Artown ready to 'Bloom' by Forrest Hartman
Reno Gazette-Journal, 14 June 2005.


For South Lake Tahoe artist Phyllis Shafer, fantasy and reality go hand in hand.

For example, "Truckee Bloom," which adorns this year's Artown poster, features a lush, turquoise rendering of the Truckee River winding through a rural desert background. Overhead, clouds swirl in dramatic shapes and colors.

Nevadans look upon similar scenes daily, but not as Shafer sees them. In her work, rugged mountains and plants give way to soft, swooping lines, and skies are layered with earthy color. Shafer's medium was gouache, which is similar to watercolor, but the addition of a gummy substance gives pieces a more opaque look.

"I'm really interested in fantasy combined with a really acute observation of nature," Shafer said.

She created this Northern Nevada landscape to market the 10th anniversary of Artown, which begins July 1. The work, or portions of it, is being used on the Artown web site, brochures and the event poster. The festival commissioned Shafer because her work carries a strong sense of Northern Nevada, and the festival wanted to work with a local artist this year, said Artown executive directory Beth Macmillan.

That's a departure from recent years, when the festival used out-of-area artists.

"Local artists have really expressed their desire to have the Artown artwork stay local," Macmillan said. "We responded."

Shafer was born and raised in upstate New York. By the time she completed high school, she knew art was her calling. She studied at Empire State College and the State University of New York before completing a master's degree at the University of California, Berkeley. After graduation, she lived in the Bay Area for several years before moving to South Lake Tahoe to teach art at Lake Tahoe Community College.

Shafer said the move was a positive not only financially, but for her artistry.

"When you live in a place like this, there is no art scene so you kind of have a freedom to define yourself," she said. "For some reason, moving to Tahoe felt like a real break from a mindset."

Shafer also discovered that teaching is a terrific education in itself. Because she is constantly explaining art fundamentals to her students, they have become more ingrained in her.

"You have to understand the basics before you can put your ideas out in a sophisticated form," she said. "In teaching, the greatest learning is for the teacher."

Despite a busy academic schedule, Shafer finds time for her own work.

"I paint at least 10 hours a week, but in the summer I really crank it up," she said.

Although her pieces don't have the hallmarks of traditional plein-air paintings, Shafer considers herself a student of the form, usually creating landscapes on location outdoors.

"I really want to capture the feeling of the space," she said. "I want to feel it. I want to smell it. I want to have the sun moving while I'm trying to catch it."

And she loves capturing images of the West.

"I'm definitely interested in the high desert and the alpine, high-altitude landscapes," she said. "I like the metaphor of how plants survive in the desert ... There's something about watching those cycles of nature that's reaffirming to me."

Although Shafer likes working outdoors, she departed from the norm for Artown's "Truckee Bloom." Because Reno was covered in snow when she needed to work on the piece, she turned to pictures for her inspiration.

"I just got a stack of books with images," she said.

Shafer then took photocopies of the pictures and made collages out of them, so she would have blueprints that Artown could consider.

"We looked at all those pieces and we said, 'Well, we like this part of this picture and we like that part of another pictures,'" Macmillan said. "She was able to take all that information and put all those five or six pieces into what ended up being the final piece."

Shafer said she's enjoying the exposure that the Artown poster is giving her.

"I felt very honored to be asked to be the 10th anniversary artist for this poster," she said. "I am so impressed with what Reno is doing in terms of the arts."


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