Montaña de Oro is a golden inspiration for local painters

Her painting “Shine Like the Sun” will be featured in the San Luis Outdoor Painters for the Environment exhibition “A Visual Celebration — Montaña de Oro,” which celebrates the 50th anniversary of the state park known for its spectacular scenery.

“It’s a pretty awesome place,” said Shryver, president of San Luis Outdoor Painters for the Environment (SLOPE). “It’s very beautiful, very special.”

The tribute show and sale runs through March 25 at the Morro Bay Museum of Natural History. A portion of proceeds will benefit the Central Coast State Parks Association, a nonprofit organization that works in partnership with California State Parks to promote public awareness and stewardship of the region’s natural resources and cultural heritage.

Coinciding with the show’s month-long run is the free talk “Panel at the Park: Crossroads of Central Coast’s Art, Nature & Commerce,” at 2 p.m. Feb. 21 at the Morro Bay museum. Angela Tahti, executive director of Arts Obispo, the San Luis Obispo County Arts Council, will moderate a discussion featuring San Luis Obispo gallery owner Peter Steynberg, Atascadero activist Eric Greening and Sasha Irving, executive director of Studios on the Park in Paso Robles, among others.

According to Schryver, “A Visual Celebration — Montaña de Oro” features paintings by all 11 active members of SLOPE, a group of professional artists dedicated to portraying and preserving the beauty of the Central Coast. (Area newcomer Jonathan Gaetke, who’s applied to join the group, is also showing his work.)

SLOPE uses art to attract attention to specific sites in the region — think the Elfin Forest in Los Osos, the Irish Hills in San Luis Obispo or Hearst Ranch in San Simeon — and to raise money to preserve those local lands as open space, wildlife habitat and farming, ranching and recreation areas.

By capturing those landscapes on canvas, “We bring awareness not only to what’s out there, but also (places) that are in a precarious position of being sold and developed,” Schryver explained.

In the case of Montaña de Oro, which opened as a state park in 1965, SLOPE hopes to remind the public about the beauty of more than 8,000 acres of coastal bluffs blanketed with fragrant eucalyptus groves and stands of Monterey pine trees. With its fog-draped peaks and secluded sandy beaches, the state park is a favorite destination for artists.

“There are not many areas that are along the coast that have the variety” of Montaña de Oro, said landscape painter and longtime SLOPE member Dotty Hawthorne, who moved to Portland, Ore, last year. “It’s just so fun to be out there.”

Los Osos resident Larry Kappen, who joined SLOPE in 2010, regularly visits the park.

“When you have a location like that, what you’re seeing is the effects of the ocean and the land, and that’s what interests me,” he said. “The fact that you can have hills and low country and mountains and also the sea (in one spot) … It’s just an amazing place.”

Artists cherish park’s diversity

For “A Visual Celebration — Montaña de Oro,” Kappen revisited a few of his favorite sites.

His painting “Spooner Ranch House” offers a back view of the 19th-century home of pioneer Alden B. Spooner, Jr., whose Pecho Ranch property is now part of Montaña de Oro, while “Spooner’s Cove” depicts a twisted tangle of tree limbs against the sweeping backdrop of the title cove. Another painting looks at windswept Grotto Rock.

“New things present themselves (every time),” Kappen said. “That’s the fun of it. You just never know what you’re going to respond to.”

For Templeton artist Bruce Everett, a SLOPE member since 2008, it was water. He visited Montaña de Oro about a month ago during a king tide, when ocean waves rise higher than usual.

He captures the drama of waves crashing against rocks in the paintings “Winter Surge” and “Wild Surf at Spooner’s Cove.”

“I’d like to tell you a story of drama and pain, but actually it was a pretty nice day,” Everett said with a laugh. “Most of the activity was in the water, not the air.”

Preparing for the SLOPE show encouraged Everett to explore Montaña de Oro more than he has in the past. “One thing that came out of this project was a realization of how diverse this park is,” the painter said.

Schryver hopes “A Visual Celebration — Montaña de Oro” will help others reach the same conclusion.

“In our own backyard, we have this incredible beauty,” she said.

This story was originally published February 8, 2016 at 7:33 AM with the headline "Montaña de Oro is a golden inspiration for local painters."