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CITY NEWS

City Hall Celebrates New Works of Art with Public Reception

Special to The Emeryville Connection
December 2007

On December 11, 2007, from 5 p.m. to 6:30 p.m., the City of Emeryville will host a reception for two newly installed works of art at Emeryville City Hall. Silver Seedy Nocturne, by artist Therese Lahaie, and an untitled oil on canvas by Canan Tolon, were purchased, respectively, from the 2006 and 2007 Emeryville Celebration of the Arts Exhibitions. The artists will be at the reception and the public is invited. The reception will be held in the lobby area of Emeryville City Hall, 1333 Park Avenue in Emeryville. Light refreshments will be served.

The Emeryville Celebration of the Arts Exhibition, which showcases work by artists and craftspeople living or working in Emeryville, was created in 1986 as a collaborative effort by the City’s artists and artisans, civic officials and business leaders who sought to highlight the accomplishments by members of the 45th Street Artists’ Cooperative. “After more than 20 years we’re still here and going strong,” says Sharon Wilchar, who was on the original Emeryville Celebration of the Arts Board of Directors and has been the exhibition’s Project Coordinator for the past 19 years. “The Annual Exhibition has grown to include the entire artist population of Emeryville. That includes a portion of the thousands of people that come to Emeryville every day to work. This year, thirty percent of the exhibiting artists were from the business community. The exhibition is a wonderful way to bring the community in together in celebration of all of the artists who either live or work in Emeryville.”

In 2006, the City’s Public Art Advisory Committee sought approval from the City Council to purchase an artwork from the Twentieth Annual Emeryville Art Exhibition as part of a new City “Purchase Award” Program in connection with the Exhibition. Upon the Council’s approval, a selection panel was established to review the artwork and to recommend one for purchase. After an extensive review, Silver Seedy Nocturne was recommended for acquisition to the Public Art Committee and the City Council and subsequently received the Council’s approval.

Silver Seedy Nocturne is a mixed media sculpture. It is one in a series of Lahaie’s “Nocturne” works that seek to connect viewers to the natural elements of light, water and air.

Ms. Lahaie holds a B.A. in fine art and biology from the Emmanuel College in Boston and a B.F.A. in sculpture from the Massachusetts College of Art. She has participated in numerous solo and group exhibitions throughout the United States and Canada. Her work is included in numerous public and private collections nationwide.

This year, the review and selection process for the acquisition of artwork from the annual Celebration of the Arts Exhibition resulted in the City’s purchase of Canan Tolon’s untitled painting. The exquisitely detailed oil on canvas is an abstract layering of architectural forms and images.

Ms. Tolon was born in Turkey, raised in France and educated in England, Germany and the United States. She received degrees in architecture in Germany and England and from U.C. Berkeley. Art historian and writer Constance Lewallen has remarked that in Tolon’s work “The influence of architecture remained… many of her canvases address transitional states of construction and destruction, where gravity is challenged. Upon close examination of her works, the photographic clarity, the precision, and the correspondence to what seems to be a familiar place dissolve and the drawing becomes foreign, abstract, and at odds with reality.”

Ms. Tolon’s work has been exhibited widely in the United States, France and Turkey, with frequent exhibitions at Galerie Nev in Istanbul and Ankara. She is currently represented by the Paule Anglim Gallery in San Francisco.

For more information about the City’s Purchase Award Program, contact Amy Hiestand at ahiestand@ci.emeryville.ca.us.