When form meets function

What is art? What part does beauty play in our definition of art? When does a maker of beautiful things — even things not generally displayed in an art gallery — earn the right to be called an artist? These are some of the questions that the Petaluma Arts Center’s latest exhibition sets out to answer. Titled “By Hand: Makers Among Us,” and running Aug. 14 through Sept. 18, the show features the work of local weavers, luthiers, woodworkers and floral designers, displaying their creations with the same sense of curatorial care as if they were paintings or sculptures.

In other words, these creations — tables and chairs, musical instruments, blankets and bouquets — are treated like art.

Which, of course, they are.

“There are many people in this town who make art that does not necessarily hang on the wall,” explained Carin Jacobs, the curator of the exhibition, and the recently appointed executive Director of the Petaluma Arts Center. “It struck me, while thinking about what kind of show to create for August and September, that there are a lot of makers in Petaluma, people who are creating stunning, beautiful works of form and function, who would not feel a direct connection to the art center unless we broadened our usual definition of art a bit.”

The show that masked patrons will see includes the work of three fiber artists (Alisha Reyes, Marta Shannon and Jess Brown), one who works in wood (Greg Zall), several who make musical instruments (Barry Grzebik and the team at Kala Ukulele), plus ceramicist Gwynne Johnson and floral designer Tali Bouskila.

“The way we’ve designed the gallery,” said Jacobs, “we showcase not only the artists’ finished works, but also the process of making them, from the raw materials to the finished product, with the tools and devices it takes them to get from point A to point B.”

For example, along with woven garments and other creations by Alicia Reyes, owner of Fiber Circle Studio, attendees will see the antique spinning wheel on which she often works, along with some of the yarn she spins on the wheel. Woodworker and furniture-maker Greg Zall will be represented, in part, by a handcrafted wooden chair, along with the raw material used to make said chair. Luthier Barry Grzebik, who specializes in making guitars from reclaimed wood, has created a piece specifically for the show, built from salvaged redwood that was once part of a train tunnel in Marin County.

Perhaps most eye-grabbing of all is the large, elaborate dried botanical sculptural piece constructed by Tali Bouskila, owner of Petaluma’s Flower Casita. The creation, which Jacobs describes as branching out across a large area of the gallery, is accompanied by an homage to its own literal roots. Viewers will see a twig representing the origins of such a botanical creation, along with demonstrations of the piece in various stages of development.

Jacobs said her hope for the exhibit is that it will give people an opportunity to slow down, and gaze carefully at objects they might have barely noticed in a clothing, music or gift shop, giving them the same focus and attention and appreciation they might give a famous abstract in a museum, or a sculpture in a gallery at the opening night reception of a big city art show.

“You can take something that would not have been rarefied, like a ceramic bowl or piece of woven cloth, and when you put it in a museum context, that framing gives it a very different value,” Jacobs said. “That’s what this show does. By placing these works of art in the context of a gallery, they take on a sense of creative energy and significance that will hopefully last long beyond a visitor’s experience. By shifting the way we look at a bowl or a table or a doll, a scarf or a ukulele, we change the way we see and define art. We improve the way we see the world.”