T Barny - Beauty Out of Stone

It takes innovation and skill to draw elegance out of stone.  T Barny starts with selecting the raw chunk of marble, matching the color with his vision, then carves and shapes it into light and fluid, almost translucent, abstract designs suggestive of seashells and sea creatures.  

For the entire T Barny collection in stone, steel, bronze, wood, water and ice, check out his web site at www.stonesculptureforsale.com.   

Barbara Stafford

Every rug tells a story. Every fiber from the animal is tamed into threads and coerced into textiles.

The result is a textural story artistically woven together into a resilient rug that no one in their right mind would put on the floor and walk across.  These rugs are pleasing to touch because of their animal essense, but they are especially pleasing on the eyes.  

The award-winning example above, Camel 2: Lines, is camel hair interwoven with wool. 

Feast your eyes on this and more at www.barbarastafford.net.

Oscar Aguilar Olea

Oscar's personal tour of his home studio revealed an extensive collection of female nudes done in various techniques, all maximizing the mysterious, sensuality of the form.   Take a look at this oil and egg tempera on canvas - Torso.  Exquisite lines and shadows draw an elusive, yet alluring temperament. 

Oscar's Exhibit, Configuraciones, opens November 7, 2008 at the Napa Valley Museum through November 30, 2008.

www.napavalleymuseum.org/exhibits.html 

View more of his work at his web site, including oils, watercolors, etchings. 

www.aguilarolea.com 

Edmund Ian Grant

(copyright Edmund Ian Grant 2008 all rights reserved)

Ed Grant talked us through his expansive Villa Spankadellik like a tour guide in Rome.  His humor and passion for his subject was evident in each piece as he showed us his entire collection room by room.  

Jazzy, romantic, vibrant, humorous and sometimes political:  the painting above is called Psycho Babble.  

Take a virtual tour yourself at his web site:  homepage.mac.com/edmundgrant

 

Or catch him at the St Supery Gallery before November 1st, 2008.

www.stsupery.com/visit/gallery.html

So Much Art, So Little Exposure

With the Open Studio events in Napa and Sonoma Valleys in September and October every year, we get a glimpse of the vastness of art that is created here year round.  I was especially impressed with the sublime tempera drawings of Oscar Aguilar Olea, the vibrant jazz & romance paintings of Ed Grant, the woven masterpieces of Barbara Stafford, the woodworking of Jerry Kermode, and the lighter-than-air stone sculptures of T Barny, to name only a handful. 

There is so much superb artistic talent in the wine county I'd like to take the opportunity to spotlight some of their works throughout the balance of the year. I'll be highlighting artworks, events, news and original content that the community digs and creates. If you've got a hot tip, please drop us a line.