Copyright 2025 by Karen Gutfreund Art. The book author and each artist here retains sole copyright to their contributions to this book. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means without prior permission in writing from Karen Gutfreund Art and the individual artists. ISBN: 9798306064550
Catalog designed and edited by Karen M. Gutfreund, KarenGutfreund.com, @karengutfreundart
Cover art by Lorraine Bonner
ABOUT THE GALLERY:
Luna Gallery and Eco Art Studio is a fine art gallery in San Juan Bautista, a non-profit founded by Dr. Jennifer Colby in 2022. The vision of the gallery is to create a place to experience art through exhibiting the work of local, regional and international artists, cultural events and workshops in the studio. The Eco Art studio provides a space for children and adults to explore ecology through the arts. San Juan Bautista is a historic town at the crossroads of San Benito, Santa Clara, Santa Cruz and Monterey Counties.
107 Suite B The Alameda San Juan Bautista, CA 95045
MendingTogether:NarrativesofHope&Resilience is dedicated to exploring the profound themes of solace, hope, serenity, and strength in a world often overshadowed by challenges and uncertainties. As you navigate the exhibition, you'll encounter works that capture the essence of finding peace and strength amidst chaos, embracing imperfections, and discovering the inner fortitude to rise above challenges. Each piece tells a story of transformation, courage, hope and resilience.
The exhibition seeks to explore and celebrate the unwavering strength and optimism that define our collective journey and illuminate the indomitable human spirit. It serves as a beacon of inspiration, showcasing a diverse array of artworks that embody the themes of perseverance, courage, and the enduring belief in a brighter future.
Showcasing the work of Wendy Ackrell, Lorraine Bonner, Ellen Brook, Marie Cameron, Kim Cardoso, Bushra Gill, Rinat Goren, Audrey Kral, Karen Mason and Sawyer Rose, Mending Togetherfeatures a curated selection of contemporary artworks, including paintings, sculpture, installation and mixed media art. Each artist offers a unique perspective, highlighting their individual, lived experiences emphasizing diversity in artistic expression, with a rich tapestry of voices and styles.
As a curator, I believe in the healing power of art. Mending Together is not just an art exhibition; it is a celebration of the human spirit in challenging times. Through the power of art, we aim to uplift, inspire, and remind audiences of the beauty and strength that reside within each of us. We invite you to join us on this journey of hope and resilience, and to experience the transformative power of art.
Karen M. Gutfreund Curator KarenGutfreund.com GutfreundCornettArt.com @karengutfreundart karenmgutfreund@gmail.com
Wendy Ackrell
SAN FRANCISCO, CA
@wendyackrell
wendyackrell.com
Biography:
San Francisco-based artist Wendy Ackrell has worked as a painter for over two decades, primarily exploring abstraction but returning to figuration over the past few years. Originally a writer, she incorporates fiber art, poetry and mixed media into her work. Along with painting, her first love, Wendy animates and transforms natural materials such as river stones, trees and fallen branches with paint, wool and wire, leaving them to be discovered in situ. She is of the firm belief that joy in the act of creation and the wonder in alchemizing the quotidian into something precious and perceived anew is a resounding yes to life. She is currently investigating kintsugi, the Japanese art of repair, both as artistic metaphor and a celebration of resilience.
Wendy received her B.A. in English from Duke University. She is currently studying at The Alternative Art School, an online community of artists founded by art writer and curator Nato Thompson.
Statement:
I began creating woolen sculptures in 2009 after a tumultuous period in my life. Out in the peaceful woods of Sonoma, I began gathering large, gnarled branches that had dropped onto the forest floor. A week of total quiet and a huge skein of yarn led to the creation of my first wool wrapped branches. Eventually, my thoughts turned to exploring other elements, and I became drawn to the idea of softening traditionally male-oriented objects with beautiful, colorful yarn. Yarn, historically used in women’s work, tempers items which have prototypically masculine or violent connotations. For me, the material and the wrapping motion become both the act of accessing memory and the creation of hope. As I wind and unwind, spool and unspool, I am reliving moments in life and thinking of possibility, of the future. Working with fiber lets my hands bear burdens for me, permits me to fumble around in search of new insight, and guides me in searching for answers I might otherwise never find. Gentling these pieces with plush, richly colored wool while pushing them into new sculptural forms allows me to establish an extremely different, almost familial, relationship with them. The repetitive, meditative, and transformative nature of fiber art is one of the most healing and hopeful acts of renewal I know.
Sticks wrapped with yarn, installation in container ~50 x 24 inches
InBloom(2021)
PortraitofaMidlifeWomanis part of my series called EverythingIsFine,a meditation on loss and resilience that helped sustain me during the pandemic In these paintings, vases are perched precariously on edges of tables; flowers droop; objects are in the process of falling into space; others are mended imperfectly but lovingly with the deeply meditative Japanese art of repair, kintsugi. From the first time I saw a piece of ceramics threaded with gold, I’ve been fascinated by kintsugi, the Japanese art of repair. The satisfaction in turning fracture into a new wholeness, and of wounds alchemized I can’t think of a better way to celebrate resourcefulness and resilience than these golden scars. When I find myself overwhelmed by all the dark and broken parts of this world, I remind myself of these words from “Anthem” by the great songwriter and poet Leonard Cohen: Ringthebellsthatstillcanring/Forgetyourperfectoffering/Thereisa crackineverything/That’showthelightgetsin.
PortraitofaMidlifeWoman(2021)
Acrylic on canvas 8 x 36 x 1.5 inches
Lorraine Bonner
OAKLAND, CA
@lorrainesculptor lorrainebonner.com
Biography:
Lorraine Bonner is a retired physician who began working in clay half a lifetime ago when buried memories of childhood suffering began to emerge. The clay became her friend, therapist and teacher, expanding her understanding from her own personal story to the planetary omnicrisis we now see unfolding.
Bonner lives in Oakland, close to her children and grandchildren.
Statement:
I began experimenting with kintsugi after a series of medical adventures, all of which involved a certain amount of patching up. I had some broken pieces and some that I broke deliberately, and there was a lot of trying different glues and gold and other technical details, and the expansion of meaning that always comes of deeply investigating almost anything. What does it mean to be broken? What does it mean when I am the breaker? What gold is embedded in the scars of my art, my body, my childhood history? Is there really any way to glue together, to make whole, let alone more beautiful, the fragmented world, my fragmented soul?
WhattheBrokenTeach
The broken ones sit silent amidst the hosannahs for the heroes
emptied of all language, tears heart
hollow like the silver wind chime hanging on the porch at midnight proclaiming the invisible
Mending:Resilience(2023), Clay, "gold", 16 x 12 x 8 inches
CodeSitching
scars are bilingual they speak fluent pain vocabularies of terror and sorrow stories of a single moment of inattention or a lifetime of powerlessness
scars’ second language an algebra of engineering a bridge that not only joins but draws together the land on either side creates a smooth seam out of a broad gash
scars translate pain into healing into empathy or hunger for revenge comradeship born of shared struggle or retreat into bitter solitude
some folks forsake their mother tongue to pass for unscarred among the unwounded others code switch with ease dance along waves of rupture and redemption letting light shine out through poems written in their skin
Lorraine Bonner
Mending:NightSky(2021) Clay, "gold", wood panel 10 x 8 inches
Rescue
beautiful world perfect Black baby you were given to us whole gleaming abundant and we have broken you you are sacred and we out of ignorance or malice DNA or demons we joined a cult that made you a thing we closed our eyes to the desecration of children and slept through the ravaging of continents now air and water rise up against us lash us with loss of food and status the end of our future and we are waking up into pain
It hurts to feel your shattered edges lacerate our nerves it hurts to feel the shame of what has been done in our name done by us
we no longer believe we can hold our breath and not take in the smoke of your suffering awakening we see ourselves at last fragments of planetary rupture seeking our own lost sacredness
we feel our way toward one another listen in the dark for the cries of our kin shrouded in mystery we stand shoulders touching holding one another’s grief in all our hands
and as we breathe together an alchemy transmutes our tears of rage and sorrow into gold a healing balm laid tenderly in the broken places our hands together holding the world as we would our weeping child
Lorraine Bonner
Mending:SandsofTime(2021) Clay, "gold", wood panel 10 x 8 inches
Ellen Brook
SAN MATEO, CA
@ellenbrookartandfashion
ellen-brook.com
Biography:
Ellen Brook is a mixed media artist, and fabric and fashion designer. Born in Cleveland, Ohio, Ellen began her artistic journey at age 40, after a lifetime convinced that she wasn’t creative. She reoriented her life from corporate communications to focus on her art. Her personal investigations into consciousness, healing, and meditation paralleled her introduction to painting. Her art has become a canvas for further reflecting upon these ideas and experiences. She plays with gesture, intuitive marks, layers of texture and a passion for color to explore Eastern ideas related to the mind, the human condition, and the healing and energetic properties of beauty and color. In addition to her fine art practice, Ellen also designs and creates original, hand-made women’s apparel and accessories.
Ellen is on the Advisory Board of the Fashion & Design Department at Canada College, Redwood City CA. Her work has been featured in solo and group art and fashion shows, selected for “ARTWEAR” at the de Young Museum, and her work is currently in two galleries on the California Coast. Ellen holds a B.A. from Duke University and an M.P.A. from the Monterey Institute of International Studies.
Statement:
My discovery of an entire box of wartime correspondence nearly 100 letters written by my grandfather while a soldier in WW1 launched me on a magical journey of personal and artistic discovery. Having never met my father's father, these delicate, time-worn missives to my grandmother became a bridge across generations, inspiring me to transform his intimate narratives into visual poetry. Through my artwork, I explore the fragile threads that connect us across time the universal human experiences of isolation, longing, and resilience that pulse beneath personal histories. These works are not mere representations, but emotional translations capturing the transcendent quality of messages that have traveled decades to find me. Like a message in a bottle carried across vast, uncertain waters, these letters have washed up on my personal shore. My art seeks to honor this extraordinary gift.
Take Me Out of the Blue: At the center of war is the human being, striving to survive against the bombarding threats and a harrowing sense of isolation. The truths of one antidote to war’s cruelties real human connection radiate out from my grandfather’s words, including when he wrote to his beloved “Goldie”: I need to hear from you more to take “the blue” out of me. Feeling isolated and yearning to reconnect are hardly unique to war they can occur during a global pandemic or simply everyday life. I try to reflect both the joyous dream of reconnection with a loved one as well as the “blue” of the longing that befalls all of us now and then.
TakeMeOutoftheBlue#10(2022), Mixed media, 24 x 24 x 2 inches
TakeMeOutoftheBlue#11(2022), Mixed media, 24 x 24 x 2 inches
Remedy: Separated from my grandmother by the unforgiving landscape of war, my grandfather offered remarkably sophisticated instructions for her to manage her anxiety and loneliness in one of his letters. He guides her to visualize their eventual embrace, to hold that image and feeling with intentional clarity, and then to allow genuine joy to fill her heart. "This is how I am coping everyday," he writes, "I find it to be the best remedy." As a student of Eastern wisdom traditions, I was immediately struck by the remarkable parallels between his intuitive approach to her suffering and ancient contemplative practices for mental transformation. The artwork Remedy#3emerges from this profound moment of intimate wisdom, exploring how imagination can become a powerful tool for emotional well-being.
Remedy#3(2024)
Mixed media
12 x 12 x 2 inches
13 x 13 x 2 framed
Marie Cameron
LOS GATOS,
CA
@mariecameronstudio
mariecameronstudio.com
Biography:
Marie Cameron is an imaginative realist oil painter and mixed media assemblage artist based in Los Gatos, California where she works out her dream studio, in the garden behind her house.
Born in New York City, and raised in Maine and Nova Scotia, she earned her BFA with distinction at Mount Allison, in Sackville, New Brunswick where she minored in photography and sculpture and majored in painting. She was awarded a prestigious Canada Council Grant and worked in giftware design and children’s book illustration while maintaining her art practice. Upon moving to the San Francisco Bay Area in the late nineties, she became heavily involved in the local art community. Working in various series, her work focuses on the connections we have to each other, to nature and to our environment.
Her award-winning work has been exhibited and collected internationally and featured in many publications, galleries and museums, including the Museo Diocesano, Triton Museum of Art, Marin MOCA, SOMArts, Saint Mary’s College Museum of Art, Santa Clara University Art and Art History, Las Laguna Gallery, Sanchez Art Center, Vargas Gallery, NUMU, Whitney Modern, Arc Gallery, Woman Made Gallery, Curated, de Young Museum of Art, Cabrillo Gallery, O’Hanlon Center for the Arts, Blue Line Arts and Jen Tough Gallery.
Statement:
During the dark days of the pandemic I was desperate to find my lost connection to hope, awe and even joy… and it came in the form of a rainbow! I realized in that moment that I needed to see the rainbow in myself, in others, and in the world again. I sought to do this by embroidering silk rainbows onto found, vintage photographs and postcards. I choose subjects that inspired me with happiness and gratitude.
As I began each new day, I would begin a new piece. I would decide how best to use the rainbow to highlight joy. I would softly trace my plan in pencil on the front or the back of the photograph, using my window as a light box, making gentle indentations with a dull embroidery needle to plot my stitches and lightly pierce guide holes. Then, stitch by careful stitch and row by row, using the finest of beading needles, I would pull the floss through the fragile paper, carefully so as not to tear it or tangle and knot the threads. The subtle sheen of the hand dyed, pastel silk against the ephemeral images in tones of sepia or black looked truly magical. The entire, focused process was very calming, meditative and healing and it was something I could do in a small space, next to my radio and air purifier! At the end of the day I would take a picture of the finished piece and share it on social media under the hashtag #morerainbows! in an attempt to share the joy with others.
By the time we opened up in California I had some 200 pieces and hosted a Wall of Rainbows Popup in my studio which was a moving time to reconnect with community and share our stories. I find I’m still making these, because we still need rainbows!
RainbowSelf22 , 2020, Silk thread on found photograph 5 1/2 x 3 1/4 inches, 12 x 10 inches framed
RainbowintheDunes(2021), Silk thread on found photograph, 5 x 7 inches, 9 1/2 x 11 1/2 inches framed
RainbowTree2(2020), Silk thread on found photograph, 3 1/2 x 5 inches, 9 1/2 x 11 1/2 inches framed
RainbowEscape(2021), Silk thread on found photograph, 2 3/4 x 4 1/2 inches, 9 1/2 x 11 1/2 inches framed (top)
RainbowPatience, 2021, Silk thread on found photograph, 2 5/8mx 4 3/8 inches, 10 x 12 inches framed (bottom)
RainbowEmbrace3, 2021, Silk thread on found photograph, 5 1/8 x 3 1/2 inches, 12 x 10 inches framed
RainbowEmbrace4, 2024, Silk thread on found photograph, 5 1/4 x 3 3/8 inches, 12 x 10 inches framed
Rainbow Sweethearts, 2021, Silk thread on found photograph, 3 x 4 7/8 inches, 10 x 12 inches framed
Kim Cardoso
Oakland, CA
kimcardosoart.com
@kimcardosoart
Biography:
Kim Cardoso (b. 1969) is a visual artist originally from Baltimore, Maryland. After completing her BA in art and psychology at McDaniel College, with additional studies at the Maryland Institute College of Art and School 33 Art Center, she launched in the Baltimore art world as a metalsmith. An inexplicable calling soon took her West to become a midwife where she earned her MS in Nursing at the University of California San Francisco, founded a free clinic for women, and then had two children. In 2013, Cardoso returned to art as a painter. Her work has been exhibited widely, including Garvey|Simon, New Art Center, Artlink, and the Crocker Art Museum. In 2021, the International Encaustic Artists awarded her a grant to further her studies of California's volcanic landscape. She lives with her family on an urban farm in Oakland, California, paints at the Norton Factory Studios, and continues to work part time in community health.
Statement:
My art explores themes of ritual, communication, and observation. Seeking stillness, I pay attention to the places where we intersect with nature and are curious about the passage of time. Relating to my formal training as a metalsmith and working with my hands as a midwife, I savor the physicality of encaustic painting: construction, fire, carving, and rebuilding. I know my work is complete when it feels familiar and sensual and evokes connectedness. These paintings are from my body of work [Closed Captioning]. They are interpretations of communication and honor the common longing to better understand each other’s stories in this complex world. The titles come from the descriptions of sounds in the closed captioning that is always on in our bilingual household, making me yearn for a guidebook to interpret so many conversations. Some marks are generated from a pattern of voice and others reference static on an old screen or in the air.
InaudibleWhispering(2023), Encaustic and graphite on wood, 30 x 24 inches
MurmuringinVariousLanguages2(2023), Encaustic and graphite on wood, 14 x 11 inches
MurmuringinVariousLanguages4(2023), Encaustic and graphite on wood, 14 x 11 inches
Bushra Gill
LAFAYETTE, CA
@bushradraws bushragill.com
Biography:
Bushra Gill finds order within the chaos of everyday life through art.
She was born in Karachi, Pakistan, and emigrated to Houston, Texas, with her family as a small child. Drawn to art from a young age, she graduated from Pratt Institute in 1994 with a BFA in sculpture. She has been awarded residencies at Pilchuck Glass School and Kala Art Institute.
Gill spent many years working as a museum educator at various galleries and museums including The Museum of Modern Art, The Drawing Center and The Rotunda Gallery, while also working as a studio assistant to various artists including Maya Lin, Ursula von Rydingsvard, and Maria Elena Gonzalez. Currently living and working in northern California, Gill also curates exhibitions and is a member of the California Society of Printmakers, the Northern California Women’s Caucus for Art and Asian American Women Artists Association.
Statement:
Emigrating at a young age, I've learned to be an observer, looking for patterns of behavior in order to understand how to fit in. So in my work, I think about connection, especially an underlying structure of everything around us that unites us to each other and to nature, time and space. I’ve noticed how movement is part of many spiritual and healing practices from circumnavigating the Kaaba in Mecca to walking labyrinths to storytelling dances, and many others. In this series of works, I began with a simple drypoint print of concentric circles to explore this idea, and built on inspiration of watching birds fly in circles around the Kaaba in Mecca mirroring the people below. Each bird is responsible for its own survival, yet they convene in flocks in myriad patterns for safety, society and shared intelligence.
Circling2-Synchronous(2020)
Drypoint print with image transfer and collage 15 x 11 inches, 21 x 17 framed
Circling9:TheFlock(2020), Drypoint print with image transfer and collage, 15 x 11 inches, 21 x 17 framed
Circling4-Community(2020), Drypoint print with image transfer and collage, 15 x 11 inches, 21 x 17 framed
Rinat Goren
WOODSIDE, CA
@gorenrinat rinatgoren.com
Biography:
Rinat Goren is a San Francisco Bay Area artist, specialized in the Encaustic medium (beeswax & pigment). Rinat was born and raised in Israel where she grew up in a community of hands-on makers; family and neighbors were building, repairing, stitching, and creating around her and so from early age she was observing as well as creating art. However, only after graduating university, moving to California and raising a family, Goren responded to the urge to further explore art. She then decided to dedicate her time to a new path as an artist.
The inspiration for her works comes from individuals who use their mind to think and solve problems; people around her who are thinkers, inventors and decision makers. Goren admires the ability to form clear thoughts, make decisions, make choices and act accordingly as a unique attribute to human beings. Goren’s work encourages and invites us all to celebrate and apply this quality.
Her abstract and figure paintings are showing in residential and commercial spaces around the country and she participated in multiple art shows.
Statement:
Encaustic is the use of beeswax and pigment as a medium. The medium has to first be melted and then applied in layers to a surface; most often wood panel. Heat source is used to fuse the layers together into a cohesive piece. Paper cuttings are embedded in between wax layers in different depths.
This ‘assembly’ series is an attempt to give an answer to my yearning to create more dimensional work. While these works are not quite sculptural, they are one step away from the flat, twodimensional works that I usually make. The assemblage of different sizes, and a variety of panel depths allows me a sense of renewed creativity. The physicality of sawing, drilling and gluing panels together adds a pleasant sense of restoration.
Assembly3-Consequences(2023)
Encaustic and paper on wood panels
20 x 15 x 2 inches
Assembly5-ThoughtBubbles(2023), Encaustic and paper on wood panels, 20 x 20 x 2 inches
Assembly4-Joy(2023), Encaustic and paper on wood panels, 18 x 18 x 2 inches
Assembly8-Trails(2023), Encaustic on wood panels, 29 x 13 x 2 inches
Assembly9-Connections(2023), Encaustic on wood panels, 21 x 12 x 2 inches
Audrey Kral
Mill Valley, CA
audreykral.com
@audreykral2020
Biography:
Audrey Kral's artistic journey began amidst the natural beauty of the East Coast. From a young age, she was surrounded by nature and quickly developed a direct connection to the essence of life-a desire to both experience and express its vibrancy. This early connection remains a constant source of inspiration to this day. After relocating to the San Francisco Bay Area in 1987, Kral's horizons expanded dramatically. The vast Pacific Ocean and the grandeur of the California landscape profoundly influenced her life and work. She immersed herself in the world of improvisation and dance, pushing the boundaries of performance art with Ellen Webb Dance Company. An intense connection with Russel Walder and his soulful music inspired her to begin painting, a journey that became a cathartic process of self-discovery and a medium by which to reach higher states of consciousness.
Audrey's artistic practice is founded on spiritual exploration, including long periods of silent meditation, contemplative work, and inquiry. She expresses herself through a diverse range of creative mediums. She is a skilled visual artist, working with painting, drawing and collage. Her knowledge of dance and choreography brings a sense of movement, rhythm, and spatial awareness to her paintings. She is also a poet, and her passion for photography further enriches her paintings.
She also holds a Master of Science in Nutrition from Pennsylvania State University, providing her with a deep understanding of biology, chemistry, physiology, and metabolic systems. This knowledge has fostered an appreciation for the interconnectedness of body, mind, and spirit, which is reflected in her artwork. Kral's work has garnered recognition and is featured in private collections throughout the Bay Area, Hawaii, New York, and Houston
Statement:
My work expresses the expansive, timeless experience of meditative mind states. Atmospheric and sensual, mysterious and organic, the paintings are glimpses into how inherent transformational qualities of life become visible in the form of paint and canvas, light and shadow. I imagine that the canvas stretches far beyond the space of its physical limits. Painting involves a profound connection to the materials and an intuitive approach to color and light, allowing the impermanence of perception to become visible in multiple, subtle transitions from one color to another.
My artistic practice is informed by synesthesia. For me, colors are imbued with sound, textures possess distinct melodies, and emotions manifest as vivid hues. This unique sensory experience translates directly into my work, resulting in paintings that vibrate with unseen harmonies, where form and color dance in a perpetual dialogue. Synesthesia allows me to bridge the gap between the perceived and the imagined, creating a visual language that transcends the boundaries of traditional representation. The paintings can instill calm presence, stir imagination, and move emotions. I desire viewers to access their inner resources of serenity, joy, and expansion.
AuroraDriftsSouth(2024), Oil on canvas, 36 x 36 inches
HeartbeatCrown(2021), Acrylic on canvas, 36 x 36 inches
WayForward(2023), Oil on canvas, 24 x 36 inches
Karen Mason
Berkeley, CA
karenmason-artist.com
@karenmasonartist
Biography:
An innovator and life-long experimenter, Karen Mason began painting at Michigan State University and later at The Art Center and California College of Art. Studies provided a foundation to capture the visual beauty of nature scenes, but it wasn’t until she received private instruction from well-known abstract, watercolor, and plein air artists that Karen pushed the boundaries of what was possible. Having traveled extensively to Japan while working in the automotive and high-tech industries and regularly visiting family in Italy, Karen’s Renaissance Wabi Sabi style is heavily influenced by Asian and Italian cultures.
Karen achieves a unique atmospheric effect using resin to separate individual layers of acrylic, oil, graphite and sumi ink, over an initial textured surface on cradled board. Delivering incredible depth with such layers, she finishes with a matt surface reminiscent of encaustic. Working in sets of two to four panels, Karen not only draws the viewer into the scene but conveys a story with depth and drama, veiled in the mystery that comes with treescapes.
Karen has maintained a regular cadence of painting and exhibiting over the last 15 years while pursuing a career in high tech innovation and research. Having worked at Nissan, Levi, Visa, AAA, and healthcare companies, Karen left the corporate world to pursue fine art painting full-time. She now paints every day, actively applying what she has learned about innovation and experimentation in creating beautifully unique paintings. Karen believes that the growing interest in her work is grounded in having learned to “look at the world” rather than just see it.
Statement:
I am heavily influenced by and the California coastal fog stream and my exposure to Asian and Italian cultures, as evident in my Renaissance Wabi Sabi style paintings. My Blue Whisper series honor the quiet meditation found in the fog layers of the morning-start or long shadows of the afternoon-heat, where one longs to stretch and inhale the surroundings of yet another incredible place and day. “Mono-chromatic renderingsoffoggylandscapeswithsilhouettedtreesseenindepthasdiminishedbydistanceoffog, reminiscentofOrientalpaintings…contemporaryandminimalist.”– Art Critic, DeWitt Cheng.
Tall-LittleBlueTreesII(2023), Ink and Resin on Cradled Board, 7 x 5 inches
BlueWhisper-DaybreakBeachOverlook(2024)
Ink and Resin on Cradled Board, 10 x 30 inches (3 panels, 10 x 10 inches each)
BigLittleForestofBlueTreesII(2023), Ink and Resin on Cradled Board, 5 X 7 inches
Sawyer Rose
FAIRFAX, CA
@ksawyerrose
carrying-stones.com
Biography:
Sawyer Rose, FRSA, MRSS is a sculptor, installation and social practice artist. Throughout her career, Rose has used her artwork to shine a spotlight on contemporary social and ecological issues. Her work on The Carrying Stones Project addresses women’s work inequity and has been featured by the New York Times, Ms. Magazine, and BUST Magazine. Sculptures and photographs from the project are currently touring universities, museums, and corporate sites across the United States.
Rose has been a resident artist at Yaddo, Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art, Virginia Center for the Creative Arts (VCCA), The Tyrone Guthrie Centre in Ireland, Moulin à Nef in France, Ragdale Foundation, and Fort Mason Center for Arts & Culture in San Francisco. She has been awarded grants from The Ruth and Harold Chenven Foundation, The Puffin Foundation, The Creative Capacity Fund, and The Awesome Foundation.
Rose is a Fellow of the Royal Society for Arts (London); a Member of the Royal Society of Sculptors (London); and a Signature Member of National Association of Women Artists (New York). She is the Past President and current Communications Chair of the Northern California Women’s Caucus for Art (San Francisco), where she runs a free Mentorship Program for emerging artists.
Born and raised in North Carolina, she holds a degree in Art History from Williams College in Massachusetts, and currently lives and works in the San Francisco Bay Area.
Statement:
Both sculptural and painterly, the botanical forms in my work are clad in layers of silver solder and copper, as if their delicate bodies are growing the armor they need to flourish in the environment humans are leaving for them. Using the texture of the metal as my primary mark-making medium, the liquefied silver morphs into bark, or feathers, or scales. There is eloquence and beauty in the act of self protection.
The surfaces of my soldered metal pieces draw inspiration from unexpectedly diverse sources typically a mash-up of California native flora and Medieval weaponry though I’ve also tapped into the organic patterns of coral, fungus, and lava flows for fresh ideas.
When building these works, I begin by covering the areas I want to solder with thick copper foil. Next, I lay down the first layer of texture in silver solder like painting with molten metal. I add dimension to the work by placing beads of solder to create depth and contrast. The pieces are covered with a rich black patina, and burnished with steel wool to bring out shining highlights on the raised peaks, while leaving dark in the valleys.
SeedVessels(2015), Silver solder, copper, 30 x 20 x 5 inches
Kata(2015), Silver solder, copper, fiberglass, 29 x 29 x 6 inches
Thicket(2016), Silver solder, copper, 6.5 x 6.5 x 6.5 inches
BonneChance(2015), Silver solder, copper, ultramarine powdered pigment, 12 x 12 x 12 inches
About Karen M. Gutfreund, Curator
Karen M. Gutfreund is an independent curator and artist with a focus on feminist and social justice art. She has worked in the Painting & Sculpture Department for MoMA, the Andre Emmerick Gallery, The Knoll Group, the John Berggruen Gallery and the Pacific Art League, and is an art consultant to both corporations and individuals. She served on the board of the Women’s Caucus for Art, the Pacific Art League and the Petaluma Arts Council. She was the National Exhibitions Director for the Women’s Caucus for Art, is a member of ArtTable, the Northern California Representative for The Feminist Art Project, and Curator for UniteWomen.org.
To date Gutfreund has created over forty-five national exhibitions recent exhibitions include: JOY,Process,TheSpace Between, Agency: Feminist Art and Power, Deadlocked and Loaded: Disarming America , Not Normal: Art in the Age of Trump , and Embedded Message, Debating the Dream: Truth, JusticeandtheAmericanWay . She co-curated F213 , F*ckU!In theMostLovingWay , and ManasObject:ReversingtheGaze . She has been an exhibition director for dozens of exhibitions.
Karen is partner in Gutfreund Cornett Art, with curator Sherri Cornett, a curatorial partnership that creates art as activism exhibitions, with the motto “changing the world through art” with national touring exhibitions. GCA exhibitions included: BeyondBorders:Storiesofim/Migration , SocialJustice:ItHappenstoOne, HappenstoAll , Rise:Empower,ChangeandAction , Vision:AnArtist’sPerspective,What’sRight, What’sLeft:DemocracyinAmerica,Visural:Sight,SoundandAction.Gutfreund is a consultant to artists and documents and creates art catalogs for galleries and individual artists around the country, and frequently juries exhibitions, participates in panels and gives lectures and classes. Lastly, she is an artist and has exhibited extensively around the country. She has a BFA in Photographic Design and a BA in Art History, and studies towards a MA from New York University. Gutfreund has lived in all four corners of the United States and now lives on a ranch in the Sierra Foothills.
