Current Exhibit: "Celebrate! The California Impressionists" Through April 20th (see preview)
An exhibit featuring our most stunning paintings, created by well-known artists of California's past,
whose work is widely represented in fine museums and prestigious private collections.
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Major Exhibits of the Landscape Paintings of Sonoma County's
Jack Stuppin

Nationally renowned Sonoma County landscape artist Jack Stuppin is the subject of two major exhibits at the present time, and the artist advises that he will have the inaugural show at Sonoma Academy's new art museum beginning February 26 through March. The exhibit at Meridian Gallery, San Francisco, ends February 28: Songs of the Earth: Landscapes by Jack Stuppin. It is curated by Peter Selz. The exhibit at the San Jose Museum of Art continues through April 5.

Jody writes, "One thing about cleaning out my studio every fifteen to twenty years is that I get into "stuff" I've saved. Most of the times I toss it, but when I came upon this picture of the Jury for the Jack London Annual Artist Show, I had to laugh. There was Bob Rishell with a big thumbs down. Though I didn't know him personally, I was very familiar with his work and fine reputation as an artist and fun loving guy. I checked just to be sure, and I did get into the show."

Georgia, while Liya grew up in Queens in New York City. But they had something in common. As kids, they both were raised in families who owned and operated Chinese restaurants. While their schoolmates played, Andrew and Liya were apprenticed in the art of running a restaurant from the inside out. They worked the cash register, and learned how to wash dishes and how to clean. They came to know the art of shopping for the best ingredients, how to prep and finish finely tuned dishes, how to run a well stocked and functioning kitchen, and how to present their food as art, a delight for many senses.

Although Andrew has a degree in computer science, and Liya has one in economics, once becoming a couple, they decided to merge their lifelong restaurant experience into a shared dream. Together they attended New York's Culinary Institute of America, graduating in 2004. They then came to San Francisco, and it was time for them to earn money and gain experience. They worked for a variety of San Francisco restaurants. Among their San Francisco employers, Liya worked as a cook for Michael Mina's in San Francisco's St. Francis Hotel, and Andrew was the sous chef at Bacar.

After saving enough for their next move, they scanned the real estate horizon for a restaurant to purchase. For us in Bodega Bay, we were blessed that they spotted the Seaweed Cafe on the market. Andrew and Liya liked the area, bought the Cafe, rolled up their sleeves and moved themselves and their dream to the Sonoma Coast.

Beginning January 17 through April 5, the Hearst Art Gallery at St. Mary's College in Moraga has been exhibiting the digital paintings of Bert Monroy. He says he uses the word "paint" for lack of a better word. He stresses that his real medium is light. Born in Brooklyn of Columbian and Mexican immigrants, Bert has built a career in the advertising industry, working as a creative director for multiple agencies and as owner of his own agency.

He began working with Macintosh computer art in 1984, and as the computers became more powerful and adept at the nuances necessary for fine art applications, Bert's skills and artistic prowess kept pace. He is an author and renowned expert in his field of computerized art. He is a teacher as well, having taught computerized art at a number of universities and for private clients, including Pixar, Disney, and Lockheed/Martin, and Pacific Light and Magic.

What is amazing is that Bert does not begin with a digital photo. Every image is created entirely from scratch. There are no scans. No enhancement of photos. Purely from scratch. He considers the computer screen his canvas, and the computer as his set of brushes where he creates his dazzling magic.

Art lovers used to more traditional definitions may not wish to embrace Bert's art at first glance, but he makes a credible argument. All painters use light as their medium. Paint, brushes and palette knives are tools to recreate that light, with artistic interpretation. Bert merely wishes to add his Macintosh to the tool kit. Perhaps we could convince him to clean his keyboard with turpentine after each session. But as artists of each new generation bring new ideas, methods, and skills to the legacy of art, the human drive to express and interpret the surrounding world seems not to have changed since the first drawings were applied to cave walls long ago.