From the Contra Costa Times Collectors Circle

Various mediums featured at Civic Arts' 'Collectors' Circle' show
By Janice De Jesus
Correspondent
Posted: 11/18/2009 10:25:52 AM PST
Updated: 11/18/2009 10:25:54 AM PST

Jane Yuen Corich's textile quilts represent a retrospective of her life creating art.

Armed with a fashion design background, Corich painted for several years until she decided to become a mom, and being pregnant while exposed to paints wasn't an option. Yet, she still wanted to create art, so she searched for another medium.

While in New York, she came across an exquisite quilt which she said seemed out of place amid the hustle and bustle of the city.

"Living in New York you never think of sitting down and sewing something like little squares," Corich said. "I always admired the tradition of quilting. It's become a lost art. People used to create beautiful quilts with exquisite pieces."

When she moved to California from New York, Corich was thrilled to find a community of quilters. All it took was one beginning quilting class she was hooked for life.

A few years and several quilts later, the Walnut Creek resident will be showing and selling her textile quilts made of silk, cotton and wool at the Collectors' Circle, a high-end, fine art aspect of Civic Arts Education's annual Holiday Art Show and Sale held the first week of December.

The Collectors' Circle, the brainchild of Civic Arts Education Art Director Kathy Nelson, came out of the success of the wearable art show held in downtown Walnut Creek in May. Sponsored by the Friends of Civic Arts Education Foundation, the Collectors' Circle will take place from 3 to 8 p.m.

-Dec. 3. Twenty-five percent of sales help support arts education and the scholarship programs, said Christie Ferrell, the event's coordinator.

In addition to Corich, some of the local artists include Anya Broenink, Bonnie Wells, Sabine Harper-Lulofs, Jeka Lambert, Laura Suskind, Mary Anne Shaw, Penny Ruhter and Melissa McCumiskey, Jim Wixon, and Connie English.

Painters Jody Mattison, Tara O'Siochain and Roswitha Kress will also be featured as well as photography by Ferrell, Pam Adams Frey and Bill Helsel. Ceramic artists showing their work include Michael Berkley, Lynne Meade and Ellen Sachtschale.

What makes the Collectors' Circle so unique is it gives the public an opportunity to buy limited edition pieces from the artists' special collections, said Ferrell.

"After the Collectors' Circle CAE teams with the Clay Arts Guild to present a wide range of items perfect for those special holiday gifts. As in past years, ceramic pottery and sculpture, including low-fired Raku and salt-glazed works, will be available at 1313 Civic Drive in Studios D and E, while paintings, jewelry, photography, fiber arts, mixed media and more will be displayed at the Shadelands campus," Ferrell said.

Corich feels honored to be among the artists featured in the Collectors' Circle and hopes the public will take time out to meet her and the other artists and get the story behind each artist's creative process.

For instance, Corich's quilts are made predominantly from silk men's necktie fabric which she purchases by the pound at a reuse store. Since she's always worked with tapestry, wool, cotton and silk, her quilts boast a combination of all these fabrics.

"Having a fashion design background, I feel comfortable making patterns," Corich said.

Now that her kids are grown, she's back to painting, which she does often to complement her quilting practice.

"My style of painting is very tight, controlled. Quilting is more of putting patterns together, which to me is kind of like an abstract painting," she said.

While her quilts aren't functional, Corich said she may drape one of her quilts to decorate a bed or a sofa.

"To me, they're more like pieces of art. I didn't make them to fit a queen-size bed," she said.

Corich will also have pillows, headbands and belts made from the same fabrics as her quilts at the show.

"With quilting, I like the haphazardness of putting patterns together, and I feel satisfied when I'm finished. It's the same when I finish a painting," Corich said. "It's not complete until all the patterns and all the colors have something to say."

Civic Arts Education's Collectors' Circle and Holiday Art Show
WHEN: Collectors' Circle 3-8 p.m. Dec. 3; art show, 5-9 p.m. Dec. 4; 10 a.m.-6 p.m. Dec. 5; 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Dec. 6
WHERE: Civic Arts' Shadelands campus, 111 N. Wiget Lane, and at 1313 Civic Drive, Studios D and E, Walnut Creek.
INFORMATION: For more information on the Collectors' Circle, go to www.friendsartsed.org. For information on the Holiday Art sale, call 943-5846 or go to www.arts-ed.org.