Quirky Berkeley

The Quirky Material Culture of Berkeley

Quirky Berkeley
  • Walkers
  • Help us!
  • Links
  • Blogs/Albums
  • Contact us
  • Latest Posts
  • Quirky Berkeley in the Media
June 10, 2017 by tomdalzell

Debbie Vinograd and Berkeley’s Magical Doors

 

Quirky Berkeley 05-04-2017

Debbie Vinograd has lived and painted in Berkeley since 1974.

She was born in Berkeley in 1951. While she was young, her parents moved to southern California. Her father was Jerome Vinograd.

Quirky Berkeley in Berkeley, Calif., on May 4th, 2017.

This is a portrait by Debbie of her father.

Screen Shot 2017-05-08 at 8.13.42 PM

This photograph of Vinograd is from the archives of the California Institute of Technology, where he taught biochemistry.  He specialized in density gradient ultracentrifugation and DNA supercoiling.  Debbie says that he was announced to have won a Nobel Prize and died with the plane tickets in his pocket.

When Debbie finished college in 1973 she came to visit her big sister Julia in Berkeley.

Quirky Berkeley 05-04-2017

Julia Vinograd, by Debbie Vinograd, from a photo by Bob Fischer

Julia, a poet who has been part of the DNA of Berkeley for almost 50 years, opened magical Berkeley doors for Debbie.

Quirky Berkeley 05-04-2017

Debbie likened Julia’s introduction to Berkeley to their girls days when they sat by a Ming lamp in her grandfather’s house.  The girls thought that the lamp’s name was Ming.  They – mostly Julia – made up stories about Ming’s life.  There were five green marbles.  Julia told Debbie stories about the marbles. I’ll bet that these were marvelous stories.

So it was in Berkeley.  Magical doors opening.  To this day, most of Debbie’s friends are from Julia’s world – poets, not painters.

Vinograd paints.  Constantly.

Quirky Berkeley 05-04-2017

Quirky Berkeley 05-04-2017

The three painters she admires the most are Van Gogh, Mark Rothko, and Leonora Carrington.

Lenore Carrington by Debbie Vinograd

Leonara Carrington by Debbie Vineyard

Van Gogh and Rothko you probably know.  Carrington was an English surrealist who lived and painted in Mexico.

Some of Vinograd’s paintings:

unnamed

 

This is the first in a series that Vinograd is now painting.  Instead of painting where she felt she was supposed to paint, she let her hand take the brush where she wanted to paint.

Quirky Berkeley 05-04-2017

Quirky Berkeley 05-04-2017

Quirky Berkeley 05-04-2017

This is Jacqueline Cooper, formerly the Executive Director of Autobody Fine Art in Alameda.

Quirky Berkeley 05-04-2017

Quirky Berkeley 05-04-2017

Quirky Berkeley 05-04-2017

Quirky Berkeley 05-04-2017

This painting is truly remarkable.  On my third visit it was hanging on a sunny wall at the top of the stairs leading up to Vinograd’s apartment.  There has to be somebody out there who sees the glory of this painting and wants to buy it, no?

Quirky Berkeley 05-04-2017

Quirky Berkeley 05-04-2017

Quirky Berkeley 05-04-2017

Quirky Berkeley 05-04-2017

Quirky Berkeley 05-04-2017

This is a friend of Vinograd’s, MK Chavez, a writer and a champion of public health. She is the author of Virgin Eyes (Zeitgeist Press). Mothermorphosis (Nomadic Press) was released in March 2016 and was followed by her full-length collection Dear Animal, (Nomadic Press). Chavez is co-founder/co-curator of the Berkeley-based monthly reading series Lyrics & Dirges, and the co-director of the Berkeley Poetry Festival. She believes in literary confrontation and its capacity to obliterate all forms of oppression.

Quirky Berkeley 05-04-2017

What dignity in this man’s face!

Quirky Berkeley 05-04-2017

DV35Vinograd’s apartment is not just about her paintings, it is about things, fantastical things, tableaux, things that she paints.

Quirky Berkeley 05-04-2017

Quirky Berkeley 05-04-2017

Quirky Berkeley 05-04-2017

Quirky Berkeley 05-04-2017

Quirky Berkeley 05-04-2017

Quirky Berkeley in Berkeley, Calif., on May 4th, 2017.

Quirky Berkeley 05-04-2017

Quirky Berkeley in Berkeley, Calif., on May 4th, 2017.

David Kern made this lamp from Tom Tuthill collages.  Wow!

Quirky Berkeley 05-04-2017

Sheri Tharpe carved this mask.  I have posted about her – small world!  After Debbie’s sister Julia, Sheri is the first to see Debbie’s new paintings.  Small world!

Quirky Berkeley 05-04-2017

Vinograd spotted these fairies at Urban Ore and for months tried to buy them, only to be told that they were not for sale.  In the end, she was gifted them.  And she has painted them.

Quirky Berkeley 05-04-2017

Vinograd’s apartment is also about Tom Tuthill, her partner until his death in 2009.

Tom Tuthill by Debbie Vinograd

Tom Tuthill by Debbie Vinograd

Tom Tuthill by Debbie Vinograd

Tom Tuthill by Debbie Vinograd

Tom Tuthill by Debbie Vinograd

Tom Tuthill by Debbie Vinograd

Tuthill was a collagist.
Quirky Berkeley 05-04-2017

He used scissors and glue. His workspace was just off the kitchen.  It is virtually unchanged in the years since his death.

Quirky Berkeley 05-04-2017

Quirky Berkeley 05-04-2017 Quirky Berkeley 05-04-2017

Tuthill’s world – Burroughs and bats, macabre and beat.

His art is on the apartment walls.  Here is some of it:

Quirky Berkeley 05-04-2017 Quirky Berkeley 05-04-2017

Quirky Berkeley 05-04-2017

Quirky Berkeley 05-04-2017 Quirky Berkeley 05-04-2017

Literature from a 2011 exhibition of the work of Vinograd and Tuthill says of his collages:  “He left behind literally thousands of similarly sized, intricately fabricated, collaged postcards. Ranging from nearly abstract, the torn jagged edges of pieces of paper defining areas of intense color, to works of dense symbology with a spattering of text, these artworks were carefully stored in photograph albums, ordered chronologically as the pieces were finished.”  More about him – in that literature.

Vinograd clarifies that few of the collages were abstract or nearly abstract or had torn jagged edges.  These were what Tuthill called “rip-ups.”  They evoked Dada.  

There are shoeboxes filled with Tuthill collages, and more than 30 portfolios.

Vinograd has her grandfather’s bookcase in her bedroom.  It too is filled with one-off Tuthill collage postcards.

Quirky Berkeley 05-04-2017

Of the bookcase, Julia said: “That involves explaining Grandpa Ben’s bookcase. It was one of those old-fashioned glass front bookcases and you locked the little glass doors with the key and mother kept the key in a candy dish on top of the bookcase and I wasn’t supposed to get anywhere near it. When I was supposed to be in bed and asleep, I’d wait until they were asleep, get on a stool, climb up to the top of the bookcase, steal the key, open the bookcase, choose a book and get a knife because many of the books hadn’t even had their pages slit and I’d take a flashlight and the knife to bed with me and read a book. That was exciting. They weren’t always what I was looking for, but I knew it was a forbidden pleasure. I’d get in trouble if they caught me. My grandfather had some very strange books. The complete works of Arthur Machen. De Quincey for God’s sake. de Sade. Tolkien: Combine Winnie the Pooh and the Wagner Ring Trilogy.”

Vinograd and Tuthill have created more art in their lifetimes than could be expected of ten artists in several lifetimes.  Each collage and each painting tells a story, just as Julia Vinograd told stories based on five green marbles.

If you are interested in seeing more or buying Vinograd’s work, call her at (510) 849-4385.

My friend is as enchanted by the five green marbles story as I am.  He mentioned, of course, David and the five smooth stones that he selected before going into battle with Goliath.

And my friend is every bit as enchanted with the bright colors of that still-life as I am.   And he keyed in on the “magical doors” that were opened for Vinograd when she first came to Berkeley.  “Magical doors opening indeed” is what he said, thinking of his early days here.

There still are magical doors in Berkeley, but not as many and not as easily found, but they are here and you never know when you will walk through one.  The nexus is not obvious, but I am reminded of the words of the hymn “I Sing a Song of the Saints of God”:

They lived not only in ages past;
there are hundreds of thousands still.
The world is bright with the joyous saints
who love to do Jesus’ will.
You can meet them in school, on the street, in the store,
in church, by the sea, in the house next door;

The point is – Berkeley is still bright with joyous saints, with people who, in Kerouac’s words, “are mad to live, mad to talk, mad to be saved, desirous of everything at the same time, the ones who never yawn or say a commonplace thing, but burn, burn, burn, like fabulous yellow roman candles exploding like spiders across the stars.”  We still have magic doors.

The joy of art and color and the great love affair of Debbie Vinograd and Tom Tuthill scream BIG LOVE.  This is the Berkeley I love.

A show of Vinograd’s paintings is scheduled for July at Jumpin’ Java, a coffee house at 6606 Shattuck Avenue.  

What does my friend think of these photos?

Quirky Berkeley in Berkeley, Calif., is seen on May 12th, 2016.

Posted in Uncategorized. RSS 2.0 feed.
« Shattuck Avenue Relief & Facades
Eli Leon – A Life of Making Art and Collecting »

9 Responses to Debbie Vinograd and Berkeley’s Magical Doors

  1. will d squier says:
    June 11, 2017 at 2:42 am

    I always enjoy meeting ” angel headed hipsters,” whether thru the blogs like these or in person. ( I once gave Julia a ride when when she was hitch hiking). Love the bright colors in Debbie’s paintings and look forward to the exhibit at Jumpn Java. Btw, support this cafe! Mike is one of us and the vibe, the coffee and the art is true. Finally, love the Kerouac quote. Time for me to paint that on my wall!! Thanks, Tom.

    Reply
  2. Jan Steckel says:
    June 13, 2017 at 9:32 pm

    Oh my god, you have really captured Debbie Vinograd and the synergism of her relationship with her writer sister. Their apartments are magical realms. I try to enter each at least once a month to reestablish my relationship with creativity. Thank you for this beautiful record of Deborah’s work and life (and of her late partner Tom Tuthill’s, too!)

    Reply
  3. Marjorie Lynne says:
    July 1, 2017 at 7:21 pm

    My friendship with Debbie is so unique. We make few demands of each other and speak in a tongue that few understand. It is reserved for painters who have spent many hours alone creating on canvas with brushes and paint. I am the owner of two paintings of hers… living in the room with them brings me joy every day. Please come to her art show and experience her creative energy!

    Reply
  4. jean hearst says:
    February 16, 2018 at 10:39 pm

    Debbie,

    Sorry ro be unable to give you a ride to the exhibit. As usual I am overwhelmed and
    have 3 house guests arriving soon. Hope you are able to find someone else to help.

    I stumbled on your WEB page while looking for information about tours in Marsha Donahue’s garden. It is not clear she is still doing this.

    This presentation of you and your work is great.

    Jean Hearst

    Reply
    • tomdalzell says:
      February 17, 2018 at 4:55 am

      This is Tom Dalzell. I run the Quirky Berkeley website. The website is not Debbie’s.

      By the way, Marcia Donahue still opens her garden to the public on Sunday afternoons.

      Tom

      Reply
  5. m says:
    September 7, 2019 at 5:46 pm

    Tom,
    You are such a treasure! Your posts reinforce again and again why I feel at home here for so many years. Your love for Berkeley and it’s people who make this city special shows through every story! Thanks for showing me “my” Berkeley that I would otherwise never see or hear about. Priceless.
    Thank you, thank you.
    Long live the arts and quirks!

    Reply
  6. Pingback: Quirky Berkeley | Jon Balderston’s Show in Alameda

    • tomdalzell says:
      September 7, 2019 at 6:41 pm

      Thank you thank you. You inspire me. I sometimes wonder if I am writing to a void. But, no, we are all still here. We love our Berkeley. Tom

      Reply
  7. Ezekiel Krahlin says:
    December 2, 2020 at 3:45 am

    I just learned a few days back, that Debbie’s sister passed on two years ago. I would like her to see this blog entry I posted in Julia Vinograd’s memory, if anyone can do that for me. Thanks!

    http://zekeblog.wordpress.com/2020/11/27/julia-vinograd-in-a-dream/

    Reply

Leave a Reply to m Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Here you will find photos of the oddball, whimsical, eccentric, and the near-rhyme quirky material culture of Berkeley.
Read More

Subscribe

Categories

  • Animals
  • Architecture
  • Cars, Trains and Planes
  • Food
  • Gone
  • Graffiti
  • Ma
  • Mailboxes
  • Major Quirky
  • Miscellaneous
  • Murals
  • Painted
  • Peace
  • Signs
  • Walks

All content © 2023 by Quirky Berkeley. Base WordPress Theme by Graph Paper Press