Orland sculptor on display

Pastel beauty lines the walls and floors of the Orland Art Gallery this month as it opens its June show.

"Beautiful Impressions" is the theme as two artists show complementary works through June 23.

The gallery is at 732 Fourth St., and open Tuesday-Saturday, 1 p.m. - 7 p.m.

Orland's Tamara Bonet and Jon Shult of Oroville are featuring romantic items in sculptures or paintings.

Bonet's elegant ladies are in bronze or ceramic and provide a glimpse of beauty from the past.

Shult has a variety of impressionistic paintings that include old Victorian homes, vintage businesses, landscapes and people.

New for Bonet are two redheaded women in ceramic, she said. This was her first time doing figures with that hair color.

"With Love" is of a light redhead with light green eyes who looks like someone is serenading her, Bonet said.

"I enjoyed doing that one," she said, along with another ceramic work where the lady has dark red hair.

She added these were "quick sketches" done in a couple of days compared to bronzes that can take up to 10 months to finish.

Another favorite is a ceramic sculpture of her nephew's pregnant wife titled "Kristy's Blossom."

The subject is Kristy Clark formerly Long while she was carrying her baby daughter, Bonet said. It is not for sale, but she is considering making it into a bronze.

She also is working on another sculpture called "Sunshine and Pearls" of a prone women seeking some wisdom. That piece is in progress and was to be demonstrated at Friday's reception.

Bonet also is planning to create a bronze of a child for the city of Orland after Carl Ciliax's bronze of a cowboy and horse are completed for Fourth Street.

Her work is featured in the Quent Cordair Fine Art gallery in Napa and at other locations in Ashland, Oregon and Truckee.

Shult's paintings lean toward impressionism and are exhibited widely throughout California.

His Broken Color Gallery is located on Oroville's historic Montgomery Street lined with many fine Victorian homes.

He said in a statement his landscapes are normally done on site in oil and may be revised slightly in the studio.

They range from urban scenes to rural and some include icons that have disappeared or are in danger of destruction, he said.

"Broken color" refers to the mixing of color, something Shult often does to make the paintings more brilliant or dull depending on the subject.

Shult also does figure painting of clothed and nude people, portraits, illustrations and printmaking, he added.

Contact Rick Longley at 934-6800 or rlongley@tcnpress.com.