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Gualala Arts
Promoting public interest and participation in the arts since 1961.
Archive of past events: 2004 through 2014
The August 2014 exhibit at the Dolphin Gallery features Ellen Boulanger and Ann Berger. The opening night reception is on Saturday, August 2 from 5:00 to 7:00 p.m. and the show runs through Wednesday, September 3.
Ellen Boulanger
After a twenty-five year career in the corporate world she turned to art fulltime and focused on her artistic talents. Her introduction to plein air painting unlocked a creative talent reflected in the works that appear in this show. She enjoys the ability to quickly and spontaneously capture the effects light produces in nature. Her work deals primarily with three subject matters - landscapes, still lifes and creatures. Her work strives to capture a moment frozen in time, whether the change of a season in a vineyard or a casually discarded shoe or a napping cat bathed in afternoon light. She finds inspiration in the subtle changes that occur daily around her. Her landscapes capture with a vivid palate the colors of the wine country hillsides near her Sonoma County home. The still lifes might be a traditional flower arrangements or an old paint brush. Her creatures are a menagerie of everyday animals in a fresh perspective. Additionally, she is painting a series of waterways and seascapes along the Northern California Coast. Boulanger has refined her innate ability in numerous college classes and at the workshops of many artists including Tim Horn, Ovanes Berberian, Richard McDaniel, Judy Butler, and Greg LaRock among others. Her works hang in many homes across the country and overseas. Examples of her paintings have been displayed at The Dolphin for a long time, but this is her first two-person show and it reveals the range of her subject matter. More can be found in her virtual gallery on her website, ellenboulanger.com.
Ann Berger
Ann begins with a slab of clay, coiled sections and small units of stoneware pieced together one at a time to form an architectural structure or sculptural vessel. She carefully melds them together on the inside surface so the outside textures retain their shape. Her design process evolves from concepts to sketches to the construction of sculptures that are one only original possessing a vibrancy and vitality that sets each apart. The finished pieces are far different from the earthen tones often associated with clay. They look more like something Gaudi or Dali might collect. Ann has entered many juried shows over the years and has won many awards. Her work has been featured at the Marin Society of Artists in Ross, at Gallery One in Point Reyes Station, at the Luther Burbank Center in Santa Rosa, at the Sebastopol Center for the Arts, at Arches Gallery in Healdsburg, The Mendocino Art Center and at the Dolphin Gallery. A longtime member of Gualala Arts, Berger has had a varied artistic career. In college she was a Theater Arts major. Later, she became involved in weaving and more seriously jewelry making. She took classes at San Jose State in lost wax casting and fabrication design. Now she focuses on her sculptures inspired by the natural beauty of her North Coast home. More examples of her creations, whether architectural or whimsical creatures, can be found at the website art.mcn.org/Ann-Berger/ or Google "Ann Berger Sculptor" for a gallery of images that include many pieces.
Dolphin Gallery is located at
39225 Highway 1 in downtown Gualala, CA, |
Growing up in Utah, Ellen Boulanger was taught that a practical and profitable career was a better choice than that of an artist, but she always had an interest in being creative whether weaving, painting, photographing or working with glass. Even though she moved to the Bay Area and pursued a career in computer programming, she never abandoned her desire to create artistically.
No stranger to the Dolphin, Ann Berger served as Dolphin Gallery Coordinator from 1992 to 1996 and had a previous two-person show as recently as June of 2011. She describes her work as sculptural using stoneware clay. She combines architectural shapes with a playful, sometimes mischievous touch to produce pieces unlike any others.
