Tahoe Art League Thursday Mingle with Dave Justice

SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. – While I have known local artist Dave Justice for 15 years, since our kids were at Sierra House School, I have one fond memory that I will always associate with him and his incredible artistic works. Soon after the Caldor Fire embers had cooled, he called me, said he was in the forest behind my house, and he asked if he could please plug his Sawzall into my outside saloon to harvest manzanita burl. I said, What are you talking about? I truly had no idea what he was up to in the woods that had been decimated by the dozers to save our neighborhood. Well, three orange extension cords later, I saw (pun fully intended) what he was doing with his power tool and woodworking talent.

He creates, sculpts, hones, hand-turns, and chisels the wood to form gorgeous human-like figures, whimsical shapes like eggs, and cubes perfect to set your cocktail on, truly unique forms made from the abundance of manzanita that was churned up by the big machines. So as we chatted on the phone recently, catching up on so many years, he told me that he really can’t say exactly when he fell in love with manzanita…but there was a cycle of cool little decor pieces that begat bigger wood reduction sculptures, and further on to assemblages. Mind you, Dave is a Jack of all Trades, a painter, a musician, and a vocalist. He is gregarious, outspoken, and wicked smart. Good-lookin’ with a kind and sensitive soul.  He told me that he missed painting, but he didn’t know what to paint. I had forgotten that painting is his original passion. He told me how he would stand in front of the canvas for one to two hours, and nothing real would happen. This was about a year or so ago.

Oh, did I forget to mention that he studied under Phyllis Shafer at LTCC, took quite a few classes with her, like Printmaking, where he learned technique and composition skills. He gives so much credit to Phyllis as most definitely one of the great influences on his skill set. He recalled fondly his Portraiture class with Kristin Boles, and her 2-D Design class that he enjoyed with his wife, Amber, in 2014.  We reminisced about Benko Gallery and other artist friends who are back here in Tahoe, working on their craft. Dave tells me he has recently re-envisioned his future.

Here’s the big picture: continue producing canvases, larger canvases like 4′ x 5′ and 6′ x 6′, almost mural-size canvases.  They will be over-developed, an abstract expressionist vibe. He admits that his current style is almost the opposite of what Phyllis does. He starts off loose and abstract, and then the painting takes shape of its own. Just then, in our conversation, he says, let me coin the term right now–Representational Abstract Expressionism. Reminded me of my last two fascinating interviews with Phyllis and Ellen Nunes, who both enjoyed creating a term to describe their unique styles.

So come join Dave and me this Thursday at Tahoe Art League Gallery at 3062 Lake Tahoe Blvd., for what will be a fun and engaging lecture with warm hospitality as we invite all to join us. Mingles start at 5:30 p.m., and we welcome you whenever you can get there. Friendly and casual gathering open to the public. Thank you for supporting our artists!