The War of the Art Worlds Kehinde Wiley: An Archeology of Silence Vs. The Tudors: Art and Majesty in Renaissance England
By Bill Carmel, MFA Two exhibitions coexisted for several months at the Fine Art Museums of San Francisco: one about the legacy of colonialism (“The Tudors, Art and Majesty in Renaissance England,” at the California Palace of the Legion of Honor) and an active satire of artwork like it (“Kehinde Wiley: An Archaeology of Silence,”…
Beth Batchelor (1917–2023) A Personal Remembrance
By John A. Barry On June 24, the local art world lost an original. Beth Batchelor, who lived to almost 106, was an artist, teacher, and raconteur. Nearly 50 years ago (1977), she founded the Alamo Danville Artists’ society (ADAS). The group continues to this day and manages the Blackhawk Gallery —in its current location…
The New Ekphrasis: Exhibition 2023
By Bill Carmel Three creative nonprofit organizations—Lamorinda Arts Council, Lamorinda Arts Alliance, and California Writers Club, Mt. Diablo Branch—collaborated to introduce a creative process known as ekphrasis to their members in early 2022. Taking inspiration and direction from ekphrasis exhibition programs from arts and cultural organizations in Mendocino and other parts of the world, authors…
Diablo Valley Abstractions
By John A. Barry The library at Diablo Valley College, in Pleasant Hill, is a rich repository of resources for students and instructors. It also doubles as a visual-arts exhibition space. Library art coordinator Kasia Kessler was hired to mount the current show, “Abstract Reasoning,” to run to the end of first semester. “The library…
Emigrés
By John A. Barry The careers of playwright Eugene O’Neill and visual artist Salvador Dalí intersected during the twentieth century. O’Neill’s birth preceded that of Dalí by 16 years, and O’Neill died 36 years before the Spanish Surrealist. But during a period of 30-plus years, the two men were simultaneously working in their respective fields.…
Alice Neel: Triumph of a Visionary Humanist
By Bill Carmel, MFA Alice Neel: People Come First de Young Museum, March 12–July 10, 2022 “For me, people come first. I have tried to assert the dignity and eternal importance of the human being.” – Alice Neel Viewing the recently closed Alice Neel exhibit was a profound experience for me. I first saw a…
![A Trip Down Galmory [Gallery-Memory] Lane](https://i0.wp.com/www.danvillesanramon.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/15689.jpg?resize=600%2C450&ssl=1)
A Trip Down Galmory [Gallery-Memory] Lane
By John A. Barry This overview of the Danville gallery scene over the years is not intended to be comprehensive or exhaustively researched. Rather, it is based mainly on my memories and personal experience, supplemented by some information and images from Bill Carmel. Gallery: mid-15th century: covered walk or passageway, narrow and partly open passageway…
Practice, Practice, Practice!
By John A. Barry “Painting has enriched my life more than I can ever say.” With these words, Alamo artist Margery Ammon summarizes the importance of the arts in her life. Although she holds an MFA in French, she has not employed that discipline professionally. Having started painting after college, she credits a love and…
But Is It Art?
By John A. Barry When David Letterman hosted “The Late Show,” he periodically presented a segment entitled “Ape or Artist?” An abstract painting would be unveiled, and bandleader Paul Shaffer and announcer Alan Kalter would guess whether the piece was painted by a Sapiens or a simian. In this youtube clip, the segment starts at…
The Perfect Landscape Painting
by Bill Carmel, MFA The painting begins late morning with a hike up a path to a view so splendid, wondrous, and arresting that walking stops. I sit on a nearby fallen-oak log, zip up my vest to quiet the cool breeze, turn off the phone volume so that the device only snaps images, pat…
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