The Harrington Gallery is presenting “Road Trip,” an exhibit that features artwork by professional artists from Allied Artists West from Santa Clara.
In partnership with the South Bay-based group, 16 additional artists are showcasing their talents in a group setting located inside the Firehouse Arts Center in Pleasanton.
“We have many different artists who specialize in different mediums. So you’ll be able to see a lot of variety from photography, pastels, oil, paintings, acrylics, you name it,” said Sydney Tang, curator of the gallery.
From international trips to Ireland to quick trips down the West Coast in California, the artists used their unique experiences to create art interpreting what a road trip means to them.
“Some of these artists chose to do landscape, whereas others did more abstract paintings, as well as portraits of people they encountered during their various travels,” Tang said.
A local writers’ group, known as the “Monday Night Poets,” contributed to the overall exhibition by writing poems and interpreting the artwork.
“It was also fascinating to see how each poet interpreted the artwork, since the artwork came first, then each painting was paired with a poet and they basically did their interpretation of the image that they got,” Tang said.
Some of the highlighted artists include:
Artist: Vincent Liu
Artwork title: “Into the Mist”
Poet: Mimi Ahern
winter morning
at the edge of the sea
she repeats the prayer
According to his website, Liu is known for his contemporary expressive figurative oil paintings of figures or portraits.
Artist: Gary Coleman
Artwork title: “Road North”
Poet: Mary Dederer
gray ahead
on the left tall stems
of yellow-orange blooms —
let’s stop here!
“Gary Coleman who took the Best of Show prizes in 2014 and 2016 for the Pacific Art League’s ‘All Abstract’ competitions,” according to gallery officials.
Artist: Annie Haines
Artwork title: “Casa Grande New Almaden”
Poet: Mimi Ahern
warm gentle breeze
through the palm fronds … we sway
with the sound
According to her website, Haines strives to emotionally connect people to the natural environment through her work.
Artist: Kaaren Marquez
Artwork title: “Where the Wind Grows”
Poet: Patricia J. Machmiller
snake’s skin
left behind — the house
of my childhood
The exhibition is a collection that showcases different techniques combined with another artistic process that resulted in a creative and unique way of expression and interpretation.
“It just ties well with the timing of summer, and a lot of kids are out of school, and we have many visitors coming from even out of state,” Tang said. “So it’s just a nice little summer road trips themed exhibition at the Firehouse Arts Center.”
Gallery hours are Wednesdays to Fridays from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Saturdays from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. The exhibition will be on display through Aug. 13. To learn more, visit www.firehousearts.org/gallery.
