Page 66 - Sonoma County Gazette July 2017

“Preakness”
The Art of Guillaume Azoulay
Call to Artists
thru - Jul 1 ~ Stories Through Photog- raphy Photojournalist Erik Castro and Fine Art Photographer John F. Martin Healdsburg Center for the Arts, 130 Plaza St, , healdsburgcenterforthearts. org/stories/, info@healdsburgcenterfort- hearts.org
thru - Jul 22 ~ Creating Community through Art - Celebrate! Showing Aug 31 – Oct 2. Juried Open Show. 707-996- 3115, creativesonoma.org/classified/call- for-artists-celebrate-a-national-juried- show/
thru - Jul 31 ~ Open Juried Art Show Blues Festival Aug. 19 SOMA Village in Rohnert Park SOMO Village. Dead- line July 31 or until full. Art walls are available for festival use. email artrep@ sonic.net.
”Rio Rainbow Rumba” by Julie Higgins
thru - Aug 1 ~ Sea Creatures - All media included. 7:30. Occidental Center for the Arts, 3850 Doris Murphy Ct, 707-874- 9392, occidentalcenterforthearts.org/, gallery@occidentalcenterforthearts.org
Continuing Shows
thru - Jul 9 ~ Line and Color - Graton Gal- lery - featuring Bruce K Hopkins and R B Ward. Graton Gallery, 9048 Graton R., Graton, 707-829-8912, gratongallery. net/ thru - Jul 9 ~ Transparency - It’s All About Glass - Sally Baker & 6 Glass Artists, Graton Gallery, 9048 Graton R., Graton, 707-829-8912, gratongallery.net/
thru - Jul 9 ~ Fighting the Great War at Home and Abroad Exhibition Museum Members: Free, 5 - 7p, History Museum of Sonoma County, 425 Seventh Street, SR, 707-579-1500, museumsc.org
thru - Jul 10 ~ Celebrating Women Paint- ers - 10 women painters work with handmade blown glass. Spindrift Gal- lery, 39120 Ocean Dr, Gualala, 707-884- 4484, spindriftgallery.com/exhibitions- and-events/
thru - Jul 15 ~ And After - Chris Beard’s SR sculptor, 6- 8p, Paul Mahder Gal- lery, 222 Healdsburg Ave, Healdsburg, 707-433-6161, paulmahdergallery.com/ exhibits/current/current.htm
thru - Jul 16 ~ POP! The Power of Print- making- a juried exhibition. Healds- burg Center for the Arts, 130 Plaza St., Healdsburg, 707-431-1970, info@healds- burgcenterforthearts.org
thru - Jul 21 ~ Saute - Pamela Heck Free / Friday - Sunday 11 - 5p, Cloverdale Arts Alliance Gallery, 204 N. Cloverdale Blvd. 894-4410, cloverdaleartsalliance.org/
thru - Jul 21 ~ Nature’s Shining Light Branching Out - Mixed Media by Julia Pozsgai Alchemia, Art Without Labels Gallery, 111 Kentucky St, Petaluma, 707- 775-3794, alchemia.org/
thru - Jul 23 ~ Blue - all about BLUE and its many shades and meanings. Sebasto- pol Center for the Arts, 282 South High St, Sebastopol, 707-829-4797, info@se- barts.org
thru - Jul 29 ~ Birds of a Feather - Photog- rapher Jim Cyb - 11-6p, Sebastopol Gal- lery, 150 North Main St., Sebastopol, 707- 829-7200, sebastopol-gallery.com/
thru - Jul 30 ~ (Mostly) Petaluma Portraits - IceHouse Gallery, Burdell Building, 405 East D St, Petaluma, 707-778-2238, Joe or Bill, info@icehousegallery.org
thru - Jul 31 ~ Girls of Summer ~ Paint- ings and prints by Sarah Dancer, Alicia Dyché and SF artist Amanda Lynn who will be painting a mural at Jerry Knight’s River Theater. Gallery 32, 16190 C Main Street, Guerneville, 707-239-0518, Sally, gallery32art.com, gallery32art@gmail. com
thru - Jul 31 ~ Gallery 32 Artists include: Film Photography by Suzy Kuhr. Art Glass by Marilyn Livingston. Abstract Narrative Painting by Liz Penniman. Jewelry by Jan Salisbury. Ceramics by Kent Tool. 16190 C Main Street, Guern- eville, 707-239-0518, Sally, gallery32art. com, gallery32art@gmail.
thru - Aug 4 ~ Kinetic Sculpture in 4 Movements - Kinetic sculptures by: Jeff Kahn, Jeffery Laudenslager, Troy Pillow and John Tyler and a short introductory video, Sculpturesite Gallery, Jack Lon- don Village, 14301 Arnold Drive Suite 8, Glen Ellen, 707-933-1300, sculpturesite. com/
thru - Aug 5 ~ The Face of Petaluma: Five photographers – Paige Green, Michael Woolsey, Jude Mooney, Michael Gar- lington and Ramin Rahimian, collecting stories from all walks of life. Petaluma Arts Center, 230 Lakeville St, Petaluma, 707-762-5600, petalumaartscenter.org/ upcoming/
thru - Aug 10 ~ Faces of SRJC - Photogra- phy Exhibit - Free, $4 parking Mahoney Library Gallery - Petaluma Campus, 680 Sonoma Mountain Pkwy
thru - Aug 12 ~ Photographs by Sara Downing - 23 photographs titled, Hid- den in Plain Sight. 6790 McKinley Street Suite 180, Sebastopol, reframehairgal- lery.com/gallery/
thru - Aug 12 ~ Ray Jacobsen Paintings Calabi Gallery, 456 10th St, SR, 707-781- 7070, calabigallery.com
He has been called the Master of the Line. His life’s journey has taken him from selling his drawings on the streets when he was a kid, being chosen to create the posters for one of the most famous horse races to being accepted into one of the most prestigious art museums in the world.
It all began in Casablanca, Morocco in 1949, where a child was born to French parents. Soon after Guillaume was born, Moroccan independence drew near and the Azoulay family ended a 467 year chapter of their family’s history in this enchanted land and moved to northern France. Guillaume was ten years old. He recalls “it rained practically everyday ... it was cold and miserable – Casablanca was a distant patch of blue.”
Guillaume’s rst “o cial” art piece, he laughs, done at age four, was a drawing of his mother nursing his younger brother. By the time he was thirteen; Azoulay was creating his drawings and selling them on the streets of Paris.
Never one to settle in and become idle, Azoulay left home at the age of fourteen. His plan was to take his interest as an artist on a fantastic journey and see where it took him. “The rst ride that came along was a truck load
of Gypsies – of course I jumped in immediately!” This ride ended up in the Camargue region in Southern France. It was here that Azoulay caught his rst real glimpse of what would remain with him throughout his life – the horse. It is said that the white horses of the Camargue are direct descendants of the mythical horses which powered the chariot of Neptune.
Azoulay studied theatre and appeared on stage in the musical Hair. However, he had to decide between the theatre and art. He chose to pursue his career as an artist.
During this period in his life, he met and married the well-known Welsh ballerina Charmaine Seal. Charmaine was a dancer and actress on England’s comical ‘Benny Hill’ TV show. In 1976, the newlyweds left for the United States.
Azoulay was beginning to be recognized as an important artist and had exhibitions in Rome, Sardinia, Paris, and Amsterdam before he met Charmaine. But it was when he arrived in the United States that he exploded onto the American art scene with the force of passionate collectors behind him, including Hollywood elite and political gures. While Azoulay’s subjects have varied at times, it is his equine etchings and serigraphs for which he is known.
In 1978, Azoulay was accepted into the permanent collection of the Louvre Museum, Paris.
In 1983, Azoulay was chosen to create the posters for the Kentucky Derby. His beautiful Derby etchings, done in sepia, capture the movement and excitement of the race.
Even though he remains a widely collected artist, and most of his works are now sold-out editions, Azoulay produces his etchings and serigraphs in very limited numbers.
Guillaume Azoulay is collected by Kings, Presidents and admirers worldwide.
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VISUAL ARTS cont’d on page 67