On the morning of Sept. 8, a handful of artists from the Sunnyvale Art Club gathered at Santa Clara’s Central Park Library to set up an exhibit showcasing the members’ original art, which reflected a diversity of subjects. Penny Nolan’s oil painting, “Ballerina Magic,” reveals the stamina of a young ballerina performing en pointe. The fervor of Kandinsky is summoned in Tien-Tien Hsu’s “Rhapsody,” an abstract oil painting of concentrated swirls and bursts of color. Meera Chandrashekar’s acrylic painting “Mom” celebrates the intimacy of skin-to-skin contact between a mother and her baby.
Judged by artist Jane Hofstetter, the exhibit will be up through Sept. 28.
Chris MacDonough, organizer of the library exhibit, shared that 15 artists contributed an estimated 50 pieces of art to this show. One of several oil paintings that MacDonough contributed included “Red Barn,” which shows a rustic man-made structure in harmony with the natural grassy fields dotted with golden sunflowers.
“The purpose of the art show is to display the work of the artists,” MacDonough said. “We have our art in the area, mostly in Sunnyvale. We have work displayed in Cupertino as well. We also have work in the Mayor’s Office in Sunnyvale. Our members live all over the place. I have been involved in the Sunnyvale Art Club for about 13 years.”
Diana Yu Johnson has been a member of the Sunnyvale Art Club for almost 20 years. One can imagine catching a whiff of a salty sea breeze entering the library as you view the waves disrupting the water in her acrylic painting, “Cresting Waves.”
Johnson explained that the City of Sunnyvale had once sponsored the club, which originated in 1959. Due to the city’s budget cuts, the club now raises money on its own to pay for the meeting room it rents from the Sunnyvale Community Center. Raised funds also help pay the artists who perform demonstrations at meetings.
“That’s why we have exhibitions like this,” Johnson said. “At this library exhibit, we have contact information on our artists’ work so people who are interested in purchasing the art can always contact the artist directly. The Sunnyvale Art Club will get a percentage of the sale. We also have an auction in August. We welcome new members who work on all mediums, from sculpture to photography, although the majority of our artists work on watercolor, oil and acrylic mediums.”
Denise Sils, President of the Sunnyvale Art Club, commended members who have organized events, like this library exhibit. She described the artists in the club as “amazing” and pointed out that the club’s art teachers are additional assets. For this exhibit, Sils contributed a number of paintings, including the charming palette of pastels that is the acrylic-based “Belles Fleurs” (meaning “beautiful flowers” in French).
“I used a special reductive technique where I splattered paint on the gessoed (acrylic base applied to paper as a sealant) watercolor paper. Then I painted around it and added details to the abstract,” Sils said. “It’s created from your imagination. This technique helps you bring your ideas to the surface.”
Artists from any area of residence can join the Sunnyvale Art Club. Visit SunnyvaleArtClub.org for information about membership benefits and meetings.