Tom Soltesz: Modern Impressionist

Impressionism Today!  at The Studio Shop art gallery
February 20 - March 15, 2015
Artists Reception: Friday, Feb. 20 at 5:30pm


Tom Soltesz lives and works in Northern California where he paints California plein air landscapes in the tradition of Impressionist painters such as Claude Monet of France and the California Impressionists: Percy Gray, Edgar Payne, William Wendt and others. When the French Impressionist influence reached California in the 1890s it was embraced by artists who found the Impressionist ideas and techniques to be well suited to capturing California's bright sun and natural beauty. Like the Impressionists before him, Tom Soltesz employs their techniques of quick brushstrokes and vivid color to capture the ever changing light when painting en plein air.

Mountain Melody, Oil on canvas, 30 x 40 inches

Mountain Melody is a beautifully balanced composition with distinct foreground, middle distance and background formed by diagonal lines of the sloping hills. The golden glow on the hillsides is quintessential California landscape.  Notice how the trees are composed of quick dashes of green and yellow highlights (much easier to see in person than on a computer image). The shadows in the distant hills are not black but a cool bluish gray which adds depth to the range of colors.

A Walk in the Woods, Oil on canvas, 20 x 16 inches

A Walk in the Woods is a lovely vignette of a wooded path framed by aspen trees on either side. The sunny glade in the middle distance draws one's eye down the path. The composition is balanced by the bit of sun in the foreground which warms the entire setting.

Evening Shadows, Oil on canvas, 24 x 30 inches

Evening Shadows is a lovely scene which captures the last rosy light of the setting sun on leafy eucalyptus trees. With virtuoso brushwork Soltesz has portrayed the sunny branches with little more than a few dabs of yellows and orange. The sky is a lovely and subtle spectrum of muted hues which amazingly contains the entire color wheel, from pale blue at the horizon through lavender, pink, yellow and teal. 

Tom Soltesz: Modern Impressionist

Ken Christensen is a Wild Beast!

Impressionism Today! Feb. 20 - March 15, 2015
Opening reception - Friday, Feb. 20 at 5:30pm

The "wild beasts" were a group of French painters nicknamed the Fauves by an unsympathetic art critic in 1905 because of their bold use of color and wild brushstrokes. Despite the fact that Vincent Van Gogh had died over a decade earlier, in 1890, his use of color inspired the Fauves to explore the expressive possibilities of color over the realism of earlier Impressionists. Also influential was the influx of African artwork such as carved masks which artists admired as honest expressions of truth without the constraints of modern society.

One color tool of the Fauves was the use of complementary colors, pairs of colors that are opposite each other on the color wheel and together appear brighter: pairs such as red and green, orange and blue, yellow and purple. Christensen's paintings make fabulous use of complementary colors for heightened visual impact.

Arroyo Seco, Oil on canvas, 24 x 30 inches

In Arroyo Seco notice the prevalence of green and yellow in the bushes of the foreground which contrasts with the complementary reddish purples in the middle distance. The bright colors and enhanced vibrancy lends a playful air to the painting.

Spring Flowers on Carrizo Plain, Oil on canvas, 24 x 30 inches

In Spring Flowers on the Carrizo Plain, the field is predominately yellow punctuated by its complementary color, soft purple in the foreground bushes and a distant field. The purplish bushes are accented with pale blue brushstrokes, which are contrasted with areas of orange.

Blue Horse, Oil on canvas, 24 x 30 inches

The first thing one notices in the aptly titled Blue Horse, is the blue horse and the orange barn. Again, complementary colors. This painting is like a symphony of color playing a call and response with one another.  The orangey yellow of the distant hillside playing with other greens and yellows in the painting and contrasting with the lavender blue shadows on the road in the foreground. The placement of a blue horse is also symbolic of the Blue Rider art movement which followed the Fauves in the 1910s in Germany.

Ken Christensen is a Wild Beast!

Melinda Cootsona - Figurative Paintings on exhibit Sept. 12 - 28, 2013

We are really looking forward to the next art show starting in a few days with Melinda Cootsona, September 12 - 28.  See new paintings of the exhibition here...>>

Artist Reception, Thursday, Sept. 12, 6 - 8 pm.

Artist Talk, Thursday, Sept. 19, 6 pm.

As you may know we have been super busy the last month expanding the Studio Shop gallery and remodeling the space next door, 248 Primrose, what used to be the wallbed store and before that the shoe repair.  But before we even thought of expanding, we had planned Melinda's show for September and now it seems entirely appropriate that Melinda's figurative paintings will be the inaugural exhibition for the new gallery space.

Shoe Tie, Oil on canvas, 24 x 24 inches.

Not only do Melinda's paintings look simply wonderful on the new walls, but her figurative abstractions also have a certain architectural quality with strong compositional use of line and areas of color.  These portraits/constructions show the influence of Bay Area Figurative painters such as Richard Diebenkorn who currently has a show at the DeYoung Museum.  Cootsona's figures appear thoughtful and contemplative, moods mirrored in the paintings in general. In the introduction to Melinda's book of this exhibition, Marianne Rogoff writes,

"Through generous applications of paint and numerous layers of shapes, colors, and shadows that move around on the canvas as she works, the artist provides ample room for us to enter the mind-states of her deep-in-thought figures."  Read more of Melinda Cootsona's artist bio here...>>

Also view a video of Melinda at work in her studio here...>>
Melinda's Blurb book can be purchased at The Studio Shop, or previewed and purchased here...>>

Melinda Cootsona - Figurative Paintings on exhibit Sept. 12 - 28, 2013

Brandon Beatson, Photographer, 1980 - 2013

In tribute to young photographer Brandon Beatson, who passed away earlier this year at the age of 33, the Studio Shop will host a photography exhibition and fundraiser this Sunday, Aug. 4 at 2PM. Brandon was living in Costa Rica and pursuing his dream of photographing nature and surf action shots.  (view Brandon's images) As a result of this heartbreaking tragedy we have had the great opportunity to work closely with Brandon's parents and friends to produce an exhibition which honors Brandon's photography and raises funds for charities he felt deeply about.

Upon hearing the news of Brandon's death our hearts broke for Brandon's parents, David and Diana, his younger brother, Brian and his family and friends. It is way too sad when someone dies too young, before the chance to live a full adult life. What started as grief and sorrow and sadness sparked a thought of how to honor Brandon's creativity. Why not offer the gallery as a space to exhibit  Brandon's photography?  Janet mentioned the idea to Diana, who said that his friends had been thinking of holding an exhibition and were looking for a space to hold the event, so this was perfect.  Sometimes when things happen easily it is for a reason.

A meeting was set-up with Brandon's parents and we got to meet his friends, Bill, Joe, Chris, Justin and others, all wonderful, gracious people.  Everyone was united in the cause of Brandon's memory and wanted to contribute to make the event happen. There would be camera cards to sort through, discussions about printing and Brandon's favorite charities.  As an avid Giants fan and dog lover, proceeds would go to the San Francisco Giants Community Fund and the Golden Gate Labrador Retriever Rescue.

Twenty nine thousand images later, thanks to the patience of our digital tech Ty Nguyen and the help of friends and family,  Brandon's life's work has been curated to thirty three images that will be in the exhibition.  The show is divided into several categories representing Brandon's photographic passions, nature, sports, surfing, street photography, cityscapes and abstract.

When we started thinking about details like donation receipts, splitting proceeds to multiple charities we wondered what we got ourselves into.  It would be a book-keeping nightmare to run it through the Studio Shop. Along came Larry Harper of the Good Tidings Foundation to the rescue.  He offered to take care of the business side of things and distribute funds to the partnering charities.  It feels great when things start falling into place and gaining momentum.

Just a few days left to go.   Most of the printing is done.  Even the two 24 x 36  prints came back and they look gorgeous: a landscape of sand dunes at White Sands National Monument and a beautiful surf action shot.  I can't wait to see the framed photographs on the wall.  We'll be busy this week with picture framing and typing final image lists.  The art installation will happen on Saturday night, just in time for the Sunday festivities.  

Stop in and see the show Sunday, Aug. 4, 2pm.  Remember, all the proceeds benefit the Giants Community Fund, Golden Gate Labrador Retriever Rescue and the Good Tidings Foundation.

In loving memory of Brandon Beatson, 1980 - 2013.

The exhibition will be held at The Studio Shop, 244 Primrose Rd., Burlingame, CA 94010
For more information, call the gallery at 650-344-1378

Brandon Beatson, Photographer, 1980 - 2013

Studio Shop Staff Art Show, July 2013

This July The Studio Shop is doing something new and completely different, a staff art show to display the multi-talented creativity of our awesome Studio Shop team.

  

   

Ty Nguyen brings his digital photography skills to The Studio Shop where he photographs the art work and performs digital retouching and printing for clients.  He is a recent photography student at the Acadamy of Art University in San Francisco where he prefers to shoot in film and then print in both darkroom and digitally.  The above scene is a panoramic photo collage of an iconic San Francisco location,  made with over 90 prints and spanning almost 8 feet.

Gary Mohan is the Studio Shop head framer and is a multi-talented artist with work in photo printing, mixed media and sculpture(on the right). 

In his early artistic period Gary experimented with unique methods of photo printing which included Vaseline, photo paper and a face plant.  Sounds weird but the results are amazing and you have to come in and see for yourself.  One of his prints won first place in a Marathon County, Wisconsin, photo contest but then was unfortunately lost when it went to the state contest in Madison.  Now this extremely rare work of art is probably in someone's attic waiting to be rediscovered by Antiques Roadshow and acknowledged as the ground-breaking work that it truly is. Another print from that series has survived and will be on display.












Steve Stowell is the frame builder and master of wood finishing at The Studio Shop.  He is also an extremely fine photographer with a career spanning several decades from a Sears camera with flash cubes to shooting weddings with a Mamiya medium format film camera.  Today Steve carries a digital camera on hikes and bike rides capturing his visions of pattern and composition.

    

Kristen Benson, gallery manager, art consultant and frame designer extraordinaire, is a long time artist with an art degree from Humbolt State.  She has worked in textiles, mixed media and currently a lot of painting.  The piece on left is painting on canvas and titled Moment by Moment.

    

Carl Martin wears many hats at The Studio Shop including web meister, art installer, IT, HR, photographer, trombone player and janitor.  While his trombone playing will not be on display, some of his photography will be. The architectural photo on the right is of an office stairway in Belmont and part of a series of other Bay Area locations.

Also, Janet Martin and Julie Venosa, too late for photographs so come see their work in person.

Julie's finely executed landscape painting reveals a powerful dose of artistic DNA from her father, life long career artist Joseph Kertesz.  Julie gained another couple decades of arts education by successfully running the family's Kertesz Gallery in San Francisco in the 80s and 90s.

Janet began her arts education by growing up with her parents at The Studio Shop.  During her college years she supported herself as a working artist by carving and selling wood sculptures.  More recently she has delved into mixed media/found art sculptures which will be on display at The Studio Shop.  

Studio Shop Staff Art Show, July 2013

Dominique Caron, March 1 - 16, 2013

Dominique Caron at The Studio Shop
Reception Saturday, March 2, 2013
2 - 6 PM

Dominique Caron’s show, Modern Primitive, opens today (March 1) at The Studio Shop.  These new paintings, all painted in the last year reveal a growing freedom of expression and thoughful abstraction. Dominique was in the gallery for a preview Thursday night and we had a chance to talk about her influences and inspiration for her paintings.
Dominique's video interview 
Dominique's bio
More about the show

Modern Primitive

The namesake of the show, Modern Primitive creates a rhythmic composition with the short crisp marks of bold black and red, eg., red triangle in lower center right, and the sophistication of calligraphic flourishes, eg., upper center.  The short marks like staccato percussion and the soft, curvy lines like violins develop a melodic interplay that is a timely reminder of Stravinsky's music for ballet, Rite of Spring (100 year anniversary this year) with its stunning counterpoint of brutal percussion and sweet melodies.

The Dance

The Dance conveys a sense of motion and time with the relationship of the dancer in upper right to the abstracted pattern in center.  The presence of the dancer opens the door to interpretion of movement of people and flowing gowns.  A story unfolds in the central abstraction  as if a long exposure photograph has recorded the path of the dancer.  It appears as if the dancer has her back turned to the viewer, receding into the background, the dance is completed.

Tapestry

Dominique describes Tapestry as fiery and organic.  A field of tangled wildflowers or the flames of a campfire dancing about.  Either way, there is movement and depth created by the weaving of colors, stems or flames.

We currently have 16 paintings by Dominique exhibiting at The Studio Shop and more available.  The show is up until March 16 with a public reception on Saturday afternoon, March 2.  Please stop by and visit.

Dominique Caron, March 1 - 16, 2013

Just arrived: Kalani Engles' exhibition catalog.

Kalani Engles by Edited by Carl Martin | Make Your Own Book
(click on the Kalani Engles link above for a full-size view)

The exhibition catalogs for Kalani's show just arrived in the Studio Shop.  You can preview the book on this Blurb link and pick up your copy online or the old fashioned way by walking into the store.  Hope to see you tomorrow night for Kalani's opening reception at the Studio Shop gallery.

Just arrived: Kalani Engles' exhibition catalog.

SS95: Kalani Engles



Kalani Engles painting, Saddle Road, reflects the stunning and diverse natural scenery of her birthplace in Hawaii.

Saddle Road, Oil on canvas, 48" x 48"

Comments by Kalani Engles:

Hawaii has always been a special place for me. My grandparents and their grandparents were born there, and as a girl I spent every summer in the Islands drinking in the culture, history and traditions. There are many spectacular places in Hawaii, but one of my favorites is the saddle road straddling the Mauna Loa and Mauna Kea volcanoes on the Big Island. It runs from the lush tropical rain forest of Hilo across a vast lava moonscape past snow capped mountain peaks to the grasslands of Waimea. Saddle Road conveys the contrasting landscapes one experiences along this highway. There are many saddle roads in the world, most featuring remarkable scenery. You can find elements of all of them in Saddle Road.

More about Kalani Engles.



SS95: Kalani Engles

SS95: Sean Smith

Hummingbirds, Oil and tin on canvas.

Sean Smith bridges past and present with imagery from ancient tribal myths and modern artifacts of found tin cans, which also serve to represent the life cycle of decomposition and rebirth.

Studio Shop exhibition: Time and Place.

Hummingbirds  

by Sean Smith

           

Hummingbirds

they do this

do that

fly here

fly there

Ah

the nectar

of the

red flower

blooming

in

the moonlight.

More about Sean Smith

SS95: Sean Smith

SS95: Nancy Torres

Tom the Tree, Oil on canvas

Nancy Torres examines the theme of Time and Place with this painting of the famous Tom the Tree which stood in front of Burlingame's Easton Branch Library for nearly 100 years.

Comments by Nancy Torres:  Most people love the trees in Burlingame. Our motto is “City of Trees”. I remember as a child driving under the canopy of Eucalyptus that used to run down Millbrae as well as Burlingame along El Camino. Millbrae cut theirs down to widen the street for modernization. Even as a child I thought that was dumb. I’m so happy Burlingame saved our beautiful giants along El Camino. One particularly large tree was in front of the Burlingame Easton Branch of the library. It was tremendously large. Recently the trunk and roots had grown so large that you had to cross to the wrong side of the street to drive around them. A debate began to remove it. In the grass roots battle to save the tree some named it “Tom”; I think to humanize it in hopes of tugging on heartstrings. No Luck. Tom came down anyway. Before he did, I spent a day with him to memorialize his grandeur. It is hard to believe, but this painting really is to scale.
More about Nancy Torres.

SS95: Nancy Torres

SS95: Pat Sherwood

Artist Pat Sherwood describes memories from childhood in her painting, Carolina Lemon Grass, in the exhibition, Time and Place.

Carolina Lemon Grass, Oil on canvas, 36" x 36".

Comments by Pat Sherwood:
I was born in Columbia, South Carolina. My family still lives around Columbia and Charleston, South Carolina. Every summer of my life I have returned to Pawley’s Island Beach (near Myrtle Beach) to vacation.  This painting is about the feeling of being there in what is called “the low country."  The women weave these wonderful baskets with sweet grass (it actually tastes sweet!) which they grow and cut from ditches in their yards.  An ocean breeze and sweet grass under your feet! Nothing could be finer!

More about Pat Sherwood.

SS95: Pat Sherwood

SS95: Joyce Savre

From the exhibition Time and Space

Words and Water, 48" x 36" , Acrylic on canvas

 
Comments by Joyce Savre:
The expansiveness of water is a spiritual event: the ocean is full of possibility, goes forever and suggests an eternity. You see the ocean, and you are never the same. If you swim in a lake or the ocean or a river, that place is a part of you forever. And though it is the same ocean, the same lake the same river, we know it is forever changing and we are moved by that too.

More about Joyce Savre.

SS95: Joyce Savre

SS95: Daniel Phill

Traverse, 60” X 48”, Acrylic on canvas.

Comments by Daniel Phill:

This painting "Traverse" was submitted
to the show "Time and Place in the 21st Century" because it is a reflection of where and when it was painted. This piece is about the San Francisco Bay Area at the beginning of this century. It is a painting that is about an evolution and continuation of abstraction in the Bay Area. Updated and distilled (from what has come before it) into a new object for the 21st century. From roots in the 20th century, abstract painting has taken hold as a major force in the visual arts, not only in the S.F. Bay Area, but in places around the world.
My paintings are a process of exploration and discovery, including references to the land from an aerial view. A sense of place is established through abstracting the landscape as seen from above. This gives a sense of capturing time on canvas - by synthesizing and re-interpreting the view that was seen at the time the work was painted.
I believe the most complex emotions can be evoked from the simplest of forms, merging and emerging, interlocking and dividing. My vocabulary of color, shape, and texture are given form through movement. The gestures, marks, and scribbles found throughout my paintings are remnants of a process and journey, rather than simply compositional elements on a two-dimensional surface. The paintings evolve over the course of many layers of paint, obliterating and revealing past histories of thought and action.

More about Daniel Phill.
More about the exhibition Time and Place.

SS95: Daniel Phill

Studio Shop 95 Year Exhibition: Jon Wessel

This is the first blog entry of our 95th anniversary exhibition: Time and Place. Artist Jon Wessel created these two small pieces as part of a series. Nine are on exhibit at the Studio Shop.

Statement by Jon Wessel:

These small works (4” x 4” and 5” x 5”) were created for a 2009 exhibit entitled “Road Trip” and continue my interest in using acrylic, graphite, and found paper on panel.

I used maps and old postcards for this work. I was interested in time and place captured by these vintage images. There is something nostalgic and comforting about them. They remind us of adventure and good times; They ground us in the past. By sanding and marking these images, I also introduce an element of time passing - images are worn away, covered up, or faded.

Far from being pessimistic about the passing of time, this work reminds us of the beauty in the history of place.

More about Jon Wessel.
More about the exhibition Time and Place.

Studio Shop 95 Year Exhibition: Jon Wessel

Steven Rehfeld

New Art By Steven Rehfeld
This week's feature is Bay Area artist Steven Rehfeld whose paintings explore the reliability of our perceptions in a world that is ever changing. His work is large and contains subtle detail and nuance, thus emphasizing the pleasure of viewing art in person. It's like the difference between hearing a live musical performance compared to a transistor radio.
Steven Rehfeld is a unique voice in contemporary art, borrowing the symbolism of Marc Chagall and the perspective of California Abstract Expressionists. Rehfeld explores the challenges of perceiving our reality with subject matter that dissolves in and out of existence. With the use of thinly applied washes, Rehfeld composes still-lifes that straddle the worlds of realism and abstraction. The table in Purple Rose is both here and not here: solidly composed and dissolving into the ether of white space. The trees in the upper background highlight Rehfeld's changing perspective by leaping out of the canvas.
There really is nothing like seeing Rehfeld's paintings in person. The 6" image on the computer does not do justice to the actual 60" canvas. We invite you to view Rehfeld's paintings for yourself at The Studio Shop. The Purple Rose is currently displayed in the gallery window.

Steven Rehfeld

Event: Art of California

Bucolic scenery of the California coast , the Sierras and Napa Valley by Kathy O'Leary, Kevyn Warnock, Judy Sherman, Tom Soltesz and Susan Hoehn. as well as colorful and energetic inspirations by Kalani Engles, James Hartman and Pat Sherwood. Cityscapes by Jung Han Kim, Gladys Hoefer, Ron Donoughe and Bryan Mark Taylor.

Above, O′Leary Late Light in the Vineyard, Oil on canvas, 30 x 50 inches.

Event: Art of California

Event: Artist Reception - Dominique Caron

Artist Reception - March 27 - 6pm
Show runs March 19 thru April 4, 2009

Meet Dominque Caron and enjoy refreshments while viewing Caron's expansive collection of fresh, expressive works on canvas.
Bio:
Dominique Caron approaches her canvases with color, vigor and joy. Originally from France, Dominique studied art at the Ecole des Beaux Arts in Bordeau and obtained her Masters of Fine Arts. She traveled for many years in Morocco, Rwanda, and the Ivory Coast. From her admiration of these cultures she created a body of work based on masks. She exhibited successfully in Africa and Europe and later moved to San Francisco where her works became larger, more varied in subject matter and even more colorful. Her work has been represented in many prominent galleries in Canada and the United States and is in major private and corporate collections.
Above, The Many Ways to Space, mixed media on canvas, 40 x 60 inches

Event: Artist Reception - Dominique Caron

Video: Dominque Caron's Process

Video: Dominque Caron's Process