The Fires Within

Passionate Drawings by Eleanor Dickinson

"The Fires Within: Passionate Drawings by Eleanor Dickinson" opens May 2 at the Peninsula Museum of Art in Belmont's Twin Pines Park. The exhibition will include a series of special events before it closes July 8.

A public reception will be held on Saturday, May 5, from 1 to 4 p.m. The Museum is located off Ralston Ave. in Belmont's Twin Pines Park, one and a half blocks west of El Camino. Hours are noon to 4 p.m. on Wednesdays through Fridays, and 1 to 4 p.m. on weekends. Admission is free.

Curator Robert Flynn Johnson, curator-in-charge of the Achenbach Foundation in the Palace of the Legion of Honor, has selected drawings and paintings, which express intense feelings and emotions including love, ecstasy, pain, and rage. The resulting artworks are always beautiful, but may not be pretty.

Several "bodies of work" will be shown by Dickinson, now retired from the faculty of California College of the Arts, including Revival scenes, Old Lovers, several political works, Crucifixions, Dreams, and a current series of figure studies wherein the model was upstaged by Dickinson's Siamese cat, Latte.

For years Dickinson researched the store-front and tent Revivals in her childhood territory, Tennessee. The drawings, paintings, videos, and memorabilia from those summers resulted in a major traveling exhibition, a book that was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize, and now a place in the permanent collections of the Smithsonian and Library of Congress.

Paintings in both the Revival and Crucifixion series exploiting the richness and texture of black velvet, which Dickinson tried years ago, were first shown by the Oakland Museum in 1979. She decided that, although scorned by the academy, velvet offered unique advantages.

The Old Lovers series is unique. Dickinson comments, "The original enthusiasm to draw aging lovers was natural, organic, and unthinking. I have always much preferred people and animals drawn in moments of heightened emotion or ecstasy." The contour drawings are on paper and on Lucite, which throws intriguing shadows on the wall.

"Naturally, drawing lovers was a treat and I had no bias toward the young ones or need to show formal perfection, ideal form, or universal order," comments Dickinson. "Indeed, I found the older people much more rewarding to work with technically - there was just more there to draw. My subject was not really the physiognomy, but the soul or spirit, and these older lovers were much more interesting, more complex.

"Ultimately, whether in drawing or viewing these, we experience our own humanity and become one with these aging bodies. We are all terminal, unfortunately."

The Dream drawings were created every morning for years, remembered images (and nightmares) from the night. These small pieces will be displayed in the anteroom, along with other artworks, sketchbooks, and memorabilia that illustrate Dickinson's years as teacher and artworld activist.

Four special events are scheduled during the exhibition. Artists are invited to join Dickinson for two drawing workshops with a model from 1 to 4 p.m. on May 19 and June 16, and may bring current artwork (finished or in progress) for critique on June 2 and June 23, also from 1 to 4 p.m.

Those interested in critique may request constructive comments, in-depth analysis, or career counseling. The Museum suggests a donation of $25 for drawing workshops and critiques.

For further information, or to reserve a place in a drawing workshop or critique, please call PMA at 650-594-1577.