LA JOLLA — About once a month the La Jolla Library at 7555 Draper St. features a different artist’s work as an exhibition. It’s held in the community room, which is through the first door on the right as you enter the library. The community room is a large space with a high vaulted ceiling and hanging chandeliers. It also sees duty as a space for classes, movies, and music events. So far the library’s art shows in the community room have been informal. Artists have approached the library and, if approved, have been allowed to show their work. But now the Friends of the Library have created an art committee, headed by Arlene Powers, and they have ambitious plans to make the library’s art shows even bigger and better. According to Powers, who is the vice president of the Friends and chairman of the Art Committee “We are going to be improving and embellishing the community room for art exhibits and by early next year our art exhibitions are going to become even more exciting and wonderful,” she said. The library art show currently running (through Aug. 31) features the work of La Jolla artist Scott Wright. Wright is a building contractor by day who turned to art at the age of 50 as a way to relax and de-stress, under orders from his doctor. Scott does wonderful small drawings of exotic fish that he calls “Doodle Fish” and larger 3-foot-by-4-foot watercolor paintings of fish, sea turtles and sea birds, as well as abstract images. At the reception for the artist on Aug. 17, there were about 50 people present, nibbling on tasty deli tidbits and sipping wine. Many of Wright’s friends and associates were there and it was overwhelmingly apparent that Wright is a very popular and well-loved individual. Wright was born in 1952 in Sugar Pine, California, just outside of Yosemite National Park. He said he comes from an old logging family. “My great grandfather was the engineer on ‘Old Betsy,’ the train that brought logs out of Yosemite before it became a National Park,” Wright said. “My grandmother was born right on the grounds of the park.” When Wright was 3 years old, his family moved to San Francisco, and then later to the Monterey/Carmel area. By the age of nine, Wright had drawn more than 300 different birds, because even as a child he loved nature and wildlife. After college, Wright went to work on the Alaska Pipeline. When he came home, he apprenticed and learned all aspects of the building trades. About 24 years ago he came to La Jolla to visit his twin brother and decided to stay. He opened a building contractor business, which he calls “The Wright Company.” So far, Wright has built more than 300 homes in La Jolla, including Bill Black’s (builder of the paved road down to Black’s Beach) home at Neptune and Belvedere. He has also constructed nine La Jolla restaurants, including The French Pastry Shop, and has been involved in the remodeling of The Spot and Jose’s Mexican Restaurant. By the time he was 52, he had sold five examples of his work to The San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. Every evening after work, Wright comes home, goes to his study, and gets to work on art. It’s his main way to relax and has contributed to improved overall health. Wright said his goal with art is “to create ethereal artistic images constructed with a contractor’s eye for precision, design, and detail. My images are based on my own experience and perception of life’s flow. They come from a place where inner calm and aware states co-exist. With my art I am immersing myself in tranquility, searching for light, life and movement.” Wright loves to work with the color aqua. “I like aqua because it is a color that calms people down,” he said. He thinks that “everybody is an artist; you just have to calm down enough to do it.” Interestingly enough, Wright does not advocate taking lessons or going to art classes. “If you don’t take lessons then you won’t be polluted by other peoples’ opinions and views,” he said. Although he loves all art, Wright said no one has influenced him at all except, perhaps, local artist Sharon Hinckley, who once told him, “If you draw something that’s difficult — a hundred times — you will become a good artist.” For further information about Scott Wright see www.The RightArt.com or call (619) 252-1111. You can reach the La Jolla Library at (858) 552-1657.
