WORK OF UNCLE AND NIECE FEATURED IN BOOK, EXHIBIT
BIG SUR >> Opening a book by artist, writer, wise woman Erin Lee Gafill is like sitting down with the Big Sur native, perhaps by the fire, and definitely with a cup of tea.
Her words on the page are as soft and poetic as her voice, both of which tell the story of a life inspired by love, by beauty and by the art of each. Yet the paintings that complement her carefully chosen words reveal, not just what she sees but how she feels about that life. Particularly when painting, side by side, with her uncle, Kaffe Fassett.
In their recently released book, “Color Duets,” the pair have let their audience in on their relationship to one another and to art, explored and expressed by spending long hours visiting, and one week a year, painting together, when Fassett leaves London to join his niece in Big Sur.
“Kaffe and I were both born and raised in California, 25 years apart,” Gafill wrote. “He has lived most of his life in London, and I have lived most of mine in Big Sur. Though we are from two different generations, we have inherited the same artistic and familial legacy, like two rivers that flow from the same source.”
While Gafill, 57. has remained in Big Sur, apart from her years at college, Fassett, 83, moved to England in the 1960s, where the artist and illustrator discovered a “stunning stash of yarn” that inspired him to take up knitting. This allure led the colorist to explore the breadth of textile arts and become one of the world’s leading artists and authors in fabric, knitting, needlepoint, patchwork, painting, and mosaic art.
“Kaffe works in acrylic; I work in oil. He is a textile designer; I am a fine art painter. We come together around color,” Gafill wrote, “and we find all the color we could want in the still life.”
What they paint is the same, working from an array of colorful objects Kaffe arranges from what’s there: ice cream bowls and vases, patterned remnants and fruit. How they paint is slightly different. As they watch one another work, they learn still more about who they are. Even after all these years.
“In still life,” Gafill wrote, “you gather your objects, like old friends, inviting a conversation of color, tone, and proportion. It seems they never run out of conversation.”
The publisher’s note was crafted with insight and objectivity by Gafill’s husband, Tom Birmingham. Photographs from family life in Big Sur and of Gafill’s and Fassett’s paintings, presented side by side, fill the pages of the book, accompanied by the text that flows among them, a story that creates context for their relationship and their work. These are the images that will fill the walls of the Monterey Museum of Art at La Mirada, as “Color Duets” becomes the museum’s primary exhibition, opening May 14 and extending through Oct. 10.
“Erin is a wonder: a painter, a maker, a writer, a teacher, and a community builder, who has kept a creative flame burning in Big Sur for decades,” said Corey Madden, interim executive director for the Museum. “What you will see in our exhibition, ‘Color Duets,’ is the joyous creative conversation that Erin and her uncle, Kaffe Fassett, an internationally renowned textile designer, have had each summer for almost 20 years. Their lushly colored paired paintings draw us into their dialogue on still life painting and give us a truly unique opportunity to reflect how we each interpret every-day objects and our lives.”
The reach of virtual exhibition
Due to COVID restrictions, the exhibition audience will be invited to a virtual experience, to linger with the paintings, up close and personal, but not in person.
“Corey Madden truly gets that virtual reality enhances the opportunity for people to receive art,” said Gafill, “as it breaks down the barriers between what matters and what doesn’t. People are invited into the experience of being human, of making meaningful art, of living with art. My hope, above all, is that people will feel inspired.”
By presenting the exhibition online, the Museum actually expands its reach to access a larger audience. Whereas 200 people historically attended the opening of an art show, perhaps some 5,000 people will log in to appreciate the art.
“What’s great,” said Gafill, “is that Kaffe’s audience is international. Although he hasn’t been able to teach or tour for a year, instead, staying home to write two new books, he did deliver a virtual presentation through the fabric company for which he designs, and literally, 20,000 people logged in to hear him talk.”
As Gafill considers the dire effects of the pandemic, and that she and her uncle have been sheltering in place on two different continents, she realizes the likelihood of their coming together to paint, plus the development and publication of their book, and the resulting art exhibition seemed almost impossible. Yet she also recognizes that art is the stable, enduring force that connects their lives and keeps them close. Even now.
“I can’t believe Kaffe makes our time together a priority,” she said. “He is so busy and so in demand; our stolen week feels impossible to arrange. And yet he comes, and he sits at my mother’s table, and we begin.”
Gafill is keenly aware that when her uncle packs his bags at the end of their
week together, and he returns to his extraordinary life in London, she feels recharged with new energy for her own life in Big Sur, and she returns to her work with renewed inspiration.
For more information about “Color Duets,” both the book and exhibition, visit colorduets.com.