The Piano Player/You and I
by Donalee Nelson
More on
Inspiration
Sometimes inspiration not only
informs what I choose to paint but leads me on a path out of my comfort zone.
Sometimes a painting is successful and sometimes it is not, but the process is
always worthwhile. It affords me the opportunity to learn and add to my bag of
tricks and even toss some out.
Recently I was watching an old
movie that I had seen many times…a favorite. I was struck by a transitional but
important scene. This movie is in color and the director was a wonderful artist.
Normally I would have been in awe of the use of color but on this occasion what
stood out to me was the construction of the scene…the composition, the angles,
the staircase, the arches, and where people were placed. I had no inclination
to copy the scene in a realistic manner but rather to use the structure. As I
was painting and adding the basics I decided I wanted the painting to be blue.
I was fiddling around with the piano player and remembered Matisse’s painting
of the Red Room and the woman in it
so I used her as the inspiration for my piano player. In this case a movie and
a painting gave me an idea.
Highlights
Agnes Pelton: Desert Transcendentalist is a
traveling exhibit starting off at the Phoenix Art Museum on March 9 and
continuing through September 8, 2019. The little known artist studied at the Pratt
Institute in Brooklyn and showed at the famous Armory Show of 1913. As she
moved away from the mainstream, she decided to settle in Cathedral City,
California. The show features about 45 of her paintings. After Phoenix the show
goes to the New Mexico Museum of Art, then on to the Whitney in New York and
finally to the Palm Springs Museum of Art. To see some of Agnes Pelton’s wonderful
art work go to www.phxart.org and get all the
specifics.
Where you can see my artwork
My artwork
is available 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. For more information go to Rons website at www.ronsingroverbeach.com or find
him on Facebook.
Not To Be Missed –Museum Exhibits
Currently at the Catalina Island
Museum is Wrigley’s Catalina: A
Centennial Celebration. It focuses on Wrigley’s first year of ownership
in 1919 and how he planned to develop the island. The exhibit features photos,
letters, documents, plans, blueprints, maps, and most interesting: digitized
historic audio recordings of the Wrigley family and associates as they recount
stories about the venture. Find out more about the exhibit which runs through
January 19, 2020 and the Catalina Island Museum at www.catalinamuseum.org and take a
tour. Starting in May the museum will present First Fridays which includes the
screening of a movie and dinner. In September the museum will feature an
exhibit about Esther Williams.
Upcoming at the Laguna Beach Art
Museum is Thomas Hunt: California
Modernist. Mr. Hunt was the son of a preeminent Canadian painter. He
moved to Laguna where he painted many seascapes and helped found the Laguna
Museum. A supreme colorist, Mr. Hunt’s work will be on view from October 13, 2019-January
12, 2020. My mother and I spent many wonderful times in Laguna wandering
through the various art galleries. Many were off the beaten track. There are
several other exhibits as Laguna celebrates the centennial of the beginning of
the art association in this beautiful beach town. If you are as anxious as I am
to see what is happening, take the time to get a preliminary look at www.lagunaartmuseum.org and learn
more about these exhibits.
Now open at the Bowers Museum
in Santa Ana is a spectacular event. Guo
Pei: Couture Beyond will highlight the art of the famous couturiere. On
view through July 14, 2019 the exhibit shows over 40 pieces of her work. Coming
in September is Dimensions of Form:
Tamayo and Mixographia. Fifty prints make up the exhibit. My brother
owned one of these wonderful prints by this great Mexican artist. This exhibit
is a special treat. Take a look at www.bowers.org
for more facts and interesting information.
The Sweetness of Life: Three 18th-Century French Paintings
from The Frick Collection is currently at the Norton
Simon Museum in Pasadena. These three paintings by Francois Boucher,
Jean-Baptiste Simeon Chardin, and Jean-Baptiste Greuze give the viewer a look
at the lives of the French middle class in the mid-1700s. To learn more about
the exhibit go to the museum website at www.nortonsimon.org
where you will also find information on other exhibits.
The exciting news is that the
Los Angeles County Museum of Art is featuring Frank Stella: Selections from the Permanent Collection
through September 15, 2019. Many of these works have not been seen for 30
years. The pieces on view cover the artist’s long career from the 1950s through
his current large sculptures. More information is available at www.lacma.org about this and other exhibits.
Flight of Fancy is currently in place at the Getty Center
in Los Angeles. The exhibit focuses on The Galle Chandelier which was created
by the artist in 1818-19. It is an extraordinary work intended to look like a
hot air balloon. Incorporated are the signs of the zodiac and a glass bowl for
goldfish. The show runs through April 19,
2020. Getty center also has many Online Exhibitions as well as Traveling
Exhibitions. Information at www.getty.edu
will fill you in on what is going on as well as with dates and times.
At the Santa Paula Art Museum
three Ventura County artists have come together for Common Ground: Meredith Brooks Abbott, Susan Petty and Gail Pidduck.
The exhibit runs through July 7, 2019. All of these artists are award winners
who are inspired by their gardens. By the way, all of these works of art are
for sale and more information can be found at www.santapaulaartmuseum.org so
check it out.
The Santa Barbara Museum of Art
has been undergoing a renovation. As a result paintings by currently featured
artists are placed at the temporary entrance. Now through October 13, 2019, Kehinde Wiley: Equestrian Portrait of
Prince Tommaso of Savoy-Carignan is on loan and is amazing for its
color and detail. The installation is part of the museum’s Parks Project.
Highlights of the
Permanent Collection celebrates the Santa Barbara Museum of Art’s 75th
anniversary. The ongoing exhibit features some of the museum’s most well-known
pieces. The Armand Hammer Foundation has loaned some amazing Impressionist and
Post-Impressionist paintings to the Santa Barbara Museum of Art. Of course, Portrait of Mexico Today,
painted by David Alfaro Siqueiros while living in political exile in Los
Angeles in 1932, has a home in the front façade of the museum. It is intact and
is in a protected spot. We are so lucky to have it. Check on line at www.sbmuseart.org/ for more details.
The
de Young Museum in San Francisco offers a very special show coming up this
summer. Moving Forward, Looking Back:
Prints from the Anderson Graphic Arts Collection debuts July 27, 2019
and runs through February 2, 2020. Historically students have learned their
trade by copying earlier artists. Included in the exhibition are works by
Jennifer Bartlett, Jim Dine, David Hockney, Roy Lichtenstein, and Robert
Rauschenberg. The exhibit illustrates how art by earlier masters such as
Bellini, Matisse, Monet, and Picasso advanced and affected their artwork. Check
www.deyoung.famsf.org which will
have all you need to know. The de Young prides itself in making its exhibits
accessible and has instituted a plan for people who are unable to come to the
museum whether for medical reasons, distance or finances. They have two robots
that will take visitors on a tour via the internet. Rebecca Bradley is the
Accessibility Curator. You can email her office at access@famsf.org if this great idea is of
interest.
Andy Warhol–From
A to B and Back Again is at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art through September 2,
2019. This exhibit covers three floors of the museum is the first Warhol
retrospective in the U.S. since 1989. For a new take on the artist visit the
museum’s site at www.sfmoma.org which has
images and much more.
At
the Seattle Art Museum find Victorian
Radicals: From the Pre-Raphaelites to the Arts and Crafts Movement
which is open from June 2019-September 8, 2019. As a reaction to the
industrialization that was changing their world these artists looked back to
the past for inspiration and appreciated the value of the handmade. The exhibit
features over 150 pieces including paintings, drawings, jewelry, textiles,
sculptures and stained glass from artists such as Morris, Burne-Jones and
Bunce. Ongoing at the Seattle Museum of Art is Big Picture: Art after 1945. The show includes some amazing
works by Rothko, Motherwell, Newman, Hoffman, etc., and there are interesting
videos on the museum website. Go to www.seattleartmuseum.org to obtain
more information. All are wonderful and the interactive videos online are great!
The Clyfford Still Museum in Denver continues to present
intriguing shows. As part of a series of exhibits curated by other artists, a
new exhibit culled from the museum collection is up through September 22, 2019.
Artists Select: Jonas Burget
is the newest in this series. Check out www.clyffordstillmuseum.org for all the details.
30 Americans is up from June 1 – August 25,
2019 at The Nelson-Atkins Museum in Kansas City, Missouri. The exhibit features
more than 80 works by some of the most influential African American artists
including Jean-Michel Basquiat, Carrie Mae Weems and Mikalene Thomas. Included
will be paintings, videos, drawings, and prints. The museum’s website at www.nelson-atkins.org
will provide more information.
I was pleased to learn that The Art Institute of Chicago
is hosting the first exhibition of the work of Edouard Manet at the museum in
more than fifty years. Manet and
Modern Beauty runs May 26, 2019 – September 8, 2019. This show focuses
on his later work, specifically the paintings he did of actresses, models, and
female friends. During this period in his life he also did a beautiful series
of floral still lives. He was quite ill at this point and in a great deal of
pain and was having trouble walking. He is perhaps best known for the paintings
Le dejeuner sur l’herbe, Olympia, and Un Bar aux Folies-Bergere. My favorites are, however, these later
works so it will be wonderful to see this show. More details are at www.artic.edu for these and other fascinating
exhibits.
The Detroit Institute of Arts has expanded its Asian Galleries which opened
November 4, 2018. Joining the Japanese Wing are the new Asian Galleries which
include works from China, Korea, India, Southeast Asia and Buddhist Art from
all over Asia. From Camelot to Kent
State: Pop Art, 1960-1975 is an exhibit on view until August 25, 2019
and features works by Claes Oldenburg, Jasper Johns, Rosenquist, Rauschenberg
and Warhol. It includes over 70 works of art and covers the Kennedy years to
the shootings at Kent State. I happened to be in a motel in Toledo on the day
of the shootings, close to Kent State, where I heard unsympathetic comments
about how protesters should be dealt with…many seemed to feel that that the
results were warranted. I will never forget that day and the anguish I felt. Check the museum website at www.dia.org to find information on this show and
its collections.
Anila Quayyum Agha: Between Light and Shadow begins
October 19, 2019 at the Toledo Museum of Art. The work of the
Pakistani-American artist fills three galleries with beautiful patterns of
light and shadow. Each exhibit centers on a different topic such as loss of
family and land, motifs found in communal spaces and a third which won top
honors at ArtPrize 2014. For further information go to www.toledomuseum.org and see photos of
the exhibit.
The Smithsonian
National Museum of African American History and Culture in Washington
D.C. is the culmination of over a century of work. Founding Director Lonnie
Bunch said that “The African American experience is the lens through which we
understand what it is to be an American.” The website welcomes us with its
opening words: A People’s Journey, A Nation’s Story. It is part of our national
history. The museum contains much memorabilia, including both negative and
positive. Of course, there is much history here including examples of slave
ships. However, there are more current examples, including Carl Lewis’ journey,
clothes from James Brown and Pearl Bailey, a trumpet owned by Louis Armstrong
and Chuck Berry’s red Cadillac. Items also include some owned by Harriet
Tubman, the dress Rosa Parks was sewing when she refused to leave her seat, and
clothes designed by Geoffrey Holder for the award winning Broadway play The Wiz. Areas include a sports museum
and a visual arts museum among others. The only permanent art exhibit on the
mall will be Visual Art and the
American Experience, which focuses on the contribution Americans of
African descent made to the history of American Art. The galleries will also
feature changing exhibits so check out www.nmaahc.si.edu
for information. The Hirshhorn Sculpture Garden and Plaza,
also part of the Smithsonian, features a wide range of sculpture from Auguste
Rodin to more modern examples like those of Jean Arp. It is a great outdoor
space with an ongoing display of many of the finest sculptures in the world. Make
sure to check out Kusama’s Pumpkin.
The National Gallery of Art in Washington
D.C. is celebrating the 500th anniversary of the birth of Venetian
artist Tintoretto with the exhibition Tintoretto:
Artist of Renaissance Venice. The show runs March 24 – July 7, 2019. It
is the first retrospective of his works in North America. Included are close to
50 paintings and many works on paper. Oliver
Lee Jackson: Recent Paintings is on view until September 15, 2019 and
includes 18 recent paintings. The American artist has studied African cultures
and American Jazz and these influences can be seen in his paintings, prints and
sculptures. Find more details at www.nga.gov with
several examples for you to enjoy.
While you are in Washington D.C. you might
also want to take a look at the Hillwood Estate Museum and Gardens, the final
home of Marjorie Merriweather Post. She was a collector and her home is open
with special exhibits. If you are a lover of the decorative arts this is a good
place to go. At this time through January 12, 2020 Mid-Century Master: The Photography of Alfred Eisenstaedt is on display. A well-known photojournalist and contributor to LIFE throughout its
history, he photographed Mrs. Post for an eighteen page spread in the
magazine’s November 5, 1965 issue. Those photos are among the fifty photos and
pieces of ephemera in this show. The museum’s website at www.hillwoodmuseum.org will give you
information and reveal some of her amazing pieces of eye candy as well.
Currently at the Madison Museum
of Contemporary Art are two shows featuring artists whose work explores their
backgrounds. Jeffrey Gibson: Like a
Hammer is the artist’s first major exhibition and will be at the museum
through September 15, 2019. It features 65 works based on his Choctaw and
Cherokee heritage including beaded punching bags, wall hangings and videos. Tyanna Buie: After Image is also
at the museum through September 22, 2019. She had a disrupted childhood so her
search for her roots has led her to make amazing art using what photos, bits of
clothing, jewelry and accessories she has been able to find. Many are recreated
in porcelain. For more information go to www.mmoca.org
and get a look at these various exhibits.
The Impressionist’s Eye, which is at The Philadelphia
Museum of Art through August 18, 2019, shares the work of Monet, Cassatt and
Vincent van Gogh along with other artists. This is an important show as the
viewer is able to see sculpture, works on paper and paintings by different
artists that influenced one another shown together. This fascinating exhibit
has information and videos on the museum’s website. Go to www.philamuseum.org to see more
information about other shows as well.
Esther & The Dream of One Loving Human Family is at
the American Visionary Art Museum in Baltimore through March 3, 2024. The
exhibition consists of 36 needlework and fabric collages of holocaust survivor
Esther Nisenthal Krinitz. At 15 she was in Poland in the middle of World War
II. Her embroideries were stitched as memories for her family but they are also
on display to remind all of us about the great danger inherent in demonizing
anyone. This exhibit also includes a facsimile of Esther’s farm home. The
museum website at www.avam.org will take you
there.
Humble and Human: An Exhibition in Honor of Ralph C. Wilson, Jr. is a
collaboration of two great museums. Both the Albright-Knox Museum in Buffalo,
New York and the Detroit Institute of Arts are among my favorites. The exhibit,
which began in Buffalo travelled to the DIA where it will run through October
13, 2019. Ralph Wilson Jr. lived in Detroit and was the founding owner of the
Buffalo Bills. He was also a philanthropist. The exhibit features work by Cézanne,
Degas, Gauguin, van Gogh, Monet, and Renoir among others. The museum’s website
at www.albrightknox.org has some
interesting insights on the show.
The New York Historical Society
has a beautiful website that you must see. The fourth floor of the museum has
been turned into a Gallery of Tiffany
Lamps from the museum’s extensive collection. This ongoing exhibit
features 100 lamps, many designed by women. Starting last November and ongoing
is Audubon’s Birds of America Focus
Gallery which will display watercolor models for the artist’s work, The Birds of America. The society also
has Picasso’s Le Tricorne on display.
The painted theater curtain from the ballet was produced in 1919. Visitors can
also have a look at Ed Ruscha’s Fanned
Book from 2013. Currently, through August 4, 2019 Hudson Rising is on view. This major thoroughfare has been
photographed, written about, painted, mapped and surveyed. This exhibit looks
at 200 years of change and evolution. There is much to see at this great venue
so check out www.nyhistory.org and
prepare to be surprised by all the wonderful historical pieces on view.
Epic Abstraction: Pollock to Herrera is an
ongoing exhibit at The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City. With over
50 large paintings, sculptures and assemblages, the show covers the 1940s
through the 21st century and has works by Pollock, Frankenthaler,
Herrera, Twombly, and Nevelson as well as abstract work by artists from
different countries. Also on display is In
Praise of Painting: Dutch Masterpieces at the Met which runs through
October 4, 2020. Covering the golden age of Dutch painting, it also places the
works in their cultural context. Play
it Loud: Instruments of Rock & Roll, presented in concert with the
Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, runs through October 1, 2019. Exploring the
relationship between musicians and their instruments, about 130 instruments and
costumes will be on display. More information on these special shows is at www.metmuseum.org so look for highlights there.
Several
interesting shows are coming to the Museum of Modern Art in New York next year.
Opening in February Dorothea Lange:
Words and Pictures is her first retrospective in fifty years and shares
many of the photographer’s images and words focused on the human condition. Judd opens March 1, 2020 and is
the first retrospective of the sculptor's work in thirty years. His work, though
using industrial materials, combines sculpture, painting and drawing. Félix Fénéon: The Anarchist and the
Avant-Garde – From Signac to Matisse and Beyond opens at the end of
March. M. Fénéon was a collector, critic, publisher and anarchist. Signac
decided to paint a portrait of the influential gentleman. It is this portrait
that is at the center of this exhibit along with over 160 artworks that Fénéon
admired and championed. Artists that he collected as well included Matisse,
Signac, Bonnard, Seurat and Modigliani. The museum website at www.moma.org has more information.
Vida Americana: Mexican
Muralists Remake American Art, 1925-1945 is at the Whitney in
New York through May 2020. While many Americans traveled south many Mexican
artists came to the U.S.A. and their influence on American artists was profound.
This exhibit features over 300 works by 85 Mexican and American artists. The
major Mexican Muralists, such as Orozco, Rivera and Siqueiros, spent extended
amounts of time here. In fact, we have several of these murals in California
such as the Siqueiros mural at the Santa Barbara Museum of Art. By the way, the
Rivera mural in Detroit is extraordinary. For more about the exhibit go to www.whitney.org and find much more
information.
Several ongoing shows are at
the Guggenheim Museum in New York. Since the museum has an extensive collection
it is featuring the work of Constantin Brâncuși, one of the most important sculptors of the 20th
century. The Guggenheim started collecting his work in the 1950s and it is
their impressive collection that is on display. Also ongoing at the museum is
the Thannhauser Collection
which features many French masterpieces by such artists as Degas and Picasso.
Don’t forget to check out other museum locations such as Bilbao and Venice.
Bilbao has a great Giacometti show as well as one from van Gogh to Picasso. Feel
free to go to www.guggenheim.org for
information and make sure to listen to various curators talk about the
challenges of restoring Red Lilly Pads,
as well as an Alexander Calder mobile. Also on view is an amazing and unique
Kandinsky painting which is oil on glass…make sure to see Lion Hunt painted in 1911.
One of the current exhibits at
the Morgan Library and Museum in New York City is Drawing the Curtain: Maurice Sendak’s Designs for Opera and Ballet.
Best known for his children’s books, the artist also designed sets and costumes
for the stage. The exhibit includes storyboards, sketches, costume studies and
dioramas from Mozart’s Magic Flute, Janacek’s
Cunning Little Vixen, Prokofiev’s Love for Three Oranges. Tchaikovsky’s Nutcracker, and an opera based on Where the Wild Things Are. He was
inspired by other artists and many of these artworks are included in the show
which is on through October 6, 2019. The museum website at www.themorgan.org has a nice video about
the show and shares a view of the exhibit.
Rembrandt to Picasso: Five Centuries of European Works on Paper is on
view at the Brooklyn Museum until October 13, 2019. The exhibit includes more
than a hundred drawings and prints from etchings by Rembrandt to prints and
drawings by Picasso. To learn more go to www.brooklynmuseum.org
for more details.
El Museo del Barrio in New York
City has two interesting exhibits that cross paths in time. Culture and The People: El Museo del
Barrio, 1961 – 2019 Part I/Selections from the Permanent Collection is
currently up through September 29, 2019. Part
II /Historic Timeline begins June 11 and continues concurrently with
Part I. In a nod to its activist origins these exhibits feature art from the
collection. Included are works by artists of diverse cultural backgrounds,
indigenous art and artifacts as well as works by contemporary artists. To find
out more check in at www.elmuseo.org and
enjoy the online stories.
At this moment the Boston
Museum of Fine Art houses several interesting exhibits. Among them is Toulouse-Lautrec and the Stars of Paris.
The exhibit details the nightlife of Paris and Montmartre and the folks he
painted there and made into stars. It runs through August 4, 2019. Mural: Jackson Pollock/Katharina Grosse
will be on display through February 23, 2020. Juxtaposing Pollock’s largest
painting with a current work by Grosse, the exhibit shows how artwork was
transformed by each artist’s original approach and technique. Please be sure
and look at www.mfa.org to find more
information and continue to check so you don’t miss anything.
A Passion for American Art: Selections from the Carolyn and Peter Lynch
Collection is at The Peabody Essex Museum in Salem,
Massachusetts. The exhibition is on view until December 1, 2019 and features a
stunning range of genres. The couple collected superior furniture, folk art, artwork
by Childe Hassam, Georgia O’Keeffe, Winslow Homer and John Singer Sargent. The
place to find more information is www.pem.org
and get a view of this engaging exhibit.
Currently at the Victoria and
Albert Museum in London through September 1, 2019 is Christian Dior: Designer of Dreams. The exhibit takes a look
at one of the most influential clothing designers of the twentieth century.
Dior created the New Look, which included fuller skirts that were right in step
after the restrictions of WWII. His assistant was a young man, Yves Saint
Laurent, who took on the mantle of head designer when Dior died, and who became
equally as famous. In the sixties another fashion revolution exploded with
miniskirts and hot pants. Mary Quant,
named for the designer who started it all, is on through February 16, 2020.
Included are more than 200 garments and accessories as well as pieces from the
designer’s archive. For more information check these out at www.vam.ac.uk if they are of interest.
Until August 11, 2019 the Tate Britain
is hosting The EY Exhibition: Van
Gogh And Britain. The show features 45 works by the artist in an
attempt to share how the artist was inspired by Britain and how he inspired
British artists in return. Keith
Haring is at the Tate Liverpool until November 10, 2019. The artist and
activist worked with Andy Warhol and Jean-Michel Basquiat and this is the first major
exhibition of his work in the UK. More than 85 of his pieces will be on
display. More information on these exhibits is at www.tate.org.uk which will have everything
you need to know. While you are there, check out the amazing videos at the site
about various exhibitions and van Gogh’s Starry
Night over the Rhone.
The National Gallery in London
has put together the first exhibition of the work of the artist Sorolla in the
United Kingdom in over a century. Sorolla:
Spanish Master of Light runs through July 7, 2019 so you can still
catch it if you hurry. His iridescent canvases are exquisite. Find more
information at www.nationalgallery.org.uk
when you look for details.
Kaffe Fassett’s Quilts in America is at the American
Museum and Gardens in Bath, England through November 3, 2019. The show features
twenty new quilts by Kaffe and his team including Brandon Mably and Phillip
Jacobs. As a point of reference, the museum has included eighteen historic
quilts from the museum’s own collection. Find photos from this show at www.americanmuseum.org as well as
information on this and other exhibits.
There are many exciting
exhibits at the Musée d'Orsay in Paris. Berthe
Morisot: Female Impressionist is there June 18 – September 27, 2019
followed by Degas at the Opera
which is scheduled for September 24, 2019 – January 19, 2020. The Musée de l'Orangerie also has many fine exhibits. Check out www.musee-orsay.fr if you will be in Paris
for any of these shows.
Dora Maar is at the Pompidou Centre in Paris until July 29,
2019. Known more for her association with Picasso, the exhibit contains her
artwork, photography and her ventures into Surrealism. Find out more details online at www.centrepompidou.fr and
take a look at an early Vasarely work from 1938, Zebres – A. It is wonderful.
The Musée Unterlinden in Colmar, France underwent a
renovation and expansion in 2016. In the Alsace region, the museum has been in
existence since 1853 and is home to Grünewald's Medieval masterpiece, Isenheim Altarpiece, as well as one of
only 3 tapestries of Guernica
approved by Picasso. It also has a large collection of Dubuffet artwork. The
National Geographic station aired the made-for-television series on Picasso’s
life which features a dramatization of the making of Guernica and how it came to be and why. I had the privilege of
seeing the work at MoMA years ago. As I got off the elevator in the museum I
came face to face with this large masterpiece. I have never forgotten the
experience. The museum’s website at www.musee-unterlinden.com,
is very informative.
Finally, a very special
exhibit will open at the Louvre this fall. The year 2019 is a significant year
for the artist Leonardo da Vinci.
He came to France at the behest of King Francois I along with a large number of
his paintings and died there in 1519 so 2019 is the fifth centenary of his
death. The Louvre holds about a third of his body of work. This exhibit will
showcase the five large paintings in the museum as well as 14 to 17 works
attributed to him and 22 drawings by the master. If you are interested the
museum website at www.louvre.fr has many
more details.
Simply
the Best:
The best place to find books on
the arts, Arcana is a very
special bookstore located in the Helms Bakery complex in Los Angeles…it is
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 See
Come to the Central Coast of
California. We have wonderful beaches and countless wineries. You will find a
Danish Village, beautiful Moroccan architecture and exotic gardens. Special
events abound.
On July 7, 2019 LotusFest takes place at
Lotusland in Santa Barbara. Featured is food, beer and wine in the beautiful
botanical garden. The website at www.lotusland.org
will have all the information as reservations are required.
The 31st annual Santa Barbara French Festival is
on July 13-14 this year. Join in to celebrate Bastille Day with entertainment
on three stages plus lawn games and of course, wine, crepes, art, dance and the
Canine Cavalcade. There is a lot to enjoy so check out www.frenchfestival.com for details.
As usual the California Wine Festival at Santa
Barbara takes place in various locations. This year it is set for July 19-20
with rare wine tastings and food from local chefs. A sunset rare & reserve
tasting takes place on July 19, 2019 from 6:30-9pm at Chase Palm Park Carousel
House. The event starts with a champagne reception then rare reserve level
wines are served with appetizers from local chefs, artisan cheeses, fresh
fruits and olive oils. Live music adds a finishing touch. To find out more go
to www.californiawinefestival.com
and gather up some friends for a wonderful experience.
The Santa Barbara Greek
Festival with its own Greek Village comes to town July 27-28, 2019. Featuring
Greek food, music, dancing and crafts check out www.santabarbaragreekfestival.org
for more information.
For the quintessential Santa
Barbara experience come to the 95th annual Old Spanish Days-Fiesta. This year the celebration of Santa
Barbara’s heritage takes place July 31-August 4 in various locations. You won’t
want to miss it so go to www.oldspanishdays-fiesta.org
for all the information.
UC Santa Barbara just received
a treasure trove of drawings by the late architect Lockwood De Forest III. His Italy Scrapbook was made on a
trip he took in 1921. The drawings are primarily of gardens so are of interest
to artists and gardeners alike. In order to view it call the UC Art and
Architecture Museum in Santa Barbara at 805.893.2951 to make an appointment.
A little north, but still in
Santa Barbara County, you will find Santa Maria. This year the Obon Festival is
on July 28 at the Veterans Memorial Cultural Center. It features Japanese food,
crafts, dancing and martial arts displays. Currently, there are many of these
Japanese Festivals in cities throughout California so check in your area to
find one close to you. In the meantime, go to www.guadalupebuddhistchurch.org
for all you need to know about the celebration in Santa Maria.
