‘IN SPITE OF…’ EXHIBIT OPENS
Artwork can be viewed indoors... or from the sidewalk
Members of the Mendocino County Art Association, unwilling to succumb to the doldrums, unwilling to let a pandemic stand in the way of their creativity, are showing their work at the annual exhibit in the front windows of the Corner Gallery at 201 S. State St. during the month of October, available for viewing indoors on Fridays and Saturdays from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. and outside on the sidewalk any time.
Needing no explanation for its title—“In Spite of…”—the 21 artists displaying art include: Polly Palecek, Sandy Strong, Adele Pruitt, Peggy Hebard, Marie Pera, Carol
Rosenberg, Sara Falk, Dianna Steele, Linda Malone, Gina Greco, Cassie Gibson, Lynn Williams, Mary Waters-monroe, Barbara Ware, Sharon Fenton, Cindy Lingren, Susan Walker, James Mckell, Elaine Richard, Kathleen Gordon-burke and Jeanette Carson.
It’s late Tuesday morning and Kathleen Gordon-burke, MCA A’s vice president in charge of marketing and member services, helps curator Jeanette Carson hang paintings while fellow artists Diana Steele, MCAA’S president, and Barbara Ware bring their work into the gallery
This year—in spite of—the artists enthusiastically rallied to con
tribute paintings in pastels, oil, watercolor, paper art and other mediums.
Much, but not all of it, was done during the past six months.
Ware, who paints primarily in watercolors, holds Icelandic Poppies, a piece that pulls the viewer in with the warmth of the showy, papery, bowl-shaped yellow and orange flowers that burst out of the frame.
Inspired from a scene at a winery on the way to the coast, the sun shines through the backs of the large, ethereal, native flowers.
“It’s been difficult for me to find my muse at this time,” she says, “and I appreciate the opportunity to get this painting, one that has been on a wall in my dining room for many years, out in the public eye for the first time.”
Steele, who works in watercolor and tends to paint in great detail, has been reenergized since becoming a member of MCAA four years ago. Her painting of two, abandoned, fishing boats lying askew of each other against a bank in semi-muddied waters was inspired from a scene in the Sound of Mull in Scotland,
“I fell in love with the photo and was given permission to paint it,” she says. “I completed it recently in two weeks.”
Burke, who paints in oil, has been painting prolifically during the shutdown and, as a new member of the Corner Gallery Artist’s Co-op, has three paintings inside the gallery on exhibit as well as those in the front window.
“It relaxes me, lifts my spirits; I like to work in detail which takes a great deal of concentration. I can spend hours doing this, forgetting about what’s happening and feel content that I have accomplished something,” she says.
Carson, the curator for this year’s show, is a founding member of the Corner Gallery and has been part of the co- op for 13 years.
She works in many mediums but stained glass is her livelihood, having com
pleted multi windowed works in many churches.
“I like to do it all—watercolor, oil, pastel; paper painting is my newest favorite,” she says.
Her piece for the front window is a watercolor, a botanical, a peace rose, that she completed two years ago.
“I love doing flowers but pencil is my favorite. What I do best is graphics; I like to put in a lot of detail; I get in a zone and it’s very calming.”
Inside the gallery, hung on two panels, are five detailed drawings completed over the years. The two on the left were commissioned by the Palace Hotel as part of a series for the nine established county wineries that existed at the time.
On the top left, for Husch Vineyards, a woman lovingly holds an oval frame of the winery building—a tiny winery at the time— surrounded by roses and grapes. Below, for Navarro Vineyards and Winery, a detailed design of a door knocker on their barn.
On the top right, Wil
liams’s Treehouse; below on the left is a giclée tryptic of calendar drawings; and to the right, a work commissioned by the National Iris Society Convention in Sacramento.
“I do some form of art every single day. Being an artist during COVID, we are the luckiest people around; we never get bored, always have something to do, something to finish. If life is not beautiful, your art can be and…it makes you feel good.”
The Mendocino County Art Association, the oldest art organization in the county, was established in 1954 with the goal of offering lectures, workshops, classes and art exhibits for the benefit of its members and the public at large. Members receive first option to attend workshops at a reduced rate and opportunities to show their art in banks and galleries. Membership in the association is $35 a year, call 707-3918469 to join or receive more information on the benefits of membership.