ART

The 53rd Annual Members Exhibition of the Art Guild of Pacifica is being presented in the Main and West Galleries at Sanchez Art Center. The awards juror is Shannon Trimble, Gallery Director of Braunstein/Quay Gallery in San Francisco. Concurrently, the 52nd Annual Awards Exhibit will be presented in the East Gallery. Last year’s award winners were: Bill Gallo, Myles Kleinfeld, Deanna Taubman, and M. Victoria Vargas.

Bill Gallo’s award-winning sculpture is entitled Tea Bag. This sculpture is made from brown paper bags, using the Mexican method of papier-mâché. In this exhibit Gallo will show both oil paintings and papier-mâché sculpture, including his new piece, Silhouette, an expressive, entirely black-painted sculpture of a rabbit--a real tour de force in papier-mâché.

Myles Kleinfeld is part of a growing "New Minimalist" movement, but his work is anything but minimal in its impact. In his award-winning photograph, 9 Dots, we see mysterious lights in the dark that could be floating, moving in the night sky, or falling. Kleinfeld’s new works reject any notions of symbolism, mood, or allusion to history, politics, or religion.

Deanna Taubman’s award-winning mixed media piece, Body of Water, takes the well-known fact that human beings are made of about 70 percent water, and makes it both real and magical. Taubman’s theme for this exhibit is "Letters Home," and many pieces include some English or Hebrew text, illustrating her life-long love affair with language as well as visual art.

M. Victoria Vargas received the juror’s award for her lovely textile piece entitled Hanging by a Thread. Its soft blues create a mood of nostalgia and possibilities, somewhat wistful and also hopeful. Vargas is a gifted textile artist whose works vary from bright abstractions to this more meditative mode.