Third time's the charm
Third time's the charm
A special Art Trails painting—the work of three local artists—has a startling backstory
Art Trails Open Studios is coming up at the end of September, and on September 14, Sebastopol Center for the Arts will host an opening reception for the Art Trails Preview Exhibit, which features one piece by each of the 130 Art Trails artists.
In addition to these works, there will be one more painting—"Joyous Journey"—that will be raffled off at the end of the exhibit, with proceeds donated to ArtStart, a local organization that provides mentoring and art experiences for Sonoma County youth.
The painting has a unusual history.
The oil painting was begun by Santa Rosa artist Micah Schwaberow. It was an different medium for Schwaberow, who normally did Japanese-style woodblock prints so delicate and detailed that they looked like watercolors. Schwaberow had just started the painting -- a landscape that is mostly sky-- when he died of prostate cancer in July of last year.
After his death, his good friend and fellow Art Trails artist Nicole Ours took the unfinished painting (and the photo on which it was based) home to finish it. Though they both specialized in landscapes, Ours had a style that was almost the opposite of Schwaberow's, utilizing vibrant colors and broad energetic brushstrokes. She started work on the painting, coloring in areas Schwaberow had sketched out. Then, three months after Schwaberow died, Ours died as well, the victim of a fall. The painting was still mostly unfinished.
Enter Sebastopol artist Gen Zorich, a close friend of Ours and her co-chair on the Art Trails steering committee. Zorich, a landscape painter with a background in geology, decided to take the unfinished painting home to finish it. (Those with a superstitious streak might have passed on this opportunity, but Zorich is made of sterner stuff.) Zorich, who in the last several years has come to specialize in sky paintings, finished the painting this year and donated it to ArtTrails, which in turn donated it ArtStart.
Zorich said she was deeply shaken by Ours' death and that working on the painting helped her deal with her grief.
"I was very sad that she passed. It was so sudden—no one expected it. So yes, working on the painting did give me closure. I felt closer to both Nicole and Micah, who was also on the Art Trails steering committee,” she said.
She reached out to another Art Trails artist, Michael Palace, a woodworker, who made a cherrywood frame for the painting.
Zorich said she was the one who came up with the title, “Joyous Journey” for the painting.
“I named it because Nicole and Micah embarked on a on a journey together around the same time,” she said. “It just basically came to me at one point, and there it was.”
The painting is currently in the window at Corricks in Santa Rosa. Starting on September 14, it will be at Sebastopol Center for the Arts as part of the Art Trails Preview Exhibit. It'll be there until the 15th of October, and then there will be a drawing for the winner of the painting. The tickets are $25 (buy them here). All the funds go to ArtStart.
