Diamonds hidden within the Sawdust

AT THE GALLERIES

Art festivals are sometimes more “festival” than “art.” You pay your

admission at the gate, spend about an hour walking past booths of

mediocrity peppered with the inevitable handmade ceramic coffee mugs,

and go home feeling cheated somehow. However, I always make a point

of braving the crowds to attend Sawdust, because I know that at some

point I’ll come across something wonderful. What follows are a few

highlights from this year’s offerings. Pick up a directory and check

them out.

There’s festival-regular Marsh Scott. Scott works in a remarkably

varied set of media, including oil on canvas, mixed media, encaustic

and sculpting with paper or steel. Nevertheless, Scott produces a

remarkably consistent style of expression. Her range of media gives

her work a variety within that consistency.

Scott uses, for instance, a fairly narrow palette range. The

colors are warm and mellow, even when she uses high values of red or

green. She works in abstract forms, except for her sculptures, which

are representative (somehow, even the steel seems warm, probably

because they are positive or negative cutouts). Two smaller canvases,

“Verdant Woods” and “Looking for Order,” are highly textured with

impressive underpainting and glaze work. “Looking for Order” uses a

surprising combination of grays and mallard greens, and much use of

gesso and modeling paste beneath. Both have a sense of movement about

them without the chaos often found in abstracts.

Scott has a range of objects on view at the Sawdust this year, but

seeing encaustic out in the open air presents an unusual opportunity.

Encaustic is an ancient method involving layers of wax built up and

sculpted on a hard surface. Scott works with the panels laid flat,

which allows for a denser build up of layers.

This, in combination with Scott’s neutral palette, produces an

interesting sheen and texture in her work. “Markings” (48x72) is an

outstanding example of this. You would suspect certain heaviness with

such a technique, but this panel seems almost like a window. Many

layers have created a deep translucency. A simple sepia-toned square

rides in the middle of taupes, whites and yellows in the

underpainting. Sharper brown lines cross through the field of color.

It is, you could say, a negative of a Rothko-neutrals instead of

vibrant primaries, texture rather than glaze, definition instead of

blending. But it has a similar, romantic effect. And the unusual

shimmer of the wax on the surface makes a very individual statement

that is lovely in natural light, as if you were looking through oiled

parchment paper. When you stop by, ask Scott about her working

methods. She will enthusiastically discuss them with you.

Walk on and you come across the oils of Karen Petty. Petty

produces work on linen or canvas that seems like enlarged panels from

graphic novels. There are organic nudes in strange scenes,

Rousseau-like abstract jungles, women with flowing dark hair,

spinning over clocks or roses. The saturation of color is intense,

giving some of the canvases a stained-glass quality. They are

narrative and sometimes provocative, and stand out from the

landscapes and animal portraits around them.

It is also worth taking a closer look at Sara Kirk’s mobiles. Kirk

is also a long-time exhibitor at Sawdust, and her work drew a small

crowd around her booth. Mobiles seem to please everyone -- they are

both substantial and unsubstantial at the same time. Kirk’s anodized

aluminum shapes move lightly, and disappear when viewed from the

side. They come in a range of colors, from a tonal study of blue to

contrasting brights to coppers. Some spread out horizontally on lithe

sliver wires; others hang vertically, pendant-like. Each gives focus

to the air around it, creating an interesting kinetic effect with

every passing disturbance in the air.

Finally, there is the fascinating, hyper-real and nostalgic water

colors of David Milton and Scott Moore. Both artists offer lithograph

reproductions of their work. David Milton produces nostalgic

close-ups of pop culture in California in its 1950s prime. It’s

difficult not to get excited seeing a hyper-bright, super-clean

depiction of Pink’s Hamburgers, a Fosters Freeze sign, or the giant

tan “O” of Randy’s Doughnuts. Scott Moore’s take on the same theme is

at times surreal. A blond, clean-cut longboarder stands on a bowl of

apples in front of a vintage produce ad. In the giclee (ink-jet

printing) “Veg-e-table,” a farmer plows a field on a red-and-white

checkered tablecloth, working around a giant vintage ketchup bottle

and canned vegetables. They are humorous renditions of a mythic time

in American culture and work well with a warm California day at an

outdoor art festival.

Take a stroll, see the glass-blowing demonstration, watch the

potter’s wheels -- but above all, talk to the artists about their

work. That’s the best part of an art festival: the opportunity for

the community to speak directly with working artists.

* BOBBIE ALLEN is a poet and writer who has taught art theory and

criticism. She currently teaches at Saddleback College.