Join us for an artist reception and Mill Valley’s First Tuesday Artwalk featuring our October artists Claude Smith in the Theatre Gallery and Kate Barrengos in the Crescendo Gallery. Feast your eyes on the beautiful creations of these two artists while you enjoy a beverage and some light nosh.
Claude Smith Artist Statement
I have had a lifelong relationship with writing, drawing, and writing as drawing. My father, Sid Smith, was a painter, classically trained draughtsman, calligrapher, and an appreciation for beautiful writing and art was instilled in me from an early age. Growing up in N.Y.C. in the heyday of abstract expressionism certainly had a powerful influence on me as well. After earning a B.F.A. from Pratt Institute, mark-making, calligraphy, zen brushwork, scribbling and writing began appearing as regular features in my work. In 2005 i began a three year study of graphology with master graphologist Janice Klein, and mentorship with Roger Rubin.
Discovering the art of Antoni Tapies and Cy Twombly was revelatory, inspiring and somewhat daunting in that they had so thoroughly mined the territory of contemporary mark-making, decades before. That said, i have been committed to finding my own way with it and have persisted in exploring different media, concepts and expanding my visual vocabulary.
Kate Barrengos Artist Statement
I was inspired by a simple change in perspective. I grew up in Nebraska, surrounded by endless, orderly fields. The land is flat and relentlessly unremarkable. That is, until I saw satellite images of these vast tracts online. The mundane landscape from above is a spectacle of color, pattern, and infinite complexity—a gorgeous, geometric abstraction. ! For the past four years, I’ve been painting aerial landscapes of farmland throughout California and the Midwest. This latest series is a drive down California State Route 198, deep in the San Joaquin Valley. It’s a place you might pass through on the way to somewhere else. The process of making these paintings taught me how much beauty and meaning can be found in the seemingly ordinary. Remember to enjoy the road trip.
