Gallery Museum Report

¶ … 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 as if the flowers are intermingling with each other, and perhaps talking. 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" and depicted scenes of lightly colored bushes and flowers in a very bright and natural atmosphere. The day is bright, and the flowers are in full bloom. The bushes even appear to be bright and radiant. These bright colors again create a good feeling in the viewer. There is a warmth being expressed here about the beauty of the natural world that has almost a calming affect.

I feel this is important again for the world today because of the strife present. Bickford's paintings exhibit the feeling that peace in nature and the world can be found, but we must view the world in a bright and more radiant way in order to discover this peace. I asked Shannon Bickford, who was present at this event, if her paintings, which seemed to evoke peace in me, were intended to prove that a natural peace can be found in the world.

She responded: "I do feel that there is a lot of unnecessary strife going on in the world today. It is important for artists to emphasize the fact that peace is an option, and not something that one needs to go far to find -- take a look at nature." I agree with Bickford's comments. Nature is an important element of our lives.

Much like the Romantics, both Bickford and myself feel that in order to escape the strife of everyday life, as well as the chronic sense of war and hatred that exists in the world, one can go out into nature or look at pictures of nature and experience a feeling of peace. Shannon Bickford's paintings, although wonderful, are not the only paintings present at the exhibit. The fall Community ArtReach exhibit also includes the work of Marie Bickford, Zane L.

Burke, Donna Lee Dunne, Gail Evans, Helen Gigliotti, Kathy Gillis, Chad Martin Jones, Chuck Korolden, H.J. Smith, Sara Peters, Bea Prince, Lona Propseri, Chris M. Sorensen and John Wiens. Thousands.