Flower exhibit set to bloom at Carlsbad's Cannon gallery

By PATRICIA MORRIS BUCKLEY - For the North County Times | Wednesday, March 26, 2008 9:55 AM PDT ∞

Flowers have a special connection in Carlsbad and Karen McGuire, Cannon Art Gallery's curator of exhibitions, kept that in mind when she decided to dedicate an entire exhibition to blooming vegetation.

"The idea of a show about flowers was in the back of my mind when I started here in 1999," she said. "I wanted to do it, of course, in the spring. And because the Carlsbad flower fields are the icon of the city, it seems to fit right in. It's something nice for the gallery to tie it with something people can see when looking at our coast."

When she began looking for artists to include, several immediately came to mind. But as she looked further, she discovered that her first idea of including eight artists was too exclusionary.

"I kept finding more and more artists that I wanted to include," she said. "So I ended up with 11 artists, all of whom have different styles. It runs the gamut from hyperrealism to the abstract."

The idea was to include contemporary artists, many of whom lived in the region. From California are Timothy Berry, Rose Cabat, Cynthia Evans, Carol Goldmark, James Lorigan, Tanja Rector, Sandra Sallin and Olga Seem. Representing the San Diego area are Manny Farber of Leucadia, Mary Manusos of La Mesa and Muriel Roston of Carlsbad.

"Manny was one of the first artists I thought of with this exhibit," she said. "He's such an icon to the region. A few years ago, the San Diego Museum of Contemporary Art did a retrospective of his work. He and his wife have a garden, and he takes a lot of inspiration from that."

McGuire discovered Manusos at the LJ Gallery in downtown San Diego. "She's lived in La Mesa a long time," McGuire explained. "She makes etchings on handmade paper. Her work features very bright colors."

As for Roston, "she's been a Carlsbad resident forever," said McGuire. "She is self-taught and uses a lot of color in her work. She also takes inspiration from her garden."

Interestingly, three of the artists are represented with black and white works. One example is Sallin's work, which is so hyper-realistic in its details that the artist used a magnifying glass to create it.

"I think people will be amazed at the talent, the diversity of styles and subject matters in the show," she said. "Each artist uses flowers to tell a story. They're not looking at a flower as something merely beautiful, but as a means to express something personal. I like that it makes us look at flowers in nature in a different way. The show will be a veritable flower garden when people walk in, with pretty colors everywhere."

"On Flowers"

When: opens Sunday and runs through May 25; gallery hours, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesdays through Saturdays; 1 to 5 p.m. Sundays

Where: Cannon Art Gallery, Carlsbad City Library Complex, 1775 Dove Lane, Carlsbad

Admission: Free

Info: (760) 602-2021

Web: www.carlsbadca.gov/arts

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