One of the most unusual pieces is Vista College Prof. Diane Rusnak's "Van Gogh's Dream Chair." The piece is, indeed, a chair-a beautifully whimsical wooden chair that has been decorated with paintings, as well as mixed media, including news print. Painted on the back of the chair are strips of some of Van Gogh's most famous paintings, including "Starry Night," "Sunflowers," and one of his self portraits. Topping the piece off is a sort of crown made of paint covered paint brushes.
The piece is inscribed with a quote from Van Gogh, one of Rusnak's inspirations: "I experience a period of frightening clarity in those moments when nature is so beautiful I am no longer sure of myself and the paintings appear in a dream."
Margo Mercedes Rivera-Weiss, a contributing artist, has a series of Warhol-esque paintings of fruit, including one of kiwis entitled "Bite Me" and a bunch of bananas entitled "8 Big Guys." These paintings are a bit amateurish but they are worth a look, if only for their creative titles.
Lee Williams' "Illuminance" is one of the best pieces in the exhibition. This acrylic on canvas is reminiscent of Monet's "Water Lilies" without seeming like a copy. The artist's sense of color and ability to capture the essence of nature is exquisite.
"March Days" by Dorothy Nissen is a gorgeous series of nine drawings all done during the month of March are amazing. They seem to be Japanese inspired and utilize an orange, black and off-white color palate.
Katherine McKay's "Life Cycle No. 3: Datura" and "Agave" were painted by the artist while she was living in her van in the Southwest. These pieces look like what Georgia O'Keefe would have painted if she were a New Age artist in the nineties.
Arguably the best artist in the exhibition is Joanna Katz. Her series of paintings entitled "Greenery and Garbage" are phenomenal. Her attention to detail is amazing. The first piece, "Greenery and Garbage #1," is a beautiful light green field, that could easily be mistaken for Memorial Glade, with just a few pieces of trash, including a cigarette butt.
The second piece in the series is a deeper green that is equally balanced by a few more pieces of trash. The last piece is very dark, as if it were asphalt, and the trash overwhelm the painting. With these three paintings, the artist eloquently comments on the loss of nature in an urban world.
Although most of the pieces in "Luminance" have nothing thematically in common, there is real talent abound, and as a whole the exhibition is extremely interesting and cohesive, combining and displaying the work of a number of local artists excellently.