Intimate View of Artists in Craft in the Valley Show
By Anna Pier
Craft in the Valley is a remarkable exhibit in Room 212 of the Sonoma Community Center featuring local artists. It began when the show’s curators, Simon Blattner and Barbara Wells, made an open call for artists that was announced through Sonoma Community Center emails. Artists could submit their work online or sign up for an in-person meeting. On two Saturdays Blattner and Wells met artists. Ultimately, the work of 24 craftsmen/artists was included in what is a groundbreaking exhibit for local art.
Connie Schlelein, whose mixed metals sculpture is exhibited, is known for her tireless, determined efforts, on many committees and commissions, to promote the arts in our Valley and in our schools. Schlelein described this Craft in the Valley show as “just stunning,” adding that she is hoping there will be others in the future. She defined it as “transformational, for herself, for the Community Center, and for the community.”
About half of the artist/craftsmen made a video in which they explain their understanding of the process of creating in their medium. This video can be accessed by a QR code accompanying these pieces. The multi-dimensional opportunity to see and hear its creator while viewing the work affords the visitor another level of experience, and significantly enhances the viewing. Below are four of the creators’ comments, together with an image of the work, that hopefully inspire a visit before the show closes on February 19.
In a different experience, Camden Richards’ experiential artist book, Water, Calling, is accompanied by a QR code that connects the viewer with a nearly hourlong recording of the sounds of water overlaid with beautiful vocal music created by Anne Hege. The author describes her book as “exploring the cyclical and omnipresent relationship of water and the self, inviting the reader to reflect upon water as more than a commodity, but rather as life giving: spirit, flesh and soul.” The book is published by Liminal Press which identifies it as consisting of text, water patterns, letterpress printing and binding by Camden M. Richards; cyanotype prints, image transfers and watercolors by Deborah Sibony, and a soundtrack by Anne Hege.
Eva Tuschman Leonard
Eva Tuschman Leonard states she is “honored to be part of this exhibit which celebrates the life of the spirit and the maker’s mark.” She continues, “craft invites us to engage in a contemplative practice which honors ancient practices.” Tuschman
Leonard explains that disabilities forced her to stop using the potter’s wheel, so she began to use the ancient method of coiling. Describing the making of pots this way as “a bridge between ancient worlds,” the artist goes on to say this work is “an
expression of intimacy with the earth and, I hope, with my own soul and spirit.” She explains that her process is “responding to the clay as a dynamic life force,” continuing, “the earth is speaking to me and we are engaged in a silent but very dynamic dialogue together.” Referencing a book by ceramicist M.C. Richards, the potter continues, “I approach the clay with curiosity and reverence, and allow the mystery to emerge as I listen closely and trust that the earth’s wisdom will transform us both through the process.”
Michael Palace
“I make one-of-a-kind, hand-crafted furniture, designed to connect you with the beauty within nature.
I use recycled and urban logs, from homes, farms and even neighbors’ yard. This desk is partly made from an extraordinary piece of eucalyptus that I find along Carriger Road. I design using the form and color of wood so that you become aware the of enhanced beauty. I use wood like it were a paint palette. I talk to my wood – I know it sounds strange but the pieces tell me what they can do, and I listen. I think of my work as making shrines to nature, each piece showing the awe that fills me when I take a tree from the burn pile and rise it up as an example of nature’s grandeur.”
Ellen LaBruce
Well-known community worker for social change Ellen LaBruce reveals another side in the intensely red woven rug she submitted. “The craft of weaving holds a special fascination for me especially because it’s been with human beings for thousands of years. I’m using the same movements that have been used by people for thousands of years.”
She continues, “I enjoy working with wool, and I used this piece as an opportunity to see if I had something to say. In this piece I use the Rio Grande style tapestry techniques and I incorporate into the design symbols of the racial oppression which has been in this country since it began — chains, barbed wire, cemetery crosses, the stars and bars of the Confederate flag. I wanted to pick elements that make people think about what has been endemic in our history. The central design I hope makes people think and start working toward social justice”.
Steve Kyle
Steve Kyle used mahogany for the base, ironwood for the rim, and a glue-lam piece of joist that he found on a construction site for the main wood in this stunning pair of bowls. Kyle began this craft only three years ago when a friend gifted him a lathe. “I set it up in my potting shed, and as I played with it, “ he explained, “I realized that I needed to understand how to work with it.” So he took a week of classes in wood-turning in Provo, UT. Acknowledging that a lot of what he tries ends up as kindling, Kyle says, “I never know – I keep fiddling,” adding humbly, “how a piece turns out is always a surprise.”
Main Photo: Wooden bowls by Steve Kyle – photo Anna Pier
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