Reverberations, On View at Sala Gallery San Pedro

Let your imagination play at SALA Gallery San Pedro. SALA, born of local artist Amy Thornberry and friends, unites to share art and ideas in a friendly homey environment. The mission of Sala Gallery is to build community through sharing and enjoying art.

Reverberations, on view at SALA, or Thornberry’s home near San Pedro High School, has recently been extended to Nov. 1. Sala is Spanish for living room which fits well with Thornberry’s mission and is a good antidote for our worldly concerns.

As you enter the living room of the home gallery, two pieces that look as though they were made for their fresh and calm surroundings will attract your attention. 

Beth Elliot’s installation piece Lifeboat resembles a cradle – of sorts. She works with natural elements such as palm fronds for many of her works. Lifeboat is a mixed media piece of natural elements hanging from swirling hardware and features a seabird and other charming accents telling the story of this little vessel through Elliot’s whimsical imagination. 

Algae Blooms by Nancy Voegeli-Curran is another mixed media work that blossoms with delicate, powdery surfaces in primarily earthy greens and yellow. Her unique works feature lush colors and always call attention to our precarious environment, beautifully so.

Also on view are Thornberry’s abstract window boxes featuring a mixture of collage and paint, notably painted on the outside of the window box glass, creating intriguing, often surprising works. 

Other works are displayed in various rooms throughout the home and Thornberry is an outgoing and welcoming host who is enthusiastic about showing her guests around.

Both Elliot and Voegeli-Curran have studios at Angels Gate Cultural Center. Thornberry is a movie set painter and yogi who moved to San Pedro in 2000 to join Angels Gate Cultural Center and study with Marie Thibeault, Linda Day, Fran Siegel and Carol Shaw-Sutton at California State University, Long Beach.

“These amazing women artists drew me in,” said Thornberry. “I then got my degree and raised my daughter here … art got a little bit of a back seat.”

Now, with her daughter grown and Thornberry recently returned from a post pandemic hiatus and really craving community, she decided to call up some artist friends and start SALA.

“I love this art community by the sea,” Thornberry added.

Time: Reverberations runs to Nov. 1

Details: Contact: 424-232-5812; amytberry65@icloud.com to make an appointment 

Venue: SALA, 1055 w 17th St., San Pedro