By Vicki Byrum Dennis
Special to the Herald

Ceramic sculptor Erika Pazmandi Hagen will be one of six Gallerie Renee Marie artists to be featured at Open Studios this coming weekend. (Photo courtesy of Vicky Byrum Dennis)

Like much of Benicia during the upcoming Open Studios, on May 5 and 6, Gallerie Renee Marie will be filled to the rafters — and the clouds — with art, both indoors and out.  On the front porch and scattered throughout the courtyard of the handsome Victorian building will be artwork by six members of the contemporary art co-op as well as guest artists.  Inside, the gallery will feature the work of its 12 member artists in the current exhibit, “The Shape of Water.”  Displaying at the gallery during Open Studios are co-owner Stephanie Gray, member artist Nancy Narciso Truax and guest artist Arville Persons.  Three new gallery members also will claim Gallerie Renee Marie as home base during the art-centric weekend: painter JoAnneh Nagler, collage artist Ken Weichael, and ceramic artist Erika Pazmandi Hagen, all of whom joined the gallery in recent months.

“It will be hard to miss us,” said Renee Marie Jordan, founder and co-owner of the gallery. “We’re near the top of First Street and close to one of the Open Studios shuttle stops. We’ll have art on the porch, hanging off our front fence, scattered throughout the courtyard, as well as inside the gallery itself. Open Studios is always a great party, and a great time to see the work of all our artists including our newest members.”

Co-owner Stephanie Gray added that Gallerie Renee Marie is joining again this year with the other galleries along First Street to promote the downtown galleries during the event.

“We are sponsoring a special drawing for gallery visitors, and the lucky winner will receive a gift certificate to be used for art at one of the participating galleries,” she said.  “The drawing is just the icing on the cake of a fabulous weekend in Benicia.  Visitors are able to meet and talk with the dozens of artists who throw open their studio and gallery doors, both in the Arsenal and along First Street.”

In addition to the artists in the gallery, a number of the gallery’s member artists will be showing at their own studios in the Arsenal.  “Gallerie Renee Marie will be well represented both on First Street and in the Arsenal,” Gray said.

Artist JoAnneh Nagler, who lives in Burlingame, works with mixed media on canvas, paper and panel, using metallic oxides ground into paint for depth and luminescence in abstract “emotional landscapes.” She joined Gallerie Renee Marie two months ago and has several paintings in the gallery’s current exhibit.  Nagler’s recent exhibits include San Francisco Design Center, Art House Gallery, New York, Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport, Atlanta and a 50-piece solo exhibition, California Modern Art Gallery, San Francisco among many others. She is also the author of the Amazon Top 100 Book, “How to be an Artist Without Losing Your Mind, Your Shirt, or Your Creative Compass.”

Ken Weichel, Benicia, has worked as an offset printer, a tutor for Foreign Language students, a systems analyst, computer operator, and teacher. Throughout his career, he endeavored to balance the necessity of work with the will to create. He has a Master of Arts from SF State in Creative Writing and has published two books, one of short fiction and the other poetry. Weichel works in collage, often using computers and digital editing as well as traditional paper, scissors and glue.

“Collage, for me, is the process of combining,” he said.  “Images, textures, colors and space are combined into something more than their individual parts. Something new originates from the careful, patient and knowledgeable arrangements of the parts into a whole.”

A self-taught ceramic artist, Erika Pazmandi Hagen creates highly detailed works — under the moniker Hagenclay — in which tiny ceramic figures interact with, and become part of, household vessels.  Hagen grew up in Hungary and later moved to California.

“I was introduced to clay later in life and began working with the material in the traditional way: making kitchenware on the potter’s wheel,” she said.

Later, she started to explore a wider spectrum of ceramics, by turning traditional pottery into unique, sculptural pieces.  Hagen often incorporates different materials such as wood, bronze powder and more into her sculptures.

Guest artist Arville Persons creates colorful, evocative paintings by using a variety of materials including  acrylic paint and spray paint.

“My pieces aren’t made through thought,” she said.  “Rather, they are inspired by moods that I go through_and the various types of people that come in and out of my life. I can get lost in art and lose all concept of time.  For me, it is an entirely different world.”

​Open Studios will take place Saturday, May 5, 11 a.m. to 7 p.m., and Sunday, May 6, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.  A preview exhibition of participating artists is currently on display at Arts Benicia, 991 Tyler St., Suite 114.

Gallerie Renee Marie is located at 1038 First St., and is open Monday – Friday 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., Saturday and Sunday noon to 5 p.m. For more information call 707-480-5501, email galleriereneemarie@gmail.com or visit www.galleriereneemarie.com.

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