First Appeared Thursday, 31 July '08

UCSF Exhibits California Landscapes in New Show at Faculty/Alumni House

The UCSF Faculty/Alumni House will exhibit a dual show by artists Norma Paige and Susan Ashley from August 1 through October 31.

Their works of “California Landscapes in Oil and Pastel” will be available for viewing at the Faculty/Alumni House, 745 Parnassus Ave.

The campus community is invited to the artists’ reception on Friday, Aug. 15, from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. at the Faculty/Alumni House.

Paige and Ashley have painted together for many years, sometimes in the studio, sometimes outdoors capturing the landscape. They share an aesthetic and are drawn to similar subjects.

Most important, they admire each other’s work. Ashley is drawn to pastel. She enjoys the immediacy of the process, freed from the need to mix color and clean brushes. Paige, who is called Cookie by her friends, is an oil painter, sometimes underpainting with acrylic.

This painting shows Norma Paige’s technique of using bold forms.

While Ashley tends to work small and in detail, Paige paints with energy, and enjoys large surfaces and bold forms. They both enjoy seeing what happens when they tackle the same subject, examples of which can be seen in the exhibit.

Both women studied art at UC: Paige attended UC Berkeley and Ashley went to UC Santa Cruz.

Both artists also took a hiatus of many years, when neither of them painted seriously. But with grown children and greater economic security, they now have come back to the luxury of creating art.

Ashley was lucky to come across a pastel class at Merritt College in Oakland taught by Dorcas Moulton, a San Francisco Bay Area-based art teacher for more than 25 years. Paige meets weekly to paint with a group of fine artists in Santa Cruz.

This serene scene is the work of Susan Ashley.

Ashley’s family has strong ties to UCSF. Her father was a graduate of the School of Medicine, Class of 1942, and the family has remained actively involved in supporting the work of the University.

For more information about the exhibit, contact Mary Conn-Fitch at 415/476-4723.