JoAnne Abreu, gourds & Karen Bowers, watercolors Opening Reception: Saturday, May 1, 2010, 5:00 p.m. Exhibit remains through June 2 Dolphin Gallery

The Dolphin Gallery will be showing the mixed media gourds of JoAnne Abreu and the watercolors of Karen Bowers from the opening Saturday, May 1 from 5:00 to 7:00 p.m. through June 2.

About JoAnne Abreu

I have been a basket maker for twenty years. The basketry technique I love most is coiling. When I was introduced to hard shell gourds ten years ago, I knew I had to use my coiling art on these great gifts of nature.

Beginning with the gourd as my foundation, I use coiling to build something new. I create a structure that combines gourd and fiber, thus enhancing or altering the gourd's original shape. To accomplish this I wrap waxed linen thread around a fiber core, attaching row upon row to the gourd. Color is added using leather dye. The piece is preserved with a protective coating. Some gourds are covered with handmade paper.

I love the entire process used to create my pieces. It begins with studying a gourd in its natural state, deciding how it should be cut and built upon, and then transforming it into a three-dimensional art form.

A life-long fascination with shapes and textures in nature, as well as ceramics, woodturning, and fiber arts, keeps me motivated to explore and create.

About Karen Bowers

In the 1980s, Karen Bowers began painting on location, inspired by Mendocino and San Francisco scenery.

Her life as an artist expanded when she and her husband, Leonardo, built High Point View Studio on Navarro Ridge in Albion. "Once I took my paintings inside, literally and metaphorically, the paint itself became a new inspiration."

In a former life, Karen taught Political Thought at UC Berkeley. "Teaching contemporary watercolor is similar. As I see it, art and political thought are each created through a dialectic relationship between chaos (active paint) and order (color, values and design). Begin a painting with a world view rooted in open mindedness and build relationships as you go . . . that's key."

The Dolphin Gallery is located at 39225 Highway One in downtown Gualala, CA
(behind the post office on the south side). Open daily from 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.
Please call (707) 884-3896 for more information.