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A unique combination of gold leaf, Japanese art, handmade paper, acrylic and collage, drawn together by the inspiration of local wildlife, are on display through July 27 at Viewpoints Gallery in downtown Los Altos.
The works, part of a collection titled “Simplicity & Elegance in Nature,” were created by Woodside artist Amy Rattner.
Her art also leans into the aesthetics of the Art Deco movement in the 1920s and Japanese textile designs and woodblock prints created in the late 19th century. The Japanese Arts and Crafts movement, mingei, from the late 19th and early 20th centuries, celebrated a return to handmade crafts (mostly utilitarian) as a response to industrialization.
“Living in Woodside provides a lot of inspiration,” said Rattner, a Stanford University alumna and a Woodside resident since 2008. “The window off our main deck is above the Glens, so we have a treetop view of all the trees we have in the Glens. There are large birds: hawks, vultures, ravens. … I feel so fortunate to be able to live here, and if you sit long enough and wait, you’ll see something really cool.”
A recent tour of the Baylands with bird photographer Rick Morris, along with visits to Arastradero Preserve and Coyote Point, helped inspire the work. Rattner’s art has been juried into local, national, and international exhibitions and has appeared in magazines such as Mountain Home, Southwest Art and Palette Magazine.
She notes that she wanted to do a collection that celebrated simplicity, and natural shapes of animals against a simple backdrop.
“It also comes from Japanese design, the concept that less is more,” she said. “The art I’m drawn to has a simplicity to it. … I’m proud of the collection. I’m definitely happy with it because I’ve had so much fun creating it; that’s the biggest sort of yardstick I use (for success).”
The work is also a tribute to her mother, who grew up in Palo Alto and studied for a year in Kyoto, Japan, during college. Rattner’s childhood home, located in the hills between Salinas and Monterey, was full of Japanese art: handmade baskets, woodblock prints and screens, along with and a koi pond.
During a trip to Santa Fe in October 2024, she noticed artists using gold leaf and wanted to try out a new medium. It was a challenging process to learn. She did extensive research, practiced a lot and learned how to use the medium through trial and error, such as learning to seal the gold so it didn’t tarnish.
“It’s something I don’t know I would have considered otherwise,” said Rattner, who typically works on one to two series of pieces a year. “It reminded me of the Japanese screens I had in my house (as a child). … There are many, many layers of gold leaf and I re-leafed it if I couldn’t clean it up.”
Rattner discovered collage while taking a Stanford University Continuing Studies class with Michael Azgour in 2022, where she learned work in abstraction and collages.
She began painting wildlife over 18 years ago while on modified bed rest while pregnant with her second son. She was allowed to go to class and attended drawing class at Pacific Art League in Palo Alto. Before that, she ran her own design firm, Kindred-Storey Designs, which she started after doing graphic design and technical writing for Stanford’s library.
She enrolled in Steve Curl’s watercolor class as well.
“I made time to do it even though I had little ones,” she said. “I loved the class and stayed going to that watercolor critique class for 15 years. It was a great way to meet other artists.” The Pacific Art League ran a program called Community Sites that would place artwork (by artists like Rattner who were juried into the program) in local churches, libraries, hotels and cafes.
Rattner advises aspiring artists to set aside time daily to be creative.
“Exercise that part of your brain, move away from always being sort of results-oriented,” she said. “Both touring galleries and being surrounded by art in Santa Fe and other artists in this area (the Peninsula) — (artists are) truly generous, wonderful people who are willing to share so much of what they do.”
The collection at Viewpoints is still a work in process, as some of her larger pieces sold before the show even opened, and Rattner is creating new pieces to replace those she has sold.
Her collection will move to Art Bias in San Carlos, where she has studio space, in September.
For more information on Rattner, go to amyrattnerart.com. Work from this collection is available for sale.
“Simplicity & Elegance in Nature” works by Amy Rattner. Viewpoints Gallery, 315 State St., Los Altos. Through July 27. Wednesday to Friday, noon to 6 p.m.; Saturday and Sunday, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. 650-941-5789. viewpointsgallery.com.
