ARTS ABOUT ANTIOCH
	DECEMBER 2003

by Nancy Roberts

Have you ever really watched children while they were creating art? The process is always remarkable because all of the artwork children create is constantly surprising.

Sometimes their work can even be astonishingly beautiful! I’ve seen countless examples of children creating something that I could not possibly have anticipated. I believe that children can do so because they haven’t yet learned what they are “supposed to do.” They don’t censor themselves; they just start creating.

I love giving children a challenge and then watching the things they come up with. A special thing about the group shows in the Lynn House Art Gallery is the fact that I usually open them to artists of all ages, including children. I’m a big supporter of children’s art. I spend a lot of time with kids. I’m an art teacher at the Rivertown Art Center, at the Antioch Charter Academy, and through the Antioch Leisure Services.

My Personal Journey
Prior to assuming my current responsibilities as Curator of the Lynn House Gallery I worked as an architect and artist for twenty years. Architecture was my profession but fine art was always my passion. I served as President of the Delta Art Association for four years and that provided a smooth transition into my current position.

I am a plein air artist, which means my specialty is painting outdoor scenes, mainly landscapes and cityscapes. In a few weeks I’m having a solo show in Martinez and am painting some scenes for that project. (I guess you would call them townscapes.) I love old buildings and it will be satisfying to create these pictures.

A sense of movement and progress is important in any healthy life, I believe. I’m encouraged by the sense that the best thing I ever did as an artist was last week at Lake Tahoe when I completed a composition showing a bird’s eye view of Emerald Bay. A lot of things came together for me in the course of doing the painting. I found exciting color harmonies; I felt confident; I felt fulfilled. In some important way the painting expressed how I felt that day, somehow peaceful and, at the same time, excited.

Getting High on Art
I wish I had words to describe what the act of painting means to me personally. Painting goes beyond mere pleasure for me. I really get into the moment; I forget everything else and become overwhelmed by the exciting act of creation that I’m caught up in.

Painting for me is like other people getting a runner’s high. I get an adrenaline thing going on that becomes almost like an altered state of consciousness as I lose sense of any physical discomfort, become tied in to what my eyes are seeing and what my hands are doing, and become directly connected to the scene that I’m trying to capture with my brushes.

The exciting processes of creation have a therapeutic effect. Sometimes life and work stress me out, but I can pick up a paintbrush and, for a time, brush away those tensions and stresses. My breathing changes; I’m getting more air; I’m having a good high, with no drugs.
Just writing about this make me want to pick up my paintbrushes. I’m going to get out my colors and brushes as soon as I finish this article.

There is a camaraderie among artists who share these passions. It is great to have ongoing contact with the artists who present their works in our gallery. I get inspired looking at what other people do. We establish synergy among ourselves; we inspire one another; we lift each other up.

A Place to Live and Love in
Rivertown provides a marvelous environment in which to create art. It is beautiful here. Many area residents never take the time to really get in touch with the Rivertown atmosphere, which conveys a wonderfully small town quality. A number of delightful old shops are owned by people who know each other. The Rivertown Art Center is in a beautiful old bank building that was built in 1923. The building has giant windows through which sunlight streams in flooding the interior with wonderful ambient light.

Rivertown is experiencing a renaissance. New businesses are moving into the area and exciting things are going on. The El Campanil Theater restoration is underway. A group of local merchants formed a nonprofit organization, secured a large grant from Calpine, bought the building, and are beginning to attract other members to the organization so they can raise funds to restore it. The goal is to make it a true community theater for performing arts of all kinds.

Rivertown’s location on the banks of the river makes it especially picturesque, of course. From the windows outside my office the waters of the San Joaquin River seem to change every time I look. Sometimes they are brilliant blue, sometimes slate gray, sometimes brown, and always beautiful.

Showplace for the Arts
I’ve been Curator of the Antioch Lynn House Art Gallery for the past three years. I came into this job because as a member of the former Delta Art Association I became acquainted with Katie Ruppe, former Director of the gallery. When she moved away she recommended me to the City of Antioch, which had control of the gallery at that time, as her replacement and the City installed me into the job.

In my position as Curator I design and set up all the exhibits, coordinate with the artists, and conduct all the publicity for the exhibits, including the graphic design for all of our publications.

The Lynn House Gallery shows between 40 and 60 pieces of art at any time. A recent theme was a solo show for Berkeley Artist, Tom Hughes. I alternate solo shows with group exhibits, which I put together from artists who respond to an open invitation to display their works.

The Show Is Coming
We are outdoing ourselves with our current show in the gallery, called “Solstice: the Return of the Sun.” When I began setting this up I was looking for something that would tie in with the holiday season in a more creative way than just doing a standard Christmas theme.

The idea of solstice with all its associations inspire me and I was hoping artists would take the theme and run with it. The first piece that was submitted was a ceramic sculpture by Kyoko Campbell depicting a group of figures in a circle with a sun in the background. The figures illustrate the various stages of a yoga pose that is called “Sun Salutation.” I think it is beautiful and is a great illustration of how a creative person can take a theme in some completely unguessable direction.

Center for Art Activities
The Arts and Cultural Foundation of Antioch is a nonprofit organization that, among other things, administers the Rivertown Art Center. The Art Center was created in response to requests from local artists for additional opportunities to exhibit and to conduct art classes, as well as providing inexpensive space for their personal studios.

The Art Center sponsors a co-op art gallery. Artists pay rent to exhibit in the gallery. We conduct sales for them and do their publicity. We have a lovely art classroom with a full schedule of classes.

The Art Center is an exciting project. Besides serving the needs of artists, the center provides art education for all ages. Parents bring their children in for art lessons to augment the art they receive in the local schools. Sometimes the parents will sign up for art lessons themselves. Besides supporting fine arts, the center also supports performance art, such as jazz concerts and poetry readings.

Antioch arts programs are supported by a great bunch of people who sit on the Board of Directors for the Arts and Cultural Foundation. The city authorities created the board as a method for involving citizens from the community in running the city’s arts programs. This group also conducts the free Antioch Summer Concert Series at Pruett Park.

Keats said, “A thing of beauty is a joy forever.” Living in the midst of so many unfading sources of joy is a happy condition indeed. My paintings, my gallery, my town, my river... “It’s a Beautiful Life,” all right.