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Just Add Water – Black on White:  The Harrington Gallery at the Firehouse Arts Center presents two new concurrent exhibitions.  The large gallery will host “Just Add Water,” featuring four prominent Bay Area watercolorists and two ceramic sculptors: Melanie Lacki, Claire Schroeven Verbiest, Anne F. Fallin, David Savellano painters, and Mark Goudy and Liza Riddle ceramicists.  In contrast, the adjacent Old Engine Bay Gallery will exhibit “Black on White,” with artists Cary Bailey, Holly Wach, and Rebecca Fox and works in ink, charcoal, and welded steel respectively.  Open January 22 through February 22 at the Harrington Gallery in the Firehouse Arts Center in Pleasanton.  Free reception with artists Wednesday, January 22, from 7:00-9:00 p.m.   Regular gallery hours: Wednesday, Thursday, Friday from 12:00-5:00 p.m.; Saturday 11:00 a.m.-3:00 p.m.  4444 Railroad Avenue, Pleasanton.  Donations always appreciated.

The Harrington Gallery at the Firehouse Arts Center announces the first major exhibit of 2014, which it turns out is actually a double installation, taking advantage of the unique gallery architecture to present two interestingly paired yet distinct exhibits.   The large gallery will host “Just Add Water,” featuring four prominent Bay Area watercolorists and two ceramic sculptors: Melanie Lacki, Claire Schroeven Verbiest, Anne F. Fallin, David Savellano painters, and Mark Goudy and Liza Riddle ceramicists.  In contrast, the adjacent Old Engine Bay Gallery will exhibit “Black on White,” with artists Cary Bailey, Holly Wach, and Rebecca Fox and works in ink, charcoal, and welded steel respectively. 

The Opening Artists’ Reception, which is free and open to the public, will be held on Wednesday evening, January 22, from 7:00-9:00 p.m.  Light refreshments will be served.  Guests are welcome to come explore the exhibit, ask questions and chat with the artists and gallery staff.   

The four watercolorists whose works are on display in Just Add Water  are all nationally known, award-winning artists who are highly regarded in their field, with a combined 100-plus years of experience in painting with watercolor between them. Their styles and techniques range from wet-in-wet, dry-brush, plein air, realism, abstract, and sometimes an interesting mix of the above.

Painter Melanie Lacki (www.melanielacki.com) has pieces hanging in collections throughout the world and catalogued in numerous museums.  Lacki, who currently resides in Pleasanton, has displayed her work in national and international exhibitions, and has received many notable awards and honors.  American Artist Magazine featured an article about her distinctive use of color, and her works have been published in a variety of books.  Of her work, she says: “I prefer to work in a representational style, as this style lends itself to a wide range of interpretations.  To me, a painting must be simply stated, while allowing the subject to dictate the medium and technique.”  

Claire Schroeven Verbiest (www.claireverbiest.com) is a native of Belgium who lived in the Congo and Germany before moving to San Jose.  An award-winning artist and a signature member of several art societies, Verbiest’s painting “Haute Cuisine” received the High Winds Medal at the American Watercolor Society’s prestigious annual exhibition in 1999.  In addition to teaching painting and pastel classes and workshops throughout North America and Europe, Claire often serves as an art show juror. “My obsession is to charm the eye with intense color, dramatic light and strong design,” states Verbiest.

David Savellano (http://davidsavellano.com) works primarily en plein air (outdoors), creating watercolor paintings that capture random moments on the street, in nature, and especially in urban settings.  Savellano says he finds that “the most alluring subjects and scenarios are often fleeting or temporary at best…When you paint outdoors, you’re completely immersed in the scene, the atmosphere, the mood…and actually capture its essence.”  A native Californian living currently in Alameda, David credits his 30 years experience as an architect with having given him the drawing skills and strong sense of perspective that inform his art. 

The recipient of over 200 art awards, Walnut Creek’s Anne F. Fallin has exhibited her paintings throughout the US in numerous prestigious national shows.  Her paintings are in public and private collections across the United States as well as many foreign countries.  They are recognized by their upbeat and sometimes humorous themes, dramatic color, and strong design.

The two sculptors who will be showing in the Just Add Water exhibit are art studio partners and husband and wife Mark Goudy and Liza Riddle (www.thundercloudstudio.com).  Both create burnished earthenware vessels, often extremely fine and smooth, with intricate and surprisingly colorful markings, but with very different forms and aesthetics. Goudy describes his current work: “These vessels are constructed from asymmetric parabolic surfaces that project a unique contour with each viewing angle…My approach is to combine ancient methods of stone-burnishing and earthenware firing with computer-aided shape design to produce talismans that fuse traditional and modern aesthetics.”  Riddle says of her pieces: “I have been deeply inspired by the rhythm, patterns and forces of life…during extensive travels around the world.”  She continues to describe part of her process: “Instead of glazing, I paint the bisque vessels with water soluble metals – iron, nickel, cobalt, and other slats – chemicals that permeate the non-vitrified clay…I have developed my own mixtures of metal salts and techniques for applying these almost transparent ‘watercolors’.” 

The “Black on White” exhibition in the Engine Bay gallery space was the inspiration of Harrington Gallery Director Julie Finegan in response to the colorful “Just Add Water” installation. San Francisco artist Cary Bailey uses black ink to create still lifes that are intricately detailed and slightly whimsical. Charcoal artist Holly Wach’s works are sensuous and expressive, and evidence her fascination with the mythical (www.hollywach.com).  Wach has a variety of exhibits and solo shows, having received her MFA summa cum laude from New York Academy of Fine Arts in 2001.  Rebecca Fox (www.rebeccafox.com) also lives and works in San Francisco, and has been creating welded steel sculpture for sixteen years, and has developed an extensive following of collectors with her work in over 150 private and public collections throughout the United States.  Among her career highlights are exhibitions at the SFMOMA Artists Gallery and ArtSpan’s prestigious Selections 2010.  Fox’s work shown at “Black on White” will be selected, in addition to their intrinsic interest, for their dark silhouettes in the gallery in complement to the wall art, states Finegan.   

Dates:  January 22 through February 22 at the Harrington Gallery in the Firehouse Arts Center in Pleasanton, 4444 Railroad Avenue.  Regular gallery hours: Wednesday, Thursday, Friday from 12:00-5:00 p.m.; Saturday 11:00 a.m.-3:00 p.m., and one hour before most performances and during intermissions.  Admission for this exhibit is free, and donations are gratefully accepted.  
 
Information about the Harrington Gallery:
Located inside the Firehouse Arts Center, the Harrington Gallery is a state-of-the-art 2000 square foot exhibition space operated by the City of Pleasanton.  Exhibits are located in the gallery, the grand atrium lobby, the upper mezzanine, and across the glass bridge in the Firehouse Lounge.  The gallery and exhibit spaces maintain a lively schedule of rotating art installations featuring a variety of media, themes, and styles. Exciting interactive programs in performing and visual arts are on-going. The Firehouse Arts Center opened in 2010, and also houses the 227-seat Firehouse Theater which presents world-class performances.  The Firehouse Arts Center is located at 4444 Railroad Avenue in downtown Pleasanton.  Media:  Jane Onojafe, jonojafe@cityofpleasantonca.gov, or 925-931-4855