Amy Thornberry Takes on a World of Color and Pattern

Posted on by Diversions LA

Currently exhibiting a solo collection in Transformations, now at Diversions Fine Arts, artist Amy Thornberry works with a sense of devotion and delight in her creative work, viewing the manipulations of her materials as a playful way to pray and meditate, while transforming basic elements of paper and pigment and other mediums into beautiful creativity. Saying that she views her works as “portals into places where we may pause, wonder, and reflect,” she also relates that her knowledge of the Buddhist practice of tonglen – sending and taking –  remnds her of the ways in which, through art “we can move from the dark into the light.”

Her work dances with that light, with color, and with pattern and texture that is both exultant and lush. Asked what inspires her the most as an artist, Thornberry replies that “the nature of being, art history, current events, history, nature, and beauty” are all inspirations for her, as are both art materials and found objects. In short, both material and meaning are the core and purpose of her artwork.

Her practice has evolved over the years, resulting in many dynamic changes to the work, which is currently awash in layers, and dreamily vivid. “I used to lash out like say Franz Kline. Very fast and I had no patience to mix colors,” she relates. “Now I tinker and massage a surface endlessly.  I went to the opposite extreme of perhaps too much patience,” she laughs.

“There was a time when I had a complete aversion to making paintings and I only wanted to make installation pieces. I liked hanging and using the entire space which I think came from my background as a theater, set maker, and movie set maker. And  with my background as a competitive swimmer, I had so much physicality. I felt very confined with just a rectangle, and I think this latest body of work the framed shadowbox grew out of a way of processing that.”

Her insightful and meditative work is at least in part a result of the fact that she “thinks a lot in between studio sessions about pieces and my next steps usually come to me early in the morning, upon waking or when I am practicing yoga.”

She says that having “renounced panic” she has also “developed a love of mixed neurtrals and pastel colors,” a palette that her “younger self did not prefer.”

Thornberry works in a variety of mediums. “I use water-based paints as well as oil paints but no solvents, just linseed oil and marble dust. I also love, love, love cutting into work as well, and collaging with other papers and fabrics. I have a huge collection of fabrics and papers. ” She adds that “lately I have been craving drawing as well with colored pencil, conte or ink…I have a love a little bling and metallic shine.”

Thematically, she explains that she’s “a very protective mama bear/big sister and cannot NOT think [and] be influenced by things I find unjust or hurtful to humanity. Making art and getting lost, creating reverie, is a way I think to make sense of things, to process them, and to transform them.”

According to the artist, “I guess its a therapeutic way to use my love of formalism and materiality.” She jokes that she is “very practical,” after all.

That said, she attests that “My aim is for this reverie and creation of a refuge if you will, [one that exists] not only during the making of the work but for as long as it can be looked upon. Staring at art is so much easier than dealing with all the remote controls and trying to decide what to watch on all the streaming services. I am a joking a little,” she says, adding that these are her honest feelings about art, and observation.

In short, Thornberry recognizes the poetry and purpose of art as having a deeper import and more peaceful and involving outcome in viewing it than endlessly watching streaming “content.” Art is far deeper than content: it is creation, and a profound one for her.

With that in mind, she is currently “reorganizing my life in order to move to a bigger studio and work on some larger
canvases,”  a plan and move that she is very excited about pursuing.

She hopes viewers of her work can see that “even [having] one art piece hanging in their home is like a mini-opera or a taking trip. Support your artist friends, buy their work, and sit back and enjoy the show and trip.” In other words, vacation and immerse yourself every day if you wish, simply by owning a beautiful work of art, and taking a lifetime filled with imaginative and fascinating visceral travel through the mind, eye, and soul.

Viewers can certainly start their travels with Thornberry April 11th through May 3rd at Diversions Fine Arts Gallery, 1069 N. Aviation Blvd. in Manhattan Beach, or reach out to her directly for a studio visit to explore her dazzlingly delightful and layered work.

  • Genie Davis; photos by Genie Davis and provided by the artist

Transformations Are Headed Your Way

Posted on by Diversions LA

Transformations features the work of three stellar artists offering abstract works as unique as each artist.  Opening this weekend at Diversions Fine Arts Gallery,  Amy Thornberry, Connie Saddlemire, and Sharon Weiner each present stunningly original visions of vibrant art that speak to the promise of change, delight, and insightful gaze.

Thornberry manipulates her mixed media and painted materials into portals that cause pause, wonder, and reflection.

Drawn to the Buddhist practice of tonglen, which means both sending and taking, through her art she moves viewers from the dark into the light with often ethereal, layered, and vividly colorful works that dance with meaning and a magical sense of motion. Working with elements of collage, acrylic paint, and layers, each piece resonates a sense of both inner peace and mysterious renewal.

To experience Saddlemire’s complex, geometrically abstract work is like entering a mesmerizing and intricate puzzle or taking a step into a brilliantly ordered wonderland.

Experimentation and innovation lead her into a world that’s filled with compelling change and woven patterns that each explore a special story. Her photography is exceptional and precise, creating a painterly sense of pattern and perfection.

Sharon Weiner’s abstracts are alive with light and color, lush and shifting, embodying both sensation and thought. As an artist, she gives form to her own lived experiences and to a profound sense of awareness itself.

Describing her work as visualizing self-revelation, viewers will find her work calls to and reveals meaningful emotions within themselves. These are astonishing works, some large in scale, some small, each unfolding like the petals of a flower or the colors of the universe as seen from space.

Both individually and combined, these artists’ works embody every transformation that April promises, unfolding a sense of awe, waiting to embrace each viewer with joy, and as T.S. Eliot wrote “…mixing/Memory and desire, stirring.”

It’s a time to celebrate new growth, and a time to remember the past. A time for Transformations. In today’s fraught environment, isn’t it time to transform? Bringing the color, light, texture, and emotion of these splendid works close is a tonic for these times.

 

The exhibition is on view starting Saturday April 11th, with a reception from 4-7 p.m.; the artist’s talk and closing will be May 3rd from 1-3 p.m., with regular gallery hours 12-4 Thursday-Sunday or by appointment.  Diversions Fine Arts is located at 1069 N. Aviation Blvd. in Manhattan Beach.

  • Genie Davis; photos by Genie Davis and as provided by the artists

 

The Debut of Diversions Fine Arts Welcomes the Springtide

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The Debut of Diversions Fine Arts Welcomes the Springtide – by Juri Koll 

On the sunny afternoon of March 14th,  Diversions Fine Arts Gallery made its debut in Manhattan Beach.

Springtide, curated and hung beautifully by Genie Davis, is the gallery’s opening exhibition, and opening day spilled the packed, engaged, smiling audience out onto the front and back entrances of the three-room space. The gallery is a welcome addition to the art world, and to Davis’ reputation as an astute, keenly observant, eloquent writer for the arts community and beyond.

26 artists graced the rooms with consistently exuberant color and depth, whether extroverted or introspective. We’ve had the good fortune of knowing many of them and supporting their work, so it was a pleasure to see artist friends and neighbors back together and meet new creators.

Artists showing are:
Linda Sue Price, Dave Clark, Jeffrey Sklan, Kaye Freeman, Danielle Eubank,  Scott Trimble, Bernard Fallon, Karen Doyle, Jennifer Chan, Rebecca Hamm, Glenn Waggner, Michael Stearns, Karen Hochman Brown ,Stephanie Sydney, Judy Herman, Nurit Avesar, Dellis Frank, Nancy Mooslin, Skye Amber Sweet, Esperanza Deese, Linda Stelling, Annie Marini-Genzon,  Beth Elliott, Caron G Rand, Lydia Nakashima Degarrod, Christina Shurts, Oana Gamlowski.

The theme of Springtide reflects it’s author – optimistic, insightful, looking forward to the blossoming of new original things. From crisp blue green ocean, (Danielle Eubank, Scott Trimble, Esperanza Deese) to butterflies on the wing (Karen Hochman Brown)…

…to gorgeous flowers (Jeffrey Sklan, Annie Marini-Genzon, Linda Stelling,  Glenn Waggner, Sky Amber Sweet, Nancy Mooslin), birds (Beth Elliott), a colorfully uniquely fresh portrait of a rooster from Hawaii (Oana Gamlowski), and what could be lush bird nest sculptures (Lydia Nakashima Degarood). In short,  there is something vivid and compelling on every wall.

There is another gem from Stephanie Sydney, a photographic composite in the grand tradition of Edmund Teske, Jerry Uelsmann, and other ground-breaking artists …

…and a Dave Clark totem freshly carved and polished in his unique, lyric style.

Abstract neon artist Linda Sue Price’s cheer opens the show at the front window, beckoning us inside; another motion filled piece welcomes viewers toward the gallery’s second room.

Michael Stearns has often combined the spherical with the liquid, the ethereal, the elemental. In his work here, comprised of luminous blues, sharp rotational accents of yellows, greens and reds, the blues hover and swirl out of a special place – earth, air, fire, water. He continuously excels at his gift of guiding us to our real soul.

Springtide is a show you must see if you’re anywhere near So Cal from now until April 4,  when the show closes with an artist talk from 1-3 p.m.

Visit Diversions Fine Arts Gallery, 1069 N. Aviation Blvd. just off the 405 in Manahttan Beach, 12-4 p.m. Thursday through Sunday or by appt: info@diversionsfineart.com or Diversionsfineart.com.

  • Juri Koll
    Director/Curator, Venice Institute of Contemporary Art (ViCA)

The Venice Institute of Contemporary Art (ViCA) is devoted to identifying, protecting and sustaining the unique stories, history and culture of one of the most important centers of American independent artistic expression, presenting the art world from the perspective of its artists, writers, curators, collectors, and the art viewing public.

Springtide is Surging Save the Date

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Springtide is Surging Save the Date – Genie Davis

Opening March 14th at the brand new Diversions Fine Arts Gallery in Manhattan Beach, Springtide is a verdant collection of spring, sea, and seasonally sweet dreams bursting with beauty and energy.

This inclusive new gallery space opens with a group exhibition featuring a wide range of local, national, and international artists working in oil, acrylic, watercolor, mixed media, neon, sculpture, and photography.

The beautifully immersive waters of Springtide include artists:

Linda Sue Price * Dave Clark * Jeffrey Sklan * Kaye Freeman * Danielle Eubank *  Scott Trimble * Bernard Fallon * Karen Doyle * Jennifer Chan * Rebecca Hamm * Glenn Waggner * Michael Stearns * Karen Hochman Brown * Stephanie Sydney *   Judy Herman * Nurit Avesar * Dellis Frank * Nancy Mooslin * Skye Amber Sweet * Esperanza Deese * Linda Stelling * Annie Marini-Genzon *  Beth Elliott * Caron G Rand * Lydia Nakashima Degarrod * Christina Shurts 

 The exhibition explores each artist’s vision of spring, its colors, its flora and fauna, its textures, and the promise of resilience and rebirth this season carries from sea to shore, from perfect petals to wild wind.

                                     Maybe it is the springtide. I am so happy I am afraid.

                                    The sense of living fills me with exultation. I want to sing,

                                    to dance; I am dithyrambic with delight.

— Robert William Service

 

Danielle Eubank brings a vibrant painting of calm, aqua Santa Barbara waters to gallery, while Scott Trimble exhibits a wildly surging green sea.

Jeffrey Sklan’s photographic flowers dance besides Glenn Waggner’s painted blooms.

A dark blue pool surrounds ecstatically floating flowers from Annie Marini – Genzon; a dazzlingly abstracted blue “Bloom” unfolds from Linda Stelling, and an electrifying bouquet shimmers from Skye Amber Sweet.

 

Sculptural works include delicate orbs from Lydia Nakashima Degarood…

Intensely alive and motion-filled forms arrive from Dave Clark, while neon dances from Linda Sue Price’s glowing abstract.

 

There is a jubilant image recalling a Greek spring from Christina Shurts, vibrant and edgily floral work from Kaye Freeman, and enchanted swirls of emerald from Jennifer Chan.

Karen Doyle takes viewers to a fecund purple and blue landscape while Bernard Fallon directs us to a serene seaside coffee shop.

Rebecca Hamm and Michael Stearns each offer unique, lustrous abstract depths filled with watery wonder.

Karen Hochman Brown takes viewers on the wings of a lush butterfly, while Nancy Mooslin leads us in the sunlit Irish woods.

Esperanza Deese playfully expores the Palos Verdes shoreline, and Judy Herman dreamily takes us on a starlit train ride.

Dellis Frank and Nurit Avesar each bring viewers into very different abstract worlds that pulse with color.

Stephanie Sydney creates an entirely new dimension in her glowy mixed media work, while Caron G Rand offers a circular twinned image that dazzles with complexity.

To truly experience all these unique images, each explosive with the energy and passion of spring, be sure to join us for the arrival of Springtide. Isn’t it time to explore the beauty of art that grows and gives joy all year long?

The exhibition opens Saturday, March 14th from 4-7 p.m. (pies for pi day not forgotten!) at Diversions Fine Arts Gallery, 1069 N. Aviation Blvd. just off the 405 in Manahttan Beach. Disclaimer, I had the pleasure of curating this gorgeous show.

  • Genie Davis; photos provided by the artists