WIT and WHIMSY

Big fun was had yesterday at the opening reception for the new Wit & Whimsy art show at the Scotts Valley Library. It may seem like an odd venue for art, but there's a lot of wall space in the vast and bustling SV Library, and coordinator Valri Peyser is committed to filling it with the work of local artists in rotating 2-month shows.

The Wit & Whimsy show features 14 local artists in various media, including John McKinley, the beloved Aptos illustrator whose insouciant animal portraits have earned him legions of fans. (These are his arty cats.) Victoria Kerr crafts fanciful sci-fi critters out of recycled materials sculpted over with air-drying clay, and painted in rainbow colors. Brian Iles also uses found and repurposed objects to build his small, imaginative birdhouses.

Graphic artist Mott Jordan contributes witty print collages. Stephanie Schriver shows an assortment of her ceramic animal sculptures. In her "Forest of Fabled Creatures" series, Elspeth Inglett writes and illustrates original fables and mounts them on planks of recycled wood.

"I'd Rather Be Sailing," James Aschbacher

Myra Eastman presents a series of droll rat paintings, and Chris Miroyan offers fun paintings of imaginary cakes, as well as a series of masked heads that look like refugees from a Morgani costume. And James Aschbacher ("whimsical" is his middle name) shows a selection of new and vintage mixed-media paintings celebrating life in the Aschbacher universe.

The Wit & Whimsy show is up through January 19. Visit the SV Library website for directions, and a complete list of participating artists.

And don't forget, the SV Library is also the permanent home to a dozen life-sized endangered wild animals sculpted in papier maché by the gifted Beth Allison Gripenstraw. So don't forget to look up on top of the bookshelves at the cheetahs, tiger, lynx, crocodile, and other friendly fauna gazing down on the scene.