Spotlight on Ohlone
Auer’s art shines at Olive Hyde
By Andrew Cavette, Staff writer.
Thursday, December 6, 2007 — Monitor.
Shelby Auer stands by a rack of her handmade cards on sale over the weekend at the Olive Hyde art gallery in Fremont..
— Photos by Andrew Cavette.
Executive Assistant in the President’s Office, Shelby Auer, showed and sold works of folded paper at the nearby Olive Hyde art gallery over the weekend.
The Olive Hyde Art Guild’s annual “Holiday for the Arts” show celebrated its 25th anniversary with a well attended gala event on Nov. 30. The sale continued through Dec. 2. The City of Fremont as well as several foundations and corporations sponsor “Holiday for the Arts.” Tickets to Friday’s gala event cost between $12.50 and $15 and the proceeds from the show benefit visual arts in the community.
Auer’s work included handmade cards and other framed, folded paper pieces. She likes to use a great deal of recycled paper goods. Auer salvages everything from old envelopes to used wrapping paper for use in her art.
Auer said, “I’m a really sentimental person and I like letters and cards… I’ve always been a collector; I get that from my parents.”
Her technique combines origami with influences of Danish paper work and Victorian era paper craft.
Kimono dress.
Auer said her mother first taught her the basic folding techniques. She recalled, “It was always something I did on the side as a labor of love. It doesn’t generate much money.”
For the Olive Hyde show, Auer’s foldings included a variety of subjects, among them: small, framed kimono dresses as well as hearts with swirling centers in the shape of a camera’s aperture.
Some of her work uses photography, which she does herself. “I always had a camera, probably since the age of 6. I used to take pictures at the zoo.” She got the photography bug from her father, who also enjoyed photography. “One of the last things he did before he passed away, was that he gave me a camera.”
Her favorite subjects are flowers and butterflies. Auer observed, “I’m always trying to seek out beauty” and of photography said, “Sometimes I see something [beautiful] and think I might never see it again.” Auer said both of her parents were very creative people when she was growing up near Los Angles and always supportive of her work.
Auer has pursued her artistic endeavors with more drive in recent years, but said that doing paper folding as more than just a hobby “was kind of a fluke.” She began by making a few things for a friend’s art show at Aurora School in Oakland in 2004.
Heart with swirling center.
She said, “the cards sold really well.” Auer remembered, “The first year I did it, I had a few people that came back the next year [wanting more]. I still have a few friends who call me around Christmas time saying ‘I need more cards.’”
Auer sold her work at the show for three years before her friend moved out of California. “This year I didn’t know if I was going to do anything and then I decided to try to be a little more ambitious.”
Auer auditioned her work for the Olive Hyde show in September, something she had never done before. Though she has had some success with her cards, Auer is still very modest about her work.
She said, “I went over there [to the audition interview] and had no idea what to do. The woman came up to me afterwards and said ‘We love your work, but one thing… when we put it in the show, please make sure you put your name on it.’”
A week after the interview, Auer received word that she had made it into the guild’s 25th anniversary holiday show.
With no plans to make a living from her artwork, Auer believes, “Life is too short not to fully involve yourself in your creative pursuits.” And, if nothing else, she said, “It makes me happy.”
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