Libbey Bowl Commemorative Poster
When the Ojai Musical Festival wanted an image to commemorate the opening of the new Libbey Bowl and the 65th year of the Festival, they chose painter Sherry Loehr, known for her luminous still life paintings on panels. She created “Allegro,” a highly-stylized still life of oranges depicted on a rich red background, with musical phrases floating like notes on the air at a Festival performance.
According to Loehr, when representatives of the Music Festival approached her in early December to do this year’s poster, she spent most two months worrying about it. After settling on an idea, however, “it went fairly quickly.” The words “cantata,” “pizzicato,” and “etude” were the starting point for her.
“As I painted I began to think of a ‘vibrato’ of reds, a ‘harmony’ of shapes, ‘dissonant’ colors, the ‘modulation’ of values,” said Loehr. “The connections between music and painting are really fascinating.”
Loehr painted the background a rich red first; she felt it would grab viewer’s attention. Then after “playing around with their placement” she transferred her musical list written in a “euro-antique script,” onto the background. Part of Loehr’s style is to treat her background as an integral element of her composition. The musical phrases float upon the rich, ornate background where she then painted the focal point, a simple onyx-colored bowl of east end Ojai oranges, sitting on a Chinese embroidered silk.
“Oranges seemed the iconic thing to paint to represent Ojai and it seems rather coincendental they are sitting in a bowl,” said Loehr, “since it is a work representing the opening of the new Libbey Bowl. It’s an eclectic image.”
Loehr, who markets her own work on the annual fall Ojai Studio Artist Tour, also is represented by the Primavera Gallery in Ojai and the Peterson Cody Gallery in Sante Fe, New Mexico.
$25 unframed and unsigned poster
$50 signed
To purchase the limited edition posters, click here >> Or call 805-646-2053.
Posters can be mailed in advance of the Ojai Music Festival or picked up at the Festival souvenirs booth during Festival weekend.
To find out more about Loehr go to ojaistudioartists.org or sherryloehr.com