Books

Paintings and works on paper track our activities and reflect on how the state of the environment will alter this way of being in the world. The vibrancy of color stands up to declare a shifting landscape and altered lives.

Printed: 60 pages, 10x8 in, full-color interior ink

A catalog of California painter Jan Wurm's early work, from the 1970s through the 1980s. The images transverse her student years at UCLA to Majorca, Spain, to London's Royal College of Art, as well as her year's living in Pasadena, San Francisco, and Berkeley.

Printed: 94 pages, 8.5" x 8.5", full-color interior ink

This is a look through the brick and behind the wall to see the history that has passed through the building.

Printed: 20 pages, 7x7 in, full-color interior ink

The beachcombing brush finds a brood of birds and follows their feathered conversation.

Printed: 80 pages, 7" x 7", full-color interior ink

The walk from one country to the next is filled with ghosts of those who have fled in the past.

Printed: 74 pages, 7x7 in, full-color interior ink

Crossing the border holds the imprint of souls fleeing in more dangerous times..

Printed: 76 pages, 12×12 in, full-color interior ink

Wandering the streets of Paris, every corner and doorway holds memory and song.

Printed: 92 pages, 10×8 in, full-color interior ink

drawings offering a glimpse into the ways of a pawnpusher

Printed: 38 pages, 7" x 7", full-color interior ink

This sketchbook sat in seat 6, row K accompanying the musicians with a light pen.

Printed: 80 pages, 7" x 7", full-color interior ink

Description: Painted images and drawings of the human carnival fill the pages of this book with color and zest. Wurm looks to the entertainments and compulsions of society for an inspired take on contemporary culture.

Printed: 38 pages, 10" x 8", full-color interior ink

During the COVID19 pandemic the artist Jan Wurm turned to a book of Hiroshige prints-- turning one page each day to draw in conversation with the work of the past and the shared experiences and compositions.

Printed: 108 pages, 13×11 in, full-color interior ink

The endless waiting in the unending line waiting, waiting to cross over.

Printed: 22 pages, 10×8 in, full-color interior ink

In the afternoon park rounding the mountain: cows, cyclists, and the odd artist painting the scene as the light drops and the temperatures fall and the winds rise.

Printed: 46 pages, 10" x 8", full-color interior ink

Jan Wurm uses pencil, pen and brush to mirror the ordinary activities of daily

life and in these drawings reveals the underlying tensions of contemporary society.

Printed: 69 pages, 8.25" x 10.75", casewrap-hardcover binding, full-color interior ink

During the isolation of the COVID19 pandemic, a pencil drawing was made at the close of each day -- a few lines marking the time.

Printed: 68 pages, 7.75×9.75 in, full-color interior ink

A series of monotypes tethers the costumed matador and the bleeding bull -- under siege, but still charging until the bitter end.

Printed: 34 pages, 10×8 in, full-color interior ink

The onslaught of devastating fires, the inundation of floodwaters, and the decimation of the COVID19 virus are encapsulated in these expressionistic painted panels.

Printed: 32 pages, 7×7 in, full-color interior ink

these drawing follow a follower of a spiritual path

Printed: 66 pages, 7" x 7", full-color interior ink

In a catalogue of the exhibition at SHOH Gallery, the artist Jan Wurm's work is introduced by Julie McCray and discussed by art historian, John Seed.

Here is a collection of sport and leisure, social gathering and delight.

Printed: 60 pages, 7×7 in, full-color interior ink

Printed: 60 pages, 7" x 7", full-color interior ink

These drawings form a diary of Jan Wurm's car key during the first year her son had his license. Each page represents the relief of return of the young driver, car and the key.

Printed: 80 pages, 7" x 7", full-color interior ink

The line of Jan Wurm's pencil follows children in and out of the pool as they take watery lessons from freckle-faced, sunburned lifeguards.

Printed: 80 pages, 7" x 7", full-color interior ink

Meet darling Lili! She simply loves to dress up, twirl, and dance!!

Printed: 32 pages, 7.75×9.75 in, full-color interior ink

Colorful drawings setup a narrative of parents and children, friends and pets,

travel and repose.

Printed: 44 pages, 8.5" x 8.5", full-color interior ink

These paintings are a meditation on the human condition. The paintings

cover shifting ground as they push back and forth through time, exploring the multi-faceted

aspects of personal relationships.

Printed: 156 pages, 8.5" x 8.5", full-color interior ink

A series of daily drawings marked a global pandemic with momento mori tallying time.

Printed: 26 pages, 10×8 in, full-color interior ink

Centuries of lives lived within these stone walls still hold the silent presence of the past.

Printed: 62 pages, 12×12 in, full-color interior ink

Sometimes new beginnings don't always reveal how they will end. This book traces the short trajectory of a relationship.

Printed: 40 pages, 7" x 7", full-color interior ink

This collection of lush drawings leads us in, around, and about the female figure. Gesture, repose and reflection are revealed in these unique drawings.

Printed: 80 pages, 10" x 8", full-color interior ink

The work of these artists—in painting, drawing, sculpture, textile and video—looks at the culture of violence and the human toll it takes.

Printed: 32 pages, 10x8 in, full-color interior ink

Weathering foggy mornings, sun-drenched afternoons, and fiery sunsets, Jan Wurm has chronicled a stand of palm trees on a southern California beach.

Printed: 80 pages, 10" x 8", full-color interior ink

The graphite line penciled in captures the fleeting moment before an

expression takes form.

Printed: 68 pages, 8.25" x 10.75", casewrap-hardcover binding, full-color interior ink

Drawn on remnant objects of the past, these ghostlike images evoke experience and memory.

Printed: 32 pages, 7" x 7", full-color interior ink

Through slight shifts and transpositions, twelve monotypes show the shared experience of displacement.

Printed: 22 pages, 7.75" x 9.75", full-color interior ink

Printed: 80 pages, 7" x 7", full-color interior ink

These drawings and collages wander through the streets of Rome, finding new adventures at every turn.

Printed: 112 pages, 7x7 in, full-color interior ink

daily drawings providing a self portrait of close scrutiny

Printed: 74 pages, 8" x 10", full-color interior ink

Drawings from the night studio, each pose flowing seamlessly into the next

from week to week as arrested movement with hidden thoughts and manifest moods.

Printed: 80 pages, 8.25" x 10.75", casewrap-hardcover binding, full-color interior ink

A view of life and love at the seashore at a temperature rise of 2˚ Celsius colors these monotypes.

Printed: 26 pages, 7.75×9.75 in, full-color interior ink

From poolside play to the boxing ring, the very nature of our entertainments reveal all levels of serious engagement.

Printed: 80 pages, 10" x 8", full-color interior ink

a close study following the shaving of a head, the surfacing of expression and reading of emotion when the head is bared

Printed: 82 pages, 8" x 10", full-color interior ink

These pages, culled from the artist's sketchbooks, hold first thoughts, second considerations, sudden impulses, and fleeting fancies.

Printed: 110 pages, 10" x 8", full-color interior ink

The sketchbook records the scattered focus, the obsessed regard, the daily push of life during the COVID19 pandemic.

Printed: 110 pages, 12×12 in, full-color interior ink

Beautifully illustrated, "Staying Power" documents representative artwork of the 1980s alongside current work of eight women artists who have persevered throughout decades in the studio and in the community.

Printed: 42 pages, 10×8 in, full-color interior ink

The dehumanizing protocols and conditions of a prison visit echo in these pages.

Printed: 52 pages, 12×12 in, full-color interior ink

This book of drawings on photographs are a meditation on the isolation and prison walls that cut off the outside world.

Printed: 134 pages, 12×12 in, full-color interior ink

In all manner of sport and recreation, our personal nature colors our time in the natural environment and imbues it with calm, humor, and mystery.

Printed: 50 pages, 10×8 in, full-color interior ink

Whiskeytown National Recreation Area's forest, lake, and frolicking vacationers energized these drawings, collages, and watercolors.

Printed: 68 pages, 8" x 10", full-color interior ink

Realization: Jan Wurm, Creative Direction and Design: Elizabeth Addison, Design and Production: Carol Benioff, Introduction: Terri Cohn.

Each of the 29 participating artists donated a book to a museum, library, university or other organization to safeguard and highlight women’s contributions to Bay Area art. This project was initiated by artist luminary Edith Hillinger. For more info, https://bawalp.org/

The Bay Area Women Artists’ Legacy Project has assembled a book documenting the development and art practices of 23 Bay Area Artists active during the 1970s – a decade of great social and cultural change.

This beautiful full color illustrated book is presented with an introductory essay by art critic, Maria Porges, offering an essential overview of the decade.

This is the Bay Area Women Artists’ Legacy Project's third publication. The development and art practices of 22 Bay Area Artists active during the 1980s are documented in this beautiful full color book.

"It took decades for these twenty-two artists to be in the position where they can share their own stories that challenge prevailing metanarratives about the 1980s. Their BAWALP 1980s Legacy Project gives us a fuller picture of women’s artmaking in the Bay Area during the epoch."

~Tanya Augsburg

The art book series ‘101 contemporary artists and more…’ is an aesthetic version of, what nowadays art gives to the viewer, and how contemporary art and literature can bond together. With this series, we would like to show readers and viewers those artists and writers, who write today's history, artists to follow and the writers to read, address and confront with something unusual and unexpected, we would like to respond that makes us feel emotional, sometimes stupid, naked and at the same time natural.

Women in art history have revealed a significant engagement of females throughout the centuries in different countries. Their engagement has appeared in many forms, including women who were innovative in new ways of artistic expression, women as patrons, women as collectors, and women as sources of inspiration. Society has traditionally urged women to stay back and guard the privacy of their homes instead of opening their talents to the public. Women have been discriminated against for centuries and major institutions have not supported the careers of women artists. Although the number of women artists is growing, the situation has only slightly changed, and this is likely due to tradition and prestige.

However, change is occurring, and even if we look at the figures today, women in artworks can be seen and heard. Women artists are making an impact in the contemporary art world, creating powerful works of art that demand attention and recognition. Women are exploring diverse themes, styles, and mediums, pushing boundaries, and challenging traditional norms in the art world. As a result, female artists are gaining greater visibility and recognition, and the art world is increasingly recognizing the importance of women's contributions to the field.

Man as Object: Reversing the Gaze, an exhibition by Women's Caucus for Art. Women artists look at men and masculinity, re-envisioning gender, society and the politics of exposure.

Banned & Recovered: Artists Respond to Censorship underscores the current political climate and points to the vulnerability of guaranteed fundamental rights. More than 60 artists were invited to choose from a list of hundreds of banned and challenged books as a source for inspiration, many considered classics or works that have created an important cultural legacy.

FourSquared V is Arc Gallery's unique exploration of the works of sixteen San Francisco Bay Area artists. Each of the artists has produced sixteen small works, presented in sixteen clusters giving the audience the experience of sixteen micro solo exhibitions. Featured Artists: John Arbuckle, Lisa Congdon, Monica & Robin Denevan, Rebecca Fox, Paul Gibson, Joseph Kowalczyk, Lisa Levine & Peter Tonnigsen, Saundra McPherson, Howard Munson, Miwako Nishizawa, Sawyer Rose, Tim Svenonius, Kirsten Tradowsky, Truong Tran, Heather Wilcoxon, and Jan WurmCurated by Arc Gallery partners, Michael Yochum & Matthew Frederick. The exhibition is a reflection of the co-curators' strong and abiding interest in local, affordable art and the exhibition includes some of our most talented local artists.EXHIBITION: August 23 - September 23, 2014(Gallery closed on Saturday, August 30th)