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Gualala Arts
Promoting public interest and participation in the arts since 1961.
Archive of past events: 2004 through 2014
The Dolphin Gallery will have a free exhibit with Dina Gewing, clay, and Ted Noble, watercolor, from the opening Saturday, May 3 from 5:00 to 7:00 p.m. through June 4. More about Ted NobleMy work is landscape in transparent watercolor. This exhibit focuses on the beauty of the Gualala Point Regional Park and includes other impressions of our unique coastal environment.
I began to paint with watercolor in 1967, while working as a teacher on the Island of Guam. Tropical palms and the transparent water inside the reefs were a great inspiration. I owe much to the encouragement of my wife, Freda, who found the only watercolors and paper on the island and told me I should begin to paint the palms I was always talking about. While I have had no formal training in art over the years, I have learned and developed by experimentation, with the help of a few good books along the way. Since retiring in Gualala in 1985, I have enjoyed the many wonderful exhibit opportunities provided by Gualala Arts. I have also been a participant for the past ten years in the Annual Studio Discovery Tour, sponsored by the North Coast Artists' Guild.
About my painting: My work is traditional and representational, but it is quite a loose style of watercolor. In painting a scene from nature, I try to visualize the particular colors and intensities of hue, mixing and flowing with water, which will create the right impressions of the objects being represented. Larger brushes and larger sizes of paper are suited to this style of painting.
More about Dina Gewing, Teapot Maker
My installation "High Tea on the Forest Floor" integrates my love of the functional teapot form with my aesthetic view of nature. I see nature as motifs broken down into patterns of the four seasons. I am particularly drawn to the time at the end of one season when the next season unfolds. Late winter symbolizes rebirth, as the first blooms appear on the trees without foliage and the ferns start unfurling. And, again late fall when the leaves of the trees, so richly colored, start falling to the earth's floor and provide nourishment for the top soil which fuels the fungi, lichen and blooms of the coming seasons.
My formal training came when I entered UC Santa Cruz in 1979 and studied at Cowell Pottery with Al Johnsen. He told us at the very first class, "I will teach you to be a production potter. When you have mastered the technique of clay I will show you the art." After three years of rigorous training and mentoring from Al, I transferred to New York School of Ceramics at Alfred University to complete my fine art training. Returning to the Bay Area, I found a job in a catering kitchen where my production and aesthetic skills transferred seamlessly to food preparation. In 1996, I graduated from the California Culinary Academy with every intention of having a career in food. But, I never could shake off my first love and returned to clay in 2002. My new work integrates these two passions into the high tea service.
The Dolphin Gallery is located at
39225 Highway One in downtown Gualala, CA |
When I first started studying pottery I wrote a booklet on the teapot form.
The beginning quote was, " The teapot is a symbol of friendliness."
I believe that a hot pot of tea on the kitchen table shared with friends and
family, or enjoyed alone, is a time for reflection on the joys, sorrows and inner
secrets of life. I hope that that my teapots will bring happiness, beauty of
form and nature, peace, solace and laughter to all who experience them.
This year I have been focusing on the high tea service, expanding my teapot
sets to include cups, plates, tiered platters, sugar and creamer sets, and
trays. I have been combining my teapot form with densely textured surface
decoration: multi-fired vintage decals, china paints and metallic lusters.
My work pays homage to the tea sets of our grandmothers and
the Japanese aesthetic of the seasons. They represent my love for the time honored tradition of the tea party.