob Colescott

By Erin Goodwin-Guerrero

Colescott working in print media at Crown Point Press

Robert Colescott was outrageous, courageous, prolific, a pioneer, an activist, gentle, and loving.  He was an important historical figure in the world of painting in the shifts from Modernism to Postmodernism from the late 20th Century to the present.  In 1997, the entire American pavilion at the Venice Bienale was dedicated to Colescott’s work, an unprecedented yet merited honor.

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San Jose ICA Honors Long-time ICA Supporter

by Kathryn Hetzner

photo, 2009, Kathryn Hetzner

It is seldom  that one experiences a legacy, one is more often told, but last Saturday evening was one of these experienced moments. I was grateful to have been invited to photograph a tribute and celebration for Michele J. Scott, a former board member of the San Jose Institute of Contemporary Art.

I did not know Michele but the voices that shared her past molded an image of her. Her passion for printing, her loyalty to friends and her endless enthusiasm touched those who knew her.

Many honored her by toasting to her endurance, her humor and her commitment to the ICA and the San Jose Art Community. Those who attended were invited to make a monotype in her name. Many drew objects—persimmons, oranges, and just about anything orange (Michele’s favorite color) onto small Plexiglas sheets that Print Center Director Fanny Retsek then printed as a monotype. People exchanged images and the drawn objects conjured up stories of Michele and her tireless spirit.

Michele was one of the driving forces behind the ICA Print Center and making sure it would be an open access studio created for the community; it was her dream and now it is her legacy. Though the generous contributions of her friends and family, the ICA Print Center’s Michele J. Scott Open Access program has been named in her honor. For more detailed information on the Print Center and the Open Access Program call the San Jose ICA at 408.283.8155, or visit the web page at: http://www.sjica.org/printcenter/printcenter.htm

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We Remember Geoff Bowman with Fondness and Admiration

Geoffrey Bowman

By Theta Belcher, Assistant Gallery Director,

San Jose State School of Art and Design

Geoffrey Bowman was born with a keen intellect and a mind filled with curiosity about the world around him. As a consequence, Geoffrey led a richly varied life.  During his lifetime he earned his living as a Navy sailor, insurance salesman, taxi cab driver, mail carrier, prison art teacher, SJSU professor, and as an artist. During that same lifetime Geoffrey seriously pursued and became intimately acquainted with the cooking and eating of good food, the calligraphy and spoken word of the Japanese language, growing tomatoes and eggplants, world history both ancient and modern, politics, bebop, opera, jazz, playing the tenor saxophone badly  (Geoffrey felt that it was the only instrument that had a truly human musical voice), eastern philosophy, and above all his art, both printmaking and painting.

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The Versatility and Lure of Wood

By Erin Goodwin-Guerrero

Sam Hernandez was born in the Bay Area and got his BA at Hayward State.  In 1974 he received his MFA in sculpture from the University of Wisconsin, Madison, and began to teach on the college level at East Texas State University.  When he arrived in the South Bay area in the late 70s, and began teaching at Santa Clara University, he brought a buzz with him.  His work was unlike anything else going on around here and he was young and already had a promising career on the burner.  His sculpture was abstract and expressionistic, with energetic and free forms springing from wood.  It had a conversation with the currents of sculpture in the much more established North Bay art community where artists like William Wiley and Robert Hudson were painting their works, playing in a light hearted vein, and exercising a wry humor. Hernandez’ career has been highlighted by such honors as an NEA Grant and Fulbright Fellowship and many years service as Chair of the Santa Clara University Art Department. Now a resident of Santa Cruz, and still teaching at SCU, Hernandez continues his exploration of the sculptural forms that have always driven him.

Sam Hernandez’ Top Mounter from the 80s, evoking the figure with humor

Hernandez is prolific. He acknowledges and celebrates certain fundamentals of wood. He has executed his series in varied scale.  Hernandez has played wood against metal, natural surfaces against painted and color-washed surfaces, milled work against naturally occurring forms and the figurative or organic against the geometric. The work has mostly maintained a vertical orientation that often evokes the figure.  Through nearly forty years of work, he has referenced art historical styles such as African art, naive art and cubism that fold easily into the forms he hews. There has been humor, a parody of art history and a charming playfulness.

Sam Hernandez’ The Way of the Intercepting Fist, 2009 at William Siegal Gallery, Santa Fe

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Natural Attraction
By Chris Hofer Borror

On November 3, 2009, a remarkable BFA show called “Natural Attraction” opened in Gallery 3 in the Art Department at San Jose State University. Talented sculptor Carly Silva had a minimalistic four pieces on display, all cast aluminum, that ranged in size from three feet to six and a half feet tall. Even though there were only four pieces, this was a very big show.

Carly Silva’s untitled aluminum sculpture, 2009

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PURE PLEASURE IN PATTERN AND TEXTURE

By Erin Goodwin-Guerrero

The Kuna women integrate the mola into colorful blouses.

The sensual pleasures evoked by traditional crafts of the Kuna people and  “a circle of women” making quilts in the historic patterns and style of Americana, are part of The World According to Joyce Gross: Quilts from the Dolph Briscoe Center and Fabric Tattoos: The Spirit of the Mola at the Museum of Quilts and textiles in San Jose.   Probably engaging the one of the most fundamental of fabric arts outside of weaving itself, these rich objects of cotton cloth are marvels of the power of elemental design and patient craftsmanship.  On close inspection, both reveal the most precise and exact stitches of hand sewn creations that — at least in the case of some of these quilts — appear to have been repeated into the millions on a single work. This particular collection from the Dolph Briscoe Center at the University of Texas, Austin, is a 19th and 20th C collection, and has a timeless charm.  The molas, too, are the recent styles and technical achievements of artists of the 20th C.

Tiger Lily by “Chicago’s Quilting Queen”, Bertha Stenge

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ARTSHIFT Honors Artist and Curator with Cash Awards

Out of a long list of special people that contribute to Silicon Valley’s diverse and exciting visual arts community, one artist and one curator were selected for $2000. cash awards that were presented on October 21, at Works Gallery in downtown San Jose.   The awards were presented to Signe Mayfield and Ken Matsumoto by Scott Knies, Executive Director of the San Jose Downtown Association.

Works Gallery filled with celebrants enjoying libations and conversation at the ARTSHIFT Awards, 2009

A supportive crowd of artists, friends and family were on hand to enjoy the occasion, and to support and congratulate all nominees .  ARTSHIFT Editor, Erin Goodwin-Guerrero thanked the ARTSHIFT Advisory Board, Donors to ARTSHIFT, fiscal sponsor: the Arts Council Silicon Valley and all the talented and creative  people that make the South Bay community from Palo Alto to Santa Cruz an exciting place to live.

Kathryn Funk, Ben Alexy and his Mom join in the festivities.

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BFA Show Walks Onto the Wild Side

by Erin Goodwin-Guerrero

The wild life and wildlife are both included in Jose Estrada’s energetic exhibition of the same name at San Jose State University.  The multi-panel painting Full Bar, is the showcase work that really addresses a young painters existential search. Estrada says, ” The “Wild Life” exhibition is a thought that has been running through my mind for sometime now.  Life in itself is complex; there is this vibration to life and people with their animal-like behavior.  I do this work to understand the “why” in myself, but also to find redeeming qualities in my world.  I would hope that through this search for a moral fiber, I can find a redeeming point to reality.”

Estrada does a terrific job of portraying the inevitable anthropomorphic behavior that can be observed in a pub.  He likes to observe the human animal a bit like an anthropologist, psychologist and zoologist. “I see these beasts in their setting… the inner being of a single person is this jungle of mixed images and untamed emotions…  I can depict things that may confuse and provoke the senses, with imagery that at is shocking, dramatic, haunting and sometimes even quietly reflective.”  Indeed his bold painting style with pure pigments and intense color is full of raw life.

Jose Estrada’s multi-panel painting Full Bar, 2009

Of all the works in the show, Full Bar is the most conceptually developed, and the most visually successful with all the fun and fundamentals of form one could hope for from a promising emerging painter.

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The 2009 ARTSHIFT Awards Nominees

By Erin Goodwin-Guerrero, Editor

Just to get your curiosity piqued, ARTSHIFT is publishing a brief profile of each of  the artists and curators who have been nominated this year for their valued contributions to the art community of Silicon Valley.  Every individual represents a unique and significant aspect of our rich art scene and it is rewarding to see the community respond with such a broad range of nominations.  They will all be celebrated on October 21, at 6:00 pm, at Works Gallery in San Jose’s Sofa District.  The public is invited to attend as Downtown Association Excecutive Director Scott Knies presents special cash awards to two of the nominees.

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Landscape, Light, Romance, Nostalgia

by Hanna Hannah

Paul Roehl:  San Joaquin

In Svetlana Boym’s, The Future of Nostalgia, “off-modernism” is posited as “a critique of both the modern fascination with newness and no less modern reinvention of tradition. In the off-modern tradition, reflection and longing, estrangement and affection go together.”  These affects are the essential operatives in Paul Roehl’s landscape paintings currently on view at his studio in Santa Cruz (at 501 Swift Street; (831423-3840).

Roehl’s ostensible subjects are specific places—San Joaquin, Etruscan Steps, Wilder Ranch, Assisi, Pogonip Walk, Lake Como, etc.—that, with some rare exceptions, seem to dissolve into a single, aoristic sense of Landscape: pan-geography of an eternal everywhere.

Paul Roehl :  Assisi

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