Old friends Barbara Enochian and Usana Weaver have been an intrinsic part of the North State arts scene as founders and members of arts organizations, leaders in civic art programs and educators for nearly two decades. This year, they celebrate their personal journeys as artists and friends in a collaborative show at Fator’s Silk Purse Gallery.
Tell us how you met and became friends.
Usana: I had just moved into my new house and several months later, Barbara and her two sons moved in across the street. Sam and Kelly were the same age and Kelly made baby Brian hers from then on, calling him “my sweet baby Bubby.” Barb and I are the same age. I majored in Fine Arts and Barb majored in Art History. We had similar taste in things, both liked to cook and garden. My whole family just considered them closer than friends.
Barb: We became friends in 1979 when I moved into the newly constructed house across the street from Usana and her family of four little children. Her husband came over the first day and helped me put in the shelves in the kitchen cabinets, move heavy boxes, and get settled in a dozen ways. I had moved in alone because my then-husband was away on business, and I had a 2-year-old and a sick 1-month-old, so I was overwhelmed. I met Usana’s husband, but it was several weeks before I met her because, as luck would have it, her children all had the chicken pox and she, too, was overwhelmed! In time, our kids all played together and we became friends, celebrating holidays together and the ups and downs in our lives.
What is the funniest thing you can tell us about one another?
Usana: I get a kick out of remembering our L.A. trip. We were only going to be there one night and doing museums nonstop for two days, so I told her to pack light, which to me means one big purse. She brought her running shoes and clothes, yoga gear, etc., and was lugging that bag everywhere and it got heavy! I tried to laugh quietly.
Barb: Our kids made us laugh. Some of my funniest memories of those early years were of Usana’s daughter, Kelly, ringing our doorbell at 6 a.m. wearing her pajamas and asking if the boys could play. She was only 2 and still wearing her wet diapers. In turn, my youngest son used to go to her house naked and raid her refrigerator. We were like a big family.
Tell us what you admire about each other.
Usana: She bears her burdens with grace. She is also kind and generous and fun!
Barb: I have always admired Usana’s ability to focus and organize and achieve her goals. I remember when she went back to school at BYU to get her art degree. Her children were still young and we lived in Redding and no one could figure out how she was going to do this. But with her single mindedness and determination, she packed her youngest ones into the car and took off for summer sessions in Utah at BYU and eventually earned her degree. I was in total awe at her independence and discipline. She has used the same focus and organization to make Art Salon a powerful art society in Redding by devoting her time and energy to leading all the meetings and creating new opportunities for artists to show their work. And last but not least, she and her husband raised wonderful, responsible, charming, productive children who are now young adults making their own contributions to Redding and beyond.
You have had some fun travels together. What is your best travel memory for one of your adventures?
Usana: We had a great time in Italy, two weeks of the sheer joy of just looking, eating, shopping, laughing and late-night confessions.
Barb: Our most memorable trip was to Italy in 2007. I was newly divorced and new to traveling with “girlfriends” on a European trip. Well, this trip was definitely a girls’ trip as we spent 90 percent of our time shopping. There was not a piece of jewelry, pottery or leather we didn’t fondle and consider buying. To make matters more interesting, Usana had lost her family jewelry in a theft, so she asked us to help her replace what was stolen. We had a ball living vicariously through her purchases. It was thrilling to fall in love with a piece of jewelry and get her to buy it! Now when I see her wearing one of the pieces she bought in Tuscany, I feel a kind of ownership and secondhand pride!
Describe each other’s work to someone who has never seen it.
Usana: Barbara does some fine watercolors that are very appealing. She also does nonrepresentation work that is equally strong. She has a good color sense and a good eye.
Barb: Hmmm, how to describe Usana’s work? Usana paints in a representational style, most often landscapes done en plein air with oils. She also paints still-lifes in a European style, a little like the old Dutch masters, that feature figs in porcelain bowls, lemons in blue and white Delft, pewter pitchers, grapes… They are really very rich and warm. Her landscapes often depict a place she has visited in her travels. She has done some wonderful views of Cortona with fields soaring below the hill top village. She is brave to tackle some difficult perspectives in city scenes and adding cows or sheep to country scenes. Overall, though, I think she is interested in what she finds that is quaint and charming in her travels. Her work is realistic yet primitive in a sort of way I have trouble putting my finger on. There is a storybook quality to her work, a feeling that she wants to portray what is good and beautiful in the world.
Describe your favorite piece in the show by the other artist.
Usana: The floral pieces are so beautiful.
Barb: I am drawn to Usana’s painting “Elkhorn Slough.” It has a hazy atmosphere that mutes all the colors of the marshland. The hills in the distance are faded and blue, receding naturally into the distance while our eye is drawn to the calligraphic shapes of some sticks and their shadows jutting up out of the water in the foreground. I think she has captured the beauty in an ordinary scene, made romantic with the smokestack rising out of the background.
How does the other’s work complement yours?
Usana: Our styles are very different but it is evident that we both looked for positive images for this show.
Barb: My idea behind doing a show together is that we are friends, neighbors and artists of the same age and living in the same community, but the way we express ourselves is very different. I think a show with a diverse point of view creates interest in the viewer and a starting point for conversation about art. Usana’s art complements mine in its difference to mine in style and material. When I teach art classes, I always try to emphasize that what is most important in art is to express what comes up inside of you. What the viewer wants to see is who you are more than what you can do, so if you want to paint hot dogs or abstract scribbles or a majestic landscape, DO IT, and do it in a way that opens your heart!
See “Old Friends, New Art,” Jan. 26 to April 25, 2010, at Fator’s Silk Purse Gallery, 2600 Bechelli Lane, Redding. You are invited to a reception for the artists Friday, Jan. 22, 5 to 8 p.m., at Fator’s.
Adam Mankoski is a recent North State transplant who feels completely at home here. He enjoys experiencing and writing about the people, places and things that embody the free spirit of the State of Jefferson. He and his partner own HawkMan Studios and are the creators of Redding’s 2nd Saturday ArtHop. Email your North State events to adamm.anewscafe@gmail.com.
