“Where are you from?”
We carry with us the place we were born, the places our family came from, the places we travel to, and the place where we live. Those locations, cultures, and customs all inform the unique individuals we are. The tapestry of our ancestors become part of the palette that colors our life. If we are fortunate, that palette has a range and depth that we add to with our life experiences.
Topanga Canyon Gallery’s Three Women Show explores the art of three local women, who arrived in this place from very different backgrounds. They are of different generations, different cultures, and different life experiences. They have come together to display their different outlooks on life, art and beauty.
Born and raised in Russia, Eugenia Shapiro studied the masters. She visited art museums as a young girl and studied Western art painters of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, as well as Russian Realism. Attending a Russian painting school equipped her to create the beautiful pieces in this show. Her work displays the depth that oil paint can deliver when time and care is taken in the process. Viewers will experience this in the harmony of emotions she sees and paints. Shapiro’s goal is to honestly translate the emotional state of her subject matter, as seen in the portrait, “Pensive.” She uses traditional methods and techniques, integrating timeless features and motifs of the past in her work, while her contemporary subject matter brings a current and surprising element.
Iranian born Farideh Azad has melded glass and ceramic in her new work. “Growing up,” she says, “I was fascinated by the ancient Persian pottery and blown glass that was excavated and displayed in Museums. The intricate designs on the tiles covering so many historical buildings, mosques, government buildings, and famous residences have been embedded into every cell of my body and my blood. Every design I create has a trace of those decorations. The rich history of Iran, spanning over 2500 years, includes stone engravings, reliefs in stairwells, columns found in Persepolis along with utilitarian objects, often depicting the shapes of pythons or other mythical creatures. All of that has been engraved in me.” After many years focusing on blown glass, Azad is now concentrating on ceramic art and pouring out her versions of those fascinating engravings.
Connie Cambardella spent much of her childhood with her grandfather as they explored their surroundings and she peered through his Leica camera. A love affair with the camera that started then has never left her. A native of New York City, Cambardella pursued a career with a high-end fashion magazine in New York, dedicating her free time to outside travel. With her camera around her neck, she has been able to shoot some of the most magnificent locations in the world while hiking to the summit of Mt. Kilimanjaro in Africa, cycling the jagged peaks of Positano, Italy, and Surfing Kauai in Hawaii. Landing in Topanga, Connie has continued to shoot the amazing natural surroundings of this magical location and has become a sought-after music festival photographer. She hopes the viewer will experience every beat, movement, and the splendor of beauty that surrounds us as captured in her photographs.
Three Women is a show about how we see the world, and how essential where we come from is to what we bring into the world.
Meet these three interesting artists at the Artists’ Reception on Saturday, November 5, from 4–7 p.m. Three Women is showing at Topanga Canyon Gallery from October 31 through November 27.
Topanga Canyon Gallery is an artist-owned mutual benefit corporation. It is located at 120 N Topanga Canyon Blvd., Topanga CA 90290. For more information: (310) 455-7909; TopangaCanyonGallery.com. November Gallery Hours: Wednesday 2 p.m.– 6 p.m.; Thursday 2–6 p.m.; Friday 12–8 p.m.; Saturday 11 a.m.– 6 p.m.; Sunday 11 a.m.–3 p.m.