Opening reception: Sunday, August 14, 2-4 pm
3 pm artist talk by Elaine Toland: "Intimacy and Art"
Oakland-based painter Elaine Toland presented new and recent work in the Downstairs Gallery at Angels Gate. The artist's abstract acrylics are responses to the landscape of the western U.S., the individual's microcosm of emotion and the "diversity of unity." In Ms. Toland's words: "The abstracted paintings focus upon personal and internal landscapes representing the emotions of intimacy revealed in layered pigment. Collective and social stories can change if there is a shift in how we see them. Our stories are for all to explore; the work of the diversity of unity is just the pathway for the possibilities of spiritual transformation and endless stories." The artist presented a public discussion at 3 pm, August 14th entitled "Intimacy and Art," focusing on the discourse between artistic and therapeutic work, and her experiences as an adolescent psychiatric nurse at Stanford University's Packard Children's Hospital working with at-risk teens.
Elaine Toland is a veteran of many solo and group exhibitions, as well as artist residency programs around the U.S., including the Ragdale Foundation in Lake Forest IL, and the Vermont Studio Center. Recent exhibitions include "Light, Canvas, Action" in San Francisco and "Bars, Barriers and Borders" in Long Beach.
Red Desert Sky
A Bird's Spirit
Beneath the Glaciers
Dancing Prairie
Diversity of Unity
Hidden Intimacy
Intimacy #2
Moey One
Night Sky
Primal Essence
Primal Essence 4
Secret Essence
Spirit of 11
Spring Snow
Wyoming Spring