Current Show:
Featured Artist: Beverly Bird
Oceans 21
Exhibit Dates: September 1st - September 29th
Artists Reception:
Sunday, September 15, 2019, 3 pm - 6 pm
Stop by the gallery to celebrate the show with artists, Beverly Bird and Linda Barretta; refreshments will be served.
Beverly Bird presents Oceans 21, a collection of paintings exploring multiple aspects of our ocean-related experience. Works include seascapes, sculpted shorelines, and boats, even a glacier. Highlighting both our own breathtaking Sonoma Coast and the magnificent Oregon coast, many of the paintings were painted in plein air. Using acrylics, these paintings often feature textural passages emphasizing details and planes. From forceful wave action to a peaceful shoreline sunset, Bird’s paintings capture the range of the ocean’s moods. Viewing this collection, one can almost smell the salty air. “The ocean has always been a creative inspiration for me. I love how its constancy is colored by ever-changing shifts in mood. I work to capture this feeling in my ocean scenes, “noted the artist.
A Sonoma County artist, Bird was raised in Southern California and has always lived near the ocean. As a child, ocean scenes became a favorite subject for the young art student. A graduate in Art from CSU Long Beach, Bird subsequently studied landscape painting with master artists. An annual participant in the Art at the Source Open Studio program, her work has been selected for a number of exhibits in the region.
A Sonoma County artist, Bird was raised in Southern California and has always lived near the ocean. As a child, ocean scenes became a favorite subject for the young art student. A graduate in Art from CSU Long Beach, Bird subsequently studied landscape painting with master artists. An annual participant in the Art at the Source Open Studio program, her work has been selected for a number of exhibits in the region.
Small Works Showcase: Linda Barretta
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The Small Works Showcase on the stairway features “A Summer Diary” by Linda Barretta. Celebrating the colors of summer, Barretta presents paintings of flower gardens and farms, filled with sun drenched light and color. Painted in plein air using oil and acrylic, flowers inspire these works. A seasoned painter, known for her striking use of color, Barretta’s current body of work is mainly in oils, while her first medium was acrylic. She tapped into both mediums to create this delightful small works collection.
Previous Show:
Featured Artist: Phyllis Rapp
Day Dreams
Phyllis Rapp
EXHIBIT DATES: July 29 – August 31, 2019
Artist Reception:
Saturday, August 3, 2019 from 5:00 – 8:00 pm
Stop by the gallery to cheer the show with artists, Phyllis Rapp and Donna Schaffer. Join them in refreshments and bites.
The August featured artist, Phyllis Rapp is presenting whimsical acrylic paintings of animals, people, landscapes and flowers in dream like settings, “Day Dreams”. Rapp says her paintings start with a base of colors, stamps, stencils in abstract application. As she studies the results, she discovers various scenes and more realistic representations of familiar objects emerge. She adds detail to the "found" images and then paints out the distractions - or the negative space. Phyllis' love of design, color, and texture are evident in her colorful and imaginative resulting paintings.
Phyllis Rapp, is a founder of the 22-year-old Upstairs Art Gallery. She has a BFA from San Francisco Academy of Art and has been active in many art organizations, galleries and has taught watercolor classes.
Phyllis Rapp, is a founder of the 22-year-old Upstairs Art Gallery. She has a BFA from San Francisco Academy of Art and has been active in many art organizations, galleries and has taught watercolor classes.
Phyllis Rapp
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Phyllis Rapp
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Small Works Showcase: Donna Schaffer
Donna Schaffer
The Small Works Showcase on the stairway features “Coastal Plein Air” by Donna Schaffer. These landscapes & seascapes explore the environment where the oceans meet the land. Schaffer strives to take you there with her color palette and brushstrokes in oil. “Painting en plein air allows me to capture in-depth the views I love," noted Schaffer.
Donna Schaffer
Previous Show:
Featured Artist: Willow LaLand-Yielding
Cool Summer Whites
Exhibit Runs: July 1st - July 28th, 2019
Artist Reception:
Saturday, July 6th, 2019: 5:30 - 8:30 pm
Stop by the gallery to cheer the show with artists, Willow LaLand-Yielding and Susan Greer and join in wine and bites.
The July featured artist, Willow LaLand-Yeilding, is presenting her latest piece, “Chilled Summer Whites,” showing the cold condensation on a 4-foot square glass of white wine in the warm summer heat. Her 4-foot square duo, “Alexander Valley” and “Dry Creek Valley,” shares the grape harvest in action and the liquid gold pouring from the wooden slats of the wine press. LaLand loves to work big,… and tiny. Her collection of miniature 2” x 2” landscapes and still lifes beautifully complements her larger works. “Individually painted grapes, crystal clear reflections in glass, deep velvety shadows, intricate wood grain. . . I love to capture sensations – the taste of the wine, the stories being told, the breeze through the vineyard,” enthused LaLand.
Wine is a natural subject for LaLand as she and her husband have been making wine for over a decade. A daughter of artists, her life as an artist began very young – her first exhibit was at eleven. Now an internationally collected artist, her work has appeared in exhibits throughout the region.
Wine is a natural subject for LaLand as she and her husband have been making wine for over a decade. A daughter of artists, her life as an artist began very young – her first exhibit was at eleven. Now an internationally collected artist, her work has appeared in exhibits throughout the region.
Small Works Showcase: Susan Greer
Susan Greer
Plein Air Petites
The Small Works Showcase on the stairway features “Plein Air Petites” by Susan Greer. These petite Sonoma County landscapes capture the rhythmic quality of the natural world with expressive brushstrokes in oil, and simplified elegant forms. “Painting en plein air allows me to explore the land I love, while doing what I love to do" noted Greer.
Susan Greer
Previous Show:
"Seeking Common Language"
Featured Artist: Cynthia Sumner
Cynthia Sumner
Exhibit Runs: May 26 – June 30, 2019
Artist Reception: Saturday, June 15, 2019 from 4 – 8 pm
Stop by to engage in gallery conversation with artists, Cynthia Sumner and Beverly Bird and enjoy a special beverage sampling by YMateina, the finest Yerba Mate from Paraguay.
The June Featured Artist, Cynthia Sumner, an emerging local artist brings together her love of ceramics and painting in a new collection of work: “Seeking Common Language.” The exhibit features two mediums: a series of stacked sculptural forms in clay (“totems”) and oil paintings in cold wax medium.
Her paintings reference internal and external landscapes. “I am inspired by nature and mid-century modern ceramics,” said Sumner. In her painting process, textures play a big role as they go through layering, scraping, applying more paint. Cold wax medium blends beeswax, resin, pigments and solvents, which then evaporate to create a firm surface. Wax artworks date back to the ancient Egyptians. Once cured, these paintings can be handled like any other fine artwork.
“Whereas painting is a more recent endeavor, working in clay is like home to me. I’ve been shaping things out of earth since I could make mud pies,” noted Sumner. “Knives, squeegees, scrapers and my own fingers give me visceral feedback like working in clay,” she added. The stacked sculptural forms express her vision in three-dimensions: abstract shapes play off each other in these unique works.
A graduate of the San Francisco Art Institute in the late 80’s, Sumner was an art educator in New Orleans and San Francisco; she previously exhibited as a conceptual/installation artist.
Her paintings reference internal and external landscapes. “I am inspired by nature and mid-century modern ceramics,” said Sumner. In her painting process, textures play a big role as they go through layering, scraping, applying more paint. Cold wax medium blends beeswax, resin, pigments and solvents, which then evaporate to create a firm surface. Wax artworks date back to the ancient Egyptians. Once cured, these paintings can be handled like any other fine artwork.
“Whereas painting is a more recent endeavor, working in clay is like home to me. I’ve been shaping things out of earth since I could make mud pies,” noted Sumner. “Knives, squeegees, scrapers and my own fingers give me visceral feedback like working in clay,” she added. The stacked sculptural forms express her vision in three-dimensions: abstract shapes play off each other in these unique works.
A graduate of the San Francisco Art Institute in the late 80’s, Sumner was an art educator in New Orleans and San Francisco; she previously exhibited as a conceptual/installation artist.
Cynthia Sumner
Small Works Showcase: Beverly Bird
Beverly Bird
The Small Works Showcase on the stairway features “Sonoma Gems: a Small Works Installation” by Beverly Bird. Scenes from throughout Sonoma County featuring vineyards, ocean vistas, local sites, forests, iconic landscape views are depicted in colorful acrylic paints and textures. “Everyday the beauty of Sonoma brings such a thrill, I can’t help but pull out my paints,” says the artist.
