The Greater Bay Area Open (GBAO) is a juried fine-art-only competition and exhibition presented by the Los Gatos Art Association (LGAA), designed to promote fine art and artists from the greater Bay Area. Starting in 2015 and held biannually, the GBAO is now in its fifth showing and is presented biennially. This exhibition forges an exciting and dynamic association between the LGAA and NUMU, host to this collaboration.

Spanning twelve Bay Area counties, from Sonoma to Monterey, this juried event draws artists to compete for awards and recognition but also brings exposure to respected jurors, galleries, and art collectors from the region. The GBAO embraces artistic excellence, accepting both two-dimensional and three-dimensional fine art into a premier venue.

In every moment of creativity, there is an option to explore one’s perspective and expression. For this exhibition, LGAA invites artists to push work past usual boundaries to embrace the movement between potentiality and actuality. All artists are encouraged to interpret the theme, “Potentiality / Actuality” in their own way.

Vicki Gunter, Wild Iris (Iris douglasiana) …In Everything Series — clay, underglaze, stains, beeswax – 13 x 17 x 15

“While hiking in East Bay Regional Parks the pizazz of this native Iris captured me and caused a departure from my usual color palette. I also departed from my usual slab built technique to working solid, hollowing out and reassembling. This allowed me to push the clay into the arc of leaves and meeting of earth and sky. It is inscribed with several DNA helixes and is 7x’s natural size in clay.” — Vicki Gunter