Sensibilties

Forty-eight mixed media works by five local women artists ranging from intimate still-lifes to dynamic aerial abstractions. Featuring the works of Marie Bourget (mixed media), Donna Cehrs (oils), Sara Friedlander (mixed media), Claire Lerner (Encaustics), and Patricia Sherwood (oils). The work is open to the public and will remain on display at 325 Soquel Avenue through May 15, 2005.

Each of the artists featured in "Sensibilities" has been making art professionally for twenty years or more. Each was chosen by the bank because of her unique approach to her subject matter and form. "Although each of these women has developed a distinct voice, their work shares an immediacy and acuteness of feeling” says curator Christine Murray, who along with Bank CEO John Rossell chose the works for the latest show. "We called the show 'Sensibilities’, because these women communicate their unique responses to their subject matter so effectively,” Rossell adds. Many of the works displayed are being seen for the first time by the public. Two artists, Claire Lerner and Sara Friedlander, are displaying works that are a departure in style for them.

More about the artists:

Marie Bourget was trained at Ecole Parson's in Paris, France. Her mixed media works focus on randomness and chance. She often uses dice to aid her in her decision-making about colors, materials, and images.
Visit Marie's website.

Donna Cehrs is a meticulous oil painter whose Renaissance-style compositions include
provocative juxtapositions of Chinese firecrackers, undersea objects, organic matter, and children's toys.

Sara Friedlander combines digital aerial photographs with oils to create vibrant abstractions that seem to meld the landscape of the terrain with reflections of light of the air.
Visit Sara's website.

Claire Lerner's pieces begin with photographs, often small Polaroid transfers of flowers or small objects, which are then encased in heavy layers of encaustic, a wax-like substance, and painted over with acrylics.

Patricia Sherwood, a painter whose works are in the collections of the Triton Museum, Stanford University, the Oakland Museum and the Stanford University Art Museum, creates large abstract canvases, applying paint to create a lavish and dramatic confrontation of shape and color.
Visit Patricia's website.