Larnie Fox’s kinetic sculpture “Orrery (About Relationships” is one of several art pieces on display in the Benicia Public Library’s Marilyn Citron O’Rourke Gallery for the exhibition “Bocce Balls and Other Human Propelled Spheres,” featuring interpretations of bocce ball and other spherical objects. Fox’s interactive sculpture, operated by crank, features wood, bamboo, concrete, magnets and acrylic. (Photo by Nick Sestanovich)

The popularity of bocce, the Italian ball sport, only continues to grow. With its roots in ancient Rome, the game is huge in Europe and also has sprouted leagues in North America as well, especially in California. This includes Benicia, where a bocce court was constructed in Civic Park in 2006 followed by an additional court in 2017. The courts have attracted leagues and individual players alike to put their hand-eye coordination skills to use, all while playing a fun game of bocce.

One of those who came by to play the games was artist Bodil Fox, who joined a league in the summer of 2017. After seeing all the fun players were having— as well as the spherical design of the balls—, she figured it would make for a good art exhibition.

“I thought it could be interesting to try and merge the idea of a bocce ball in an artistic way,” she said. “I thought the people who were playing bocce ball would probably enjoy it.”

Fox brought the idea up the hill from the bocce courts to the Benicia Public Library, where she applied to have it exhibited in the Marilyn Citron O’Rourke Gallery.

“ I sent a very brief proposal to the library and said, ‘I don’t know what the artwork will look like yet, I don’t know who the artists are, but I will if I’m accepted into this,’” she said. “They took a chance in saying yes to this proposal.”

The idea was accepted, and it can be seen at the gallery through Oct. 18 for the exhibit “Bocce Balls and Other Human Propelled Spheres.”

As the curator, Fox said the goal was to bring artists from or with connections to Benicia together for a show unlike the exhibits viewers are accustomed to seeing in the O’Rourke Gallery.

“(I wanted it) to feel very much like a Benicia artists’ exhibit,” she said.

Of that group, Fox settled on 11 artists: herself, her husband Larnie, Nikki Basch-Davis, Hedi Desuyo, Angela Fortain, Brian Giambastiani, Marty Jonas, Barbetta Lockart, Lisa Reinertson, Jack Ruszael and Sabine Thompson.

All the artists were given free range to interpret the concept of not only bocce balls but also other propelled spheres, and the results drew a wide range of creativity. For her piece “Spaghetti and Bocce Balls,” fiber artist Jonas created a large bowl of the classic pasta meal, with crocheted silk fabric and yarn representing the noodles and sauce, and antique bocce balls representing the meatballs. Fortain filled up eggshells with paint and threw them at a canvas to create a colorful backdrop with some eggshell pieces still attached.

Some pieces are even interactive. Larnie Fox created a kinetic sculpture with a crank for viewers to turn to move certain magnetic pieces around. Ruszel constructed a large rolling ball sculpture, “Change in the Weather,” where viewers can push a ball down the top of a sculpture and watch it roll down and descend from platform to platform until it finally lands in a pot at the bottom. The sculpture is constructed in such a way that the ball will not always travel the same route.

Bodil Fox said some artists worked outside of their element. Basch-Davis, who is mostly known for painting, went to a bocce match and took photos to take back to her studio where she created not only a painting but also a sculpture.

“It was interesting for me to see some of the people who traditionally work in two-dimensional work choose to switch to three-dimensional, which was not their normal way of working,” Fox said. “They had to challenge themselves, but they were intrigued by this sphere aspect of it, so they wanted to go in that direction, and I thought that was great. They were inspired by a new challenge, and they would take all their artistic abilities with them into this new challenge. It ended up that a lot more people were doing three-dimensional work.”

Fox said the Benicia Bocce League has been very supportive of the exhibit, and she hopes they will come see it. She believes those who have never picked up a bocce ball will have a lot of fun with it too.

“I hope they come away enjoying art and smiling and feeling it’s a great exhibit and they would like to see more,” she said.

“Bocce Balls” is on display through Thursday in the library’s O’Rourke Gallery, located at 150 East L St. The opening reception will be held from 3:30 to 5:30 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 22. For more information, contact the library at 746-4343.

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