San Bruno art show reinvents how books are viewed

“That’s what I like about the museum being at the mall because you get passersby who are interested in passing time and walk through so it opens up the possibilities,” said Stevens, who found a way to create a digital matching video game with her work to engage with a broader and younger audience.

Stevens is a mixed-media artist whose work focuses on integrating material and technique to represent subject matter. Her handmade book “Paradise Drive” is a collaborative effort with poet Rebecca Foust. Her sonnets inspired Stevens and she translated a few poems into 14-stroke paintings. She chose to paint with 14 strokes to symbolize the number of lines used in a sonnet poem. She then made a digital matching game on the computer that can be accessed by a QR code or played at the museum on a computer, according to the Peninsula Museum of Art website.

Each artist has a unique interpretation of how they reimagine the printing press and visual artist Sarah Klein uses motion and sequences to spark the viewer’s imagination.

“In most cases, I just leave it open to the person that sees the print and let them figure out that there is some type of repetition happening and that each part of it is likely different,” Klein said.

Another way the viewer can experience the images, she said, is by taking pictures of them and turning them into a Graphic Interchange Format. Also known as a GIF, it is a quick animation or sequence often experienced on cellphones.

This particular art show resonates with her because her father had a printmaking business when she was growing up.

“I remember growing up going to his shop and seeing how it worked and, back then, there were a lot more steps than it does now,” Klein said. “And he would give me a pile of wonderful scraps of colorful paper and mylar and tape and I could just collage and work with that.”

Those memories of her childhood gave her the confidence to pursue art and to express herself, she added.

Another artist at the exhibit, Zach Clark, creates work using analog photography and writing through Risograph, screen printing and letterpress into broadsides, postcards, booklets and hand-bound books. The artwork is based on his own evolving relationship with nature, according to the museum’s website.

The images he creates have depth and the colors emit emotions that can be felt by viewers.

Mary V. Marsh’s art references the 24-hour news cycle with the large faux newspaper connected to itself. She reimagines tabloids and headlines by exploring the changing technologies of communication through her personal experiences, according to the museum’s website.

Another interesting piece is a handmade book by Andy Rottner which translates folk music from notable artists such as Bob Dylan into pieces of abstract works of art. From far away it can be difficult to decipher if the artistic moves are random or intended but, from a closer look, it’s easy to see that Rottner’s meticulous attention to detail and precision makes his work that much more easy to appreciate.

The Peninsula Museum of Art is a nonprofit business that was founded in 2004 by the late Ruth Waters who was a sculptor and art advocate. Its mission is to engage and inspire our local community with art shows, education and programs, according to the museum’s website.

Visit peninsulamuseum.org/ for more information or ways to get involved.