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Hometown artists show talent in Eye Gallery

BY SHELLIE BRANCO, Californian staff writer
e-mail: sbranco@bakersfield.com | Wednesday, Aug 6 2008 7:35 PM

Last Updated: Thursday, Aug 7 2008 11:40 AM

Infinite canal and telephone wire stretched along a country road. The mild, grassy spring you wish outsiders would consider for their first impressions. The men and creatures hardy enough to toil in fields the rest of the year.

We all have our own visions of what makes these 8,140 square miles of the planet ours.

With that in mind, for the second year in a row we called upon local artists to create original works under the loose theme of Kern County. Teachers, students, retirees, even a chef returned with intimate scenes lifted from our collective memory. A few went beyond popular artistic subjects and tuned into the unconventional, hidden beauty of our icons, including, of all places, an old-fashioned ladies' room at the Fox.

Others commented on contemporary environmental and economic crises that have prompted life changes in an oil-soaked city.

You'll see a range of hometown talent as Eye Gallery unveils new works, 19 in all, each Thursday through Sept. 4. To appreciate their vivacity, textures and sheer size better than what our humble newsprint will allow, you'll have to visit the Bakersfield Museum of Art for our reception and the opening of three more exhibits Sept. 11.

And if one reminds you of dusty summer childhoods or activates that cosmopolitan side, it could be yours: All works are for sale.

ABOUT THE ARTISTS

Phyllis Oliver

• Home: Bakersfield

• Age: 66

• Day Job: Working artist; former adjunct faculty member, Seattle Pacific University.

• Title: "Kern County Is Cool"

• Medium: Acrylic

• Favorite artists: I basically do a lot of figurative work and Degas, I love the whole composition he did. He was the one who would leave a figure half off the painting. He broke a lot of the rules and he made them work.

• Education: University of New Hampshire, Durham, bachelor’s degree in photography, 1962. Trained with grandmother, renowned American Arts and Crafts jeweler Hazel Blake French.

• The story: I taught in Greece. We’d just returned from living in Europe and did not expect to end up here in any way, shape or form. We’ve been living up in the mountains (in Frazier Park) and this particular painting was an absolutely glorious morning after a beautiful snowfall and it was just breathtaking. So I tried my best to kinda capture that fresh, new feeling of excitement that you see when you get these gorgeous colors coming together.

Prapat Sirinavarat

• Home: Bakersfield

• Age: 43

• Day Job: Chef, Singha Thai

• Title: "I and Kern County"

• Medium: Acrylic

• Favorite Artists: Salvador Dali. He had a lot of imagination. I like his shape of the clouds in the sky.

• Education: College of Fine Arts, Department of Fine Arts, Ministry of Education, Thailand, 1990; Rajamangala Institute of Technology, Thailand, bachelor’s degree in graphic arts, 1993.

• The story: With some translation assistance from his mother, Ngamnij “Nit” Sirinantanakul, at their Singha Thai restaurant on California Avenue, Sirinavarat said he represented himself as an elephant, the Thai people’s ancient symbol of strength, honor and power portrayed on the flag of the former Siam. The beast’s crown is a golden pagoda, a Buddhist temple found in his homeland. To represent life in California’s Golden Empire, he copied the bear from the Kern County seal. The body of water is Truxtun Lake, which he drives past every day. Oil fields add to the whimsy. Sirinavarat creates fantastical settings populated by animals. He displays his acrylics and etchings at the restaurant, many featuring a fanciful house with characteristics of Victorian gingerbread homes and traditional Thai dwellings.

Nora Gonzalez

• Home: Bakersfield

• Age: 17

• Day Job: Golden Valley High School senior

• Title: "Reverie"

• Medium: Acrylic

• Favorite artists: (Photographers) Inez van Lamsweerde and Vinoodh Matadin for Cesare Paciotti (fashion) ads because they’re so strange-looking and they’re different. I like the angles and the oddness.

• The story: My inspiration comes from women’s faces. I normally use Harper’s Bazaar. This is from Elle. I love faces. It just looks beautiful to me. Angles make it difficult or interesting. While painting this, I traded between right-side up and sideways. I prefer acrylics. I can’t use oils because I use my fingers too much. I always get my hands dirty.

ABOUT EYE GALLERY

WHAT: The Eye Gallery series with Transcendental Observation: Paintings by Dorothy Churchill-Johnson; Labor & Leisure: From the Collection of George and Marcia Giumarra; You See: The Early Years of the UC Davis Art Department.

WHEN: 6 p.m. Sept. 11; includes no-host bar and appetizers. All exhibits run through Nov. 23.

WHERE: Bakersfield Museum of Art, 1930 R St.

ADMISSION: $10 for the public, free to members.

MUSEUM HOURS: 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Tuesday through Friday, noon to 4 p.m. Saturday and Sunday. Closed Monday and holidays.

INFORMATION: 323-7219