Phil Leonard and Bill Heiderich have studio space just a few miles apart off Fairview Road in northern San Benito County, but the art they create is drastically different. Leonard uses metal as his canvass and he colors it with the same paint he uses to detail cars. Heiderich, a ceramics professor at West Valley College, devotes his studio space to three-dimensional artwork in clay or bronze.
“I see myself as a fabricator,” Heiderich said, noting that he uses both slab and wheel work when he does his clay creations.
He said he likes to play with items that should be functional, such as a cake plate or baskets, but making them in a way that is impractical to use. He has a series of baskets in his studio with extremely large handles.
“I really like to work with geometrics,” he said. “The series with baskets is getting bigger and bigger.”
Leonard, who has a degree in fine arts from the University of California, Santa Cruz, has been working with metal for five years.
“You get that real nice sheen, which, with canvass, it can be hard,” he said.
Both artists have pieces up in the latest show at Blak Sage Gallery, “Materiality: Interpretations in Wood, Metal, Glass & Clay.” The show runs through March 1, with an artists’ reception on Friday.
Leonard is on the gallery committee for the San Benito County Arts Council and helped conceive of the latest show.
“I had some friends who could help fill in the gaps with some of the art they were looking for,” he said.
He’s been working with mixed media that incorporates metal for four to five years. He said he was using wood canvas but wanted to make larger pieces.
“Metal was a lighter way to accomplish that and it turned out to be really good,” he said, of liking the chic look.
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His studio space is a large shed, with an open space that allows plenty of ventilation for the paints he uses. For one of his recent pieces, he explained that he uses a grinder to create whorl patterns on the metal before he adds the paint designs that are reminiscent of pinstripes on hot rods. The pieces have a depth to them that is best viewed in bright light.
Leonard described the dozen artists involved in the show as “a really diverse group.”
“It’s almost a show for anyone,” he said.
Elvia Skow said it will be the first time she shows her glass work in a gallery. Someone involved in the show knew of her work and asked her to participate. She said she is shy and has never tried to sell her pieces before.
“I just figured I would do it to try to help out a local event and at the same time step out of my shy boundary of art,” she said.
Skow got interested in glass work when she traveled in Europe when she was younger.
“I became really inspired by some glass workers in Italy and different parts of Europe,” she said. “That’s where I first went, ‘Wow, that is cool.’”
Her art gave her a chance to escape the day-to-day stress of working in business when she and her husband owned a finance company. She’s created bowls, light switch plates and candle holders, but some of her pieces are more abstract.
Heiderich, who has an MFA from San Jose State University, said he has shown his pieces in both regional and national venues. But the current show marks the first time he has artwork at the Blak Sage Gallery.
As an artist, he said he can sometimes get frustrated with the work and wonder why he is doing it.
“But when I get into a gallery, I remember that’s why,” he said, noting that the group show allows a chance to talk with other artists.
Event Details:
Blak Sage Gallery, 727 San Benito St., downtown Hollister. The gallery is open Wednesday and Thursday from 9-1 p.m., Friday 1-6 p.m., and Saturday 12-5 p.m., and is also open by appointment. An artists’ reception will be held Feb. 1, from 6 to 8 p.m., with music and light refreshments served. For questions or more information please feel free to contact the Arts Council at
in**@sa***********.org
or call at 636-2787.
