Photographic Transmutation The Lancaster Museum of Art and History (MOAH) is pleased to announce their latest exhibition Before You Now: Photographic Transmutations. Before You Now: Photographic Transmutations 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: Photographic Transmutations features the work of artists Naida Osline, Andrew K. Thompson, Ellen Friedlander, Osceola Refetoff, and Brad Miller. Through traditional and non-traditional methods, these artists transcend the photographic medium, creating works that transcend the two-dimensional plane of standard photography. Naida Osline Botany of Transcendence Naida Osline is a photographer and filmmaker whose work merges conceptual and documentary practices. Balancing studio control with the unpredictability of public spaces, her imagery blurs the organic and synthetic, creating thought-provoking visuals. Since 2009, Osline has explored psychoactive plants in a long-term project examining their connections to creativity, morality, economics, legality, addiction, and spirituality. Read More Andrew K. Thompson A Sky Full of Holes Andrew K. Thompson challenges photography's ideals of perfection through a playful and experimental approach. Guided by a simple “What if?” question, his work embraces research and discovery, exemplified by projects like Melting Cameras, where camera-shaped ice cubes made with Caffenol melt onto black-and-white photographic paper. Read More Osceola Refetoff Magic and Realism Osceola Refetoff is a Canadian American visual artist and photojournalist renowned for his experimental use of infrared and pinhole photography to explore humanity's connection to the physical world. His work blends photojournalism and fine art, producing hyper-realistic yet surreal images. Read More Ellen Friedlander The Soul Speaks Ellen Friedlander’s photography captures life’s imperfections and fleeting moments through bold, complex imagery. Influenced by over a decade in Hong Kong, her work combines in-camera and post-processing techniques, showcasing her technical expertise and fascination with human presence. Read More Brad Miller Water Shadows Brad Miller’s work draws inspiration from the fractal patterns of the physical world, which have been transformed into symbolic motifs across cultures for thousands of years. Miller’s practice explores archetypal patterns such as spirals, close-packing forms, and dendritic systems. Read More

My Items I'm a title. Click here to edit me. Tina Dille [object Object] Más Jayson Bascos [object Object] Más Spenser Little [object Object] Más Christopher Konecki and Carley Ealey [object Object] Más MamaWisdom and Sasha Swedlund [object Object] Más Koko and Nuri [object Object] Más Chloe Becky [object Object] Más Kelsey Brown Más Ben Brough [object Object] Más MamaWisdom [object Object] Más Vojislav Radovanovic [object Object] Más Sasha Swedlund [object Object] Más

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.

MOAH's Generous Sponsors & Cultural Partners Hernando & Fran Marroquin Mark & Hilarie Moore Family Trust

back to list Amandalynn Amandalynn is a muralist and fine artist based in Northern California. Inspired by the feminine in all things, Amandalynn depicts the subtle beauty of the natural world and humankind, through illustrated line work and decorative patterning. Her works can be found in galleries and streets all over the world. She began developing her distinct Street Art style mural work in 2001, painting alongside the graffiti community of San Francisco. Amandalynn is very passionate about her outdoor mural work and still enjoys collaborating with a variety of different artists, as well as creating large solo works. Fine Art also plays a key role in Amandalynn's life, as she continues to develop her career as a professional gallery artist. She has a bachelor’s degree of Fine Art from the San Francisco Academy of Art, and recently has started teaching mural classes to middle and high school students. Amandalynn believes that sharing the creative process with others is the key to living an inspired life.

For sale collaborative literary works between the museum and artists. MOAH Publications SPACE A Collection of Essays and Images Curated by Shana Mabari and Andi Campognone An intimate meditation on an almost infinite subject, Space aims to explode an ordinary everyday word into a dazzling prism via an exploration of some of the many interpretations of the term. Artist Shana Mabari asked more than a dozen individuals from dramatically different walks of life—from an astronaut and a filmmaker to an art critic and a musician—what they think about when they think about space. Their answers, which alternate with exceptional work from contemporary Southern California artists selected by curator Andi Campognone, invigorate and inspire, and in turn become fodder for reflection upon our relationship to ourselves, to others, and to the universe at large. BUY NOW Melanie Pullen With essay by Shana Nys Dambrot Photographer Melanie Pullen collects old police blotters and forensic crime scene photos, organized in starkly poetic black and white archives whose narratives she often mines for inspiration in her own more colorful tableaux. “At one point I started to notice,” she says, “that, whether they were suicides or electric chair executions, women would dress up in their finest clothes in preparation for death.” Slips and new shoes, hats and jewels, suits or twin sets, lipstick and plucked eyebrows. Bruises, blood pools, snapped necks, burned fingers, broken legs. This book is available at MOAH, for more information and for purchasing please call (661) 723-6250. Laura Hipke and Shane Guffogg Circle of Truth Exhibition catalog for the Circle of Truth traveling art exhibition. Curated by Laura Hipke & Shane Guffogg Foreword by: Randy Hipke Preface by: Paul Ruscha The Circle of Truth project is a visual game of Telephone, sometimes called a Rumor Game. 49 artists, including Ed Ruscha, Shane Guffogg, Billy Al Bengston, Lita Albuquerque, Jim Morphesis, Charles Arnoldi, Robert Williams, and Ruth Weisberg, created works especially for the Circle of Truth exhibition, in absolute secrecy over a period of nine years. The catalog dedicates a full spread to each of the 49 artists with color images of the art they received and responded to, the art they created, as well as an essay they wrote about their experience. The catalog provides a rare look at the thought processes and studio practices of these unique and private people. This book is available at MOAH, for more information and for purchasing please call (661) 723-6250. David Allan Peters Catalog A catalogue of artwork by David Allan Peters Curated by Andi Campognone Essay by Shana Nys Dambrot A lot is happening in the Effusive Paintings of Favid Allan Peters -- and a lot more than that has happened in them already. In many of these chromatically activated compositions, it's been happening for years. Applying paint to wood panels using every tool but a brush, Peters buils up an incomprehensible number of skin-think layers of bright acrylic pigment in a geological accumulation akin to sedimentary drifts, stalagmite deposits, or the rings of a growing tree. BUY NOW Sant Khalsa Prana: Life with Trees The subject of trees has been a focus in Sant Khalsa’s creative work for nearly five decades. Prana: Life with Trees is the first in depth survey of Khalsa’s intimate connection with trees – her explorations, observations, perceptions and interpretations. Her unique perspective is expressed through a style that encompasses the documentary, subjective and conceptual. Her work evokes a meditative calm to what we often experience as a chaotic and conflicted world. BUY NOW Coleen Sterritt It showcases her work over a forty year period and includes an interview with artist Rochelle Botello and essays by Cooper Johnson, Carole Ann Klonarides, and Sue Spaid. Sterritt’s hybrid sculpture evokes the interplay between nature, culture, and lived experience. Her source materials are pulled from everyday objects and elements. Plaster, tar, pinecones, fishing line, found furniture, and studio refuse are just some of the components she uses to construct and express her richly evocative formal language. Questioning the diverse possibilities of sculpture in both scale and form, her eccentric, abstract structures present strong polarities possessing a resonance at once familiar and obscure. BUY NOW Dave Pressler Idea to Object Covering Emmy Nominated Artist Dave Pressler's four distinct areas of expression--drawing, painting, sculpture, animation--Idea to Object is the companion book to the comprehensive exhibition at the Lancaster Museum of Art and History. With a forward by Artist Anthony Ausgang and essay by Shana Nys Dambrot. Hardcover This book is only available at MOAH, for more information and for purchasing please call (661) 723-6250. Greg Rose 77 Trees Greg Rose has been documenting individual trees and the changes they undergo for the past eight years. It began while taking regular hiking trips through the San Gabriel Mountains. He started noticing the trees of this region were made rugged from enduring extreme weather conditions. Over time, he began regarding the trees by their individual characteristics and started to document them. First he maps, illustrates and photographs the trees, then he paints them. Softcover This book is only available at MOAH, for more information and for purchasing please call (661) 723-6250. Memory and Identity: The Marvelous Art of Betye, Lezley, and Alison Saar Betye, Lezley and Alison Saar have created some of the most powerful, important and deeply moving art in our contemporary world. Their compelling works forge idiosyncratic constructions of social memory and personal identity, as well as the cultural histories underlying them. All three Saars assemble two- and three-dimensional works based on unexpected juxtapositions of form and content. They deploy the flotsam of material culture, from discarded architectural components (old windows, ceiling tiles, wall paper) to domestic detritus (washboards, buckets, shelves) to historic photographs and printed fabrics. With essays by Betty Ann Brown and Sola Saar. Hardcover. BUY NOW Dark Progressivism: The Built Environment The roots of Dark Progressivism run deep in Southern California, grown from seeds planted over a century ago. Here the sunlight hides shadowy dreams, and the hot Santa Ana winds blow away all pretense. Nourished by cement and asphalt, nurtured by flashes of streetlights and spotlights, Dark Progressivism: The Built Environment reveals a bold and modern transmutation through our region's influence on its artists, and the other artists' impact on the world. With essays by Rodrigo Ribera d'Ebre and Lisa Derek. Softcover This book is only available at MOAH, for more information and for purchasing please call (661) 723-6250. Estate Italiana Catalog For Estate Italiana (Italian Summer), guest curator Cynthia Penna showcases six contemporary Italian artists as part of a cultural exchange between the Museum of Art and History in Lancaster, California, and Naples, Italy-based ART1307. Southern California has always had an enduring love for all things Italian. From food and wine, to architecture and automobiles, furniture, product and clothing design, and the expert skill and fine materials of timelessly cosmopolitan, jauntily chic Italian style. Italy, for its part, is equally fascinated by California. The passion for Old Hollywood, new surf culture and futuristic materials, such as plastics and resins that originated here, have influenced Italian visual culture in myriad aspects of modern living. All of these cultural signifiers are represented in one way or another by the six Italian artists featured in Estate Italiana--Max Coppeta, Nicola Evangelisti, Carlo Marcucci, Antonella Masetti Lucarella, Alex Pinna, and Carla Viparelli. Softcover This book is only available at MOAH, for more information and for purchasing please call (661) 723-6250. Samantha Fields Ten years This book, a collaboration between Griffith Moon and Lancaster Museum of Art and History, will showcases Fields’ painting work, along with an essay by Eve Wood. In her work, Fields explores the experiential nature of light through painting – immersing the viewer in the ever-shifting mood of a specific time and place. Her subject matter includes landscapes consumed by disaster both natural and manmade. Her work has been featured in the Los Angeles Times, ArtWeek, Art in America, Artillery, Art ltd., The Detroit News, The Detroit Free Press and the Cleveland Plain Dealer. Hardcover BUY NOW Charles Hollis Jones Mr. Lucite Throughout the art world, Charles Hollis Jones is known as the “King of Lucite”, and for good reason—he has continued to redefine the use of acrylic in furniture for over fifty years. Words such as innovative, craftsmanship, luxury and transformation populate descriptions of Jones’ work, beloved by classic Hollywood icons such as Lucille Ball and Frank Sinatra, in addition to several prominent architects, designers and collectors. This book is only available at MOAH, for more information and for purchasing please call (661) 723-6250. Rebecca Campbell The Potato Eaters The Potato Eaters celebrates Rebecca Campbell’s 2016 exhibition at the Lancaster Museum of Art and History. Campbell’s new work examines aspects of familiar and cultural history, memory, documentation and nostalgia. The title is taken from Vincent van Gogh’s 1885 masterpiece that portrays Dutch peasants gathered at a meager meal. With essay by Betty Ann Brown. Hardcover BUY NOW Chie Hitotsuyama To Hear Your Footsteps A collaboration between Lancaster Museum of Art and History and MOAH:CEDAR and Japanese artist Chie Hitotsuyama, Griffith Moon introduces Chie Hitotsuyama: To Hear Your Footsteps is comprised of an introduction by Shana Nys Dambrot and Hitotsuyama’s animal sculptures and is made entirely from recycled newspaper. Hardcover BUY NOW Justin Bower Thresholds Born in San Francisco in 1975, Bower earned a degree in Studio Art and Philosophy from the University of Arizona in 1998 and a Master of Fine Arts from Claremont Graduate University in 2010. The artist has won and been nominated for several grants and awards, among them The Feitelson Fellowship Grant (2010) and The Joan Mitchell award (2010). With essays by G. James Daichendt, Shana Nys Dambrot, Cooper Johnson and David Pagel. Hardcover This book is only available at MOAH, for more information and for purchasing please call (661) 723-6250. Eric Johnson Legacy A 126 page monograph celebrating 30+ years of the acclaimed California artist Eric Johnson. Published in conjunction with Johnson's retrospective, Legacy, at the Lancaster Museum of Art & History (MOAH), in Lancaster, California. With essays by Jay Belloli and Jan Butterfield. Appreciations by Tony Delap, DeWain Valentine and Tom Jenkins. Hardcover BUY NOW Being Here and There Published in conjunction with the exhibition of the same name at Lancaster Museum of Art & History (MOAH), Being Here and There features the work of 26 photographic artists exploring issues of "place" in Southern California. Curated by artist, educator and activist Sant Khalsa, the book and exhibition features works by Laurie Brown, Stephen Callis, Cristopher Cichocki, scott b davis, Lewis deSoto, John Divola, J. Bennett Fitts, Robbert Flick, Corina Gamma, Alexander Heilner, Steve King, Meg Madison, Tony Maher, Douglas McCulloh, Thomas McGovern, Catherine Opie, Naida Osline, Christopher Russell, Mark Ruwedel, Julie Shafer, Nicolas Shake, Kim Stringfellow, David Taylor, Andrew K. Thompson, Tom Turner, and Amir Zaki. With essay by Sant Khalsa. Softcover BUY NOW Gary Lang Circles and Words A retrospective catalog, published in conjunction with Gary Lang's exhibition Whim Wham at Lancaster Museum of Art & History (MOAH). Introduction by Andi Campognone, with essays by Donald Kuspit, Janet Koplos, and David Pagel, and appreciations by Eric Fischl and James Turrell. Hardcover. BUY NOW Ruth Pastine Attraction Ruth Pastine Attraction is published on occasion of her first survey exhibition: Attraction 1993-2013 at the Lancaster Museum of Art and History (MOAH), in Lancaster, California. The 84-page color monograph comprehensively documents the work of renowned painter and internationally exhibiting artist Ruth Pastine, and catalogs Pastine’s paintings and pastel works on paper spanning the last two decades. With essays by Donald Kuspit and Peter Frank. Softcover BUY NOW Hats Off Sally Egan and Amy Bystedt In this series, Bystedt and Egan give reverence to icons of photography that have influenced and inspired them throughout the years, playing the role of both photographer and subject in these emulations. The attention to detail in these recognizable photos was just as significant as choosing which photographer and image to replicate. Hats Off is a salute in the highest form to those who have come before them, whose trail blazing in the arts have paved the way for some of the most progressive images in photography. Bystedt and Egan literally tip their hats to artists such as Diane Arbus, Richard Avedon, John Baldasarri, Nan Goldin and more. Softcover This book is only available at MOAH, for more information and for purchasing please call (661) 723-6250.

< Back Brad Miller Brad Miller’s work draws inspiration from the fractal patterns of the physical world, which have been transformed into symbolic motifs across cultures for thousands of years. Miller’s practice explores archetypal patterns such as spirals, close-packing forms, and dendritic systems. The spontaneous fractal patterns that form in the physical world have always captured artist Brad Miller’s attention. Over time, he noticed that for thousands of years, several of these patterns have been internalized and transformed by people worldwide into content-laden symbols. One ever-present example is the variations of stylized spirals. They are seen on many objects throughout history: a Mimbres pot, Celtic tombstones, Van Gogh’s Starry Night and 5,000-year-old Chinese pots from Majiayao. With today’s technologies pushing the limits of seeing into and out to the edges of the universe, these familiar patterns constantly reappear. In his artistic practice, Miller explores several of these archetypal patterns, including spirals, close-packing patterns, and dendritic systems. Using diverse materials and processes including silver-gelatin photograms, pyrographic drawing, and ceramics, Miller infuses his work with these timeless and familiar patterns, as they dance between order and chaos. Previous Next

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.

Sean YangTOUCH THE TRUESELF WITHINThrough sculptural ceramics and mixed- media works, artist Sean Yang’s practice exploits the tension between reproduction and handcrafted objects, using this dialogue to examine social control, collective unconsciousness, individual identity, and cultural transformation. < Back SEAN YANG 20X20X12 Pigeonhole_MIXEDMEDIA CAST RESIN_2023.jpg SEAN YANG 9X7X6 BLUE MOUNTAIN PORCELAIN STONEWARE OXIDES GLAZED 2019.jpg SEAN YANG 4X12X5 CocaCola Buddha mixedmedia cast resin 2016.JPG SEAN YANG 20X20X12 Pigeonhole_MIXEDMEDIA CAST RESIN_2023.jpg 1/7 Sean Yang TOUCH THE TRUESELF WITHIN Through sculptural ceramics and mixed- media works, artist Sean Yang’s practice exploits the tension between reproduction and handcrafted objects, using this dialogue to examine social control, collective unconsciousness, individual identity, and cultural transformation. His work is informed by a nomadic-like experience during his early 20s, in which he traveled across thirteen European countries until finally settling down in the United States, taking bits and pieces from these cultures and fusing them into his own personal identity. Focusing on the desire to quiet the mind and embrace the unity between human, nature, and environment, Yang’s installation TOUCH THE TRUESELF WITHIN considers his interpretation of the Four Noble Truths: suffering, self-righteousness, perception of human nature, and environmental sustainability. Yang’s work is a meditation on the process of self-discovery, focusing on how the experience is not the result of a straightforward course, but rather a collection of social and internal exchanges within oneself. Previous Next

< Back Andrew K. Thompson Andrew K. Thompson challenges photography's ideals of perfection through a playful and experimental approach. Guided by a simple “What if?” question, his work embraces research and discovery, exemplified by projects like Melting Cameras, where camera-shaped ice cubes made with Caffenol melt onto black-and-white photographic paper. Aiming to transgress the norms of photography, artist Andrew K. Thompson’s work critiques the perceived ideals of perfection typically associated with the medium. His unique practice and process beings with a simple question of “What if?”. This “What if?” factor has allowed Thompson the flexibility of research, play, and discovery, spawning projects such as his Melting Cameras series, which consists of camera-shaped ice cubes made with Caffenol, an alternate photographic process that utilizes unconventional photographic developer, melted onto black-and-white photographic paper. Thompson’s artistic ethos can be further seen in the gritty and ad hoc, handmade qualities in his work. The artist’s hand is an essential element of his process, with Thompson utilizing photography as a tool that is part of one’s artistic practice rather than just a strict medium. He notes that “I believe the tool doesn’t build a house; the hand that wields the tool does.” In all, Thompson’s practice pokes fun at the conventions and systems that make up photography, allowing photography itself to transcend its typical two-dimensional bounds. Previous Next

back to list Carly Ealey Fine artist, muralist, photographer, and writer with a few hundred other secret talents, Carly Ealey has a knack for all things creative. With a natural inclination to painting the familiar figures of women in her work, Carly prefers acrylic ink on wood panels when painting small, and spray paint when working on murals. However, she also incorporates her photography from time to time on a larger scale via wheatpaste.

Up First People, First Community Bruce Love It is often forgotten that the true history of places such as Lancaster extends far beyond the range of pioneer settlement. In fact, Native communities have been existing within the Antelope Valley and surrounding areas for some 12,000 years or more. As such, it is important to remember that these Native populations have been here much longer than commonly acknowledged, and are still here! To this end, First People, First Communities attempts to honor the Antelope Valley’s First People by recognizing this extensive history of local Native populations and engaging with living tribal members. Through a collection of cultural artifacts, photographs and quotes from tribal elders, First People, First Communities offers a glimpse into the true time depth of Native American presence in the Antelope Valley as well as the significant role these groups play in contemporary society. Here, the past and present are merged to assert the extensive role of Native Americans within our community. This exhibit bridges the time span, connecting present-day Native peoples with their far-reaching past while offering perspectives that are often neglected in contemporary narratives. This exhibit was initially inspired by the Lancaster Museum of Art and History’s wish to dedicate the land the museum is on to the people who lived here first. To do so, we reached out to Dr. Bruce Love, an Antelope Valley resident, anthropologist, and archaeologist, who collaborated with local tribal communities. Dr. Love earned his Ph.D in anthropology from UCLA in the 1980s, and has since worked to build and maintain relationships between archaeologists, anthropologists and contemporary tribal communities within the Antelope Valley and surrounding areas. Acknowledgements are made to participating tribal communities including S errano, Chemehuevi, Kawaiisu, Kitanemuk, and Tataviam , as well as Paiute . Special thanks are made to Tribal Elders Charles Wood, Ralph Girado, Lucille Girado Hicks, Ted Garcia, Kim Marcus, and Ernest Siva for their contributions, as well as Tejon Indian Tribe chairman Octavio Escobedo for providing the portrait and quote from the last Kitanemuk chief, Chief Juan Lozada. First People, First Communities Panel Discussion with Tribal Leaders Thursday, July 16, 2020 | 6 PM Moderated by: Dr. Bruce Love Panelists: James Ramos, State Assemblyman, Serrano Charles Wood, Chairman, Chemehuevi Indian Tribe Sandra Hernandez , Executive Committee Secretary, Tejon Indian Tribe (Kitanemuk) Rudy Ortega, Jr., Tribal President, Fernandeño -Tataviam Band of Mission Indians https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WvGbKVOXA2A June 2021-October 2022 Back to list