Sculpture in the Garden: June 21 - August 10

Antonio Inserni is a metal sculptor in the East Bay. While the majority of his time and talent are spent supporting fellow artists with their UnScruz and Burning Man projects, many of his pieces are on private display throughout the Bay Area. Find examples of his work on Instagram: @aainser1 

Barbara Vanderbeck is a San Francisco-based ceramic artist who designs much of her work to be displayed in the garden. Her earthy yet vibrant ceramics is inspired from the natural world and her extensive travels and studies. Her garden sculpture has been commissioned and collected throughout the Bay Area and beyond.

.

.

David and Reed Bowman are a father and son studio with over 80 years of collective experience in metalwork. David is almost entirely self-taught, having begun working with silver in the early 1970s, just after Reed was born. Working mostly with simple hand tools, David progressed into working with brass and copper, steadily making larger designs from vases and candlesticks to large wall sculptures. Since the 1980s, most of the studio’s work has been colored with traditional and modern sculptural patinas, applied with metal. Reed has continued to build upon the techniques and has added more free-standing sculptures as well as tables to the repertoire.

Diana Markessinis {Mar-ka-seen-iss} is an Oakland-based artist that utilizes mixed media, metal, and clay to explore the interconnectedness of humans to their environment and each other. A major element is authenticity and accessibility – having a relationship with the work through holding, touching, moving amongst. The work is purposefully approachable, playful, and designed to bring nature and humans closer. Markessinis holds degrees in Sculpture from MFA {CSU Fullerton} and BFA {West Virginia University} with work on view throughout the country in public and private spaces.

.

.

.

.

.

.

Nature is my biggest influence. I first started building totems in a drought year, thinking of them as sort of hardy, year-round ceramic plants for the garden. I’m attracted to plants that have totem-like spires: verbascums, hollyhocks, acanthus, etc. I love to see totems of different heights in small groupings, interacting with each other, and with the surrounding foliage in my garden. Most of the forms are of my invention, inspired by my experience of plants and seedpods and the like, rather than seeking to reproduce any plants in particular. As a painter, I find that my work in painting informs my work in clay and vice versa. I’ve lived and worked in Sonoma County for over 20 years, where I also teach art at Santa Rosa Junior College. A lifelong painter, ceramic sculpture is relatively new to me.

Lucy Ruth Wright Rivers was born in Morocco and raised in rural central California. She earned a BS from UC Davis and an MFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. Her artwork is in private collections and public settings. Lucy particularly enjoys working with found color, making art from discards and detritus, materials that can bring their own narratives to the artwork. She collaborates with her materials to best capture the changes of light and atmosphere throughout the day.

Lynn Jones is a sculptor and mosaic artist from Berkeley. Lynn has been making sculptural
mosaics for more than 20 years. She is drawn to mosaic for its long history and proven
durability. Her playful sculptures of animals embody a sense of action and personality, while the
mosaic surfaces fabricated from broken dishes reveal a witty interplay of image, color, and
pattern. Lynn’s work can be seen at Schoolhouse Creek Commons in Berkeley, at the Albany
Bulb and at the Berkeley Marina.

.

.

Although I was trained as a painter at Yale, I am a sculptor and mixed media artist at heart. My interest is in the figure and in concepts about beauty, desire and memory.

I work as responsively and unconsciously as possible, inspired by folk art, the children I teach and my practice of yoga.

This work is also about the innate sensuousness of the materials used. Clay is like skin and body. I want to move the viewer to a personal, body response.

.

.

.

My name is Rachel, I am a self taught mosaic artist from the South Bay. As a stained glass artist, I saved all my leftover glass for an opportunity that came when I received a pair of glass nippers and a bag of grout from a close friend. I started experimenting and quickly fell in love with the art of mosaic. I make 2D and 3D art work for both indoor and outdoor, working intuitively with design, color, and form.

What kind of art do I make?

Making thoughts visible is my goal.

My focus is to produce a high-quality metal sculpture. Beginning with sheet metal, I shape and weld pieces together, creating a three-dimensional form. To make a sculpture that looks as if it was carved from a solid chunk is part of that focus.

The sculptures I make represent phases of my life such as: my thoughts, dreams, experiences, or just interesting shapes I have thought up and developed over time.

.

Inspired by nature, my work reflects on the interconnections between all living systems, creating allegorical sculptures that highlight the invisible bonds that unite us. Through hybrid forms and symbolic elements, I explore the delicate balance between humanity, the natural world, and the transformations that shape our shared existence.

.

.

.

.