6 MONTEREY COUNTY WEEKLY OCTOBER 17-23, 2024 www.montereycountynow.com 831 On Sept. 21, as visitors explore the newly opened GumperCastro Library at the Monterey County Historical Society campus in Salinas, they are mostly focused on the painted, rectangular windows spilling brilliant light into the room above the bookshelves. On one is a painting of the historic Boronda Adobe—just a stone’s throw away outside the door—and on the other, an exquisite rendering of the local coastline at the Carmel River beach before the arrival of the Spanish, with the hues blending together like watercolors. There is also a framed glass piece, standing on a table in the center of the room, that is another painting of the Boronda Adobe and is for sale in a silent auction. It ultimately sells for $1,100. The questions many are asking are: How long did these take to paint? How were they painted? One of the visitors then turns to Gail Spencer, who is sitting quietly watching others admire her art, and says they should ask her. Suddenly, she’s surrounded by people, peppering her with questions. Spencer is a retired elementary school teacher who taught for years in the Santa Rita Union School District, but she was an artist before becoming a teacher. She majored in fine arts at Occidental College and then spent about a year-and-a-half studying at the Academy of Art in San Francisco, after which she worked as a graphic designer for many years before going into teaching. But it was her elementary school teaching that seeded her inspiration for her current art form: alcohol-based ink on glass. She had used it once for a crafts project in her elementary school class, and struck upon it again this past year to solve a novel problem: The Gumper-Castro Library was intended to be a recreation of a reading room from the 1880s, outfitted with materials from the former mansion of Jesse D. Carr, recovered from the City of Salinas when it was torn down in the 1960s. The problem—or one of them—that needed solving was what to do about the two window frames above the bookshelves. They were too small and constrained for stained glass, so Spencer, who along with her husband Tom are volunteers for the Historical Society, struck upon the idea of painting alcohol-based ink on the windows instead. (Tom, a retired contractor, did all the finishing woodwork in the library, a yearslong project.) “Those were my first big major paintings. The first one took two months, the second one took about six weeks,” Spencer says. “I would say my style is evolving.” That’s because the medium is new to her, and she says the alcohol presents unique challenges. “The alcohol is really different,” she says. “A lot of the way I paint it is to let the alcohol ink do its thing. It’s a really hard medium to control.” On a recent weekday at her North Salinas home, Spencer demonstrates the process in the upstairs studio. The piece she’s working on now is a commission for a University of Arizonarun hospital, where her daughter is a trauma surgeon, to paint a “monsoon sunset.” She’s currently working on the sky and clouds, and she squirts some blue ink on a pane of glass laid across her working table and then, with a latex glove on her right hand, uses a finger to smear the ink across it. Then she waits for the alcohol to evaporate, which will lock the pigment in place. To create clouds, she uses an aspirator—a rubber bulb you can squeeze to eject air—to blow on the ink. For the finishing touches, she uses various tools, including fine brushes, and in some cases, a toothbrush—for the Boronda Adobe piece she auctioned off, which was set at night, she put alcohol in a toothbrush and flecked it onto the glass, creating little clear circles that, in aggregate, make it look like a starry sky. “Every time I do a new piece, I learn new ways to manipulate the ink and textures,” she says. “That’s kind of the joy of it for me—experimenting. And also the colors of the ink are so brilliant. I think that’s why a lot of people are attracted to [the] medium.” Seeing it Through A retired elementary school teacher in Salinas has shown remarkable talent at her new hobby: painting on glass. By David Schmalz Gail Spencer says alcohol-based ink is a medium that is difficult to control—which makes her work all the more unique. Each piece is a constant learning process. “That’s kind of the joy of it for me— experimenting.” TALES FROM THE AREA CODE DANIEL DREIFUSS The Chamber Connects At the Monterey Peninsula Chamber of Commerce, we are connectors, providing our members with valuable introductions to new customers and referral sources. If you're looking for a platform to initiate important conversations and grow your business, we invite you to join our business association on the Monterey Peninsula! Join Today! • montereychamber.com • info@montereychamber.com • 831.648.5350
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy MjAzNjQ1NQ==