Whimsical Sculptures Attuned to the Holidays

Walk into the G. Childress Gallery with your holiday mind-set intact and you’re liable to get an attack of warm fuzzies. There, plopped in the middle of the space, is a full table setting, replete with handmade dinnerware and other ceramic artifacts with a Southwestern desert motif, the stuff of cacti and reptiles.

In this season of entertaining and hanging out at tables, it looks right at home, right on time. But on closer examination, little surreal things emerge. Ceramic fruits include a peeled banana. Someone’s eggnog has been spiked.

This centerpiece (pardon the pun) of Rachael Winn Yon’s friendly treat of a show, “Phantasies,” was originally intended to have a more pointed feminist sting. She had envisioned it as a 12-piece place setting with a human component--a dozen nude women, of assorted ages and sizes, would sit at the table in a loose variation on Judy Chicago’s “The Dinner Party.” In its humbler state, the less politicized “Place Setting (7 pieces)” typifies the unapologetic sense of whimsy in Yon’s work, half rational and half fantasy.

The other dazzling ceramic invention in the gallery is Yon’s large “Mechanical Electronic Birthday Cake,” gooped up with childish decorations, soft colors and pillowy contours. It even sings and dances: Tinkly digital songs emerge periodically, breaking up the silence in the gallery with its giddy froth, while tiny pigs and poodles twirl in slow motion around the cake in a dreamy procession that evokes innocence.

Yon also shows two-dimensional works here, but these pieces, though well-rendered, don’t quite measure up to the ceramic work. A series of drawings illustrate a folkloric tale by George Bernard Shaw about a woman seeking divine knowledge, but settling for the divinity of the everyday. On the opposite wall, a series of vividly hued linoleum block prints depict mythic fools in assorted vignettes.

An air of festivity as well as giddy surrealism hover around Yon’s exhibition--timely qualities in the midst of holiday mentality.

* “Phantasies,” ceramic sculptures and prints by Rachael Winn Yon, through Jan. 3 at G. Childress Gallery, 319 E. Roblar, Ojai. Hours: 10 a.m.-5 p.m., Monday-Saturday; 640-1387.

Looking Ahead: Calling a group exhibition “Toward the Millennium” is a clever gambit, using a catch-all phrase to inspire hope or dread, or both, depending on one’s perspective. Whatever emotion one brings to the event, there is an innate collective bond in the countdown to the millennium.

And that may be enough of a rationale for this show. As it turns out, the artworks at Art City II Gallery are more connected by organizational link than by historical or curatorial theme. This is a group show of the San Buenaventura Artists Union, a loosely knit coalition of artists, many of whom have had ties with Art City during the past few years.

It may be possible to exact metaphorical, millennial meaning from Jane McKinney’s “fin de siecle,” with its mystical shaft of light penetrating a wall of vegetation.

Another take on millennial sentiments can be read into “Lisa Marie,” by Ursula. Here, a languid Modigliani-esque nude is intruded upon by lurid tabloid headlines, a cultural paradox of the era.

Elsewhere, nature is considered and interpreted in various ways, from the neo-pointillist style informing Nicole Erd’s “Light Fantasy” to Carole Milton’s “The Moon Is Always Female III,” its paint layers built up to a tactile, bumpy surface--virtually lunar.

Paul Benavidez, normally exhibited as an assemblage artist, shows “Portrait of a Sculptor,” a simple pastel rendering of a ruddy character. Other works take a wide view of sculpture’s possibilities. Taras Tulek’s “Our Lady of UV Light” depicts a female figure protruding from behind white fabric in a picture frame, seeking release. Doug Lipton’s four tree-limb figures, bedecked with cow skulls and other rustic elements, suggest Native American lore, and d.m. spaulding’s “tasket” plays off the rugged charms of thick rope and a crude metal basket.

From the public art sector, we find Eric Richards’ “The Warning,” a small wax model for a bronze casting commission, which will eventually grace Santa Paula. A sincere tribute to the heroic motorcycle policemen who warned the town of the threat posed by the bursting of St. Francis Dam in 1928, it is the “straightest” work in the show, especially compared to Richards’ usual funk aesthetic.

In all, the group show presents business-as-usual at Art City II, a space where we can always count on healthy diversity and dress-down aesthetics, probably well into the new millennium. It’s a reassuring thought.

* “Toward the Millennium,” from the San Buenaventura Artists Union, through Jan. 4 at Art City II, 34 Peking St., Ventura. Hours: 10 a.m.-5 p.m., Wednesday-Sunday; 648-1690.