The Annual Winter Show arrives Dec. 2 at the Kings Art Center.
The show is a special exhibit presented by the Kings County Art
League that showcases the artwork of its members. This year, the
league has chosen to feature two members, Steve and Sharon
Banister.

Steve Banister is the son of the late Bill Banister, who was a
local businessman, artist, and a key person in the creation of the
Kings Art Center. Sharon was Bill’s wife, but is not Steve’s
mother.

Steve was born, raised and lives in Hanford. He attended local
schools and holds a bachelor’s degree in art with an emphasis in
printmaking and ceramics from California State University, Fresno
and a California art teaching credential. After college, he
continued his education by taking classes in Europe, Egypt,
Venezuela and Mexico. 

For several years, Steve was a visual arts instructor and later the
marketing director for the Creative Center, a nonprofit community
arts center for developmentally disabled adults in Visalia. He has
also taught art classes at the Hanford Adult School and Kings Art
Center.

He later opened Art Works, an eclectic gallery, gift store and
espresso café in Hanford. Art Works was featured in Sunset Magazine
and Best Places guidebook as well as the television program “Huel
Howser’s Road Trip.”

“Art influences every aspect of my life,” Steve said. “I inherited
the love for it from my father who was as equally, if not more
passionate about it than me. Plus, art classes were always, at
least to me, the most fun classes to take in high school and in
college.”

Banister is an advocate for revitalizing downtown Hanford and
believes that downtown areas serve as the heart of vibrant
communities. He was a founding board member of Main Street Hanford
and helped create many of the group’s events, such as Thursday
Night Market Place.

He also is a board member of the Taoist Temple Preservation Society
in China Alley and was instrumental in getting China Alley listed
on the National Trust for Historic Preservation’s 2011 list of
“America’s 11 Most Historic Endangered Places.”

Steve recently co-authored the book “Noodles through Escargots”
with Arianne Wing. The book is a photographic memoir of a family
restaurant dynasty that survived for five generations in Hanford.
He and Wing also opened the L.T. Sue Co. Tea Room in China Alley,
now serving as an art gallery.

“My passion for revitalizing downtown Hanford and China Alley is
reflected in my work,” he said. “The pieces in this show are all
scenes and locations from downtown and China Alley. I am so eager
to bring a vitality to that area of town.”

Born and raised in the Bay Area, Sharon Banister’s interest in art
developed via an early lesson in grade school. One of her teachers
had demonstrated drawing an orange and used a blue crayon on top of
the orange crayon to create a shadow. To Sharon, this technique had
turned a child’s drawing into something magical. 

“My mind was completely blown that day,” Sharon said. “I was only
about 13 years old and up until then, you know, us students are
always taught that an orange is orange and the sky is blue. That
day, I realized that when it comes to art there are no rules. That
you don’t have to “stay in the lines” so to speak.”

From then on, her interest in art was solidified. After graduating
from California State University, San Jose, with a bachelor’s
degree in medical technology, she moved to Hanford as a Navy wife.
Sharon worked locally in that capacity for many years.  During that
time, she continued her art studies and took advantage of various
workshops, both locally and at the Mendocino Art Center.

In 1997, Sharon earned a master’s degree in studio art at Fresno
State with an emphasis on printmaking. Now, after retiring from the
medical field, she creates art in her studio full time.

“When I was working, I could never focus on my passion,” she said.
“It was always excuse after excuse, and now that I’m retired, I
have no excuse and can focus on what I truly love to do. I consider
myself to be an artist now.”

She mostly likes working in pen and ink, acrylics and oil, as well
as creating drawings with a recently purchased iPhone
application.

“It’s so awesome,” she said. “I go to a lot of jazz festivals and
other events and so something like a vase or whatever might inspire
me and I just take out my iPhone and draw it. Now, I can take my
passion anywhere and make art where and whenever I want.”

 Her current project is “36 Interior Views,” which are paintings of
rooms in her house inspired by viewing the “36 Views of Mount Fuji”
by master printmaker Hokusai and the “36 Views of the Eiffel Tower”
by Henri Riviere.

A longtime member of the Kings County Art League, Sharon has
participated in member shows, volunteered at various art-related
activities and serves on the board for both the Kings County Art
League and the Kings Art Center.

The reporter can be reached at 583-2427 or
bsantiago@HanfordSentinel.com.