'Landmark' figures of Peninsula loom large in Lubin art show 'Landmark' figures of Peninsula loom large in Lubin art show (November 17, 2004)

By Renee Batti

Almanac News Editor

Most people think of inanimate objects -- buildings and landscape features -- when they hear the word "landmark." But Woodside artist Leah Lubin's vision of such things is an expansive one.

That's why the artwork she is showing in the exhibit, "Landmarks of San Mateo County: An Artist's Perspective," includes images of two "landmark" characters with strong ties to Menlo Park: Ken Kesey and Jerry Garcia.

The show opened last week at the San Mateo County History Museum, 777 Hamilton St., in Redwood City.

The Kesey piece is a collage made up of photographs Ms. Lubin took of the late author and social maverick one day in 1999. Mr. Kesey and a few other former "Merry Pranksters" had driven into La Honda on the old school bus the Pranksters made famous when they drove it cross-country in the mid-1960s.

The author lived in La Honda for a time in the 1960s, having bought property and a house there after publishing his wildly successful novel, "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest."

Before moving to La Honda, he lived in Menlo Park and attended Stanford University. During that time, he participated in a drug study at the Veterans hospital in Menlo Park, ingesting LSD and other drugs as part of a government-sponsored research project, according to biographers.

Today, he is an icon of the 1960s "counterculture," as is the late Jerry Garcia.

Ms. Lubin said she included her acrylic-on-canvas painting of Mr. Garcia of Grateful Dead fame in the "Landmarks" show because he was raised by his grandmother in Menlo Park.

Also included in the exhibit are landscapes of the Coastside and Skyline-area redwood forests.

A native of Israel, Ms. Lubin studied in art schools and centers in Israel and London. She has lived in the Skyline area for about 10 years.

Ms. Lubin said she considers herself a modernist and a colorist, "using color as one of my most important language tools." She has shown her work in many venues on the Peninsula and elsewhere in the state, and in exhibitions in Portland, Santa Fe, and Dallas.

More information about the current exhibit can be found at www.sanmateocountyhistory.com.

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