A Common Thread to Discover: Review of "Threads and Patters" in The Arbor Gallery in Merced, California

Paris. New York. San Francisco. Merced? 

When it comes to viewing artistic talent, we are constantly drawn to major metropolitan cities with established reputations in the world of art. My hometown of Merced, California on the other hand, is known for dairy farms, unemployment, and…well…sharing the name of the county we live in. But while this city is far from being a hotspot of artistic expression, the Merced Multicultural Arts Center proves to be a hidden gem in this small farming community.

Located near the heart of Main Street, the Multicultural Arts Center houses The Arbor Gallery, a small exhibition founded by a group of local artists nearly 30 years ago. The ground floor features a collection of various works by around 20 twenty different artists in various mediums ranging from painting, ceramics, jewelry, woodwork, and digital prints. The intimate setting of tightly arranged works successfully captures the rural culture for which the Central Valley is known for. Among these works, some of my personal favorites came from Jackie Anderson, Mary Radosevich, Pope Lawrence, and Lisa Gilliland-Viney to name a few.

Majestic Yosemite

by Jackie Anderson

oil

One of many pieces featuring the local beauty of the Central Valley.

A trip upstairs to the second floor brings the viewer to the main show currently on exhibit: "Threads and Patterns". As the Gallery boasts on their website, this showing "takes a look at some of the patterns that we see and experience, and threads that run throughout our lives." Unlike the lower level artwork, this collection is spread out in a manner that emphasizes each artist separately, as well as allows the viewer to appreciate the different abstractions that each work creates. Together, they create a cohesive collection of the so-called threads and patterns that make up the world.

For some, like self-taught artist Iris Asai, abstract patterns come through something as simple as a landscape. She observes the creation of pattern through the farming fields that locals like myself might view as being dull and ordinary.

Hay Cut Pattern

by Iris Asai

oil on canvass

Shows how patterns exist all around us. Definitely the work of someone who comes from a small, rural town.

Others take the concept to Jackson Pollock-like levels where the threads run rampantly across the canvass. Digital artist James verDoorn features his passion for "infinite interplay between light, color, texture and form" in some fantastic examples of modern computer art. While Urban Geography Major-turned-artist John Harrell takes his first love and breaks it down into the small components for which it is made of.

Tangled Threads & Broken Patterns

by James verDoorn

digital print

Transferring Pallock's action painting to the computer screen. 

Cool Jazz Pattern- Ode to Rust (close-up)

by John Harrell

acrylic & collage

A fantastic play on texture. Harrell combines paint with the natural color of rusty scrap metals.

Indeed, the subjects the artists love become major themes or "threads" that they interweave into their art. Lori Nelson's talent for quilt making provides her with a unique method of presenting the natural world that remains a staple in artistic subject matter.

Forrest Floor R.N.F.

by Lori Nelson

fiber

The best of multiple worlds. Art meets nature; nature meets quilting. 

One of the highlights for me would be viewing the set of Carole Kamerer's pieces. I particularly fell in love with the surrealist style used to create The Red Ribbon, as well as its fitting placement with her other pieces.

The Red Ribbon

by Carole Kamerer

acrylic

Ribbons, jewelry, and feathers come together to form a person's face. The green eyes in particular act as anchor points that hold the flowing composition together.

It's quite a stretch to connect Merced with cities like Paris and New York. But as this exhibition shows, the threads that make up two distinct places are inherently the same. The small components that are present everywhere (be it leaves, bolts, strings, etc.), find different ways to create unique patterns in this remarkable world. 

It might not be the biggest or most famous collection of artwork, but The Arbor Gallery in Merced is definitely worth a visit for locals who desire something more than obvious from their hometown, and outsiders who wish to repudiate the conventional view of a small farm town. The "Threads and Patters" showing appeals to the lovers of abstract-expressionism, and the lower level is just filled with all kinds of amazing things. It's a quick viewing, but it's certainly worth the time.

The Arbor Gallery
Located in the Merced Multicultural Arts Center building, 645 W. Main Street, Merced, CA 95340
Hours:
11 AM to 4 PM Tuesday through Friday
10 AM to 2 PM Saturday

Currently Showing:
"Threads and Patters"
Jan 11, 2014 through Feb 25, 2014
Second Floor of the Merced Multicultural Arts Center