Everything about the Earth and its elements are good, said BC art professor Marlene Tatsuno.
And she loves manipulating and shaping those elements: clay, glass, etc. Ever since high school, Tatsuno has enjoyed the sensations of working with clay and glass.
At Tatsuno’s “Hands On: Home Grown” reception on Oct. 16 at Bakersfield College’s Wylie and May Louise Jones Gallery in BC’s Grace Van Dyke Bird Library, the public got a look at her handiwork. Many attendees made favorable remarks about her product.
Of Tatsuno’s “Chips and Chilies” glass and stoneware presentation, Taft College theater student, Morgan Von Sydow, 20, said that he never thought of the possibility of glass being shaped into chilies and chips.”It opened my mind,” Von Sydow said.
Beverly Munguia, 19, BC art student, concurred with Von Sydow and admitted she simply loved the display.
Of Tatsuno’s “Rocks” display consisting of variegated stoneware clays and sand, William Guerra, 21, theater student, remarked that he was fascinated with the display’s different shapes and colors.
Former students of Tatsuno’s, retired Bakersfield elementary school teacher, Phil Romley and retired San Diego photojournalist Sally Larsen admitted being blown away by Tatsuno’s blown glass displays and delicately colored jewelry. Another former student, Lynne Helfrick, admitted to taking all of Tatsuno’s jewelry classes, and she said that she gained a lot of useful knowledge from the classes. Helfrick ran a bead and jewelry store in Bakersfield, but she is now retired. Her husband, a silversmith, took many of Tatsuno’s jewelry classes, and the experience helped him improve his craft.
Tatsuno’s displays included her microcosmic “Ancient City,” which consists of pit-fired and high-fired stoneware.
Tatsuno’s work will be on display at the gallery until Nov. 25.