Loraine Toth….retrospective

Gualala Arts is excited to host “Loraine Toth… A Retrospective,” a one-woman show featuring a comprehensive collection of her life’s work in clay, possibly with a few select paintings. The exhibition will open on Friday, January 10, from 4-6 pm at the Gualala Arts Burnett Gallery and will remain on display through February 9. This retrospective offers a unique opportunity to explore the evolution of Toth’s artistic journey, showcasing her mastery of form and texture in her ceramic creations, alongside a curated selection of her paintings. Visitors are invited to immerse themselves in the depth and diversity of Toth’s artistic expression during this special presentation.

Loraine Toth’s vibrant and fantastical sculptures are inspired by the European traditions of the Commedia dell’arte, a style of theatre originating in northern Italy in the fifteenth century, which Toth became acquainted with while studying art in Vienna. The Commedia dell’arte featured actors wearing distinctive costumes and masks who performed with highly stylized postures and exaggerated gestures to convey emotion and intent. Such performances often incorporated jesters, harlequins and acrobats who actively engaged with the theatre audience. Toth’s figurative works, always intensely colorful, can range from bold and provocative to sensitive and alluring – with facial expressions, gestures, props and masks contributing to their overall visual impact and messaging. Her work is large and physical, creating a powerful impact, yet still manages to speak to you intimately. She often chooses to display multiple sculptures together as part of a unified group–evocative of a theatre performance where one artwork can play off against another in telling a story. Loraine Toth’s ceramic sculptures are glazed and fired, sometimes multiple times, in a large kiln at her studio. Her larger figures are often assembled from several smaller components fired individually.

In Loraine’s own words:

“I really thought what could be easier?! Gathering together all the pieces of my life, deciding what’s worth showing, what isn’t, and why.

Well, these past months have been a deep and profound dive. A spiritual cleanse, as well as dusting cobwebs off actual objects I created over the years.

I think the results will be worth having a look at.

Deeply appreciated people have assisted me.

I’ve done my best. Honestly.”

About Loraine Toth

Born on June 7, 1945, in New York City to Austro-Hungarian parents, Loraine received a robust education through the city’s public school system. She earned a degree in Fashion Illustration from the Fashion Institute of Technology.

Loraine traded the East Coast for the West, embarking on a career as a freelance illustrator. Her journey took a significant turn when she left her Malibu home for Austria, becoming the first American accepted at the Vienna Fine Arts Academy. She spent eleven semesters painting in the master class of Professor Rudolf Hausner.

After her time in Austria, Loraine’s adventures continued with a stint in an English manor house, a year in a Brooklyn tenement apartment, and a return to Southern California. Eventually, she made a move to the ocean bluffs of Northern California.

 Loraine began sculpting directly in concrete, thanks to Diane Cochran, and was “adopted” by Romana Anzi Downie as her sole student/apprentice in 1996. Sculpting with clay quickly became an all-consuming passion for her.

Loraine creates hollow, internally engineered, one-of-a-kind sculptures. Her works range from garden pieces and fountains to purely personal art forms and expressions. Some of her sculptures are life-sized, all intended to help make our world a bit more beautiful.