MTC ART GALLERY

MTC Community Art Program Presents

Transformations

A New Life for Recycled and Found Objects

by TOBY TOVER-KREIN

 

“Simplex munditii”
(Simple, yet complex.)

Born in rural upstate New York, Toby Tover-Krein has been living in the Bay Area for the past 45 years and this is where her art was born. She attended both UC Berkeley and UCLA and currently takes art studio classes privately and at UC Extension.

Her most recent solo exhibitions have included Arts Benicia Presents at US Bank, Benicia (May-July 2005); Hunters Point and ProArts Open Studios (May and June 2005); and C'era Una Volta Ristorante and Galleria in the city of Alameda. A partial list of juried group exhibitions includes: “Timing,” Ceres Gallery, New York City (July-Aug 2005); Alameda Art Center (2004); Epperson Gallery, Crockett, Calif. (2004); Artisans Gallery, National Juried Exhibition, Mill Valley (2003); Sun Gallery, Hayward; Ceres Gallery, Chelsea, New York City ( 2003, 2004, 2005); Alameda Art Center (2004 & July 2005); Bedford Gallery, Walnut Creek (Dec 2002); and "New Visions: INTRODUCTIONS," ProArts Gallery (2000 and 2003).

In 2001 Toby was the Grand Prize Winner "Arts on Fire V" competition at Sanchez Art Center in Pacifica (juried by Phil Linhares, Chief Art Curator, Oakland Museum of California). She was awarded a solo exhibition at the Sanchez Art Center in 2002. Tover-Krein also won first prize in painting at the Lamorinda Arts Alliance Annual Exhibit at the John Muir Medical Center, Walnut Creek, Calif., and was the third place winner in the Mixed Media, Artists Society Annual Show at John Muir Medical Center, Walnut Creek. Her work is in many Bay Area and national private collections.

Tover-Krein draws inspiration from at least three international trips yearly, recently traveling to Japan, Morocco, Vietnam, Western and Eastern Europe, and Russia. She balances her art with a 20-year career in direct mail marketing, specializing in dental and veterinary promotion. In fact, a few of her mixed-media works incorporate pieces of dental study models. Tover-Krein paints in her home studio in the East Bay that her husband originally built and added to the house as a wood workshop. The two of them now share the space.

Artist’s Statement

My artwork is a process of inner discovery through an exploration of texture, form, color and light.  I have always had a particular interest in building layers — their tactile surfaces suggest infinite possibilities. Living in Northern California, I also am conscious of the play of light. Natural in appearance, with an underlying strength, my textural pieces contain actual found objects, which I have adhered to canvas, and then washed over with thin coats of luminescent acrylic. Texture and form are seen through veils of color. Pieces of metal, punched-out grills, lacy cutouts, old shingles and artifacts all find a place in my work. Recycled materials are reborn! Rethinking—and reusing-- items that have had another purpose fascinates me. I also try to achieve a shimmery, weathered appearance on the exposed surfaces, adding another dimension to the patterned essence of the piece. Viewing my work invites a visual journey and new discoveries.  My works are linked naturally by the use of materials that express multidimensional meanings with environmental aspects.

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MTC contact: Brenda Kahn, 510.817.5773