Abstract art and ornate jewelry take center stage at Gallery Los Olivos in March, for a new exhibit titled Minnie Facets.
For artists Patricia Watkins and Minnie Anderson, the exhibit represents a shift in style, as both learn to embrace new media, techniques, and genres in their latest work.
Watkins said this exhibit is a “branching out” for her in terms of style and vision. A former teacher who lives in Montecito, Watkins was a painter for more than 25 years.
She said the Zarah Company saw one of her paintings and hired her to design animals and flowers.
“That got me more interested in jewelry,” she said. “I had already been collecting some vintage items [such as beads]. I started making jewelry on my own.”
Her background as a painter helps her in jewelry making, Watkins said.
“I like small steps of value changes in colors,” she said. “It makes my pieces luscious and elegant looking.”
Watkins said she enjoys branching out of her comfort zone to explore more styles.
“Most people who become famous in painting or jewelry, they do one thing,” Watkins said. “Not me. I just like to keep learning.”
The show opened at Gallery Los Olivos on March 1, and includes three cases of Watkin’s jewelry work.
One case features work she describes as “dressy classical,” utilizing semi-precious stones. Another case includes more bohemian designs, described on the gallery’s website as “leather, waxed linen, and silk thread with crystals, agates, and Czech beads through weaving, knotting, and crocheted techniques.”
The window case highlights her work in bronze clay and a technique known as Viking knit, a weaving of metal and wires that form an intricate cord. All of the pieces are handmade and some include vintage finds from her years of collecting.
“Everything is one of a kind,” she said. “I’ve collected many pendants and unusual vintage beads, and now and again I incorporate them. It’s not something you typically find.”
Anderson, who lives in Orcutt, is displaying abstract art pieces, a new venture for the seasoned landscape painter.
She said with so many landscape painters selling work in Central California, she thought she would try her hand at a new genre.
“There are the same kind of rules for landscapes but in abstract art, you can break those rules,” Anderson said. “Sometimes it works and sometimes not.”
Abstract painting is harder than most people think, she said.
“If a piece isn’t working, you have to re-evaluate,” she said. “You walk away and come back. Sometimes you have a solution.”
The 24 pieces Anderson has on display at Gallery Los Olivos range in price from $75 for smaller paintings and up to $800 for larger ones.
“That’s rather reasonable for abstracts,” she said.
Rebecca Rose thinks wearing the jewelry of Vikings is pretty darn cool. Contact her at rrose@santamariasun.com.
This article appears in Mar 9-16, 2017.
