Photos from Art on the Ridge

What a Great Time

Thanks to everyone who came out for Art on the Ridge! We hope everyone had a wonderful time!

A.J. Trombetta

I would admire the beautiful, Italian glass figurines on my Nonni’s fireplace mantel, as a young child, but I did not appreciate the potential of Venetian glass as jewelry until I traveled the Italian islands of Venice and Murano with my husband, in 2006. I was amazed by the craftsmanship of the Murano glass artisans, and by the way that the gold and silver foil, glass beads caught the light like gemstones.

commissioned for wedding party bridesmaids

I originally started making jewelry for myself. I was influenced by the modern simplicity of the designs of Los Angeles based, jewelry designer, Suzanne Felsen. I listened to friends lament that they could not easily find quality jewelry, within their budget, and so, I also began making custom, glass jewelry pieces for friends.

I strive to create original, modern designs with quality metals. I generally opt to use Venetian glass, instead of gemstones, due to its beauty, affordability and sustainability, and I recently began to incorporate the use of recycled glass. I am in the process of getting my own website up and running.

more about Venetian glass making....

My Background

I was fortunate enough to grow up on Bennett Ridge, and one of my childhood influences was my neighbor and late artist, Ruth Dicker. Her unique style of painting, and her modern home, with mobiles and African masks on display, captured my imagination forever. Her bold, creative energy will be missed. When I was a teen, my father encouraged me to study photography and ceramics classes at Santa Rosa Junior College, where I obtained my Associate in Arts degree in Humanities. I also studied pottery at the Mendocino Arts Center with local potter, Harald Nordvold.

I have recently moved back to the Bay Area, after spending the last 20 years in Southern California. I worked for the City of Los Angeles as a sworn, legal policy researcher and writer for the Los Angeles Police Department, after obtaining my Bachelor in Arts degree from San Diego State University, in political science and journalism. My hobbies include photography, writing, hiking and going to the beach with our dogs, urban animal rescue, and anti-dogfighting awareness.

Sally Spiegel Weare

Sally Weare has lived in the San Francisco Bay Area since 1969 after returning from four years in London. She now lives mostly in a studio in Sonoma County, California, on the edge of a 5000 acre State Park, where coyotes howl, and deer and wild turkey abound. She is extremely lucky to share her life with her husband Shane, their 3 grandchildren, Nisi, Elias, and Ian, son Tobias and his wife Elena, daughter Kate and her husband Kurt, their Jack Russell Terriers, Poppy and Gus, her Arabian, Zephyr, and her Spanish Mustang, Laguna.

After undergraduate work in Humanities at the University of Chicago, Sally received a B.A. in Fine Art from the University of Iowa, then spent a Post-Diploma Year in Painting at St. Martin’s College of Art, London, and received an M.F.A. in Painting from Mills College, Oakland, California.

Sally’s painting, drawing, and photowork have been exhibited widely at museums, galleries, universities, and she has received numerous honors and juror’s awards, among them an Exhibition Grant from the U.S. Embassy for her 1996 Solo show in Belgrade, Serbia, the Catherine Morgan Trefethen Fellowship for Graduate Painting, as well as Artist Residency Grants at the Millay Colony, N.Y., Virginia Center for Creative Arts, VA., and the Briarcombe Foundation, CA. Sally’s work appears in private and public collections both in the U.S. and abroad.

She has taught Interdisciplinary and Experimental Art at San Francisco State University, at University of California, Berkeley, A.S.U.C. Studios, New College, S.F., as well as drawing and photography at the City College of Berkeley, CA. and has guest lectured and lead workshops at the Art Institute of Chicago, University of Michigan, Ohio University, University of Kansas, Berkeley Art Center, CA, Sonoma State University, and Falmouth School of Art, Cornwall, England. Sally is on the Board of Directors of the Women Environmental Artists Directory, WEADARTISTS.ORG.

Daughter Kate Weare, continuing the family’s artist tradition, has created a thriving
dance company based in NYC (yes, a plug! see KATEWEARE.COM).