Watercolor: The Best of the Central Coast 2013
Our annual exhibit “Watercolor: The Best of the Central Coast,” lived up to its name again this year. In luscious color or in vibrant black and white, landscapes, florals, and animal, bird and human portraits were all represented according to every artist’s unique vision and technique, and from photo-realism, through impressionism to semi-abstraction, all of the paintings were displayed harmoniously together in the spacious gallery at the Santa Cruz Art League. Because of the skill of our hanging committee, this enormous variety of technique and subject matter flowed smoothly to create a satisfying unified experience for the viewer. The arrangement worked even when the gallery was crowded at the reception on Sunday, April 7. Everyone seemed to be smiling as they wandered from painting to painting. Many thanks to the members of the hanging committee. They were Ignacio, Dale Johnson, Judith and Lou Feinman, Linda Lord, and Aimée and Randall Nelson.
A second thank you belongs to Aimée Nelson and Judith Feinman for their excellent work in publicizing our show. An additional special thanks goes to Aimée for designing our beautiful postcards, which featured a lovely floral by Shirley Motmans, and also for sending out our invitations to participate to other watercolor groups.
The turnout for this year’s exhibit was greatly enhanced by the efforts of the staff and director of the Art League, who created lots of publicity for us. Our show was featured, with outstanding color photographs, on the covers of both the January and the April issues of the Art League Newsletter. In fact, our show was the lead cover article in the April issue. Several times, Director Cindy Liebenthal sent out e-mails to twenty-five hundred recipients, including the Good Times and Santa Cruz Weekly, and the Art League also arranged for an excellent article in the Santa Cruz Sentinel, which included a photo and much valuable information.
The Sentinel interview with assistant to the director Keelin Sabel, a watercolorist, was especially articulate and informative. She told the Sentinel, that while the paintings in the exhibit depict everything from nudes to detailed landscapes, “the pictures have one thing in common, the mastery of watercolor.” “It’s really quite lovely,” she said. “I love being surrounded by watercolor. . . The jewel effect you can get from the colors is just so wonderful. It’s just so sensitive to paint with. . . .The paintings particularly reveal the watercolorists’ ability to layer and manipulate washes. . . .Watercolor’s wonderful because you’re seeing the light carry through the paper. . .” Thank you Keelin Sabel, and thank you Art League!
Our April 7 reception at the Art League was a real joy, and part of the happiness I felt came from the light fragrance of spring flowers that permeated the gallery. The bouquets and plants were beautiful in themselves, and the abundance of lilacs and tulips in particular made me a true believer in aroma therapy. Many of us just had to linger at a particularly striking bouquet of white lilacs that someone had placed on a stand at exactly the right height for inhaling. All of the flowers at the reception were provided and arranged by Laura Crosser, Nancy Howe and Linda Lord. Many thanks to all of you.
Dale Johnson arranged for our musician, David O’Conner, and his music was appreciated by everyone in the gallery. It contributed to the truly pleasurable ambience of the reception.
We were fortunate in our lavish selection of refreshments this year, and in the efficiency of our refreshments committee, who kept the tables filled with an astonishing variety of cookies, pastries, nuts, chip/dips and other sweets and savories. Many of my very favorite special treats were on offer. A big thanks to Laura Crosser, Marilee Gregory, Nancy Howe, Melita Israel, Linda Lord, Shirley Motmans, Aimée Nelson, Carol Riddle, and Lee Taiz for organizing, setting up and managing the refreshments.
Our juror Carolyn Lord chose the awards as follows:
Dale Johnson, First Place, for ”Late Winter Puddle”
Vijita Sara Smith for “Stargazers #1”
Anne Harding, Third Place, for “Melting Away”
Honorable Mentions went to Sue Baldwin for “Plumerias,” Laura Crosser for “Fruit Plate,” Mary Hopf for “Out of Service,” Anna Haulenbeck Huskey for “After Ferdinand Van Kessel,” Aimée Bagur Nelson for “Legacy,” Karen Nevis for “Sleeping Cat,” and Lee Taiz for “Summer Patterns”
The ribbons were arranged by Aimée Nelson and the awards by Linda Lord.
Finally, I want to mention our receiving committee, Sammy Fantham
and Shirley Motmans, because without our receiving committee, our beautiful and successful watercolor exhibit couldn’t have taken place at all.
Congratulations and thanks to everyone, including all of the wonderful watercolorists who participated in “Watercolor: The Best of the Central Coast 2013”!
Lee Taiz