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Spring 2014 March 27 - May 4, 2014 29th All Media High School Art Exhibition Main Gallery March 29 - June 8, 2014 YiKai: Paintings & Drawings South Gallery, Staircase Atrium, Wells Fargo Gallery Brad Howe: Celebrating MACC Artist Rooftop & Jewel Box Andrew Frieder: A Life in Stitches Education Gallery May 10 - June 8, 2014 Natural Treasure: The California Poppy Vault Gallery Selections from the Permanent Collection Main Gallery < Return to Exhibitions Yi Kai Brad Howe Andrew Frieder 29th All Media High School Art Exhibition The 29th Annual AVUHSD Exhibition is an all-media exhibit of nearly 150 pieces created by burgeoning Antelope Valley students who attend schools in the Antelope Valley Union High School District: Academies of the Antelope Valley (AAV), Antelope Valley, Desert Winds, Eastside, Highland, Lancaster, Littlerock, Palmdale, Pete Knight, Quartz Hill and R. Rex Parris High Schools. Exhibited work includes a wide variety of media including: painting, drawing, sculpture, video, scratchboard, computer art, photography, mixed media and much more. Awards were presented from the High School District, community groups and the City to the students for their artwork. In addition to the students’ work, there is also an accompanying AVUHSD Teachers’ show in the Vault Gallery. The first of its kind for the Museum, the exhibit presents an opportunity for the student pieces to be displayed in reference to their mentoring instructors’ artwork. The Teacher’s Exhibit celebrates the educators who teach this next generation of young artists and will be on display through April 27. Yi Kai: Paintings and Drawings In celebration of Asian Pacific American Heritage Month, MOAH brings internationally renowned painter Yi Kai to the Antelope Valley. Yi Kai came from China to begin a new life with his wife and son in America. He soon became a U.S. citizen, immersing himself in American culture while reserving time for trips back to his native lands. Occupying four galleries on the second floor of the Museum, Yi Kai’s richly textured and brightly colored paintings and drawings bridge these two cultures, layering Western symbols of freedom, materialism and the pursuit of individuality with the Eastern philosophical and spiritual qualities he grew up with and witnessed while traveling and drawing in Tibet. Yi Kai’s art offers the viewer a visual dialectic that promotes unity, harmony and peace in the world, making him a perfect representative of Asian Pacific American Heritage Month. Each gallery is filled with a unique series of work from his prolific repertoire. Located at the top of the stairs, Map in Transition welcomes viewers to the second floor. Map In Transition reads right to left as a chronology of America’s pioneering spirit, starting with the settlement of the first colonies onward to westward expansion. Like each of his series, Map in Transition is laden with symbols of individuality, freedom, and prosperity—imagery that speaks to the American desire for material wealth and the clash that often occurs between spirituality and consumerism in America and China. His deeply hued gauche painting Monk with Pilgrims , 1989 is exhibited with Map In Transition to highlight the global reach of Yi Kai’s practice and the symbolic bridging of nations and ideologies. In the East Gallery Yi Kai’s abstracted landscapes depict the textural aesthetics of waste and decay while offering a sense of humor in the toy cars that punctuate his canvases. The Wells Fargo Gallery plays host to the Tibet Series , an intimate selection of drawings and collage that chronicle Yi Kai’s visits to Tibet and his skillful and sensitive renderings of the people and cultures of the Himalayas. In the South Gallery, Yi Kai shifts his focus by immersing the viewer in a critique of globalization and the mixing of cultural values from West to East. Yi Kai’s visual investigations of materialism and greed take shape in his deconstructed robotic figures and disfigured men in business suits that appear oblivious to the world around them, while his stark critique of China’s disregard for the environment reaches a climax in his large-scale oil on canvas Gas Mask Series . These paintings speak to the cause and effect of China’s industrial pollution and the separation that occurs as cultures and languages are lost in pursuit of contemporary comforts and high society. On one hand, Yi Kai’s richly textured and colorful work offers a celebration of the unique freedoms he immediately embraced upon arrival to the United States of America. On the other hand, he presents a sobering critique of consumerist values that have reached around the globe, influencing a new generation of consumers in China. Yi Kai is an artist who sees the world through the shifting edges of cultural values and the boundaries of tradition, bringing them together in a spectrum of visual manifestations that ask the viewer to see the relationships between nations through his art. Brad Howe: High Desert Regional Health Center Installation In anticipation of the installation of his monumental kinetic artwork at the new Los Angeles County High Desert Regional Health Center in Lancaster, the artwork of internationally distinguished artist Brad Howe is presented on every floor of the Museum: the Roof Terrace, in the Jewel Box Gallery and the Entrance Lobby. The Entrance Lobby installation is an interpretation of the Los Angeles County High Desert Regional Health Center project that is currently underway and is intended to give the community a glimpse in anticipation of its unveiling on May 30, 2014. The name of the installation will be selected by the artist from suggestions by the community. As you view the blue icons and notice connections between them, consider Mr. Howe’s invitation to name the work. What comes to mind when you view the artwork and drawings? Do you recognize elements and symbols from your own experiences in the High Desert? Are they familiar to you and how do you relate to them? Perhaps you enjoy skateboarding or walking or the plants and animals of the desert. Perhaps you have a grandparent or are caring for an elderly family member. Perhaps you shop till you drop, and look great doing it? Go ahead, enjoy finding yourself in the work! By submitting a name and perhaps leaving a message for the artist, you become an active participant in the process of making civic art. Mr. Howe will select a name from the suggestion box and announce the winner at the Grand Opening on May 30! By inviting the community to take part in naming the artwork, Howe continues the strong public engagement component that shaped the initial design of the installation. Brad Howe, born and raised in the High Desert, was selected for the High Desert Regional Health Center project by a committee comprised of County and local stakeholders including MOAH. In response to the site and soul of the community, Howe designed a suite of three large scale suspended sculptures that reflect the stories conveyed by local residents during several community engagement events facilitated by artist Rebecca Niederlander. Neiderlander’s process of creating an environment of listening and storytelling resulted in stories rich in a sense of place and community identity. Howe converted the residents’ stories into icons and symbols that the viewer’s eye will string together as the icons move and intersect with one another. Cascading into free form passive kinetic sculptures, the artwork represents a transformation of the verbal into the physical, reflecting the collective voice of Antelope Valley. As a student of International Relations at Stanford University, Howe attended the University of São Paulo to specialize in Brazilian Literature and Economic History. It was there that he discovered the passion for art and architecture that would eventually lead to his first exhibitions. Since then, he has exhibited in over 18 countries worldwide, and his works have been placed in collections throughout 32 countries. His studio is actively completing site-specific commissions for cities, universities, museums and private corporations worldwide, with his own light and playful flair enlivening the Museum and soon to be open Los Angeles County High Desert Regional Health Center. Andrew Frieder: A Life in Stitches (1959-2014) The Lancaster Museum of Art and History is honored to highlight selected work by Lancaster artist Andrew Frieder. Andrew Frieder: A Life in Stitches showcases the artist’s unique and compelling visual language through a collection of works on paper, stitched collages and paper quilts made during the last decade of his life. With a focus on his personal mythology, Frieder’s works on paper welcome the viewer into his visual world through his playful articulation of human and animal figures while layering scriptural references and ancient Greek mythology into a distinctive narrative. The stitched collages feature Frieder’s signature style of revealing and concealing his creative process: white washing acrylic paint over graphite sketches and machine-stitching the paper together in a variety of textures and compositions. Additionally, Frieder expanded the language of traditional patch quilting into the realm of collage, where his use of hand-made aluminum staples together with grommets, embroidery thread and machine-stitched prints reference his family’s background in industrial fabrics and medicine. His father was a noted surgeon and his grandfather made quilted moving blankets and canvas goods. On his mother’s side, the family worked primarily in the garment industry. Preferring to work in multiples, Frieder’s process included designing and making his own printing presses and tools from recycled materials, which allowed him to toy with the spectrum between freedom of expression, mass production and precision. Andrew Frieder: A Life in Stitches pays tribute to one of Antelope Valley’s most prolific artists. Largely self-taught, he studied art and writing for a time at UCLA and Bennington College in Vermont and immersed himself in his work producing thousands of prints, drawings, collages, quilted works, hand-made tools, printing presses, hats and furniture throughout his lifetime. Three of Frieder’s works of art are housed in MOAH’s permanent collection. The Museum is curating a major retrospective of the artist’s life’s work to open in 2016. Natural Treasure: The California Poppy This season weather conditions have brought an explosion of orange, gold, and purple across the foothills and grasslands of the Antelope Valley. In celebration of this spring’s proliferation of wildflowers, Lancaster Museum of Art and History has collected a gallery full of our state’s treasure, the California Poppy. Natural Treasure: The California Poppy features artwork selected from an open call to Southern California artists by MOAH’s Curator Andi Campognone to encompass a spectrum of approaches from paintings of traditional poppy-filled landscapes to contemporary conceptual imagery. The California Poppy, Eschscholzia Californica , was designated as California’s official state flower in 1903; its golden blooms a fitting symbol for the Golden State. Long before the Gold Rush, when the Spanish came, they declared California the “Golden State” because of the massive blooms of poppies adorning the coastal and desert landscape throughout California. Although endemic to California, small pockets exist in Oregon and Arizona and have traveled by way of human dispersal as far as New Zealand. The largest native poppy fields are located in the Antelope Valley and were abundant in the San Gabriel foothills now known as Pasadena, Altadena and Sierra Madre. The poppy has been called the “flame flower” and “copa de oro” (cup of gold) in reference to its bright orange to yellow petals. As an annual flower, the blooms last one season and in a good year will set hundreds of thousands of seeds, and then die. Dependent upon winter rain fall, the number of plants, their duration and intensity of color will vary from year to year and generally last from as early as mid-February through late May. Native Americans used the fresh roots to soothe toothaches and headaches and some tribes chewed the petals like chewing gum. In 1996 Governor Wilson proclaimed May 13 to 18 as Poppy Week, which coincides with MOAH’s colorful exhibit featuring a diverse array of approaches, mediums and styles. Here in the Antelope Valley, the flower is honored by the City of Lancaster’s annual California Poppy Festival, now in its twenty-third year. Additionally, in 1976 local residents teamed up to protect 1,745 acres of some of the most exquisite poppy fields in the nation. The Antelope Valley California Poppy Reserve consists of lands donated to the State of California by the Munz Family and set aside in perpetuity to celebrate this natural treasure. Each spring, the Antelope Valley California Poppy Reserve comes alive with the seasonal surprises of the western Mojave Desert Grassland habitat. Be sure to enjoy the proliferation here at MOAH and at the Poppy Reserve this spring. HS Exhibit Yi Kai Howe Frieder Poppy View or Download the Spring 2014 Exhibition Catalog by clicking on the cover image or here.

Young Artist Workshops Free Drop-in Craft Workshops for Kids Follow MOAH on Instragram and watch Reels of our upcoming YAW Workshops How it works Young Artist Workshops are free art activities for children ages 3+ (must be accompanied by an adult). The YAWs at MOAH are inspired by artworks that are currently on view, and the YAWs at Elyze Clifford Interpretive Center (ECIC) are inspired by the local, natural environment. Drop In Participants can come to a YAW anytime between 3 and 7 pm. Workshops at MOAH are every first Thursday of the month, and workshop dates for ECIC can be found here . Art activities take about 10-30 minutes to make; seating and supplies are first-come, first-serve. Create Participants create an artwork from start to finish, with all the supplies and guidance provided by MOAH staff. Each YAW is unique and introduces children to a variety of art techniques, materials, and processes. Share Tag any pictures of your finished piece with #MOAHYAW on Facebook or Instagram! YAW at MOAH 665 W Lancaster Blvd, Lancaster, CA 93534 Every 1st Thursd ay 3 PM - 7 PM Event dates can be found on our event calendar (661) 723-6250 YAW at Elyze Clifford Interpretive Center 43201 35th St. W Lancaster, CA, 93536 Every Third Sunday 12 PM - 4 PM Event dates can be found on our event calendar (661) 723-6250

< Back Reforged Identities Jewel Box Gina Herrera Driven by a deep commitment to environmental justice, artist Gina Herrera infuses her work with spiritual and aesthetic rituals that pay homage to Mother Earth. Using repurposed and salvaged materials — including military insignia and everyday domestic objects — she crafts assemblage sculptures that juxtapose organic, human-like forms, industrial materials, and mystical elements. Shaped by her Native American heritage, military service, and eco-conscious perspective, Herrera’s diverse experiences come together in a practice that is both thought-provoking and deeply connected to the world around her. Sculptures such as The Mighty Grasshopper, 2024, exemplify Herrera’s distinctive artistic practice and technique. Like many of her works, it is comprised of found objects, plasma-cut and powder coated metal, and ceramic molds taken from her own body. The piece reflects the diverse influences and her own personal exploration of identity and beliefs, encouraging contemplation, and deep social and spiritual engagement. Previous Next

Elana MannBellows and QuakesThrough sculpture, sound, and community engagement, the artwork of artist Elana Mann explores the power of the collective voice and the politics of listening. Mann’s sculptures, resembling the horns and rattles prominent in musical instruments, serve to create, amplify, and embody sound. < Back Elana Mann, Unidentified Bright Objects Elana Mann, Bans Off Our Bodies Elana Mann, Bans Off Our Bodies Elana Mann, Unidentified Bright Objects 1/4 Elana Mann Bellows and Quakes Through sculpture, sound, and community engagement, the artwork of artist Elana Mann explores the power of the collective voice and the politics of listening. Mann’s sculptures, resembling the horns and rattles prominent in musical instruments, serve to create, amplify, and embody sound. The physical creation of sound and of hearing itself is an intangible discourse that is visualized through her artworks. For Mann, the act of listening can be a catalyst for social change. Her sonic sculptures, street protests and performances in galleries and museums produce a collective voice to enable social activism. These works generate a sonic link between art practice and civic action, providing visible symbology to connect the ephemeral and material power of sound. Previous Next

Branching Out < Back Previous Terry Holzgreen Branching Out Straying away from traditional notions of woodworking, cabinetmaker and self-taught artist Terry Holzgreen, creates both functional and sculptural wooden works. His works are a visual compilation of the uniqueness and variety of lumber. Wood fragments from different tree species are arranged into a multitude of shapes, turning into a collage of texture, form, and natural wood color. Pieces and fragments are sourced from both scraps and found material. These assemblages are presented in various formats: cubes, spheres, vessels, wall works, each retaining this pieced-together quality. Holzgreen’s process derives from his background in carpentry and a fluke idea in which he created a small hollow cube and then attached thin cuts of wood pieces into a grid pattern along the cube’s surface. Holzgreen sees the reuse of these fragments and materials as a way of refining and showcasing the natural beauty of the material. This idea of improvisation and experimentation still resonates in his practice today. Next

< Back to ACTIVATION 1/12 Carla Jay Harris A Season in the Wilderness January 22 - April 17, 2022 Born in Indiana while her father was stationed at Fort Benjamin, Carla Jay Harris spent most of her childhood in flux, moving every two or three years in and out of the United States. “My nomadic childhood is what, in part, has attracted me to photography. The camera is a way for me to attach permanence,” she says. “A Season in the Wilderness” is the most recent development of “Celestial Bodies”, an ongoing series by Harris, which stems from her experiences as a ‘third-culture kid’ — feeling othered by race, culture, language, and nationality. “Throughout history, mythology has served humankind’s need to understand its surroundings... Through myth-making, I have been able to tap into a sense of belonging that extends from a connection to universal cultural concerns and narratives,” Harris says. Carla Jay Harris trained as a photographer and cinematographer, working in the commercial art field in New York for nearly ten years before committing herself to a contemporary art practice in 2011. In 2013, she moved to Southern California to earn her Master of Fine Arts degree at the University of California, Los Angeles, and has stayed in the area ever since. Over the last decade, Carla Jay Harris’ artistic practice has evolved to include installation, collage, and drawing in addition to photographic methods. Harris has exhibited extensively in California and on the East Coast, participating in solo, two-person, and group exhibitions. She has received numerous awards, grants, residencies, and fellowships, and her work can be found in the collections of the California African American Museum in Los Angeles, the Crocker Art Museum in Sacramento, and the Lancaster Museum of Art and History, among others. Previous Next

back to list Brandon Thompson Brandon Thompson is a contemporary mural artist, Air Force Veteran, & California native. In 2009, while traveling in the military, Brandon turned to his childhood influences of hip-hop and graffiti, and started spray painting hand-cut stencils to create custom canvas paintings. Today, Brandon has completed over 30 local murals in collaboration with several community leaders, businesses, and schools including BitWise, Lowes, The Dolores Huerta Foundation, and the City of Bakersfield. His original paintings and drawings range in unique size, medium, and subject and are available at Bird Dog Arts in Tejon, California. Brandon earned his undergraduate degree in Small Business & Entrepreneurship in 2018; however, his creative journey has been self-taught. Brandon was recently selected as one of Bakersfield's "20 Under 40" Rising Stars. As a self-taught Veteran artist, Brandon hopes to inspire others, educate the masses, and celebrate culture and people.

The Frostig Collection < Return to Exhibitions October 29, 2013 - January 5, 2014 Frostig at Large: The Artists of The Frostig Collection Main Gallery & South Gallery Second Floor Lou Swenson: Moving West Wells Fargo Gallery Bradford J. Salamon: Objectified East Gallery Legacy: The Artists of the Open Studio Vault Gallery Christoff Van Kooning: Invertibles Third Floor Galleries Guy Dill From The Frostig Collection Lou Swenson Moving West Bradford J. Salamon Crosley Radio Renato De Guia Timothy Christoff Van Kooning Invertibles Collection Frostig at Large: The Artists of The Frostig Collection The Frostig Collection is comprised of an expansive array of artwork by many of today's most compelling and well-known artists. The artists represented in the exhibition live and work in Los Angeles and have substantially contributed to the international reputation of arts in the region through their innovative use of concepts and materials, some of which were developed by the aerospace industry here in the Antelope Valley. The Frostig Collection was created as a fundraising enterprise to support the Frostig Center and School, both global leaders in research and education of students with learning disabilities. Located in Pasadena, California, The Frostig Center is one of the few privately-funded non-profit organizations in the United States which is exclusively dedicated to investigating the causes and treatments of learning disabilities such as dyslexia, dysgraphia and dyscalculia along with ADHD, ADD, Asperger’s and high-functioning autism. Founded in 1951 by Marianne Frostig, Ph.D., a leader in education for children with learning disabilities, The Center has significantly changed the way children with learning disabilities are taught, which has resulted in helping them achieve satisfying and productive lives. Frostig School parents created The Frostig Collection to expand the work of The Center and bring a much-needed social skills program to fruition, thereby further supporting the emotional health of the students. By donating their work, the distinguished artists of The Frostig Collection have significantly contributed to the development and advancement of specialized resources for children with learning disabilities, improving the lives of the students, their teachers and their families. These pioneering artists include: Lita Albuquerque, Charles Arnoldi, Gary Baseman, Larry Bell, Lynda Benglis, David Buckingham, Chris Burden, Guy Dill, Robert Graham, Frank Gehry, Brad Howe, Eric Johnson, Matt Johnson, Michael Kalish, Michael C. McMillen, Ed Moses, Gwynn Murrill, R. Kenton Nelson, Chris Piazza, Sarah Perry, Ken Price, Nancy Rubins, Alison Saar and Ray Turner. Lou Swenson: Moving West Lou Swenson has been making art for 50 years. His passion for photography began when his mother presented him with a Kodak Pony 135 camera the day he was deployed to serve on the frontlines of the Korean War. At every opportunity when not engaged in battle, he used this gift to capture images of his comrades and to calm the effects of active duty in a foreign land. A great loss to the art world and the visual history of the time, this transparency collection was lost during an overseas shipment, making images from this time impossible to reproduce and share with the world. His early creative inspiration came from Depression Era Life Magazine and war photographers such as Walker Evans, Dorothea Lange, Eugene Smith and Henri Cartier-Bresson. As Swenson moved west, he was taken with the groundbreaking work of Ansel Adams and the pioneering California coastal photographers of the time. After completing his military career, Swenson became a commercial photographer and studio owner in San Antonio, Texas. During that time, he earned a Master of Photography degree, built an extensive list of clients and won many awards at print competitions. Mastering the technical aspects of his craft and enjoying eleven years of successful commercial photography, Swenson shifted gears and returned to his roots in Colorado, where he established himself in the fine art of black and white photography. Drawn to the geographical and cultural diversity of the Four Corners region, he settled in Dolores, Colorado where he currently resides. The region has been his creative home for the past 29 years: traversing the back roads of the west, documenting treasures of open spaces, remnants of rural life and the marks of time on a rapidly changing society. Swenson’s expertise in maximizing tonal variations, textures and shadow patterns across the landscapes and architecture of the west lies in photographing and printing black and white silver halide negatives in his home darkroom, a practice he continues as long as film, paper and chemicals are available. Like the landscape painters and photographers who traveled west with the tenets of Manifest Destiny and on the trails blazed by Lewis and Clark, Swenson utilized large format cameras to capture the inherent qualities of light, form and drama in the region. He began shooting with a 5 x 7 inch camera body then weaned himself down to a medium format 6 x 9 cm in order to reduce the cumbersome weight of these models while maintaining perspective control and maximizing tonal values, all of which are germane to representing the light and essence of the west. Swenson is a master in the art of composition, utilizing the basic principles of design and the rule of thirds to position his subjects within the frame. Swenson’s ability is apparent in how he captures the shift of a cloud in an expansive landscape, the depth of a shadow wrapping around a hand built pueblo or the intangible interior light of a dusty room in a forgotten ghost town. He is particularly fascinated with the change of seasons, when leaves begin to drop and reveal the underlying structure of trees and the inherent mood of a landscape. He notes: “when the snow begins to fall it creates a new and dynamic relationship between light and dark, texture and form, horizon and sky.” His works are sensuous and striking homages to the beauty of the region, where artists are still drawn to study and experience the dramatic landscapes and cultural heritage found in this quiet part of the world. Bradford J. Salamon: Objectified Objectify: verb (objectifies, objectifying, objectified) 1.To express (something abstract) in a concrete form: good poetry objectifies feeling. 2. To degrade to the status of a mere object: a deeply sexist attitude that objectifies women. Bradford J. Salamon is widely regarded for his portraits of artists, writers and musicians who he invites into his studio to sit in his iconic orange chair, often for hours, as he observes and documents the intricacy of their humanity. His approach allows the artistic process to unfold as an unpredictable journey into the subject’s personality, where the painting unlocks a visual narrative unique to the time of the sitter’s life. The person becomes part of the art making process: as they bring to the chair their life stories of professional achievements and personal hardships, their bodies begin to sink into the chair, and over time their faces often collapse into fatigue. The pain of sitting for hours unoccupied by a task other than being there for the artist becomes apparent. For Salamon, this process captures the entire evolving narrative of the person and activates the canvas with the human condition. His process counteracts the tendency to objectify the model—as many portrait artists have done throughout the history of art—while also representing an abstraction of his model. Salamon sees portraiture as an opening into life experiences he may never otherwise have had the opportunity to observe and notes that the process of painting people for extended periods of time provides a way of communicating and interacting with them on an entirely different level. He brings this humanizing approach to painting objects as well; objects such as rotary dial phones, vintage machinery, and toys. These portraits serve as a reminder of the power of invention and the purpose and aesthetic considerations that initially guided the object’s design. He notes: “I will paint people forever, as they are always important to me. But my fascination with inanimate objects and the stories they tell bring me back to a different time when it makes me move into the mindset of a designer or inventor who thought with 1920 references. Old glass bottles, iconography, out-of-date sewing machines, their shapes and how they work stimulate me to see the world with fresh perceptions.” Exploring the poetics of these vintage objects is a welcome challenge for the artist. Representing multiple surfaces as they interface with one another is no simple task for a painter: capturing the luminosity of glass against metal; the texture of time-worn wood overlaid with fading chrome; and the contrast of fabric and mesh with plastics all have their own character and qualities. The artist has plentiful objects from which to choose, especially due to the speed at which objects become obsolete, a phenomenon that intrigues the artist and keeps him inspired to paint on a daily basis. Bradford J. Salamon has recreated his private studio at MOAH with the orange chair at the center of the installation. His studio—itself a series of objects from the artist’s life—is situated here as a place in which you may interact with him and become familiar with his process; a process that is unfolding in real time, as an unpredictable journey into the artist’s mind and method. While Mr. Salamon is not painting in the Museum, he consistently works in Los Angeles on painting commissions. He studied at The Art Institute of Southern California, Laguna Beach and trained extensively in Europe. His work has been shown and collected internationally. Legacy: The Artists of the Open Studio The Open Studio class began in January 2013 at the Museum of Art & History (MOAH) as a forum for the art community to draw and paint from a live model. The practice of life drawing provides a greater challenge in comparison to drawing from photographs. With the presence of a live model, often draped in multi-colored fabric and placed under focused lighting, artists are offered a variety of shapes and forms from which to sharpen their observation skills and articulate details of the human figure. Open Studio takes place in the Hernando and Fran Marroquin Family Classroom and is led by local artist Renato de Guia. The success of Open Studio is found in Mr. de Guia’s accessible approach to cultivating the existing skill set of his students. He provides a safe place for experimentation as he looks for clues in the students’ work, then suggests practicing techniques in rendering, line quality and creating the illusion of volume. His students range in age from 17 to 74 with beginning to advanced skills. Novice students have the opportunity to observe and practice the techniques of some of the Antelope Valley’s finest and most established artists, providing a place for camaraderie and artistic growth among like-minded citizens. Born in Manila, Philippines, Mr. de Guia’s early interest in drawing was ignited by the comic books that his aunt would send him as a child. He was taken by the style and technique of the comic artists, particularly Neil Adams, whose articulation of human anatomy was accurate and dynamic due to his training in life drawing. As a youngster, Mr. de Guia was constantly drawing, even during hospitalizations for a rare bone disease. He went on to earn his B.S. in Architecture from Kent State University, Ohio, another opportunity pursued to refine and utilize his drawing skills, all of which he applies to his teaching. Mr. de Guia has been practicing architecture and teaching art in the Antelope Valley for many years and was deeply involved with Allied Arts at Cedar Center. He is equally passionate about volunteering and contributing to the expansion of MOAH’s adult art education program. Renato de Guia’s artwork is accompanied by student work from Ulrica Bell, Betty Ermey, Geoffrey E. Levitt, Joanne McCubrey, Albert Miller, Julie Schuder, Nay Schuder and Adeline Wysong. Christoff Van Kooning: Invertibles Through his multi-dimensional sculpture series, Invertibles, Christoff Van Kooning sees his work as a poem of materials and a language of shapes and forms. With the use of many different materials, from stone and metal to Styrofoam and gold leaf, Van Kooning explores the space between positive and negative shapes and the visual interplay that is created when a series of shapes are cut from a large volume of material. His Invertibles are puzzle-like and playful compositions of interlocking and movable geometric shapes that reveal both the original source material and the skill of the sculptor. His objective is to release a lively series of shapes from the original material through a process of discovery. Although his work preserves the hard edges of his materials, his positive and negative shapes recall the minimalist sculptures of Henry Moore (1898 –1986) and Barbara Hepworth (1903 – 1975). Christoff Van Kooning lives and works in Los Angeles. He studied classical sculpting methods in Italy before returning to the United States to work with David Hickey at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. He continues to focus on minimalist art and testing the power of juxtaposing line and mass/volume in his work. His awareness of the qualities of repetition, duality and symmetry are easily recognizable in this installation of new work. Frostig Swenson Salamon Legacy Kooning View or Download the Frostig Collection Exhibition Catalog by clicking on the cover image or here.

Inclusion The Museum of Art and History (MOAH) is compliant with American Disabilities Act (ADA) standards. MOAH is committed to making its facility, collections, exhibitions, programs, and services accessible to all visitors. Physical access to MOAH is compliant with Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) standards. Sensory Friendly Programming Community members experiencing autism and/or other hyper- and hypo-sensitivities are invited to participate in the Lancaster Museum of Art and History's Sensory Friendly Programming (SFP). This programming is multi-faceted, with open hours every first Saturday of the month (during exhibition dates), Take-A-Break Space during select BLVD events, and calming tools available for check out from guest services. SFP Open Hours Every first Saturday of the month, the museum opens one hour early 10:00 am to welcome guests with hyper- and hypo-sensitivities. Lights are dimmed, sound elements are lowered, a free sensory-friendly art activity is offered, and the Take-A-Break Space is open for use. Fidgets and noise-canceling headphones are available for use throughout the museum. Take-A-Break Space Stocked with calming tools, noise-canceling headphones, kinetic sand, snacks, and water, the Take-A-Break Space is a great spot to relax during a museum visit or BLVD event. The T-A-B Space is located off of the Main Gallery. Check MOAH's scheduled events for details about T-A-B Space availability. American Sign Language Tours The Lancaster Museum of Art and History offers a American Sign Language Tour for each exhibition at MOAH’s main location. They are led by a MOAH guide, who is accompanied by a certified American Sign Language (ASL) interpreter. Please register in advance on Eventbrite; space is limited to 20 participants. Contact the Education Department at (661) 723-6085 or moaheducation@cityoflancasterca.gov for more information. Spanish Tours The Lancaster Museum of Art and History offers tours in Spanish every second Friday of the month during exhibition dates at MOAH's main location. Tours begin at 5:00 pm and last about 30-40 minutes. Please register in advance on Eventbrite – space is limited to 20 participants. Contact the Education Department at (661) 723-6085 or moaheducation@cityoflancasterca.gov for more information. Early Stage Social Engagement Program (virtual) The Lancaster Museum of Art and History partners with the Alzheimer's Association Southern California Chapter to create a two-part virtual tour for each exhibition on view at MOAH's main location. Each tour is one hour and touches on a variety of exhibited artworks, artistic processes, and artist perspectives for participants experiencing the early stages of dementia. Please visit https://www.alz.org/socal to register for this two-part program.

2014 < View Public Art Projects One Desert Sky 2014 Permanent Art Project By Brad Howe Drawing upon the stories of local Antelope Valley residents, artist and Antelope Valley native Brad Howe created the installation that now hangs in the atrium of the High Desert Regional Health Center, located on Avenue I and. Taking mental pictures from these stories, Howe turned them into actual images – 8,000 laser-cut aluminum plates painted blue. Spearheaded by the Lancaster Museum of Art and History, a naming contest took place with the winning name being “One Desert Sky” – an imagine invoked by the blue images and the stories behind them.

Accessibility The Museum of Art and History (MOAH) is compliant with American Disabilities Act (ADA) standards. MOAH is committed to making its facility, collections, exhibitions, programs, and services accessible to all visitors. Physical access to MOAH is compliant with Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) standards. Wheelchair Accessibility All galleries and facilities are wheelchair accessible. Visitors with wheelchairs can access MOAH through its front-facing doors and utilize the elevator to access the 2nd and rooftop floors. All restrooms on each floor are wheelchair accessible. Service Animals MOAH is committed to providing its programs to a broad and diverse audience that includes those assisted by trained service animals. MOAH is compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), which defines service animals as a dog that is trained to do work or perform tasks for an individual with a disability. According to the ADA, the dog must be trained to take a specific action when needed to assist the person with a disability. For example, a person with diabetes may have a dog that is trained to alert him when his blood sugar reaches high or low levels. ⓘ Certified service animals are welcomed and allowed in MOAH’s public areas. However, the following questions may be asked of each guest with a service dog: - Is the service dog required because of a disability? - What work or task has the dog been trained to perform? Accessible Parking Accessible parking spaces are located in the parking lot behind the museum. Accessible Facilities All public restrooms in the museum are ADA accessible. Two gender-neutral single-stall bathrooms are located on the first floor. Elevators Elevators are available for all three levels of the building, with locations at the Moore Family Trust Gallery, near the top of stairs on the second floor, and on the third rooftop floor. Sensory Accommodation Noise-canceling headphones and sensory-friendly fidgets are available for checkout at the front desk. Quiet Time to Visit The museum is quietest between 11 AM to 1:30 PM Tuesday and Wednesday. The busiest days are Thursday and Friday.

Western Hotel Museum 557 W Lancaster Blvd, Lancaster, CA 93534 Open Friday and Saturday | 11 AM - 4 PM Closed Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Thursdays, Sundays, and Holidays westernhotel@cityoflancaster.gov (661) 723-6250 *Closed April 17 to 19, 2026 as we celebrate the California Poppy Festival! The Western Hotel Museum is one of the Antelope Valley’s most visible links to our past heritage. We hope that you will enjoy your visit and encounter nostalgic recollections when you see photographs and artifacts that depict the history of the people who built, worked, and lived in early Lancaster. Admission to the museum is free, but we accept and appreciate all donations History Blog Request a Tour Book a Tour Explore the the rich history of Lancaster's Western Hotel Museum, by booking a tour today! Learn More > View The Self Guided Tour Enjoy the Western Hotel Museum at your own pace by following along with the self-guided tour. Learn More > Read about Myrtie Webber Learn more about the woman behind the Western Hotel Museum: Myrtie Webber. Learn More > Visiting one of our museums? Let us help you plan your trip!