More than 400 community friends of the arts gathered together at the newly renovated Athenaeum Music & Arts Library to celebrate the new exhibition space and to be “sidewalk art critics” of the 15th annual Juried Exhibition. The exhibition was juried by Stephanie Hanor, Ph.D., a curator at the Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego, and Roman de Salvo, a well-known and respected artist.
The Athenaeum exhibition has become one of the preeminent exhibitions in the area as evidenced by a record 250 entries submitted. The jurors selected works by 21 artists, and were keenly interested in presenting the entire body of work entered by each artist, up to five pieces each. Varied media including drawing, painting, sculpture and photography are shown.
First place went to a series of constructions by William Feeney. “Study for Goldfish” is a small, withered lemon rind embellished with tiny copper wires and wee wooded pegs on a wire standard, under a glass bell jar. His other pieces included a cardboard, graphic and foam core model of a house called “Model for Tract Home with Gun Turrets,” and a wooden two-seater sports car fashioned with scrap lumber pieces. Feeney teaches part-time at local community colleges and is employed as a finish carpenter. In 2003, he received a California Arts Council Grant in the Visual Arts.
K.V. Tomney received a BFA from San Diego State University. This is the fourth time his works have been judged for inclusion in the Athenaeum Juried Exhibit and he received the second-place honor for his series. Four framed minimal drawings, worked in pen and ink, polymer and aluminum powder, are displayed. The thin ink lines are a delightful contrast to the more bulging spheres of the aluminum powder in the shape of swimming pools, garden and a driveway approaching a garage.
A trio of whimsical drawings over-painted in medium tones are “landscapes” reflecting the flat earth and big sky country of the Texas landscape completed by Becky Turner, who said, “I am obsessed with the horizontal line.” She has rendered takeoffs on “Don Quixote,” a “Little Robot” and a delightful little piece titled “Tooth.” The jurors gave her third place for her drawings and paintings.
Three artists were awarded Honorable Mention.
Dan Adams’ passion is painting small dogs in varying moods on small canvases. To emphasize the beefiness of the dogs, he wields a heavy impasto brush in oils on small 8-by-10-inch canvases. A series of four large canvases, 40-by-60-inches, in mixed media emphasizing “tongue-in-cheek” statements with head portraits of wild and varied mixed-up colors and writings by Tim Caton also received an Honorable Mention. Caton is mostly self-taught, but has taken classes from Athenaeum art instructor Reed Cardwell. Caton’s works were selected previously in the 11th Athenaeum Exhibition.
The other Honorable Mention went to Bradley Streeper with a composite latex enameled paint on 25 12-by-12-inch panels. The contemporary wall piece is reminiscent of a 1970s abstract.
Additional pieces that make this an exciting and interesting exhibition include a working clock created by the incomparable Kraig Cavanaugh, whose timepiece is fashioned from highway media consisting of yellow caution signs and ladders with their orange dividers, and topped with light-sensitive blinker street caution lights. The black hands of the clock are placed askew on the large diamond caution sign. It’s a great conversation piece.
Two large acrylic-on-wood panels of beach scenes painted by Timothy L. Taylor are eerily realistic. At first they appear to be colored photographs, but are extremely realistic paintings of La Jolla beach-goers and their paraphernalia.
Other artists exhibiting include Valerie Abe, Jeanne Dunn, Lisa Franek of La Jolla, Steve Gibson, Luisa Greenfield, May-Ling Martinez, Patricia Mercado, Michelle Montjoy, Lawrence Veit, Lisa Venditelli, Stephanie Walker and Ralph Webb.
The jurors said the high quality of the art speaks well of the San Diego art community.
The 15th annual Juried Exhibition closes Sept. 2. The Athenaeum Music & Arts Library, 1008 Wall St., is open Tuesday through Saturday, 10 a.m. to 5 pm., with extended hours on Wednesday until 8 p.m. For information, call (858) 454-5872.
