Gallery 'N' Gifts 37th Year in Business

First Friday, September 2, will be a special event. Gallery 'N' Gifts will be celebrating its 37th year in business. The artists invite you to attend their celebration so they can express their appreciation of your support. A birthday cake made by Tehachapi's own Front Porch Bakery will be served along with various refreshments, wine and punch from 5 to 8 p.m.

To kick off Gallery 'N' Gift's celebration, they will be featuring two different styles of artwork in a unique father/daughter show. Wood turned bowls by Corky Lunceford and paintings by Cherice Hatton.

Corky's life has been centered around all things wood. He made a living as a professional finish carpenter and cabinet maker. He loved the challenge of redesigning a kitchen, tearing it apart, and rebuilding it. Corky worked at a cabinet shop for 13 years, the last two years of which he was the foreman. Learning the trade from the bottom up taught him to understand the characteristic of different woods. He left the shop to go out on his own doing kitchen remodels. Unfortunately, the market went into the cellar. but he took his experience to work at the Ventura County Hospital as a finish carpenter for the next 20 years. He wasn't tearing apart kitchens, but remodeling all the nursing stations, CCU and ICU of all the clinics.

In 1999 Corky and his wife Dorine moved to Bear Valley Spring from Ojai, California. Working with wood still remained an important part of Corky's life and he took a great interest in wood turning. Having his knowledge of wood, it didn't take long to learn some new techniques and take up the art of wood turning. He and Dorine became familiar faces practicing their individual art forms and showing their works around Bear Valley Springs and Tehachapi.

There are many people who turn wood and make bowls or vases, including Corky. But wooden hats are not common, and precise measurements are needed to make a full size wearable hat. This mindset easily transferred from his days of cabinet making, combined with the creative process, resulting in beautiful full size wearable hats. Corky's wood turnings, some as natural edge bowls and vases, some embellished with turquoise, and some turned as miniature and full size wearable hats, all let the wood speak of its natural beauty.

Cherice Hatton has been painting all of her adult life and has been using watercolors for about 15 years. In the last 4 years she has taken some time to explore multi-layered paintings. Similar to a collage, the finished work sometimes has multiple perspectives of one subject, and other times simply looks like one image is dimensional. Sometimes it helps her to tell a story or give the painting a particular rhythm. She also feels her work can be very literal, so in those instances she uses this technique it brings some abstraction and creates a little more interest.

Cherices' paintings are about the environment and the wildlife within it. She's interested in natural light and color and how this plays a part with animals and their surroundings. "It is fascinating to me when a creature can be hidden right in front of you because of its coloration or patterns. In exploring this theme I sometimes place animals within a painting where at first glance they may not be noticed. When viewing my work I would like to think that others might find this theme intriguing as well, but also might find it pleasing to focus their attention for a moment on one of the many beautiful things in our surroundings."

Be sure to stop by and take in the beautiful artwork and help celebrate 37 years of promoting, producing, presenting and appreciating Corky hats art in the Tehachapi area.