Half Moon Bay Review
September 28, 2005

Artists for green foothills

By Stacy Trevenon

When asked to explain how nature inspires him, Montara photographer Robert Buelteman turns to artist Georgia O'Keefe.

He reads O'Keefe's own words, in which she said that "When you really look at a flower, it becomes your world for a moment," and that artists "want to give that world to someone else" through their art.

From that vantage point, it seems hardly surprising that nature shares a closer relationship to art than merely providing fodder for artists' subject matter.

It is, therefore, hardly surprising that the Committee for Green Foothills should turn to Peninsula and Coastside artists for help in its upcoming fund-raiser.

The Committee is a regional grassroots organization that seeks to protect the environment.

The fund-raiser, from 4 to 6:30 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 2, at "The Ranch," (formerly known as Strawberry Ranch), will blend funds with fine art. The work of eight Bay Area fine artists and photographers, half of whom are Coastsiders, will be shown and sold.

In keeping with the coast, food and wines donated by local farmers, fishermen, growers and wineries, will be featured. Also planned is a live auction, led and called by San Mateo County Supervisor Rich Gordon.

The support of community donors from the Coastside was considerable, said April Vargas of Montara, Committee vice president and fund-raiser co-chair.

For example, she said, donations poured in from the coastal agricultural community. Harley Farms in Pescadero donated goat cheeses, Chaine d'Or winery donated wines, and Ano Nuevo Flower Growers, "Farmer John" Muller, Stan Pastorino, B.J. Burns, Louie Iacopi and Giusti Farms were among the growers who donated produce and flowers.

The auction reflects local color and local business. Photographer Barbara Kossy of Moss Beach and watercolorist Mary Kay Jolley of El Granada, both of whom are showing work at the event, are donating their time and talents. Kossy offered a composite photo of the home or workplace of the winning bidder, and Jolley put in three watercolor painting lessons.

Buelteman donated a 9-by-9-inch print from his recent coffee table publication "The Unseen Peninsula." Half Moon Bay oil painter Mariellen Baker, another exhibitor and donor, offered a commissioned painting. Chaine d'Or donated a wine-tasting tour.

Politicians also weighed in. One winning bidder will have lunch with U.S. Rep. Anna Eshoo in the Capitol, along with air fare to get there. And Assemblyman Gene Mullin donated lunch by his side and a state capitol tour for two adults.

Another donor is Los Altos photographer Deane Little, a featured artist selected as the winner of the 2005 Jane Gallagher Award, to be presented at the event.

The award is named for watercolor and oil painter Jane Gallagher of Portola Valley, who died a couple of years ago but was known for donating her artwork in support of many fund-raisers held for environmental causes.

Vargas said Gallagher believed, that "art could be used to illustrate the beauty of the natural world and inspire a willingness to protect it."

The artists shared that viewpoint.

Nature is the common thread among the donors, said Vargas. "It's a theme echoed in many different ways."

Artists have a link to the environment casual observers might not share, said Jolley. "I think we can see it in different ways, and show it to people who don't see it that way, and they can see it, too," she said. "We can give a special way of seeing (nature) to our patrons."

Jolley calls herself the "little guy in this show" as, while she has pursued art for 15 years, she has shown only occasionally at Caf/ Classique in El Granada. She also teaches art to children from home.

She passes along to them her technique of "loose" painting which "takes a lot of freedom." She doesn't make a sketch first and then paint within lines, but simply paints spontaneously. She frequently goes out to paint coastal landscapes, the ocean or flower fields on site, in intensive 30-minute sessions.

She has the advantage of a uniquely well-developed vision.

"I have eyes," she said. "My eyes are extremely color-sensitive. I can really tell the difference between colors. I look at a eucalyptus tree and see 40 different greens."

She says that's not so much a gift as a developed skill. "Once you start painting, you see the world the way an artist sees," she said.

Similarly, Buelteman eschews many sophisticated electronic tools used by his photographic peers. He prefers basic tools and uses them to create what he sees, with natural scenes like seascapes being his raw materials.

"I approach film like a painter approaches a canvas," he said.

Since becoming involved with photography 32 years ago, he has put his skills to work for the Peninsula Open Space Trust and the Committee for Green Foothills to "inspire support from people but also to educate people" about environmental causes.

Taking photos that illustrate beauties of nature that may be threatened helps in raising funds for those causes, he said. "People of means want things to happen but aren't enthusiastic about taking nine-hour hikes bushwhacking to see for themselves," he said.

He's doing that, he said, in new work with large prints from his book Through the Green Fuse.

The result, he said, gives viewers a "not-so-subtle reminder that there was creativity before silicon chips. Creativity doesn't live in machines. It lives in people."

Interaction with the natural world, he said, is a cornerstone of his work. "For me, it's been a luxury and a necessity. My relationship with the land is what keeps me on an even keel. Life's disappointments come along, and I go into nature and remember things I value: well-being, color, light, relationships."

Tickets for Sunday's event are $75 in advance from the Committee for Green Foothills. For information or tickets, call the committee at (650) 968-7243.

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