Inspiration Takes Different Forms

Inspiration is an interesting thing, a mixture of the artist, their surroundings, and their experiences. Mix all of these things together and often you get what drives people to produce. Every year like clockwork the Cultural Council of Santa Cruz County gives the residents of Santa Cruz a unique look into the inspiration behind 200 artists living in Santa Cruz County. Ranging from watercolorists to jewelry makers each artist is picked based on the professionalism of their work, its theme, and whether the artist can demonstrate the creative process.

What makes this event so unique is that it is a chance to look at the work of artists who are creating in the same environments. It gives the viewer a chance to see how different artists are driven by their everyday experiences and how different the outcome can be. These artists are each making there works at the 17th Ave. Studios, two buildings that are broken into studios and rented out to artists living in Santa Cruz County.

Marvin Plummer is a local artist who has lived in Santa Cruz on and off since 1986. Plummer is a unique artist in the sense that for the past five years his goal has been to capture what makes a dog man’s best friend. Using mostly charcoal, Plummer sets out to portray the essence and the soul of his subjects. Plummer’s work is unique and original. What makes his work intriguing is the composition; he plays with the shape and feeling of the animal somehow managing to instantly capture the a sense of emotion.

Michael Mote has been fascinated with color since childhood, motivated by an early childhood memory of a movie marquee’s flashing lights. For many years he painted only in watercolors feeling they were the only things that could reproduce the memory of those flashing lights. Recently Mote has been working with pastels and wax on wood, using color to recreate the ocean scenes he sees everyday. Mote enjoys working with wax because it deepens and saturates the colors while slightly abstracting the forms. He enjoys focusing on the raw, natural beauty that is so quickly disappearing in the world.

Paul DeSomma and his wife, Marsha Blaker are internationally known glass and ceramic artists, known for working both together and separately. They find inspiration in the sea, taking its forms and letting it inspire them in different ways. Together they enjoy working on abstract and literal projects, letting their inspiration take them where it wants.

Lenny Gerstein has been a wood carver since he was ten, but it was not until several years ago that he opened his own studio and began taking his art seriously. Gerstein’s favorite material is found wood, mostly old growth redwood that is readily found in Santa Cruz County. Much like Michelangelo, Gerstein claims to see the captured figures in the wood, saying that he frees them when he carves.

Roberta Lee Woods is a painter and collage artist who is inspired by nature and its many layers of color and texture. In many of her works she attempts to capture the mood and atmosphere of the ocean. After traveling to Belize, Holland, and the Czech Republic she became inspired by the Dutch Masters such as Vermeer and Rembrandt as well as many contemporary artists. She continues to explore different art processes, including but not limited to papermaking and book arts.

Image above: Portrait of a dog by Marvin Plummer.