SPSA: Joint show highlights a
variety of works by Gruber, Spicer

There is a rare couples’ exhibit now on display at Blanchard Community Library where the works of artists Lynda Gruber and Bill Spicer, Santa Paula residents, have filled the Douglas Shively Memorial Wall with dozens of varied works.

The works of Gruber, an acclaimed artist who also does computer generated art and graphics, and Spicer, who followed a long career in the cartooning world with photography, will be displayed until early March.

Virginia Gunderson of the Santa Paula Society of the Arts said the joint show “includes Lynda’s oils, watercolors, computer graphics and photographs by each. It is a exhibit that has something for everyone!”

Their works, noted Gunderson, are hung on the Douglas Shively west wall reserved for contemporary artists that the late famed artist established in memory of his father and mother. The library is located at 119 N. 8th St.

A native Californian, Gruber was raised in Banning and Santa Paula. Her work has been inspired by many artists but in particular the Old Masters and William Harnett, an early American realist. She has traveled throughout Europe and has visited many museums to study the Old Masters’ paintings and their techniques. She works with the aid of an extensive collection of references and thousands of photographs accumulated over many years.

During the thirty-five years Lynda has pursued her art she has mastered oils and watercolors and studied with a variety of acclaimed teachers including Hal Reed, Pauline Ruddock, David Skernick, Agnes Delgado, Bob King, Sally Miller, Jacqueline Cavish, Connie Jenkins and Joyce Pike.

Gruber’s oils - many that reflect her favorite subject matter: landscapes, still life and children - are held in private collections, and she has exhibited and won prizes and ribbons in a variety of shows, including Descanso Gardens, the Santa Paula Annual Art & Photography Exhibit and the Ventura County Fair.

Lynda’s art affiliations include leading the Santa Paula Society of the Arts as president and other offices over the years and being chairperson of the annual Santa Paula Annual Art & Photography Exhibit. 

Her work is featured at the historic Depot Gallery.

One work exhibited in the SPSA show at BCL could be described as a joint effort, Gruber’s painting of the cosmic collision between a man, a woman and a space monster in oil using bright comic book colors.

“I used to collect comics in the 1960s,” said Spicer, who noted Gruber’s painting was based on the cover of a comic from 1947.

“I still have that issue,” who called Gruber’s painting based on same as, “Just an experiment for Lynda, something of a different subject matter.”

Spicer has several photos in the exhibit, “Mostly landscapes... the one that came out best, at least I like the best was taken in Kings Canyon up in Mineral King,” at the bottom of the Sequoias.