{"id":250956,"date":"2016-11-04T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2016-11-04T07:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sdnews.com\/exhibit-celebrates-the-elegance-of-nature-in-the-animal-kingdom\/"},"modified":"2016-11-04T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2016-11-04T07:00:00","slug":"exhibit-celebrates-the-elegance-of-nature-in-the-animal-kingdom","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/exhibit-celebrates-the-elegance-of-nature-in-the-animal-kingdom\/","title":{"rendered":"Exhibit \u2018celebrates the elegance of nature in the animal kingdom\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

Por Luc\u00eda Viti<\/p>\n

Uptown residents Greg Bada, Stephanie Clair, Monica Hui Hekman, Amy Paul and Kelly Paige Standard will be among 32 area artists featured in \u201cAnimalia\/A Group Show,\u201d opening Nov. 12 at Sparks Gallery.<\/p>\n

The eclectic array of Southern California talent will exhibit oil and watercolor paintings, iron and marble works, and photography and archival prints that synergize the real and imaginary world of animals.<\/p>\n

\u201c\u2018Animalia\u2019 celebrates the elegance of nature in the animal kingdom through our local artists’ eyes,\u201d said Sonya Sparks, owner of Sparks Gallery. \u201c\u2018Animalia\/A Group Show\u2019 will bring together artists and collectors who share a mutual passion for supporting animals in their own way.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"kelly-paige-standard-reverence\"<\/a>
Uptown artist Kelly Paige Standard is represented in the \u201cAnimalia\/A Group Show\u201d exhibit by her painting, \u201cReverence.\u201d (Courtesy of Olive PR Solutions)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The dimension of each North Park artist is to say the least, impressive.<\/p>\n

Amy Paul works as an artist and a teacher touting a 15-year tenure at Mesa College while owning and running Pigment, a \u201cunique, design-driven gift store\u201d in North Park. Paul\u2019s piece, a pastel-white, acrylic-on-wood tiger, is square-framed with a textured matting. Inspired by the animal\u2019s symbolism \u2014 fierce and passionate \u2014 the piece serves as a totem. Paul tapped into animal totems after the death of her grandmother. Heartbroken by her loss, birds came to symbolize guardians.\u00a0\u201cI imagined birds as couriers helping to negotiate the transition from this world to the next,\u201d she said. \u201cFor me, \u2018Animalia\u2019 is an exercise in portraiture that channeled my interest in animals as spiritual guides for my loved ones.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAmy\u2019s work is interesting,\u201d Sparks said. \u201cLike so many of our artists, Amy\u2019s half-artist, half-business woman. Most of our artists have day jobs or they\u2019re entrepreneurs.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"amy-paul-color\"<\/a>
Local artist and teacher Amy Paul also owns and operates the Pigment gift shop in North Park. (Courtesy of Olive PR Solutions)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Paul praised Sparks for her vision, describing \u201cAnimalia\u201d as a show that serves to inspire artists while affording the local community an opportunity to engage with each other. \u201cSonya is a pioneer,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Greg Bada, a printmaker, engraves and etches on copper or zinc plates. Bada\u2019s collection of limited edition \u201cantiquated\u201d prints \u201cwalk in the footsteps of printmakers of centuries ago\u201d because the process has barely changed. The self-described vivid dreamer will exhibit a print inspired by his young son while enjoying the flamingos at the San Diego Zoo.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy son remarked that it would be cool to ride a flamingo,\u201d Bada said. \u201cInspired by the childlike-dream of riding an exotic bird, I drew a vague interpretation of my wife in a feathered outfit riding a bird through a dreamlike world. I meticulously focused on the details of every feather on her garment as well the bird.\u201d<\/p>\n

Stephanie Clair\u2019s portrait painting of a family of giraffes is titled \u201cA Circle of Love.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI chose giraffes because my daughter is obsessed with them,\u201d she said. \u201cThe family circle represents me, my husband, my son and daughter but relates to all human and animal families. Families are the most important bond between all creatures. I connect the similarities between animals and people so that humans can relate to animals in a compassionate way to make sure they don\u2019t become endangered.\u201d<\/p>\n

Clair noted that the painting displays a hidden love message within the giraffe spots.<\/p>\n

Monica Hui Heckman will display a fabric collage of polar bears rolling in the snow \u2014 a behavior she found \u201cinteresting and fun.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cPolar bears are great fun!\u201d she said. \u201cMy illustration depicts them rolling in the snow \u2014 an interesting behavior that cleans their fur. My love for polar bears is part of my love for all animals.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hui Hekman\u2019s process begins with researching the subject, sketching and forming a ceramic sculpture used as a reference for a computer illustration that\u2019s patterned as a collage, printed out in pieces, attached to fabrics, cut accordingly and sewn together on a sewing machine. The multimedia artist learned to sew from her grandmother, who was a seamstress.<\/p>\n

Kelly Paige Standard is a portrait painter inspired by \u201cmood and emotion.\u201d Drawn to a \u201cfull spectrum of ideas\u201d that she \u201csmashes\u201d into a visually appealing narrative, Standard is driven by hope.<\/p>\n

\u201cInspirations are emotions that are too hard to express in any other way,\u201d she said. \u201cPeople call my paintings lonely, but I always have hope.\u201d<\/p>\n

Standard\u2019s painting harmonizes elements of the artistic masters. \u201cThe pose is reminiscent of a John Singer Sargent piece,\u201d she continued. \u201cThe contrast between the light and dark is a feature that Giorgio de Chirico played with; the background is inspired by Richard Stein greeting cards and his book of fun doodles, but mostly the piece stems from Kahlil Gibran, the author of \u2018The Prophet\u2019 who wrote, \u2018For thought is a bird of space, that in a cage of words may indeed unfold its wings but it cannot fly.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Standard said she wanted the portrait\u2019s subject to look like she was toiling over something while holding the key to the cage and the ability to \u201clet it go.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cKelly Page has been in the art world for a long time,\u201d Sparks said. \u201cKelly\u2019s art has gorgeous craftsmanship, is rich with intense colors and beautiful color schemes with strong pinks that define her style. Her show piece has an interesting green pallet.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"screen-shot-2016-11-03-at-2-01-38-pm\"<\/a>Sparks chose artistic pieces based on visual aesthetics, craftsmanship and the ability of each piece to work well together. \u201cWhen curating a show, we line up pieces to see how well they work with each other,\u201d she said. \u201cWe look for energy, technique, flow, shape and movement plus quality craftsmanship and aesthetic appeal.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sparks noted that while excited about the overwhelming talent of each artist, her driving force is to \u201cpromote the local art community and their vision of how they see the animal kingdom.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2014Contact Lucia Viti at luciaviti@roadrunner.com.<\/em><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Lucia Viti Uptown residents Greg Bada, Stephanie Clair, Monica Hui Hekman, Amy Paul and Kelly Paige Standard will be among 32 area artists featured in \u201cAnimalia\/A Group Show,\u201d opening Nov. 12 at Sparks Gallery. The eclectic array of Southern California talent will exhibit oil and watercolor paintings, iron and marble works, and photography and […]<\/p>","protected":false},"author":796,"featured_media":250957,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"11555","_seopress_titles_title":"Exhibit \u2018celebrates the elegance of nature in the animal kingdom\u2019","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"jnews_override_counter":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[11549,11547,11551,11555],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-250956","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-arts-entertainment","category-features","category-news","category-uptown-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/250956","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/796"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=250956"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/250956\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/250957"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=250956"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=250956"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=250956"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}