Since the beginning of the year I’ve returned to work in my 'non-Virtual’ (otherwise known as 'real life') capacity as Visual Arts Coordinator for the San Geronimo Valley Community Center. it’s been heartening to get back to putting art on the walls by our local artists.
Here’s a bit of an update. Two recent solo shows by John Torrey and Sherry Petrini.
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Yemen Tribal Chief
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John Torrey was born in New York City and lives and works in Lagunitas, California. He has been drawing since he was a young boy. His studied at the Art Students League in New York with Robert Beverly Hale and painting with Chester Arnold in California. Torrey received a master’s degree in Architecture from UC Berkeley.
John Torrey’s travels have taken him to many parts of the world including a six year period in the gulf states of the Middle East where he worked as a city planner. His art-- consisting of drawings, paintings, and sculpture- often has themes taken from his travels and his work tends to be expressionistic in nature.
All of his art, including the sculpture, has a basis in drawing. He is a life-long sketch artist: “ I grew up in New York City where abstract expressionism was still the dominant force in painting. What I learned from those days is never go anywhere without a sketchbook for recording ideas, images, experiences".
Torrey’s portrait of Descartes was included in Architectural Digest. He's exhibited in the San Francisco Bay Area and around the county. His work is in private collections in New York, Boston, San Francisco Bay Area, Cologne, Copenhagen, Hong Kong, and Puerto Vallarta.
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| Yemen Mountan Village |
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Old Custom House-Bahrain
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| Gregor |
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| Timothy |
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| Renaissance Man 1 |
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| Renaissance Man 3 |
Asir Province Saudi Arabia
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| Dhow |
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| Yemen Hill Town |
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| Renaissance Man 2 |
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Jack
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Pablo
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| William Burroughs |
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| Klaus |
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| Egon |
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| Landscape |
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| Clues |
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| Orange |
Sherry Petrini
Petrini, also a Marin county resident, received her MFA from the SF Art Institute. She’s exhibited in numerous shows with the San Geronimo Valley Community Center including our annual Spring Art Show as well as other galleries and venues throughout the Bay Area. She currently has a show coming up at the Throckmorton Theatre in Mill Valley.
About her work, Petrini stated: “I have a shorthand drawing style. After drawing a subject with a few lines, I’m done. To add more would not say more but dilute the information. Others do realistic renderings I much admire; but for me, my first take of a subject is usually the truest.
I’ve had a physical disability all my life and was shut-in as a child. The quiet, everyday routine became my whole world, some might say boring, but to me it is fascinating and full of significance.
I’ve spent a lot of time alone so it is paradoxical that I usually draw people and animals relating to one another.
I like to draw my figures on a life-size scale. These vulnerable, imperfect figures need to have their space: Don’t discount me or push me aside. I need to be large”.
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| Harpist |
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| Person with Extra Finger |
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After the Meeting
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Pair 5: Woman in Hat and man
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Two People
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Standing Woman with Dog
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| Mister Lodge |
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| Cat and Dog |
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| Two cats and Lab on Black |
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| I Only Have Eyes for You |
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| Bassist |
