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< Back Jim Richard Featured Structure Artist Through a myriad of paintings, drawings, and collages, contemporary artist Jim Richard construes interior and exterior depictions of Modern architecture. Since the late 1970s, Richard has created a profusion of modernist interiors loaded with art and kitsch objects that settle into multi-hued graphic fields. Richard manipulates interior aesthetics from the 1960s and 70s warping the display of art influenced by the modernist idea of a utopian society. The adornment of objects within Richard’s collages is strategically curated from a selection of 1960s and 70s home decor magazines and furniture advertisements. Visually, his work fuses elements of photorealism, hard-edge painting, and collage, resulting in a 2-D abstract style imbued with an array of rich colors and patterns. Richard’s body of work has a persistent focus on the recontextualization of Modernist art and design. Absent occupants, the clash of decorative objects and imagery against the busy patterns of Jim Richard’s collages evoke the presence of an art collector. The claustrophobic slew of sleek furniture and ornamental ephemera is Richard’s satirical yet humorous commentary on the ambitious goals of Modernism and Modernist art. At this point in time, many artists were striving for pure originality, seeking to advance their art practice beyond acceptable forms of "high art.” By structuring the composition of his collages around curated art-objects Richard’s architectural frameworks act and feel like a mausoleum putting outdated aesthetics and politics to rest. Originally born in Port Arthur, Texas, Richard currently lives and works in New Orleans, Louisiana. He is represented by the Arthur Roger Gallery in New Orleans and Inman Gallery in Houston. Richard received his Bachelor of Science from Lamar State College of Technology and his Master of Fine Art from the University of Colorado. Richard's work has been exhibited in New York at the Whitney Museum of American Art, the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, the Drawing Center, Oliver Kamm Gallery, and Jeff Bailey Gallery. For several years, he taught painting, served as a Graduate Coordinator, and was in charge of the Visiting Artists Program at the University of New Orleans served as Graduate Coordinator. Richard's paintings can be found in the collections of the Guggenheim Museum, The New Orleans Museum of Art, and the Houston Museum of Fine Art. Previous Next

Colorimetry < Return to Exhibitions January 18 - March 16 Ruth Pastine: Attraction 1993 - 2013 Main Gallery Gisela Colon: Glo-Pod Jewel Box John Eden: Roundel Series Second Floor - Staircase Atrium Johannes Girardoni: Chromasonic Field Blue/Green, 2013 Second Floor East Gallery Phillip K Smith III: Lucid Stead: Four Windows and the Doorway Vault Gallery Karl Benjamin Entry Atrium Dion Johnson: Light Sequence - Aquarium' 2013 Education Gallery January 23 - March 13 Innovations 29th Annual All-Media Juried Art Exhibition South Gallery Ruth Pastine Gisela Colon John Eden Karl Benjamin Dion Johnson Phillip K Smith Johannes Girardoni Anita Ray Innovations 29th Annual All-Media Curator's Award Eden Pastine Girardoni Johnson Benjamin Innovations Colon Ruth Pastine: Attraction 1993-2013 In the world of human perception, perhaps no single stimulus evokes a more complex cascade of responses than that of the phenomenon of color. Our perception of the color spectrum is completely dependent upon light and is encountered thousands of times a day in seemingly infinite combinations. Whether in our homes, workplaces, neighborhoods, cities, in film, in art, even in our dreams, these encounters have the ability to trigger emotional, physiological, intellectual, aesthetic and spiritual responses. Creating this phenomenological interplay between color, light and perception is where renowned painter and color theorist Ruth Pastine thrives. Pastine’s oil paintings and pastel works on paper provide a contemplative field in which we may dwell and absorb the intimate relationships she presents between warm colors and cool colors, between light and dark tones, between two-dimensions and the illusion of three-dimensional space. Pastine’s life’s work is dedicated to evolving the visual experience of color and redefining the perceptual field by combining contrasting color systems that challenge our preconceptions and ask us to move beyond the immediate attraction into the optical realm. The work is best experienced in person, which reveals the optical and visceral resonance of the hand painted surfaces. Through her work, color and light are reduced to their most elemental form. Thousands of tiny brush strokes appear visually seamless, producing an image that is both objective and pure and filled with nuance and subtlety that engages the viewer in the present tense of discovery. This journey parallels her painting process of being in the moment, in the here-and-now as she transforms a neutral canvas into a rich field of color. The square, vertical, and horizontal-rectangular framework of the canvas provides a gateway for departure, a means to access the future work, beyond that which seems finite. Ruth Pastine was born and raised in New York City. She received her B.F.A. from The Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art, New York, NY in painting and art history, and her M.F.A. from Hunter College of the City University of New York in painting, color theory, and critical theory. She received the Elizabeth Foundation for the Arts Grant in 1999, and in 2000 in conjunction with The Shifting Foundation matching grant. In 2001 she relocated to Southern California where she currently works and resides. In 2009, she received a public commission from Brookfield Properties and created a site-specific installation titled Limitless , which is comprised of eight large-scale vertical paintings permanently on view in the lobbies of Ernst & Young Plaza in Los Angeles, CA. The Museum of Art & History is pleased to present Pastine’s first museum survey show with exhibition catalog essays by Donald Kuspit and Peter Frank. She has exhibited widely in the United States and Japan, and is included in many public and corporate collections across the nation. Gisela Colon: Glo-Pods The work of Los Angeles-based Gisela Colón has been associated with California Minimalism, specifically the Light & Space and Finish-Fetish movements more broadly referred to as “Perceptualism.” Colón’s sculptures investigate the properties of light in solid form and luminescent color through the use of industrial plastic materials. The Glo-Pods body of work—meticulously created through a proprietary fabrication process of blow-molding and layering acrylic—mark Colon as part of the next generation of southern California artists using light as exploratory media. The light appearing to emanate from the objects is an illusion based on color and form. Colón's use of amorphous, organic, asymmetrical lines and light-reflecting and radiating media make her objects appear to pulsate with light and energy. They simultaneously appear to both actively materialize and dissolve into the surrounding environment, allowing the experience of pure color and form in space. Colon’s goal is to bring about intriguing perceptual contradictions between visual elements such as: mass/lightness, solidity/delicacy, opacity/ transparency, muscularity/femininity, and intensity/nuance thus allowing for the exploration of the phenomenology of light, color, materiality, and space as we experience it through the human lens of the senses. Colón was born in 1966 in Vancouver, Canada, to a German mother and Puerto Rican father. She was raised in San Juan, Puerto Rico and attended the University of Puerto Rico, graduating magna cum laude in 1987 with a BA in Economics. Colón moved to Los Angeles to pursue graduate studies, receiving a Juris Doctorate degree from Southwestern University School of Law in 1990. She was given a Congressional Scholarship Award by the Harry S. Truman Foundation in recognition of her outstanding academic excellence. She was able to turn to art full-time in 2002, quickly developing a following for her abstract paintings. Colón’s increasing interest in light and space and issues of visual perception brought her to her present series of work and her conscious association with Light-and-Space and Finish-Fetish artists such as Robert Irwin, James Turrell, Craig Kauffman, DeWain Valentine, Helen Pashgian, Larry Bell, Ronald Davis, Mary Corse, and Peter Alexander. Colón has exhibited at national and international venues. In 2014, she will be featured in the survey exhibition “Trans-Angeles” at the Museum Wilhelm-Morgner Haus in Soest, Germany. John Eden: Roundel Series In his Roundel Series , Sculptor John Eden presents multicolored disks that are interpretations of the symbols and colors used to identify military aircrafts’ country of origin. These 'Roundels' were originally inspired by the tricolored Cockade uniform ribbon of the French Revolution and repurposed again during WWI for aerial combatants. Mr. Eden further abstracts these symbols into pure shape and form. Eden started the Roundel Series in the late fall of 2012 and to date has created twenty-nine discs in various sizes, with twenty-five different Roundel designs. Like many of his contemporaries within the Southern California Finish-Fetish movement, he works solo in his studio, attending to every detail with pride and dedication to his craft. His work is grounded in his lifelong fascination with hidden or secret meanings: things that appear to be one thing, but are quite the opposite—in this case beautiful objects with lethal intent. This series explores the idea that “all that glitters is not gold” and the dark side of beauty. Eden’s Roundel Series builds upon the pioneering legacy of Southern California artists who married industrial materials and the Los Angeles car culture with political activism in the early 1960s. Eden credits the feminist artist Judy Chicago and her 1964 Topical Car Hood Series as an inspiration for his Roundel Series . Chicago sprayed acrylic lacquer on Corvair car hoods in precise, bold patterns thereby ushering in a new era of materials and content in Southern California art. John Eden received his Master of Fine Arts in painting from the University of Southern California; Master of Arts in inter-media from California State University of Northridge; and Bachelor of Fine Arts in independent filmmaking from the San Francisco Art Institute. Eden attributes his skills in handling sensitive pigments, high polish surfaces and non-traditional materials largely developed by the California aerospace engineering industry to his advanced training under Jack Brogan in his world renowned fabrication studio. Since the 1960s Jack Brogan has been an important facet of the art scene in Southern California, working closely with artists such as John Eden, De Wain Valentine, Robert Irwin, Larry Bell, Helen Pashgian and John McCracken as a conservator, fabricator, and collaborator. MOAH is proud to continue exhibiting this legacy of artists and the fabricators who have helped pioneer the Light and Space and Finish-Fetish movements, all unique to Southern California. Eden shows widely in California and has published in The Los Angeles Times, Art Review and The San Diego Union Tribune. He lives and works in Los Angeles. Johannes Girardoni: Chromasonic Field Blue/Green, 2013 Johannes Girardoni is an American-based sculptor and installation artist. Girardoni is known for work that blurs the line between virtual and material content. Dispersed throughout a gallery filled with natural light, Chromasonic Field-Blue/Green is a series of semi-translucent blue cast resin beams. White LED’s illuminate them from within, projecting artificial light as well as allowing the surrounding natural light to pass through. The installation is outfitted with sensors calibrated to measure the specific color frequency emanating from the resin as well as the ambient light. The sensors drive a tone generator, which converts the light information to sound, essentially making light audible. These sensors also register the presence of the viewer moving through the space, which further modulates the sound. The boundaries between natural and digital phenomena are blurred in a field of luminous sound. Johannes Girardoni's work has been widely shown at museums and galleries in the US, Europe and Asia. In 2011, Girardoni's light and sound installation The (Dis)appearance of Everything was included in the 54th Venice Biennale, Italy. Selected other exhibitions include Personal Structures at the Ludwig Museum, Germany, 30 Years of Contemporary Art at the California Center for Contemporary Art and Creative Migration at The Austrian Cultural Forum, New York. His works are represented in public and private collections, such as the Harvard Art Museum, The Progressive Collection and The Margulies Collection. Girardoni has been the subject of features and reviews both nationally and internationally including: The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, ArtNews, Art in America and Sculpture. In 2013, Girardoni completed a major in-situ permanent work, Metaspace 1 (The Infinite Room) , a light and sound sculpture conceived as part of architecture in collaboration with Smithsonian/Cooper Hewitt National Design Award winner Tom Kundig of Olson Kundig Architects. Girardoni’s Metaspace V2 , a groundbreaking interactive sculpture project that brings together art, technology, and science was first presented at the exhibition Off and On at Nye+Brown in Los Angeles. Phillip K. Smith: Lucid Stead: Four Windows and the Doorway Drawing inspiration from the optic sensation of California’s Light and Space movement, Phillip K. Smith III creates deceptively simple objects that seem to breathe and move as they are observed and experienced. This exhibition showcases one aspect of Smith’s Lucid Stead, 2013 an entirely site specific installation that incorporated LED lighting with mirrored panels on a 70 year old homesteading shack in the Mojave desert. Smith’s design of Lucid Stead was deeply influenced by his relationship to the desert, where he lives and works, and the inherent qualities unique to the Mojave: the quiet, expansive space, the reduced pace of change, and the uninterrupted color fields that occur as day shifts to night over the horizon. Using these ephemeral qualities as material and medium through the reflection of light and mirrors mounted on the homestead, Smith was able to place the building in direct conversation with the surrounding landscape. The four windows and doorway were outfitted with LED panels that slowly drenched the viewer in color. The desert context disappeared as day transformed into night and the colored panels appeared to float into the black sky. Smith happily pulled these light panels away from their desert home and into the MOAH to enable him to strictly focus the eye on pure color. His usual mode of working with light is from the inside-out, meaning he imbues his objects with light from within. Now, the interaction of color occurs as colors reflect and mingle on the gallery walls, washing the gallery in shifting changing light and color. Lucid Stead: Four Windows and the Doorway provides a direct path to the human sensory system, and the installation itself takes on human physicality, as if the color is breathing light into the participant. Smith is concerned with time and the ephemeral nature of life. In the past was Lucid Stead. In the present is: Lucid Stead: Four Windows and the Doorway, a bridge to the future where Smith will take re-site a monumental installation into the landscape, where the Southern California desert and the purity of his solar powered light panels interact seamlessly. Phillip K. Smith III received his Bachelor of Fine Arts and Bachelor of Architecture at the Rhode Island School of Design. From his Indio, California studio he continues to push the boundaries and confront the ideas of modernist design. Drawing inspiration form the rigidity of the Bauhaus movement in its pure shapes, colors and forms, with the reductive geometries of minimalism and the optic sensation of light and color, Smith III attempts to resolve the complex challenge of finding a natural state of life and spirit within these ideological constrictions. Commissioned to create more than a dozen monumental public art works in the last 5 years in Kansas City, Nashville, Oklahoma City, Arlington, VA, Phoenix and several sites in California, Smith has enjoyed rapid success with a 2008 feature in the Art in America Annual Review. In addition to these larger scaled works, Smith continues to work on an ever-growing list of smaller scaled works for private collections. Karl Benjamin (December 29, 1925 – July 26, 2012) Born in Chicago, Karl Benjamin began his undergraduate studies at Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois in 1943. Interrupted by service in the US Navy during WWII, Benjamin resumed his studies at Southern California's University of Redlands in 1946. Graduating in 1949 with a BA degree in English literature, history and philosophy, Benjamin began his career as a teacher with no intention of becoming an artist. However, his relocation to Claremont California in 1952, shortly after he had begun "playing" with paint in 1951, galvanized his career path. Though he continued to teach in public schools and, later to great acclaim, for Pomona College, the artist's work blossomed amid the lively art, design and architecture scene in Los Angeles in the mid twentieth Century. Numerous gallery showings of his work during the 1950s culminated in 1959 with his inclusion in Los Angeles County Museum of Art's ground-breaking exhibition "Four Abstract Classicists: Karl Benjamin, Lorser Feitelson, Frederick Hammersley and John McLaughlin." The exhibition garnered national attention along with the creation of a moniker for Benjamin's meticulously orchestrated color and form: Hard Edge Painting. Subsequently Benjamin's work was included in the exhibit Purist Painting traveling to Walker Art Center in Minneapolis, the Everson Museum of Art in Syracuse and the Columbus Museum of Art. The Whitney Museum included his work in Geometric Abstraction in America. Museum of Modern Art (NY) also featured the artist in their watershed exhibit The Responsive Eye. Benjamin was awarded the National Endowment for the Arts Grant for Visual Arts in 1983 and 1989. His work has been featured in numerous exhibitions and is included in the public collections of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art; Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles; Museum of Modern Art, Israel; Oakland Museum, Oakland, CA; San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, CA; Seattle Art Museum, WA; and the Whitney Museum of American Art, NY among others. Benjamin taught for many years at Pomona Valley institutions and was named Professor Emeritus at Pomona College. Dion Johnson: Light Sequence – Aquarium, 2013 Dion Johnson is activating the Education Gallery with an animated video projection of slowly evolving abstract fields of color, stripes and architectural forms. This is a site specific work of art that Dion has created exclusively for MOAH. Mr. Johnson imagines the projection as a moving painting that draws inspiration from how he senses and experiences the environment. From observing shadows stretching across his living room floor, watching the curvature of the freeway interchange while driving to his studio, and seeing the Southern California light filtering through urban structures, Light Sequence – Aquarium holds a full range of associations and perceptual cues that percolate as the video animation unfolds. Dion Johnson received his Bachelor of Fine Arts from Ohio State University and his Master of Fine Arts from Claremont Graduate University. He exhibits nationally with solo shows in museums and galleries across California, New York, Florida, Ohio and Texas. He lives and works in Los Angeles. Innovations 29th Annual All-Media Juried Art Exhibition Highlighted in the 29th Annual All Media Exhibit are 107 pieces created by 73 talented High Desert Artists. The entries were judged by Southern California artist Ray Turner, an American artist known primarily for his portrait and landscape painting and award winning sculptor Sarah Perry who currently resides in Tehachapi. All work in this exhibition was produced in the past three years and has not previously been shown at the Museum of Art & History. All forms of artistic media, including, but not limited to, painting, photography, and mixed-media were welcomed. The award winners were chosen by the esteemed judges with aditional awards given by community members and City leaders. Best of Exhibition • 1st (Best of) Christine Kline - Origins • 2nd (Best of) Stevie Love - Paint Thing 2 • 3rd (Best of) Antoinette de Paiva - Afterthought Series #5 Minors: • 1st Place Hanna Creech (age 13) - The Peacock • 2nd Place Elizabeth Engeda (age 10) - Northern Cardinal • 3rd Place Jack Kozlovsky (age 7) - Jack's Magic Dragon Beryl Amspoker Award • Tina Dorff - Portrait of the Young Countess Deirdra Rose Lakes and Valleys Art Guild Award • Sal Vasquez - Harris Vineyards Harvesters Dean Webb Memorial Photography Award, Presented by the Lancaster Photography Association • Betsy Batish - Unhitched Mayor’s Award • Tina Dille – E.B. City Manager’s Award • Michael Evans – Steampunk Top Hat Director’s Award • Regis R. Gagnon – Cotton Belt on the Outskirts Curator’s Award • Anita Ray – Loose Ends Honorable Mentions: • Nay Schuder – Crackin’ Up #1 • Michael Evans – Steampunk Media Player •Antoinette de Paiva - Afterthought Series #7 • Thaddeus Grzelak - Plein Air - Old Gold Mine • Frank Dixon - The Machine Age • Dennis Borak - Field of Sun Flowers • Dennis Borak - Artist Considering a Painting • Susan Cunningham - Dreaming of Zion • Nancy Scherich - Bitter Sweet • Hossen Mofarrah - Particles in the Air • Ralph Richeson - The Circus Came to Town • Christine Kline - Drowning Man • Jarnold - Meat Head • Tina Dorff - Deirdra & Jacques • Dennis Adams – Old Barn • Cynthia F. McConnell - Voids • Karyl Newman - Inter-Airspace Velvet • Stevie Love - Paint Thing 3 • Bruce McAllister - Sarah Says (As Neptune Swims) • Katherine Shannon - Kidding Around Smith View or Download the Colorimetry Exhibition Catalog by clicking on the cover image or here.

Up Vanity Various Artists https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wlmaofojzy8 Justin Bower: Thresholds Roni Stretch: Not Vanity Austin Young: To Be Determined / TBD The Musical Shana Mabari: Diametros Petals Laura Larson: Grace and Glory Leigh Salgado: Girls Just Wanna Have Fun Tina Dorff: Human Story Told Ted Meyer: Scarred for Life Justin Bower: Thresholds San Francisco native Justin Bower paints his subjects as de-stabilized, fractured post-humans, a person or entity that exists in a state beyond being human, in a nexus of interlocking spatial systems. His paintings juxtapose how individuals define themselves in this digital and virtual age and the impossibility of grasping such a slippery notion. Bower compares his use of paint to an instrument of dissection and inquiry into the idea of the body as an original prosthetic subject. Flesh acts as the complex layer of biological boundary from externalized technologies; all the while revealing that the same externalized technologies are already inside the body. Bower paints his subjects in a world where humanity and materiality are interwoven symmetrically, where the purity of human nature is being replaced by new forms of creation and evolution. His paintings are influenced by today’s culture that privileges patterns of information by using optical art configurations as the context for most of his artwork. Bower’s paintings open a dialogue of the destabilizing effect and trauma technology has on the individual. He shows this through the technique of doubling features - multiple eyes, spliced noses, melting mouths – and a whiplash-like motion invoked in his abstract expressionist process. Bower received a Bachelor Degree in Art and Philosophy from the University of Arizona and his Master of Fine Arts (MFA) from Claremont Graduate University. Since receiving his MFA, Bower’s work has been the subject of solo exhibitions at Ace Gallery in Beverly Hills, Unix Gallery in New York City, and has been part of a group show at Patrick Painter and many international exhibitions. Bower has been the recipient of several awards, among those the Feitelson Fellowship Grant and the Joan Mitchell Award. His artwork has been published by Art Forum, New American Paintings, American Art Collector, Bl!sss Magazine, Modern Painters, Artillery Magazine and the LA Times. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NuovaI7qgs4 Ronic Stretch: Not Vanity Roni Stretch has pioneered the dichromatic process, exploring photorealistic under-paintings that emerge ghost-like from a void of color. His dichromatic oil paintings are meticulously created by executing a layering process whereby two different colors are alternately applied and built up over many weeks. The subjects play against a sharply lined border intended to ground each painting in the physical and force a visual meditation. The image is not so much painted over as optically embedded within the multiple layers of the alternating colors. Stretch’s work is a lesson in contradictions: photorealism and abstraction, light and dark, reality and altered states, smooth and rough textures all ultimately leading to an emotional experience. British artist Roni Stretch grew up in St. Helens, Mereyside, England where he attended the St. Helens College of Art and Design. Stretch has been exhibited throughout California including shows at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, the Museum of Contemporary Art at the Geffen Contemporary Museum, the Westmont Museum of Art in Santa Barbara and the Cooperstown Museum in New York. His work has recently been included in the permanent collections of the Pasadena Museum of California Art, the Museum of California Design, the Cooperstown Museum in New York and the Museum of Contemporary Art in San Diego. He currently lives and works in Los Angeles. Austin Young: To Be Determined / TBD The Musical “I am fascinated by identity. Who am I? Who are you? How do we arrive at these conclusions? We all have stories about growing up, making friends and our first loves. These experiences form our relationship to the world and ourselves. Our fears and experiences solidify our identities and make them real. If our identity becomes fixed, it can keep us in a box. Some of us never stop wishing we were something other or more. I continually talk myself out of doing things. For example, I always wanted to make a musical but my fear got in the way. So, recently, I decided to just set up the dates and announce it. I invited the public to join in for a series of workshops where they shared their stories and experiences around the topic of identity and ‘coming of age.’ The call was heard by many amazing people and LA-based artists as we collectively placed emphasis on radical authenticity and spontaneous creativity. For this show at MOAH, I recreate my studio in the gallery, showing behind-the-scenes footage, intimate coming of age stories, notes, photos and final edited scenes from the musical in progress. In short video interviews, participants delve into the stories that formed their identities then sing or act them out in this unusual and revolutionary musical experience.” -Austin Young Austin Young is a photographer and trans media artist. Young has been documenting pop and sub-culture since 1985 through portraits. Young confuses personality and identity issues in confrontational and unapologetic image-making of people who often mix gender roles or otherwise confound stereotypical constraints of socially-constructed identities. In addition to photography and filmmaking, Young is co-founder of Fallen Fruit, a contemporary art collective established in 2004 that uses fruit as a material for projects that investigate the hyper-synergistic qualities of collaboration. Young's video works explore pop-culture, celebrity, gender and identity. TBD The Musical explores the new realm of performance, installation, video and public participatory art. Through a series of workshops, Young invites the public to co-create this project alongside him, sharing stories and experiences around the topic of identity and “coming of age.” In turn, he creates an ongoing, experimental, collaborative musical that emphasizes radical authenticity and spontaneous creativity. Young brings individuals who are pushing boundaries in their respective disciplines together, including musicians, dancers, fashion designers, singers, drag queens and the public. As new collaborations take place, scenes are added to TBD The Musical , as well as the documentary and exhibition of behind the scenes footage, photography and notes. Shana Mabari: Diametros Petals Shana Mabari is an American contemporary artist working in Los Angeles. Working through the intersections of art, science and technology, Mabari orchestrates light, reflection, color contrast and geometry with the intent to play with and expand the reality and experience of physical space. Through her sculptures, installations and environments, she investigates the ways in which worldly stimuli and phenomena are absorbed and processed through sensory and visual perceptions. Mabari is part of the continuum of the Light and Space movement, which originated in California in the 1960s. Science has fueled her artwork, leading her to collaborate with world renowned scientists at the Institute of Neuroinformatics in Zurich, Switzerland. Shana Mabari was born in Los Angeles, California. She has traveled extensively and lived in Paris, Northern India and Tel Aviv. Her education includes studies at the École Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts de Paris and Otis College of Art and Design in Los Angeles. She holds a patent for the design of “Dynamic Spatial Illusions,” a portable version of a visual and sensory experimental environment. She is a recipient of the Center for Cultural Innovation ARC grant. She has exhibited work in the United States and internationally. Laura Larson: Grace and Glory Laura Larson grew up in Chicago surrounded by the influence of the Chicago Imagists, a group of artists that were known for representational work that drew references outside of fine art. Her work reflects the dual interests of story-telling and theatrical production – the building blocks for her consistent interest in sculptural installations and narrative Tableau. In the late 1970s Larson moved to Los Angeles where she became a member of a collaborative group of women and men, working with Judy Chicago to create The Dinner Party , a controversial, ground–breaking feminist art piece rendered in porcelain, china painting, textiles and embroidery, recognizing significant women in history who were forgotten or under–recognized. Over the last 10 years Larson’s work has touched on two topics: our relationship between nature and our animal co-inhabitants; and investigations of the cultural, historical and spiritual through lines of the female trinity: mind, body and spirit. Completed through three different bodies of work, Grace and Glory will be the final part of Larson’s trinity. Larson states: “This serial investigation examines the cultural, historical and spiritual through–lines of the effects of religion – Christianity in particular – on women. Its genesis was my reaction to the Getty Center’s exhibition “Bernini and the Birth of Baroque Portrait Sculpture.” While Bernini’s gorgeous busts glorified popes, cardinals and kings, I wanted to re-imagine the exhibit by flipping the gender to female – shifting the focus from power and piety to grace and glory, celebrating historical (mythical) women who have shown grace under pressure and who have been bestowed or sought glory for their actions. This series has been created in opposition to the Baroque artists’ “dazzling virtuosity” and their ability to create a "speaking likeness" from the intractable medium of stone. The faces of these women are made of immobile Styrofoam wig heads. However, each head is treated in a different way to exemplify their life’s situation using various mediums such as paint, modeling epoxy/resin, paper mache, fabric, leather, or beads. The bust in general personifies the woman in a symbolic, rather than expressive way. The materials used have associative powers such as black and white leather gloves, which become hair and headpiece for the Queen of Sheba, and handkerchiefs collected over a lifetime, which become a bouquet of roses for Aimee Semple McPherson." Laura Larson has exhibited her work extensively throughout Southern California, and has shown her work internationally. In 2004, she received the Artist Resource for Completion Grant from the Durfee Foundation. Larson graduated from Carthage College in Kenosha, Wisconsin, receiving a dual Bachelor of Arts degree in fine art and theatre arts. Leigh Salgado: Girls Just Wanna Have Fun Leigh Salgado’s sculptural drawings incorporate an organic yet precise process through cutting paper by hand and burning some parts of the composition along with the use of ink and paint. These labor-intensive finished pictures are of abstracted imagery that occasionally morph into recognizable subject matter including lace, lingerie, netting, fabric, clothing patterns and original woven abstractions. Salgado’s current work includes an ongoing interest in subjects and forms that have associations developed during her girlhood and womanhood. Salgado states: “What drives me: Attraction to patterns, fabric, fashion objects, elaborate ornamentation and respect for labor. My work is about persistence in spite of the impossibility of perfection. My memories, experiences and women who have formed my worldview are present in the work.” Leigh Salgado received her Bachelor’s Degree in painting, sculpture and graphic arts from the University of California, Los Angeles and her Master’s Degree in clinical art therapy from Loyola Marymount University. After practicing art therapy professionally for several years, she renewed her fine art studies at Santa Monica College of Design in Art and Architecture. Her artwork has been exhibited nationally. Tina Dorff: Human Story Told “Some emotive narratives in these paintings can be quite obvious, but most are undercurrents of a story told by the figure. My painting themes run the gamut from darkly emotive to lovely trickeries on canvas. Watch the playful antics of the fuzzy headed girl naked and chatting with a figurine. If you listen carefully the woman in the blue shirt will tell you her special tale. There is a woman standing on a half shell reaching out to you because the self-shame is killing her. Turn again and you see a naked nymph lazing in the grass under the breeze of a fan. The black sweaty torso of a soldier reaching up to the skies in despair on those awful human decisions made. Then there is the 21st century knock off of an Ingres countess with her black lace dress and blank stare.” – Tina Dorff Tina Dorff’s oil paintings delve into emotional narratives taken from personal experiences and external observations. She uses canvas as a journal and release. Growing out of years of emotional turmoil and disappointments, Dorff uses her work to access emotions and establish a bridge to the outside world. Most of her models are close friends or family, Dorff feels fortunate to have models with a sharp insight into painting. For her, the relationship between the model and painter is powerful and to be cherished, she states “there is always a story behind my faces.” She hopes that when viewers take in her art their sense of reality will be altered for that viewing time and that they can relate to it. She states “I tell my stories through the painted figure for you to interpret...and now it is your story.” Dorff studied at the Art Institute of Philadelphia, Hussian School of Art and received an Associate of Science degree from Temple University. Her work has been exhibited across the United States and internationally. She currently lives and works in Lancaster. Ted Meyer: Scarred for Life Ever since he was a small child with a serious illness, Ted Meyer has mixed art and medical images as a way to understand his experiences. Through his art he highlights the emotional impact of pain and healing on everyday people—patients, families and medical personnel. When medical treatments improved his own situation as an adult, Meyer began to work with other survivors of traumatic health issues. Scarred for Life is a multi-faceted project that includes printing on paper from the subject’s body, interviewing the participants about their experiences and photographing the process. The resulting, ever-expanding, presentation of monoprints, narratives and photographs has received press coverage from the New York Times, USA Today and the Chicago Tribune . Scarred for Life, has been exhibited nationally, including at the National Museum of Health and Medicine in Washington, D.C., New York University School of Medicine, Bravard Museum of Art in Melbourne, Florida, the Museum of Art and Culture in New Rochelle, New York, and at Sierra College in Rocklin, California and Biola University in La Mirada, California. Meyer has lectured on art and health at Yale University, New York University and UCLA. Ted Meyer is an artist and designer living in Los Angeles. He earned his Bachelor’s degree at Arizona State University. He is owner of and principal designer at Art Your World, a full-service design studio. He is currently an Artist in Residence at UCLA’s Geffen School of Medicine and Visiting Scholar at the National Museum of Health and Medicine in Washington, D.C. Ted has exhibited his paintings and photographs internationally, including at the Chicago Art Institute, the United Nations in New York City, in Osaka, Japan and Istanbul Turkey. December 5, 2015 - January 24, 2016 Back to list

Up Made in the Mojave Various Artists Artists Samantha Fields Kim Stringfellow Carol Es Catherine Ruane Marthe Aponte Nicolas Shake Ron Pinkerton Aline Mare Randi Hokett Made in the Mojave celebrates the subtle beauty, rich history, and plentiful resources of the Mojave Desert. The exhibit which focuses on the landscape interpreted through a variety of media, from painting, to photography, to social practice, is sure to awaken within visitors a new-found appreciation for the nuanced splendor of the desert. Featured solo exhibits include artists Samantha Fields, Kim Stringfellow, Carol Es, Catherine Ruane, Aline Mare, Ron Pinkerton, Nicolas Shake, Randi Hokett and a site specific installation by local artist Marthe Aponte. Made in the Mojave expands our idea of the desert and its relevance in our daily lives. In addition to the professional artist presentations, the Museum is honored to highlight R. Rex Parris High School students’ project, Wasteland, on the rooftop terrace. As part of MOAH’s Green Initiative, this project was led by Los Angeles artist Nicolas Shake working in conjunction with R. Rex Parris High School art instructor Kris Holladay and her students. Samantha Fields: Ten Years While it is true that Samantha Fields spends a great deal of time contemplating how things fall apart, whether it be by fire, drought, tornado, typhoon, flood or simple human error, to say that Fields is obsessed with disasters would be reductive. There is a central and indefatigable impulse toward beauty and hope that underlies the artist’s process, which is as central to her final image as water is to a river. Fields’ images are drawn from our collective human consciousness. They are recollections of events that have passed or are still raging on as in the epic fires that regularly engulf the Los Angeles landscape, which the artist has drawn to create a series of startlingly realistic images of fire plumes, simultaneously delicate and hard edged. Fields creates these paintings in a kind of vacuum, her hand never really touching the canvas as she applies acrylic paint through an air brush, only occasionally adding a more surreal gesture by hand. Fields’ images are just as much metaphors for the state of the world as they are landscape paintings. The landscape, for Fields, is simply the best and most luminous vehicle to express these ideas. These images, drawn from disaster, highlight the viewer’s gaze into the abyss, searching for a sense of self in the chaos and beginning to understand the complexity of our human experience. Samantha Fields is a painter based in Los Angeles, California. She received a Sabbatical Award from California State University, Northridge in 2015, an individual artist grant from the City of Los Angeles (COLA) in 2012, and was awarded the College Art Association’s professional development fellowship in 1997. Kim Stringfellow: The Mojave Project The Mojave Project is a transmedia documentary and curatorial project led by Kim Stringfellow exploring the physical, geological and cultural landscape of the Mojave Desert. The Mojave Project reconsiders and establishes multiple ways in which to interpret this unique and complex landscape, through association and connection of seemingly unrelated sites, themes and subjects thus creating a speculative and immersive experience for its audience. The Mojave Project explores the following themes: Desert as Wasteland; Geological Time vs. Human Time; Sacrifice and Exploitation; Danger and Consequence; Space and Perception; Mobility and Movement; Desert as Staging Ground; Transformation and Reinvention. The Mojave Project materialized over time through deep research and direct field inquiry involving interviews, reportage and personal journaling supported with still photography, audio and video documentation. Field Dispatches were shared throughout the production period at mojaveproject.org and through KCET Artbound. This initial phase of the project was designed to make ongoing research transparent, inviting the audience into the conversation as the project developed. The Mojave Project culminates as a large-scale video installation incorporating the digital research journal, photographs, documents and maps along with other collected ephemera and objects gathered over the three-year production period. Launched at MOAH, the completed project, exhibition and corresponding publications will travel to multiple institutions over a two-year period. Funding for The Mojave Project is provided through a Cal Humanities 2015 California Documentary Project production grant with additional support from San Diego State University. The Mojave Project is a project of the Pasadena Arts Council’s EMERGE Program. The Mojave Desert Heritage & Cultural Association and KCET Artbound are project partners. Kim Stringfellow is an artist, educator and independent curator based in Joshua Tree, California. She is a 2016 Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts Curatorial Fellow and a 2015 Guggenheim Fellow in Photography. In 2012, she became the second recipient of the Theo Westenberger Award for Artistic Excellence. Other awards include a Center for Cultural Innovation (CCI) “Investing in Artists” equipment grant in 2010. Carol Es: The Exodus Project Over the past 15 years, Carol Es has made several pilgrimages to Joshua Tree National Park. During one of these visits, a 10-day extended stay in a secluded spot of the park, The Exodus Project was born. As Es studied Jewish mysticism, meditated and explored her desert surroundings, she carefully documented the process, sketching, filming and blogging about her experience in an effort to gather as much preliminary work as she could before returning to her studio in Los Angeles, where she would work on the project for the next year. Back in her studio, one of Es’ first endeavors was a short film, produced in collaboration with visual artists and animators Jonathan Nesmith and Susan Holloway. Together they created Up to Now, a six-minute movie featuring Yuddy, a giraffe-like creature representing Es’ spiritual quest and Moppet, who resembles a ragdoll, symbolizing the artist’s inner child. It is a short story, narrated by Es, about “freeing oneself from emotional baggage.” The short is featured inside Camp Up to Now, a multi-media installation consisting of a large yellow tent that acts as a miniature theatre. The Exodus Project also encompasses a series of oil paintings on canvas and gesso boards, called the Joshua Tree Paintings, inspired by actual locations mixed with the artist’s imagination, as well as an additional series, Rock and Refuge, consisting of more abstract, collaged paintings on panels of birch. These pieces are meant to represent the unique architectural landscapes which can only be found in the high desert. Carol Es is a two-time recipient of the ARC Grant from the Durfee Foundation and the Artists’ Fellowship in New York. She has also received a Pollock-Krasner Fellowship and a Wynn Newhouse Award. Additionally, she writes, illustrates and publishes handmade books via her independent publishing company, Careless Press. She has also just completed her memoir, Shrapnel in the San Fernando Valley. Catherine Ruane: Dance Me to the Edge Visitors to the Mojave Desert often comment on how the wide vista of its windswept environment feels like being precariously close to the edge of the world. Catherine Ruane grew up on this “edge.” The Mojave Desert is a wild place full of mystery, challenges, danger and impossible wonders. The native plants are not only miraculous to behold but are a metaphor for our own survival. Ruane’s set of drawings are dedicated to the iconic, unusual and yet ubiquitous Joshua tree. Dance Me to the Edge consists of 12 round drawings, 12 inches each in diameter, providing a nod to the counting of time on the face of a clock, as well as the recognition of balance and continuity inherent in the desert’s unchanged landscape. There is also one larger drawing, depicting a Joshua tree in full bloom, which stands as a symbol for the continuum of life in ongoing generations: life begets life. Joshua trees are slow-growing and long lived, with several reaching a thousand years in age. This plant tells a story of survival, resilience and persistence. There is a symbiotic relationship between the tree and one particular, tiny moth that pollinates the Joshua flower in exchange for its food provisions and protection for its maturing eggs. Cooperation and the space of time are significant to the survival of this desert tree. Ruane chose to use basic charcoal and graphite pencil to meticulously draw the features of this prehistoric plant and its dependence on a tiny desert insect. It is as if the Joshua tree and its moth are in a dance of perfect balance, reflecting the delicate relationship between humankind and the environment itself. Catherine Ruane is a member of Southern Graphics Council International, College Arts Association, West Coast Drawing and Los Angeles Art Association. She has also completed commissions for several large businesses, including: The Walt Disney Company, Citi Bank, the Hyatt Hospitality Corporation, and the Ritz Carlton Hotel Development Company. She currently resides in San Diego, California. Marthe Aponte: Memories of a Joshua Tree Marthe Aponte is concerned with the relationship between time and looking, seeking to create pieces in which the artist and the viewer are transported into another world, where one is encouraged to savor the moment, inviting deceleration and contemplation. Her picoté technique, composed of varying sizes and textures of holes pierced through paper with the artist’s singular tool – an awl – forces viewers to slow down in order to best appreciate the intricacy of each composition, an experience that runs directly counter to the high-speed, technology fueled reality of modern existence. The subject of this work is the Joshua tree. Of her subject matter, the artist stated, “I am interested in the Joshua tree not because it is a symbol of the Mojave Desert’s flora, but instead because it gave me the opportunity to explore concepts of life, death and fate.” Thus, the artist incorporated the presence of the mythological Fates, sisters visiting from Greek mythology, who flank the tree at each side. An organism that must survive on meager resources, the Joshua tree’s austerity lends itself well to Aponte’s minimalist picoté technique. For the artist, the Joshua tree is a sacred site, existing somewhere in the liminal spaces between life and death, potentially subject to the mercy, wrath, or whim of the Greek sisters. Marthe Aponte is a self-taught artist who began her practice in the Antelope Valley five years ago. Since then, she has become a member of the Los Angeles Art Association’s Gallery 825 and has participated in numerous exhibitions throughout Los Angeles County, including Coagula Curatorial’s Sweet 16 Juried Exhibition and 2017’s stART Up Art Fair. She was also awarded the Beryl Amspoker Memorial Award for Outstanding Female Artists during MOAH’s Annual Juried Exhibition, Cedarfest. Aponte currently resides in Lancaster, California. Nicolas Shake: Wasteland The source material for Nicolas Shake’s work is derived from what others leave behind. The commercial detritus of suburban life, discarded in the desert, becomes reconfigured in complex and often surreal arrangements, only to continue their slow disintegration in the harsh climate. To create his compositions, Shake has stacked tires, constructed abstract scarecrows from cardboard boxes, upended sofas and made flimsy fences out of mops, brooms and rakes, arranging and rearranging these cast-off items in an ode both to their temporal nature and the human failure they imply as discarded remnants of the American dream. Once the compositions are complete to the artist’s satisfaction, he illuminates with the light from his vehicle. This results in large-scale otherworldly arrangements that echo themes of dreamlike possibility as much as they evoke post-apocalyptic disaster. Once completed, the structures are left to decay back into ruin—and this is part of the point. Nicolas Shake received his Bachelor of Fine Arts from Rhode Island School of Design in 2008 and Master of Fine Arts from Claremont Graduate University in 2011. Shake lives and works in Los Angeles, California. Ron Pinkerton: The Last Stand The source material for Nicolas Shake’s work is derived from what others leave behind. The commercial detritus of suburban life, discarded in the desert, becomes reconfigured in complex and often surreal arrangements, only to continue their slow disintegration in the harsh climate. To create his compositions, Shake has stacked tires, constructed abstract scarecrows from cardboard boxes, upended sofas and made flimsy fences out of mops, brooms and rakes, arranging and rearranging these cast-off items in an ode both to their temporal nature and the human failure they imply as discarded remnants of the American dream. Once the compositions are complete to the artist’s satisfaction, he illuminates with the light from his vehicle. This results in large-scale otherworldly arrangements that echo themes of dreamlike possibility as much as they evoke post-apocalyptic disaster. Once completed, the structures are left to decay back into ruin—and this is part of the point. Nicolas Shake received his Bachelor of Fine Arts from Rhode Island School of Design in 2008 and Master of Fine Arts from Claremont Graduate University in 2011. Shake lives and works in Los Angeles, California. Aline Mare: The Angle of Repose Over the past year, Aline Mare has found herself drawn into several mysterious encounters during extended trips into the Mojave Desert. In this suite of images, the artist has immersed herself in those landscapes, open to the pull of objects and narratives embedded within the nakedness of the desert. Mare attempts to capture the spirit of the environment through its tangible elements: roots, seedpods, wispy clouds, Joshua tree flowers and other various fragments of the desert’s living systems. Each piece is an amalgam of images that are scanned, altered, painted and recombined to create a rich layering of sources. Biological and urban objects are fused with mark making, photo sources and digital media to compose a poetic language where systems of generation and communication are linked to form a new syntax. Using the machine’s illumination as an original light source, Mare utilizes digital scanning as a contemporary interpretation of the nineteenth-century photographic process of cliché verre, literally a Greek phrase meaning “glass picture.” The distinct layering of image and sensory background amplifies the direct beauty of the natural object as it interfaces with technology, creating a modern hybridization between the historic photographic process and the artist’s hand-rendered paintings. Thus, the eroded objects become talismans, charged artifacts of past habitations, bleached and fractured from the sun and loaded with a subjective energy. Each tableau is a theatre set where time becomes the actor—both giver and destroyer of life—within a space where quiet mysteries are revealed. Aline Mare is a multi-media, multi-disciplinary artist, currently concentrating on photography, video and installation. In 1991, she was awarded a New York State Residency for the Arts as well as the New Langdon Arts Grant. She participated in the Headlands Residency for the Arts in 1999 and was the Kala Artist in Residence in 2006. In 2012, Mare was awarded a Creative Capacity Grant by the City of San Francisco. In 2015, she participated in New Mexico’s Starry Nights Residency, as well as Surpass, a Sino-American China Art Tour. Randi Hokett: Crystalworks Hokett draws upon the volatility of tectonic plates and volcanoes as geological manifestations of creation as a metaphor for the formation of the personal landscape. Utilizing a variety of materials including salt and borax mined from the Mojave Desert itself, Hokett grows crystals on disrupted, broken and burned panels of wood. She uses chemistry to grow the crystals and then adds ink, paint and encaustic to create the finished panel. Blurring the lines between painting and sculpture, she explores a complex narrative of growth in a place where at one time there was only damage. Crystalworks draw heavily from science-based ideas and processes in order to address the wound or scar as the liminal space that allows for the beauty of growth, change and transcendence. Randi Hokett was born and raised in southern California. She earned her Bachelor of Arts in Art History from University of California Los Angeles and her Master of Fine Arts in Art History and Museum Studies from University of Southern California. She is inspired by science, especially geology and chemistry. Recurring themes in her work include the relationships between damage/growth, isolation/connection, love/lust, birth/rebirth, light/dark and other places of intersection. Hokett’s work has been show at Los Angeles Municipal Gallery, Irvine Fine Arts Center and Lancaster Museum of Art and History. She lives and works in Los Angeles. May 13 - July 30, 2017 Back to list

Autumn 2013 < Return to Exhibitions August 3, - October 13, 2013 Free Enterprise: The Art of Citizen Space Exploration Curated by Tyler Stallings and Marko Peljhan Main & Vault Gallery Tim Youd: The Right Stuff Jewel Box Gallery When I'm Sixty-Four Curated by Rebecca Trawick East, South, Wells Fargo Jorg Dubin: Dog Fight Lobby Atrium Free Enterprise Image Courtesy of Tyler Stallings, Artistic Director UCR Culver Center for the Arts & Sweeney Art Gallery Troy Aossey Tim Youd Jorg Dubin Free Enterprise: The Art of Citizen Space Exploration Curated by Tyler Stallings and Marko Peljhan Occupying the entire ground level, MOAH presents the first contemporary art exhibition in the U.S. to showcase an international array of artists and organizations who are exploring the intersection between artistic production and civilian space travel. The possibility of fulfilling the human dream to fly into space has been encouraged by a major political and cultural shift away from federal-sponsored space activities towards a private enterprise model. This exciting exhibit includes a variety of media such as drawing, photography, video, sculpture, painting, and artifacts by international participants. Locally based XCOR Aerospace, Inc. (Mojave, CA), has installed a full scale working rocket and other hardware in the Museum as a major feature of the show. Free Enterprise originated from the University of California Riverside ARTSblock. Participants : The Arts Catalyst (London, U.K.), Lowry Burgess (Pittsburgh, PA), Center for Land Use Interpretation (Culver City, CA), Richard Clar (Paris/Los Angeles), Skeith De Wine (Santa Ana, CA), Kitsou Dubois (Paris), Final Frontier Design (New York), MIR - Microgravity Interdisciplinary Research (international participants), Forrest Myers (New York), Carrie Paterson (Los Angeles), Connie Samaras (Los Angeles), and XCOR Aerospace, Inc. (Mojave, CA). Tim Youd: The Right Stuff Continuing with the theme of space and flight, Los Angeles-based artist Tim Youd will perform the typing of Tom Wolfe’s The Right Stuff on the original typewriter used to create the novel. Youd’s performance involves typing the novel on a single page run through the machine over and over again, thereby embedding the entire manuscript into one sheet. Youd travels the world, performing the works in locales geographically related to either the author’s life or the plot of the novel. When I'm Sixty-Four Curated by Rebecca Trawick When I'm Sixty-Four explores the lives of our country's 50+ population. California alone is projected to have a population of 6.5 million people over the age of 65 within the first two decades of the new millennium. All aspects of life will be impacted including politics, public services, the economy, family structures, and healthcare. As our population ages we have to ask ourselves the role this group will play in our culture and whether or not our perception, acceptance and politics will mature along with them. The contemporary artists in When I'm Sixty-Four use diverse approaches to explore the realities of the lives of our senior population, often through extremely private investigations into their own aging or the lives of their loved ones. Their work poses questions about our concepts of growing older, and what we can do to access our senior community members. The Museum of Art and History is presenting an in-depth schedule of public programs, lectures, film screenings and special performances featuring amazing seniors in our communities. Artists include Deborah Aschheim (CA), Troy Aossey (AZ), Jeanne C. Finley (CA), Gina Genis (CA), Nancy Macko (CA), Peter Riesett (NY) and Shari Wasson (CA). Jorg Dubin: Dog Fight Jorg Dubin’s Dog Fight sculptures capture the form and structure of military aircraft. Constructed from metal, Dubin finishes the surfaces with corporate logos painted directly on the work. Suspended in the Museum’s atrium in a configuration resembling an aerial dog fight, the title of the work comes alive from multiple vantage points as viewers walk through the first and second floors of the facility. The Corporate Jet Series is a playful and ironic look at the influence or perhaps the merging of the power of corporate America, politics and the innate desire for the good life, all of which is protected by the military. Enterprise Youd Dubin Trawick View or Download the Autumn 2013 Exhibition Catalog by clicking on the cover image or here.

2020 < View Public Art Projects Little Giant by Ann Weber 2020 Permanent Art Project Ann Weber is an American artist who transforms the ordinary medium of cardboard into impressive large-scale sculptures reminiscent of pods, gourds, and organic spires. She views the psychological component of her artwork as one of the most important aspects; between representational and abstract, Weber invites the viewers to bring their own associations to her artwork. Composed with a palette of simple circles and cylinder forms, Weber’s work represents the symbolic male and female forms in the natural world while tying in architecture and historical references to evoke memories, relationships and morality in her sculptures. By casting ordinary cardboard into bronze or fiberglass for public art projects, Weber illustrates that things are not always what they appear to be and the humble origin of the materials are part of the innovation, charm and humor of artwork like Little Giant . Weber states that, “when you put a seed in the ground, the first thing that happens is a sprout. I felt what my content was, or what I was saying, had to do with these very primal kinds of forms...Ultimately my interest is in expanding the possibilities of making beauty from a common and mundane material.”

Brandon Kim < Back October 18th, 2020 By Brandon Kim The last time I touched this journal was three weeks ago. You see, since I was so preoccupied with the cruel yearly abscission, I simply could not be bothered to put everything aside to update my own journal. My maple leaf siblings and I all were carefully administered by the tree we grew on throughout our entire lives. We lived almost leisurely, but there is always a catch to everything that seems too good to be true. It would never have come to my mind that we would all be abandoned by the very maple tree that supported us when resources began to run short. I have chosen to move past the decision of being left behind to die on the concrete sidewalk instead of sulking about the decision that was made. I should have seen it coming from a mile away, but I did not know any better a few months ago. In the previous months, I remember clinging onto the maple tree that gave me life, only looking down and waiting for my impending doom that would soon arrive. Every fall, hundreds of us maple leaves would be left behind and abandoned without a moment of hesitation as a means to conserve resources and survive the harsh, cold winter. The process would repeat itself every year; no matter how strongly connected the leaves were with the heartless maple tree, they were always cut off selfishly. Our hard work to gather resources for the tree would be disregarded every time. After each harsh winter ended, the remaining leaves that somehow managed to live through the winter despite being left on the ground continued to rot. It would only be a matter of time before all the leaves wholly decomposed. Some continue to sulk about the tree’s unsympathetic and cruel methods of taking all the resources for itself, and the rest just were not able to make it through the winter or were moved to a completely different location in the cold gusts of wind. I feel betrayed rather than depressed as I lie here on the cold sidewalk. We are ultimately used and given special treatment only for a certain amount of time, and it feels that all of our hard work was for nothing. Our existence as maple leaves is an enormous contribution to why the very tree that abandoned us is standing there to this day. Now our only option is to watch the new maple leaves grow in our place, not knowing what they are in for, as we continue to slowly rot away on the pavement with the maple tree’s back turned to us. Previous Next

2021 < View Public Art Projects Crosswalk Mural by Charlie Edmistion 2021 Temporary Art Project https://video.wixstatic.com/video/e60af9_a88d1d0fb4414db882be6754b477822f/1080p/mp4/file.mp4

Founded in Hawaii, POW!WOW! is a series of global events that celebrates culture, music and art. Antelope Valley has joined in with its set of murals. Pow! Wow! AV Map Pow! Wow! AV Blog 2020 POW! WOW! Antelope Valley returns for our third year this coming September 5 through September 12 in Lancaster, California. International and area muralists will adorn the walls of the city, adding to the 31 murals and installations created during the 2016 and 2018 editions of the festival. Founded in Hawaii, back in 2010, POW! WOW! is a series of global events that celebrate culture, music and art. We are excited to share with the Antelope Valley community the art of twelve amazing creatives this coming September. Taking part will be Allison Bamcat, Carlos Mendoza, Carlos Ramirez, Casey Weldon, Chloe Becky, Gustavo Rimada, Huntz Liu, Kim Sielbeck, Manuel Zamudio, MJ Lindo, Spenser Little, and Victoria Cassinova. As the new murals come to life, be sure to explore our existing murals and installations from Aaron De La Cruz, Amandalynn, Amir Fallah, Amy Sol, Andrew Hem, Andrew Schoultz, Bumblebeelovesyou, Carly Ealey, Christopher Konecki, Dan Witz, David Flores, Ekundayo, Emily Ding, Hueman, Isaac Cordal, Jeff Soto, Julius Eastman, Kris Holladay, Lauren YS, Mark Dean Veca, Meggs, Michael Jones, Mikey Kelly, MOUF, Nuri Amanatullah, Scott Listfield, Spenser Little, Super A, Tina Dille, and Tran Nguyen. For the safety of the artists and the general public and in compliance with the Los Angeles County Health Department’s COVID-19 protocols, we will not be holding any public events during POW!WOW! AV. While the expansion of the Antelope Valley’s outdoor museum is exciting and visiting the murals offer some escape for all that have been trapped indoors these past several months, we ask that you wear a mask while touring the new murals as they come to life. Please respect the artists’ working space and safety by keeping well away from their work zone and do not distract them with conversation. We thank you in advance for your understanding and support. The Lancaster Museum of Art and History is dedicated to strengthening awareness, enhancing accessibility and igniting the appreciation of art, history and culture in the Antelope Valley through dynamic exhibitions, innovative educational programs, creative community engagement and a vibrant collection that celebrates the richness of the region. Thinkspace Projects was founded in 2005; now in LA’s Culver City Arts District, the gallery has garnered an international reputation as one of the most active and productive exponents of the New Contemporary Art Movement. Maintaining its founding commitment to the promotion and support of its artists, Thinkspace has steadily expanded its roster and diversified its projects, creating collaborative and institutional opportunities all over the world. Made possible due to the support and sponsorship of the Lancaster Museum of Art and History and Thinkspace Projects from Los Angeles, California. Special thanks to the City of Lancaster, Destination Lancaster, The BLVD Association, Signs & Designs, and all who help bring POW! WOW! AV to life. For further details please check www.lancastermoah.org and www.powwowworldwide.com Spanish language interviews from Pow!Wow! 2020 Artists MEET THE ARTISTS Allison Bamcat @allisonbamcat Gustavo RImada @ARTE_DE_GUSTAVO__ Carlos Mendoza @chuckvalleys Huntz Liu @HuntzHuntz Carlos Ramirez @c.ramirez2323 Manuel Zamudio @RAID_33 Casey Weldon @Caseyweldon MJ Lindo @MjLindo Chloe Becky @elsiethecowww Spenser Little @spenserlittleart Kim Sielbeck @Kimsielbeck Victoria Cassinova @VCassinova

Riley Briones < Back Yellow Rose By Riley Briones Name: Yellow Rose, Point of Origin: Middle East, Date: TBD Dear journal, I was thinking of my whole time alive. I was planted here for as long as I can remember when they moved in. I was chosen for my bright colors and the joy I bring from the outside. I used to be happy I was loved. I had a family who always took care of me even through the harsh winters and nasty weather. I loved watching them grow, as I grew to see how beautiful they have gotten; to see their faces light up when they look up at me. I used to be so tall compared to the light; I was something they looked up to and wanted to be. I would sometimes go away when it came to the season for me to leave. However, as soon as I came back I got to see the growth they had made, like they were following my lead. I loved the touch I got when others visited and the way they looked at me. The feeling that I was picked amongst all others and I still get picked to this day by the children I watched grow. I was made to be here. The family wanted me, but was it just for my beauty, was I only a material to them only to be seen from the outside? Do they not care what I actually feel? I watch as so many people come and go through the doorway. I’ve experienced the loss of people too; watching new people come along so happy to see the children I love inside. I have seen many things, the love these humans give to each other, their faces light up when they see them like how they used to look at me. But, one day these new people disappear and they never come back. I see the face of a once happy child grow into a depressed lonely girl. She never looks at me the same. I no longer feel the love and joy I used to give to these people. Is my reason for being here gone? Have I failed to keep this child happy? The once joy I brought to others and myself is gone. I feel empty. I can no longer serve for those I love. The girl has gone so far down into a hole I never get cared for anymore. I see the sunlight come over the house and the water hit my roots; but nothing will ever be good enough as the love she once gave me. I am gone. I am nothing. But, I still live day to day growing more and more sad as I see her grow to be the feeling that I feel. I am her. She is me. We are a part of one another. If only she could see. Previous Next

Highlights from MOAH's permanent collection < Back Human Natures Highlights from MOAH's permanent collection May 14 - August 21, 2022 Emily Maddigan "Untitled", 2020, Mixed Media, Taxidermy Slinkachu,"Deserted", 2006, Archival Ink on Photo Rag Paper Alvaro Naddeo, "Shoulder of Orion", 2021, Warercolor on Paper Emily Maddigan "Untitled", 2020, Mixed Media, Taxidermy 1/11 Previous Next Human Natures is the culmination of a decade’s worth of acquiring artworks for MOAH's permanent collection for public benefit. The artists of Human Natures represent the diversity of the Antelope Valley and a range of identities and perspectives. The various works throughout Human Natures reflect the dichotomy between humanity and the natural world. The human desire to differentiate oneself from nature is juxtaposed with the necessary and inevitable need to remain connected to the natural world. Viewers will find a multitude of media including painting, photography, assemblage, and sculptural works. In addition to the overall collecting effort, the exhibition features installations from our annual juried show, a program dedicated to acquiring artworks from local artists. As an institution, providing space and representation for the Antelope Valley is driven by the public's desire to see themselves reflected in art, serving as a metaphorical looking glass into the community and, ultimately, the viewer. The artists featured in Human Natures are Jessicka Addams, Abel Alejandre, Alex Anderson, Judie Bamber, Sean Banister, Donna Bates, Kelly Berg, Lili Bernard, April Bey, Justin Bower, Lavialle Campbell, Rebecca Campbell, Kate Carvellas, Victoria Cassinova, Rob Clayton, Christian Clayton, Gisela Colón, Darryl Curran, Ann Diener, Julius Eastman, Ayin Es, Amir H. Fallah, Matthew Finley, Alex Garant, Leonard Greco, Mark Steven Greenfield, Iva Gueorguieva, Carla Jay Harris, Suda House, Lanise Howard, Louis Jacinto, Anthony James, Michael Jones, Sant Khalsa, Christine Kline, David Koeth, Scott Listfield, Stevie Love, Emily Maddigan, Randi Matushevitz, Dru McKenzie, Zära Monet Feeney, Alvaro Naddeo, Naida Osline, Paul Paiement, Alejandro Perez, Vicente Perez, Sarah Perry, Sheila Pinkel, Melanie Pullen, Osceola Refetoff, Melissa Reischman, Gustavo Rimada, Lezley Saar, Leigh Saldago, Slinkachu, Ali Smith, Alyson Souza, Katherine Stocking-Lopez, Coleen Sterritt, Roni Stretch, Jane Szabo, Linda Vallejo, Robert Von Sternberg, Melanie Walker, Nancy Webber, Cathy Weiss, and Manuel Zamudio

< Return to Exhibitions Grand Opening 2012 Smooth Operations: Substance and Surface in Southern California Art The Painted Desert Ron_Davis Thatcher May 5, - August 18, 2012 Learn More May 5, - September 16, 2012 Indians, Gold Miners and Gunslingers Smooth Operations: Substance and Surface in Southern California Art Lancaster's Museum of Art and History opens its new dedicated space with "Smooth Operations: Substance and Surface in Southern California Art," an exhibition looking at the use of new and untraditional materials in the fabrication of art objects. "Smooth Operations" will concentrate on the postwar years in and around Los Angeles, when experimentation with such unorthodox, even radical materials and qualities led to the emergence of movements such as finish/fetish and light-and-space. Among the artist whose work will comprise "Smooth Operations" are Peter Alexander, Larry Bell, DeWain Valentine, Ronald Davis, Craig Kauffman, Judy Chicago, Mary Corse, Roland Reiss, John McCracken, Helen Pashgian, Tony DeLap, VASA, Norman Zammitt, Fred Eversley, Jerome Mahoney, Doug Edge and Terry O'Shea. The work of several younger artists who investigate the qualities of synthetic materials, including Eric Johnson, Lisa Bartleson, Andy Moses, Alex Couwenberg, Ann Marie Rousseau, Ruth Pastine, Phlip K. Smith, Gisela Colon and Eric Zamitt, will augment the main part of the exhibition. In effect, "Smooth Operations" will be the first post-Pacific Standard Time exhibition in southern California, opening only days after the official end of the Getty's vast historic initiative but continuing in the spirit o fthat initiative. Like PST, "Smooth Operations" examines aspects of modernism in southern California and their implications for contmeporary artistic practice and scholarship. The Painted Desert The Painted Desert represents diverse perspectives, interpretations and techniques addressing the dessert as subject. This show celebrates its artistic traditions both through process and concept. Paintings by artists Dennis Calaba, Cole Case, Todd Cooper, Jorg Dubin, Robert Dunahay, Smantha Fields, Richard Gallego, Kris Holladay, Christine Kline, Glen Knowles, Ellie Korn, Gregory Martin, Al Miller, Donnie Molls, Debbie Nelson, Ann Sly, Gerald Strangio, Sal Vasquez, Donna Weil and Andre Yi will grace the second floor of MOAH. Indians, Gold Miners and Gunslingers "In small things forgotten..." writes American archaeologist James Deetz, we remember our past. It is in the seemingly insignificant remnants of daily life that we can reconstruct teh history of a people. We can learn their values, derive their prosperity and visit the essence of their existence. In the beginning, Lancaster was a rough and tumble stagecoach and whistle stop thorugh the upper Mojave Desert for weary travelers on their way south toward the Los Angeles Basin or norht toward the San Joaquin Valley. Driving through the City of Lancaster today, it is difficult to imagine a time when Indians populated the landscape, gold mining was a profession and gun slinging was a means of survival. However, prior to 1930, a way of life in Lancaster, CA could be described as just this. Outpost, stagecoach stop, railroad stop, frontier—these are all words that described the area that would be Lancaster prior to 1930. Lancaster was part of the Old West. Come enjoy a brief look back at the people and industry of our predecessors, the things they left behind and the legacy they leave us. As you contemplate the history of Lancaster in the Old West the goal is that you will come away with an appreciation for what life wa like in the past and what it is today. The artifacts and photos of a time gone by seem to say, "Don't read what we have written, see what we have done". (James Deetz) Smooth Desert Gold View or Download the Grand Opening Exhibition Catalog by clicking on the cover image or here.