The sign and some inside views of The Art Stand Gallery at Blossom Trail time

Some views inside (and outside) the gallery--photos taken by artist Suzie Stach.

"Art Imitates Life at Art Stand Gallery"

By Ed Boling

Panorama Editor

Article published: Thursday, February 12, 2009 6:45 AM PST in the Reedley Exponent (For the full article and photographs of paintings by Chieko Delgado and Suzie Stach, click on this link.)


As the Blossom Trail comes alive once again with wonderful colors from the almond, nectarine, and plum trees in our valley, The Art Stand Gallery is also showing the colors of various artists.

Located on the Blossom Trail, at Frankwood Ave and Highway 180 near Sanger, The show opened last Saturday and will run through April 18.

Fourteen local artists are displaying their work. Media includes pastels, oils, photographs, ceramics, and jewelry.

Chieko Delgado, who was born in Japan, paints florals and landscapes in watercolor. “I love to paint local themes and the Blossom Trail is one of my favorite,” she said. She has primarily painted almond and nectarine blossoms, but loves to paint landscapes as well. “After a rain storm, I like to go out and take photos of the beautiful clouds and use them in my landscapes,” she added.

She moved to Sanger in 1999 and began taking water color and English classes. Comparing the cherry blossom season to the blossom trail season, she said cherry and almond blossoms are very similar. She said that blossom time is shorter in Japan, so people go out and have picnics under the cherry trees.

Blossom Trail activities will continue through mid-April in our area. The gallery is open daily from 11:00 AM to 5:00 PM, for more information call 967-8635.

(The paintings accompanying this post are "Almond Blossom and Dove", a watercolor by Chieko Delgado and "Morning Dew", a pastel by Suzie Stach.)

Blossom Trail Article by Jeri Burzin featured in the Visalia Delta Times on February 11, 2009

(Click here to go straight to the actual article in the Visalia Times Delta that is copied here in today's post)

"Take the Blossom Trail to see Central Valley's best sights, artists"

BY JERI BURZIN • FOR CHOICES (IN THE VISALIA TIMES DELTA) • FEBRUARY 11, 2009

The annual Blossom Trail comes alive each February when motorists and hikers can come upon displays of blossoming peach, nectarine, plum, orange and almond trees. Almond, orange, and plum trees boast white petals, apricot trees delight us with pink petals, and peach and nectarine trees are aglow with pink to red petals.

The trail runs through some of the most productive agricultural land in the world, and includes the towns of Sanger, Reedley, Orange Cove, Selma, Kingsburg and Fowler. There is much to see and do on the 67-mile Blossom Trail:

Sanger once boasted "the longest flume in the world"
Reedley has a Mennonite quilting center
Old town Clovis features Old West architecture
Selma is known as the raisin capital of the world
Orange Cove is one of the most fragrant cities
Kingsburg is unique with its Swedish look and architecture.

There are wineries, antique shops and fruit stands to visit, and all the towns offer shopping opportunities in their downtown areas.

Last week, the trail officially opened in Orange Cove. On March 7, the festivities will begin with the Kings River Blossom Bike Ride, Annual Blossom Days Festival, the 11th Annual Blossom Trail Run and a reception at the Art Stand Gallery.

The Art Stand, once a historic fruit stand and now an artists' coop gallery with 14 local artists, is in the middle of the Trail, on Highway 180 and Frankwood Avenue near Sanger.

The local artists include:

Sally Delap-John from Sanger, one of the co-founders of the gallery. She works in watercolor, emphasizes the contrast of light versus dark, and punctuates with vibrant color. See www.doorartgallery.com for examples.

Suzie Stach is a pastel artist nationally known for her "fire art," depicting scenes of firefighters in action. See fire-art.com for examples.

Kathleen Mattox specializes in watercolor and mixed media paintings and describes her work as "wet, wild, witty and whimsical." See mixedmedia.kathleenmattox.blogspot.com for examples.

Elaine Towne Lane's wonderful ceramic pieces appear to be influenced by the more than 20 years she spent in Southeast Asia, Africa and Central America.

Kay Gaston works with fused dichroic glass which she says is full of surprises: "It's like quilting a patchwork but with glass. See www.plainNfancybykay for examples.

Deanna Bristow is a watercolor artist who has twice won the Blossom Trail Poster Contest.

Finally, you can see my photographs — scenes from "ordinary" life in Tulare and Fresno counties, Sequoia National Park, Yosemite, the Central Coast, the Southwest and more. See www.yessy. com/jeriburzin for examples.

The Blossom Trail is now open.

INFORMATION
Come meet the artists and enjoy refreshments at the Art Stand Gallery Open House from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m, March 7. For more information, go to theartstandgallery.blogspot.com. To learn more about the Blossom Trail go to www.gofresnocounty.com.

The Art Stand Gallery has reopened!

We are now open again for our Blossom Trail Season. We have been closed since mid-December because it is really cold in the uninsulated building and we also need a time to close for business so that we can run our Winter Workshops. We do the same in the hottest part of the summer, also for about six weeks.

Details about the reopening schedule are as follows:

Blossom Trail Season runs from 

February 7-April 18, 2009

Hours: 11 AM till 5 PM, Daily (Sunday through Saturday)

Blossom Trail Reception will be on Saturday, March 7, 2009

Take a beautiful drive,  meet the artists, 

enjoy refreshments and Blossom Trail art!

Guest Post by Art Stand artist, Sally Delap-John

Truchas Tales:  Pilar

Sally Delap-John has been writing of her painting adventures in New Mexico, where she has bought a home to also serve as studio and gallery.

To paint the church at Pilar requires parking up a little, bitty non-road and then hiking with gear farther uphill. There was supposed to be a group going. The skies looked threatening, but I didn't want to be the light-weight, so off I went. When I arrived, I missed the little road/path to the sight. Took many tries backing up to get about ten feet. I took the even smaller, steeper track up the hill, backed in and parked.   I was just getting things out when Freckles stealthily got out and disappeared over a ridge.  I called and whistled, but no sign of her.  I carried stuff up to the spot, kept looking for her, set up and started painting. I had upset a nest of very large ants, ones that you could see all of the parts of their bodies while standing. Slight adjustment in location.  Later as I was into the painting I saw her on a road below, called and whistled and she kept going.  I saw other dogs, so was just waiting for the snarling sound of a meeting.  Later, she came quietly up and I took her to the van.  It was then I saw that I was parked in part of a rock wall and cactus.  The van sliding door would not close all the way.  I tried and tried, but it wouldn't budge either forward or backward. I went back up and completed my painting - three hours total. Packed up and got out of there. I stopped at the Rio Grande, just a little way on. Tried the door again - no luck. Where the road meets the road to Taos, I got out and gave it one last heave and finally, it moved so I could close it. Did I mention I was the only one there to paint?   That night at dinner I reached down to pet her and pulled out an inch and an half cactus thorn from her side. 

Guest Post by Art Stand artist, T.S. Wood

Sunday, 18 January 2009

Phew! What a winter break! Two trips to Arizona to visit my beloved sister and her family (11 hours each way, times 4!), an evening trip to the Phoenix Zoo http://www.phoenixzoo.org/ for the bright and glorious Zoo Lights experience (what I'd give for flirtatiously velvety caresses at Stingray Bay!), a visit to Phoenix's Desert Botanical Garden to see the fantastical Chihuly glass installation exhibit (like walking into a fairy tale... you turn a corner and lo! a forest of exquisite, hand-blown glass reeds writhing skyward amid the prickly pear cacti; then you come close to a bridge and notice on the riverbed the most fascinatingly large glass baubles/bubbles spilling out of a wooden boat!)  http://www.dbg.org/index.php/chihuly , and a delectable 3-fondue dinner on New Year's Eve (oy! oy! Such richness! A truly sumptuous feast!) What a grand Christmas season I had!

Last December I made a collection of luminarias for a special exhibit at the Williams Gallery West http://www.galwest.com/ in Oakhurst. And two days ago I happened to be in the area with a friend, and found out that only two of these luminarias were left. Ack! I have to get busy making new ones. I'd been too involved with my Christmas break and trips that I'd been neglecting clay work. So yesterday afternoon I cleaned out my studio, which for about a month had been a catch-all location with Christmas stuff and weird odds 'n ends I couldn't find any place for (read: junk I couldn't let go of) towards the end of last year. My word! Cleaning is exhausting work! Definitely not my favorite activity. But by the time I was done, or I should say, by the time the work table had a bit more than a square foot of work space and the potter's wheel was emptied of most of the old and dry clay bits, I only had enough gumption to throw two luminarias. My plan was to throw a couple three more today first, and then carve the two I made yesterday. We'll see how it goes today.

So to the studio I go! --t.s.wood

Update on Winter Workshop Classes

                                                                                               

The Winter Workshops are coming to a close this coming weekend. They have been well-attended and well-received and the levels of enthusiasm of the participants and the instructors have been high. This weekend is the dichroic glass class (both Saturday and Sunday) which should be very exciting.

Both Sally Delap-John and Tiwi S. Wood have volunteered to write a post for The Art Stand Gallery blog so those 2 articles will be appearing in the very near future. Other artists will be posting articles in upcoming posts as well.