ArtWalk@Liberty Station, San Diego’s first major art show since many 2020 events were postponed, shifted online or canceled entirely beginning in March due to distancing efforts intended to slow the spread of COVID-19 is being held on Nov. 7 and Nov. 8.
ArtWalk Director Sandy Cottrell said numerous health precautions have been put in place such as required facial coverings; distanced art booths; extra hand-sanitizing stations; temperature checks for everyone involved with the show, including attendees but it is a symbol of hope for the community.
“This year we are bringing some much-needed color and art into people’s lives with a brand-new layout to allow for proper physical distancing,” Cottrell said.
The in-person exhibition will showcase more than 150 local, national and international artists, including Pine Valley artist Norm Daniels who said this is his 15th year participating in the event.
A lifelong artist, Daniels said he believes Pine Valley, Alpine and the backcountry have been relatively unaffected by the COVID-19 pandemic but because all public events were canceled or postponed over the past six months, “there haven’t been any art shows so this is my first show since January.”
Sales have been off, he said, but it has left him with plenty of time to paint.
“I paint, well I guess the style is impressionism, plein air, the French term for ‘in an open atmosphere’. I sit at my easel outdoors, looking at some vista, all done on location. I like cityscapes,” Daniels said.
After dutifully describing the more traditional work he does, he chuckled and said “I also paint a whimsical, cartoon style that is really funny. I illustrated for Surfer magazine for years- I like to do funny things like little Hawaiian huts with palm trees, I guess you could say it is whimsical”.
His father, he said, was a very good artist and cartoonist but his own work is most influenced by Rick Griffin, an original illustrator at Surfer magazine where he eventually maintained a monthly cartoon of his own for about three years running.
“I grew up on the cartoons of Bugs Bunny where you could suspend the laws of gravity, Chuck Jones’ style. One day, someone told me that his work was inspired by Dean Cornwell, ‘the dean of illustrators’ so I bought his book and I could see the inspiration, the path of who inspired which artist,” Daniels said.
Now, he advises anyone interested in becoming a painter to “find an artist you like that inspires you, trace their evolution— don’t copy them, but learn how they did their work” and get a teacher because “all self-taught artists have the same lousy teacher” and eventually, you have to take a lesson from someone who knows more.
“I needed to learn the application of art, needed to learn how to develop my own style. People say they recognize my style and I’m surprised because it means I’ve developed something of my own,” Daniels said.
He also tells aspiring artists to use social media site Instagram to their best advantage.
“I list everything there and I tell all artists to use Instagram because the ability to add a hashtag is powerful. It’s kind of a surprise to get a call from someone I’ve never even met who wants to buy my work just because they looked up something like #surferart,” Daniels said.
Chuckling again, he said “Besides, I don’t want to sit at a computer and deal with updating a website, I want to paint. I’m a lazy bum”.
Doing live shows like ArtWalk is fun, he said, because you get to introduce yourself as a human being.
In addition to Daniels’ booth (and the many art displays set up in-person at ArtWalk, an online art guitar auction is also underway with all benefits going toward non-profit ArtReach San Diego, a visual arts program designed to provide free or low-cost workshops to artistically underserved elementary schools.
More information on the event can be found at www.artwalksandiego.org including details of the auction, which runs through Nov. 8.
