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Date: March 20, 2006 
Contact: Susan Tuttle
Montclair Gallery, 1986 Mountain Blvd., Oakland, CA 94611 510.339.4286

   Oakland's Montclair Gallery to Exhibit Artist Kim Vanderheiden's
"Bridges, Bricks and Bicyles" Featuring Commemorative Works of the Bay Bridge 

The mixed media artwork series “O Immortal Bridge” by Kim Vanderheiden debuts at Montclair Gallery this April. These ten depictions of the eastern span of the San Francisco/Oakland Bay Bridge were created by unusual means. They record the beauty of a Bay Area landmark soon to be extinct.

The name “O Immortal Bridge” was chosen partly in jest at the 20 years it’s taking to build the new Bay Bridge. It was also chosen because Vanderheiden is intrigued by the cantilever section on the Oakland side of the bridge and would like to share her appreciation of the tangled web-like structure.

Each of the ten works is one square yard, which began as a linoleum block print. Vanderheiden carved images of the bridge out of linoleum. Then six were printed in the middle of a San Francisco street using a steamroller and the help of a team of “printer’s devils” at the San Francisco Center for the Book in support of their 2004 and 2005 Roadworks fundraisers. They were inked “en plein aire” – a technique adopted by landscape painters and sidewalk artists but rarely used by printmakers. “Printing with road paving equipment requires a leap of faith on the part of the printer,” says Vanderheiden.

In addition to the “steamroller” printing, one of the works, affectionately dubbed “The Toyota Print,” was printed with Vanderheiden’s car. It was a painstaking process in which the car had to be driven back and forth over the block and print, as a guide helped the driver exactly line up the tire treads to produce even ink coverage. The remaining three were printed conventionally on a large etching press.

After printing, Vanderheiden spent a year and a half applying other media to the works, including acrylic paint, pencil, pastel, charcoal, colored pencil, silver leaf, and collage with distressed copper, cardboard, and window screen. On “The Toyota Print,” however, she leaves most of the media off. Only the lines of the bridge are present, and supplies are on hand at the gallery for visitors to graffiti the structure.

Vanderheiden maintains a printing studio in Oakland, where she formerly resided. She moved to Chicago last July. She is shown working on one of the bridge pieces, while holding her new son, Eli, who allows her to continue working under his watchful eye.

Some of Vanderheiden’s earlier works on the theme of structure will also be exhibited, including prints from “88 Renditions of an Old Green Bike.” There will also be a sneak preview of an upcoming series of magnetic acrylic paintings of The Maze, the massive freeway exchange in Oakland. Viewers can rearrange the painting by moving the cars around.

Kim Vanderheiden will be present at the exhibit's opening reception on Saturday, April 8, 3-5 p.m. The exhibit dates are April 8 through May 17. Montclair Gallery, 1986 Mountain Blvd., Oakland, CA 94611. Gallery hours are Wednesday through Sunday from 12-5 p.m. Contact the gallery at 510.339.4286 for more information.