Avenue 9’s “Nature’s Bounty”

David Mallory: “Floral,” Oil

“Two Artists Celebrate Earth’s Bounty”

Chris Yates, ceramist, and David Mallory, painter, express their love of organic forms in the exhibit “Earth’s Bounty” (September 7 to October l3) at Avenue 9 Gallery.  During the Friday, September 7 reception (5 to 8 pm), the artists will be present to chat with visitors about their creative working methods.
Yates will show new examples of celadon that he has carved with leaves and blossoms, as well as his experiments with combining translucent porcelain with colored clays—pinks, lavenders, blues and greens.  He says: “It was something I was going to do for twenty years, and someday has come!”  Yates credits Jack Windsor, CSUC’s master of glaze formulas, with giving him a fine foundation for such experiments.

Chris Yates, “Fluted Series,” Porcelain

Yates believes that childhood hours spent exploring the canyons and creeks of Paradise first fostered his love of earth’s gifts and led him to major in Botany at CSUC.  Yates later joined the Peace Corps where he contributed to a water project for a Mayan Indian village in Belize.  In his free time, he explored Mayan ruins, an experience he sometimes draws upon when forming and carving clay.
David Mallory’s lyrical landscapes remind one of his dual careers as a painter and violinist.  His intense awareness of specific times of day and of seasonal effects imbue his images of mountains, rivers, valleys and trees with magical poetry.

David Mallory: “Floral,” Oil

Mallory uses thoughtfully chosen color and value combinations to create feelings of harmony.  He is a firm believer that a painting can be as carefully constructed as a musical composition by Mozart through painting’s language of line, shape and colors.  It is Mallory’s deep response to specific nature scenes, such as the High Sierras, or peaceful stretches of the Sacramento River, that enliven the abstract framework of his art.  The 75 paintings of Mallory’s in the exhibit have not been publicly show elsewhere, although his art has been exhibited in major art galleries in such cities as London, San Francisco, and Mexico City.
Mallory and Yates came to a quick agreement on the title of their two-artist show: “Earth’s Bounty.”   While the visual beauty that is earth’s gift inspires Mallory, the physical properties of earth itself provides Yates with his medium.
Avenue 9 Gallery, 180 E. 9th Avenue, Chico.  Reg. Hrs: W-Sat. noon-5pm. 879-1821, www.avenue9gallery.com.