by Aeron Noe

Artists’ work is displayed along the trails that wind around the Kings Mountain Firehouse. All photos courtesy of the Kings Mountain Art Fair.

“It’s rare you get to wander under the redwoods and look at fine art,” says Dawn Neisser, executive director of the Kings Mountain Art Fair. This annual event has been a Bay Area tradition for 46 years. Indeed, Kings Mountain is best known for two things: its redwood forest setting and the high quality of the artists who exhibit there.

Artists are selected by a jury, which weighs the quality of art across a variety of mediums and prices, so acceptance into the fair is a badge of honor for many artists. This year, out of 135 juried artists, more than 20 are local to the Bay Area. They will be featuring their work at the Kings Mountain Firehouse in the hills above Woodside over Labor Day weekend, Sept. 5-7.

Terry Steinke is an established  San Francisco artist known for his etchings featuring trees. He has been exhibiting at Kings Mountain for 20 years now, and says Kings Mountain is his favorite show in   the Bay Area. That statement carries weight, since Steinke exhibits at no fewer than 12 shows a year, primarily in the Bay Area.

Steinke creates what he calls “atmospheric perspectives,” or scenes that invite you to walk into them and disappear. He says the trails through the redwoods on Kings Mountain echo his aesthetic, making it the ideal gallery to show off his work.

Over the years, Steinke has developed a loyal clientele who come to Kings Mountain looking for his work. The cost of his paintings has increased as his reputation has become more established. This year, he is working on new pieces specifically for Kings Mountain fairgoers.

Hugo Lecaros is a South Bay artist whose Peruvian watercolors and oils are perennial favorites at Kings Mountain.

Kathleen Alexander, a watercolor painter from Pacifica, is an example of a featured local artist who is at a more nascent stage of her career. Alexander has built her art career while managing a second, stay-at-home job and raising a family.

Her tropical-themed watercolors of flowers and koi fish are gaining attention nationwide. This year, one of her watercolors was awarded the Daniel Smith Award from the Northwest Watercolor Society.

This will be Alexander’s fourth year at Kings Mountain. She says that being in the show “adds a stamp of approval” to your work.

Dean Turner, a Burlingame-based jewelry artist who will be exhibiting at the fair for the second time this year, does not do many art shows.  He chose to apply to Kings Mountain because he wanted to be involved in shows that had high-quality art. While he primarily sells his work through wholesale fairs and galleries, he enjoys Kings Mountain for the opportunity it gives him to get a reaction from customers.

Turner works with silver, gold and gemstones, juxtaposing organic shapes over formal frames. This year he is working on a new style, fusing 18-carat gold squares onto oxidized silver. The gold and gems get added sparkle when contrasted with the blackened silver.

Redwood trees provide a dramatic gallery space for paintings.

Turner echoes Steinke and Alexander in summing up why he attends Kings Mountain: “The location is beautiful. The art is high quality, and the people running the show are very nice and very efficient.”

The community that runs the event is one of the secrets to its 46 years of success. The art fair is a fundraiser for the Kings Mountain Volunteer Fire Brigade and the local elementary school, and is staffed completely by volunteers.

Neisser says, “Because we’re not a sponsored event managed by a production company, there isn’t the ‘sameness’ you find at so many fairs. What you see is a bringing together of the artists, the community and the fairgoers.”

Kings Mountain provides the opportunity to meet the artists and learn about their techniques.

The jury process ensures a selection across a variety of mediums, including pottery, as pictured here.

Kings Mountain offers lots of fun opportunities for children, from face painting to creating their own works of art.