¶ … Art in Fresno For my observation, I decided to visit the Fall Community ArtReach exhibit at the UC Center in Fresno. This exhibit featured new mixed-media paintings by Fresno artists Shannon Bickford, as well as others. ArtReach started on September 5 and continues on through November 7. I attended ArtReach on September 27, 2002 at 5:30, which is the starting time, and stayed there from 8 pm, which is when the exhibit is closed every night. The event is free, which is one of the reasons it was so great to attend, and artists were present during the session, which helped get me some feedback on their work. There was a wide variety of artists and works there, which I found very educational -- the current exhibition comprises oil, watercolor and mixed-media paintings, photography and metal sculpture. It was a wonderful mixture of various notions about art, and the fact that the artists were present and I was able to meet a few of them made the experience extremely enjoyable.

This latest ArtReach exhibit features a new collection of contemporary mixed-media paintings by Fresno artist Shannon Bickford. Bickford's paintings combine elements from science and nature with dream-like images of flowers, birds, cats and people. Recently her work has been exhibited at the Fresno Art Museum.

Most of the paintings I examined for this assignment belonged to Shannon Bickford. I felt her most intriguing painting was "The Conversation," which is a picture of bright orange flowers with brown leaves. The picture is very bright, and I find it interesting that she calls this work "The Conversation" because it appears...

The bright color of the flowers makes me feel as if this painting is a joyful occasion; symbolizing a meeting amongst friends. The image is a dream-like one, and makes one feel as if in a trance when examining the picture. Evident in this picture is the fact that she uses an element of nature to express her feelings and thoughts. Flowers are generally viewed as a good thing; an upbeat element that symbolizes beauty and the wonder of God's creation. The magnificent smell of flowers can almost be felt when examining this radiant picture.
Another great painting done by Shannon Bickford is "Friends," which combines two elements of nature in an interesting pose. A bird is depicted above a cat, who lays quietly, as if undisturbed by the bird's presence. Again, the colors of the picture are bright and noticeable; Bickford's colors catch the viewers' eye and make him or her feel as if there is an element of peace in this relationship most would expect to be chaotic. However, Bickford's bright colors, which help to provide an upbeat, relaxing feeling in the viewer, help to further create the element of peace present in the picture. Bickford's painting seems to be expressing the notion that two different types of creatures, who are usually expected to be at odds with each other, can become friends. I feel that this is an important theme to be expressed in the world today and could be a direct result of her feelings about the terrorist attack of September 11.

The third painting I analyzed was again by Bickford. It was entitled "Emotions"…