A Memorial Celebration of Tim's Life

Sunday afternoon, 2-6pm, April 13th, 2008

Tim has passed away, but his spirit remains. Here’s a little history, for those of you who may have known him only in one time of his vibrant life:

Tim’s major works include a 180-foot mobile installation in Charleston, South Carolina’s aquarium; mobile sculptures in public spaces at several American colleges, universities, and hospitals; and a number of significant lobby sculptures in architect-designed office buildings around the country. His latest commissions in California include a 30-part hanging piece at Watsonville’s new court house which he oversaw the installation of in early March, and a painted, abstract lobby mobile in the new arts center in Tracy. To his immense satisfaction, Alexander, Jerry, and Chris Rose (and Gwen and Susan) made up Team Rose for the big install in Watsonville.

Tim’s work is in private collections in the United States and Europe. He also collaborated with designers on special kinetic sculpture projects, one of which was a pair of mobiles made up of historically significant street signs for the three-story lobby of the redesigned Chicago History Museum.

In recent years, much of his work was in the form of public and private commissions. His work currently is featured in galleries in San Francisco, Santa Fe, Albuquerque, and Washington, DC.

Tim made so many contributions to the art community, and in the last few weeks of his life young and established artists came daily to thank him for that and for giving them persistent encouragement. Beginning right after he moved to Sausalito in the mid-1960s, he helped the Sausalito Art Festival become more artist-focused and co-chaired it in 1969. He joined Jean Varda’s wild and crazy circle of young artists, and in future years, Tim frequently quoted Varda’s admonition that art needs to show “the hand of man.”

From 1970 to 1973, Tim and Annette lived in Paris, where he was inspired first by Calder, then by Wassily Kandinsky. Tim has written that “what followed was a body of work breaking away from the Calderesque rhythms.”

Beginning with small, wire “liquid cubes” that he sold in Paris in the early 1970s, Tim built a large body of work that became, in his words, “paintings in three dimensions.”

Tim, Annette, June Morrison and a few friends began what became the community of artists’ ateliers at the Industrial Center Building in Sausalito. When he returned, from Paris, he inaugurated an annual exhibition and sale at the ICB that continues today. For decades, Tim spearheaded the annual ICB show, which attracts thousands of visitors and collectors to meet and buy directly from professional artists.

From 1973 to 1979, Tim and Annette owned and operated the Rose-Bernardi Gallery in Sausalito, which earned Bay Area fame for themed exhibitions such as a food sculpture show that included a live model jumping out of an edible cake. Leah Schwartz, Isabella Kirkland, Richard Kammler, Elsa Gonella, Art Grant, and Marge Rector were a few of the well-known artists whose work was shown at Rose-Bernardi during that era.

In 1992, he co-founded with Kay Carlson the enormously successful Marin Open Studios two-weekend event; in the first year, more than 225 artists participated from all over the county. The Marin Arts Council now runs the program.

Ten years ago, Tim moved his studio from the Industrial Center Building to Mare Island, Vallejo where he could accommodate the larger pieces he was constructing. He opened Coal Shed Studios in a former Navy building and invited a new community of artists to share the space. The artists have recently begun their own, annual open studios event.