Intense and Powerful Work from Painter Sharon Weiner

Posted on by Diversions LA

Explosive and spiritual, intense and meditative, Sharon Weiner‘s vibrant art is a sensory experience. Currently exhibiting her work at Diversions Fine Arts, as an abstract painter, Weiner says that sheidentifies with many of the postwar American transcendental abstract artists, like Mark Rothko and Ross Bleckner.

Her technique is entirely her own, building layers of poured acrylic paint and acrylic medium. The organic shapes she forms envelop the viewer before melding into the deep space of a smooth, shining surface. Her subjects are born from both her imagination and the natural environment, reflecting her own belief in the importance of having a voice in the world.

“I am inspired predominantly by nature: oceans, mountains, the cosmos. There’s this shape that just stays with me in my work that reminds me of a mountain or a wave,” she relates. Indeed, Weiner’s work has elements that appear both liquid and vast.

“I’ve always been an abstract painter. One thing that’s changed [recently for me] is the addition of working with Yupo paper. I work in a similar way on paper to my work on canvas, with very different results allowing me to express things that I can’t do with canvas, allowing me a certain freedom and lightness,” she explains.

Her mediums are acrylic paint, acrylic ink, and water based spray paint on both canvas and paper, and regardless of the exact medium she uses, she finds that she is “always excited to see what is going to develop in my work.”

She stresses that no matter what the specific subject, color palette, or size of her work – which ranges from small to vast, “my art allows me to connect to my spirituality and has given me a voice.”

Following her show at Diversions Fine Arts, Weiner will be a part of an exhibition at 515 in DTLA’s Bendix Building in June.

But as to her art itself, it remains a part of the universe, a celestial series that speaks to space, light, color, and the promise of a new worlds unfolding.

View Weiner’s work at Diversions Fine Arts through May 3rd at 1069 N. Aviation Blvd., Manhattan Beach.

  • Genie Davis; photos provided by the artist

Connie Saddlemire: Mesmerizing Abstraction

Posted on by Diversions LA

Abstract artist Connie Saddlemire delves deep into intuitive, fascinating abstraction.  Saddlemire is currently exhibiting a body of her recent work at Diversions Fine Arts Gallery, work that is inspired by “Things that I see, either in nature, or man made— colors, textures, shapes and patterns, particularly linear patterns.  I especially like the look of manmade things that have been affected by time and weather.”

Her printmaking, photographic, and complete art process has shifted over time. “I switched from making representational images to doing abstraction when I was in college, in about 1968.  I was fully committed to abstraction by the time I started grad school for art, in 1976. In grad school my work became more minimal and I started making images made up entirely of lines drawn with a crow quill pen.  That was before I had ever seen Agnes Martin’s work.  People ask me if she was an influence on my artwork and I say ‘No, because I was already making my linear images before I saw her work.’ But I know that she was the pioneer who paved the way to make it ok for me to do what I do.  The work I do today is more complex, though, even if it appears relatively simple.”

Saddlemire’s work has evolved in part due to the circustances of her life, as well as “happenstance, such as meeting master printer, Sue Oehme, who introduced me to Solarplate printing.  Solarplates are metal plates with a photosensitive coating.  The artist exposes black and white images— that are either photographic or drawn by hand— onto the photosensitive plate and that image on the plate is inked up and printed the same way etchings are inked up and printed,” she explains.

According to the artist, around that same time, she was invited to take a class with a friend in altered photography, something she pursued for awhile, realizing that she could “expose some altered photos onto Solarplates.” This is the process she now currently has on display.

Saddlemire reveals that her prefered medium is printmaking. “I fell in love with printmaking when I was in college, in my junior year.  Things just came together in my work like they hadn’t done before.  I really feel that printmaking chose me… that I was made to be a printmaker.  It’s how I think and what I love to do,” she attests.

“Thematically the images I’ve been making since 2020 started with a photo of corrugated Corten steel and are very linear.  But I’ve recently purchased a new set of 5 plates that are also photosensitive but they’re a different brand of plate that is higher quality than Solarplate and captures more detail.” Saddlemire adds that “The most significant difference is that they’re almost 4 times as big as my Solarplates were.  So I’m now working bigger and the images I’m creating have more 3D dimensionality. ”

Her images are still made from photos of corrugated Corten steel and still linear, however she is now printing both horizontally and vertically to create plaid.  “Crazy I know, but I’m going on 78 years old and I’ve reached the slightly rebellious ‘why the hell not?’ stage of my life… and the plaid images are really pretty fascinating, especially with the 3D thing going on. Continuing this new exploration is what excites me for the near future.”

Also exciting are upcoming plans for an exhibition in Maine, and in Basalt, Colorado, after her show in Manhattan Beach.

Her work is technically and visually innovative. “I don’t know anyone else who has been making prints from altered photos for the past 6 years. There have also been other techniques that I’ve ‘thought up’ on my own over the years.  It’s part of my particular way of being creative,” she says.

Another part of her creative process is based upon how much she loves working with color. “I started layering translucent colors years ago and I love the unique and often surprising effects that I get from doing that.  It’s my biggest reason for  using the altered photos of corrugated Corten steel.” She notes that “I altered the photos to make plates with ‘lines,’ and spaces between the lines of varied widths, so when printed in sequence, with inks of different colors, the lines don’t land squarely on top of each other. The effects of that can be quite fascinating.”What inspires me?  Things that I see, either in nature, or man made— colors, textures, shapes and patterns, particularly linear patterns.  I especially like the look of man made things that have been affected by time and weather. Seeing the work of other artists also inspires me…  usually when it’s similar to the kind of imagery that I make.

These exciting works are especially striking in person. Saddlemire relates that “An artist friend of mine told me that she loved the way my work is very wabi-sabi.  I took that to primarily mean the embracing of imperfection, with the irregularity of the widths and spacing of the lines.  There’s an earthiness, as when both natural and manmade things show the wear of time and the elements.  I call it intentional randomness and happenstance, with the hope of serendipity!  And that, to me at least, can be seen as a metaphor for life.”

It’s a valuable and lovely metaphor indeed when visualized by Saddlemire. Her work at Diversions Fine Arts is on view April 11 through May 3rd at 1069 N. Aviation Blvd. in Manhattan Beach.

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

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