By: Kirsten Young-Clark
An Artist exhibit will feature in Alturas this first Friday, the 5th of July and during the Fandango Days, on 4th of July weekend. The Warner Mall Gallery presents Shawn-Paul Gilbert with his current painting series on the subject of California Wildfires. This painting series is in fulfillment of a competitive 2023 artist grant program by Upstate California Creative Corps which was modeled after the Works Progress Administration (WPA) to serve vulnerable communities and underrepresented occupations, such as artists and culture bearers, with the goal to highlight important social and environmental issues. The grant was awarded to Shawn-Paul Gilbert to create a series of large scale, 3 ft x 4 ft oil paintings highlighting the human involvement and human cost, while creating public
awareness for health risks of fire and smoke to the land and peoples of California and creating awareness for critical environmental issues such as water conservation and the consequences of drought and forest management. For those who remember the fires, the Warner Mountains were shrouded with thick orange smoke that covered the town of Alturas, making it difficult to breath.
Shawn-Paul G. was an Art History Major at San Jose State University and has had a ten-year career as a professional Fine Arts Photographer for Cinequest and Catholic charities of the Santa Clara County Catholic Diocese. He has been an active professional oil painter for the past 20 years, specializing in western representationalism. He has exhibited his artwork in the Bay Area including San Jose, San Francisco, and Berkeley.
This California Wildfire series is a good example of his dynamic painting style with thick brush strokes, bright contrasting colors, and a mixture of portraits, architecture, and landscapes. In these paintings, he captures the urgency and distress, yet subtle beauty of nature unhinged produced by the California Wildfires. They are energetic with impressionism and a feeling of nostalgia inspired by Northern California painter Maynerd Dixon. The opening for Shawn-Paul Gilbert’s California Wildfire series will be held at the Warner Mall Gallery located in the Warner Mall near the intersection of highways 299 and 395. The opening will take place on July 5 th , the first Friday of July, from 10:30am to 4pm. Refreshments and entertainment will be provided. Shawn-Paul G. will be using the gallery as a studio during the month of July and welcomes the public to come see him work anytime the doors are open.
