September/October 2014

Saving the Planet, One Butterfly at a Time

Recently a dear friend came to visit. She is younger than I am. She is also taller, thinner, prettier and smart. I like her anyway. We started talking about butterflies because I had begun to use them as subjects in my paintings. The decade difference in our ages may have something to do with the fact that she has never seen a Swallowtail butterfly. In fact, I haven’t seen one in a very long time and though we see butterflies in our pesticide free garden from time to time I am sure we don’t see nearly as many as I did as a kid.  Here on California’s Central Coast we have two of the most well-known Monarch Butterfly Preserves in California: at Pacific Grove and Pismo Beach.  Two of our other dear friends Allene and Al Nestlinger have created a habitat for Monarchs in their backyard and are enjoying their efforts at creating a viable environment for their beautiful guests. I understand lots of milkweed is involved. Monarchs are found throughout the United States and fly thousands of miles during their migration to Mexico. Their numbers were dwindling until a few years ago due partly to the reduction of their habitat and partly due to climate change. They are somewhat like the canary in the mine in that they are harbingers of what is to come and their decline signals changes for all of us. For many butterflies symbolize more than just a pretty face. Their metamorphosis and migration have become a spiritual experience and represent a continuation of life through many generations. There are so many reasons that we can’t afford to lose them, not the least of which is that their beauty and amazing ability to fly free feed our souls.


Where you can see my artwork

Check out my artwork at Rons. For further information call the shop at 805.489.4747.  Rons is located at 850 W. Grand in Grover Beach a few blocks from the train station, a golf course and the beautiful Pacific Ocean. Check out Rons website at www.ronsingroverbeach.com or find him on facebook.

Highlight

StoryBook: Narrative in Contemporary Art is at the Madison Museum of Contemporary Art in Madison, Wisconsin through July 1, 2015. Curated by Dr. Rick Axsom, the exhibit draws from the museum’s permanent holdings and focuses on the diverse ways that artists tell stories. Traditionally, many visual artists based work on religious, mythological or historic subjects. Many have told a story in a single work while others have used multiples to get a tale across…still others have continued to focus on a single subject their entire careers. Some artists explored a single literary work , like Colescott who took on Thomas Mann’s Death in Venice and expressed his take on the famous work with his painting called Venice. This exhibit explores the relationship between visual art and the narrative and the diverse ways that various contemporary artists choose to incorporate storytelling in their art. Story Telling through images remains as viable now as it has in the past. For more information go to www.mmoca.org.


Not To Be Missed –Museum Exhibits


California: The Golden Years is an ongoing exhibit at the Bowers Museum in Santa Ana. Featured are 22 paintings done in the late 19th and early 20th century by some of the best California artists. Included are Elmer Wachtel, William Wendt and Gardner Symons. Information is available at www.bowers.org.

Marsden Hartley: The German Paintings 1913-1915 features twenty-nine paintings by this American modernist artist. These years spent working in Berlin were profoundly impacted by World War I and reflected a change in Hartley’s style as he incorporated many military and Native American symbols in his work. The exhibit marks the first time in thirty years that the artist’s work has been seen in Southern California and coincides with the centennial of WWI. It is currently at LACMA through November 30, 2014. Details can be found here at www.lacma.org.

Come January next year Pepperdine’s Weisman Museum of Art will host Chuck Close, Face Forward through April of 2015. Close changed how portraiture was done with his large scale paintings of faces. He has continued to experiment using not only traditional printmaking methods but has been innovative using tapestry and rubber stamps for instance. This should be an exciting exhibit and one to look forward to. Go to
http://arts.pepperdine.edu/museum

Modernism from the National Gallery of Art: The Robert & Jane Meyerhoff Collection is currently at the de Young Museum of Art in San Francisco. This amazing overview of work from the end of World War II through the end of the century features such modern masters as Ellsworth Kelly, Jasper Johns, Rauschenberg and Stella. The centerpiece of the exhibit is Barnett Newman’s Stations of the Cross which is presented as it was intended with all 15 panels shown together in one room. I have seen them presented as a unit and it is a profound and touching work no matter what your religious beliefs. It brought me to tears. Incredible and a must see.  Information on the exhibit which runs until October 12 can be found at http://deyoung.famsf.org/.

Nearing the end of its run at the Seattle Art Museum, From Abstract Expression to Colored Planes focuses on the juxtaposition between the expressive abstract style of earlier artists such as Hoffmann, Gorky, Frankenthaler and Pollock and the later hard edge abstraction practiced by Stella, Kelly and Held.  Obtain more information at www.seattleartmuseum.org before the show closes November 9, 2014.

The War Begoms: Clyfford Still’s Path to Abstraction begins October 10 and runs through the middle of January next year. At the Clyfford Still Museum in Denver, Colorado, the exhibit marks the third anniversary of the museum’s opening.   The 65 works created between 1939 and 1945 have never been viewed publicly and mark a major change in the artist’s work. He is a favorite artist of mine and this should be an exciting exhibit. Currently the museum is hosting The Art of Conservation: Understanding Clyfford Still. Check out www.clyffordstillmuseum.org for all the details.

Coming soon to the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art in Kansas City, Missouri is The Plains Indians: Artists of Earth & Sky. This promises to be a wonderful exhibit. I have an incredible catalogue that is from an exhibit they did in the 1970s called “Sacred Circles: Two Thousand Years of North American Indian Art.” This exhibit which opens September 19 will bring together Plains Indian masterworks gathered from European and American collections. With over 140 pieces representing many nations from Arapaho to Quapaw and a wide array of painting, drawing, clothing and sculpture it is a massive collaboration between the Nelson-Atkins, the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Musee du quai Branly in Paris. Check out www.nelson-atkins.org for more information.

At the National Gallery of Art in Washington D.C Degas/Cassatt opened May 11 and is up through October 5, 2014. This exhibit will include 70 works in a variety of media which for the first time focuses on the dialogue between them. Degas’ influence on Cassatt is generally acknowledged but apparently her influence on his work was also pronounced. This is an interesting exhibit and the gallery’s website at www.nga.gov has more information.

After World War II it seemed that portraiture was dead. Many abstract painters did continue to paint portraits and Face Value: Portraiture in the Age of Abstraction covers the period from 1945- 1975. Works by de Kooning, Close, Pearlstein and the famous portraits of Jamie Wyeth of Warhol and of Wyeth by Warhol are included in the exhibit at Washington D.C.’s National Portrait Gallery. It goes through this year into the first few weeks of January. Check out http://www.npg.si.edu for more information.

An exciting exhibit opens this week at the Detroit Institute of Arts. Featuring a virtual who’s who of painters, Ordinary People by Extraordinary Artists:Works on Paper by Degas, Renoir and Friends opens September 19 and goes through March 29, 2015. The show features works by these artists as well as Lautrec, Manet, Gaughin, Bonnard and others. It focuses on the drawings and renderings made by these artists of ordinary people, many of which were studies for larger works. It should be a stunning as well as interesting show.  If you are in town be sure to check it out. www.dia.org has all the information.

At the Whitney in New York, American Legends: From Calder to O’Keefe runs through October 19, 2014. The rotating exhibit has been culled from the depth of the Whitney’s holdings of early twentieth century American art. In addition to Calder and O’Keefe, works by Stuart Davis, Roy Lichtenstein, Jasper Johns and Edward Hopper are on view. Also at the Whitney is Jeff Koons: A Retrospective, which is the first retrospective of Koon’s work. The exhibit  is up through October 19 and  includes almost 150 objects dating from 1978 to the present. This is also the first major showing of the multifaceted artist’s work in New York and the last exhibition at the Marcel Breuer building before the museum opens its new digs in the meat packing district next year. I understand that it is a wonderful, must see exhibit. Artist/author Mickey Hoffman says:”Just Brilliant! Funny, clever and a few of the works are so precisely beautiful. AMAZING.” Check www.whitney.org for all the details.

Moving from the Tate to MoMA on October 12, Henri Matusse: The Cut-Outs was conceived when one of MoMA’ s prized cut-outs needed conservation to bring it back to its full beauty. MoMA owns the only cut-out that Matisse conceived for a particular room, his dining room in Nice. The Swimming Pool which has been the subject of conservation is the centerpiece of this exhibit along with over 100 other pieces. This is the largest exhibit of these pieces ever mounted. Along with it the museum also presents MoMA Studio: Beyond the Cut-Outs which allows exhibit goers to learn by doing and seeing. Go to www.MoMa.org for further information.

Jasper Johns is featured with an exhibit at The Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.  Jasper Johns: Picture Puzzles is there through January 1, 2015. It features 22 works including prints, drawings and relief sculpture. Also on display is the first retrospective of works by artist Jamie Wyeth. Featuring many of his portraits and preparatory drawings, the show goes through December 28. The museum’s website, www.mfa.org will provide more information.

The Albright Knox Gallery is a little gem of a museum in Buffalo, New York. If you are in the area be sure and check it out. Love this gallery. There are many fine exhibits here but I am looking forward to Giving Up One’s mark: Helen Frankenthaler in the 1960s and 1970s which runs November 9, 2014 – February 15, 2015. It focuses on her transition from the use of oil to acrylic paints and from gestural abstractions to images of consolidated color. She is an all time favorite of mine. All the details are at the website www.albrightknox.org so be sure and take a peek.

Thomas Hart Benton’s America Today Mural Rediscovered will be at the Metropolitan Museum in New York from September 30 – April 10, 2015. The mural was donated by the AXA Equitable Life Insurance Company. It was painted for the boardroom of New York’s New School for Social Research and the setting for the ten panel mural has been replicated by the museum. An adjacent gallery features drawings and character studies that the artist completed as he worked on America Today. Another gallery includes works from the museum’s collections which are relevant to the mural. Jackson Pollock was one of Benton’s students so some of his work is included. He also served as a model for the mural. Pollock once said that it took him a long time to shake off Benton’s influence on his work .Coming to the Met on October 20 is Cubism: the Leonard A. Lauder Collection. Shown in public for the first time, the collection features eighty paintings by Braque, Gris, Leger and Picasso. What a treat.  Check out  www.metmuseum.org for more information on both exhibits.

The works of American fiber artist and California native Kaffe Fassett star in Kaffe 2014 – The Colorful World of Kaffe Fassett. It is up through November 2 at the American Museum in Britain. Look up www.americanmuseum.org for information and a chance to see the artist’s amazing work. Gorgeous!

Simply the Best:

The best place to find books on the arts, Arcana, is a very special book store located in the Helms Bakery complex in Los Angeles…It’s wonderful! I have known owner Lee Kaplan for decades and his selection of books is as superb as his taste is impeccable.  Arcana: Books on the Arts is at 8675 Washington Boulevard, Culver City, CA 90232. For information go to  http://www.arcanabooks.com  or call 310.458.1499.

Michiko Jewelry Design is an incredible jewelry store in downtown Seal Beach, CA., featuring excellent one-of-a-kind gifts. The shop owner and artist, Carol Matsumoto, custom designs beautiful pieces. Michiko is at 228 Main Street. Call 563.431.3237 for more information or check www.michikojewelrydesign.com.
 
Places to go, People to meet


In a drive through the area around Lompoc you will see beautiful rolling hills and if you are fortunate to be there at the right time of year you will be treated to the stunning show of color from the area flower and seed farms. Known as the flower and seed capitol of the world, there is much more to see in Lompoc. The city is home to several boutique wineries and boasts over 100 murals on its structures in the heart of the city. If you are headed this way be sure and take them in and check out http://www.lompocmurals.com/ for more facts.

If you like my website be sure and check out the services offered by Sandy Crespo at DesignsCrespo. Not only is Sandy easy to work with but her experience provides clients many options. These include freelance design and production of websites, web graphics, logos, CDs/DVDs, posters, t-shirts, stock and fine art photography, photo treatment/digital restoration/retouching, business cards, brochures, copywriting, custom greeting cards, postcards and flyers.

Continue to check back as we will be posting upcoming shows here and on the exhibits page of my website…and again, there is always Facebook.