Well-known Sausalito artists Stephen Ehret and his painting partner Jennifer Fearon won Best of Show at the Marin County Fair for their collaborative painting “Blue Mind.”
According to Sausalito Currents:
Stephen Ehret has been a fixture around the docks of Sausalito for many years. The artist and musician lives on a 36′ lifeboat built during Sausalito’s Marinship years. The Night Heron is anchored out near the Bay Model, adjacent to The Teepee. Stephen says, “Living as an anchor out, I’ve met some of the most eclectic group of heroes you’d ever meet.”
In 1966, Stephen formed the band The Wallflower with four friends from the College of San Mateo. At its height, the band played with the likes of the Grateful Dead and Country Joe at the Fillmore and the Matrix in San Francisco. Stephen says, “It was a period of worldwide magical consciousness.” [Today he performs as part of a duet called the Nother Mother Brothers.]
Stephen met Judith Bang-Kolb in the early ’70s. Together they built Sparrow Creek Montessori School, which officially opened to students in the early ’80s. Judith is the founder and continues to teach there. Stephen says, “The best thing I ever did was build that school, which has been pumping out kids for thirty years.”
Today, Stephen is an accomplished artist who enjoys working in mixed media and collaborating with other artists. His fascination with the way color works in human vision helps him to use a technique of layering transparent glazes to recreate the luminous quality of natural light. His work can be seen on his website.
Stephen told the Floating Times, “I love collaborative painting, it’s like a duet in music…but it’s a rare thing to be able to paint with another artist in a synchronous set of circumstances that brings us together.” Years ago he collaborated with Cynthia Franco of South Forty, who now lives in Sebastapol and may still “come and add finishing touches” to Stephen’s solo work.