Several members answered the De Young Museum's Call for Bay Area Artists with the theme of "On The Edge."

Over 11,000 entries have been received from Bay Area artists. Sunni Gibbons' acrylic painting "Warrior" was accepted for the exhibition!

The De Young Museum is scheduled to re-open on September 22. When the De Young reopens, this Open Exhibit of Bay Area Artists will be in the Herbst Gallery.

Warrior

Acrylic by

Sunni Gibbons

On July 30, three days after her 80th birthday, Sunni Gibbons was overjoyed to hear that her acrylic painting “Warrior” had been selected by the De Young Museum from among 11,518 entries for their exhibit of Bay Area artists. In March, the De Young Museum of San Francisco put out an open call for local artists to submit entries for a Bay Area Art Exhibit for when the museum opens after the COVID-19 shutdown. Barb Gottesman publicized the call on the Arts & Crafts website to encourage members to enter. Our members sent in 8 entries during the first week in June. The theme was “On the Edge.”

Of the 11,518 entries from local artists, the Museum selected 881 art works to be exhibited. Sunni's painting was the only one selected in our local area. Congratulations, Sunni! We will all be sure to attend the De Young opening to see your painting in one of the 9 rooms or to view it on the De Young's on line exhibit.

Sunni's “Warrior” is quite a departure from Sunni's usual style of meticulously detailed realistic paintings in oil and acrylics. The cutting edge style of “Warrior” resulted from a three day workshop with Sefla Joseph in Santa Cruz. Sunni, Colleen Mirassou, Monita Bowman and Barbara Gottesman also attended the Joseph workshop and were instrumental in having Sefla teach a one day workshop in “cutting edge” portraits here at The Villages.

You may remember Sunni's large and realistic “Agriculture Workers” series which was display in the clubhouse lobby for 13 months several years ago. The paintings “Romaine Crew”, “Broccoli Fields”, “The Red Hat”, “Teamwork”, and “Lettuce Picker” caught the eye of our District 8 San Jose Councilwoman Sylvia Arenas because her father was a lettuce picker. After the clubhouse asked us to remove all of our members' paintings from their walls, Councilwoman Arenas displayed Sunni's “Agriculture Workers” series in her office at City Hall for a year.

Sunni Gibbons has been a dedicated painter ever since graduate school. Following a career as a graphic designer and several years of painting the agricultural community in Central California, she now works from her home studio in The Villages. She works in both oil, acrylic and watercolor. Sunni has participated in many successful group and solo exhibits. Having studied drawing, painting, printmaking and art history, she holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Washington and a Master of Arts from San Jose State University.

After 18 years living in the central coast area of California, she moved back to San Jose to be near her kids and grandkids. She lived in downtown San Jose for a year before deciding to move to The Villages. As a graduate of San Jose State University, it was fun living right across the street from the college for her first year back, but she finds the peace and quiet of the Villages much more to her liking.

She is an artist, piano and cello player, and pilot. The Arts & Crafts Association has offered colleagues and a place to start up painting again, and the Reid-Hillview airport is just down the road. Having sold her airplane before moving back, she is still hopeful to find a sustainable way to keep flying for a while!

- by Barbara Gottesman

Published in The Villager on August 13, 2020