Flowers have a special connection
in Carlsbad and Karen McGuire, Cannon Art Gallery's curator
of exhibitions, kept that in mind when she decided to dedicate
an entire exhibition to blooming vegetation.
"The idea of a show about flowers was in the back of
my mind when I started here in 1999," she said. "I
wanted to do it, of course, in the spring. And because the
Carlsbad flower fields are the icon of the city, it seems
to fit right in. It's something nice for the gallery to
tie it with something people can see when looking at our
coast."
When she began looking for artists to include, several immediately
came to mind. But as she looked further, she discovered
that her first idea of including eight artists was too exclusionary.
"I kept finding more and more artists that I wanted
to include," she said. "So I ended up with 11
artists, all of whom have different styles. It runs the
gamut from hyperrealism to the abstract."
The idea was to include contemporary artists, many of whom
lived in the region. From California are Timothy Berry,
Rose Cabat, Cynthia Evans, Carol Goldmark, James Lorigan,
Tanja Rector, Sandra Sallin and Olga Seem. Representing
the San Diego area are Manny Farber of Leucadia, Mary Manusos
of La Mesa and Muriel Roston of Carlsbad.
"Manny was one of the first artists I thought of with
this exhibit," she said. "He's such an icon to
the region. A few years ago, the San Diego Museum of Contemporary
Art did a retrospective of his work. He and his wife have
a garden, and he takes a lot of inspiration from that."
McGuire discovered Manusos at the LJ Gallery in downtown
San Diego. "She's lived in La Mesa a long time,"
McGuire explained. "She makes etchings on handmade
paper. Her work features very bright colors."
As for Roston, "she's been a Carlsbad resident forever,"
said McGuire. "She is self-taught and uses a lot of
color in her work. She also takes inspiration from her garden."
Interestingly, three of the artists are represented with
black and white works. One example is Sallin's work, which
is so hyper-realistic in its details that the artist used
a magnifying glass to create it.
"I think people will be amazed at the talent, the diversity
of styles and subject matters in the show," she said.
"Each artist uses flowers to tell a story. They're
not looking at a flower as something merely beautiful, but
as a means to express something personal. I like that it
makes us look at flowers in nature in a different way. The
show will be a veritable flower garden when people walk
in, with pretty colors everywhere."
"On Flowers"
When: opens Sunday and runs through May 25; gallery hours,
11 a.m. to
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