My wife Sandi Billingsley has a new art show at Kaleid Gallery in downtown San Jose. She and Mark Damrel are the featured artists at Kaleid this month and their reception is this Friday at the First Friday Art Walk in San Jose, when many galleries get together to show and promote their latest works – see this announcement for what’s showing this Friday.
Sandi’s art in this show is exploring themes of recycling through transformation:
Transfiguration is a collection of three dimensional art is an expression of Sandi Billingsley’s faith that “we humans can live in luxury while being environmentally responsible.” Transfiguration is essentially the art of changing the properties of an object. In this case it refers to the changing of garbage into art. This series is made entirely from rescued materials. The core is made of Styrofoam collected from shipping packages, friends and dumpsters. Sandi then applies a combination of old paint clothes, junk mail, phone books — basically anything with natural fibers headed for the trash. Dipping these flexible materials in non-toxic glue gives them strength to hold interesting shapes. Finally, the piece is finished with “Aqua Brand” textures and paint which are non-toxic. The result is an environmentally friendly piece of art.
Mark’s art in this show is exploring themes of fatherhood in adversity:
Relative Matter is a series of paintings by Mark Damrel inspired by the hardships he encountered on his journey into fatherhood. “Years went by with little to no hope. I started to get used to the fact that I would never have a family, and then it happened.” In groupings of mixed media paintings on wood and paper, he explores the themes of childhood memories, despair, hope and joy.
Please drop in, check their art out, enjoy it, and buy something!
-the Centaur
