By Bonny Zanardi
February is a month rich with opportunities to enjoy a variety of art experiences.
Primarily people
Works by Jean Polk and Jane Henri are featured through the end of February at the City Arts of San Mateo Gallery at Peninsula Ballet Theatre.
Polk creates her works primarily in watercolor, although she notes a recent venture into acrylics. She sees in art a kind of mystery. “When I encounter a subject that captures my interest, I begin to wonder what it would take to produce it in my style,” she notes.
Henri refers to her style of painting as “minor abstractions” as her works seem abstract until the viewer steps back and sees the “details at a distance.” She paints in watercolor, which she uses “the way most artists would use oil paint.” People are her favorite subject, her goal in each painting to create a story or memory.
The City Arts exhibit is curated by Dianne Whitaker. The gallery is at 1880 South Grant Street, San Mateo. Hours are 4:30 to 6:30 p.m. Mondays through Fridays and 9 a.m. to noon Saturdays. Visit www.cityartsofsanmateo.org.
Kaleidoscope
The group exhibition Kaleidoscope opens with a reception from 1 to 4 p.m. February 2 at Avenue 25 Gallery.
The featured artists are Edna Acri, Fred Aron, Patricia Brandt, Katinka Hartmetz, Xuan My Ho, Bjorn Kleemann, Susan Kraft, Sydell Lewis, Karen Olsen and Jean Thrift. All are associated with The Main Gallery.
“Puzzle Map,” a 2018 work by Katinka Hartmetz
Kaleidoscope is curated by Charles Anselmo. Avenue 25 Gallery is at 32 West 25th Avenue, San Mateo. Hours are 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. Mondays through Fridays. Contact the curator at 415-407-3870 or e-mail imagecuba@gmail.com
Collaboration
The Coastal Arts League Museum is featuring a Collaborating Artists Showcase through February 17. The exhibit features works by Kathie Martin, Abigail Murthy, Mark Murthy, Patt Sheldon, Ellen Silva and Linda Rutherford.
The museum is at 300 Main Street, Half Moon Bay. Hours are noon to 5 p.m. Thursdays through Mondays. Visit www.coastside-artists.com.
Enamels and paintings
Rhythm and Color opens February 5 at Gallery House. A reception for the exhibition will be held from 4 to 6 p.m. February 9.
The show features Heny Alikashani, who uses the ancient art of enamel to create jewelry and sculpture; Mara Catherine Sippel, who paints using simplified form to emphasize the interplay of color; and Nancy Wheeler, who creates abstract paintings, embracing images of science.
The exhibit will continue through March 2. Gallery House is at 320 S. California Avenue, Palo Alto. (Enter through Printer’s Café.) Hours are 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Tuesdays through Saturdays and 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Sundays. Call 650-326-1668.
Look up
The Palo Alto Art Center’s latest exhibition, The Sheltering Sky, invites viewers to look skyward through works encompassing time, climate change, the stars and notions of heaven.
The exhibit features a variety of works, including three site-specific installations by artists Sukey Bryan, Val Britton and Demetrius Oliver.
The show will be on view through April 7. The center is at 1313 Newell Road, Palo Alto. Hours are 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesdays through Saturdays, with evening hours until 9 p.m. Thursdays, and 1 to 5 p.m. Sundays. Call 650-329-2366.
Art Liaisons shows
Works by Brooke Baxter Howie, Jeff Straw and Melanie Yunk are featured in an exhibit at Wine Gallery, 890 Laurel Street, San Carlos.
A show at Galerie Mistral features Kat Bergman, Salma Kandil, Teresa Beyer and Fred Aron. Mistral Restaurant is at 370 Bridge Parkway in Redwood Shores.
Both exhibits will continue through April. They are curated by Gail Sjoman. Call 650-596-0868 or visit www.artliaisons.com.
Congratulations!
Jann Pollard, an artist who taught classes for several years at Filoli and led numerous painting expeditions in Europe, has had one of her paintings, Pont Neuf, accepted into an exhibition at the Grand Palais in Paris.
Her work was done, she says, “much like a batik, using wax on the rice paper to retain edges.”
The exhibit will be on view from February 12-17 in Salon 2019, featuring drawings and paintings in watercolor.
In French
Visual artist Fleur Spolidor offers art classes in French for adults and children. Her studio, number 233, is at 1700 Industrial Road, San Carlos.
E-mail artefleur@gmail.com or call 650-293-7851.
Getting grants
The San Mateo County Arts Commission is presenting A Grants Writing Workshop: The Ins and Outs of Writing a Grant Proposal by Karen Rapp, Assistant Director for Strategic Initiatives at the San Jose Museum of Art, on February 13 at the Foster City Community Center, 1000 East Hillsdale Boulevard, Foster City.
Rapp will discuss how to write an exemplary grant proposal using the Arts Commission 2019 grant application as a guide. (The application will be available online beginning February 14 at www.commongrantapplication.com.
The workshop runs from 11 a.m. to noon; lunch and networking will follow from noon to 1 p.m. Reserve your spot at https://sanmateocountygrantsworkshop.eventbrite.com.
The Comedy of Errors
The San Francisco Shakespeare Festival is bringing a live presentation on Shakespeare’s The Comedy of Errors to the Brisbane Library, 250 Visitacion Avenue, on February 1. The show begins at 2 p.m., with a post-show question and answer period with the cast at 3 p.m. Call 415-467-2060.
The group will be coming to the Belmont Library, 1110 Alameda de las Pulgas, on March 10, with the same show time and question and answer period as the Brisbane presentation. Call 650-591-8286.
Poetry on the Coast
Joel Katz and Heather E. Folsom will be the guest poets at the February 12 meeting of Coastside Poetry. Katz has had his poems published in a number of literary journals, such as Sand Hill Review and Red Wheelbarrow. He, together with colleague Robert Perry, has translated poems by contemporary Dutch poets Ingmar Heytze and Saskia Stehouwer in the bilingual book iets anders |something else. A translated volume of Stehouwer’s recent works, Free-range, will be published in April by Dutch Poet Press.
Folsom is a newly published poet. Her first published poem appeared in the October 2018 edition of Modern Haiku. “I focus on the intersection of time and place,” she says, “and I care a lot about precision.”
The readings will take place at Café Society, 522 Main Street, Half Moon Bay. Doors open at 6:30 p.m., with the featured poets at 7 p.m. An open mic period will follow. Visit https://coastsidepoetry.org/.
No matter the weather, may February give you much to enjoy!
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