It’s a new year at Topanga Canyon Gallery with more diverse shows, new artists, and innovative ideas in the works. Look for more themed shows this year with a tighter schedule for 2020 that began with a wonderful reception for the Collage Artists of America (CAA) show, currently at the gallery through January 26.
The first weekend of February, Topanga Canyon Gallery is pleased to donate space to Topanga Elementary Charter School and host their annual art show. Stop in on February 1 and 2 and give a tip of your hat to the budding artists of our community.
In February, Real to Surreal, features artists Idelle Okman Tyzbir, Donna Geist Buch, and Farideh Azad. This show focuses on the artists’ ability to take real settings and emotions and transform them into surreal pieces of metal art, glass sculpture, ceramics, watercolor, and mixed media paintings. Meet and mix with the artists at the reception on February 8 and travel from Real to Surreal and back…or maybe not.
March begins with an entire show exploring Yellow, one of the oldest colors in art, featuring the Gallery’s newest member artists: Lisa Baldwin, Susan Dukow, and Delbar Azari. Each brings a new medium and style to visitors.
Lisa Baldwin is committed to painting from life outside the confines of a studio space. Her work captures moments directly experienced in nature. An avid outdoors woman, she travels with her paints into the wilderness in search of details in nature often unseen by others. Rendered feverishly with bold strokes of oil paint her images are created using an unrestricted palette compressing a wild subject into its essentials. Every detail worth recording captures the emotional value of the subject as well. Seen from different distances, the work takes on new meanings to the viewer.
Susan Dukow approaches her art with the zest and gusto with which she approaches life. Using a variety of mediums, she creates acrylic paintings with vibrant colors, sometimes contained to evoke a particular thought. Recently, a series of peculiar creatures have emerged in her paintings. As one admirer stated, “They can be scary and funny at the same time, which is a very good thing.”
Delbar Azari is a multi-disciplinary artist with a focus on abstract painting. With a love for colors, she gets her inspiration from nature, which she translates into bold compositions, organic forms, and extreme textures in her paintings. Recent works use fluid acrylics and epoxy resin to evoke a calmness. Come in and see how it affects you. The artists’ reception is March 7.
In April, artist members are providing a view of LA Deconstructed, individual micro-views of this complex city. Related shows center on solving local environmental challenges and confronting today’s political issues.
Work has already begun on the 19th annual Topanga Canyon Artists Studio Tour, which is more popular each year. Mark your calendars for the weekend of June 6-7, a fine time of year to invite friends to the canyon who have never experienced this self-guided tour and show them the unique out of the ordinary art studios and the artists that create the work. Applications are being accepted now. Apply by March 1. Space is limited. topangacanyongallery.com/studiotour.
The Gallery will sponsor a juried show in September inviting artists throughout the west to bring their work to Topanga.
By Kate Kinkade and Sari Scheer