By Teresa Mariani

	One of the works of Joseph Maruska, an artist on display now at Salisbury Fine Art in Avila Valley.

Stephen Pentak. Susan Venable. Aristedes Demitrios. Joseph Marsuka. Joe Andoe. Zedenek Sorf. These are all artists with works in galleries in New York, Chicago, Paris, London, Prague and...Avila Beach.

Well, technically, Avila Valley - but still just a short step from Avila Beach proper. Now, after you've had your fill of sand and snow cones, you can clean up, wander into Salisbury Fine Art, and find out what a $14,000 sculpture looks like.

Actually, it looks quite dynamic: five feet or so of burnished bronze and copper, a hammered column being admired by a little metal man with his arms uplifted. (The name of the sculpture is "Pray for Sunshine.") But the Andoe serigraphs of horses (starting at $1,600 each) are probably more in character with the Central Coast.

In between - both in price and placement inside the Salisbury Fine Art Gallery - are contemporary oil paintings from Yugoslavian artist Marsuka, and landscapes in oil on birch done by Midwesterner Pentak. Susan Venable's intricate woven copper and color pieces brighten the corners of the gallery.

So what's all this big city artwork doing in a tiny California beach town? The answer is Maridel Kennedy Salisbury. Salisbury wanted to open a Central Coast "sister gallery" to Susan Street Fine Art of Solana Beach. Salisbury has been working in fine art acquisition for decades, helping her younger sister run Susan Street Gallery in Solana Beach, near La Jolla California. Maridel and Susan are the daughters of former Cal Poly President Robert E. Kennedy.

Maridel Salsbury with an oil painting by Joseph Maruska.

Though she spent much of her life in Sacramento teaching after marrying agriculturalist John Salisbury, Maridel Salisbury was frequently on the road, taking in art expositions in San Francisco, Chicago and New York, meeting with well known artists and bringing their work to the Susan Street Gallery - and clients hungry for fine art.

Those included private collectors and patrons as well as corporate clients like Hewlett-Packard, Sony, and a host of California firms.

When John and Maridel Salisbury recently returned to the Avila Valley to plant 40 acres of grapes, John suggested building a showplace in the vineyard where Maridel could share the works of emerging and established artists. Maridel Salisbury plans to rotate works every few months, bringing pieces from internationally acclaimed artists to town.

The sunny art gallery is open on weekends from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m., and on weekdays by appointment (call 805-878-4243 for appointments). You can find it at 1250 San Luis Bay Drive; follow the vineyards west from the freeway to the iron gates. All works are for sale, and Salisbury also has on hand extensive catalogs of works by the artists on display.

Photo Courtesy Susan Street Gallery
	One of the works of Joseph Maruska, an artist on display now at Salisbury Fine Art in Avila Valley.

Salisbury Fine Art opened April 28, and on weekends since has drawn a mixture of vacationers, Central Coast residents - and Central Coast artists. "It's all so current, a lot of artists want to come and see these works," she explains.

Outside, the gallery is a visual feast as well. It sits in a converted nursery building at the heart of 30 acres of newly-planted Pinot Noir Grapes. The Salisbury's Avila Valley Vineyard should begin producing fruit in 2002, and the Salisburys plan on becoming winemakers then. John Salisbury intends to produce Pinot Noir under he Avila Valley Vineyard label.

"People are already saying, 'When are you going to have wine tasting?' " Maridel Salisbury says with a laugh. For now, visitors will have to be content drinking in the art at the gallery - which is already a visual treat.

Back to the Top