Kevin Kasik conducted these insightful interviews with the Blue Ribbon winners during and after the Awards Reception.

“This year’s show was one of the best ever, in range of artistic expression and quality of achievement. These really were ‘Fine’ pieces of Fine Art”, said Catherine Politopoulos, Art Museum of Los Gatos Curator.

The range of information via interview, too, was as varied as the personalities of the individual creators. We learned about a man who has lived and excelled in art for decades and after 35 years, has won his first Blue Ribbon; as well as a relative newcomer who has shocked the OJS 2010 show with four of his works accepted, including the Blue Ribbon for Figure/Portrait & Animal.

Each artist had surprises to share, mentors living and passed to thank, a sincere pride in their work and a gracious humility that their work was honored as tops in their field… Congratulations, Artists!

Andrew Ballantyne,
San Jose Historical Park
First Place, Landscape/Marine

Kevin: Fellow distinguished LGAA Artist Cyndy Riordan told me this was your first Blue Ribbon.

Andrew: Yes it is, after quite a long time painting  – So wearing the blue ribbon around as a corsage is not done, right?  (laughs) - This was painted with the Monday LGAA plein air painting group at Kelley Park. It’s actually the backs of the houses there. 

The fronts of the houses are really ornate, but the sun was illuminating the more plain back sides; maybe we should paint it in the evening. Anyway, the door was the same salmon color as the walls.  But since everything was aiming at it, it was the center of interest. I thought that door “had better live up to it” – so I painted it blue.

That is an example of what Charles W. Hawthorne said about subject matter; painting a pile of bricks is like painting a palace – it’s the painting not the subject matter that matters.

Yes, it’s really a painting about light. And this area (the grass) were weeds. This was painted in January so everything was overgrown and dead, and so I changed the planes to be more vibrant.

Yes the greens are almost neon – do you determine your color key during the sketch period or in the act of painting?

Actually, neither in this case. I painted this originally as a tonalist painting, and then I got home and was dissatisfied with it. So I rubbed some of it off – in the old days I would have thought I had failed – but now I know that is part of the process.

You’re learning the whole time and you can get qualities like softer edges by taking things out. So then I jazzed it up and heightened the color, for example this lower area was gray cement but I painted it in colors blue and beige.

Nothing is devoid -everything gets treated as a color, which I suppose moves me into the colorist school, like Camille Przewodek.

So do you typically start with a primary color to key the rest of the painting with?

Yes and no -if you start getting a palette that’s real consistent, then you get bored. It’s good to jump off in new directions. People ask me which colors I start with -sometimes it’s a warm orange, sometimes it’s an alizarin crimson other times a tinted blue- I give myself a different problem to solve with each painting.

How long did the repainting take and was it all done in one session?

Yes, it took about two hours – I knew it had the potential to be good, and that motivated me to spend the extra time on it. The truth is you are tired at that point. But I didn’t want to let my paint dry because that’s when it can be best manipulated – getting soft edges, etc. But you do get exhausted.

The Russian school instructs its students to end a session in two hours; that’s the limit to work on a painting so you don’t get depleted. All the decision-making in painting takes its toll; I like to say you burn more energy playing chess than you do playing football.

People are so impressed with your technique – you were a high school teacher of the arts-

I taught at Santa Clara High School – ceramics, drawing and painting for 35 years with three classes every semester. I taught a lot of perspective, so drawing technique comes easy.

That’s a clue to the look of your shapes - with your ceramics background you mold form with color –

Yes, I see three dimensionally, so if I see a shrub I see it as a cube, with a front, a top and a side. I draw it as having planes and give each a different value;  one receives more light, one is toned dark and one is a middle value.

Speaking of backgrounds, the people with backgrounds I admire are like Nick White (founder of the LGAA Plein Air Painting Group) – who was a sheet metal worker all his life and then becomes an accomplished painter,,, and in a very short time at that.

Any more tips?

I recently took a class with Jennifer McChristian – she says slow down, sketch more, ‘value study’ more – do all the preliminary stuff- it saves time in the long run. And it’s true; I have fewer failures – throw away fewer canvases. Then that consistency of success can add to and increase your motivation.

One other tip for painting plein air is getting the subject the right distance in

– if it’s too far it’s not a strong enough focal point. If it’s too close-in you don’t see the volume of what you want to express. Take ten steps forward and ten steps back to gauge the right distance as a photographer would.

First Place, Figure/Portrait & Animal

Kevin: He uses the word “wonderful” twice.

Cuong: That’s wonderful (laughs) I’m so honored – thank you so much.

The juror acknowledges your technical ability –the painting looks effortless- who is the subject?

Most of my figure studies are of friends or family. This man is Josh, I work with him at Yahoo. The little girl is my niece (in the adjacent painting.) She’s at the show today.

This is a portrait and yet it’s also an interior -was it your purpose to meld motifs?

I love doing portraits that are personal to me and maybe send a message; both to me and the audience, too. I strive for portraits that give a message from the model.

What’s the message here?

Everybody has a secret behind the mask you’re looking at, no matter old or young. Josh here is holding a boat. So people can wonder ‘what does that mean?”  He is a very young guy that I’ve known for some time from working with him.

He daydreams about wanting to escape his present; about wanting to do something or go somewhere better. So I thought of a boat – sailing out of reality as a means to follow your dream.

Like taking a voyage-

Yes, the man has not quite realized his dream yet, so he’s looking for it.

And so what about your niece in the next painting – what is the message there?

She is exhibiting how much she loves nature; she is even holding a little bird.

What I see is a wonderful tonal display in Sailing Dream – the earth-tones are terrific, and yet the juror calls yours a rich, rich painting – I think that is an education to the viewers of just what rich is…

Thank you. I have learned a lot from the Masters. And nothing is better for your advancement as a painter than doing a copy from the Masters. It helps you establish your palette and see possibilities, just as the master did it.

I’m also a chalk artist – I work doing Italian chalk murals copying the work of Masters. It teaches one that the color palette of historically great artists is really quite limited. That’s why when painting I have a voice saying ‘don’t overdo the colors.’

The tones in this painting are more real world, too – no fireworks in sight and a good percentage of drab.

I’m honored to have the juror say that there is a richness in it. I think so, too. For me it’s more challenging when you use limited color as a means to a beautiful painting

With no color fireworks, you also are less distracted from seeing other aspects, like the psychological – there’s something definitely going on in Josh’s head, for instance-

Yes, it’s as much a portrait of his state of mind as his physical being – you got it.

And the space is confining – like he’s in a cell.

I think so, but I also never want to say there’s a single answer. I want people to look at the painting fresh and wonder for themselves alone. Everyone has their own answer; it’s similar to an abstract work. Actually some people come up with answers of their own, and it’s funny, they like their own answer better than they like mine (laughs.)

Okay so what’s going to happen at Yahoo- is there going to be a ‘First place Josh’ interoffice copy of the painting as a celebratory memo?

I’m not sure about anything at the job site. I need to call him today; I think his mother would love to take a look at his portrait (laughs!)

Kevin: Mr. Nguyen has been offered a show of his work by the Los Gatos Art Museum.

Kevin: Have you looked up Bill Cone’s work?

Diana: No, I just got here and this is the first I’ve seen of the comments. I’ll have to do that

Diana Do It!

Yes, (laughs) – the Juror picked right up on my challenge to put the subject smack dab in the middle and then work to balance it asymmetrically with colors, weighing in to one side or the other.

The center persimmons are propped against a big Fiestaware bowl from the 1940’s. I explored the composition by again taking a lot of pictures of the motif, but then I just painted it.

These persimmons are from your own back yard?

Yes –we have the County’s largest persimmon tree – these were the last few persimmons left after about 1,400 pounds… we take the bulk of these to Second Harvest as a food donation.

Drips are an exciting part of this work - the juror picked up on how tactile your piece was… When you engage with such loose paint dripping,, in the back of your mind is there the thought ‘I better have my rag ready to dab it off?’

No, I figure that’s part of today’s real art; just letting the art happen in drips and skeins, letting gravity happen. In this case I just watched it- I enjoyed seeing the drips happen. This goes back to what I used to do; I was a textile designer- and I did a lot of painting on fabric.

Speaking of central placement, it’s interesting there is one drip drizzled almost dead in the center, too… but I didn’t want to touch that.

I relate to spontaneous things happening because of my prior occupation. It’s like you relating to paint manipulation because you faux and glaze walls as a Decorative Artist. For me the textile voice is there, and it always comes out in my Fine Art.

In a way you balance the composition by having shifts in color, value and light-path aesthetics counteract the centrality of your subject placement.

It worked out that way, yes. The hardest thing is repeating that kind of effect – it doesn’t always just happen (laughs.)

For me, I love the tonal quality - masses in the work are the same value, but you manipulate the temperature of them to suggest depth and create a surface excitement.

It makes the surface vibrate. The obvious warms like the background browns come forward, but then again it’s a cool warm. And this blue (points to an area of the work), a cool color you might expect to recede is on the warmer side as blues go – so that partially comes forward, too. I like that unexpected quality at play; it helps flatten the surface, too. I tend to do very flat paintings.

-As in you tend to deny depth?

Yes, I’m not into a lot of atmosphere (aerial perspective) – and again that comes from the flat pattern work I did in fabric design –a lot of years of flat pattern graphic work.

That helps you be contemporary as an artist, where you acknowledge the flatness of the support.

That’s true – I like that.

Diana: What a great comment. That’s pretty amazing. A great understanding of the painting.

Kevin: You told me at the Los Gatos Museum Gallery that you were undergoing a sea-change in your art, to more abstraction…

It’s hard because sometimes you think you have to paint for the audience but you actually have to paint for your heart. And this is. That’s why I put in these two paintings – these are as far-out as I’ve gotten, let’s see what happens to them. So I’m totally surprised.

So the inspiration was a setting you recalled going to...

My husband and I went to the Elkhorn slough. I took a lot of pictures there and when I went home I reviewed them. This scene isn’t directly from one photograph, though –it came from my joined images and my memory of the place that day.

There was a boat there called the Tiffany - and so it’s The Tiffany is in. I have a niece named Tiffany and that’s why I noticed that boat in particular.

I like the tonal quality and the analogous series of earth-tones you’ve placed in the work – and then the surprise, that striking aqua almost dead center - that was an aggressive decision.

That was actually a challenge for this and the other painting, too; to have a focal element very much in the center and to make it work.

The lower section has olive-tinted earth-tones on either side of a white trapezoidal shape- these seem representative of a light source dashed within murky water lapping at each side –is it fair to suggest that representational source?

Yes, you’re right on with those aspects. The day we went to Elkhorn it was overcast, with the sun trying but never able to peek through the drizzly clouds. You really couldn’t see much till you turned and faced the boats in the harbor.

So the setting presented itself...

Yes, there the boats were!

And in this milieu of gray day elements, stronger local color, diffused light and such - you decided to prop that aqua note stridently dead center among the earth-tones. What made you do that?

I just did it – it was a “Diana Do It!” (laughs).

The disciplined blocking and using of varied colors as form remind me of Richard Diebenkorn’s work-

I do like Diebenkorn a lot, also Thiebaud –earlier on also Sarolla and the Russian masters. This is not a direct descendant in any way, though; my work is different but my roots go back to them. I connect as well with my fellow students at San Jose State – Andy and others.

Andy Ballantyne, the Landscape Blue Ribbon Awardee?

Yes, he and I went to San Jose State together – also Marilyn Dorsa and David Stonesifer. We didn't know each other then, but we were there at the same time.

Small world.

Well, Andy Ballantyne was also our kid’s high school art teacher at Santa Clara High, but I didn’t know him then, either!

But you know him now...

Yes, I do (laughs)!

Kevin: How do you react to the insights of the Juror - what pleases you the most in what was said, and why?

Amanda: I'm pleased that he found it provocative.

Was he 'spot on' in your assessment or not?

Spot on.

A rich design contains a contrast of shapes, textures and values -were these components intuitive from you or did you say 'hmm, my balance is off here - I need to introduce 'x' or balance 'y'?

My prints come from spontaneous feelings; a response to something. Meaning is sensed rather than understood. I work intuitively. --- Robert Motherwell said, "A drawing surface is not so much a place for a picture - but rather a stage or arena in which an abstract play or narrative can take place." I love this quote. It influences my work.

To me the plumes of soft shape are arresting yet comforting - and they represent aerial perspective in a way, inferring background to the more hard edged shapes or marks in the foreground. Key the different shapes for me - what do they mean in your mind?

My shapes, textures, and lines create a world of their own. I paint and draw what pleases me.

The Ocean Park series of Diebenkorn or the composition of a rectangular field by Mondrian is evoked for me in this piece - am I off base here? Were you influenced by a known abstract artist and who? If not, what do you make of other people's connecting your work to successful abstract artists of the past?

I love Diebenkorn's Ocean Park series. I am very influenced by him. I also admire Nathan Olivera and Joan Mitchell.

In your earlier Blue Ribbon work "Bird on a Tightrope" I think it was called, you spoke of wanting to do a series of treatments of the tightrope theme. Is this such a further exploration? And what can you say about the concept of Balance in 'Reflex'?

‘Reflex’ is part of a new series of abstracts I'm working on. I work toward harmony and balance in all of my images.

Why was “Reflex” chosen as the title?

I like the meaning of the word. It seems to fit the image well.

Your husband and you are both LGAA members. Do you bounce ideas off each other when you are creating your personal art? What are some of the funny or unusual ways you deal with the fact that you are a multi-Blue ribbon award winner in your family?

We bounce ideas off each other all the time. Mark is very supportive and happy for me. He is also a ribbon winner (he made me add that last line!)

Kevin: How do Paul Kratter's comments hit you; spot on, off-base, or how?

Lee: I thought his comments were very generous, and certainly consistent with what I was going for.

Where did you take this picture, and is a specific locale of any real importance?

I took it at a train station in San Francisco, which in this case is irrelevant -- since the entire content of the image was movable and moving.

Is this really a shot of an Amtrak train, or is it a Caltrain commuter train, and why should or shouldn't that kind of specificity matter?

Now that you mention it, I don't know which it was -- except that it was a double-decker car, if that helps define it.  I think the specificity in this case matters -- even if it is wrong!  It makes it more intimate than if it were just "a train,"- by creating a context.

The juror imbued the phenomenon of rain with an emotional connection; melancholy. How do you react to this interpretation?

I think it is a good general description. I thought the public isolation was certainly melancholy, like an Edward Hopper painting is melancholy.  Rain certainly added to the mood.

The evidence of rain imparts a texture to the window; that's an aspect of this piece that really impresses. How aware were you of this and other textures when you shot the photo?

I was very much aware of the pattern on the window, and focused on it in order to throw the human subjects into a more passive background -- as if they were more trapped by the train and the weather than willfully traveling somewhere.

What is your stand on darkroom photography vs digital photography, if any, and why? What known photographers of the past do you list as influences of your art or this piece specifically?

I think what matters is the final image, not how you got there.  I do everything digitally because that's how I learned.  Most of what I am shooting these days is street photography, and mostly black and white. Among the people I admire most are Walker Evans, Robert Frank, Willy Ronis, Andre Kertesz, A.Aubrey Bodine, Garry Winogrand -- I could go on but I'd run out of space.

The two subjects of your photo are shown encapsulated in an inner space, and the window can be seen as 'capsule-shaped' ­were you aware of that provocative metaphor in your reason for taking this photo?

No, I wasn't -- though it certainly adds to that trapped feeling I mentioned before.

What role does after-the-fact interpretation play in your assessment of your own photos as to which are better than others?

It plays a huge role.  This photo is unusual for me in that I knew pretty much what I was going for and I got it. Most of the photos I like best surprise me.  Even this one as the cropping suggests, wasn't composed in the camera. 

I think most of the creative process is unconscious (if not accidental).  I like what Stephen King had to say about it: "When trouble comes and steps have to be taken, I find it's generally better just to stand aside and let the ‘boys in the basement’ do their work."

The composition is reduced to a minimum of shapes, inversely increasing the elemental power of the image. Is this a quality you look for in your subject matter?

Usually, not always.  Sometimes the subject, e.g., a street scene full of action, is a mosaic that conveys a unity.

There is a terrific tension between flatness and depth in this image, with the sense of depth conveyed in a most minimal manner; the hardware on the side of the car is closest to the viewer, then the metal skin, then the window, then the large figure on the right and his seat, then the smaller figure on the left and her row of seats, then her mirror-image window, and lastly the depth seen through that window, lit conveniently by the reflection of the florescent light bar. A series of different depths exhibited like a series of razor-thin cross sections. I find this really rich; what's your take on your achievement of a sense of depth in this way?

I'm very pleased with that aspect of the image.  I was unusually conscious of wanting to preserve that layering, but I did not know if I had succeeded until I went to work on it in processing.

The play of opposites is also arresting; male / female; downward vs upward glance; foreground / background seating positions; the L-shaped metal piece of the frame (top and right sides) vs. the capsule-shaped window. Is the enriching effect of capturing opposites a quality you strive for?

I'm not that clever.  Most of what I do is "grab shots." Whatever compositional principles I know, I'm not usually thinking of them when I shoot; they just look right. In processing (especially cropping), I'm more aware of the elements that go into the effect. But in this case I don't think I ever considered those specific tensions.

What connection do the two passengers you show have, or don't have in the photo you took?

Gary: I like that he said that – I need his address… (laughs).

Kevin: The Juror also said your sculpture put a smile on his face. What is the humor you see in your own piece?

That’s the beauty about art; you interpret it how you see it. When I look at the work, I can see where most people see humor but that’s not where it came from necessarily. It’s individual; you take your own history, your own evolution and you place it (the art) in ‘the way you see art.’  If I had to pinpoint why this ’is as it is,’ I would say I really don’t know.

What was the origin of this piece?

It’s pretty unique for me – I started with a painting before doing the piece. Typically I let the clay just be what it wants to be. Still, even though I started with a painting there’s a freedom in that the painting influenced me, but I didn’t need to move in that same direction with the sculpture.

So which angle of the three-dimensional sculpture is like the painting?

It is the frontal view face-on. But it’s really unfair to compare beyond that, since the painting is two dimensional and the sculpture three.

There is a lot of richness in the third dimension as you move around the sculpture

Yes, it keeps your interest moving around it. It changes, and I like it to change. Rather than knowing the piece the first instant you look at it, sculpture is rewarding since you actually have to explore it.

The patina has a distressed quality, bright random coloring and a layering that looks terrific.

This was an experiment. This is nine or ten layers of paint, letting each coat take how long it needs to dry in between coats. Then I distressed it with a wire brush, sanders and the like and it changes as you continue to process it. The balance changes also, so I had to be careful to preserve that rich turquoise and allow it to be the dominant color along the leg.

As experiments go, it was rather exciting. I also liked that the orbital sander left its mark with skeins of lines. Speaking of marks in some areas, I used pencil to get a fake shadowing or a value; I just cross-hatched certain areas for effect…

Now there’s humor right there, using a pencil to faux a 3d effect on a three dimensional artwork.

Right (laughs) – it’s all about perception.

Were you inspired by Pre-Columbian Art, since the form has an anti-gravitational “gourd-on-stilts-like” uniqueness to it.

That’s the irony of it; I didn’t mean to make anything but just let the clay build itself and do what it wanted to do. When I told you I started this project by creating a painting, the painting was used merely to give a starting direction.

Where that came from I really don't know. I like an architectural feel, so I started out just wanting a certain architectural quality and structure to it, but that’s all; otherwise I just started with a form void of any pre­conceived idea.

How thick is the layer of clay and how did you process it?

About a half inch to three-quarters of an inch thick. This is a high-fired clay and a cold finish. I design outdoor living spaces and so I’m very aware of structure. So structurally it’s sound – although hallow, there are honeycombs inside to see that it never collapses on itself. Plus. there are steel rods going through to the plate which then are bolted.

The base is modern brushed metal which throws your piece into a complete and utter contrast...

Yeah, (laughs) thanks for noticing - I explored the concept of doing a rusted base to coordinate because this piece is quite organic, but instead I went for the contrast.

How does it jibe with your initial concept

-when people look at parts of the sculpture and say this is a bird’s head or this is a fish face in that elbow shape?

Whatever people see or need to see in the piece is fine with me. All I can do is present it to people and let them take what they want from it.

No restricting rules?

No. Never.

So finally, why “Pearls of Wisdom”?

Let’s walk around to see – here in the mouths of the subjects, here they are – the white pearls.

It’s an evolutionary metaphor, like one thing influences another. We’re not independent beings; we are influenced by any number of things and we have no choice but to spew up things we’ve experienced throughout time.