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Birds

Exhibition dates
June 5 - September 4, 2022

Paintings by Andrea Johnson, Mari Kloeppel, and David Ligare, sculpture by Jane Rosen, Gwynn Murrill, and Nick Lamb, ceramics by Annette Corcoran, and lots more.

essay

Birds

Birds inhabit the sky freely in a way that humans never can. Their ability to fly imbues them with a kind of freedom that captures our imagination. Mythic tales of birds as omens or messengers, or endowed with supernatural qualities or attributes, can be found in every culture. The dove is pure, the eagle is mighty, the crane brings good fortune, while the raven is a trickster or a harbinger of death, and the owl is ominous or wise, depending on your point of view. Fantastic creatures of mysterious origins include winged dragons, the eternally reborn phoenix, and the half lion-half eagle griffin, all with bird-like attributes.

Because of their symbolic meaning, abundance, and diversity, birds have always found a place in the artistic visual vocabulary, decorating personal adornment, pottery, illuminated manuscripts, as a symbol in heraldry, and more. The 18th century naturalist John James Audubon did much to bring the grace and beauty of the species to public attention. The infinite variety of their colorful feathers and eggs, the intricate functionality of their nests, and their melodious songs (not to mention their surprising mimicry and speech), makes birds of all kinds a fascinating artistic subject.

--Helaine Glick, Independent Curator

 

artists

Exhibition artist
Annette Corcoran
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"I find the teapot form an open end of never ending explorations. These pieces are a result of the interplay between observation, fantasy, imagination, and technical skill. The teapot form remains as a comfortable and sociable vehicle, which links us firmly to the present and the past."
Annette Corcoran ceramic signature

Annette Corcoran

"All wild birds beguile and fascinate, and Annette Corcoran’s porcelain bird teapots do that, and more. Corcoran’s work draws on her love of wild birds, and her extraordinary ability to capture them in porcelain. Each piece is a complete sculpture that captures the gesture and spirit of the subject birds, even when tethered to the requirements of their teapot perches."  Credit:  Martha Drexler Lynn

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andrea johnson
Quote
"Andrea Johnson keeps her observant eye closely attuned to the world of living things. The plant and animal kingdoms are her domain, their abundant variations on form, pattern, and color the substance and stimulus that motivates her art."

Andrea Johnson

It is how the light falls upon the land that can inspire me to paint a particular scene at a particular time.  These moments are fleeting, and can often find me sprinting with my camera to the hilltops behind my house or driving up and down River road to find the exact loca- tion where the setting sun’s rays are illuminating a sliver of the Gabilan Mountains under a heavy purple cloud. It is the light that gives this landscape it’s form... shadows rounding the foothills or creating sharp linear patterns across the fields. These shapes and patterns change with the time of day and the inconstant cloud cover overhead. Land to sky... this is the relationship that I am captivated by, and it is my intent to crystallize these moments in my paintings of the Salinas Valley.

Kloeppel-Mari and Cobie
Kloeppel signature

Mari Kloeppel

Mari Kloeppel is drawn to paint through sheer passion for her subjects-animals.  The species matters less to her than the personal connection she shares with the animal.  For Kloeppel, it is beauty and familiarity that resonate most.  Most she knows well, having lived with them for years at her rural home in Elkhorn, north of the Monterey Peninsula.  Others she has encountered through animal rescues or friends.  Her work epitomizes an emotional connection versus an anatomical documentation. 

Lamb-Nick
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"I work principally in wood, a natural material expressive of the natural world and living subjects that have always fascinated me. Although I do work on a large scale, I am most comfortable carving intricate miniature sculptures that convey the precious quality and fragile existence that wild animals possess. Whether mammals, fish, birds, or insects, I compose my work around graceful unifying lines suggesting the interconnectedness of all life."
Lamb-signature

Nick Lamb

Nick Lamb is a bit of a rarity; as a modern woodcarver he has largely adopted the aesthetics of a culture distant in time and place from his own.  Lamb is now one of the most highly regarded and prize-winning carvers of contemporary netsuke, and his pieces are collected privately and publicly, and exhibited in galleries and museums worldwide.

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LIGARE Headshot
Quote
"To paint simply (as simple as a minimalist) an evocation of the view - the thing we see - that it be given some equivalent power by way of a poetry of light and scale. That the painting becomes a thing that, like the seascape itself, cannot be adequately translated into something else. It is an experience unto itself - an equivalent."
Ligare Signature

David Ligare

When I began my project more than 30 years ago I decided that there would be three basic components to my work; Figures, landscapes and still lifes. For me the pastoral landscapes of our region of California have been useful as stages for ideas. Indeed, the 'pastoral mode' as it's called is essentially a contemplation of mortality. The classical approach to landscape requires an underlying structure (implying the inter-relatedness of all things) as well as an elegiac approach to the wonders of nature and the beauty of light. The landscape of California like the landscape of Italy is a dream made real.

Murrill, Gwynn
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"It is a challenge to try and take the form that nature makes so well and to derive my own interpretation of it."

Gwynn Murrill

Gwynn Murrill’s work bridges figurative and abstract sculpture. Her animal figures serve as points of departure for the exploration of form, becoming vessels, which reduced to their most basic lines and shapes, elegantly echo the essence of her subject.

Paring away everything that is not absolutely necessary to perceive her subjects in all their purity, Gwynn often sacrifices details leaving us with sculptures emanating primal characteristics and universal attributes. Gwynn’s signature bronze works are fluid in line and form, elegant, inviting to touch and instilled with vitality and a sense of being--either caught in an tacit moment of serenity and self-possession or brimming with the implied potential to pounce, twist, or take off at any moment.

Rosen, JANE
Rosen, Jane signature

Jane Rosen

Born in 1950 in New York, Jane Rosen is a painter and sculptor renowned for her animal themes. She earned her BA from New York University in 1972 and later taught at the New York School of Visual Arts. As a child, she often visited the Metropolitan Museum’s Egyptian Collection, where her admiration for hawks and falcons became a central focus in her work, alongside other animals like ravens, horses, sheep, and wolves. Rosen excels in various mediums, blending sculpture, painting, and drawing in each piece. She has taught at esteemed institutions, including the School of Visual Arts, Bard College, LaCoste School of the Arts in France, Stanford University, and the University of California, Berkeley. Her work has been featured in prominent publications such as the New York Times, ArtForum, Art in America, and Art News. With over 200 solo and group exhibitions across the United States, her art is included in the collections of numerous venues, such as the Aspen Art Museum, the Brooklyn Museum, Chevron Corporation, JP Morgan Chase Bank, and the Museum of Contemporary Art in San Diego.

Karen Shapiro
Quote
“Throughout my youth, I was always striving for the perfect art form. When I tried to do it as a grown-up, it didn’t come so easily. Mid-struggle, I looked over at my coffeepot and milk carton and thought, wow. When you get older, you realize everything is right there.”
shapiro signature

Karen Shapiro

"Art imitates life. Particularly for those who recognize it in the common elements of their everyday surroundings. The sculptural curve of a coffeepot, the etching on a bar of soap, the texture of an orange. The creative eye can see it; the creative hand will render it.

Karen Shapiro derives her art from what’s already there. It doesn’t have to be studied, interpreted or understood. Her ceramic sculpture is what it is, whether it be a crayon, a lipstick or a carton of milk." - Lisa Watson

David Stanger
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"Stanger’s recent interiors and still-lives have an uncanny atmosphere, in which the familiar gives way to a range of emotions behind outer appearances. His paintings dig down searching for the psyche of the motif, amplifying domestic theater to the point of transformation."

David Stanger

David Stanger is a realist painter known for his contemplative portraits and interiors that often have a symbolic or allegorical character.  Simultaneously painted with a deep knowledge of old-master technique and approached in a contemporary manner, Stanger’s work reflects various influences, most significantly the works of Vermeer, Hammershoi, and Lopez Garcia. 

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