BONNIE J. SMITH - 2015 NICHE Awards Winner

January 17, 2015 – Artist Bonnie J. Smith of San Jose, CA has been selected as a winner in the 2015 NICHE Awards for the piece titled “Contemplate” in the Fiber: Art Quilts category. 

The awards program is sponsored by NICHE Magazine, the exclusive trade publication for independent retailers.

The NICHE Awards program began in 1989 to recognize the outstanding creative achievements of American craft artists who produce work for craft galleries and retail stores.  Judging is based on three main criteria:

• Technical excellence, both in surface design and form
• Market viability
• And distinct quality of unique and creative thought

Winners of the 2015 NICHE AWARDS were announced at a ceremony on Saturday, January 17, 2015 at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center, held in conjunction with the American Made Show.

YVONNE NEWHOUSE - Portola Art Gallery, Menlo Park CA

TREASURES REVEALED

Headwaters Eastside

January 1-31, 2015

Artist's Reception: Saturday, January 10, 1:00 - 4:00 P.M

Portola Art Gallery at Allied Arts Guild
75 Arbor Road, Menlo Park, CA 94025
650-321-0220
Hours:  Monday - Saturday, 10:30 am to 4:30 pm

The Portola Art Gallery presents, “Treasures Revealed” - a joint exhibition by new gallery members Shaowei Liu and Yvonne Newhouse. The exhibition of watercolor paintings highlights scenes of brief but precious moments of life, such as clouds over snowy peaks or children playing. Yvonne Newhouse, of San Mateo, brings attention to some of winter’s hidden treasures in this exhibit. An avid hiker both on Bay Area trails and in the Sierra Nevada backcountry, Yvonne has witnessed and recorded many beautiful vistas, interpreting them using transparent watercolor. A native of the prairies of Saskatchewan, Canada, she is in awe of the stature and grandness of mountains and snowy mountain passes of California’s high country. Also included in this exhibit are some more intimate scenes of the season. More information about Yvonne is available at http://yvonnenewhouse.com/.

        

SUSAN VARJAVAND - Gallery 9, Los Altos CA

LIGHT’S PLEASURES - Landscapes in Oil

February 3 - March 1, 2015,

Artist Reception: Friday, February 6, 5 -7:30 P.M.

GALLERY 9, LOS ALTOS,

143 Main Street, Los Altos, 94022     (650) 941-7969

Hours: Tuesday to Saturday, 11-5p. Sundays, 12-4p.

Susan Varjavand’s new paintings explore the bay and hills. She paints to record how she feels about light and depth, especially dawn and dusk. Playfulness with light, the subject of this exhibit, is landscape telling how it soaks up light to enjoy itself. Light makes palm fronds sparkle, quiets trees at dusk, transforms a boulder’s color after rain, and gilds a valley, defining it as Californian.

A “colorist,” in the past Susan developed subjects such as the nude, “chair,” and mud-brick architecture to convey inner life, attitudes, and the memory of ancestors. In this exhibit, reworking favorites such as the bay and gestures of tree limbs, she suggests freshness of the moment with the help of a a vivid palette and sometime a palette knife.