Left:Old Tustin, 3rd St. & B St.; Dyed Silk by Nancy Goldman, 1st Place Professional Division Right: McCharles House, Old Tustin; Oil on Canvas by Patti DiSaia, 1st Place Amateur Division
Thank you so much to everyone who attended the "City of Trees" opening on Saturday night! We had a great turnout! Thank you to the artists who participated and shared your talents with us. What a wonderful way to view our beautiful city of Tustin. If you missed the opening reception, don't fret! The exhibition will be up through May 30th. Click here to view the entries on our website.
Prize winners: Amateur Division 1st Place: Patti DiSaia 2nd Place: Gordon Anderson 3rd Place: Linda Keyes Honorable Mention: Barbara Bryant Juror's Choice: Patti DiSaia
Professional Division 1st Place: Nancy Goldman 2nd Place: Sharyn Sakimoto 3rd Place: Jonde Northcutt Honorable Mention: Max Rodriguez Honorable Mention: Pamela Panattoni Juror's Choice: Steve Kell
McCharles House, Old Tustin; Oil on Canvas by Patti DiSaia
The entries are hung, the judging is complete, and we've got a lovely show! The "City of Trees" exhibition opens tomorrow night. We're sure you'll be as delighted as we are. Come to the artist's reception to meet the artists, view their scenes of Tustin and discover which talents have won this year's prizes!
Chemers Gallery and the Tustin Art League present "City of Trees" an art exhibition of outdoor views of the Tustin area May 16-May 30, 2009
Artist's Reception May 16, 20095pm-8pm at Chemers Gallery 17300 17th Street Tustin, CA 92780 714-731-5432
For a complete list of participating artists, CLICK HERE.
Tustin Treasure, 228 W. Main Street Watercolor by Pete Roberts
Chemers Gallery and the Tustin Art League present "City of Trees" an art exhibition of outdoor views of the Tustin area by local artists
Artists' Reception is May 16th 5:00-8:00pm Exhibition runs from May 16th until May 30th
It's time for the second annual juried exhibition in association with the Tustin Art League, a division of TACFA! This year's theme is "City of Trees," fitting because the city of Tustin has been named the Tree City USA for the last 13 years. Each work of art has a tree or part of a tree from the Tustin area, and have been created with love by local professional and amateur artists. On display for your viewing pleasure will be an eclectic mixture of watercolor, pastel, photography, mixed media, oils and acrylic on canvas. All art is for sale, and can be previewed on our website. Please join us for the Artist's Reception so you can meet the faces behind the art!
Participating Artists:
Amateur Gordon Anderson Helen Anderson Barbara Bryant Jean Choi Patti DiSaia Bernard Echanow Janis Hunter Linda Keyes Marie Lindberg Marsha Lindsey Beverly Weber-Fow
Professional Cathy Arneson Mary Aslin Nancy Goldman Bonnie Holmes Steve Kell James Keniston Jennifer Keniston Emet Martinez Jonde Northcutt Pamela Panattoni Colleen Premer Pete Roberts Max Rodriguez Sharyn Sakimoto John Sawyer Victoria Templeton Jim Wodark
The Framing Walls at Chemers Gallery Can you find Karen?
Custom framing and frame design is so much more than just four sticks of wood cut at 45 degree angles, paper and glass. It's an art form in itself. The first step lies in finding just the right fabrics, colors and frame for your specific piece of art and your personal sensibilities. Chemers Gallery has countless samples from which to choose - an entire drawer filled with dozens of fabric books, over 2,000 corner samples and a closet stuffed full of goodies and tricks. We've been doing our framing on-site for over 30 years and pride ourselves on the quality and craftsmanship of our work.
Let's start by taking a look at the video above to see how a moulding is water-gilded - can you believe how seamless they make it look? That's actual gold leafing being applied to a corner sample, just like the ones you see on our front framing walls. The process has changed little during its 600 year history. The gold comes in sheets that are just over three inches square, and each "leaf" is about 1/250,000th of an inch thick. That's thinner than a strand of hair! Before the moulding can be gilded, it must be sanded, carved, and sanded again. Then layers of gesso and clay are added and sanded a third time. This adds depth of color and texture. Once the gold has been applied, it's hand-burnished with agate stones, and then it's ready for the final finishing. This can be anything from distressing the frame, applying an antique glazing, and coating the frame with rotten stone. (Sounds gross, doesn't it?) Rotten stone is actually decomposed limestone, and gives the look of aged gunk in the crevices and hollows.
Clockwise from top left: Moon Gold finish, Lemon Gold finish, Yellow Gold finish, White Gold finish Click to Enlarge
These closed-corner handmade frames are created at the workshop of the frame company, and shipped to us in one whole piece. Each frame is made specifically to the dimensions of the artwork. Finishes come in white gold, lemon gold, yellow gold and most recently, moon gold. If this isn't enough variety, the color of clay underneath the gold changes the hue. Clay can be applied in blue, red, purple, green and black. These finishes are often interchangeable, so if you like the carving of one moulding and the color of another, we can easily have it made for you. After all, it is "custom framing!"
Before understanding the gilding process, we hear "Why does the frame cost so much?" After our clients understand the time, skill and patience required to create these beautiful frames they wonder how they can be so reasonably priced. We know everything is relative.
As you can see, the process of creating these classic custom frames requires not only talent, but a genuine love for framing. These frames look stunning on paintings, elegant on antique botanics, handsome on etchings or watercolors. Would you like to frame one of your artworks in one of these magnificent frames? Just bring it in, and our designers will help you select just the right frame to complement your artwork.
We had the pleasure of a recent Gerald Schwartz sighting. He regaled us with stories of driving through the desert monarch butterfly migration to get his artwork to us, and of visiting the local pretzel factory to eat hot pretzels. (Excuse me, Jerry, but where are our hot pretzels?) He's painting diligently, and, as always, is looking to the skies for inspiration. Jerry is incorporating nostalgic elements into his brilliantly colored canvases, like Blue Swallow Motel. This infamous motel off Historic Route 66, in Santa Fe, serves as the setting for Jerry's trademark skies which pulls its jeweled colors from the retro neon sign. Created from the vantage point of the road-weary wanderer, Blue Swallow Motel reaches the wayward traveler in us all. Painted with gallery-wrapped edges, this piece is ready to hang in an office or living space.
Rumblings Oil on Canvas 40 x 20
Judging from the paintings he brought us, we think Jerry may be suffering from itchy feet, despite his self-professed "homebody" status. Rumblings depicts a train hurtling past a railway crossing, bringing to mind that romantic notion of hopping a train for who-knows-where. Uncharacteristic of his landscapes, thus far, is the addition of the tree leaves in the foreground, giving a new sense of perspective and depth to the image. Gerald paints a small work every day that he will sometimes treat as a study for a larger work that will come to fruition some days, months, even years down the line. Rumblings is one such work that began as a small 6" x 8" oil on clayboard and grew into a 40" x 20" oil on canvas.
Check out the rest of Jerry's paintings on our website!
Medow Lark From The Ugly Duckling Illustration by Johnson & Fancher
There are new ways to stay connected cropping up every day that continue to shrink our world. One of the tools Chemers Gallery has been hearing about is Twitter, so we decided to see what it's all about!
Check out our "tweets" to keep updated on our treats!
Hewes Mansion, 350 B Street; Oil on Canvas by Jim Wodark
