By Cindy Blain
 Artist Carol Lois Haywood stands next to her works during her April 16 exhibit at Crimson Mim, 322 Main St., in Los Altos. |
April 16 was a fine day to meander through Los Altos, following the balloons, to see all the artists exhibiting in shops throughout the Village as well as admire the street banners painted by local schoolchildren. Local plein air artists turned out to paint the town again - held this month and this year focusing on downtown historic sites.
For this second annual Arts Alive - enthusiastically organized by the Los Altos Village Association - there were much larger crowds strolling through the shops as well as a lot more artists participating. Thirty-seven artists worked with local merchants to intermingle artwork and merchandise in store windows and above display shelves.
As longtime residents Alice and Don Loughry put it, “We’ve lived in Los Altos 44 years and come down here all the time, but we’ve been in stores today that we’ve never been in before. We think it’s a wonderful thing for the town.”
Artists were equally enthusiastic about the opportunity to show their work. “Sharing art with the public is an exciting way to complete the process of making art,” said Carol Lois Haywood. Haywood recently moved here from Santa Rosa and found Arts Alive to be a great way to get to know her new community. Her work was on exhibit at 200 Main St. - an empty shop that used to be AuctionDrop. Rick Giusti, a photographer, and Jeane Kluga, a painter, also exhibited with Haywood in this space. Exhibiting artwork in empty store windows is a fast-growing trend in the Bay Area as well as other cities in the United States. These exhibits are typically called phantom galleries and can be found in downtown San Jose and Palo Alto. Perhaps that’s an idea to consider for Los Altos.
The Los Altos Village Association and the Los Altos Art Club hosted the Arts Alive Fine Art Exhibit & Competition, which is on display at Main Street Cafe & Books until May 15. Works by 45 artists are included in this show juried by George Rivera, executive director of the Triton Museum of Fine Art in Santa Clara.
Artists from our local galleries, Gallery 9 and Viewpoints, were well represented in the Fine Art Exhibit & Competition as well as participating again in “Paint the Town” and the Art Walk.
Zanzibar Market, at 325 State St., now has an elegant gallery space that features wood and marble sculptures as well as paintings.
Oil painter Marie Gordon exhibited at Zanzibar and said about Arts Alive, “I think the idea of increasing art awareness in the community is fantastic!”
Cindy Blain’s artwork was on exhibit for Arts Alive at IKB, an interior design and construction firm at 346 Main St. A watermedia artist with Viewpoints Gallery, she may be contacted at (408) 268-5959 or cindy@cindyblain.com with news about upcoming art events.
