PRS NEWSLETTER, SEPTEMBER 1, 2019

Marin County:

Peter Keresztury seeks Pacific Rim Sculptors to exhibit their works at the October 18-20, 2019 Bioneers 30th annual conference at the Marin Center in San Rafael (see www.bioneers.org). 

Several thousand social, environmental, and scientific innovators will attend to discuss solutions inspired by nature and human ingenuity. 

Artists will install their sculptures Thursday, October 17, 8:00 AM - 5:00 PM, and de-install on Sunday, October 20, after 6:00 PM. Security is on-site 24-hours, but artists need to insure their own works, if desired. Large sculptures are preferred. Artworks will be displayed outdoors in one area of the fairgrounds. Artists need to supply their own pedestals. 

Each exhibiting sculptor will receive 2 free tickets to the conference, plus a payment for participation.

Peter will work with the Bioneers to allow PRS a table and chairs to provide information and to handle all sales, of which the artists will receive 100%. Two PRS participant volunteers need to be available at the table on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday; some payment may be possible. 

Interested?  Send Peter photographs of some of your sculptures as soon as possible; include titles, dates, prices, & brief descriptions. Peter's email is PeterKer@Pacbell.net. 

The PRS Events Committee (Leith Thrall, chair; Eileen Fitz-Faulkner, co-chair) schedules studio visits and similar activities, rotating among PRS's several areas. Email events@pacificrimsculptors.org. for more information or to schedule a visit to your studio! 

AUGUST SPOTLIGHT:  

Thank you to Catherine Daley for hosting the recent  August PRS Second Sunday Spotlight!

PRS members and guests met at the Museum of Sonoma County (MSC) for the closing reception of the exciting exhibition Kinetics: Art in Motion, featuring works by Catherine Daley, Mark Malmberg, and 12 other sculptors. MSC Director Jeff Nathanson (image above) and Curator Satri Pencak greeted PRS members and discussed this fascinating exhibition of interactive artworks, each set in motion by ambient air currents, gravity, light, mechanical motors, electrical power, or human contact. Hillary Younglove of Sonoma Academy also attended to meet artists and PRS members.

Exhibiting PRS members Catherine Daley (image left) and Mark Malmberg (image below), along with Therese Lahaie and Mark Galt, then conducted a walk-through and gave artists' talks, providing insights about the pieces and the processes used in their creation. 

PRS members then toured the MSC sculpture garden and viewed the intriguing special exhibition Grass Roots:  Cannabis from Prohibition to Prescription at the adjacent historic MSC building. Find out more about MSC and its exhibitions at https://museumsc.org/visit/.

 

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PRS members then traveled to the Luther Burbank Center for the Arts to view the ongoing outdoor exhibition Harmonies, curated by Kate Eilertsen and Anita Wiglesworth.

The exhibition features works by PRS members Kati Casida (image right), Catherine Daley (image below left), and Jann Nunn (image below right).

  

The exhibition continues through September 2020. Learn more at  https://lutherburbankcenter.org/visual-art/.   

NEXT SPOTLIGHT:  CATHERINE MERRILL in San Francisco, 2-5 PM September 8, 2019

Catherine Merrill hosts the next PRS Second Sunday Spotlight at her art-filled San Francisco home, studio and garden.

Catherine's work celebrates the human figure, and is strongly influenced by her many years as a modern dancer, using the body as an artistic instrument for expression of emotions & ideas. During the potluck Catherine will show several of her large scale ceramic sculptures, including I’ll Fly Away, plus smaller bronzes, ceramic wall-pieces and large figurative vases. She will also show example from her extensive collection of works by some of Cuba’s most prominent artists, including Alberto Lescay, Cuba’s foremost sculptor of monumental bronzes.

Attendees will also visit her downstairs ceramic studio and adjacent figure drawing & sculpting studio, where she hosts a monthly small group of sculptors, who share model fees.

Catherine's studio is equipped with potters wheels and two kilns large enough to fire large sculptures & vases. Her studio opens to her delightfully sunny, sculpture-filled garden, which showcases her favorite piece, Language of Flowers (image left), plus other smaller ceramic figures and a selection of wall pieces and platters along the garden fence.

Registration is required and can be done at this link to receive address and directions. Parking is somewhat limited, so consider carpooling or alternative transit. Bring food and / or beverages to share!

Volunteer to host a PRS Second Sunday Spotlight or find out more by sending an email to events@pacificrimsculptors.org.  Event Committee co-chairs Eileen Fitz-Faulkner and Leitha Thrall will be happy to talk with you.  

Just a word about the recent call for images for a promotional brochure for PRS:  Forty-two PRS members submitted a total of over 80 images. The selection panel of seven jurors were tremendously impressed with the overall quality of works, and found the selection process enormously challenging.

Although the initial plan was to select only a few images for one brochure, the panel thought the works were strong enough to justify multiple versions of the brochure in order to present the overall professional quality of PRS members' works. 

Note, however, that a few submitted photographs did not follow the submission requirements or were of low visual quality, so could not be used. 

It is worth hiring an excellent photographer to present your works with the professionalism they deserve. Your sculpture may be excellent, but poor photographs won't present it properly to jurors. And even if the jurors think the piece looks great, the photograph quality may make it unusable for printed reproduction! 

Check out discussions about photography in the PRS professional discussion forum.

Natasha Dikareva has a solo show at the Beatrice Wood Center for the Arts in Ojai, CA. The exhibition opened on August 31, 2019 and continues to October 12, 2019. 

The exhibition includes over 30 of Natasha’s elegantly mysterious works, most of them from her Shell Dwellers and Escapists series. The pieces grew out of a preoccupation with constant catastrophes and disasters around the world. Natasha says “at times, I feel as if I would like to hide in my own shell to be safe.” The symbols on the surfaces of her sculptures carry a visual narrative, communicating their personal myths and identities, their adventures through labyrinths and deserts, and their encounters with other strange creatures. 

Natasha shared the ideas and techniques behind her work in the August 31 opening reception. See more about Natasha’s work at: http://www.beatricewood.com/index.html

Marguerite Elliot (image above) recently had two articles published about her work. The Marin Independent Journal published the article “Fairfax Artist’s work at the Woman’s Building Archived in Getty” on August 18, 2019; you can read it online at https://www.marinij.com/2019/08/17/fairfax-artists-work-at-the-womans-building-archived-in-getty-museum/

 A second article about Marguerite’s work, “Master of Metal, Interview With Marguerite Elliot, A Visionary Sculpture Artist,” was published by the website www.OurNarratives.net on August 26, 2019. Our Narratives is a platform aiming to preserve the experiences, talents, discoveries or lessons that define our identities. Marguerite had a most engaging studio interview with Adelina Gowd, who interviews artists, scientists, and people working in technology. See Marguerite’s interview and images of her work at www.ournarratives.net/

Lynne Todaro's work (image left) is being shown at the Santa Cruz Art League. The group show entiltled, Art by the Monterey Bay Metal Arts Guild and the Santa Cruz Watercolor Society, was juried by Toni Danzig. The show opened on August 2, 2019 and continues through September 15, 2019. The closing reception will be held on September 7, 2019. See more information about the Santa Cruz Art League at  https://scal.org

Kim Thoman has works images below) in the solo exhibition, Pushing the Boundaries at Gallery at 48 Natoma in Folsom, CA. The exhibition, curated by Cynthia Abraham, opens on September 13, 2019 with a reception and continues through November 7, 2019.

  

Kim Thoman and Carol Ladewig, who has a concurrent solo exhibition, are showing works that advance beyond 2D into sculpture. Kim has 20 works on view that include her Embellished Paintings, titled Sentinels. They are wall hangings that combine oil paintings and welded steel. She has nicknamed these pieces Body Guards, because she started the series while undergoing chemotherapy and had an urge to create an army of health guardians. She hopes to show these works in health care facilities to share the metaphor of strength and support. You can find more information about Kim Thoman and her works at www.kimthoman.com, or email: kim@kimthoman.com

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Joe Slusky's sculpture "Sentinel" (image below) was installed in the interior lobby of the Orinda Community Center Building in Orinda, CA, on August 1, 2019 and will remain on display until August 1, 2020. For more information about Joe’s work, see his website www.josephslusky.com

Jan Blythe will have works (image below) in the Axis Gallery’s 14^th National Juried Exhibition in Sacramento, CA. The group show, juried by Amy Owen, the curator at the di Rosa Center for Contemporary Art, opened on August 2, 2019 and continued through August 25, 2019. Form more information about Jan’s work, see janblythe.com

Gabrielle Gopinath is an arts writer and curator in Northern California. Gabrielle will have an article about the Oliver Ranch Foundation sculpture collection (image below) in the September issue of Sculpture magazine, published by the International Sculpture Center. ISC members can read Gabrielle's article in the printed issue, or the online Sculpture magazine at www.sculpture.org. You can also follow Gabrielle on Instagram: @gabriellegopinath . 

B. Stevens Strauss will have works (image below) in Gallery Irohani in Sakai / Osaka, Japan. The exhibition, International ART BRIDGE Exchange, was juried by Toyoaki Ikushima. The show opens with a reception on September 20, 2015. The show was set up by the Berkeley-Sakai sister city organization. Several Berkeley artists have been selected to participate in the exhibition in Sakai, Japan. ACCI in Berkeley hosted an exhibition of Japanese artists in 2015. The focus is on cultural exchange and goodwill between the US and Japanese sister cities. For more information, see  https://akaci517.wixsite.com/gallery-irohani

Charles Stinson's series of sixteen "Wall Devices" (image below) is in Arc Gallery's FourSquared All-Stars exhibition in San Francisco, CA. The series considers how real and metaphoric walls divide and weaken the unity of our families, states, and nation. This tenth annual FourSquared exhibition includes works by sixteen of the most popular previously exhibited artists. The exhibition continues through September 28, 2019.

WELCOME NEW MEMBERS!

Christopher Wagner of Santa Clara, CA, creates figurative sculpture using reclaimed lumber and milk paint. His works express wide-ranging themes and often include humans abstracted or interacting with animals in odd situations. His interests include bas relief, casting, clay, found objects, and 3-D printing. He is part-time faculty and Instructional Technician at Mission College, Santa Clara, CA.  He has an MFA from Edinboro University and BFA from Georgetown College.  Check out his website at www.ChristopherBWagner.com

Jack Weaver has sculptural interests in abstract, bas relief, digital, figurative, found object, functional, glass, mechanical, metal, plastic, resin, and welding. He lives in the North Bay area and creates works of found objects, wood, metal, plastic, paper and paint.  

Invite your sculptor colleagues to join and get one month free membership for each new member you recruit (cannot previously have been a member). Just ask the new member to mention your name while filling out the "How did you hear about us?" blank in the application form.