Hot fusion

Step out of this blasting valley furnace in which we live and into the Artisan Gallery at 1901 Del Paso Boulevard; a quick look at Sondra Hersh’s painting, “Eternal Flame,” will have you swearing you were still outside, where the heat waves shimmy in the air. But Hersh colors her waves—a fire-hued corona surrounded by cool blues and purples, undulating, mesmerizing, in an almost psychedelic field—for an amazingly calming effect. Hersh’s acrylic canvases, paired with Deanna Marsh’s metal and glass, make a perfect Fusion until August 4. Marsh’s knack for twisting and turning metal into organic shapes, as in “Anemone,” outlines the focus of her richly toned work. Here, powder-coated steel, coaxed into curls and a free-form stand, houses a flat, shell-shaped orb of burgundy and pink iridescent glass, entrancing your eye with its inward spiral trail—suggestive of the sea’s coolness. For more information, call (916) 648-0260.