Fine Arts Festival raises scholarship money for students studying art

Cassie Tomlin

Rainer “RB” Bertrams is a showcased artist in the Boulder City Art Guild’s 24th annual Fine Arts Festival.

By Cassie Tomlin

Saturday, April 11, 2009 | 12:01 p.m.

Cassie Tomlin

A detail of a woodcut for "Headhunters," by Rainer "RB" Bertrams.

Rainer “RB” Bertrams lets his medium dictate his work.

He starts with a block of wood, carving a negative image, yielding to its grain. Once he stains that block with ink and presses it to paper, creating a print, he digitally photographs it and loads it onto his computer.

Using a stock program on his old PC, he presses two buttons— “temperature” and “saturation”— which add color to the image.

He embraces having little control over the hues that result.

“Whatever comes out, comes out,” he said. “The machine does what it wants. I credit the computer with doing a pretty good job.”

Bertrams will be a featured artist in the Boulder City Art Guild’s 24th Annual Fine Arts Festival on April 18 and 19 at Bicentennial Park.

He will show about 40 highly detailed, brightly colored, digitally manipulated intaglio prints— which range from scenic to religious in subject— and watercolors.

Bertrams is one of more than 130 artists, most from the Southwestern United States, who will display paintings, photography, sculpture, glass art, pottery, metalwork and more.

The guild is a nonprofit that provides annual scholarships for high school and college students studying fine arts with proceeds from the festival. Its offices, gallery, and gift shop are in the Boulder Dam Hotel.

It is the first Fine Arts Festival appearance for Bertrams, a structural engineer and guild member who lives in Boulder City.