Evening Light by David Pearso |
David Pearson
New Mexico artist David Pearson began his sculpture career at age 16 when he got a part-time job at Shidoni Foundry knocking the shells off bronzes. “My friend’s dad owned the foundry, and one day I went out there and watched a pour and was hooked,” says Pearson. After a year of working at the foundry, he started sculpting his own pieces. His first was a 3-foot-high female figure that reminded some viewers of the work of Alberto Giacometti. Over the next two decades Pearson continued to pursue a career as a fine artist while paying the bills by working at various foundries. Two years ago he decided to devote his attention to sculpting full time and has found success.
“My work is very linear—it’s almost like drawing with sculpture,” he says of his elongated bronzes that range from 12 inches to 6 feet tall. In his earlier works, Pearson says he “just had an idea and then began building an armature.” But recently he has been doing charcoal sketches to experiment. “Sketching has given me more opportunities and ideas to explore,” he says. Pearson’s bronzes can be found at Patricia Carlisle Fine Art in Santa Fe, NM. —MB
Clouds Over Santa Fe Dam by W. Jason Situ |
W. Jason Situ
The landscape paintings of W. Jason Situ are often illuminated by the strong California sunlight. “I’m always trying to capture the light found in nature here,” says Situ, who lives in El Monte, CA. Influenced by the French Impressionists, the award-winning artist is a prolific painter who works outdoors amid rain or sweltering sun. He is equally at home painting a moody skyscape or a brightly lit mountain. Situ was born in 1949 in Guangdong, China, and he began painting in high school during China’s Cultural Revolution. Later he studied at the prestigious Guangzhou Fine Arts Institute in China, before moving to the United States in 1989. Situ is a member of the California Art Club, the Laguna Beach Plein Air Painters Association, and the Oil Painters of America. His works are in museums and private collections throughout China and the United States. From March 11 through April 7 his landscape paintings of China are on view at Tirage Gallery in Pasadena, CA. Situ is represented by Tirage Gallery, Pasadena, CA; Lee Youngman Galleries, Calistoga, CA; Graphics Gallery, Balboa Island, CA; Poulsen Gallery, Pasadena, CA; and Exchange Gallery, Orange, CA. —BG
Magical Time of Day by Darlene Wall |
Darlene Wall
When you hear of Darlene Wall’s contemporary influences while viewing her mystical work, you’re likely to be both intrigued and perplexed. Her landscape paintings have an undeniably tonalist quality—understandable given her stint under the tutelage of Michael Workman—but apprenticeships with painterly western artists Martin Grelle and Bruce Greene? “I don’t want to shut myself down to just one style,” says the Texas native. “I want to be a tonalist, but I feel I should be open to what I can learn from other people.” Her paintings of scenes throughout the western states seem to have a storybook quality with soft, lyrical hues. They bring to mind those moments of surreal solitude in a rural landscape, like when fog moves over a mountain lake at dawn. “I love the landscape—I feel the landscape. Painting it comes very naturally to me,” says Wall. She is represented by Eisenhauer Gallery, Block Island, RI; Karen Mitchell Frank Gallery, Dallas, TX; and Metropolitan Gallery, Austin, TX. —LB
Featured in “Artists to Watch” February 2000