Meditations: an exhibition of Chinese furniture and scholar objects of the Ming and Qing dynasties with the orotone photographs of Sally Larsen.

In Chinese society the scholar occupied an elevated position, different in kind from the respect accorded to their western counterparts. After years of arduous study and increasingly difficult examinations, the most talented became government officials, whether in the capital or the provinces. Those who failed frequently retired to the countryside where they became scholar hermits. In the highly refined environments they created, the emphasis was on creating an atmosphere in which true peace of mind might be most readily achieved. To facilitate their escape from the world and achieve inner peace, they pursued many activities, including meditation, calligraphy, composing poems and gardening.

This exhibition will recreate the mood of a scholar's environment. The desks, bookcases and incense stands that created an environment conducive to study and reverie will provide the setting for a selection of scholar objects, carefully selected implements and objects chosen for their usefulness and for their symbolism. A meditation chair served to elevate the aspirant a few inches above the floor and to support him in his intense devotions. Presiding over everything will be a Yuan to Ming dynasty gilt-bronze image of the Buddha seated in the position of royal-ease.

Sally Larsen has reinvigorated the difficult orotone technique. The golden glow of her photographs of Chinese gardens and martial artists creates an atmosphere conducive to the establishment of a meditative state. Sally Larsen sees culture flowing from the East in Meditations reflected in gardens, architecture and action. Undoubtedly, her Aleut/Apache roots are reaching into ancient memories. A life long appreciation of Asian aesthetics informs her photography, whether in China, Kyoto, California, or Canada, while twenty years of martial arts studies have given her an inside view of the culturally sustaining Chinese world community. Wide- ranging in her passions which span the expressive potential of digital tools to surfing and Tai chi, she has continued to refine her hand gold leafed orotones.

Dragon's Head in a Shanghai Garden, the gold itself suggesting the yellow dragon of fluency and writing, is a quintessential Chinese motif, as are the musicians in the Shanghai teahouse. Jumping a quarter of the way around the globe, Sally Larsen finds material master Xu Guo Ming in San Francisco's Golden Gate Park. In these intriguing action shots of animal emulation, Larsen captures the action with her perfect timing of multiple, hand-held strobe flashes timed by her refined knowledge of Hsin-I, an ancient martial form. Buddha's View, the world through Buddha's eyes as he sat under the Bo Tree, speks again to her highly non-material perspective.