Local artists capture the vibrancy of a unique Sonoma County community
The very notion of painting everyday life in Roseland may seem redundant to any who’ve become familiar with the always-colorful South Santa Rosa community.
Mere paint cannot capture the sheer vibrant energy, vivid effervescence and multihued gaudiness of Roseland, from the community garden at Bayer Farm, blooming with urban-agricultural life, to the many bike-riding ice cream vendors, gleaming taco trucks, discount stores, and bright piñata-toned banners and wildly painted concrete walls.
A dramatic and fanciful new art show, opening this week, comes about as close as possible to reflecting Roseland’s multicultural vitality and eccentric city-grunge loveliness. “The Roseland Series—A Community in Transition” features several paintings by a pair of local artists: Alicia Lopez de Oceguera and Jamie Mitsu.
Lopez de Oceguera was raised in the Roseland area, and Mitsu discovered it more recently, but both profess and deep love for the tiny corner of the city many pay little attention to as they drive through on their way to someplace else.
As artists, the pair could not help but notice how canvas-ready the community was, and began meeting for day-long sessions, employing a suitably eclectic plein aire style of painting—meaning that they paint exclusively open-air (aka out of doors) cityscapes.
Most Wednesdays, somewhere in Roseland, twosome can be found outside, with their painting supplies and easels, their keen painterly eyes trained on some new corner of the community they love.
The exhibition runs through Oct. 20 at the Santa Rosa City Council Chambers (100 Santa Rosa Avenue, Santa Rosa), and will be kicked off with a reception for the artists on Friday, Sept. 2, from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m.
