Local artists are ‘Centered on the Center’

Angelique Flores

HUNTINGTON BEACH -- A coffin made of cigarette boxes. A frame made

from an old wooden cabinet. Paintings of familiar Huntington Beach sites.

They are all part of the eclectic collection of works on exhibit through

March 4 at the Huntington Beach Art Center.

The gallery is hosting its fifth annual “Centered on the Center 2000”

exhibition, with paintings, sculptures, photography and installation

pieces of mixed media. The open-call exhibit presents 393 pieces from 230

artists from all over California. Of those artists, 106 are from

Huntington Beach.

“This is the largest show the gallery has had,” said Darlene DeAngelo,

curator of exhibitions/programs for the art center.

Local Huntington Beach resident Elaine Hughes has two of her works on

display. Her “Ruby’s and Red Surfboard” and “Huntington Surfers” depict

fun scenes familiar to the Surf City locals.

A self-taught painter, Hughes uses a palette knife to illustrate

seascapes, landscapes, wetlands and portraits.

“I love being by the ocean, looking at it, smelling it, painting it,”

said Hughes, whose paintings effectively capture the calm of the ocean.

Another local who enjoys painting familiar sites is Bob Sigmund. This

retired city employee takes old black and white photographs and restores

them in color through his oil paintings, as he did with “Evening

Arrivals” and “Huntington Beach Pier, 1929.” But he takes advantage of

creative license in his renderings of the photographs, painting a car

into the scene or changing the night sky into a bright, sunny one.

“I try to create interest in Huntington Beach in my art,” Sigmund

said.

Bobbie Mandel, another Surf City local, submitted two of her many

portraits in the show.

“I don’t like pretty faces,” said Mandel who prefers to capture a mood

in the faces she paints.

Mandel uses pieces of old wooden cabinet doors as frames. Her style is

well illustrated in the featured work “John Doe I.”

Among the unique collection of installations and mixed media works are

those of Daniel de la Torre of Huntington Beach.

His “Rockin’ Java” and “Moonlight Rock” are bright, three-dimensional

works carved out of foam core, a material similar to cardboard, mounted

on plywood and painted in vibrant colors.

“I try to tell a story with these,” he said of his busy scenes, with

action in every corner.

His animated, pop-up art incorporates lighting, livening up the

already vivid art pieces with rockabilly mice in “Rockin’ Java.”

“I don’t know where this goofy stuff comes from,” he said.

David Adams from Fountain Valley, who’s mixed media work is part of

the exhibit, said he has been creating art “since kindergarten, when I

was making macaroni necklaces.”

Now Adams strings bigger objects together, as he does with his

untitled installation piece. The vertically hanging work intertwines 13

glass wine jugs filled with water and large lights.

Though his piece is different from many of the others on display,

Adams is pleased to be a part of the exhibition of local talent.

“There’s a huge spectrum of people, identities, age groups,” he said.

FYI

WHAT: “Centered on the Center 2000,” showing through March 4

WHERE: Huntington Beach Art Center, 538 Main St., Huntington Beach

HOURS: Wednesday, Friday and Saturday from 12 to 6 p.m.; Thursday from

12 to 8 p.m.; Sunday from 12 to 4 p.m. The gallery is closed Monday and

Tuesday.

COST: Admission is $3, $2 for students and seniors. Free to children

under 12.

CALL: (714) 374-1650