Back to the Picture » Blog Archive » Paint, Print, & Stitch: Reflections on Nature, 2/28

Paint, Print, & Stitch: Reflections on Nature, 2/28 - 3/27/2009

Christine Cariati - Deborah Franzini - Victoria Kirby

February 28, through March 27, 2009

Stills from the Opening Night Reception on YouTube

Walking Path (detail), by D. Franzini - Insects IV (detail), by V. Kirby - Interlude (detail), by C. Cariati

Back to the Picture welcomes artists Christine Cariati, Deborah Franzini, and Victoria Kirby in a three-part show in which each artist explores nature in her own media. Through use of texture, juxtaposed subjects, color, and technique, the artists invite the viewer to contemplate what it means to observe and be inspired by the natural world around us, even as we dwell within cities and constructed environments.

Christine Cariati - Gouache

We behold the face of nature bright with gladness. We do not see, or we forget, that the birds singing around us live on insects or seeds, constantly destroying life.” -Charles Darwin

Birds, insects and flora populate the landscape of Christine Cariati’s paintings. These are not representational depictions of nature, instead they are creatures of the imagination presented in a stylized theatrical format. These intimate paintings explore the ways in which we re-imagine nature, finding beauty in chaos and wildness.

The viewer glimpses a natural world where birds play the role of messengers and guides presiding over moments of transformation in our human world. The garden paintings explore the balance of natural forms–the interplay of plants, flowers and insects through shape and color.

The intense use of patterns, line work and intricate detail in Christine’s paintings reflect her background as a textile designer. The viewer sees the subjects of the work through dense tangles of vines, leaves and thicket. The complex layers of the image hint at the darker dramas behind the comforting, beautiful surface.

Christine works exclusively in gouache on paper. Gouache is a heavy, opaque water-based paint that has a reflective quality. This medium allows her to create a multi-layered, dense and matte finish. The small format of her paintings creates an intimacy with the viewer, they can be held and read like a book.

Deborah Franzini - Quilted Textile

My view of life and the things around me have alway been represented through cloth and stitch. My recent work has been inspired by the daily routine of walking my dogs Lenny and Wally through the forests and across fields, in both urban and rural landscapes.

Quilting is a wonderful, realistic reminder of the creative/destructive process that happens in our natural world. My way of working now is improvisational in design and construction. I let my time in nature inform the final composite of textures, colors and forms. Existing fabric is taken apart and sewn together in new arrangement by machine and then quilted by both machine and by hand. Current pieces include hand dyed fabrics, handmade wool felt, hand stitching and beading over the quilts surface developing the lushness present in nature from the ground up.

Victoria Kirby - Prints

I began to be interested in including trees – the colors, textures and patterns of tree barks and the incredible shapes of pods and seeds -– in my prints when I became a volunteer with the Friends of the Urban Forest helping to care for San Francisco’s street trees. This led to including drawings of insects, then to inking pine needles, grass, pieces of bark, and other bits from nature to create patterns in my prints and finally to using them to imbed texture into plaster plates that I started making in 2008. Trees led to birds, their feathers, nests and skeletons. I have been employing solarplates (etched using sun and water only) for over six years, alone and combined with inked plexiglass plates and hand-made plaster plates. Many of my prints also include chine collé using Japanese papers and, sometimes, hand-dyed fabric.

Getting to Back to the Picture:

Driving From:
Golden Gate Bridge, North Bay: Lombard Street to Van Ness Avenue, turn right. Van Ness becomes South Van Ness at Market Street, continue on South Van Ness to 20th Street. Right on 20th, left on Valencia Street.
Bay Bridge, East Bay: I-80 to Cesar Chavez West. Cesar Chavez to Valencia Street, turn right. Follow Valencia up to Back to the Picture, between 21st and 20th Streets.
101, South Bay: 101 North to Mission/Duboce exit. Proceed forward one block to Valencia Street, moving to the left lane within that block. Turn left on Valencia, follow to 934 Valencia between 20th and 21st Streets.
I-280, Daly City: I-280 to 101 North interchange, follow above instructions.

Motorists Please Note: Valencia Street sports bicycle lanes between metered parking spaces and the traffic lane. Please be aware of and yield to bicyclists while driving on Valencia, and check your rear-view mirror before opening car door when parked at metered street parking spaces.

Parking is metered Monday through Saturday until 6:00 pm, free on Sunday. Metered parking is limited to one hour, and costs .25 per 10 minute interval. Easy parking can be found at the Mission Bartlett Garage, on 21st Street between Valencia & Mission Streets, a short 1.5 block walk to Back to the Picture. Cost is roughly equivilent to metered parking, and no risk of parking tickets.

Pedestrians Note: Please exercise caution crossing Valencia Street. Valencia Street is heavily used by bicyclists, pedestrians, commercial vehicles, buses, automobiles, ambulances, fire engines, and police cars.

BART: 24th Street/Mission Station, exit BART, walk west on 24th St. one block to Valencia St., turn right and enjoy a brisk four-block walk to Back to the Picture.

Muni Metro: J Church to Dolores Park @ 20th Street (the top of the park). Walk eastward (toward the bay) down 20th to Valencia Street, a short & scenic 3-block walk.

Muni Bus Lines: 14, 14L, 49 on Mission Street. Deboard at 20th, walk one-block west to Valencia. 26 Valencia to 20th Street. 14L (Limited Stops) riders beware: 14L does not stop at 20th Street. Bus stops at 22nd Street & 18th Street. Deboard at either of those, walk one block west to Valencia, then two blocks to 934 Valencia at 20th.

Paint, Print, & Stitch: Reflections on Nature is curated by Randy Figures.

Back to the Picture Latin American Gallery
934 Valencia Street @ 20th Street - San Francisco, CA 94110
(415) 826-2321