Sixteen artists are filling Andra Norris Gallery in Burlingame with paintings, sculptures and drawings of flowers in a group show called "Seed," on view through Friday, Nov. 6.
Co-curator Elizabeth Barlow, a Monterey Peninsula-based still-life painter represented by the gallery, said the exhibition treats flowers as more than decorative subjects. "Flowers are symbols of the hope that lies within all nature, of the power to regenerate and be transformed," Barlow said in a statement published by Realism Today.
Barlow and gallery owner Andra Norris organized the show together. It spans watercolor, oil painting, sculpture and drawing by mid-career and established artists, according to the gallery's exhibition page. The gallery describes the works as exploring beauty, decay, fragility and renewal through flowers.
The artist roster includes Donald Bradford, Gary Bukovnik, Pamela Carroll, Willard Dixon, Jane B. Grimm, Troy House, Erin Hunter, Jane Kim, Justyna Kisielewicz, David Ligare, Susan Manchester, Stephen Namara, Chikako Okada, Demetra Theofanous and Dean Bensen, alongside Barlow herself.
Among the featured works is Barlow's oil painting "Messengers," a floral still life exploring hope and renewal. Barlow grew up in Salt Lake City as the daughter of the late artist Philip Barlow. She studied drawing and painting at UC Berkeley Extension before moving to the Monterey Peninsula in 2016, according to her artist biography. That move led her to begin her ongoing series "Flora Portraits," large-scale flower paintings on French linen built up through multiple glazed layers of oil paint.
Bradford, with whom Barlow studied at UC Berkeley Extension, is also exhibiting in "Seed." David Ligare, whom Barlow has cited as an artistic inspiration on her biography page, rounds out the group.
The gallery is open Tuesday through Friday from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m., Saturday from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. and Sunday from noon to 6 p.m. Monday visits are by appointment, according to its contact page. The show closes Friday, Nov. 6.
