Lisa Kokin, Nineteen Sixty at Donna Seager Gallery

Our summer show features new and what we consider to be “best” works by artists in the gallery. We were especially excited to be able to hang this mixed media work by artist Lisa Kokin, a portrait of the artist as a little girl, standing with her mother. The piece measures 81” x 50”. The year is 1960 in the portrait and the portrait incorporates buttons and beads and all manner of paraphernalia associated with the times. The figures are “almost” lifesize, which is part of their charm. They are just a little foreshortened. The mother is sturdy and towers over her child, who is small and tidily dressed in her white blouse and red jumper with mary jane shoes and white anklets.

One of the remarkable things about the work is its painterly quality. Somehow with wire, buttons, beads and countless other items, Kokin has succeeded in creating extraordinary detail. She has also succeeded in crafting a setting for her characters by using items that trigger memory for those who remember the fifties as it transitioned into the new decade. There is a classic yellow 45 rpm vinyl “golden record” of “Three Little Fishes”. There are metal permanent wave rollers and hardware from garter belts (pantyhose didn’t come on the market until 1959 and took a while to catch on.) Children from the 50’s might recognize the heart-shaped plastic doll stands, wooden bingo markers and a wooden puzzle piece of New York from the puzzle of the United States. The piece is hung by extended wires with buttons that stretch beyond the two figures creating a field of energy around the dynamics of mother and child.

Lisa Kokin: Buttons have made cameo appearances in much of my previous work; never have they been the primary material until this series. My parents were upholsterers and my earliest memories are of playing in their shop with piles of vinyl and foam rubber. I have sewn since I was a child and the stitch plays a major role in my work, so it was natural to join the buttons together to form a reconstructed family portrait.

My work has always had an obsessive quality and this body of work is no exception. Every button is stitched to its neighbor to form a low-tech pixilated composition. Up close each piece is an abstract melange of colors and shapes; the further back one stands the more decipherable the image becomes. This interplay between abstraction and representation intrigues me. It is as though I am painting with buttons, building my palette as I go along, adding and subtracting until the interplay of colors and forms coalesces into a coherent image.

We're BACK!

It has been a long time since we posted on our blog. The recession kept us in a flurry of events, scrambling to keep the gallery afloat. It left us little time for posting here. It has been a wonderful journey, however with so many highlights, not the least of which was the amazing support of the community, without which we would not be here.

Our current exhibition, Michael Cutlip: New Paintings is spectacular. If you have not been in lately, we have a new room dedicated to Artist Books and have renovated the space to give it a smoother flow. Come check it out.

Michael Cutlip’s paintings with their highly individual style and color palette have become a recognizeable force in the Bay Area art scene.

In the words of essayist Paul Liberatore, Cutlip is like a jazz musician - he improvises, painting variations on a theme in a style that is distinctly his own. His fans can tell a Michael Cutlip painting just as jazz buffs can identify Miles Davis or John Coltrane after the first few notes.

Michael has that elusive quality that artist’s strive for. He can change and respond to a painting in the middle of the process while constantly challenging the work by inserting something unexpected and improbable. It is in resolving these disparate elements over and over again that he has honed his craft and found his own very clear voice. His work is consistent and finely realized and yet he is full of surprises, incorporating the unexpected at every turn and finding a way to make it work.

	Catalog 34 pages, 8.5 x 8.5 inches $20

June, 2009 at Donna Seager Gallery

June is a great time to visit the gallery. First, we are extending the Brigitte McReynolds show through the end of June and invite you to a special talk with the artist on Saturday, June 27, at 6pm. You can RSVP to art@donnaseagergallery.com. If you haven't seen it yet, don't miss it!

The jewelry gallery is open now and everyone is loving it. We have several new artists and many more to come. You can check out some of the artists here.

Next, we are very excited to announce our representation of Nicholas Wilton. Come see his paintings this month in the West Wing, along with new sculpture by gallery favorite, Nancy Legge.


I have a number of wonderful books available in the Artist Book Gallery. I recommend book, art, object , the catalog from the Codex International Artist Book Fair as a must-have for book artists and lover of the medium, available in the gallery for $75. I also love my new work by artist Valerie Raven, entitled Birdsnest, an amazing altered encyclopedia with green gourds and porcelain bird heads.



You can sign up to follow the gallery on Twitter @donnaseager for instant updates on gallery news or put yourself on our mailing list at www.donnaseagergallery.com. Best of all, come in and visit the gallery or come to San Rafael Artwalk on the second Friday of every month.

Donna Seager Gallery Mourns the Passing of Sculptor Carl Dern

This is the obituary written for the Marin IJ by my husband, Paul Liberatore. Carl Dern was an incredible human being. His work reflected who he was. It was stong, clear and human. Whether it was a tree, chair or ladder, it had a particular eccentricity that marked it as a character in its own right. He was a family man who loved his wife and children and an amazing friend who loved his community. He made the world a better place. Our deepest condolences to his family. We will all miss him.


Carl Dern, a renowned sculptor and prominent member of the Marin art community, died Monday of complications from interstitial lung disease at the University of California at San Francisco, Medical Center.

Mr. Dern, a longtime resident of Fairfax, was 73.

In his distinguished career, Mr. Dern's art was exhibited widely in the Bay Area and beyond, including the Fresno Art Museum, the Francisco Museum of Modern Art and the Contemporary Jewish Museum in San Francisco.

He was a participating artist in 2004's "Hearts in San Francisco" citywide exhibition, creating a bright green heart he called "San Francisco Love Apple."

Mr. Dern was best known for his whimsical chairs, ladders and trees fashioned in steel, bronze and copper, sometimes seen as metaphors for the human figure. His work was lauded in an exhibition art catalog for "its elegant imbalance and noble incongruity."

Ceramist Richard Shaw of Fairfax, a fellow artist and friend, described Mr. Dern as "a tough, hard-working, sensitive guy." He compared his art to that of Alexander Calder, famed for his metal mobiles.

"Carl's pieces looked like they were moving when they weren't," Shaw said. "He gave that feeling of motion.

Also accomplished at drawing, Mr. Dern often worked with his wife, Marie, a book artist and founder of Jungle Garden Press in Fairfax.

"He was curious, inventive and compassionate," she said.

They most recently collaborated with U.S. Poet Laureate Kay Ryan on "The Jam Jar Lifeboat & Other Novelties Exposed," a collection of Ryan's poems that Mr. Dern illustrated with his light-hearted drawings.

Mr. Dern also worked in the field of applied arts, most notably creating unique steel and bronze furniture and artistic chandeliers.

Born in Salt Lake City, Utah, on April 24, 1936, into a family of miners, cowboys and politicians, Mr. Dern moved to San Francisco in 1960 and received a bachelor of fine arts degree from the San Francisco Art Institute and a master's of fine arts degree in sculpture from UC Berkeley.

He won the prestigious Anne Bremer Prize in Art in 1969 and 1972. In 1970, he co-founded the New Museum of Modern Art in Oakland.

In the early 1980s, Mr. Dern built Fairfax Square, a two-story commercial building at 82 Bolinas Road. He and his wife, Marie, worked in their studio on nearby Park Road in Fairfax.

A deeply spiritual man, Mr. Dern was a member of the Zen Buddhist community and had been studying to be a Buddhist priest and teacher under the noted Buddhist leader Ed Brown, a personal friend.

In addition his wife, he is survived by daughters Amy Christensen of Cotati and Daisy Dern of Nashville, Tenn.; sons Fritz Dern of Fairfax and James Dern of Santa Rosa; and five grandchildren.

Memorial contributions may be made to the San Francisco Zen Center, any favorite charity or toward the purchase of a piece of art by a local artist.

A memorial service will be in July in Stinson Beach.

Brigitte McReynolds Dazzles at Donna Seager Gallery

A one –person exhibition of paintings and sculpture by Brigitte McReynolds opens at Donna Seager Gallery in San Rafael. The exhibition runs from May 1 through June 16. There will be a reception for the artist from 6 pm to 8pm on Friday, May 8. This dazzling installation of both abstract and figurative painting as well as sculpture was conceived as a rhythmic study of figures and the space they occupy. In taking the figures out of the picture plane, however, the artist was left with abstracted individual fields of energy that presented themselves in bright chakra colors. Seeing the exhibition as an opportunity to break new ground in her work, McReynolds spent a great deal of time in the barn of a friend in Sonoma, experimenting with new forms. The results are exciting and entirely original and specifically designed to charge the atmosphere of the Seager gallery’s generous space.

What it is: Brigitte McReynolds one person exhibition
When: May 1 – June 16, 2009, Reception for the artist: 6 pm to 8pm on Friday, May 8
Where: Donna Seager Gallery, 851 Fourth Street, San Rafael, CA 94901
Contact: 415.454.5229, www.donnaseagergallery.com, art@donnaseagergallery.com
Hours: 11 to 6, Tuesday through Saturday, 1 to 5 on Sunday.

Sunday, April 19. The Jeweler's Art: Special Trunk Show at Donna Seager Gallery

Donna Seager is excited to announce the addition of fine art jewelry to her San Rafael gallery. The stunning new collection will be unveiled at a trunk show from 2 to 5 p.m. Sunday, April 19. Several of the artists will be on hand to show their wide selection of elegant work and to answer your questions. In preparing for this new venture, the gallery took great pains to bring you artists who are among the most creative and reputable in the field of art jewelry. They include Alison B. Antelman, Anastasia Azure, Yael Baharav, Rebecca Bashara / Scott MacDonald, Petra Class, Karen Gilbert and Biba Schutz. You can get a look at the work on the website at www.donnaseagergallery.com.

All of the artists represented have an impressive national reputation and a signature way of working that marks them as true artists in the medium of jewelry. All have a love of materials and use the finest of silver, gold, precious and semi-precious stones. In the future, a section of the gallery will be devoted to this beautiful selection of jewelry — special pieces you’ll find nowhere else. Get a jump on the crowd at the trunk show and meet the artists who created this exquisite work. Don't miss it! The public is invited to attend. Donna Seager Gallery is located at 851 Fourth Street in San Rafael between Lincoln and Lootens. RSVPs can be made to art@donnaseagergallery.com.

The Art of the Book: Fourth Annual Exhibition of Handmade and Altered Artist Books April 1 – May 31, 2009

Donna Seager Gallery will present The Art of the Book: Fourth Annual Exhibition of Handmade and Altered Artist Books from April 1 to May 31, 2009. There will be a reception for the artists on Friday, April 10 from 6 to 8pm. Donna Seager has distinguished herself, not just in Marin, but in the entire country as being in the forefront in representing handmade artist books. This year, with her expansion into the West Wing of the gallery, the exhibition will be on display for two months.

Artists books have long been appreciated and valued by museums and libraries with special collections, but now there is a growing interest among fine art collectors. In an effort to approach the subject from as many angles as possible, the Seager Gallery has amassed everything from fine letterpress editions with exquisite printmaking such as Charles Eckart’s Midnight Ride and Matt Phillips’ All That Jazz to new altered books by the ingenious Lisa Kokin. Julie Chen’s highly topical Panorama is a grand opus about our responsibility to the planet that opens to a full 60 inches across and Charles Hobson’s essay on sailing by Roger Angell is interactively illustrated with and actual sail that is “jibed” to expose the text. There are sculptural offerings by Tor Archer, Carl Dern and Laura Raboff and this year viewers can see the incredible calligraphy of Thomas Ingmire. Renowned artists William T. Wiley, Manuel Neri and Joseph Goldyne all have books in this exhibition and there are new works from Macy Chadwick, Alisa Golden, Susannah Hays, Howard Munson and Marie Dern, all favorites in the bay area book world. Donna Seager Gallery is located at 851 Fourth Street, San Rafael, CA 94901. 415.454.4229. The gallery is open from 11 to 6pm, Tuesday through Saturday.

http://www.donnaseagergallery.com/current_exhibition/Art_of_the_Book_09.html