A R T C L U B

A P R I L 2 019 N E W S

LECTURE SERIES

SANDRA MENDELSOHN RUBIN

PIECES FROM LIFEAPRIL 17

A R T C L U B

2018-19 BOARD MEMBERS

Co-Presidents: NancyLawrence, Pam Saltenberger Secretary: AJ Watson Treasurer: Barbara RuonaAnn BaileyKat CrowCecilia DeluryMarge Dobrowolski Sally Flory-O’NeilNancy GriffithMJ HamiltonWilliam IshmaelSam ReepLinda SchroederEllen Torgerson

Committees:Jill PeaseSusan Willoughby

Send comments to kingsleyartclub@hotmail.comor call 916-961-4654.

kingsleyartclub

“Salt Pond #1,” 2012,Sandra Mendelsohn Rubin,Oil on polyester, 7 × 15 in.

From the Co-Presidents

Spring ColorThe spring green that you see everywhere is at its height in the earlymorning with the rain. It’s a color we love, set off by the trees that arestill stark black lines with a haze of green or promising pinks. It is atime when Wordsworth saw “a crowd, a host, of dancing daffodils.”In California we see the poppies glowing along the freeways in thatlovely green. Perhaps we enjoy it most because it is fleeting.

Looking at nature takesus to looking at art—the beauty of color cap-tured by Monet atGiverny (you knewwe’d mention thatsplendid show) and thebeauty we see in Cali-fornia landscapes atthe Crocker. The FrenchImpressionists capturedthe light, air, and

changing views on “the Continent;” California Impressionists carriedthat idea to capture beauty here.

Take a stroll through the Crocker third floor galleries and look long atthe landscapes that call to you. The blues are so intense in some paint-ings that it is almost too much. Poppies jump out against that blue;sometimes you can almost smell the sea salt air. Let the colors washaway some of the everydayness of things or the ugliness of news im-ages that pollute our souls. After all, it’s springtime!

— Pam and Nancy

APRIL 16: Kingsley Evaluation DayInformal appraisals are $12 per item, or $55 for five items.Appointments are required. Call (916) 808-7752 or emailkingsleyevaluationday@hotmail.com to schedule yourappointment. All proceeds benefit the Crocker Art Museum.

SAVE THE DATE

KINGSLEY ART CLUB FIELD TRIP: Thursday, June 6Bouquets to Art, de Young Museum

Kingsley June 6 Field Trip

Kingsley Member _________________________________________Guest ___________________________________________________Phone___________________________________________________Email ___________________________________________________

c I will be at 1830 Arden Way at 7:15 a.m.

c I will be at Target parking lot at 7:30 a.m.

Join our Kingsley Art Club as “Bouquets toArt” marks its 35th Anniversary with a newpalette of summer blooms in June this year.One of the Museums’ most popular events,“Bouquets to Art” is a weeklong display offloral designs that take inspiration from theworks of art in the de Young’s galleries.

Our reserved date for this special event is Thursday, June 6. We willleave early so that we have as much time as possible, both for thefloral exhibit and to see all the rest of the Museum’s collections. Lunchwill be on your own, at the café or outdoors in the beautiful park. Wewill leave the Museum to return to Sacramento at 2:30, in hopes ofbeating at least some of the traffic. We’ll have snacks both going andreturning, and wine in the afternoon for those who so desire.

Cost of trip: We were able to negotiate a good price with the buscompany, which we are passing on to you—members are $60,guests $75. We are obligated to pay for both the museum and bus inadvance, so there are no refunds, unless it becomes necessary tocancel the trip.

Contact Person: Linda Schroeder, lindajerry1@gmail.com or 916-849-2277.

Pick-up Points� 7:15 a.m.: 1830 Arden Way, behind Black Bear Diner;� 7:30 a.m.: Target Riverside parking lot, by the mural on South Wall.

Reservations: Send the form below and your check to MargeDobrowolski, 3950 Oak Hurst Circle, Fair Oaks CA 95628. Please be sure to include phone numbers/pick up points for you andany guests.

S A N D R A M E N D E L S O H N R U B I N

PIECES FROM LIFE

A detailed view that you could practically fit in your pocket: at only 5 x 6 inches,Rubin’s “Hillside in Spring,” 2009, is shown here at actual size.

CALLED BY A CRITIC A “CONSUMMATE ILLUSIONIST”and by herself an “observational realist,” Sandra Mendel-sohn Rubin was born in Santa Monica, California. She re-ceived both her B.A. and her M.F.A. from UCLA, and whilein graduate school, she was one of the few representational

artists in the program. She, however, received lots of encouragementfrom her professors, including acknowledgement and scholarships.

In the 1980s her work featured LA and the landscape which sur-rounded it. While in the city, Rubin bought a van and took out all theseats but one, converting the interior into a portable studio. Shepainted in her studio van for 13 to 14 years. She would drive out,find a location and park, do a small piece and return to her studio inVenice where she used the study as a reference for a larger painting.

Rubin and her husband began to moveto Mendocino County around 1988. By1990 she had moved to Boonville butneeded time to get familiar with hernew surroundings and began paintingstill lifes until she was ready to tacklethe landscape. An early MendocinoCounty painting, created before hermove, is the Crocker’s Anderson ValleyNight, 1986. Her earliest recognitioncame from her night paintings and thesebecame a subject to which she returnedagain and again.

Her works can be quite small in scale,although she has always painted both

large and small. She feels that small works address the mind andimagination while the large-scale paintings add physicality anddrama. Rubin builds up the surfaces of her paintings with undiluted,unglazed layers of oil paint. Her palette is limited to ten basic colorsand does not include black.

In 2010 Rubin became intrigued by seeing the landscape at twilightwhen flying back from Los Angeles to Santa Rosa. Thus began a seriesof aerial paintings. In order to gather research for these new views,Rubin began to use digital photographs, made by her friends SteveUnz and Henrik Kam. She found that using digital photography ex-panded her working process, stretched her imagination, and openeda world of new material which had been inaccessible previously.

For an overview of her work, please join Kingsley members onWednesday, April 17 at 1:15 P.M. to hear Sandra MendelsohnRubin talk about her contemporary observational realism.

“The idea definesthe scale. Smallwork addressesthe mind andimaginationdirectly whilelarge scale addsphysicality and drama.”

TOP: (Detail) “Yellow Orange,” fromRubin’s “Color” series, 2002, 10 x 6 1⁄8 in., oil on linen.MIDDLE: The artist in her studio.BOTTOM: Rubin painting in herrepurposed studio van, 1987.

c/o Sally Flory-O’Neil2423 H St.Sacramento, CA 95816

kingsleyartclub@hotmail.comwww.kingsleyartclub.org

The Kingsley Art ClubNewsletter is printedand assembled bythe staff and studentsof the McClaskeyAdult School.

APRIL 2019Out and About with the Kingsley

LECTURE SERIES Sandra Mendelsohn Rubin: Pieces from LifeWednesday, April 17, 1:15 to 2:30 P.M.Crocker Auditorium; Doors open at 1:00 P.M.Tickets for Kingsley nonmembers are available at:www.crockerart.org/event/1877/2019-04-17

b. sakata garo, 923 20th Street; Maryanne Steinert-Foley, April 3 – April 27.

Crocker Art Museum, 216 O Street; Selections from the Crocker-Kingsley 2019On view until May 5.

Lisa Jetonne, “Composing a Bath,” Altered wood typecase,handmade soaps, screenprinted towels.