"New Work by Old Friends"
July 7th to August 8th
Charles Anselmo, David Baltzer, Jade Bradbury, Kate Curry, Lois DeCastro, Linda Filhardt,
Elaine Frenett, Helen Golden, Connie Guidotti, Marianne Lettieri, Ted Orland, Jeannine Redon,
Saelon Renkes, Robin Robinson, Judy Serebrin and Patricia Weisler
Reception on Saturday, July 10th from 7:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m.
in conjunction with Redwood City’s Second Saturday Artwalk

The Main Gallery in Redwood City is pleased to present our first invitational exhibit “New Work by Old Friends” from July 7th to August 8th. The show features sixteen previous members of the gallery, including Charles Anselmo, David Baltzer, Jade Bradbury, Kate Curry, Lois DeCastro, Linda Filhardt, Elaine Frenett, Helen Golden, Connie Guidotti, Marianne Lettieri, Ted Orland, Jeannine Redon, Saelon Renkes, Robin Robinson, Judy Serebrin and Patricia Weisler.  By reuniting and reconnecting with these artists the gallery will present a dynamic show tying together past and present. The gallery, located at 1018 Main Street in Redwood City, will host a reception for the artists on Saturday, July 10th from 7:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. in conjunction with Redwood City’s Second Saturday Artwalk.

Jade Bradbury, one of the founding members of The Main Gallery in 2000, “Fervently misses the friendship, commitment, and regular exhibition opportunities that bound the artists together in the early days of the gallery.”  Her current work bears some recognizable marks of her earlier printmaking and mixed media pieces, but now has a 3-D quality that permits her to create depth and layering while retaining a flat “DVD” like quality.

Bradbury spent a four-month Fellowship/Artist Residency in New Zealand in 2005-2006, which she received from New Pacific Studios.  She states, “This turned me around as an artist in more ways than I can describe: how amazing to be granted not only “a room of my own” in which to live and sleep, but a studio of my own in which I could pursue whatever took my fancy.”  From this journey she was further able to journey into the South Pacific and other Islands.  Bradbury feels, “Travel is essential to the artist's journey, but of course also paying attention, is important, no matter where you find yourself.”

For Ted Orland, his art “comes along for the ride.” Orland photographs his travels with a little plastic (Holga) camera.  He divides his time between teaching, writing and photography, recently leading workshops in Hawaii, Alaska and California.  His most recent book, "The View From the Studio Door" was released in 2006 and is now in its third printing.  Its predecessor, "Art & Fear" (co-authored with David Bayles), remains on Amazon's best-seller list, with French and Korean-language editions now in print as well.

The mixed media constructions Marianne Lettieri is showing juxtapose disparate found objects with a history and pathos that engage the viewer, spurring a search for a deeper meaning hidden in the artwork.  Lettieri has been active in exhibiting in solo and juried group shows both regionally and nationally since leaving the gallery in 2008: "Under the Influence" at the Fine Arts Museum in Longview, Texas and "Putting It All Together" at Climate Gallery in Long Island City, New York.  She has also developed her curatorial skills by producing shows for Arts of the Covenant, a group of 175 visual artists of faith from around the Bay Area.  These uplifting and thought-provoking exhibitions have been installed in a wide range of venues including churches, seminaries, and retreat centers, as well as art galleries, hospitals, and senior residencies.  Currently, Lettieri is enjoying a residency she was recently given at Cubberley Artist Studios in Palo Alto.

Elaine Frenett’s subject matter is primarily California landscape using watercolor with wax crayons. Along with these she is showing her biggest passion, her personal visual art journals, which are a cross between her previous art books and 2-D pieces.  Frenett gives private as well as group classes in personal visual journals.  She created her most recent seminar, “Women’s Mexico Journaling Retreat” for a week-long retreat.  Simultaneously with “New Work by Old Friends,” she is showing collaborative pieces that traveled between three long distance friends at the “Viewpoints” Gallery in Los Altos.

Constance Guidotti’s new work is acrylic paint on paper, straying away from her previous mixed media portraits in which she dealt with issues concerning Afghan and Vietnamese woman.  Having visited Vietnam twice with De Anza College overseas program she completed a long series of work focused on Vietnam.  In an effort to move away from computers, Guidotti is exploring painting, beginning with representational images and abstracting them.

Saelon Renkes is showing some of her most recent nude photographs, archivally printed with pigment inks on rag paper.  Renkes’ work has been published in a new ‘how to photograph the nude’ book, titled “The Naked and the Lens” by Louis Benjamin. She is honored to have five images and lengthy interview included as part of this excellent book.  The Center for Photographic Art in Carmel has chosen Renkes to be included in their collector print program, she has also been asked to give a lecture in October on the subject of nude photography.

Also actively involved in The Center for Photographic Art in Carmel is Robin Robinson.  She exhibits and lives in Carmel and is showing "Wave and Boat" in “New Work by Old Friends”, which is a surreal depiction of the horizon from the surface of the water.  This is part of a series called "Surfacing," the image was created in a traditional darkroom using brushes, then toned and hand colored by Robinson.

Linda Fillhardt is showing a printmaking series inspired by the idea of “structures.”  In 2006, Fillhardt and her husband moved to Santa Fe, New Mexico, where she states, “I am still entranced with landscape and the views and the light. From our back portal we can see 100 miles and I love watching the thunderstorms move across the Galisteo Basin in the summer.”  Recently, Fillhardt was honored to have one of her monoprints accepted into the 2009 8^th Janet Turner National Print Competition and Exhibition.

Jeannine Redon has two cast acrylic prints in the exhibition in which she is playing with the “lozenge” shape.  She states, “This work is totally non-representational, very unlike my usual work.”  In contrast Judith Serebrin’s work is very similar to the work she previously showed at the gallery; porcelain, paper (books) and wood to illustrate ideas about social and environmental ideas, and her relationship to them.  She has recently completed an edition of five books about herself, a Jewish American, and a Palestinian American friend.  Serebrin states, “I’m happy back at the Main and to be with all the wonderful artists who've shown there.”

Please join us at the opening reception on July 10^th from 7:00 to 9:00.  As Bradbury states, “What a fine concept this is, to link the past to the present; to reunite those who believed we could build and promote art by building a community of artists!  I'm honored to have been a part of this worthy and ongoing process.”  This is a wonderful chance to meet the artists and enjoy a summer evening viewing art!