Art Under the Oaks is held each year at Alden Lane Nursery. This year it will lbe held July 17 and 18. The day includes art displays and demonstrations, wine tasting and entertainment.

Three Very Active Groups Promote the Visual Arts

by Robert Several

This is a good time for the area’s visual art groups. The Livermore Art Association (LAA) and Pleasanton Art League (PAL) are flourishing, with almost 500 members between the two.

Not all the members are artists; some join simply because they love art. Among the artists are some who enjoy nationwide reknown.

The two groups have become partners, jointly holding art technique demonstrations every month and putting out a monthly newsletter together, while also offering numerous activities individually.

Meanwhile, a new group, the Tri-Valley Artists Guild (TVAG) has come on the scene, organizing the highly successful ArtWalk in downtown Livermore last November.

“It was awesome,” reports Linda Ryan. “We had over five thousand people. Stores were full. Many of the restaurants had their best day of the year.”

The third annual ArtWalk will take place October 16.

Kelp basket by Gail Ruvalcaba is on display at the Livermore Art Association gallery.

TVAG is also organizing an open studios tour, tentatively scheduled for early June. An exhibit, with the intriguing title “Truth and Lies,” will be held in conjunction with the tour.

Artists interested in participating are invited to call Linda Ryan at 243-0424 or contact TVAG’s website at http://www.trivalleyartists.com/.

Diana Marion, a local artist and art educator, and David Collins have been helping Ryan get TVAG going. Collins, as treasurer, did all the legwork to gain nonprofit status for the fledgling group.

Working to make art a regular part of the downtown scene, TVAG has been rotating displays in some of the empty storefronts.

According to Ryan, art education is another priority for the new group. “We think art education is important. We want to do things to promote it in a very active way.”

Art education is a high priority with LAA and PAL, too. Both give scholarships to students and sponsor other school programs.

“Funding for art education has been steadily diminishing in the schools,” observes Linda Jeffery Sailors, LAA president.

“We’ve been buying art books for all grade levels. We budget for it every year. We go to teachers and librarians and ask them what they need. Now, with cutbacks facing the schools, we’re talking about doing even more.”

"Carmel," is a sample of the work of Carol Maddox, past president of the Pleasanton Art League. She received the American Watercolor Society Gold Medal of Honor this year in New York. Her work will be included in the 137th annual American Watercolor Society traveling show.

Also on the education front, PAL and LAA offer numerous demonstrations and classes to their own members. Recent programs have included a March 13-16 watercolor/pastel workshop by Theresa Saia and a demonstration by Anna Edwards at PAL/LAA’s March meeting.

“We keep a list of teachers. We’re fortunate here in the Valley. We have several very good art teachers who give private lessons,” says Sailors.

The next few months will be an especially busy season for both LAA and PAL, with a myriad of major shows and smaller events.

They include LAA’s Spring Art Show April 3-4 at The Barn, a judged, but not juried, show open to all — a great opportunity for new artists to show their work, notes Sailors, whose watercolors are on display through March at Wente Winery.

LAA will hold its annual Art in the Vineyard May 30.

PAL will participate in the Pleasanton Art and Poetry Festival April 3 and hold its own annual show June 21-July 7. The show will also be a birthday party; PAL is 35 years old.

LAA is planning a paint-in, possibly in May, to help celebate the opening of Livermore’s new library. PAL, meanwhile, plans to have a booth at Pleasanton’s Bernal Block Party May 15. PAL is also planning a couple of children’s workshops, one at the Art and Poetry Festival and another sometime in the summer under the slogan “Art is for everyone.”

LAA has a gallery at the Carnegie Building, Third and J Streets, which it shares with the Livermore Heritage Guild museum. Staffed by volunteers, the gallery/museum is open Tuesday through Sunday from 11:30 a.m. to 4 p.m.

“The gallery shows the breadth of the art we do,” Sailors says. “There are not only paintings, but work in many different media — jewelry, pottery, textile arts, and more.”

In the photo below, visitors strolled through one of the ArtWalk exhibits. ArtWalk is held in the fall in downtown Livermore. The Tri-Valley Artists Guild organizes the event.

Opening April 1 and running through April at the gallery will be “It’s in the Bag,” a show featuring purses, totes, neck pouches and other bags decorated in artistically original ways.

In addition to all that, PAL and LAA both maintain an “art circuit,” featuring rotating exhibits in banks, restaurants, beauty salons, wineries and other businesses. “It’s a good way to get art out into the community. Local art is something we want local people to see,” Sailors says.

Cynthia Lait, PAL president, observes, “Essentially, businesses get a free display of art and artists get a showcase where they can exhibit their work in public.”

The visual art groups recently joined with the area’s performing arts organizations to develop a belief statement representing them all about the place the arts have in the Tri-Valley’s daily life.

The goal was to create an action plan for “social change,” i.e. greater community support for the arts.

Two workshops were held in preparation for a March 13 workshop where the statement was to be drafted. (It took place after the deadline for this magazine.)

The Pleasanton Cultural Arts Council arranged for Sabrina Klein of the Julia Morgan Center for the Arts in Berkeley to help guide the process. Klein has written a paper on the issue, available on the California Arts Council website http://www.cac.ca.gov/ami/pdfs/SMarticle.pdf.

“This is a very exciting process,” said Cynthia Lait of PAL, who was among the participants.

PAL drafted its own belief statement as part of the project:

“The arts are an essential element of a rich and vibrant community. The Pleasanton Art League believes that the arts are fundamental for developing individual potential. In this endeavor, the Pleasanton Art League supports facilities, education programs and events that enable people to share ideas, display artwork, connect and dialogue with each other. The Pleasanton Art League is dedicated to making the visual arts an integral part of the fabric of life in the Tri-Valley area, and encourages an environment that embraces creativity and its expression.”

For more information about LAA and PAL, their websites are at http://www.livermoreartassociation.org/ and http://www.pal-art.com/.