Hello Art Patrons,
A shocking email arrived last week and truthfully my jaw fell open. “Congratulations. Your work has been selected by the jury to be featured in the de Young Open 2023.” The de Young Museum is a top US museum destination! I’m convinced my scrawny pen-and-ink illustration of a Japanese Cedar made the cut because of the topical title, Singed by Wildfire. A fellow botanical artist lost all of her original artwork in a California wildfire and I created this piece in her honor. I imagine her finding this tiny tenacious tree in the ashes, symbolizing hope for survivors. You’ll have three months to peruse 887 local artworks hung salon style in the Herbst Exhibition Galleries for this newly established Triennial. They take 0% of sales. This is the Museum’s generous way of supporting local artists. I’m number #7,388 out of 12,000 entries—filled up within 2 hours. Only 11% were juried in. Pretty cool. Come see.
The de Young Open 2023
de Young Museum, Golden Gate Park
50 Hagiwara Tea Garden Drive, SF, CA 94118
September 30 2023 – January 7, 2024
Tuesday – Sunday 9:30-5:15 pm
Bay Area residents free every Saturday.
Saturday Sept 30, 11-4 pm. Grand Opening Celebration (live music, pop-ups, screenings).
The last week of September I’ve a trifecta of hometown exhibits. The Piedmont Harvest Festival Art Show in Piedmont Park paired with an exhibit down the block at the Piedmont Center for the Arts, showcasing artists in the upcoming Piedmont Art Walk to benefit art in Piedmont schools. I’ll have one piece in each exhibit and all the rest at the Art Walk on my porch Sunday Oct 1.
Piedmont Center for the Arts
801 Magnolia Ave Piedmont CA 94611
Sept 23 through Oct 1, 11-2 pm
Saturdays and Sundays only.
Artists’ reception, Sept. 29, 5-7 pm, Art Walk Sunday Oct.1, 12-5 pm
Piedmont Harvest Festival and Art Show
Japanese Tea House, Piedmont Park
711 Highland Ave, Piedmont CA 94611
Sept 24, 2023, 11-3 pm
Piedmont Art Walk,
137 Caperton Ave Piedmont CA 94611
Oct 1, 2023 12-5 pm
For patrons who like art and travel, read on. I had some art fun in France and Italy this Spring. Chateau Clos Mirabel in the French Pyrenees was ideal for a weeklong botanical art class and the sumptuous fresh produce was Chateau sourced—to paint and to eat. The desserts and cheeses ohh-la-la, merveilleux, formidable, incroyable! Surrounded by vineyards we wanted for nothing. The bonus? Our teacher is my art teacher at home and French born. During my initial 36 hour airport debacle, I dreamed about lavender so chose that as my botanical subject. Arriving 24 hours late, I was relieved to see it growing in the expansive Chateau gardens. See my take on a farmer’s market lavender bouquet at the Piedmont Art Walk Oct 1.
Next was a visit with my nursing student Granddaughter at summer/fun college in Florence Italy and to pay my respects to Michelangelo’s David. On my birthday, I snagged a lucky no-show ticket to climb into the Brancacci Chapel cupola, up restoration scaffolding, arms length from 14th century frescoes. Then I wandered the Oltrarno district of Florence visiting artists’ working studios. The copper etchings are exquisite. One artist finished watercoloring his etching for me while I lunched nearby on Gorgonzola gnocchi, caprese salad and panna cotta. Look what I bought!
Venice was a first for me. I rambled through labyrinthian passageways and footbridges, hot and lost in crowds until I mastered canal travel and the outer islands. On my first evening I came across a Campanile in a big square with only a ten minute wait to go up, so I took the last elevator of the day to find myself atop THE Campanile in St. Mark’s Square with breathtaking 360 degree sunset views. There’s the Bascillica, Rialto Bridge and the islands and now I see how the canals are laid out. On my final day in Venice, I missed last call for the Peggy Guggenheim Museum because I followed iphone directions until it dropped down a stone stairway right into canal water. In twenty minutes somehow I’d circled back to where I’d begun? Parli Inglese, anyone?
And finally Paris—always Paris where I can speak, somewhat. My art teacher recommended the small Musee Marmottan Monet near the Eiffel Tower. It’s a preserved furnished Edwardian townhouse showcasing the world’s leading collection of works by Monet, as well as works by Manet, Degas, Gauguin, Rodin, Pizarro, Chagall. Finding a basement stairway in the gift shop, I went down and was stunned to stand alone in a room encircled by twelve HUGE Monet waterlily paintings. You can even rent the room for a dinner party. Imagine! Hidden gem-must see-nobody there.
To have a triennial and trifecta at once is thrilling. Last year’s Harvest Festival was rained out so, again THIS might be my year for the Cakewalk win, which coincidentally falls on my wedding anniversary. So I have to ask myself one question, Do I feel lucky? My late husband, Clint Eastwood fan, would respond . . . “Well do ya, punk?” I do.
Caught you smiling. Thanks for reading.
Bonnie Bonner
aka Joanne Palamountain