5 Bay Area Artists Reception - First Valley, The Village Shop, Inverness

Reception for Five Bay Area Artists — Nancy Bertelsen, Susan Brayton, Pam Fabry, Ayumi Kie Weissbuch, Wen-Hui Shen

at First Valley - The Village Shop, Inverness, Sunday, July 7, 5 - 7 p.m.

Show opens Monday, July 4, 2019 —  Closes Friday, July 31, 2019

Nancy, Susan, Pam, Ayumi and Wen have been painting together for a number of years in Toni Littlejohn’s Wild Carrots workshops in Point Reyes Station. We meet every Tuesday and have formed not only creative but also personal bonds – sharing our art, our lives and our growth as artists. We are moved by the creative spirit to venture beyond the boundaries of representational art, exploring the abstract and often landing in unknown territory. We are fortunate to have a wealth of materials to experiment with and use these liberally thanks to Toni’s encouragement and generosity.

Nancy Bertelsen – I first landed in Inverness in December 1972 and have lived and hiked here most years since. I was in private practice as a psychotherapist in Sonoma County for thirty years and have served on the Dance Palace and Gallery Route One boards promoting community art and education. In 2004 I began working with the Latino community through Gallery Route One’s Latino Photography Project which is now in its 16th year.

The hills, forest, bay, fog, rocks live in me and re-emerge through line, texture, color, combined with thought, sensation, feeling. The paintings are more about a state of mind, or the patterns of our (co)existence in which the elements of earth and of mind combine in an image. 

Susan Brayton – Originally from the North of England, this West Marin landscape called to me and drew me to live here from San Francisco in 1977. I soon renewed my interest in painting and drawing.  I have served on the board of Gallery Route One and I am a founding board member of CLAM, Community Land Trust Association of West Marin, providing affordable housing in the communities surrounding Tomales Bay.

 My art starts instantaneously using whatever materials take my fancy. As it progresses, it is an inward exploration, sometimes wild, sometimes calm, sometimes about world strife, always unknown. The results are more of an impression from the senses than a literal representation - and when I stop I see what it is about myself or the world I have revealed.

Pam Fabry – a Bolinas resident for 33 years, I have been hiking the Point Reyes Peninsula since the National Park was founded. I have worked as an architectural designer, photographer, writer, and graphic designer. I especially enjoy making art without a client to please.

It has been a great joy for me to work spontaneously, to see what emerges from a situation without artificial boundaries except, of course, those inherent in the materials I choose. I am always amazed that, often, my deepest concerns will find expression on the page.

Ayumi Kie Weissbuch – I have been painting in Point Reyes since 2004. My formative years were spent in the island communities of Hawaii and Okinawa, and living within reach of the Pacific Ocean has been important to me. My work in integrative health informs my relationship with the interplay of elemental forces—water, air, earth, fire, spirit.  

The felt sense of movement, weight, touch, smell, and sound is as important as the visual sense for me. I love the intimacy of handling the materials—the physicality of rhythmic brush strokes, the surface layered with paint, collage, ink, the pouring and scraping. I paint to see what is revealed and to experience the ineffable.

Wen-Hui Shen – I immigrated from Taiwan at age 17, spent the next 10 years on the East Coast. A career in academic medicine brought me to the San Francisco Bay Area. Despite a demanding professional schedule, art has always been part of my life. I attended many weekend and evening classes, then in 2007 I joined the Wild Carrots workshop. It is in this workshop, with Toni’s encouragement, I started bridging the left and the right brain in my artistic endeavors.

Art is my way to explore the unknown. I do not start with a specific thought or image; instincts and senses lead the way.When I stop, I become an audience in dialogue. Through this dialogue, I inquire, explore and experience the invisible layers of psyche.