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By Karen Braun Malpas

 

Every year, The Frank Bette Center hosts an event wherein dozens of artists from all over, converge to paint the unique face of Alameda. This year the weather cooperated and the artists were prolific. 

 

Expert watercolors dominated this years exhibit. The fluid and light nature of the medium  mirrors that of an island surrounded by water. Wet puddles of color blending, seeping, flowing, splashing in beautiful and unpredictable ways. Additionally, many paintings incorporated a golden glow which softened the shapes and space which lent a dreamy, diffuse atmosphere to the place pictured. Maybe that’s a reflection of people  in general wanting to soften reality in general? Stellar among these is “Chasing Time” by Nutan Singh which shows 6 youth advancing toward us in late afternoon light. They cast a long lavender shadow in the foreground  of the composition. The image has a dramatic, Marshall Dillon, Gunsmoke  showdown quality. 

 

Jaladhi Pujara also uses diffusion in “Just Around the Corner” which shows a street extending into the deep space which is also the future, indistinct and unknowable.  Raffi Kondy’s “Tequila Sunrise” shows a delicate sailboat, sails tied down, bobbing gently in rising mist. It is the perfect foil for John Paul Marcelos “USN John Glenn” which shows the operatic presence of a Naval Behemoth.

 

A few of the images seemed to be motivated primarily by design. Yoriko Ito  shows a street designed by the crisp demarcations of bike lane being approached by a lone “Turkey Crossing” unflinchingly occupying his 1/4 of the composition. Susan Grabowski shows a cafe with outdoor seating  A sun shaft illuminates the signage: ”The Blue Dot.”  Nathaniel Bice painted the shabby Lincoln Market its true faded green color but also included strategically  placed spots of turquoise and red to create a visual tone poem, a trio in harmony. Sergio Lopez made a small thoughtful landscape when he saw how nature created multiple , repeated right-facing chevrons from a shoreline across the beach, onto a hillside in “The Trail Down.”

 

Predictably, boats were pictured 3x more frequently than vehicles but, one picture of a truck stands out as a paean of affection. John Paul Mercelo’s “Old Chevy Truck” stands alone with no contributing visual information. Yet, unlike a coldly objective Auto trader/ Carfax image, it projects a fond focus, an “Isn’t She Lovely, Isn’t She Wonderful” vibe.

 

Of course trees grow on islands  but  maybe only to hold the land down in the sparkling sea. There are California trees in the show…Cactus, Redwood, Oak, Cypress celebrated by Kate Rado, Randall Stauss, Kathleen Gadway, Susan Grabowski, and Eric Shea.  Exercising flamboyant artistic license, there is  even a palm tree painted confidently and magically by Carol Tarsier,—  in orange! 

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It’s  all happening at the Frank Bette Center until September 26.