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Water Gold Soil < Back Debra Scacco Water Gold Soil May 14 - August 21, 2022 1/1 Previous Next Contemporary artist and curator Debra Scacco investigates the impact of policy, infrastructure, and societal perception on the human condition. Scacco’s interdisciplinary research-based practice is driven by the idea that everything is a line. Her work considers how lines including rivers, freeways and arbitrary political boundaries create the hierarchies under which we live. Inspired by Susannah Sayler and Edward Morris’s book Water Gold Soil: The American River , Scacco’s exhibition retraces the history and importance of water resources in California. Water Gold Soil is an investigation of the aqueduct system and damming in California. Through works based on the Colorado River, Los Angeles, and California Aqueducts this exhibition calls attention to the landscapes and communities most affected by extreme water extraction. Scacco’s projects are born at the intersection of community, lineage, and ecology. Coming from a family of Sicilian and Southern Italian immigrants, Scacco explains, “my interest in these lines lies in my own immigrant history: in trying to understand the complicated shape of my own family, and the thousands of miles that separate us.” In this way, Scacco’s practice underscores historically undocumented lines that are often unarchived and are sometimes altogether silenced. Whether it be lines of lineage, passage, or policy, Scacco examines the historical circumstances under which these lines come to exist. Water Gold Soil interrogates the strategic structures of power that encourage the extraction of natural resources to extinction. Ultimately, she challenges viewers to contest and question these structures of permission with the aim of conveying a more accurate representation of truths and complexities of the past, and how these impact current day ecological challenges, understanding and stewardship. Debra Scacco was born in Staten Island, New York and currently lives and works in Los Angeles. Scacco is Founding Director of climate-focussed creative research program Air, Co-Director of Getty Pacific Standard Time project Brackish Water Los Angeles, and Co-Founder of art worker trade cooperative Contemporary Art League. She frequently teaches research-led interdisciplinary courses that connect with her extensive research on water and infrastructure. Sites of public works include LAX Airport, Los Angeles State Historic Park, Art-in-Residence (Lancaster), and Olive View Restorative Care Village (forthcoming). Collections include the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA), Hammer Museum, and the Creative Artists Agency (CAA).

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

Renee Odoi < Back The Fern Plant By Renee Odoi I sat there day in and day out Looking and observing quietly The wind, my dear friend Oh, how you moved me The sun, my first love Oh, how you warmed me I sat there each day I sat there, and you all still came The blackness is near And yet I shall not fear I sat there day in and day out. Waiting for my time Oh, those shadowy creatures Once my true enemy Why must you wait Why must to stay I sat there each day Yet you still came Ripping out the vibrant one Cowardly waiting for my end Yet I do not fear I sat there day in and day out My memories stay flashing back The life I have lived The life I once lived My time has come The fire approaches Yet I do not fear Three Two One Done My life is now done Previous Next

< Back to ACTIVATION 1/1 Paul Stephen Benjamin Oh Say January 22 - April 17, 2022 “If the color black had a sound, what would it be?” This is one of many questions that conceptual artist Paul Stephen Benjamin explores in his multidisciplinary art practice. Through sights, sounds, and material, Benjamin explores the color black as a way to introduce and discuss different social perspectives. While visually understated, his work serves as an introduction to a broader and multifaceted conversation about race and identity. Benjamin states, “I work hard to make sure my work is not in your face,” noting that this aesthetic subtlety lends itself to a more critical and analytical approach to viewing his work. “Oh Say” (Remix) is a video installation that presents a compilation of various African American artists and their performances of “The Star-Spangled Banner.” Featured artists include Jimi Hendrix, Stevie Wonder, and Beyoncé, with performances that range from music festivals to sporting events. The performers are arranged in conjunction with imagery of the American flag and the faces of American presidents. The work blends past and present histories, bringing these timelines into the context of today. “Oh Say” (Remix) examines the complexities and nuances of racial identity in America, allowing Paul Stephen Benjamin’s depiction of blackness to present itself introspectively. There is a visual and sonic power that is carried throughout the duration of “Oh Say” (Remix). Each scene is dense with visual information, rendered in black and white. The auditory factor of the work grounds its narrative through the repetition and rhythmic pacing of each audio track. Each track builds and builds until it creates a haunting symphony of sound. These elements act as a compression of time and space, allowing multiple histories to speak simultaneously. Previous Next

Never miss a thing! Exhibitions & Community Art Projects Activities for Kids & Families Free Community Events First Name Last Name Email Phone Mobile Carrier Choose an option Zipcode Please select all the categories you wish to receive updates on: * Required Artists Students Family/Children MOAH MOAH:CEDAR ECIC/Prime Desert Woodland Preserve Podcast & Music Recording Studio Western Hotel Museum Events & Fundraisers ALL By completing this form I consent to receive SMS Text Messages and/or email communication from The Museum of Art and History. Subscribe Thanks for subscribing! HOME

Kevin KowalskiSculptural LandscapesInspired by the natural word, artist Kevin Kowalski creates ceramic works that call to the visual landscapes around him. His travels and experience in clay provide the foundation for his creative process, allowing him to develop his skills in techniques such as mocha diffusion and many other decorative processes. < Back Kevin Kowalski, Sculptural Landscapes Kevin Kowalski, Sculptural Landscapes Kevin Kowalski, Sculptural Landscapes Kevin Kowalski, Sculptural Landscapes 1/3 Kevin Kowalski Sculptural Landscapes Inspired by the natural word, artist Kevin Kowalski creates ceramic works that call to the visual landscapes around him. His travels and experience in clay provide the foundation for his creative process, allowing him to develop his skills in techniques such as mocha diffusion and many other decorative processes. Kowalski’s series, Sculptural Landscapes , captures the beauty and chaos of industrial and natural processes. The surfaces of each vessel are texturally dense and entropic. Shards and outcroppings of clay appear from a smooth surface that itself is coated in a colorful and runny glaze, culminating into an abstract sculptural landscape. Utilizing a variety of different clays, glazes, found rocks, and the use of multiple flashing slips, the works are a visual amalgamation of a built landscape and organic environmental elements. Previous Next

SOUTH BOUND NORTH BOUND SR 138 (SR 14) at Avenue M Interchange Community Engagement Project Southbound | Northbound , led by artist Dani Dodge , is a community engagement project that will inform the public art program for the slated Avenue M Interchange updates. The goal of the project is to understand current values and perceptions by Antelope Valley residents; assess the their views of the local ecology and technological innovation in the region; and build a lexicon that will guide the project with the future in mind. Residents can participate by submitting their photography, poetry and/or completing a short thought survey using the links above. Avenue M serves as the boundary between Lancaster and Palmdale, mostly known for its access to the California Poppy Reserve and the aerospace industry that has become synonymous with the region itself. In recent years, the route has symbolized an ideological boundary separating the two cities known to residents as “the cactus curtain.” New leadership, however, has encouraged the dissipation of such boundaries between the two cities, making way for a new frontier filled with opportunities for civic engagement between Lancaster and Palmdale, unifying the region as a whole. This openness has led to the development of Southbound | Northbound — a community engagement project inspired by the southbound and northbound lanes leading to and from the respective cities. The Cities of Lancaster and Palmdale have partnered together to commission the creation of two public art sculptures located on the Avenue M interchange of the southbound and northbound freeway on and off-ramps. With the help of the community, the goal of the project is to create sculptures that reflect residents’ view of the Antelope Valley, its two Cities, and the relationship between the two through a series of surveys and activation projects. This community engagement art project is born out of the City of Lancaster’s Art in Public Places initiative, a city program dedicated to commissioning, preserving and expanding public art in the community. Through the creation of original public art placed throughout the region, the City of Lancaster seeks to foster meaningful dialogue, augment cultural awareness, and improve the quality of life of Antelope Valley residents. *Are you an artist interested in submitting a public art proposal? Click here for more information on how to submit a request for qualifications (RFQ ). About Dani Dodge Dani Dodge is an artist who focuses on interactive art installations and public engagement nationally and internationally, including projects in Ireland and Greece. Her work that engaged the public at 2015’s LA Pride was named one of the outstanding public art projects of the year by Americans for the Arts. Many of her works have been focused on and in the Antelope Valley. In 2017, she led imaginative public art events in Lancaster and Palmdale to engage the community in a dialogue about the personal and public spaces in which we live. These included a project at the L.A. County Library in Lancaster where participants told Dani their life stories in 3 minutes and she created a title for them that was placed into a card catalogue, and later made into a book. Another public art event was held at the Joe Davies Heritage Airpark in Palmdale. There participants wrote where they most wanted to travel to on paper, folded that paper into airplanes and flew through a painted horizon. The same year, her solo exhibition at MOAH:CEDAR invited people to write their childhood memories on wood blocks and hide them in a shoebox under a bed elevated from the ceiling. In 2019, she completed a yearlong residency in Lancaster’s Prime Desert Woodland Preserve that included monthly art activations. The art activations engaged the community in art projects such as illustrated haiku, cyanotype, and watercolor painting focused on the desert plants, animals and geologic features. Through her art, Dani works to create engagements that expand people’s understanding of themselves and their environment. Dani Dodge

< Back Before You Now Capturing the Self in Portraiture The Lancaster Museum of Art and History (MOAH) is pleased to announce their latest exhibition Before You Now: Capturing the Self in Portraiture. The exhibition will be on view at MOAH from Saturday, January 25 to Sunday April 13, 2025. The opening reception for the exhibition will be held on Saturday, January 25 from 2 to 4 PM. Before You Now: Capturing the Self in Portraiture focuses on the enduring theme of the artist’s self-portrait, as seen in a selection of photographs, prints, drawings, and video art from the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. The exhibition is an introduction to seeing artists as they see themselves – or as they want to be seen by their publics. Organized into seven categorical themes – Claiming, Crafting, Clowning, Convening, Conceptualizing, Camouflaging, and Concluding, the images in the exhibition showcase these artists’ fascination with self-portraiture and its ability to communicate an autobiographical narrative. This exhibition was organized by the Los Angeles County Museum of Art in collaboration with the Riverside Art Museum, California State University, Northridge, Art Galleries; Lancaster Museum of Art and History; and Vincent Price Art Museum at East Los Angeles College. Local Access is a series of American art exhibitions created through a multi-year, multi-institutional partnership formed by LACMA as part of the Art Bridges Cohort Program.

Virtual Tours Structure On display at MOAH October 2 -December 26, 2021 Exhibitions include solo exhibitions from HK Zamani , Cinta Vidal , Jim Richard , Kimberly Brooks , Chelsea Dean , Mela M , Matjames Metson , Stevie Love , and a MOAH Collections highlight of Coleen Sterritt . Take the Tour Summer 2021 Exhibitions On display at MOAH June 5 - September 5, 2021 Exhibitions include solo exhibitions from Cudra Clover and David Koeth , The NASA Armstrong Flight Research Center 75th Anniversary Exhibition , and a collaborative piece by Shelley Heffler Take the Tour Golden Hour: California Photography from the Los Angeles County Museum of Art On display at MOAH February 7 - May 9, 2021 In Golden Hour, over 70 artists and three photography collectives offer an aesthetic approach to understanding the complexities and histories of California. Take the Tour 35th Annual Juried Art Exhibition On display at MOAH:CEDAR May 23 - June 28, 2020 In this annual exhibition, artists of all ages and experience levels from around the Antelope Valley and the 5th Supervisorial District of Los Angeles County are welcomed to participate. Watch the Video Elyze Clifford Interpretive Center @ Prime Desert Woodland Preserve Tour created 2020 Visit the Elyze Clifford Interpretive Center and learn about the flora and fauna of the Prime Desert Woodland Preserve! Learn More about the Interpretive Center. Take the Tour

Emily Schneider < Back The White Rose and I By Emily Schneider Are we alike? I am not sure. Am I innocent and pure? Am I thoughtful and charming too? Do I have thorns that can do harm to you? I believe this varies from the others point of view, For some see me like this, and others say it’s not true. I like to smell like a rose, in a way, I use my perfume that’s called Rose every day. And just like a rose I grew pretty tall, With 5’7 I am really not small. And just like the rose I am not very loud, I am rather shy, but I do like a crowd. I enjoy being surrounded by family and friends, And I like to stay at a party until it ends. The sight of a rose evokes positive emotions in me, It makes me feel happy and peaceful and free. Optimism refueled, half full is my glass, I could watch them for hours and sit in the grass. It also awakens my romantic side, I might say, It reminds me of Romeo and Juliet, the play. Like a rose goes slowly from buds than to bloom, I grew from infant to teenager, and will become an adult soon. To grow the rose needs water, fertilizer and sun, Just like I need water, food, love and fun. If not well taken care of, it will not last very long, Just like with more support I can get very strong. The rose will more and more wither with time, And so will I as I get old after my prime. The beauty will fade and soon it will die, I hope it takes long until my final goodbye. So are we alike? I think in a few ways. It’s up to you to decide if you believe what it says. The white rose is as beautiful flower to be, And I am honored to compare it to me. Previous Next

Adriana Orozco < Back Diary of Letitia By Adriana Orozco I am a plant, I have long branches and multiple leaves, I live in a big house, but I’m stuck in the dining room corner. I sit there all day with some water next to my pot. Though I come from a faraway place, a place call Ikea. But being at a place called Ikea was a nightmare; my past was a whole nightmare. But the past is the past. My slender leaves are everywhere; sometimes, it blocks me from seeing the small glimpse of the sun. It reminds me of hair, like a human’s hair. The family that lives in this house all have hair, but sometimes I wish my leaves were thin and long like the women. But not curly hair like one woman from the household, wasp, and spiders can fly into that mess. Though sometimes I wish I can have a chance in a personal change. A change of appearance, a change from my life, I want a new life. A house plant is boring; I sit there all day and sit there all day. Sometimes it is nice when there is food in the air to breathe into, but there is no use in being a plant; I wish to explore and travel! The only time I traveled was to enter this house that I have been there for too long. Like my past brought me here, and I am ungrateful for that. But I still long for a change in my life. I want to be different; I want to change the world, I want to learn how to write, but all I am is a plant. I am a plant with long branches, with small leaves, that live in a big house that longs for a change, but I am always a plant. Previous Next

Spirit of Summer < Return to Exhibitions June 21 - August 31, 2014 Herbie Fletcher Path of a Wave Warrior: Selections From the Fletcher Collection Main Gallery & Lobby Atriums Art of Coop East Gallery Douglas McCulloh & Jacques Garnier: On the Beach Wells Fargo Gallery The Artists of the Film Mana South Gallery Allison Renshaw Education Gallery Vintage Pinball Machines: Selections from the Thumperdome Collection Vault Gallery John Van Hamersveld: Graphic Posters Vault Gallery Herbie Fletcher Wrecktangles COOP Challenger Douglas McCulloh & Jacques Garnier On the Beach The Artists of the Film MANA Allison Renshaw Untitled Thumperdome John Van Hamersveld The Endless Summer Path of A Wave Warrior: Selections from the Fletcher Collection MOAH is proud to present selected works from the Herbie and Dibi Fletcher Collection. Selections include Herbie Fletcher’s signature art work, vintage surfboards, photographs, and historic film footage. Herbie Fletcher is globally recognized as a surfing legend and a pioneering inventor who helped shape—literally and figuratively— the way surfing is practiced today. Herbie and Dibi’s story embodies the passion and determination of America’s trailblazing, entrepreneurial spirit: Herbie and Dibi Fletcher first met in Waianae, on Oahu’s west side during Dibi’s family’s annual trip to the Makaha Surf Contest in 1964. Her dad, Walter Hoffman, was a contest judge and her sister, Joyce, was competing on her road to the women's surfing world title. Herb was looking for his board which someone had given to Dibi’s sister to hang on to, as they were in the same surf club. It was a brief encounter that would change both of their lives. They saw each other frequently on the surf contest circuit that was filled with the colorful characters of the time and by the Makaha contest in '66, Herb was competing and filming with Greg MacGillivray who was making Free and Easy with his partner Jim Freeman. By 1969, Herb and Dibi called the house at Pupakea home. It was idyllic, no footprints on the beach, no TV, phones, radio, or newspapers, a tropical paradise. The first thing Herb did was build a shaping room in the back yard where he continued working on the downrail and mini gun that he and Mike Hynson had been perfecting in the winter of '67/'68 when they were first exploring the waves at Pipeline Rights, now known as Backdoor and Off The Wall. Herb could shape and glass a board in the afternoon and have it in the line-up by morning, allowing him almost instant feedback on his design ideas. Soon thereafter the Fletchers started the Islands first Clark Foam franchise and began to take part in a fantastic time of innovation in surfboard design and construction. Boards were getting lighter, and faster allowing the surfer to get farther back in the tube and still make it out alive. Gone were the days of the surf style from their father’s generation where the surfer took off and trimmed: standing in one place on the board out in front of the break. Now the goal was to get deep in the barrel, so the shapers were creating a new vocabulary in board design to keep up with the needs of the surfers who were pushing themselves and their equipment like never before. With the need to support a growing family the Fletchers decided to head back to the mainland. They opened the Herbie Surfboard Shop on Coast Hwy in Dana Point to reintroduce the longboard that had gone out of popularity with the advent of the new modern short board. Herb realized that the high performance boards that he had help popularize were keeping people on the mainland from enjoying the surfing that's available on the California coast. They started a campaign "The Thrill is Back" with his square nose, turned down rail, fast moving, nose riding flying machine, built for hot dogging, nose riding and drop knee turns. Having grown up in the generation of long boards and personally being part of the short board revolution Herb took the best from both and created light weight, highly manoeuvrable boards that the guy who worked behind a desk during the week could still go out on the weekends and have a blast instead of sitting on a short board in the line up like a buoy, unable to catch anything. Although successful, retail was something Herb found extremely difficult. He had a much more entrepreneurial/ inventor type mindset and the day to day was far better suited to someone else. He started experimenting with an elastomere that he was positive when applied to the tail of the surfboard would eliminate the use of wax and give more fin and rail control, something completely extraordinary. He thought it would not only revolutionize surfing, but boating, bath and shower bottoms and pool decks. He called it Astrodeck. Like all inventors, he was so passionate about the advantages, he was sure he had a Hit. He never thought that the surfers wouldn’t jump at the chance to experience a new, light weight, technically advanced way to have more control over the board. It was an interesting lesson in human nature to see how reluctant individuals are to change, but our sons Christian and Nathan became perfect test pilots for Herb’s fertile imagination. Herb had been experimenting with video as a promotion for Astrodeck and with film left over, the idea of capturing the most awesome surf with the greatest contemporary surfers all riding his product was irresistible. He was back to Oahu’s north shore with secure access to the Pipeline and the most select group of fearless tube riders that the Pipeline was becoming known for. Over the course of the next eight years Herb made 5 videos in the Wave Warrior series that took the viewer deep into the tube at Pipeline, screaming down the face at gigantic Sunset, blasting into the air on a Jet Ski over mountains of water out a Second Reef Pipe and speeding down the line at Maaleaa, sailboarders doing aerial 360’s on Maui, surfers, watermen, pushing the boundaries like never before. These videos showcased the who’s who of Rad, and documented the progress of modern surfing, that started with their father’s generation trimming, to the generation of surfers who got so deep in the barrel and at the last moment spit out with amazing speed, to the abstract expressionists who took surfing into the air. Dibi and Herb’s son, Christian Fletcher lead the aerial assault and caused quite a stir in the mainstream surfing establishment that Herb documented with relish. With more than 60 video titles capturing forever the history of surf that today has finally seen the coming of age of a style that seemed blasphemous a few decades earlier. Surfing has come a long way and seen the awe inspiring big wave adventures of a few complete madmen, our son Nathan included riding 60’ tubes over razor sharp reefs in a couple of feet of water with photographers in tow capturing every breath taking moment, it all has a feeling of déjà vu as the dreams we had a youngsters in the early years in Hawaii are now a reality. During the years Herb was most actively filming, he was also shooting stills of the greatest surfers and has hundreds of thousands of images that he’s used in a variety of ways to tell his story of a surf life, from huge blow ups in his collaboration with Julian Schnabel to photo collages that seem like a short movie themselves in their ability to capture the imagination and allow the viewer a glimpse into a rarefied behind the scene atmosphere of life lived on the edge. As a surfboard shaper/glasser that depended on design to be able to manoeuvre in the most critical circumstances it seemed perfectly natural to use the board itself to create art as an extension of his life and passion. It’s been a honour to have the young surf greats of today saving boards they broke at the Pipeline to be part of the Wrecktangle series. It’s been a fantastic journey and the show “Path of a Wave Warrior” pays tribute to Herb’s love affair with a lifestyle that has given them so much. The Art of COOP: Surfers Cross I and II Los Angeles Based artist COOP (Christopher Cooper) is among a group of second generation pop surrealists working at the intersection of illustration and fine art with a focus on the hot rod, rock and roll, punk rock and the comic books associated with a “delinquent youth” counter-culture. Working continuously since age 16, COOP started creating band posters, concert fliers and 45 record sleeves. COOP was influenced by the renowned first generation Lowbrow artist “Big Daddy Roth”, the California hot-rod builder and the work of pioneering painter/illustrator Robert Williams, co-creator of Juxtapoz magazine; Williams impressed upon COOP the need to bridge the gap between commercial art, highly skilled representational painting and fine art. Moving to Los Angeles from Oklahoma in 1988, COOP put these influences into action creating graphics for the record industry. He subsequently held a studio at the Brewery in downtown LA which allowed him the space to move from small scale music industry posters and cover art to large scale paintings. His 2003 large format 6’ paintings earned him a reputation and he continues to work large format today, as shown here with Surfers Cross (I & II) 2014. This 144” x 72” acrylic & enamel on canvas diptych represents the cooption of war symbols and imagery by the surf culture. COOP notes his alliance to 1960s youth culture and the underlying thrust of Surfers Cross (I & II): “I’m not a surfer. My experience of surf culture comes at a slight remove. I’ve long been obsessed with all the aspects of 60s youth culture (mind you, I’m not talking about hippies, but the real 60s youth culture - hot rods, rock & roll and surfing).” The surfer’s cross is a commercialized version of an Iron Cross, the Prussian military decoration first designed by Karl Freidrich Schinkel for King Frederick William III, after the defeat of Napoleon in Russia in 1813. The symbol was used by the Prussian, and later German armed forces through World War II, and to the present day. In the USA, post-WWII, the Iron Cross became popular as a symbol of nonconformity, worn by surfers, bikers, and hot rodders. In the beginning, these Iron Crosses were the real thing, war trophies brought home by American G.I.s after the war, but soon enough, smart operators like Ed “Big Daddy” Roth began to market newly-made medallions, decals, t-shirts and other items featuring the military decoration. The surfer’s cross depicted is one of these, a cheap knockoff made to cash in on the surfing “craze”. –COOP, 2014 Doug McCulloh & Jacques Garnier: Photographs from On the Beach The real life characters photographed for On The Beach reveal the rich diversity and color of the beach as a social and cultural pageant. California’s beaches are a magnet, not only for the local population, but for the millions who visit California each year. This exhibition features images made over 2 years on California’s beaches, combined with a companion series made on the beaches of Florida. The show rises from a powerfully straightforward idea - go to the beach and capture a chance sample of beachgoers. "The ocean's edge is a place of freedom and desire, a place to stare and to strut, to see and to be seen. Beaches are half display, half voyeurism. This is the precise terrain of photography- one side posing, the other looking. Cameras belong on the beach." —Jacques Garnier and Douglas McCulloh Curator's Statement: The Artists of the Film Mana In 2012, while working on another project with Eric Minh Swenson, artist Alex Couwenberg proposed a documentary film idea on process and passion, specifically the passion associated with surfing and its relationship with creativity. As a curator focused on Southern California, I found this intriguing. Surfing’s connection with the history of materials in Los Angeles had been well-established, but the process had not really been discussed. A call to the art-making community went out and the response was overwhelming. I had no idea that so many serious artists were surfers. After speaking with dozens of artists, the direction became apparent: all revered the power, beauty and complexity of the ocean, and the physical nature of their interaction with it, both in the water and out. Based on their contributions as modern day pioneers of the Southern California art world and their availability to travel as a group to Hawaii, the birthplace of surfing, 10 artists were chosen to represent a section of the Southern California contingent. Several of the artists were born and/or raised in Hawaii and have family histories there. The film comprises artist interviews in their Los Angeles studios, as well as footage of them working, surfing and living on location in Kailua-Kona, Hawaii. While in Kailua-Kona, the artists participated in a panel lecture at Holualoa Art Foundation’s Donkey Mill Art Center and an exhibition of their work at MELD Gallery. The documentary was shaped by the directorial vision of Los Angeles-based filmmaker Eric Minh Swenson, who has produced over 500 films featuring major LA artists, curators and collectors. Footage by celebrated cinematographers Marcel Morin and Sarah Mueller of Vitae Sessions coupled with beautiful water images from MANA artist Ken Pagliaro compliment Swenson’s aesthetic sensibility. Our team crafted a feature length film focusing on the brotherhood of a group of artists selected for their artistic contributions in the Southern California art world, each working on their own terms within the Light and Space, Finish Fetish, Design and Assemblage movements that have come to shape and define the Los Angeles art scene. As divergent as each artist’s work is in comparison, they all share a common thread in their process and vision and are constantly driven by the influences and forces of family, friendships, “stoke,” aloha and the common bond of the unseen mana (power) of the land and sea. Their interactions and conversations with each other and the environment are the focus of the visual narrative. The film MANA, which debuted in Hawaii at the Kona Surf Film Festival to a standing-room-only crowd in 2014, became the impetus for the Museum of Art & History’s exhibition, The Artists of the Film MANA, which opened to record museum visitors in the summer of 2014. I am extremely proud to present this incarnation of the original Museum exhibition here in Naples, Italy. I would like to thank Cinthia and Renato Penna for their support and facilitation, all of the artists for their willingness to participate, and especially Eric Minh Swenson for telling the story. Allison Renshaw Encinitas-based artist Allison Renshaw employs fragmentation as a means to offer multiple perspectives, discordant vocabularies and malleable visual boundaries spanning both her large scale and more intimate sized paintings. Renshaw’s explosive imagery is informed by particles of our urban landscape and culture found in everyday life. Fashion, modern architecture, surf culture, and the natural environment combine and collide. Through her active, frenzied surfaces, Renshaw creates a textured universe that is seemingly random and difficult to decipher. This chaotic quality becomes an apt visualization of today’s open-source culture of sampling and recycling. Lines between the organic and human-made become blurred and a larger narrative is evoked through a banal fragment. Renshaw notes she is “interested in how memories occur and connect a life of partial meanings…fragments acknowledge interpretive ambiguities and open the work to sequences of spatial and temporal lapses. Memory and fantasy synthesize and unravel like a half-remembered dream.” This distinctive approach to the painted surface situates Renshaw’s work at the crossroads of multiple art historical periods including Pop Art, Surrealism, Abstract Expressionism and Contemporary Collage. An avid surfer, Renshaw was born and raised in Orange County, California. She received a Bachelor of Arts degree in economics from Pepperdine University in Malibu, California and a Master of Fine Arts from the Maryland Institute College of Art in Baltimore, Maryland. In 2013, she was included in the Cannon Art Gallery’s Invitational and Biennial exhibitions. Other recent exhibitions include Helmuth Projects in San Diego; The Mirus Gallery in San Francisco; the Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego and the Oceanside Museum of Art. She is Associate Faculty at Mira Costa College, Oceanside, California. Vintage Pinball: Selections from the Thumperdome Collection The goal of Thumperdome is to preserve the history, technology, artwork and culture of pinball in America and promote pinball to future generations. Thumperdome houses one of the largest, and most diverse private collections of pinball machines in the nation. The ever-rotating collection traverses the development of pinball machines from the early bagatelle-like games of the 1930s, to the introduction of pinball flippers in the 1940s, through the captivating and vibrant artwork from the 1950s, and 1960s pinball game themes which reflect the change in youth culture and current events. The 1970s solid-state games progressed alongside the computer age, culminating with the 1980s and 90s when the threat of video games finally toppled pinball from the hearts of American fun-seekers. This collection shares the beauty of the machines and the challenge of the games to entertain, educate and captivate a new generation. These vintage machines take people back to a time when a pocketfull of quarters meant hours of summer fun spent on one’s favorite games with best friends. The games here in the Vault Gallery represent each of the 3 major pinball manufacturers of the era: Gottlieb, Williams and Bally. These were chosen for their connection to surfing, summer and pop culture. Thumperdome is the name given to the historic pinball collection of Amanda Cole and Art Perez in Pasadena, CA. Both grew up in awe of the silver ball, saving up their quarters to drop in to the nearest pinball machine. A chance find of a decaying Evel Knievel pinball machine gave Art the opportunity to restore his favorite childhood machine and start the collection that would grow into Thumperdome. Amanda works in technology and Art and is an artist/photographer with a background in engineering. Together, their combined interests and expertise are utilized to restore and rejuvenate machines which they have collected throughout the Country. John Van Hamersveld: Graphic Posters Renowned graphic designer and illustrator, John Van Hamersveld’s quest for connecting image or symbol through an abstraction of reality reinforces the emotional connection we make with his images and captures his metaphor of modern life. He uses the language of graphic design to communicate through visual representations of type, space, symbol, and image. The essence of graphic design is to give order to information, form to ideas, and expression and feeling to artifacts that document our human experience from as far back as the middle-ages. John Van Hamersveld combines these graphic design tools with bold color choices, often psychedelic images, and culturally significant events to create his iconic one of kind poster art. This 50 year celebration of John Van Hamersveld’s Iconic poster The Endless Summer will be bringing a pop of culture and color to the Museum’s main gallery. John Van Hamersveld’s work is known for its brightly colored hues, bold lines and commentary on the culturally dominant ideas of the sixties all the way up to current times. Looking at his posters we can see his relationship with color and the different styles and influences that impacted him and his work, from his education at Art Center College of Design and Chouinard Art Institute, to his work with Surfer magazine, and the influence of peers such as Aubrey Beardsley, Alphonse Mucha, and Rick Griffin. His posters are part of the defining moments of Pop Culture which is seen as a reaction to and an expansion of Abstract Expressionism. MOAH will be displaying John Van Hamersveld’s art, which range from the iconic 1964 The Endless Summer movie poster to the 2005 Cream Reunion poster in the Main Gallery. The display will consist of his eighty five posters of Pop Art from the last fifty years. At the center of the room is the core of his work, created as a student and as a professional, each poster representing an experiment with technique, color, and culture. The Endless Summe r movie and poster gave birth to the Southern California surf culture which promised un-crowded beaches, new friends, and the perfect wave. It introduced a new “sport” and defined the style for the surf culture leaving behind a legacy of fashion, music, literature, and popular terms including surf’s up, hang ten, dude, gnarly, and stoked. John Van Hamersveld’s created image being culturally, historically, and aesthetically significant, having been created in Dana Point, a pioneering surf spot, it impacted the local coastal communities of Santa Monica, Venice, and Malibu. The composition of his Endless Summer poster, the placement of the surfers and the single color tone and hard edge of each image, explore the psychedelic and spiritual side of the surfing culture as well as bridging the gap between locals and visitors. Fletcher Collection Mana Renshaw Thumperdome Collection On the Beach Coop Hamersveld View or Download the Spirit of Summer Exhibition Catalog by clicking on the cover image or here.