San Francisco artist Kim Smith’s latest body of work, Series for a Better World, encompasses a wide array of global issues. She started the series slowly as an outlet for her frustrations, and to work through some of her fears, concerning the world we live in. As she began to let people see the work she was encouraged, and emboldened in her message, by the nods of agreement she was receiving. The lead piece is what Smith considers to be the most important message – It’s The Planet, Stupid. “In this election year, I wish this topic were foremost on the table.” Though the topic of the work is charged, it is not without charm and subtle humor. Using vintage materials and antique images Smith meticulously and deliberately constructs intimate, thought provoking collage that encourages and inspires the viewer to be kinder to our world.
Smith likes to use antique imagery and text, because it reminds her of her childhood growing up in Germany. As a result of living in and traveling throughout Europe, she is greatly influenced by German and Austrian art of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. She has earned three college degrees: Design, Economics and an MBA. After an extensive business career, her desire to balance the duality of her left and right brain inspired her to start her own art process. A business owner since 1998, she splits her time between her art studio at Hunters Point Shipyard and her home office where she is a dealer and manufacturer of vintage and vintage-inspired wall décor. In fact, it was remnants from the business that became her original collage materials.
Impromptu closing party: Sunday, May 13 / 3-5 pm.
San Francisco artist Colette Crutcher is probably best known for her large, multidimensional public works. Her career began, however, with two-dimensional works that were shown in numerous in small venues and group shows, through out the city, during the 1980s.
She first broke into public art with a mural on private property, but in a high visibility location, facing the sidewalk on 16th St. near Sanchez. La Madre Tonantsin earned her the Best New Muralist award, from Precita Eyes Mural Arts Center, in 1992. Since then she has collaborated with her husband Mark Roller on a cast concrete relief mural for the Ocean View Branch Library, also on a huge mosaic-clad serpent sculpture in the 24th and York Minipark. She worked with Aleen Barr to create the 80′ high mosaic composite mural on the 16th Avenue steps (at Moraga). Other public works include a series of 100 mosaic panels created for Ping Yuen Housing Project in Chinatown. Another mosaic series, for the Chinese Recreation Center, is due to open this spring. Her public works continue to grow in number and several have earned her numerous honors and awards.
While creating large-scale public works, Colette has continued to draw and paint. Using scrap wood and found objects she developed an ongoing series of wall and tabletop assemblage, pieces she refers to as “constructions.” She also works in paper mache, both for figurative sculpture and in the fabrication of temporary public art pieces (for parades, demonstrations and special events). Her large mosaics are often enriched with handmade tiles and she also creates sculptural ceramics.
Colette is at her best when straddling the boundaries between fine art/decoration, individual/collaborative, profound/humorous, permanent/temporary, monumental/intimate. This show represents a cross section of the diverse media and numerous styles she works in, including paintings, drawings, constructions, ceramics, and two life size sculptures that have been rarely shown.
“Colors are good for the soul” is the guiding inspiration behind the work of artist Ellen Håkensen Faris. She combines elements of graphic design, photography and digital technology to create stunning pieces that feature bright and vivid colors. Through digital art and painting she is able to freely express her love of the full color spectrum without restriction.
Each piece begins with one of her own photographs and is then transformed into a graphic image on the computer. For her paintings, the image is then freehand-drawn and painted onto a blank canvas. Ellen studied art and graphic design at California College of the Arts and UC Berkeley and is the owner of Design Plus, a creative design firm in the San Francisco Bay Area. She continues to pursue new outlets for her creativity.
A native of Norway, her work is greatly influenced by and includes the landscape and lifestyle of the country. Ellen spends several months in Norway each year at her home on the edge of the Oslo fjord. She enjoys hiking in the mountains as well as exploring the coastline in her kayak. Many of her paintings reflect the seaside life outside her door.
Wendy Robushi’s oil and wax paintings are alive with color, texture and symbolism. Her unique style of layering of paint, pastels and wax, with rich underscorings, has become highly collectable. She has exhibited her work throughout California, Connecticut and Montana. In 2005, Ms Robushi was one of 130 artists chosen to participate in the public art project “Hearts in San Francisco”. Her work is in permanent collections in Prague, Czechoslovakia, Southern Connecticut State University, and is included in many private collections.
Born in Connecticut, Ms. Robushi relocated to California in 1985 and received her Master of Fine Arts from the University of California at Berkeley in 1989. She works out of her San Francisco studio at Hunter’s Point Shipyard, an artists’ colony of over 250 artists, where she has been based since 1989.
Retrospective 4 is a great opportunity to overview the entire 2011 year at Inclusions. The show is a mix of new and revisited work from each featured artist. Highlights include: Nordic 5-Voyages of Discovery, featuring: Colette Crutcher, Ellen Faris, Marc Ellen Hamel. The Landscape Within, featuring: Thea Schrack. Five Now, featuring: Paul Moshammer, Monique Casteaux & Hideo Yoshida. Works in Collage featuring: Mark Faigenbaum and David King. Wax featuring: Jenny Phillips and Larraine Seidan. From The Road, experiments in ultra large format photography featuring: Darren Samuelson. Deja View, a second look at SF, featuring: Rich Nyhagen. Additional works from Peter Arvidson, Kim Smith and Deborah Caperton.
It is with great pleasure and excitement that we present, Inclusions 3 – Art From Within Bernal Heights. This year’s annual show features an eclectic array of paintings, sculpture, photographs, assemblage, prints and glasswork from 26 Bernal Heights resident artists. Each year this show highlights the diverse artistic talent, among us, offering an opportunity to celebrate, and support, the creativity within our local community.
SATURDAY OCTOBER 1, 2011 | 12 – 6 PM
The forms and textures inherent in natural objects often inspire the work of, Bernal Heights artist and jewelery designer, Deborah Caperton.
In her jewelry designs inspiration is found in the minute detail of things that are commonly overlooked such as the fragements of plants, seeds, pods and leaves. By incorporating magnifying lenses she adds emphasis to reveal the object’s subtle beauty. In other pieces she invents new species of flora from wax castings and fabrications in Silver and Gold.
The work in her Copper Botanical Collection can be used to decorate tabletops, placed in a vase or hung on a wall. Each starts as an individually selected botanical specimen, such as a picked and dried poppy. Its essential form is preserved within a thick layer of copper. Various patinas enhance the unique qualities of each piece and bring out the metal’s broad palette of color. The final product is an everlasting treasure.
Deborah began selling her jewelry in 1987. In 1989, she earned a BFA in Jewelry and Light Metals, with a minor in Sculpture from Rhode Island School of Design. Since then, she has lived and worked in Northern California. Currently Deborah’s jewelry, objects and assemblages are being shown in galleries and stores nationally. She teaches at The Richmond Art Center in Richmond, California and at San Francisco State University.
SEPTEMBER 23 – OCTOBER 9, 2011
ARTIST RECEPTION: FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 23 / 6-8 PM
Bernal Heights resident, Rich Nyhagen has successfully shown a number of photographic, screen-printed, assemblages at Inclusions Gallery. The assemblages are based on an image series of San Francisco’s urban landscape. Nyhagen’s process involves screen-printing photographic images directly onto thick plexiglass, which can be one large sheet or several smaller sections pieced together. The printed plexi is then riveted onto a wooden base that is often layered with colored under painting, screen printing and drawing. The result is graphic, smooth and clean, while maintaining a sense of urban grit. Nyhagen will be introducing a new group of larger scaled works as well as revisiting some familiar themes for his first solo exhibit at Inclusions Gallery.
Richard Nyhagen has been living and working in San Francisco since 1987. He received his MFA in Printmaking from San Francisco State University in May, 1995. He currently teaches screen-printing at City College of San Francisco, Ft. Mason Campus, and at the Mission Cultural Center located in the Mission District of San Francisco.
“The urban landscape is a vast, shifting plane of rapidly changing images, events, and ideas. The mind takes in what it can and attempts to piece together a coherent narrative. My work is about perception, and construction of the stories we tell ourselves and others in an attempt to define and know our experience. But the map is never the territory and the illusion of something solid and real, sooner or later gives way to something more transparent and changing.” -Rich Nyhagen
Saturday September 10, 12-6 pm
Join us Saturday September 10, for a Trunk Show & Sale with San Francisco Jewelr, Sakura Haru.
Trained as a painter, Sakura Haru creates handcrafted objects with an elemental quality. The gesture of the artist’s hand is preserved in each piece rendering each item unique. Sakura’s designs appeal to women who embraces beauty in natural forms that are abstracted and simplified.
Sakura is from Okinawa, which is one of the tiniest, tropical islands of Japan. Much of her inspiration comes from the vast sea, which translates directly into her work. Her style is likened to oceanic forms and textures that look as if they were polished by the waves. Her unique, wearable, versatile jewelry is sure to become an everyday favorite.
“I hope that my work will be a treasure to be discovered and worn to remember your personal style that celebrates life and love.” -Sakura
|
Darren Samuelson built an ultra large format camera as a tool to experiment with 14×36 inch x-ray film. 70 pounds of carefully constructed red oak, steel, and 6-foot bellows, along with an entire set of custom made film holders, processing and printing tools make both shooting and developing a photo a laborious task that results in a truly unique image. The prints showcased in this exhibition were gathered from trials on his back porch, San Francisco landscapes, and a road trip across the U.S. The character of these images comes from both the experimental nature of the camera and the orthochromatic register of x-ray film which more closely aligns with film before the 1920s. In their iconic subject matter and aesthetics, these photos reach back to the first applications of photography. Darren is a self-taught photographer, freelance designer, and part-time chef. He works with many camera sizes–medium, large, and ultra large, and always with film. He is a bay area native who lives and works in San Francisco.
Photo of Darren by Tom Genoni
rss feed
