By Jean Packard

All About Art

Just how important are local art groups and art clubs? That’s an easy question. Very, very important. While these groups don’t exhibit at the Museum of Modern Art or the Metropolitan Museum in New York, nor do they have any influence over the “greater art world,” they do represent your community. And ever since man beat sticks and danced around a fire, art and music have been accepted essentials of the human condition, a fact no one has ever been able to explain.

So when we talk about art groups, we are talking about basic aesthetics, and local art represents the esthetic taste in art of a given community, culture or country.

Here in Los Altos, the local Los Altos Art Club presents a conservative or traditional view of art - traditional in the sense of appreciation for time-honored acceptable subject matter and stylistic adaptations.

Roberta Bell, the very able president of this group, a true art enthusiast for all modalities, said, “Our art club, of 140 members, continues to grow and is constantly expanding, due to the active participation and volunteerism of its members.

Art education is the main purpose of the Art Club. The club schedules a recognized artist to demonstrate artistic techniques each month. The meetings, held the second Monday of the month, are open to newcomers and visitors.

Bell proudly continued to point out that although these demonstrating artists are paid a stipend, they really come to share the “secrets of their universe.”

She claimed professional artists seem to have a need to pass along their legacies of creative traditions.

Local art noteworthies such as Jorge Rivera, director of the Triton Museum in Santa Clara, have come to lecture or give critiques. The town of Los Altos helps too, said Bell. For instance, funds realized from last year’s “Paint the Town” project will go toward some newly-developed workshops for up to 15-20 persons.

Membership, which costs $25 a year, is open to everyone, whether they paint or not. Some just enjoy the ambience of an art community.

Bell herself joined for the latter reason. After having viewed an oil artist who demonstrated his ability to finish a painting in an hour and 15 minutes. She said she “was hooked.”

Bell, who hails from New Jersey, has a degree in chemistry and economics. She taught at Santa Clara University for a while.

The daughter of an artist, she speaks long and enthusiastically of the Art Club. Her vision for the future of art in Los Altos includes building a center to accommodate rotating exhibits open to the public all day.

“With 35,000 persons between Los Altos and Los Altos Hills, perhaps there is a real need for a full-time cultural service,” Bell said.

For meeting locations and times, contact the Hillview Community Center office at 941-0950.

Jean Packard is an artist, teacher and owner of the Packard Art Studio in Los Altos for contemporary art study. You can reach her at 941-7033, or e-mail: packardartstudio@mymailstation.com.