27th annual ART FROM THE HEART silent auction, silk painting

"Russian River 2" 10x10" habotai silk, gutta, dye batik © Maureen Hurley 2011

Art from the Heart

Founded in 1984, Art from the Heart is one of Sonoma County's premiere fundraising events—an evening of fine art, food, and wine where artists and collectors join to support the University Art Gallery. Art from the Heart is a silent auction featuring original works of art in all media donated by professional artists from Sonoma County and the United States. Stays at local inns and hotels, theater  and museum tickets, unique bottles of wine and VIP tasting at local wineries are also included in the auction.

You may bid on my piece Feb 12th at Sonoma State University.SATURDAY, February 12, 6-9 pm: 27th annual ART FROM THE HEART silent auction to benefit the University Art Gallery at SSU. Free Preview Exhibition Wednesday, 11-8; Thursday, 11-4; and Friday, 11-8. For more information, call (707) 664-2295 or go to http://www.sonoma.edu/artgallery

Feb 13: Great to see Joel Bennett again (and his trips to Cuba) and Joe Jaqua—believe it or not, I've known him since I was 17! Joe, Chester Arnold and me were in Marty Stoelzel's painting class at College of Marin for years and years. And Neil acted with Joe's brother at DVC way back when. Small world. 

So the former (Scottish) mayor of Rohnert Park's wife bid on my piece but it went to the woman who runs J wines! A bidding war. I got to meet both of them. Very cool. Got to visit with Stella Monday, Sylvia Seventy and Marsha Connell too—it's been ages. Didn't see Greer Upton (or her piece!). ;-( Too crowded. A great turnout and a great time was had by all. 

added 2/17 

I made several variations.

 

Russian River, finished drawing 9x12

Outline for silk template

Nicasio Reservoir drawing & watercolor for Art from the Heart (art)

Nicasio Reservoir, 8x11", colored pencil & pastel

Nicasio Reservoir, 8x11", practice piece, watercolor

"Cactus Heart" photo tryptic for SSU's Art from the Heart show

"Cactus Heart" photo tryptic for SSU's Art from the Heart show, the date says 2006, but this may have been a later entry. It didn't sell. I have another heart that did sell, aquarelle on morillaboard. I guess this was too weird.

Mabli, Neil, his nephew David, and I visited the USS Hornet in September, 2006 (I think). The middle image is a pipe assembly from the ship. The cactus was from a school garden in Fremont where I was teaching poetry (probably 2005), the kiwi was from the Monterey Market, super cheap because of the so-called deformity.

Art from the Heart 2005, oil pastel, poster paint

Art from the Heart, 2005, oil pastel

"Art From the Heart" Art Auction 2/1999

"Art From the Heart" Art Auction at Sonoma State University Art Gallery

Saturday, February 13, 1999, marks the date for the fifteenth annual "Art from the Heart" silent art auction and party at the Sonoma State University Art Gallery, from 6 to 9 p.m. Proceeds from the auction, now one of the longest-running fundraising events in the region, directly benefit the art gallery's exhibition, publication, and lecture programs. 

Each year, hundreds of art lovers gather at the Art Gallery to view and bid on works of art created especially for this auction, as well as bottles of wine, stays at inns and hotels, and other items generously donated by local merchants. 

This year more than 150 artists from the North Bay and across the country have donated original works of art, including Seyed Alavi, Chester Arnold, Ray Beldner, Rebecca Bollinger, Pegan Brooke, Poe Dismuke, Chris Finley, Cynthia Hipkiss, Charles Hobson, Maureen Hurley, Tony King, Hung Liu, Robert McCauley, Yoshitomo Saito, JoeSam, Sylvia Seventy, Steven Sorman, Marg Starbuck, Jack Stuppin, and John Watrous.

Further support for the auction comes from Benzinger Vineyards, Carneros Creek Winery, Cinnabar Theater, Cline Cellars, Clos Pegase, Copperfield's of Petaluma, Geyser Peak Winery, Gloria Ferrer Champagne Caves, Kenwood Vineyards, Korbel Champagne Cellars, Landmark Vineyards, Out to Lunch Catering, Quicksilver Mine Company, Rosemarie's Massage Center, See's Candies, Sonoma Creek Winery, Sonoma Valley Inn, Wolf Coffee Company, and ZD Wines.

Delicious food and wine will be served, and a $5 donation is suggested at the door. For more information, please call the Sonoma State University Art Gallery at (707) 664-2295.

Here's a link to the 2009 SSU auction. It's the 25th year! Wow.

If you change the date, the link will take you to that year's archived web page.
http://www.sonoma.edu/artgallery/heart/heart2001.html (2001 is as far back as it goes). Someday I'll scan the invites.

NOTE BENE: Finding this press release/flyer from 10 years ago was a blast from the past! I've participated in every "Art from the Heart" art auction since its inception ca. 1984—I think I only missed one year. 


My work always sells well. I think that during the quarter of a century I've participated in this art auction—only 5 pieces didn't sell. It's an odd way to get your work out into the public. But it's pretty much my only venue as I don't show or sell my work in galleries. I'm from the "Paint what you like and die happy" school.


My name isn't on some of the SSU invitations as I was always last minute in getting my work in (some things never change). Besides, it's hard to get enthusiastic over making valentines in December. Try it sometime.

In scanning the participating artist names, I realized that, at the time, I didn't even know who Oakland's Chinese artist Hung Liu was. I used a lot of her work and the KQED-SPARK artist interview DVD for my art residency at Cleveland Elementary School in Oakland. 


More connections: I went to high school with Poe Dismuke—Jeanette's twin brother. Chester Arnold was in my painting class at College of Marin with Marty Stoelzel, as was JoeSam—who later moved to Forest Knolls—where I grew up. 


I used to give Chester rides home from Marty's painting class—he lived at the top of Wolfe Grade in San Rafael. Completely out of my way. But Chester was—er, maddeningly Chester. I had a car, he needed a ride. Ergo, we went. No use arguing with that.


SF Gate review on Chester with a painting of his old Marin studio.


Tony King and Jack Stuppin (along with Bill Wheeler, and Bill Moorehouse) are part of the Sonoma County plein aire painters group I interviewed and wrote reviews for The California Museum of Art in Santa Rosa, that appeared in The Western Sonoma County Paper during the 1980s and 1990s.

My College of Marin art teacher, Marty Stoelzel & Frederick, ca. 1989. Marty always did like blondes.

NB2: According to this kooky website, (where I got the photo from), Marty Stoelzel died about 15 years ago—an amazing (if, nutty) man. I learned more about the nuts and bolts of painting and drawing from Marty in junior college than from any art teachers in the CSU college system (SF & SSU). Don't even get me started on Bob Bechtle! (Though I very much liked the SPARK artist interview—it did wonders repatriating me to his work).

Art from the Heart

“Gilding the Lily, Willy, Chilly”

This piece was once adorned in red hot chili peppers, it was for Sonoma State Art from the Heart auction. It did not sell. Nor did it age well. What you can’t see is that I used silver oil pastel to gild the lily. And of course, the title was based upon that rather bad pun. Maybe I should’ve said geld the lily. This piece was somewhat of a collaboration. I was up against deadline and couldn’t come up with anything. So I went to my neighbor, George Howell’s cabin and we came up with this ridiculous idea. It sure was fun and we giggled immensely. Maybe that was worth the price of admission. Ya had to be there. To be fair, I was still recovering from that horrid car accident in June and I may have been taking a break from Neil. I was his primary caregiver and I try to make a break of it a couple of times. But we needed each other to get through the dailiness and so I stayed. I found this piece of art in a cardboard mailer in August 2023. A bit of a shocker, really. I think I will pull the drawing off the board, easier to store that way. nota bene I seem to have three valentines posted for 1998. Clearly there are some wrong dates involved. Hopefully I will be able to untangle it at a future date.

Fur Heart Valentine for Art form the Heart (art)

Watercolor and collage. I painted two images of hearts onto heavy morilla board then I sliced them into strips (one vertical, one horizontal) and then painstakingly wove them together. I did a series of woven paintings after a trip to Guatemala in the mid -1980s. Most are gone, sold to strangers at the annual Art form the Heart art auction fundraiser at Sonoma State University. I made a color xerox of this one. so, it's a collograph of a painted collage.

I lined the two woven heart pockets with rabbit fur. There are candy hearts and ribbons and and even a slender pencil. You never know what people will buy at the auction... One pieces that I submitted I thought no one would buy, there were fierce bidding wars on it. Other pieces that I thought would appeal, no one wanted. This little jezebel was left behind. I guess whimsical fur lined hearts didn't appeal.  January, 1998? or 1988?

Journal entry, 2/9/92, SSU art exhibit

2/9/1992 last night, Svietla translated Valera’s letters at the Art from the Heart exhibit. I had three pieces in the show, two photographs and one oil pastel. All three sold and I met each of the new owners. They sold for around $30-$45 each. Patricia Finnegan, mother of one of my students, brought bought my sperm-cunt piece, the lava shadow. A friend of Janet Bankovitz bought my pastel, Hearttrash Hotel. It was a gloomy show, I didn’t like most of the art, but I did manage to get three T-shirts for my efforts. A stranger, a woman bought my volcano piece. I told her about the eclipse, and hiking out across the hot lava, my boots melting. I imagine the stories I tell them and then meeting them will color their perceptions when they hang the art on the wall. I imagine my art hanging in white halls, not well lit, the guests have arrived and the hostess takes their coats. They stop to admire the pieces on the wall. She stops in front of mine and tells the story… How many houses do my pieces of artwork hang in? The urge to get my art out into the public on a yearly basis, two or three pieces at a time, slowly adds up.

Purple Heart DOA Valentine, and Paper Angel collages for Sonoma State Art from the Heart Art Auction

Paper Angels

Purple Heart DOA

Aquarelle watercolor sticks, morillaboad, collage, 8x10, 1991

Art is Better than Chocolate; SSUs Art from the Heart Auction, no tear sheet (need to find file or type

Woven Valentine for Sonoma State Art form the Heart Art Auction

After traveling in Guattemala, I made several woven paper valentines for Sonoma State Art from the Heart Art Auction. Not sure of the date.  Watercolor on morilla board, collage, 8x10" I wrote a poem round the edge, but I can't read it. This is a photocopy, so I guess it sold.

Not sure of the date on this one possibly 1987, or 88.

I was making these, and it's probably where I got the idea.

Fish postcard, "Love from the Tropic of Cancer," watercolor, collage on morillaboard

Love from the Tropic of Cancer, 1986

The Dean of Humanities at Sonoma State University, William Babula, bought this piece. I was pretty chuffed, and also sad to see it go. This is a hand-colored black and white xerox, as I didn't have a photo of it. It came out of my journey to Cabo San Lucas with John Oliver Simon in 1985. I had originally made it for him (I made him another one) but I also needed a piece to enter the art show (due at the beginning of January, hence the post date.)

I also made a series of morillaboard fish boxes into a mobile that turned and swam in the slightest breeze.

This project eventually morphed into my large silk poem posters. But it all began here. With this piece.

FWIW, I am posting my art in January (art hearts) or December (all the rest of my art) as there usually isn't a firm date associated with any of it. It's easier for me to find my art that way. If I was traveling, and the art was in my poetry journal, then I have a solid date, and have embedded the art in the journal entry.