{"id":228357,"date":"2015-10-16T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2015-10-16T07:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sdnews.com\/let-it-rainmaker\/"},"modified":"2015-10-16T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2015-10-16T07:00:00","slug":"let-it-rainmaker","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/let-it-rainmaker\/","title":{"rendered":"Let it \u2018Rainmaker\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

Por Jeff Clemetson | Editor<\/p>\n

Area artists featured in library exhibit<\/strong><\/p>\n

One hundred years ago, San Diego was experiencing a situation that today\u2019s residents feel all too familiar with \u2013\u2013 severe drought. Out of desperation, the city council of the time hired Charles Hatfield, a self-proclaimed \u201cmoisture accelerator\u201d with an uncanny record of success.<\/p>\n

The result of the city\u2019s desperate act became known as \u201cHatfield\u2019s Flood\u201d because whether through Hatfield\u2019s rain-making process or by a plain, old act of nature, more than 30 inches of rain fell in a period of four weeks resulting in homes and bridges being wiped out, dams collapsing and farming communities being swept away.<\/p>\n

\"An<\/a>
An art piece that captures the rain by Jim Wilsterman on display at the San Diego City Library.
(Foto por Jeff Clemetson)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In the spirit of Hatfield\u2019s time and with our own drought looming large in our consciousness, the Art Gallery on the ninth floor of the San Diego Library is presenting \u201cRainmaker\u201d \u2013\u2013 a collection of works by 12 artists that focuses on themes of water, drought, history and the future which runs through Nov. 29. Two of the featured artists have strong ties to East County and are known for their works involving water and rain.<\/p>\n

Capturing raindrops<\/strong><\/p>\n

Even if you are not familiar with his name, almost everyone in the eastern parts of San Diego county is familiar with Jim Wilsterman\u2019s art. Driving down state Route 125 near Grossmont College, where Wilsterman works as a sculpture professor, you can\u2019t help but notice one of his more public art pieces \u2013\u2013 the cloud-adorned water tower used by the Helix and Padre Dam water districts.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe people in this area are the only people who can see where their water comes from in San Diego because they can see the clouds over the mountains and that rain goes directly into the water system. So the clouds on the tank were about that,\u201d said Wilsterman, adding that the tank\u2019s unusual color was also a conscious decision.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe other thing we did, that was an environmental thing, was not paint it, which a lot of people didn\u2019t understand, but by not painting, it saved the amount of pollution that 100 cars put out in a year,\u201d he said.\u201d That\u2019s how much volatiles are in the paint that they have to use on water tanks.\u201d<\/p>\n

Instead of painting the water tank a traditional sky blue, the design team used a metal alloy of copper and iron that prevents rusting on the inside and also gives it its unique color on the outside, which starts out a rusty color but will turn to an earthy brown-black over time, he said.<\/p>\n

The earthy tones of the water tank are very similar to the look of the pieces Wilsterman created for the Rainmaker exhibit. The long, rectangular, steel-framed, glass cases in the library art gallery hold what appears, at first, to be pieces of the earth recently battered by a rain storm. However, the pieces are actually created by allowing rain to fall on a smooth pulp made from the fiber used in auto filters and paper money.<\/p>\n

\u201cI wanted to capture rain directly, the impact of rain on the earth,\u201d he said. \u201cWhen I first did it, I thought it didn\u2019t work because it would just be a puddle of water. So I pushed it aside and let it dry and as it sunk down the craters stayed.\u201d<\/p>\n

Wilsterman\u2019s interest in capturing the rain started with noticing the effects rain had on the earth following local fires. \u201cMy concern was, right after we had those fires, the effects that fire and development has had on the area and the cycles of regeneration that occurs after rain finally comes.\u201d<\/p>\n

After the rain makes its effect on the pulp mixture, Wilsterman uses ash and soil from the scorched earth to give his pieces their color. He also sometimes uses items he finds from the fires, such as burnt feathers, melted firefighter badges, coins and other debris. But even without the added elements to the pieces, the raindrops themselves create stunning images.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s pretty interesting. There are infinite variations because the rains are never the same. Sometimes there will be just three drops or four drops and others I have to pull out of the rain because it would just flood the piece.\u201d<\/p>\n

All of Wilsterman\u2019s works are dated with the day they were exposed to rain and in the past he even kept track of the amount of rainfall there was to a particular storm, the duration of the storm and other data, but he stopped sharing that information because he didn\u2019t want the public to look on his art in a scientific way.<\/p>\n

\"\u201cDrought<\/a>
\u201cDrought Dreams\u201d by Sheldon Wood (Photo by Jeff Clemetson)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cTo me, when people look at this, I want them to experience it as a visual thing, a tactile thing,\u201d he said. \u201cI want people to respond to this in a more emotive way.\u201d<\/p>\n

Besides his rain-capture art and the water tank, Wilsterman has created other water-related projects including the Pacific Beach Library seashells, art for a park in La Costa that deals with water and an exhibit demonstrating the difference between modern lo-flow and 1970\u2019s toilets.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt had a button kids could press to flush it and it had little Mylar fish swimming around,\u201d he said. \u201cIt was cute, but it got the point across.\u201d<\/p>\n

Getting his point across about our dry environment and how our water use effects it is one of the main reasons he creates the art that he does.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m trying to get people to think about our environment and our rain cycles here,\u201d he said. \u201cI grew up here so I\u2019m used to not having a lot of rain. I think a lot of people that live here are not from here so they are not used to our chaparral environment. Up until recently, they wanted to put in big lawns and try and make the environment something it wasn\u2019t.\u201d<\/p>\n

3D watercolor<\/strong>\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

San Carlos artist Sheldon Wood has been producing art in one form or another her entire life but only in the last five years has she participated in the juried competitions at the San Diego Art Institute that got her discovered by Susan Myrland, the curator of the Rainmaker exhibit.<\/p>\n

For Rainmaker, Myrland chose Wood\u2019s piece titled, \u201cDrought Dreams.\u201d<\/p>\n

The art piece was created by layering large watercolor paintings on top of each other and then carving away pieces to \u201csee what\u2019s interesting\u201d inside, said Wood.<\/p>\n

Wood said she drew inspiration for this series of 3D watercolors from artist Maya Lin, who is known for her design of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, as well as trips to the thermal pools in Yellowstone National Park.<\/p>\n

\u201cOver time I became interested in problems of water and the lack thereof,\u201d she said. \u201cDrought Dreams\u201d was the first in a series of 12 art pieces that relate to water, she said.<\/p>\n

Besides the abstract watercolor series, Wood also paints oil on panel \u201cin a realistic manner.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cMy focus is on human interaction with the natural environment,\u201d she said, adding that she draws inspiration from art museums, books, travel and \u201ctaking pictures of interesting sites for possible artwork subject matter.\u201d<\/p>\n

Wood spent 15 years working as a graphic artist before turning to fine arts. In addition to her travels and her painting, she also volunteers as an art docent and reading tutor for the Santee School District.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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