Alamo Danville Artists’ Society will host the opening of Blackhawk Gallery’s new Exhibit “interPlay”. The Gala Reception will be held on Saturday September 26 from 5 to 7pm with wine and hors d’oeuvre. The exhibit will be on view seven days a week from September 25, 2015 to November 29, 2015, Monday-Saturday 10AM-8 PM and Sunday 11AM-6 PM. The Reception and Exhibit are free and open to the public.
The “interPlay” exhibit features sculptures by guest artists Mary and Ted Bayer, and works by forty member artists. Members’ artworks include paintings, drawings, sculptures, ceramics, photographs, and wearable art.
Guest Artists
Ted Bayer
San Francisco Bay Area sculptor Ted Bayer grew up in the Midwest but moved to Northern California after graduating from the University of Illinois. He returned to the Chicago area to receive his M.D. degree from Loyola University of Chicago, but has lived in the Bay Area since returning in 1977, raising his family of three children, practicing emergency medicine until he retired in November of 2007, and devoting much of his other time to artistic pursuits. After trying his hand at painting for a number of years, he began seriously studying sculpture in 1994, concentrating first on ceramic sculpture, then moving primarily to the creation of stone works of art in 1996.
Ted first visited the Carrara area of Italy in 1997 and has traveled there many times since to work in the marble carving studios of Pietrasanta. It was in Pietrasanta that he initially learned the use of the sophisticated power tools used by the artisans working there and the point machines and calipers that allow one to measure clay or plaster models (maquettes) that are used in perfecting the stone sculpture itself. At the end of these Italian sessions he ships home both partially finished sculptures and unfinished stones to complete in his home studio in El Cerrito, California.
Over the years he has become accomplished in carving both abstract and figurative works and though he still works from maquettes at times, he prefers to sculpt “free form” to create excitingly original pieces. Though initially he worked almost exclusively in Carrara marble, he has extended his work to include a variety of materials including Iranian golden or red travertine and Utah and Italian alabaster. He has made many beautiful sculptures from honeycomb calcite, a translucent stone which he obtains directly from a quarry in the mountains of Utah.
Figurative sculpture was his first love when he began sculpting in 1994, and he frequently returns to it as an endless source of inspiration. Recent works include several pieces sculpted from stones without benefit of a maquette—allowing the stone itself to dictate the form that evolves.
A visit to Bayer Sculpture Studio in the El Cerrito hills will find him happily working in a garden setting surrounded by many of the sculptures that he and his wife Mary Bayer create and have strategically scattered about their home and outdoor property.
Mary Bayer
Mary Bayer grew up in Alexandria, Virginia, just outside of Washington, D.C. and studied at Virginia Commonwealth University School of Art in 1971 and 1972. Mary always intended to have a career as an artist, but living on her own she found it necessary to accept other business opportunities. Fortunately, while working in downtown Washington, D.C. Mary was able to continue studying at the Corcoran School of Art.
After working many years in government as well as the business community of Washington, D.C., Mary moved to the San Francisco area in 1986 where she met her future husband and then began to raise a family.
It was at this time that she was able to pursue her art full time and started working with driftwood and then exploring ceramic sculpture with her husband (and fellow sculptor) in their home studio in El Cerrito, California.
In the years that followed, Mary also began sculptural welding, studying at Contra Costa College in San Pablo, California. After gaining experience in this medium, she began blending ceramic with metal work and by now enjoys creating many new combined sculptures to exhibit at their home studios and gardens.
Member Artists
Akio Aochi, Dana Beebe, Claudia Bossert, Loralee Chapleau, Don Cresswell, Barbara Davies, Peter DeFao, Don DeRoeck, Elena Doronkina, Kathy Flint, Bobbi Garrop, Linda Geniesse, Lynn Glenn, Elina Golder, Gene Gracey, Greg Gutbezahl, Kathie Hackler, Debby Koonce, Roseann Krane, Walter Krane, Tom Lemmer, Andrea Markus, Claudette McDermott, Linda McSweeney, Elena Morris, Barbara Nagel, Julia O’Reilly, Lin Padden, Marie Pascal, Harika Piccone, Dan Riley, Michael Rizza, Joanne Robinson, Goldie Schnitzer, Pat Smith, Greg Starnes, Kerima Swain, Leslie Swartz, Beverly Turner, Judy Uffens, Norma Webb, Charles White.
Image Gallery
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