Exhibits by Maxine Solomon, Doré Bodenheimer &
Tari Kerss
On display June 7th through August 4th. Artists reception Friday June 13th from 5-7pm

The Merced County Arts Council welcomes three artists, each exhibiting their own show, on display June 7 through August 4, 2008. A reception will be held for the artists Friday June 13 from 5-7pm at The Merced Multicultural Arts Center. All are welcome to attend.

In the Main Gallery, Maxine Solomon exhibits a dynamic series of new, large oil paintings. Solomon often combines figurative and abstract elements which cause her paintings to draw their viewer into a world that is at once landscape and imagination, exotic and exciting, as well as foreboding. The artist states, “my newest paintings speak not only of our world’s common heritage but of its endangerment—of the withering away of both the environment and the diversity of the world’s unique cultures. My hope is that as the viewers search for what lies hidden within my layers of paint, they will also think of what lies hidden in our world, and what is lost when we dismantle the polychromatic world of diversity.”

In the Skylight Gallery on the 2nd floor, Doré Bodenheimer’s Assemblage is the arranged design of uniquely interesting elements. Her extensive study of design led her to an art form which uses 3-dimensional, pre-formed objects as the basic art elements, similar to the use of pigment for the art of painting, or words and phrases for the art of poetry. Bedoenheimber says, “The elegance of simple objects such as tools and machinery, taken out of context, amazes me. Whatever the object I select, it changes in the process of serving me as a design element. These assemblages are concerned with my contemplation of forms and their reassignment. I hope you may find these works evocative of places, thoughts and feelings...both familiar and fantastic.”

In the White Box Gallery on the 2nd floor, Tari Kerss’s Light Trace is driven by her interest in light, shadow, transparency and three dimensional forms. These interests are combined with a long standing passion for constructing woven fabrics with alternative materials. Tubular fabrics are hand-woven with fibers that reflect and trace light on their surfaces, taken from the loom and manipulated into expressive form. Kerss says, “The imagery arises from the juncture of my inner world and outer reality. I engage the ephemeral, momentary, fleeing mysteries of my existence, seeking to represent the place where the internal dynamics of my personal psychology meet the outer experiences of my life.”

Maxine Solomon, Doré Bodenheimer and Tari Kerss are on display through July at the Merced Multicultural Arts Center, 645 W. Main Street in downtown Merced. A reception for the artists will be held Friday June 13 from 5-7pm at the Center. Galleries are free and open to the public Mon-Fri. 10-4pm and Sat. 10-2pm. We will be open until 7pm on Thursdays during the summer months. For more information contact the Merced County Arts Council at 209-388-1090 or on the web at www.artsMerced.org.

New Exhibit: Native Daughters
Features artists Jessica Dunne & Diane Stevens

On display Aug 9th through Oct 4th 2008. Artists reception Friday, August 15th 5-7pm

The Merced County Arts Council welcomes two artists, Jessica Dunne and Diane Stevens exhibiting a duo show entitled Native Daughters, on display August 9 through October 4, 2008. A reception will be held for the artists Friday August 15 from 5-7pm at The Merced Multicultural Arts Center. All are welcome to attend.

A few years ago, while driving down the highway at night, artist Jessica Dunne was overwhelmed with nostalgia for her childhood. She then realized there was a brownout and--with all the streetlights extinguished--the dark road was as she had experienced it as a child, before stars were replaced with sodium-vapor bulbs. “Over the years, on visits to my childhood home, I had been incensed by the new three-story beach "mansions" and tee-shirt dealerships, yet had taken little notice of the street lighting that had altered the nature of night itself”, recalls the artist. “The dark highway was a visual prompt into a memory of my past, something that rarely happens, especially in contrast to the constant reminders of other times through taste, sound and smell.”

This is how Jessica Dunne came upon her current project - an exploration of night as seen through a car's windshield. The artist explains, “In a few years, the highway power cartel will replace the greenish mercury-vapor and pink sodium-vapor streetlights that dominate my work with sun-like halide bulbs, once again altering our nocturnal world (and my palette). My goal is to get my present experience down on canvas before it disappears.”

In contrast, artist Diane Stevens’ work is chiefly concerned with the communication of private experience to its public audience. “None of my landscape imagery exists in the form I employ while painting it. My paintings are constructs that deal with the effect of memory in relation to observed fact: place,” explains the artist.

Although Stevens once painted en plein air, her current work is a chronicle of the places she sees frequently, or of those she remembers from another time. “I use points of view that are impossible for the plein air painter: often from a pelican’s fly-by view of an ocean cliff; at times an amalgam of imagery of several places combined;, at others times a brief glimpse of a area while driving is the basis for a painting. In a sense, I remain true to my subject. However, my subject is not necessarily a specific site, but rather the impact that it has had upon me. I paint an internal reality based upon that which I observe in the real world,” remarks Stevens.

"I think of my work as reality-based fiction rendered in the language of paint. Because, indeed, paint is a language! My goal is to use this particular language to communicate “reality” more directly than I am able to use the written or spoken word”.

Merced Multicultural Arts Center Gallery Calendar
Dates may change without notice

June 7-August 1, 2008
Reception: June 13, 5-7pm
First Floor
Main Gallery: Maxine Solomon
2nd Floor
Skylight Gallery: Doré Bodenheimer
White Box Gallery: Tari Kerss

August 9-October 6, 2008
Reception: August 15, 5-7pm
First Floor
Main Gallery: Diane Stevens & Jessica Dunne, Native Daughters
2nd Floor
Skylight Gallery: Diane Stevens & Jessica Dunne, Native Daughters
White Box Gallery: Diane Stevens & Jessica Dunne, Native Daughters

October 11-December 9, 2008
Reception: October 17, 5-7pm
First Floor
Main Gallery: Carol Tikijian
2nd Floor
Skylight Gallery: Roger Wyan (November 1-26)
White Box Gallery: Roger Wyan

Showing work at the Merced Multicultural Art Center

Artists wishing to show work at the Merced Multicultural Art Center should deliver or mail the following information. Please submit;

1. A sheet of 20 slides or a CD with a minimum of 20 images
2. A cover letter of interest
3. A professional resume including a list of previous exhibitions
4. S.A.S.E. for return of materials. Materials from local artists that were dropped off in person can be picked up in person.

The materials will be screened at the monthly Curatorial Committee meetings. Artists will be notified of the decision by mail. A self-address envelope with sufficient postage should be included to ensure the return of submitted materials.

Please send material to:

Merced County Arts Council, Inc.
Attn. Curatorial Committee
645 W. Main Street
Merced CA 95340

Merced Multicultural Arts Center

Gallery Hours: Monday thru Fridays, 9AM - 4:30PM, Saturdays, 10:00AM - 2:00PM