The latest show at the Blak Sage Gallery – “Materiality: Interpretations in Wood, Metal, Glass & Clay” – opens Friday, with work from 12 local and regional artists on display. The show runs through March 1, with an artists’ reception on Feb. 1 to coincide with the First Friday gathering.
Phil Leonard works with metal and paint on canvas. He 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.
Leonard described the dozen artists involved 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 sold her pieces or displayed them 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.
She selected a few of the first pieces she created.
Skow got interested in glass work when she traveled in Europe earlier on in life.
“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.
“I’m looking forward to connecting to other artists,” she said of the show. “Creating art takes me out of the business element and puts me in a happy space.”
The show presented by the San Benito Arts Council “invites viewers to explore the visceral nature of art and the ways in which all forms of art, even works on paper, must take on a 3-dimensional form. By focusing at the physicality of art, visitors can look beyond the image or ‘what it is’ and discover the raw materials, the lines, curves and structure that bring art into form in the first place,” according to a press release on the show.
“Materiality: Interpretations in Wood, Metal, Glass & Clay
Runs Jan. 18 – March 1 at the 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.
