Show Preview | Pastel Society of the West Coast

Fresno, CA
A Sense of Place Gallery, September 19-October 21

Roberta Davis, Water Paint, pastel, 18 x 26.

Roberta Davis, Water Paint, pastel, 18 x 26.

This story was featured in the October 2017 issue of Southwest Art magazine. Get the Southwest Art  October 2017 print issue or digital download now–then subscribe to Southwest Art and never miss another story.

On Tuesday, September 19, A Sense of Place Gallery in Fresno, CA, unveils the nearly 100 paintings juried into this year’s Pastels USA, the 31st annual International Open Exhibition of the Pastel Society of the West Coast. Visitors to the show can find diverse subject matter, genres, and styles, as well as both well-known and emerging artists. “The amount of talent out there blows me away,” says Linda Roemisch, PSWC ways-and-means chairperson and acting vice president. “Every year it gets better.” An artists’ reception and awards ceremony closes the show on Saturday, October 21, from 1:30 to 3:30 p.m.

Artist Tina Moore has been a member of the society for nearly 20 years. WONDER, her portrait of a young girl at a Renaissance festival, was accepted into this year’s show. “I go to the Renaissance Faire in Northern California every year and take a lot of pictures,” says the artist, who’s based in Morada, CA. “I don’t know what this girl was looking at, but she found it just fascinating.” Moore says that while there are a variety of genres and styles represented, this is a great show for landscape painting lovers. And because the show is open to artists all over the world, the landscapes are equally diverse. “I just marvel at what people do with the medium,” she says.

Santa Barbara artist Linda Mutti is a Distinguished Pastelist with the society and a frequent participant in the show. “Every time I have seen the show in person, it has been spectacular,” she says. “The quality and the variety of the work has just been awe-inspiring.” Mutti’s accepted entry, THE LAST HURRAH, depicts the reflections of the sky and setting sun in the water at a slough near her home. Mutti hopes her work gives viewers a sense of the beauty and serenity of nature, especially that of the wild lands that are fast disappearing. “Being primarily a landscape painter, I am preserving these places at least in paintings,” she says. “I hope to give people a sense of what I am feeling. Painting feeds my soul, and I hope the work feeds the collector’s as well.” —Laura Rintala

contact information
www.pswc.ws

This story was featured in the October 2017 issue of Southwest Art magazine. Get the Southwest Art  October 2017 print issue or digital download now–then subscribe to Southwest Art and never miss another story.

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