before our very eyes, features new work by Dianne Bennett, an Ojai artist who has created art her entire life as a process of expressing, understanding and communicating her experience. "Growing up in suburban Los Angeles in the 1960's when orange trees outnumbered the houses, I saw subdivisions spring up where beloved meadows once bloomed, and developed a passion for land conservation," Bennett says. "A 20 year career as a graphic illustrator and logo designer informed the visual language of iconic symbols that I now use in my mixed media art. A commitment to sustainability influenced my choice of materials and grounds. I use salvaged building materials, old metal signs, household objects, forgotten children's toys, along with other discarded items to create pictographs, rebuses and altars."

"My work is created in hopes of shining a light on the ephemeral beauty of nature while raising questions about what we value, what we hold sacred and what is disappearing before our very eyes. Using an intuitive language of symbols, iconic portraits of birds, trees, plants and wildlife combined with idiomatic phrases and random thoughts, my intention is to create hieroglyphic messages to the future or postcards from now."

This exhibition is featured in the new issue of Spirituality & Health Magazine, available at newsstands and bookstores now.  

"before our very eyes" Exhibition by Dianne Bennett Click on images for larger view.
b4 our very eyes Oil on slavaged metal retablo 19" w x 26" h $2,500.00	Tricolor Blackbird Oil on salvaged metal retablo 19" w x 26" h $3,500.00
Hear + Now Oil on salvaged metal retablo 19" w x 26" h $2,500.00	Peace Within Oil on salvaged metal retablo with sculpted bird 6" w x 10" h $500.00

Phyla features recent sculptural work by Louise Hibbert and Shane M. Keena. While the two work in different media - Hibbert in wood and paint and Keena in ceramics, they share a similar aesthetic approach and love for the natural world. While form, pattern and color in nature have inspired artists and designers throughout history, they also inspired scientists, driven to develop new technology in a quest for discovering more of the wonder of nature's design in a microscopic exploration of marine life. At the end of the 19th Century this was superbly exemplified in the depiction of the microscopic forms of organisms, that until then had been invisible to those studying the waters of lakes, rivers and the oceans, by the zoologist and artist, Ernst Haeckel. The artist's illustrations of marine organisms influenced the Art Nouveau movement, as well as both Hibbert and Keena. 

Shane M. Keena received his B.F.A in Fine Arts from the Otis College of Art and Design in Los Angeles and his M.F.A. in Ceramics from the Rochester Institute of Technology, School of American Crafts in New York State. He works as an independent studio artist and teaches regularly, most recently as an Adjunct Ceramics Professor at California State University, Los Angeles.

"Having grown up near the ocean, I spent a considerable portion of my later childhood exploring the shallow tide pools of the Pacific Ocean off the coast of Southern California," Keena says. "My recollection of discovering various life-forms occupying these shallow tidal regions, along with being an avid scuba diver for over twenty years has had a direct influence on my work. However, while many of the diverse marine forms are sources of visual and formal influence, I also draw inspiration from sources ranging from microscopic images of pollen to the exotic durian and jackfruits of Southeast Asia. My agenda is not to recreate what already exists in the world, but rather to create objects that are hybrids; the result of a blending of ideas begging the question; 'is it animal, mineral, or vegetable?' Through the fusion of these visual references, I aim for my work to come to life within arm's reach, where eyesight blurs into touch."  

"Phyla" Shane M. Keena Click on images for larger view.
Nodusa Multi-fired earthenware, luster, mixed media $1,200.00	Nodusa II Multi-fired earthenware, luster, mixed media $1,200.00
Diadema Earthenware, mixed media $900.00	Marmaroatus Nudicup Multi-fired earthenware, stoneware base, luster, mixed media $950.00

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WHERE:
Beatrice Wood Center for the Arts
8560 Ojai-Santa Paula Road in Upper Ojai 

WHAT:
Opening Reception for before our very eyes,
Phyla, and The Outsiders
with a musical performance by Xavier Montes

WHEN:
Saturday, January 9th, 2010
2:00 - 5:00 pm 

WHY:
Experiencing and supporting the arts makes the world
a better place to live