Earth Day is officially April 22, but the celebration will start early at the Casa Ramos Art Gallery in Los Osos, which presents Modern Art + Sustainability: A Special Earth Day Exhibition on April 5.
The gallery’s namesake is revered fine artist John Ramos, who’s known for “wish you were here” style paintings of exotic locations. About 300 of his paintings have been made into prints over the years, making him one of the Central Coast’s most prolific artists ever.
“April 22 is actually John’s birthday,” his daughter and Casa Ramos co-owner Elena Ramos Peffly explained, “but there’s too much going on that time of the month with Easter and all the festivals.”
Hence, the April 5 show.
“I’m going to curate the space with all the most beautiful places that John has painted around the world, and it will be very landscape- and seascape-heavy from Mexico, the Central Coast, and Hawaii,” Ramos Peffly explained.
The gallery itself works hard to limit its carbon footprint. It prints John Ramos’ prints right in Los Osos from high quality paper stock made in Texas.
Also on display will be sculptural works, blown glass, surfboard furniture, jewelry, and more. Los Osos artist and professional skateboarder Jonny Miller will present a 4:15 p.m. demonstration in the parking lot.
“He’s going to show people how to create sustainable art with reclaimed materials,” Ramos Peffly said. “They’re wild and they’re fun, and it’s really neat to see things put together to make art. It’s inspiring.”
When the gallery first opened on Nov. 2, 2024, Miller demonstrated how to make art from reclaimed skateboards. This time he’ll make a fish sculpture out of junk.
“I’m going to take some old saw blades, copper, wire, nuts and bolts, old rusty bits of metal—just old, recycled stuff I’ve collected or found along the side of the road—and construct a fish out of it,” Miller explained. “I’ll talk about where I find my materials and what I’m doing. I’ll also have a few other fish I already completed on display.”
Retired Cal Poly Art and Design professor, glass artist, and olive farmer George Jercich will show a selection of his stunning glass pieces. While glass as a material is inherently sustainable, thanks to the heat required to manipulate it, he admits his “carbon footprint is the equivalent to Godzilla’s,” but the work itself is a celebration of the natural world.
“I’ve always been a wanderer of rural environments, studying the birds, flora, and fauna of our coastal environment,” he explained. “I draw from that my inspiration in the form of birds, fish, bugs, plants.”
Tim Alanis takes reclaimed skateboards and turns them into fine woodcraft art.
“We also have his pieces that are ironwood from the seawall in Panama that are pretty amazing,” Ramos Peffly added. “All the artists are local except Alanis, who now lives in Pleasant Hill but is a Morro Bay graduate whose family still lives in Los Osos.”
The show also includes jewelry artist Adrianne Jenkins and ceramicist Phillip Lopez, who’s this month’s featured artist at the Art Center Morro Bay.
“From that I’ve experienced, the people who come in here, come in with whatever they’re dealing with in life, but when they come through the door, it’s like they’re taken back to somewhere else,” Ramos Peffly marveled. “We have these long conversations with people I’ve never met before, and it’s like a painting will just reawaken a memory that they go back to; they remember driving with their parents when they were a young kid, or they’ll remember what this looked like before it was developed.
“So many conversations that take people away from whatever’s upsetting them for the day. They leave, and they thank me for being here, and that’s the greatest compliment on Earth.”
As far as Ramos Peffly is concerned, those kinds of experiences are why art is essential: “It’s so important for people to come celebrate art and be around beautiful things and forget about whatever’s bothering them.”
In addition to the art and the parking lot demo, the San Luis Obispo Chamber of Commerce will conduct the official ribbon cutting ceremony for the business at 4 p.m., and Mirazur Restaurant is setting up a complimentary wine, beer, and beverage bar.
“A lot of people are like, ‘Why do you even bother? Why are you even doing this right now? Look at the economy. Look at all the uncertainty. Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.’
“And I’m like, this is when you need it the most,” Ramos Peffly added. “That’s all I’m aiming for, to help uplift people’s spirits and celebrate nature.” Δ
Contact Arts Editor Glen Starkey at gstarkey@newtimesslo.com.
This article appears in Apr 3-13, 2025.