Sanchez Art Center begins 2023 with three noteworthy exhibitions, including paintings and mixed media pieces from artist Elaine Badgley Arnoux’s long and productive career as a painter and portraitist, teacher, and activist; the Fog Fest Photography Invitational; and a group show “Dreams” by members of the Art Guild of Pacifica.

The opening reception in the galleries is on Friday, January 20, from 7 to 9 pm, with music by Blue City Jazz and screenings of “Shadow & Light, the Life & Art of Elaine Badgley Arnoux” a short film by William Farley, taking  place in the Mildred Owen Concert Hall on the campus at 6:30 pm and 8:00 pm.

In Along the Way — The Space of Remembering, works from several series by Elaine Badgley Arnoux are being presented.  Pieces from the artist’s fantastic “Fables” series, created with oil on canvas, steel, papier-mâché and silk, contain the essence of nightmares and dreams.  “The Fox Went Out One Stormy Night,” from the artist’s important “Once Upon A Time” series that uses Mother Goose Nursery Rhymes to examine the state of the world, speaks to people young and old.

Over decades, Badgley Arnoux has connected with the pulse of current events, observing and translating them into her own language. Curator Susan Hillhouse Leask comments that, “Elaine Badgley Arnoux’s deep rituals of reflection and action result in work that is poignant and passionate, demonstrating her full involvement in life and all its offerings and contradictions.”

Elaine Badgley Arnoux (b. 1926) was born in Omaha, Nebraska and moved to Southern California when she was eleven years old. She received an award to study at Chouinard Art Institute, Los Angeles, and later moved to San Luis Obispo where she worked as a painter. In 1952, she co-founded the San Luis Obispo Art Association. In 1965, she and her family relocated to San Francisco where she continues to live and work.

Badgley Arnoux’s expansive career reflects her extensive travel, and residencies abroad in Europe as well as in Mexico and North Africa have strengthened her dedication to people and social welfare.

Her work is featured in the collections of numerous museums, including the Fine Art Museums of San Francisco and Achenbach Collection; Stanford University Library Special Collections; the National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.; Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley; the Triton Museum, Santa Clara, CA; The San Luis Obispo Museum, and the de Saisset Museum, Santa Clara, CA.

As she says in the documentary “Shadows & Light, the Life & Art of Elaine Badgley Arnoux”, a short film by William Farley, “I was very old when I was young.  I wasn’t young until I was old.”  Two screenings of the film will be shown on opening night of the exhibition, at 6:30 pm and 8:00 pm.

For additional insight into the artist and her work, come to the Artist/Curator Talk on closing Sunday, Feb 12 at 3:30 pm.

The East Gallery presents the Fog Fest Photography Invitational, an exhibition of work by 9 local award winning photographers (and judges Edwin Hacking and Sharron L Walker.  After a two year hiatus, the widely known Pacific Coast Fog Fest returned in 2022, along with the annual Sanchez Art Center hosted photography contest.  The photographers, who are rarely without their cameras and who each won awards, are able to expand both the size and focus of their works in the Invitational Exhibition.  Images reflect awe-inspiring scenes of the natural environment from landscapes to wildlife including cheeky hummingbirds and black bears, scenes of Pacifica, and historic views from the 1960’s.  Photographers worked in color and black and white, some using digital techniques to enhance the scene, and printing on both photographic paper and metal.

A gallery walk and photographers talk will be held on Sunday, Jan 29, at 2:00 pm in the East Gallery.

In West Gallery, the Art Guild of Pacifica presents Dreams, a group show by AGP members.  Over fifty pieces in a wide variety of mediums and styles are being exhibited reflecting each artist’s interpretation of the theme —of vision, aspiration, hope and some darkness that does creep into our dreams.  Artworks include Charlotte Seekamp’s mixed media piece reflecting the hope for less waste in our oceans with a piece “Fish Dreaming of Plastic-Free Oceans”.  Working in oil on canvas, Kevin Daniels is showing “Sand Dreams” a painting in bold colors depicting a single female sleeping on her side on a wide expanse of beach.  And a nightmare for many with looming climate chaos, Deborah Corsini’s collage represents a dark “Nightmare: Fire/Flood”.  The Art Guild holds four themed exhibitions a year, plus an annual members’ show, and a holiday show and sale each December.   Small works and cards are also available from the AGP Shop.

Sanchez Art Center is located at 1220 Linda Mar Blvd in Pacifica, about a mile east of Highway 1. Following opening night, the galleries are open Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, 1–5 pm, and by appointment, through Feb 12. The opening, talks, and gallery visits free as part of the center’s focus on “Creating Community through Art”.  For more information call 650.355.1894 or visit SanchezArtCenter.org.