Palm Springs Art Patron Magazine Mar/Apr 2018

BE ART INSPIRED. A R T PAT R O N M A G A Z I N E . C O M

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SPEED OF LIGHT

Photography by

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A Unique Gallery A Great Shopping Experience!

Colin Fisher Studios

68929 Perez Road, Suite M, Cathedral City, CA 92234, 760-324-7300, Email:colin@colinfisher.com A R T PAT R O N M A G A Z I N E . C O M

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ON THE COVER: Prints from Jordan Schnitzer’s Collection A selection now on view at Palm Springs Art Museum, March 3-May 28, 2018

TABLE OF CONTENTS

HIGHLIGHTS

20 COMMUNITY INVOLVEMENT AT GALLERY 500 • Desert Maid(ens) • Desert Aids Project

22 CHAIRS FOR CHARITY FUNDRAISER 24 JTHAR: ED RUSCHA EXHIBITION 28 REMEMBERING CAROLE HICKS

ARTIST PROFILES:

56 THE JORDAN SCHNITZER FOUNDATION

• The Lending Collection: A Passion for Sharing • Desert Debut: Warhol’s World at The Palm Springs Art Museum

HISTORY:

60 ABOUT THOSE PALMS

Natives & Newcomers in our Landscape

30 STEVE ADAM: ART AND ANIMAL RIGHTS

62 ART MARKET

34 DANIEL POLLOCK: PASSION FIRST

SPECIAL SECTION:

An Engaging Combination for Steve Adam Quesions & Answers with Daniel Pollock

38 ROSENBERG

A Contemporary Abstract Reverse Painting Artist

42 ROB GAGE

A Home and Life Reflecting Years of Creating Photographs

EXHIBITION:

50 DAILY PRACTICE: Sorin Bica • John Luckett Deborah Lynn Irmas • Darthea Cross • Kat Green 14

COLLECTOR:

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67 THE ARTIST COUNCIL CELEBRATES HALF A CENTURY OF CREATIVITY

• Board of Directors, Core Purpose, and Strategies • 50 Years of Talent and Collaboration • Artist Council Exhibitions • Marvin Cohn’s $5 Art Class: The Catalyst for a Lifetime of Painting • Artist Council Classes & Workshops • Cathy Allen: Transforming Trash • Infinite Possibilities: Chris Sanchez Finds His Way

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PUBLISHER

Bruce Dodd

EDITOR IN CHIEF Christine Dodd A SSISTA NT ED ITOR

Grove Koger

D IRECTOR OF PH OTOG RA PH Y

Stephen Baumbach

PH OTOG RA PH Y STA FF

Terry Hastings Tom Lamb Deja Kreutzberg

D IRECTOR OF IT

Stephen Baumbach A D V ERTISING D IRECTOR

Christine Dodd (208) 771-1135; Christine@ArtPatronMagazine.com A D V ERTISING CONSU LTA NTS

Janneen Jackson (949) 535-3095; Janneen@ArtPatronMagazine.com Rob Piepho (760) 932-4307; Rob@ArtPatronMagazine.com CU STOMER SERV ICE REPRESENTAT I VE

Catherine Ellis Catherine@ArtPatronMagazine.com

D IRECTOR OF BU SINESS D EV ELOPMENT

Darian J. Chambers (760) 567-5783; Darian@ArtPatronMagazine.com D IRECTOR OF OPERATIONS

Russell Wong Russell@ArtPatronMagazine.com G RA PH IC D ESIG N

Christine Dodd Jared Linge

CONTRIBU TORS

Stephen Baumbach Nicole Borgenicht Louisa Castrodale Charlie Ciali Christine Dodd Liz Goldner Barbara Gothard Terry Hastings Grove Koger Deja Kreutzberg Tom Lamb Susan Myrland Pam Price

www.ArtPatronMagazine.com

For Advertising and Editorial Information: 333 E Amado #1904, Palm Springs, CA 92263 or email info@ArtPatronMagazine.com

The opinions expressed by writers and contributors do not necessarily reflect those of the publisher. Laguna Beach ART Patron Magazine and Palm Springs ART Patron Magazine are published six times a year by Laguna Beach ART Magazine, LLC

Pick up a copy of ART Patron Magazine at your favorite art gallery or at the following upcoming fine art events: Festival of Arts • Indian Wells Arts Festival Laguna Art-A-Fair • La Quinta Arts Festival Pageant of the Masters • Sawdust Art & Craft Festival

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HIGHLIGHTS

Community Involvement at GALLERY

500

Photo includes artists: Louisa Castrodale, Eva Felix, Jaqueline Zepeda, Sandra Sarabia, Carlos Camacho, Samantha Per, Sofia Enriquez, Ian Guzman, Melanie Harris, Chamada March, Vanessa Rodriguez

DESERT MAID(ens)

written by Louisa Castrodale

Last spring, John Monahan, owner of the 500 Building in Palm Springs, offered me an exciting opportunity to present a student art show at Gallery 500. As Arts Coordinator for the Palm Springs Unified School District, I saw it as a groundbreaking chance to set up a unique and exciting project with students, so we set a tentative date of spring 2018 and I began planning in earnest.

I called one of my favorite collaborators and creatives, City of Palm Springs Public Arts Coordinator Jen Henning, and we began brainstorming. Over the years, Henning and I have headed numerous projects funded by the generosity of our city’s arts commission, and we wanted to organize an artist-in-residency project that would make the most of this stellar opportunity.

One year after the success of the conceptual Portraits of a City project, which was an artist-inresidency involving black and white photographs of Palm Springs residents, we decide to tackle a concept that was closely tied to feminism and the recent national events spurred by the #metoo movement.

We came up with an idea we called Desert Maid(ens), which would focus on honoring local women who have made a significant contribution to life in the Coachella Valley. We also decided that we would hire local artist Sofia Enriquez, a fresh talent who had graduated from Cathedral City High School.

Henning and I then set about gathering names, photographs and biographies of potential subjects for the paintings. Then the three of us—Henning, Enriquez and I—met with advanced student artists

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in Mrs. Becky Patterson’s class at Palm Springs High School to present the concept and provide a list of some 30 women to choose from.

The final piece of the concept was deciding that the portraits should be two feet by two feet in size, black and pink, acrylic on canvas. Once the students picked which Desert Maidens they wanted to portray, they set about painting them during the month of February.

Early that month, we hosted a “meet and greet” event at Palm Springs High School, where some of the women met the students who were painting them. It was a fun opportunity for both subjects and artists, and our project grew even closer to reality.

The portraits were finished by the end of February and are on display in Gallery 500 during the first few weeks of March. Later this spring, the works will also be shown at the University of California Palm Desert Center as part of our school district’s annual exhibition.

The City of Palm Springs Arts Commission, Jen Henning, Sofia Enriquez and I are all proud to be able to work with high school students on a project that has produced artworks as meaningful as they are beautiful!

www

Art Hair

The

Of

Brian Hicks, Tree Motif

Desert AIDS Project In its location at 500 South Palm Canyon Drive in Palm Springs in an iconic mid-century building, Gallery 500 is able to offer something different than more established, tonier galleries in the Uptown Design District and elsewhere. In partnership with Desert AIDS Project, manager Richard LaFerriere is determined to remove the obstacles so many artists face in following their calling to create.

The cost to produce art and then market it is prohibitive for many, but LaFerriere is passionate about making a difference, especially when he can help one of his artists make a sale. He markets their work for them, especially on social media like Facebook and Instagram.

“They don’t realize they have to be businesspeople as well as artists,” says LaFerriere with a smile.

Most galleries are not set up for emerging artists, he adds.

Owners feel pressure to sell high-dollar pieces, pay high rents, and compete with other galleries. For their part, many artists have to navigate between choosing the right materials for the job and making ends meet.

For example, a two-inch thick wooden frame might be preferable, but purchasing a one-inch frame might enable the artist to pay bills. And although the work on the canvas is what matters, the lesser-quality frame can be what makes a collector walk away.

LaFerriere wants his clients to focus on creating.

At Gallery 18 Stylists 500, the emerging artist is sought after, and competing with other galleries is considered a poor use of time. It is bringing the community together with the artists that is the mission.

While Gallery 500’s client roster includes experienced collectors, newbies to collecting who may be intimidated by going into other galleries will find they can bring home a masterpiece without the sticker shock.

“Someone just starting a collection can acquire a one-ofa-kind piece that they won’t see mass produced at stores,” LaFerriere points out.

Gallery 500 will be showcasing the work of artists Don David Young, Brian Hicks, Christopher Williams and Ethan Narro in March and April.

Annie Hoffman, Stylist

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HIGHLIGHTS

CHAIRS for CHARITY Fundraiser Tickets are now available for the inaugural Chairs for Charity fundraiser being held on Saturday, May 26, on the campus of the Idyllwild Arts Academy. Hosted by the Associates of Idyllwild Arts Foundation, the live auction will be part of a larger 50th anniversary celebration that also includes dinner and beverages, music, and a second, silent auction.

The event will feature oneof-kind chairs in a variety of media, in two as well as three dimensions, created by 15 invited guest artists. Four current Arts Academy students— HaoTian Chang, Adrian Hernandez, Xibeiwa Jia, and Adrian Ocone—are among those who have been invited, along with four Idyllwild artistinstructors and seven other artists from Idyllwild and the desert communities.

Leading the festivities is Associates president Michael Slocum, who promises that the May 26 event “will provide an opportunity for art enthusiasts to win original creations while helping change lives through the transformative power of art.” All net proceeds from the ticket sales and auctions will support the Student Scholarship Fund of the Idyllwild Arts Academy and its summer program.

Before the auction, the chairs will be part of a traveling exhibition scheduled to open March 28 at the Middle Ridge Winery Tasting Gallery in Idyllwild. They will then be featured in an exclusive show hosted by the La Quinta Museum from April 9 through May 20. Online bidding for chairs will open in late March, with selected chairs available for bid exclusively at the May 26 auction.

Tickets are $45 each, and with a limited number available, early purchase is recommended. To obtain your tickets or to learn more about the participating artists, visit www.associatesofiaf.org/chairsforcharity or call (951) 659-2171, extension 2333.

The Idyllwild Arts Academy is located at 52500 Temecula Road in the mountain community of Idyllwild. An internationally acclaimed college preparatory arts school, it is one of only three major residential arts high schools in the United States, and is the only such school west of the Mississippi. www.idyllwildarts.org, www.assoiciatesofiaf.org 22

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Artist Charlie Ciali and his piece “Robert’s Chair”

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HIGHLIGHTS

JTHAR artist welcome party and ED RUSCHA exhibition Donor Preview Party: Friday, May 11 from 5-8 p.m.

Public Opening Reception: Saturday, May 12 from 6-8 p.m.

Exhibition & Sale: May 12 - June 3

Joshua Tree Highlands Artist Residency presents the exhibition ‘Ed Ruscha; Works 19782017’ and introduces the 2018 residency artists.

Tickets to Donor preview Party are $25. For more info visit www.jthar.com The Hollywood sign, wellknown streets in Los Angeles, the California desert landscape, a stunning sunset horizon, idyllic snow-capped mountains and blue water lakes, and insightful, provocative words or puzzlelike sentences form the visual vocabulary that have made Ed Ruscha the California artist par excellence. Like comfort food or a snuggly blanket on a cold night, his work and recognizable style have raised the artist to iconic status—the result of prolific creative output in painting, drawing, printmaking, photography, and artists books.

“I am on a 24-hour constant desert rain alert. When it happens, I’m there taking in that sweet resin aroma. there’s nothing in the world like it.”

- Ed Ruscha 24

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SHEILA OLSEN Fine Art Gallery

The Psychedelic Sunset Series

Contemporary Abstract & Seascape Paintings

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Joshua Tree Highlands Artist Residency has put together an exhibition of Ruscha prints and a bronze sculpture with the aim of raising funds for its artist residency program. As an artist residency program located adjacent to Joshua Tree National Park, JTHAR inspires the artists to interact with their surrounding environment.

In keeping with JTHAR’s philosophy, the prints that were chosen for the exhibition all have landscape as their central theme, even when implied as is the case of Pick, Pan, Shovel (1980) which depicts the tools used for prospecting gold in the California Gold Rush of 1848-1855.

Ed Ruscha is a longtime supporter of JTHAR. Partial proceeds from sales at this exhibition will be used to help JTHAR artists with materials, supplies, travel and living expenses while in residency.

Established in 2007, JTHAR is a nonprofit artist residency that awards an international community of artists the gifts of time and space amidst the extraordinary natural beauty of Joshua Tree National Park. Group and solo residencies of six to seven weeks include scholarship funds, living accommodations, studio space designed to accommodate a broad range of artistic activity and a gallery exhibition.

Artists selected for this program are at all stages of their careers and work in all media, including drawing, painting, photography, film, video, new media, installation, fiction and non fiction writing, interdisciplinary, social practice and architecture.

JTHAR fosters creativity through opportunities for exploring, experimenting, quiet reflection, engagement and cross-cultural exchange with the vibrant local artist community. “We establish spaces where inspiration happens on a daily basis, so artists can do the work of innovating, changing the cultural landscape and generating a fresh look at the way we connect to each other and to the world.”

The exhibition and sale runs from May 12 - June 3.

Joshua Tree Artist Gallery is at 61607 Twentynine Palms Hwy, Joshua Tree, CA. For more information visit www.jthar.com.

Previous Page: Noose Around Your Neck Lithograph. 2001. From Country Cityscapes 18 x 14 inches Edition 9/10 This Page: Wen Out For Cigrets N Never Came Back Cast bronze with hand applied patina, 2017 19-3/4 x 2 inches Edition of 40 Lapis catalog number: ER17-0054, Published by The Lapis Press 26

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ARTIST PROFILE

remembering CAROLE HICKS written by Charlie Ciali

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Long time Palm Springs resident and artist Carole Hicks passed away peacefully at her home in Palm Springs on January 30, surrounded by her family and her artwork.

Hicks worked in collage, mixed media, monotype and acrylic, and although she used everyday symbols and images, her whimsy and sense of humor often led her to include Pop Art references as well.

Influenced by artists such as Niki de Saint Phalle , Tom Wesselmann, Francesco Clemente, Pablo Picasso, Robert Rauschenberg and Richard Lindner, Hicks sought to understand duality and the nature of opposites: male/female, light/dark, dream/reality, body/spirit. She superimposed the conscious world onto the unconscious landscape of dreams and symbols as a way of distilling life.

Sound Therapy Hicks was active in our arts community through numerous civic and charitable organizations, including leadership roles with the Artists Council of the Palm Springs Art Museum. An avid artist, she created postmodern works in mixed media on canvas and paper. “To paint is to love again” was one of her favorite quotations, and her passion for art was certainly one of her greatest inspirations.

I met Hicks at the studio of the late Michele Jamison 12 years ago when I began making prints. It was a sharing and supportive environment, and there was never a dull moment.

She was never afraid to set new goals for herself and was always open to experiment. It was an honor to know such a gifted and talented individual.

In the last five years Hicks worked along with fellow artists and good friends at Ciali Studio, an open studio location in Palm Springs for printmakers. The synergy that these sessions generated was exciting and invigorating, and the atmosphere was always highly charged with creativity and fellowship. Hicks’ wit and perseverance in creating art will be greatly missed by her friends and fellow artists.

“Carole embraced life to the fullest, always clever and engaged,” recalls painter and printmaker Robert Roach. “Her sense of humor and unique view of the world around her made every encounter a delight. She was smart and snappy, and her commitment to art was an inspiration to all of us who had the opportunity to work beside her.”

Other painters and printmaker echoed Roach’s sentiments.

According to Toni Kemp, “Carole was a great credit to her community, the museum, and her family. She was a brilliant painter, printmaker and a wonderful, helpful and fun-loving friend.”

“I loved working in the studio with Carole,” says Deb star.

“Her work was always an inspiration and she was generous in supporting other artists.”

Huguette Fisher adds that “her sense of humor and love of making art will always stay with me.”

Carole Hicks exhibited regularly in galleries and shows throughout Southern California, including the Palm Springs Art Museum, the Palm Springs International Art Fair, the Coachella Valley Historical Museum, the Desert Art Collection, the Riverside Art Museum and the City of Palm Springs .

She is represented by the Colin Fisher Studios in Cathedral City, California, where her work has been on exhibit for the last several years. Her work may also be viewed online at: carolehicks.com.

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ART and ANIMAL RIGHTS

An Engaging Combination for STEVE ADAM written by Liz Goldner photographed by Tom Lamb You might see him any afternoon greeting customers in his sliver gallery in Laguna Beach on Pacific Coast Highway. You might assume that he’s a long-time local artist, capturing in his work the scenes and light that are a luxury of living and commuting along the coast in Laguna Beach.

But talk to Steve Adam and you’ll find out that he grew up on Louisiana’s Gulf Coast, that as a child he spent long hours on the bayous fishing with his dad, who owned a seafood processing plant. He’ll relate stories of traveling up and down the coast from New Orleans to Biloxi to the Florida Keys, enjoying the sunrises and the moon reflected in the water.

Adam also talks passionately about animal rights activism, about his work to expose what he calls “the horrors of poaching elephants and rhinos in South Africa.” He looks back to his early life experiences, growing up in nature with a compassionate father and learning about personal independence and problem-solving, as a foundation for his activism. Deciding to use art to help combat large animal poaching, he established his “365 Art for Wildlife” foundation, explaining, “As an artist, I’m at a point where I can give back.”

Adam says that Africa and its people are under siege by criminal organizations and poachers hired to kill its wildlife. He explains that several countries promote the purchase of ivory trinkets made from elephant tusks, and thereby endorse the slaughter of these animals. He adds that rhino horns do not promote youth or fertility and do not cure illness (which many people continue to believe), and that trophy hunting is not conservation but instead a status symbol sport for elitists.

Adam supports a variety of anti-poaching organizations by donating a percentage of sales from his gallery, giving of his time and creating social awareness. He also involves the local surfing community with his cause by selling raffle tickets for his canvases and painted surfboards, A R T PAT R O N M A G A Z I N E . C O M

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Combining minimal, abstract and expressive styles, his work captures the look, smells and sounds of life near the ocean.

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asking for direct donations, and giving the proceeds to these organizations. Adam also promotes the cause on his gallery website, on Facebook and Instagram using the hashtag #365art4wildlife. Adam is currently running a campaign with Pedaling Against Poaching for the non-profit Helping Rhinos.

You can learn more about the organizations he works with by visiting steveadamgallery.com/pages/365-art-for-wildlife.

Adam moved to Orange County in 1983 and soon began working in construction for major OC builders, working in homes along the oceanfront cliffs overlooking the Pacific. He learned about texture as well as color palettes that take their cue from the sand, sea, and sky outside. It also exposed him to the aesthetics of interior design and to art as a function of tasteful home décor in a county known for its casual

sophistication. In fact, his hands-on experiences with plaster and paint served as artistic training for the self-taught painter.

Adam began experimenting with his own artwork, painting on furniture, surfboards and wood panels. Calling his style “coastal modern abstract,” he employs primary colors, particularly blue, which he describes as the color of hope.

Combining minimal, abstract and expressive styles, his work captures the look, smells and sounds of life near the ocean.

Soon, collectors, architects and interior designers—some of whom Adam had worked with in his construction and finishing work—began purchasing his paintings. With little promotion, many others discovered his art. To date, he has sold more than 1,000 original paintings, along with prints and painted surfboards, to private collectors, interior designers, hotels and resorts, from Laguna Beach to Manhattan, the UK and Dubai.

From his humble beginnings in the bayous, Steve Adam has evolved into a significant artist, while his animal rights activism gives him a greater sense of mission. One of his favorite quotations, from early twentieth century writer/ naturalist Henry Beston, reads, in part: “We need another and a wiser and perhaps a more mystical concept of animals … We patronize them for their incompleteness, for their tragic fate of having taken form so far below ourselves.”

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ARTIST PROFILE

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PASSION FIRST Questions & Answers with DANIEL POLLOCK wriiten by Christine Dodd

Tell us a little bit about your early life. “I always did woodwork and I was a firewood cutter in the beginning. I came out to Apple Valley just out of high school. My parents had moved up here, it was the time when the Manson family was hanging out at the hot springs but Manson was already in jail. Big Bear is right up the hill. I ran the firewood business for 20 years.”

How did you get started as an artist? “I met a guy in the hot springs near my place, a world traveler with a one-of-a-kind store in Chicago. He came into my camp and we became friends and he introduced me to the world of interior design. Troy’s in New York was my first gallery and worked as a calling card to help me get into other galleries.”

What is the best piece of advice you have been given? “’Keep it simple.’

My work starts with a chain saw. My clients want the zen, not something complicated.”

What is your favorite thing about your art studio? “It’s my home. Every afternoon I have lots of friends who show up and hang out. There’s a pool up at the house. I live on the Mojave riverbed and have a trail up to the hot springs. I actually lived at the hot springs back in the day for about 4 years, I’ve had my property here for 44 years.”

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What is the biggest sacrifice you have made to be an artist? “I’ve been lucky in my life, and I’ve always been self-employed. So it’s not a sacrifice— I’m obsessed.”

“You have to have the passion first. I worked for a long time and did not make any money at it.

I’m not college-trained in art, all my stuff comes from one piece leading to another.”

What does success mean to you? “Contentment. We are always chasing things, and success is to be content with what you have. I have ten acres on my property and my daughter has the adjacent property with my three grandkids. My other daughter is close by in town too.”

Name the biggest overall lesson you have learned in marketing yourself as an artist. “The marketing I am not that good at. Luckily I’ve never had to do much, thanks to my introductions in New York, and then my 15 years with Japanache in L.A. I had to understand the difference between retail and wholesale. Using a gallery means that they handle it. I am currently in Colin Fisher Studios in Palm Springs, Blackman Cruz in Hollywood, Suite New York on Park Avenue, and Elements in Chicago.”

In moments of self-doubt or adversity, how do you build yourself back up? “I doubt myself all the time. I work on a piece and think no one is going to buy this. I just keep working. If I build it, they will come. I have to have the pieces built if I am going to sell them, and it takes 2-3 months to finish a piece, so I always have a lot of projects going at once.”

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In your opinion, what are the top three things someone should consider before starting a career as an artist? “I don’t know if you should start a career to be an artist. You have to have the passion first. I worked for a long time and did not make any money at it. I’m not college-trained in art, all my stuff comes from one piece leading to another.”

What book is on your nightstand right now? “I refer to art books, Noguchi.

I always look at shapes, but it doesn’t have to be wood. I look at rocks, pottery.”

What inspires and motivates you to be yourself and do what you love? “I mainly draw from nature as an inspiration.”

Name a fear or professional challenge that keeps you up at night. “I fret about custom orders. When I get a custom order, it has to be exactly the way they want it. I might want to do something different as I go through the process and the wood changes. I might want it to be a different color.”

What is the first thing you do every morning to start your day on the right foot? “I’ve always been self-motivated. One piece leads to the next and I am work-obsessed. I’m well balanced between work and play. I am now trying to feel content while slowing down and doing less. It is meditative, the work I do.”

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ARTIST PROFILE

ROSENBERG

A Contemporary Abstract Reverse Painting Artist written by Nicole Borgenicht

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Rosenberg’s reverse paintings involve subtle, multifarious color gradations, often with floating volumetric images and repeated wave-shapes that challenge the viewer to unravel his mysterious world. It is an art form that is both intentional and a surprise to viewers and the artist alike, since the front of the acrylic, which we see, is never the same as the reverse.

Rosenberg’s initial experiences in the field of visual arts led him to create paintings that imply a narrative. Recruited by Columbia College because of an art exhibit in high school, he eventually earned his MFA in the School of Arts film division, where he studied film and screenwriting. “I think that it was the combination of these two fields that

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spurred my interest in the relationship between image and story,” he recalls.

After completing college, and working under his birth name of Tom Ross (which he still uses in his personal life), the artist illustrated and cowrote six successful children’s books for Scholastic and Putnam. This early success gave him the confidence to paint. His exhibitions resonated with his interpretations of universal themes. “One of the more successful shows I did at this time, Fatherhood, was a series of whimsical yet satirical portrayals of the rewards and tribulations of being a father.”

It was about ten years ago, on a trip to Colorado, that Rosenberg spotted an intriguing

Unforeseen I-IV, acrylic on acrylic panel, 30” x 30” each

abstract work hanging in an art gallery window, which led him to begin experimenting with the “reverse” process.

Employed as far back as the Middle Ages and in a religious context, it involves working on the backs of panes of glass to create images intended to be viewed from the front.

Rosenberg employs acrylic paints and substitutes clear acrylic panels for the original glass.

“With reverse painting, the side of the acrylic that you are working on is not displayed,” Rosenberg points out. “It is the back of the paint showing through the 1/4-inch clear panel that is seen.”

While Rosenberg loves the freedom of abstraction, the methods he followed as an illustrator are ever-present. “I still incorporate certain illustrator techniques. Forms, shadows and highlights still play an important part in many of my A R T PAT R O N M A G A Z I N E . C O M

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Gaia, acrylic on acrylic panel, 72” x 30”

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Zen IV, acrylic on acrylic panel, 48” x 48”

Zen II, acrylic on acrylic panel, 48” x 48”

pieces today.” But “bringing the depth to work can be especially challenging in reverse painting,” he continues, “as the process is in many ways opposite to traditional painting on canvas. For instance, highlights are painted first, not last.”

Never one to take the easy way out, Rosenberg uses more than 50 different colors and multiple layers in a typical work.

Rosenberg drew inspiration for the original piece in his ongoing “Unforeseen” series from the sight of jellyfish washed up along the shore, paralleling his magentas, purples and blues with organic shapes and the shifting light of deep waters.

“Metaphorically,” he says, “these imaginings brought about a feeling of plummeting into the depth of myself—not only the richness but the scariness as well.” In this series, shapes and objects appear to be animated by nature, with each painting retaining the elegance of its singularity while remaining in harmony with the other works in its series-universe.

Because his abstract works are such a radical departure from his earlier representational art, Ross decided to adopt a different “painting name.” It was then that he began signing his works “Rosenberg.” His father, who passed away when Tom was only 16, had escaped from the Holocaust, and at Ellis Island his family name was changed from Rosenberg to Ross.

“My father’s brother and teenage nephews never made it out of Poland and presumably died in concentration camps,” Rosenberg explains. “I thought that it would be special to honor this heritage and bring the name back for my abstract work.”

Since signing his family name in reverse is difficult, Tom designed a logo. “Rosenberg means Rose Mountain, so I came up with a rose design with a stem that curves like the silhouette of a mountain.”

For Rosenberg, reverse painting has become a kind of spiritual practice. He enters the “zone” with music, a process through which the aural vibrations and meditative experience of painting become one. Renaissance painters used the technique to create spiritual imagery.

All of Rosenberg’s paintings have single word titles that come to him once the painting is finished “Unlike illustrating, it’s as if the context of the painting doesn’t reveal itself until far into the process.”

Rosenberg’s Zen series is a dramatic departure from his other bodies of work. There are no geometric or organic shapes.

“My Zen paintings are minimal,” he remarks, “but in a sense they could also irreverently be called ‘maximal’ because of the intricacy of the patterns. When viewing a Zen piece, it’s as if a certain frequency of vibrations projects itself through the acrylic panel.”

Viewers of Rosenberg’s paintings frequently remark that his creative energy generates a calming effect. “Whether it be my organic, geometric or Zen pieces, I hope that a certain sacredness comes through.”

Rosenberg relocated from Santa Fe, New Mexico, to Palm Springs in 2016.You can see his works at Tom Ross Gallery, 2682 Cherokee Way, Palm Springs, and at Winterowd Fine Art, 701 Canyon Road, Santa Fe, New Mexico. For more information visit www.tomrossgallery.com

“La Casita” 22 x 28 Acrylic on Canvas by Giorgio Dimichina

“When the Clouds Began to Clear” 24 x 48 Oil on Canvas by Don Britton

Artist Eye Gallery

Fine Art Paintings, Mixed Media, Sculpture and Photography 1294-A So. Coast Hwy, Laguna Beach CA 92651 • www.ArtistEyeGalleryLaguna.com • 949.497.5898 Orange County Fine Arts. An Association of Artists.

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ARTIST PROFILE

ROB GAGE

A Home and Life Reflecting Years of Creating Photographs written by Liz Goldner photographed by Tom Lamb

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This Page Top: Living area; This Page Bottom: 8 x 10 Deardorf camera- sits in the middle of Gages home to remind him that the thousands of sheets of film he shot with this camera gave him the money to buy his house; Opposite Page Top: Man ,water, Chevrolet – double page ad and billboard for Chevrolet truck; Opposite Page Bottom: Bruce Andre on horseback, from a job in Sonita, Arizona.

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hotographer Rob Gage has crafted a life in Laguna Beach that is filled with art—from a home designed by Frank Lloyd Wright disciple John Lautner, to treasures gathered during his forty-year career of traveling the world to take creative advertising photos, and on now to his current photographic artwork.

Gage is eager to show off that 3,900-square-foot home.

Constructed with two eighty-foot steel beams holding up the roof, fine woods, built-in furnishings, endless light, magnificent gardens and an ocean view, it stands at the top of Bluebird Canyon.

However, Gage is most proud of his many personal photographs.

“Creating an image that garners a second glance is a process I go through constantly,” he explains. “Without light, I really don’t have much to work with. I love photographing people and backlight them whenever possible. It gives the image so much depth and softens the contrast and colors.” Gage has exhibited many of his pictures at the Laguna Beach Festival of Arts.

Gage’s two favorite bodies of work—displayed on his walls and in books he is publishing—are his Ballet and Feather River series.

The former involved months of pre-planning, including several visits to the studios of the Orange County-based Festival Ballet Company, which performs The Nutcracker, Swan Lake, and Balanchine favorites at the Performing Arts Center and Barclay Theater. “Owner Salwa Rizkalla, who trained in ballet in her native Egypt, gave me unique access to her ballerinas,” he recalls, adding that he chose dancers as subjects because of their extraordinary focus and ability to communicate with their bodies.

After establishing rapport with the ballerinas, Gage began photographing them in a variety of unusual settings, including alongside a dredging rig, beside field workers at an avocado grove, and in the grove itself. Each expressive work reveals his skilled use of light and dark and his unusual perspective, contrasting rig and field workers with graceful, elegant dancers. Gage’s more formal photos in this series include one of a ballerina leaping across an avocado field, and others of dancers on stage en pointe.

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Opposite Page Top: Ballerina – Gillian in flight, photographed at the avocado grove in Irvine in front of asparagus.; Opposite Page Bottom: Used car lot – A set that Gage built for a calendar; This page, clockwise: Main living area illustrating Lautner’s early “open concept design” utilizing cement columns and several large steel beams; Gage in front of a tapestry he had made in Egypt; Original dining room table by John Lautner and Victorian clock from a pub in England; the garden in summer.

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Top: Three 4H kids and their prized animals Bottom: Kathryn getting ready to show her horse at the Plumas County Fair.

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Gage’s ongoing Feather River project contains pictures of children entering 4H competitions at Quincy, California’s PlumasSierra County Fair. Included are images of smiling children and teenagers displaying prized goats, pigs, roosters, horses and cows.

The series also features photos of cowboys on horseback, on the hoods of trucks and at rest.

In these images, Gage employs shimmering sunlight to create a transcendent ambience, reminiscent of 19th century Western paintings.

The deftly framed works in color and black and white capture old-fashioned country scenes,

while displaying the artist’s compassionate yet formalistic eye.

Other Gage photos depict New Guinea natives, people and animals performing in the Ringling Bros. Circus, and scenes of an English cemetery.

Gage’s home, which he describes as a work of art itself, features three levels, large windows looking out at canyons and the ocean, and unusual architectural details such as “floating” bed. The home’s pièce de résistance is a large rectangle, cut out of an outside wall, functioning as a picture frame for the stunning ocean view. Also enjoying the

home’s amenities are Gage’s long-time partner Ora Sterling, a ceramicist who exhibits at the Sawdust Festival, and their feisty tabby cat, Don Fuege.

Gage has travelled to sixty-seven countries and territories, including France, Spain, England, Morocco, Japan and the British Virgin Islands.

He has worked in this country as well, often photographing cars, in Detroit, Barstow, Las Vegas and Palm Springs, the latter providing magnificent light. Many of the treasures and mementoes that he has picked up during his decades-long career are showcased in his home.

They include a grandfather clock from France, a

carved bookcase base from England, a custommade tapestry from Cairo, sculptural pieces and masks from New Guinea, and an elephant bell from Thailand.

While Rob Gage excels at photography, he is also a natural storyteller, relating tales about his many adventures taking pictures. “I have documented camel herders in southern Morocco, stood on the outside strut of a Bell Jet Ranger hovering 500 feet above the Florida Everglades, photographed a new long-range jet from the open end of a B25 bomber, and stood in the prop wash of an Army Blackhawk helicopter.”

The “strongman” photographed on a set in England.

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EXHIBITION

by Christine Dodd

DAILY PRACTICE “An artist cannot fail; it is a success to be one.” Charles Horton Cooley The discipline to maintain a daily creative practice is something to aspire to. It is a ritual where an artist can suspend self-doubt and judgement. It is understood that every daily effort does not culminate in a finished work. A daily practice is also a habit that can allow the recording of inspiration in unusual ways, on bar napkins, grocery receipts, the back of a placemat, whatever is handy, instead of requiring the documentation of an idea to be precious. The value in the consistency of a daily practice, and having a venue for taking risks, is that it can lead an artist past a creative block or help develop a new body of work.

Part of this creative freedom comes from the understanding that this work is typically not meant for public consumption. However, evidence of the evolution of an idea can reward an art collector with the raw roots of their favorite piece. At the new Palm Springs gallery Barba Contemporary Art select pieces from an artist’s daily practice, and the finished work that is evidence of that daily practice’s innovation are hung in the same gallery. On the following pages are daily practice images (shown as thumbnails) below larger finished pieces from five artists represented by Barba Contemporary Art.

Sorin Bica “Sketching at the end of every day is like working out for me,” Sorin Bica says. “I’m playing, exercising, trying to clarify ideas.” He is also chronicling his day, maintaining a visual journal of moments with his family or random personal interactions. “Sometimes ideas and feelings need to be captured in the moment, so I sketch on napkins, loose paper - whatever I can draw on.” Before becoming a painter, Sorin was a political cartoonist. “The best cartoons,” he believes, “are those that say something powerful without words.”

Sorin is an expressive storyteller, and embedded in all of his work is an illustrative anecdote. Capturing the idea beforehand in a sketch is where he begins to formulate the painting’s narrative.

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Music or Chaos ink on paper, 9x12

Why Are You Pushing Me? oil on canvas, 50x67 A R T PAT R O N M A G A Z I N E . C O M

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El Toro (Belly of the Beast), acrylic & mixed media on wood panel, 42x36

John Luckett When out and about, John Luckett routinely notices shapes. He’ll often stop while walking to pick up folded or crumpled debris because he finds the arbitrary forms interesting. He’ll take the found object to his studio and begin to translate it’s personality, studying it’s content, form or coloration. Whether working with pencil, charcoal or paint, John says he maintains a daily practice “to keep my hand comfortable and confident about the work that I do.” His goal is to continually be engaged with his craft so that when he creates something he’s not overthinking it. Oftentimes studies become larger works, but sometimes they don’t: “I want to be surprised by what I do and I think doing studies allows me the freedom to work more expressively.”

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Untitled #2 mixed media on paper, 15x18

Not lost 2, oil on plexiglass, glue on wood panel, 36x36

Deborah Lynn Irmas When Deborah Lynn Irmas begins her day in the studio, she first creates a small work. “It’s a warm up for me,” she says. “I try to allow myself to just be free and do anything I want, which helps get me ready to work.” These smaller works are not intended to be finished pieces as they are merely studies, but often they can stand on their own because of their looseness and freedom. For Deborah, “the small works are very personal, they flow faster and come directly from my heart.” Deborah’s larger works need to be planned and their processes figured out. Her studies enable her “to see what a larger work can and can not be.”

Study for Unbroken Series, scotch tape, india ink, glue and oil on wood panel, 10x10

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Hidden Passage, acrylic on panel, 30x30

Darthea Cross Originating in a series of sketches drawn while hiking, Darthea Cross’ latest body of work is based on locations she has inhabited. She begins to abstract her experience of the landscape as a thumbnail sketch. In the sketch Darthea experiments with line, explores composition and balance. Once in her studio, Darthea paints small works, “exploring the rhythms of the paintings, emphasizing or minimizing elements, developing color palettes and continuing to play with line.” Darthea’s larger works honor the practice of drawing and the line work developed in sketches. The white spaces in her paintings allude to the white paper on which lines are drawn. She finds that “the line work helps the viewer enter into and understand the paintings.”

Study for Autumn, acrylic on canvas, 7x5 54

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Back to the Future, mixed media/acrylic on canvas, 30x30

Kat Green “This is about not thinking,” Kat Green explains about her daily practice. She says she “needs to do it everyday or my day just does not feel right.” When arriving in her studio, Kat brews some tea, puts on what she refers to as her “uniform” (clothes with paint on them) and, she says “like a child choosing a crayon - ‘I’m feeing aqua today’ - I just go.” Kat uses her daily sketches as tools to explore color, experiment with marks, lines, and the harmony between darks and lights. Ultimately her studies are about the unexpected: “The sketch is not so important. That gives me freedom to be spontaneous, whether I love what I make or not. It doesn’t have to be perfect. It’s not precious.”

Study, mixed media on panel, 6x6 A R T PAT R O N M A G A Z I N E . C O M

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THE LENDING COLLECTION A Passion for Sharing Art written by Grove Koger

We’re used to the presence of tensions in the art world—old values versus new concepts, “proper” versus improper imagery, figurative versus abstract. Art history is nothing more than a selective record of how those tensions have played out over the centuries.

One of the tensions prominent in today’s art scene can be summed up in two closely related questions: Whose art is it? and, Which audiences do artists create their art for? Jordan Schnitzer and his Family Foundation have been forging creative answers to these vital questions for years.

As a result, more than one hundred institutions across the country, including the Palm Springs Art Museum, have been able to share the works of hundreds of artists with tens of thousands of members of the wider public.

Established in 1997 as a nonprofit organization, the Jordan Schnitzer Family Foundation manages a truly enormous collection.

Together with Schnitzer’s own private holdings, it numbers more than 10,000 multiples and prints. To get an idea of the extraordinary range and depth of the two, you can survey a selected artist list at the foundation’s website. Names such as Josef Albers, Sam Francis, Richard Linder and Gerhard Richter stand out, but the list as a whole is a Who’s Who of modern and contemporary artists—those who are well known as well as many more who deserve to be.

Schnitzer bought his first piece of art from his mother’s Fountain Gallery in Portland—when he was 14! That initial purchase was the beginning of a lifelong love affair, as the young man developed an interest in prints and multiples, which he was drawn to for their technical versatility and collaborative nature.

“For me,” explains Schnitzer, “waking up each day without art around me would be like waking up without the sun. When you live with art around you, your mind and soul are filled with the beauty of life and the creativity of the human spirit.”

Schnitzer’s decision to share that beauty and creativity with deserving institutions has provided platforms for community discussion, impact and social change. As the foundation explains, its mission “is to make the contemporary prints and multiples from the collections … accessible to qualified museums in diverse communities.”

It regards printmaking as being particularly important, and supports the “collaborative process” with educational and outreach grants.

The foundation carries a statement on its website from the International Print Center New York that elaborates on its philosophy. “Printmaking is the most democratic of visual art forms,” the Center argues. “Because of the multiplicity inherent in the medium, prints have played a unique role throughout history in recording and disseminating information about other cultures; in propagating new aesthetic movements and styles; in spreading propaganda and alternative political thinking across ideological and national boundaries; in disseminating religious images around the world; and in facilitating public dialogue.

“Long revered by artists for its accessibility and for the opportunities it offers for innovation and experimentation through multiples, printmaking can reach a wide and disparate public, which serves, for many, as their first direct exposure to the art world. From cereal boxes to the revered work of Ellsworth Kelly, printmaking is by nature more accessible and affordable.”

Last year, the University Museum of Contemporary Art at UMass Amherst mounted a 60-piece exhibition that drew on the Schnitzer collections and examined the legacy of slavery in America. Titled Emancipating the Past: Kara Walker’s Tales of Slavery and Power, it was made up of five dozen prints, sculptures, murals and individual pieces. In Schnitzer’s words, “No artist today does a better job [than Walker] of forcing the viewers to deal with stereotypes, gender, and race.”

Other exhibitions were held in 2017 at the Fairbanks Gallery, the Centro Cultural César Chávez, the Lonnie B. Harris Black Cultural Center and the Asian and Pacific Cultural Center.

It’s a range of venues that clearly illustrates the commitment that the collector and his foundation have made to underserved communities.

Schnitzer likens the situation of art to that of literature, a subject that he earned his B.A. in.

“What could be worse,” he wonders, “than writing and publishing a book and then having one person purchase all of them and store them in a basement somewhere, unread?”

To learn more about the Jordan Schnitzer Family Foundation, visit www.jordanschnitzer.org.

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DESERT DEBUT Warhol’s World at the Palm Springs Art Museum written by Pamela Price The long-awaited exhibition Andy Warhol: Prints from the Collections of Jordan D. Schnitzer and His Family Foundation runs March 3 through May 20 at the Palm Springs Art Museum. Made up of over 250 Warhol prints and pieces of ephemera, including a number of the artist’s most iconic works, the show celebrates Pop Art’s leading exponent, and marks the third occasion that the museum has mounted shows drawing from the Schnitzer collections.

The exhibition captures the era when Campbell’s Soup cans and Marilyn Monroe were hotly debated as appropriate artistic images, with Warhol winning the battle and subsequently turning a page in the history of twentieth century art. ”To say Andy Warhol changed the course of fine art is an understatement,” Jordan Schnitzer explains. “His work is as meaningful today as when it was completed.” Calling Warhol “a master colorist,” the collector points out that “his art is breathtaking visually and gripping thematically. I wish Warhol were alive and making art today to help us understand these complicated times we live in! “ Sara Krajewski, Curator of Modern and Contemporary Art at the Portland Art Museum, writes that “Andy Warhol was an obsessive observer who was never without a camera, always drawn to the impact of mechanical printing on the creation, reproduction and distributions of photographic imagery.“ The Palm Springs Art Museum’s Warhol exhibition will acquaint a new generation with the prolific artist’s work while providing those of us who remember his era with a flash of nostalgia. It’s the kind of exhibit you see once and then return to with your friends to share a few memories. Writer and Cathedral City resident Grace Robbins recalls taking daunting freight elevator rides to meet Warhol and his friends at his Factory, and muses that “it was an era not since repeated.”

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About Us, ceramic 24”

Festival of Arts 2018 (949) 922-5350 • antjecampbell@gmail.com www.antjecampbell.com A R T PAT R O N M A G A Z I N E . C O M

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HISTORY

About Those Palms

Natives & Newcomers in Our Landscape

written by Grove Koger

Palm trees are such a ubiquitous feature of life and art in Southern California that we take them for granted. But the fact is that only one species—the California fan palm—is native to the region. Known to the scientifically minded as Washingtonia filifera, they grow in scattered and sheltered oases where they have access to water. And the area around Palm Springs can boast the greatest concentration of the trees in the nation.

California fan palms fascinated EuropeanAmerican travelers, who initially had a certain amount of difficulty in seeing them for what they were. “In the presence of these ancient desert monarchs,” wrote minister and journalist George Wharton James in his 1906 book Wonders of the Colorado Desert, “it is easy to forget the activity of American life, and all association with the occidental world, and imagine oneself in the heart of the Sahara.”

In romanticizing the trees in such terms, James was overlooking a key aspect American life, of course—the life lived by the region’s Cahuilla Indians. Subsequently, in his 1914 book California, Romantic and Beautiful, he acknowledged that the Native Americans gathered “their big-pitted native dates from the palms of Palm Canyon.” The Cahuilla actually made use of almost every part of the trees—cooking and eating their pith (which they called maul pasun), gathering their fronds to thatch their roofs and weave into baskets, and filling their rattles with the trees’ dried seeds.

California fan palms became a favorite subject of artist Carl Eytel, who had traveled the region with James and who contributed more than 300 evocative drawings to the journalist’s account of the Colorado Desert. Having settled in Palm Springs in 1903, Eytel would be dubbed “the artist of the Palms,” and his painting depicting a half-dozen of the trees in an otherwise forbidding landscape, Desert near Palm Springs, hangs in the History Room of the California State Library.

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Another traveler-author, J. Smeaton Chase, described the trees in terms almost as romantically evocative as James’s. “Though the palm is certainly not the most beautiful,” he wrote in his California Desert Trails of 1919, “it is perhaps the most poetic of trees. In symmetry of tapering shaft, fountain-like burst of crown, and lay of glossy frond, it is the ideal of gracefulness in plant life.”

Chase went on to embrace James’s geographical metaphor wholeheartedly in Our Araby, published a year later. Subtitled Palm Springs and the Garden of the Sun, it was one of the first books written about the settlement.

James had noted in his Wonders that “in the sand-hills north and west of Indio, Mr. Fred Johnson is contemplating the planting of a sunken garden of date-palms similar to those found in the oases of the African Sahara.” It was an important observation whose story had its origin a few years earlier.

The Agricultural Act of 1898 had provided for employing “agricultural explorers” to travel the world in search of plants that “might be adapted to cultivation” back home. One of these explorers was Walter T. Swingle, who brought back shoots from a number of Middle Eastern date palms, including the prized Deglet Noor of Algeria. The tree’s honey-sweet fruits were already a favorite among the few Americans who could afford the high prices the imports commanded.

As it turned out, the trees thrived in the Coachella Valley, and by late 1916, an agricultural bulletin was noting that Johnson had “four 11-year-old palms that he raised from offshoots imported by the Government.” There were other growers as well, and just five years later, in 1921, Indio celebrated its first date festival. Eventually transformed into an annual affair, the celebration involved a bizarre array of pseudo-Arabian sporting events, comestibles, costumes, and dramatic presentations. After nearly a century, the Coachella Valley remains the largest producer of dates in the country.

Our native fan palms and Middle Eastern date palms aren’t the whole story, of course. Legend has it that Father Junipero Serra brought Canary Island palms with him to the Spanish colony of California in the eighteenth century, and since then, of course, newcomers have taken over.

Depending on where you live, you might see any number of the hundreds of species that have been introduced here—queen palms, windmill palms, blue palms, L.A.’s signature Mexican fan palms …

The list is endless. They’ve caught the attention of some of our best artists, from Eytel to California Impressionist Guy Rose, from Modernists Agnes Pelton and Richard Diebenkorn to countless contemporary realists. What would life in Southern California be without them?

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Sandra Jones Campbell

“SHADOWS TRANQUIL WATER” Acrylic/Canvas “NICKIIN PINK IN BARTS BAR” 30X3040X40 Acrylic/Canvas

SANDRA JONES CAMPBELL STUDIO 949.310.0074 • sandrajonescampbell.com

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A R T M A R K E T PA L M S P R I N G S

2017/2018 El Paseo Exhibition 18 sculptures between Portola Avenue and Highway 74 on El Paseo in Palm Desert

Tours as part of First Weekend and upon request.

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Barbara Gothard Entangled Series

Couple

by James Hill

New Media Digital Paintings gothardfineart@me.com

760-837-1664 • www.palmdesertart.org

2018

barbaragothard.com

CALL FOR ART Attn: ARTISTS

Juried Art Exhibition with cash awards ELISABETH POLLNOW

June 25, 2018

Fine Art Gallery open daily 10am-4pm Paintings • Ceramics • Sculpture • Photography • Jewelry Classes for all levels

ART EXPO:

September 15-16, 2018 www.jtnparts.org

Supporting art education in the Coachella Valley 550 North Palm Canyon Drive 760 323 7973 • www.desertartcenter.org 64

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ENTRY DEADLINE:

DOUG SHOEMAKER

Art Exhibition, Artists’ Market, Demos, Music, Food 29 Palms Inn & 29 Palms Art Gallery

four 36” x 36” panels

ROSENBERG UNFORESEEN / 30” 30” / acrylic onxacrylic panel ALIGNMENT # VII acrylic onxacrylic four 36” 36” panels

acrylic on acrylic ALIGNMENT

ROSENBERG

2682 S. Cherokee Palm Springs 2682 S. CherokeeWay, Way, Palm Springs tomrossgallery.com 505-470-7932 tomrossgallery.com 505-470-7932

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A R T M A R K E T PA L M S P R I N G S

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Half a Century of CREATIVITY

the first 50 years of the Palm Springs Art Museum ArtistS COuncil A R T PAT R O N M A G A Z I N E . C O M

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Board of Directors Chair – Mary Ann Sutherland Chair Elect – Terry Hastings Past Chair – Tony Radcliffe Secretary – Ryan Chesla Treasurer – Stephen Baumbach Board members Carole Hatcher Diane Kline Hunter Johnson Bette Levine Bruce Kimerer Mike McLain

Cathy Allen Wallace Colvard Christine Dodd

Geralyn Motto Don Porter Uschi Wilson

Board member emeritus: Barbara Gothard The core purpose of the Artists Council is connecting artists and communities. With some 350-400 artist members, the Artists Council supports the visual arts by engaging its artist members, in the Coachella Valley, the high desert communities, and beyond, in arts-centered activities including exhibitions, fellowship, workshops, and educational programs that promote the creative development of the artist of tomorrow.

We organize our work and activities in 5 strategic areas Exhibitions Creating opportunities for members to show and sell their work

Networking Connecting members with each other and the community

Education Providing workshops for members to build career and artistic skills and share their skills in the community

Organizational Development Building membership, providing volunteer opportunities, and strengthening the organization

Future Programs & Sustainability Exploring projects to sustain our membership and finances

To get involved visit artistscouncil.com

radical wabi sabi donporter.com A R T PAT R O N M A G A Z I N E . C O M

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ARTIST COUNCIL- A BRIEF HISTORY

A Half-Century of Creativity Artists Council Honors 50 Years of Talent and Collaboration

by Susan Myrland

Artists are natural problem-solvers.

They spend hours thinking about the puzzles of composition, color, line and form, constantly experimenting, testing and refining. For many people, that means long stretches of solitude in a studio. But even introverts can get lonely.

The solution? Link up and solve problems together. For artists and art patrons alike, the acts of sharing and seeing are almost as important as creation.

“We’re a learning community,” says Mary Ann Sutherland, chair of the Artists Council. “By having a place where artists can encounter each other and see each other’s work, we are promoting the highest quality of art. Artists don’t live in a vacuum. They may work in isolation but they thrive in an environment where they are in dialogue with people who have other ideas.”

This year the Artists Council celebrates a big anniversary. It’s officially quinquagenarian, which means “in one’s fifties.” In keeping with this mid-century milestone, the group’s leadership is reflecting on its past and planning for its future.

Founded in 1963 as the Civic Art Association, it was the first council created to support the Palm 70

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Springs Art Museum. It was renamed the Artists Council in 1968, a name that continues after the Artist Council branches out on its own in 2018.

In 1969, the council launched what has become its signature event, a highly competitive and prestigious exhibition held at the museum’s flagship site in Palm Springs. Called the ACE, for Artists Council Exhibition, the 2017 edition showcased 43 artists, emerging to established, and was juried by internationally acclaimed artist Lita Albuquerque; critic, educator and curator David Pagel; and trendsetting art dealer Rick Royale.

“Looking at the sheer number involved in the Artists Council,” Royale wrote in the accompanying catalogue, “it illuminates the fact that so many creatives have chosen to exist and thrive in this cultural paradigm. It is fascinating to see the way that the desert’s light, architecture, environment and lifestyle have crept into the consciousness and lifeblood of this talented and inspired group.”

The Artist Council announced the date of the opening reception for the 2018 ACE show hosted at the Palm Springs Art Museum as October 20th.

Besides the ACE, the council has added more places for members to display their work. From March 1 through April 29, head to the Palm Desert campus of the University of California–Riverside for Artistic Expressions of the Coachella Valley.

This group show, now in its third year, blends the works of almost 50 council members with those

of university students, and is complemented by demonstrations that are free and open to the public. Look for workshops on pastels, acrylics, watercolor, collage and oil painting, along with ways to improve artwork presentation.

Further afield—conceptually and physically— is the Artists Council Experimental Exhibition at Copper Mountain College in Joshua Tree. Council members use the rugged desert campus as inspiration for unusual works, placed on-site and on display from April 10 through May 29. Artists stretch their skills in creating public art, while students learn how to select and install pieces and maintain them. Together they build art that stands up to sun, wind, heat and rain.

For visitors to the Coachella Valley, these events offer an opportunity to see and acquire top-quality work created by local artists, with “local” defined as living in, working in or otherwise connected to the desert. Artists Council members — there are more than 300 of them — come from across the Inland Empire, spanning Riverside and San Bernardino counties, with a few hailing from Northern California. Membership is not limited to professional artists; Sutherland says that the group welcomes “artists, art patrons and lovers of art.”

Members bounce ideas around through critiques and a private Facebook group, attend workshops, participate in a book club, go on field trips and meet monthly for coffee.

Looking to the next 50 years, Sutherland sees the council expanding to a broader spectrum of artists, engaging current members at a deeper level while reaching out to young people and those working in nontraditional media. She wants to collaborate with groups such as the California Desert Arts Council, the Desert Art Center and the CREATE Center for the Arts. The Coachella Valley is evolving as an arts destination, and Sutherland feels this is the time to establish relationships with newcomers drawn by the natural beauty, affordable housing and burgeoning arts scene.

Sutherland grows thoughtful when asked if there’s a parallel between Modernism Week, which promotes and protects desert architecture, and the mission of the Artists Council. Who advocates for art that speaks authentically to the desert experience? What does that entail?

“The art that is shown, appreciated, bought and sold, and seen—is it just art coming from the outside?” she asks. “Or is it art that is a part of the community and is created in the community?

“To be a vibrant arts community, we need to have artists here, who are living and creating in a place that is open and welcoming of them.

Working artists make a vital contribution to the economics of the valley as an arts destination. The connection may seem intangible, but it is very real.

Artists create this environment, they are its center.”

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ARTIST COUNCIL- EVENTS & OPPORTUNITIES

EXHIBITIONS UCR/Artists Council Exhibition – March 1 – April 29, 2018 Third Annual Artistic Expressions of the Coachella Valley in the spring of each year. Exhibition Opening Reception Thursday, March 1, 2018. Join us and bring your friends, and collectors for the opening reception on Thursday, March 1, 2018 from 5 to 7 p.m. RSVP at palmdesert.ucr.edu/events. RSVP required Works on view: Monday – Friday, 9 to 5 pm Demonstrations: March 24 and April 21, 10 am to 12 pm Auditorium, University of California-Riverside, Palm Desert Campus 75080 Frank Sinatra Drive, Palm Desert, CA 92211 Free parking during opening reception; one-hour permits can be purchased for Lot B More info: palmdesert.ucr.edu/programs/events.html Artists Council Experimental Exhibition – Opening reception: April 14 from 3 – 6 pm Further afield — conceptually and physically — is the Artists Council Experimental Exhibition at Copper Mountain College in Joshua Tree. Council members use the rugged desert campus as inspiration for unusual works, placed onsite and on display from April 10 to May 29. Artists stretch their skills in creating public art, while students learn how to select pieces, install and maintain them. Together they build art that stands up to sun, wind, heat and rain.

Exhibition reception: April 14, 3-6 p.m. ACEE Reception at CMC. Corresponds with 2nd Saturday gallery walk nearby in Joshua Tree’s Art district. Best time to visit: Monday – Friday, 8 am to sunset; Saturday 8 am to 3 pm Copper Mountain College 6162 Rotary Way, Joshua Tree More info: callen@cmccd.edu or 760-366-3791. ext. 0600 Artists Council Exhibition – Opening Reception October 20 This is the Artists Council’s signature event. It is an annual juried exhibition of some 50 works selected from 450 submissions by Artists Council members. The exhibition is held in galleries of the Palm Springs Art Museum and usually runs for two months. The public is invited to the awards ceremony and reception, usually held on opening night. All art is for sale, with 50% of the purchase price to the artist and 50% to support Palm Spring Art Museum’s exhibition, acquisitions, programs, and general operations. More Info: artistscouncil.com

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ARTIST COUNCIL- MEMBER PROFILE

Marvin Cohn’s $5 Art Class The Catalyst for a Lifetime of Painting

written by Barbara Gothard Photo of Papa’s studio by Stephen Baumbach

At 105 and a half, Marvin “Papa” Cohn loves to paint, every day. And as a former member of the Palm

Springs Art Museum (PSAM) Artists Council, Cohn saw his paintings featured during a fundraising event honoring his daughter and son-in-law, Barbara and Jerry Keller, for their long-term support of the council.

It was while on vacation in New York State in the 1950s that Cohn took a painting class for $5, after which his wife, Rosie (who died in 2012 at age 99) bought him a set of paints for another $5. Although he was in the hosiery business, Cohn had begun his creative activities earlier. After dinner he was in the habit of turning out pencil drawings, primarily of “beautiful women,” as he describes them. As the son of a house painter, he appreciated the skill involved—a factor that probably influenced him.

Cohn and Rosie’s mutual love of sharing extended into the creative process when Rosie also began taking a sculpting class. Cohn and the Kellers remember her fondly as a very loving person who was caring, funny and encouraging. These memories, together with Cohn’s philosophy that friends of the Kellers are friends of his, form the backdrop of their life together.

Cohn can be found at his easel every day. Although he describes himself as a good technician who works primarily from photographs, his range of subject matter varies and he tends to put his own spin on his paintings. He exemplifies what was reported by Bradley J. Fisher and Diana K. Specht in the Winter 1999 issue Journal of Aging Studies about the value of creativity during aging. In “Successful Living and Creativity in Later Life,” the two described how creative activity contributes to successful aging by fostering a sense of competence, purpose and growth.

There seem to be six features of successful aging, according to Fisher and Specht: a sense of purpose, interactions with others, personal growth, self-acceptance, autonomy and and health. Cohn’s daily painting practice, during which he continually increases his skill level, and his extraordinary work output are exemplary models of successful aging.

Cohn does not sell any of his paintings to individuals, but instead has given over 60 of them to family and friends and

charitable organizations. At the fundraiser honoring the Kellers, eight of his paintings were auctioned, including Indigo—so named because Cohn’s love of color is evident in his rendering of a polychromatic exotic figure, and because “indigo” is an engaging name for a color!

In a film produced by Clark Dugger , Cohn related his favorite quotation, a piece of advice given by Polonius to his son in Shakespeare’s Hamlet: “Look thou character. Give thy thoughts no tongue, Nor any unproportioned thought his act.

Be thou familiar but by no means vulgar. Those friends thou hast, and their adoption tried, Grapple them unto thy soul with hoops of steel.” Translation: Don’t say what you’re thinking, and don’t be too quick to act on what you think. Be friendly to people but don’t overdo it. Once you’ve tested out your friends and found them trustworthy, hold onto them. It’s a speech that Barbara remembers having to learn at an early age.

The Kellers themselves have had a long-term relationship with the PSAM and the Artists Council. A s a member of the museum’s Board of Trustees, Barbara was one of the board’s liaisons to the Artists Council for over eight years. She provided guidance to the Artists Council for its programming, including the annual Artists Council Exhibition, the former 99 Bucks program plus the marketing support she and Jerry provide for Artists Council events, and in keeping with her father’s advice, she also became a friend of the Artists Council and its members.

Friends of Barbara’s, Jerry’s and the Artists Council who served on the host committee for the gala were Former U.S. Senator Barbara Boxer who hosted the live auction, David Brinkman, Michael Childers, Jim Egan, Barbara Fromm, Susan Goodman, Will Grimm, Donna MacMillan, Harold Matzner, Bill Sheffler, Ann Sheffer and Terri Ketover. MC’d by KESQ’s Bianca Rae. Special guest, Lorna Luft, sang “Young At Heart” for Marvin, accompanied by her pianist husband, Colin Freeman.

To see examples of Marvin Cohn’s paintings, visit Acqua California Bistro at 71-800 Highway 111, Rancho Mirage. www.acquaranchomirage.com A R T PAT R O N M A G A Z I N E . C O M

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ARTIST COUNCIL- EVENTS & OPPORTUNITIES

CLASSES AND WORKSHOPS 2018

Baumbach

RSVP Required as space is limited RSVP to artistscouncil@psmuseum.org More Info: artistscouncil.com

Working the Layers and Building the Surface Enhance your mixed media and painting surfaces with exciting acrylics techniques Chris Cozen leads March 3, 10-4, in the Rubenstein Room Creating Paint from Chalk Pastels with Sherrill Kahn Create beautiful glazes and endless color of paint using chalk colors and acrylic medium Sherrill Kahn leads March 10, 10-4, in the Artists Council Center Bios, CVs, and Artists Statements . . . oh my!

Keeping it simple. How to write just enough.

Terry Hastings leads Saturday, March 17, 10:30-12:30, Lecture Hall Printing with Shadows A cyanotype workshop Meg Madison leads March 21, 10-4, in the Artists Council Center Getting Art Online The many ways to get your art on line. Fine Art America to your own website.

Daniel Hogan leads Saturday, March 24, 1-3, Lecture Hall The Art of Selling and Knowing your Market From gallery to street fair, and everything in between Terry Hastings leads Thursday, April 12, 4-7, Lecture Hall

CONNECT • CREATE • COLLABORATE Speakers & Workshops About the Business & Craft of Writing u First Saturday of Every Month at The Rancho Mirage Library

For a Complete List of Events & Member Benefits visit www.palmspringswritersguild.org 74

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Burton

Art Critique Workshops Please join us for special afternoon of friendship and artistic expansion. AC members hold self-led art critique workshops -- discussions with other artists in a positive and friendly environment. A great way to share your process and your art! Bring three pieces maximum.

Uschi Wilson leads Thursday, February 22, 4-7 Thursday, March 29, 4-7 In the Artists Council Center Life Drawing Sessions Select Saturdays - Non-Instructed $20 museum members, $40 non-members 10/28/17, 11/4/17, 11/18/17, 12/2/17, 12/30/17 1/6/18, 1/13/18, 2/3/18, 2/24/18, 3/17/18, 3/31/18 4/7/18, 4/28/18, 5/12/18, 5/19/18, 6/2/18 The Artists Council hosts and facilitates noninstructed life drawing sessions on select Saturdays throughout the year in the Artists Council Center on the lower level of the museum.

These sessions are meant for intermediate to experienced artists, who are looking for a creative atmosphere in which to paint or draw live undraped models. A facilitator is on hand to help artists set up and to time the poses.

10:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. with a short lunch break.

Doors open at 10 a.m. Spaces are filled on a first come, first served bases. The limit of 16 attendees

is enforced. To attend, tickets are available through the museum’s box office. Call 760-325-4490 during normal business hours. Or you may pay the facilitator by check or cash at the start of the workshop.

Koffee Klatches Join fellow artists and art lovers to talk about the state of “things” in the Palm Springs and Coachella Valley art scene. The group meets at 10 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. on the first Monday of the month. Even numbered months are at Koffi, Rancho Mirage. Odd numbered months are at Restretto, Palm Springs.

Book Club The Artists Council Book Club meets on second Mondays from 3 p.m. to 5 p.m. to discuss an artfocused book or film. We meet in the Toor Library in the Administration Building of the Palm Springs Art Museum.

February 12 Giro Dreams of Sushi, led by Hunter Johnson. This is a movie and is available to stream on Netflix with your regular subscription and on Amazon for $3.99 March 12 The Forger by B A Shapiro, let by Victoria Braverman April 9 Just Kids by Patti Smith led by Cathy Parker

“Deuce” / 12” x 16” / Oil on Board/ (detail)

BRUCE KIMERER Gallery Hours: Thursday 5pm to 10pm, Friday 12pm to 8pm, Saturday 12pm to 8pm, Sunday 12pm to 3pm 255 E. Tahquitz Canyon Way, PS 92262 • www.StevenJanssen.com A R T PAT R O N M A G A Z I N E . C O M

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ARTIST COUNCIL- MEMBER PROFILE

CATHY ALLEN Transforming trash

Creosote bushes need their space. written by Susan Myrland

T

he round, lacy shrubs dot the desert floor at regular intervals. Botanists once thought that the plant emitted a toxic substance that blocked the growth of nearby bushes, but it could be that creosote is simply efficient. It sends out a wide circle of roots to capture water, and its neighbors do the same.

In the high desert—the area north and east of Palm Springs—people spread out like creosote.

Property is still marked by borders established in the 1930s, when adventurers could buy up to five acres for as little as $50. The land came with no amenities—no water, no power, barely any roads.

These pioneers built small homes nicknamed “jackrabbit homesteads.” Many have since been abandoned. Head east of Twentynine Palms into Wonder Valley and the homesteads pop out against the landscape, their empty windows open to the sky.

This is where Cathy Allen finds her source material. She rambles the territory, picking up plastic toys bleached white by the sun, rusty hangers, an old propane tank used for target practice. Cast-offs are reshaped into forms with subtle figurative elements—a slight tilt, a womanly curve—instilling lost objects with the quietest echo of the person who once touched them.

Allen moved to Wonder Valley in 1993, after an art professor introduced her to the work of Noah Purifoy. She apprenticed for the trailblazing master of assemblage and the two became good friends. Now she volunteers with the Noah

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Purifoy Foundation and teaches fine art at Copper Mountain College in Joshua Tree.

Teaching gives Allen the freedom to create her own work without worrying whether it will sell. A few years ago she created what she calls her “NURP” series, or “Non-Urban Renewal Project.” It consisted of 59 small structures, part sculpture and part shelter, constructed of sticks and rocks found at the site, and designed to dissolve back into the landscape.

Not all Wonder Valley residents welcomed Allen’s intervention—not because of aesthetics, but over concerns about artists and tourists scavenging the Mojave Desert for Instagram opportunities. She understands the critique.

“We want people to come up here,” Allen explains, “but we don’t want artists to think it’s just a blank canvas. It’s not. This is an ecosystem. That’s very, very important.”

After a particularly stressful semester, Allen started building SunVale Village, “a community for the small,” on 10 acres of her land. It’s a miniature town populated by toys and knick-knacks, combining art-world puns with references to isolationism, planned communities and political discourse. A curator, Danielle Giudici Wallis, saw photos on Facebook and invited her to participate in a group show at the San Bernardino County Museum.

Feminism permeates Allen’s art: ideas of domestic spaces, settling down, building a home; how those concepts evolve into

ownership and protectiveness; and the repetition of “women’s work.” A large flat piece hangs on a wall of her studio, woven from tar paper and studded with staples. It’s a homage to her grandmother’s quilts.

Allen’s studio, a metal Quonset hut that she shares with her husband, painter Luther Broome, functions as laboratory, woodshop and playground. Finished sculptures mix with works in progress and the line between them is not entirely clear. Allen delights in the confusion this can produce in viewers.

“As soon as I put any of this in a gallery,” she says, “it becomes ‘nobody’s supposed to touch it.’ Protect it. Get the lighting on it just right. It becomes important. But then there are still plenty of people who come and say, ‘It’s just a bunch of hangers. What the hell?’”

Allen claps her hands and laughs. “Good! I’m glad those people are around because it starts to ask the question. It’s not my job to answer. I just do my thing.”

See Cathy Allen’s work in Life in the Cracks, March 3-31 at the San Bernardino County Museum, 2024 Orange Tree Lane, Redlands, CA, and in Ground to Sky, May 5 - July 21 at the Yucca Valley Visual and Performing Arts Center, 58325 Highway 62, Yucca Valley, CA. Learn more about Cathy at www.facebook. com/people/Cathy-Allen/100005728878095

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ARTIST COUNCIL- MEMBER PROFILE

Infinite Possibilities Chris Sanchez Finds His Way

by Susan Myrland

Chris Sanchez is grappling with the tough questions of an emerging artist. Which gallery would be a good fit? What courses should he take at the College of the Desert next semester? How can he develop a Light and Space artwork that can be placed in a variety of locations while still responding to the unique characteristics of the site?

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The last question may be out of the ordinary, but Sanchez works with unusual forms. The 27-year-old mixes the visual tools of street art—bold typography, broad sweeps of color, the hard edges found in urban settings—with the nuanced, intimate nature of Light and Space. Sometimes his pieces begin as illuminated metal sculptures that evolve into paintings and photographs, sometimes the process is reversed.

Sanchez’s newest work involves light paintings, a century-old technique of creating photographs using long exposures. He projects a moving light onto farm equipment around his grandfather’s ranch in Coachella or traces the contours of a hidden canyon, revealing details of his home and heritage.

Sanchez consciously follows in the footsteps of pioneers such as Robert Irwin and James Turrell, and was deeply inspired by Kinesthesia, a recent exhibition at the Palm Springs Art Museum that showcased Latin American kinetic and light art from 1954 to 1969, with immersive pieces by Carlos Cruz-Diez and Julio Le Parc.

Those artists were breaking away from the flat plane, bouncing light and color off walls to the surrounding air.

Sanchez is returning to the plane, trying to capture the same feeling through gradients of color on paper or steel.

“They’re similar to science experiments, to a degree,” he says. “You have to resolve the challenges of the site.

I work with a process of problem-solving and discovery that embraces phenomena that are mathematical and scientific.”

Sanchez tracks global art trends, particularly experiential work, and thinks about where he fits in. It’s challenging for a young artist to establish a cohesive style while still exploring the boundaries. And with their scale and arresting geometrics, his public pieces inevitably become “selfie magnets.” One was the 30-foot-tall Optical Beacon created for the 2016 Rhythm, Wine & Brews festival in Indio. Sanchez designed three large pyramids balanced on top of each other, painted with stylized sunrays and transformed after dark by ultraviolet light.

“People are going to take photos,” he says. “It’s human nature. It’s overwhelming at times but it makes no sense to fight it. It’s helping the individual artist become more successful and sustainable than being represented by a gallery, in some cases.

“We’re making art for people,” Sanchez continues.

“You put it out there, and it becomes how people will interact with it. If you’re going to make art for people to experience, they’ll experience it in their own way. What else can they do? Are they going to draw it?”

Sanchez works under the name “Kas Infinite.” It’s both a nickname and a statement on his creative ambition.

“That word, ‘infinite’: I believe we all want to associate our work with our beliefs and aspirations,” he explains.

“The term plays off what my work is geared towards, combining a sense of wonder and the phenomenon of light. I feel there are things I haven’t seen yet. There’s new territory to be discovered in all art processes. It really is just about being in the unknown and using it to your advantage.”

For more information visit kasinfinite.com A R T PAT R O N M A G A Z I N E . C O M

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In Loving Memory of Our Muse PEGGY VERMEER Jennifer & Hunter Johnson

Hunter Johnson Photography www.HunterJohnson.us

GARYBORG ST E DT. c o m

RYANCHESLA

My landscapes are fabricated in my studio, literally... and then photographed.

Palm Springs, California 206.550.2379 • ryanchesla.com • info@ryanchesla.com

featured artwork: Cinema Show

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Fine Art Photography

ART PATRON M A GA ZINE

Laguna Art Museum’s 2018 retrospective of Tony DeLap’s work will include approximately eighty paintings, sculptures, and drawings by Orange County’s foremost living artist.

L A GUNA B E A CH

TONY DELAP: A RETROSPECTIVE

www.A r tP a tr o n M a g a zi n e .co m J A N U A RY / FE BRU A RY 2 0 1 8

February 25, 2018 - May 28, 2018 Laguna Art Museum 307 Cliff Drive Laguna Beach, CA 92651

BE ART INSPIRED.

PA L M S P R I N GS

760.346.2536

www.DianeKlineExclusives.com

J AN UA RY /F EBRU ARY 2 0 18

ULRIKE

w w w. A r t P a t r o n M a g a zin e . co m

Sunlight acrylic on canvas

A R T PAT R ON M A GA Z I N E

DR. DIANE M. KLINE

BE ART INSPIRED.

BE ART INSPIRED.

Ulrike.artist@gmail.com • www.thehappypaintbrush.com

www.ArtPatronMagazine.com A R T PAT R O N M A G A Z I N E . C O M

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ANDY WARHOL Prints from the Collections of Jordan D. Schnitzer and His Family Foundation

March 3 - May 28, 2018, Palm Springs Art Museum www.psmuseum.org

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