Contemplative Elements Talk at the Sonoma Valley Museum of Art

Join artist Danae Mattes and curator Kate Eilersten on Saturday, January 23 for the Art and Artists in Conversation event at 3 p.m. at the Sonoma Valley Museum of Art. Mattes will discuss her signature ‘evaporation pools,’ built of liquid clay, which evaporate day after day, creating distinct cracking and tonal patterns.

At the Sonoma Valley Museum of Art her ‘evaporation pool’ began as a large reflective pool of clay and water, and continues to undergo a process of saturation and evaporation, providing ever-changing events as a living process throughout the three months of the exhibition. Her paintings and/or wall objects exist as a still or fixed form of the similar processes and concepts found within the pool.

“What occurs on the surface of the earth in geologic proportion similarly occurs in a smaller scale in the studio or landscape,” said Mattes. “The making of a piece becomes a process of discovery akin to moving through an ever-changing landscape, as terrain reveals itself, so reveals the “inner landscape” of an internalized experience.”

Joining Mattes and Eilersten in the conversation is fellow painter Frances McCormack, who creates the other half of the current Contemplative Elements exhibition. Combining landscape design drawings, stark architectural elements and loosely interpreted botanical forms, McCormack’s paintings emphasize the canvas as a container and her desire to include both the impulsive and restrained. McCormack is a Sonoma native and Associate Professor in the Painting Department at the San Francisco Art Institute.

The artist conversation will explore the overlapping “energies” and distinguishing processes that comprise the work of the exhibition. Mattes and Frances use textures, colors and patterns rooted in the natural world, inviting us to contemplate our relationship to nature’s elements of earth, air, fire and water. The artists ask us to meditate upon the relationship between self and nature. Tickets for the January 23 talk are $15 for the general public and $10 for SVMA members and can be purchased at www.svma.org.

About the Sonoma Valley Museum of Art

Established in 1998, the Sonoma Valley Museum of Art is a membership supported 501(c) 3 nonprofit organization that provides seasonal exhibitions of contemporary and modern art and educational and public programming for children, youth and adults. Its mission is to be, “a magnet of creative energy and cultural inspiration with exhibitions and educational programs that engage the community in the art and ideas of our time, encouraging curiosity and innovation.”

The Sonoma Valley Museum of Art is
located at 551 Broadway, one half block
up from Sonoma’s historic Plaza. Regular
Museum hours are 11am–5pm
Wednesday through Sunday. Admission is
$5 for adults. Children k–12 are admitted free, as are SVMA members. Additional information is available at www.svma.org by calling (707) 939-7862.