The San Geronimo Valley Community Center
Valley Room Mural by Connie Smith Siegel, 1981
Center Permanent Art Collection by Anne McClain
• Sculpture titled “Recycled Bootie” by Debra Amerson fea- turing an array of recycled objects including an old leather cowboy boot that houses a vase of living Lucky Bamboo, intended to bring luck and prosperity to the Center. And don’t forget to poke your head in the bathroom where “Bird Rock” a serigraph by Pesl, currently hangs. • An original hand-printed silkscreen poster from the first year of the San Geronimo Holiday Art Festival in 1969 donated by former Board member, June Tolbert. It was designed by Donna Sloan and 600 were printed annually for several years by community members who turned it into a printmaking party in Lee Berensmeier’s art studio. This delightful remnant of past days is one of only two or three posters still known to exist. Over the years there have been several major art projects done for the Center in stained glass. Windows in the front of the Center and in the Valley Room were done as a result of an artist-in-residence program funded by the San Francisco Foundation and InterArts of Marin. They selected Shelley Jurs who designed the works titled “Architectural Glass Woven Interlude.” She was inspired by her interest in basketry and Native Americans. The Valley Room panels were executed by school children and adults who participated in a class given by Jurs. The panels on the front of the building were executed by adult community members, some of whom were Terry Shea, Bob Stansel, Murilla Parratt, Carel and Sarah Gillingham, Mike Finsterbush, Heather Blise, Brian Antonio, Tourne Jans- sen, Ami Erlich and Margo Klein. In the West Room is the lovely stained glass series depict- ing our Valley landscape. You can recognize our local hills, cows and even Spirit Rock as the panels across the West Room take us through the seasons. It was designed by Forest Knolls artist Marty Meade and executed by Valley students under her direction. These apprentices were Misha Lebell, Ari Piscatelli, Oscar Steiner, Nathan Dressler and Tommy O’Mahoney. The piece was installed in 2002 by Kevin Meade. The Valley Room is host to a huge acrylic on canvas by Connie Smith Siegel, “San Geronimo Valley Community Center.” Connie is renowned for her beautiful paintings
Fifty years ago the San Geronimo Valley Community Center started life as the Art Center and those roots are alive and well today. The Center nurtures Valley arts and artists through exhibits, programs and our permanent art collection. Every- one who has ever walked into the San Geronimo Valley Com- munity Center is aware of the beautiful Maurice Del Mué mural (see page 20). It is the centerpiece of the lobby, but did you know that the Center is also home to an entire collection of art? Having begun as the Art Center, and with the Valley bursting with creative energy, this really just stands to reason. The following is a guide to the art that is on permanent dis- play at the Center—in addition to the wonderful monthly art shows happening year-round! In the lobby of the Center, after you have absorbed the impact of the mural, look around to view the other pieces hanging there. Honoring the founder of the San Geronimo Valley Community Center, Jean Berensmeier, and the founding board members are two lovely brass plaques designed with special care by Jean’s husband, Lee Berens- meier, who also designed the Center’s logo (see page 67). The founders were feted in 2009 at the 40th Anniversary Gala which is the subject of an iconic Art Rogers photo- graph of 200 attendees hanging nearby. Look closely and you are sure to spot many of your friends and neighbors— and yourself! Another work in honor of the people who make our community so special is the colored pencil draw- ings commemorating the winners of the Edie Robinson Community Service Award by Valley artist, Anne McClain. Other works that can be found throughout the Center are: • Poster for the 11 th Annual San Geronimo Valley Christ- mas Art and Music Festival (featuring Valley icons Terry Garthwaite and “Santa” Fred Berensmeier, Sr., father of artist Fred [Lee] Berensmeier) • Untitled pastel of the San Geronimo Valley Community Center by Barbara Lawrence • “Kate Wolf Lingering in a Doorway,” print by MOT (the original painting currently hangs in the West Office)
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50 th Anniversary
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