Art off a well-beaten path

To find Sonoma’s new Alley Gallery, a small “pop up” exhibition space off the Plaza, someone may have to paint you a map. The gallery is indeed located along an alley, the one adjacent to the Sebastiani Theatre building.

It’s off the beaten path, but not by much.

Showing this month is “New Generations” a one-man exhibition of new paintings by Fred R. Parker. The Sonoma’s Treasure Artist of the Year in 1994, Parker lives in Kenwood, where he maintains a gallery/studio. He is the resident artist at Deerfield Ranch Winery.

His Sonoma show features the latest versions of several previous paintings the artist has created during the last 30 living in Sonoma Valley. “Sonoma Valley Oak,” the work shown above, is one example of Parker revisiting and reinterpreting an earlier work.

The original was a collage of six photographs assembled as one image. For a later iteration, Parker photographed the scene with color slide film, then projected the image onto a large canvas. He then traced it and painted it in oil.

Alley Gallery is a new “Pop-up Gallery” Sonoma Valley Oak Tree, originally a collage of six photographs assembled as one image. In 1998, in the middle of Pythian Road, Parker photographed the scene with color slide film, then projected it onto a large canvas then traced and painted over in oil.

The exhibition opens with a public reception on Friday, September 1, from 4-8p.m. Newly designed labels of Deerfield wines, created by Parker, will be served.

The gallery will be open Wednesday – Sunday from 1-7 p.m. Parker will be on site, working at his easel on new paintings, throughout the show. It ends September 24.

Alley Gallery is part of the La Haye Art Center located at 148 East Napa Street. Another way to get there is off the public parking lot in that block.

A portion of all gallery sales will be donated to the Art Encounters program at Kenwood Elementary School, which is administered by Parker.