Magnolia Editions Tapestries Bring “Good Medicine” to Gallery
The iconic Magnolia Editions studio may not be well known outside of artistic circles, but the fine art projects owners Era and Aldo Farnsworth create are part of the fabric of the Bay Area.
Artist Ranu Mukherjee’s 40-foot by 7-foot installation, “When the Path Through the Atmosphere is Longer,” can be found at the San Francisco International Airport, one of several productions from Magnolia Editions (ME) at the airport. Mukherjee’s work is site-specific, as it evokes the feeling of being suspended in time and space during long-haul air travel and seeing two sunrises or sunsets in the same day.
Luckily for us, the September Art Gallery at the Orinda Library will feature works from ME, including the Farnsworths’ own creations. In addition, artists Squeak Carnwath, Enrique Chagoya, Guy Diehl, April Gornik, Amalia Mesa-Bains, Bob Nugent, Mel Ramos, Gail Skoff and William Wiley who work with ME will also be on display.
ME gives free rein to all of these artists to follow their creative instincts, collaborate with the Farnsworths and translate their ideas into the many mediums they offer. Two specialty formats are museum quality art paper and tapestries.
To say that Aldo is knowledgeable about papermaking is a massive understatement. So laser-focused is he that he spent years learning how to recreate authentic historic linen and hemp papers of 14th and 15th century Italian Renaissance.
Utilizing period-accurate bast fibers, he found that by incorporating wool from sheep with ancient DNA profiles matching historical livestock, he could replicate the unique “coarse felt hair marks” and durable hide-glue-sized surfaces used by the old masters (Leonardo da Vinci and Michelangelo).
Take home a sample of homemade paper from Aldo Farnsworth’s How to Make Paper Using a Mold demonstration at 3 p.m. during their artist reception on Sept. 5. Stop by the outdoor patio for some light refreshments and meet the artists from 2:30 to 4:30 p.m.
The art genres on view are quite diverse and include four large Jacquard tapestries: Era and Aldo Farnsworth’s 72.5-inch by 54-inch “Sacred Pine” tapestry; the 65.5-inch by 70.5-inch Mesa-Bains “Guadalupe Twins in Venus Envy Chapter III, The Place of the Giant Women” tapestry; Gornik’s “Blue Twilight,” a 74-inch by 90-inch tapestry and Carnwath’s 40-inch by 90-inch “Good Medicine” (the theme for the show) tapestry which creates a window to elements of universal healing.
Tapestry is defined as a thick textile fabric in which colored weft threads are woven into fixed warp threads to form an image. With Jacquard weaving, invented in 1804, the warp threads are fed from a spool and run horizontally through the machine.
One case is filled with 11-inch by 16.5-inch archival printed pigment illustrations and other items from Skoff’s book, “Vital Signs.” As an artist and photographer, she created this humorous book while a loved one was recuperating from an illness.
She substituted vegetables and animals for human patients in her clever book, which deals with a serious subject in a whimsical way. Pages titled “Bird Waiting Room,” “Sick Snail” and “Broken Arm” (it’s a potato) await you.
Visit the Gallery to view artwork from Aug. 29 to Oct. 2 at 26 Orinda Way. Hours are Monday – Thursday, 10 a.m. to 8 p.m., Friday – Saturday, 10 a.m. – 6 p.m., and closed Sundays and Sept. 7. Call 925.254.2184 for more library information or visit ccclib.org/. Questions about the exhibit or need more information, call 925.359.9940 email gallery@LamorindaArts.org or visit LamorindaArts.org/galleries-2.
Looks like there’s a backup in the “Bird Waiting Room” at the vets office. A gentle way to help someone waiting for medical treatment to stay distracted. Just trying to figure out what kind of birds are there will take quite a while. Gail Skoff’s 11” x 16.5” archival printed pigment brightens up her book, “Vital Signs.” Brighten up your day as well by checking it out in the Art Gallery at the Orinda Library during September.
Art to Take Your Breath Away
Saint Mary’s College Museum of Art Opening Celebration Sept. 17, 5 – 8 p.m., “Fix Your Face: Representations of the Female Gaze;” “Choreographies of Calamity: Art Hazelwood and the Media of War” stmarys-ca.edu/museum-art.
“Treasures of the Pharaohs” from the Egyptian Museum in Cairo exhibit at the de Young debuts six rooms including 80 never-before seen artifacts from Dazzling Aten, an entire city discovered in 2021; through Jan. 31, 2027 – worth seeing twice, famsf.org/exhibitions.
“Embodied: Figurative Works in Clay and Paint” are on view in the Lafayette Library & Learning Center’s Community Hall Gallery. View artwork from Susan Almquist, Amber DeSilva. Marianne McCraney, Ruth Stanton and ceramicist Donna Arganbright, through Oct. 27, tinyurl.com/bdzckrfv.
