Artist’s exhibit pays tribute to classics, frames and all

By Keri Luiz
Assistant Editor

At first glance, the walls of the Marilyn Citron O’Rourke Gallery in Benicia Public Library are a little overwhelming. Two hundred and fifty paintings, interpretations of classics spanning 700 years of art history, hang on the walls, Paris salon style, in colorfully painted, ornate frames, a feast for the art-loving eye.

The work represents the full collection of local artist Mernie Buchanan’s “Impressions of Art History: Paris Salon,” showing at the gallery through Feb. 16.

Buchanan has long been fascinated by history — it’s one of the reasons she decided to move to Benicia in 1987.

“I’ve never seen a California city where there’s examples of architecture for every decade back to 1840 within a couple of square miles,” she said. “Benicia has kept its classic architecture and its buildings viable for over a century.”

She found a little house off East D Street that had been an antique shop. “They said it was going to be bulldozed for construction, but I rented it and fixed it up. Twenty-five years later they still haven’t developed the property,” she said.

“It’s kind of the World Headquarters of Mernie,” she laughed.

Buchanan is “never bored.” She teaches acrylic painting at Michael’s in Pleasant Hill, and does a lot of decorative painting, sign painting, portraits and murals. Her work can be seen at the San Francisco Zoo, the San Francisco Airport and around Benicia.

The series at the library — all 250 pieces of it — was inspired by a trip to in 2003 that included visits to the Louvre and Musée d’Orsay.

“I had studied art all of my life, (and) it was everything to see the greatest art in the world,” she said. “I took a sketch pad in with me to focus and to remember images. Then got back to Benicia and started doing some watercolors.”

While working on her watercolor interpretations, she realized she needed a way to frame them. “I started finding all of these ornate frames, but they were all gold and silver. Watercolors are too delicate for that.”

It took about a year to figure out the process she used to paint the frames to complement the paintings — or extend them, as she did with her version of Van Gogh’s “Starry Night,” the painting continuing onto the frame.

“The colors on the frames exactly go with these art interpretations,” Buchanan said. “If the color doesn’t match exactly, the effect doesn’t work. The frame is a disconnect with the art.”

“It’s been a new way of looking at classic art.”

If You Go
Mernie Buchanan’s exhibit, “Impressions of Art History: Paris Salon,” including “At the Panini Museum,” above, is now showing at Benicia Public Library’s Marilyn Citron O’Rourke Gallery. There will be an evening talk, “Art History Lite — New Inspiration from Old Masters,” Jan. 31 from 7-8:30 p.m. in the Doña Benicia Room of the library, and a closing reception Feb. 16 from 1-4 p.m.