Three new exhibits at Sanchez Art Center

Three fascinating new exhibits are slated to open May 29 at Sanchez Art Center. Curve in the Main Gallery presents the beautiful wood sculptures of Sam Perry. In the West Gallery, Art Guild of Pacifica presents a group show, Outside the Box. The East Gallery showcases work from a grass-roots local art group, CREATE! Art Collective. The opening reception will be held Friday, May 29, from 7 to 9 pm, graced by the live music of Siren Songs and Blind Lemon Pledge, also from CREATE! Art Collective.

Curve is the perfect title for Sam Perry’s exhibit of wood sculpture. His forms curve, weave, and intertwine in shapes that become metaphors for human feelings and interactions. Perry first learned how to sculpt wood as a teenager in his family’s Honolulu canoe shop, where he learned that “wood is not lumber; it’s a being with a legacy of its own.” Perry is fascinated with the stories told by the pieces of wood he works with, the ups and downs of a tree’s life and its ultimate mortality. All of the wood he uses has fallen naturally, and much of it comes from Runnymede Sculpture Farm in Woodside, California, where he has worked for over twenty years.

Perry left Hawaii in 1982 to study at California College of Arts and Crafts (now the California College of the Arts) in Oakland, where he studied ceramics with renowned ceramic sculptor Viola Frey, later becoming her assistant for many years. Around 1999–2000, he began working with wood. Perry received an MFA from the California College of Arts and Crafts, and is currently the Director of Installation and Conservation at Runnymede Sculpture Farm. His career includes multiple solo exhibitions, most recently at St. Mary’s College in Moraga in 2014, and Rena Bransten Gallery in San Francisco in 2013. Perry’s work is also in the permanent public collections of Runnymede Sculpture Farm in Woodside, and di Rosa Preserve in Napa. See more of his work at www.samperrystudio.com.

Sam Perry will be interviewed by Richard Whittaker, founder and editor of the works & conversations magazine, on Sunday, June 28, at 3 pm.

The East Gallery presents Together, We Create! showcasing artworks by the members of the CREATE! Art Collective (www.createartcollective.com). Create Art Collective is a group of local artists and creative individuals working together to promote and support one another. Headquartered in Pacifica, this grass-roots group curates pop-up galleries and events all along the peninsula, from San Francisco to San Jose. The group’s mission is to unite local artists and communities through art. Guest curators for this show are collective members Rebecca Gulley and Luis Marroquin. The exhibition will include over 20 artists, sharing their creativity in such diverse media as drawing, painting, photography, glass, and carved wooden skateboards

In West Gallery, the Art Guild of Pacifica will draw upon the collective talents and diverse perspectives of its members in a group show titled “Outside the Box,” a worthy theme that should draw a panoply of inventive and thought-provoking artworks.

Opening night is Friday, May 29, 7–9 pm; thereafter the galleries are open Friday, Saturday, and Sunday from 1 to 5 pm, and by appointment, through Sunday, June 28. Sanchez Art Center is located at 1220 Linda Mar Blvd., Pacifica, California, about 1.5 miles east of Highway 1 and the Pacific Ocean. For more information about Sanchez Art Center programs, call 650-355-1894 or visit www.sanchezartcenter.org. For information about the Art Guild of Pacifica, visit www.artguildofpacifica.org. “:b$ՈZd