The Main Event
Last Saturday, IS: Fine Art & Design was invited to view the exhibition in place at the San Francisco Fine Art gallery, Dolby Chadwick gallery in honor of their 20th Anniversary Event. The exhibit was titled “Artist As Subject” and is on view at the Post Street gallery for the next few months.
Artist As Subject
The exhibition featured the works of thirty-three different artists, and focused on their more recent creations, as the main focus for this exhibit. There was a mix of sculpture, painting, photography, and mixed media pieces displayed at the gallery. One piece in particular that left a lasting impression was artist Sherie Franssen’s piece titled “Red Tempest”. This large-scale oil piece was placed against a large wall perpendicular to a sizeable window, overlooking the bustle of Post Street. The bold red color depicted across the canvas combined with the aggressive brushstrokes held my attention, forcing me to stay and view the hidden complexity of the piece, as layers and layers of oil paint were expertly placed creating depth and volume within the piece.
Dolby Chadwick Gallery – A Focus in Contemporary Art
The Gallery itself is large. The space spans over multiple rooms, allowing the guests to move around freely between rooms, viewing the pieces at their leisure. In the room mostly dedicated to art storage, there was even a projector playing a video of compiled photographs of the guests from previous events. This video added a touch of familiarity and personality that added to the overall tone of the gallery, making it seem more inviting and personal - breaking out of the typical white cube gallery space.
The Dolby Chadwick Gallery was first established in San Francisco, Ca, in 1997. As quoted from their website. “ The Gallery seeks to exhibit articulate, visceral, and provocative new work, and to support artists in the development of their creative process and visions” (Dolby Chadwick Gallery). The Dolby Chadwick Gallery represents many different artists who explore vastly different mediums. The gallery focuses on representing and displaying works that show the artists’ dedication to their craft, in terms of skill, observation, and material used. A common theme throughout the variety of works is that the artists display an interest in “exploring and redefining visual perception and optical effects – celebrating the unexpected surprise of sight and insight of the visual experience” (Dolby Chadwick Gallery).
The overall theme of the gallery is impressive, professional, and somehow still extremely personable. The Director, Lisa Chadwick has over twenty-five years of experience in the Fine Arts, and her skill and experience are clearly evident in the way her gallery is run.
Lisa Chadwick
I have always been a big fan and proponent of Lisa Chadwick because of her ability to add such a personalized feel to each of her exhibits. I was quoted in a Luxe Magazine article where I said “Lisa Dolby Chadwick- shows things that are meaningful and can explain why they are collectible in the most approachable way-” For the complete quote in Luxe, please view the recent post by clicking here
IS: Fine Art and Design Goes to the Gallery
I brought my fantastic Gallerist, Olivia, with me to this event in order to introduce her to the world in which she is gaining knowledge and becoming a part of. I felt it was an important learning experience for her, a sort of passing of the torch, to show her and introduce her to many other women in the art field who started at a place much similar to hers. It was a vital move for me, to empower Olivia through this experience in the hopes that she finds these events inspiring, and uses these experiences to motivate her towards her growing career.
I brought Olivia into the Dolby Chadwick Gallery wearing some of our Trunk Show artist’s designs. Olivia was more than excited to have the opportunity to wear Kary Kjesbo Design’s vintage, handmade jewelry. With such a unique flair, Kary Kjesbo’s Signature Line is an ever-changing collection of antique and vintage found objects. Kjesbo crafts these amazingly intricate and often utilitarian objects into contemporary and versatile jewelry can be incorporated into our everyday wardrobe. The true beauty of her pieces is found not in their uniqueness, but that many of the charms and details were incorporated from vintage men’s fashion. Kary took vintage pocket watches, match holders, and card holders from upper-class men’s wardrobes, and incorporated them into new designs for women.
The Best Guests; The Power of Unification through Art Exhibition Events
Some of the guests within the Dolby Chadwick 20th Anniversary Exhibit were obviously avid art lovers. We had the pleasure of conversing with many collectors who were excited about seeing the artists represented in Lisa’s gallery create new works for the exhibit. Some of the notable guests in attendance were designers from the 2017 Decorator Showcase charity event, such as Beth Martin, of the Martin Group. Alisa Carroll, editor to SF Cottages & Gardens was also in attendance as well. Lisa Dolby Chadwick was an amazing host, finding the time to speak to each guest in such a personal and inviting way, that truly, only she could accomplish.
It was amazing to see the many different types of people, in all walks of life, come together for such an amazing event. The Dolby Chadwick 20th Anniversary Celebration really stood out as an event that clearly demonstrated the unifying aspect of art.