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Homegrown: Celebrating 5 Years in Nevada County
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| November 10, 2006 - December 31, 2006 |
| Friday, November 10, 6-9pm |
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>> preview the art of Homegrown
 There are 288,000 artists in the United States today. Art galleries represent a mere fraction of that number. One can see how the artist-gallery relationship can be contentious with such disparity between artwork to be seen and places to see it. And yet there are the happy accidents, those serendipitous occasions when gallery and artist have harmony in their separate creative visions. That happened at Julie Baker Fine Art.
In 2001, Julie Baker imagined opening an art gallery that, though located in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada, would be a venue for artists across the nation. She did not picture it to be a gallery for showing local artists. As a recent transplant to Northern California from New York, the burgeoning gallerist had yet to witness what the local artists had to offer. She was, then, happily surprised when a handful of artists working in the Nevada City area were making art that exhibited the qualities she wished to highlight in her gallery – unusual approaches to process, imagery, and medium with a contemporary aesthetic.
Julie Baker Fine Art will then mark its 5th anniversary with an exhibition honoring the local artists who have been showing and growing with the gallery since it opened. "Homegrown" will feature artwork by Brook Caballero, Sarah Coleman, Matt Duffin, Elizabeth Dorbad, Libby Hayes, Willie Little, Erin Noel, Faye Schoolcraft, Dale Smith and Kurt Steger and introducing works by Stephanie Adams, Aya Brackett, Roseanne Burke, Paul Geenty, Mary Hurst, Jerrod Jackson, John Michael Keating, Tahiti Pehrson, Claire Taggert, David Torch, Julia Ruess and Jenny Wunderly. Visitors to the gallery will be treated to the latest in Northern California contemporary, including Steger's sculptural works hewn out of organic material, Dorbad's assemblage of found objects, Schoolcraft's voluptuous female forms made out of felt and wirebrush and paintings composed of a variety of media, including Caballero's fantastical-retro watercolors and Duffin's surreal encaustic wax pieces.
These artists have been exhibiting in the gallery and across the country at contemporary art fairs over the five-year span of the gallery's existence with mutually beneficial results. Efforts by artist and gallery have yielded exhibitions in New York, public and private commissions, sold-out shows, and increased market values for the work. The career of local artist Matt Duffin exemplifies the serendipitous partnering. In a few short years Duffin's work has gone from being never before shown in the art market to being sought by top collectors and having a solo show in New York on the schedule this fall. Clearly, the collaboration between Julie Baker Fine Art and local artists has been fruitful. Artist Kurt Steger's description of the relationship underlines its positive nature: "Julie has the wonderful ability to support the creative process of the artist, be a very effective business person and at the same time be a good friend."
Running a successful contemporary art gallery in a rural area has required flexibility and tenacity on the part of Julie Baker. For the first four years the gallery was a destination business with a focus singly on showing art. Yet as the majority of sales increasingly occurred at art fairs and via the weekly updated website (www.juliebakerfineart.com), Baker had to consider: should she focus solely on her out-of-town business or amp up her local presence by adding a retail component to the gallery? With an eye for modern design and a love for shopping, the New York City native went with the latter. In April 2006 the JBFA Store debuted. Her prominent space in downtown Nevada City has become a must see for both tourists and the local urban refugees with a yen for products by young designers. Baker approaches her selections for the JBFA Store much as she does for the gallery, which conveys the sense that the store is curated. Up and coming San Francisco designers are heavily featured, as well as other talents crafting uniquely conceived and executed ceramics, clothing, jewelry, handbags, children's clothing, and accessories for men, women, and home. The JBFA Store entices passers-by at the front end of the long space, while art occupies the balance of the gallery. The gallery will feature a jewelry trunk show on Saturday, November 25 from 4 to 7pm.
Since its inception five years ago, Julie Baker Fine Art achieved its goal of building the careers of emerging and mid-career artists from across the nation and its unintended goal of representing artists in its own backyard. "Homegrown" demarcates the 5-year point for Julie Baker Fine Art, a point that redefines the gallery from neophyte to accomplished. The 5th anniversary is then the perfect time to give a nod to those artists closest to home.
Roseanne Burke
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Brook Caballero
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Sarah Coleman
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Elizabeth Dorbad
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Matt Duffin
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Paul Geenty
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John Michael Keating
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Willie Little
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Tahiti Pehrson
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Julia Ruess
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Faye Schoolcraft
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Dale Smith
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Kurt Steger
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Claire Taggert
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