Summer 2017 Art Patron Palm Springs

SHAUNACOVINGTON

LUXURY ESTATES BY SHAUNA

949.412.8088 Shauna@ShaunaCovington.com Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices’ #3 BHHS Agent North America 2016 #4 Individual Agent North America 2013-2015

27 N Portola | Laguna Beach | $5,000,000 3BR/2.5BA | Three Arch Bay Ocean View | 27Portola.com

649 Anita Street | Laguna Beach | $3,149,000 3BR/2BA | Charming Cottage | 649Anita.com

2400 Temple Hills Drive | Laguna Beach | $2,195,000 4BR/3BA | Ocean View Contemporary | 3,000 sq. ft.

23892 Paseo Del Campo | Laguna Niguel | $2,695,000 6BR/5BA | 5,224 Sq/ft on the Fairway | 23892PaseoDelCampo.com

21576 Treetop Lane | Laguna Beach | $1,599,000 3BR/3BA | Beautifully Remodeled | 21576Treetop.com

166 Fairview Street | Laguna Beach | $3,395,000 4BR/3BA | Duplex with Ocean View | 166Fairview.com

WWW.SHAUNACOVINGTON.COM SHAUNACOVINGTON

949.412.8088 www.ShaunaCovington.com

JUST LISTED

31372 Trigo Trail | Coto De Caza | $8,950,000 6BR/11BA | 4.4 Acre Gated Estate | 31372TrigoTrail.com | 31372TrigoTrail.net

SOLD

8 Rockledge | Laguna Beach | $9,495,000 Ocean Front 1930’s | 8Rockledge.com

629 S Coast Hwy, Laguna Village

$20,000 - 25,000/mo.

3,232 sf of Gated Ocean Front Estate in Village w/direct Beach Access.

12,197 sf lot w/Lawn. 3 Bdrm + Office & Studio Main House plus 1 Bdrm + 2 Bath Guest House. French doors to White Water Catalina Island views.

203 Crescent Bay, North Laguna

$35,000 - 40,000/mo.

31531 Bluff Dr, Laguna Beach

$20,000 - 25,000/mo.

Ocean Front Crescent Bay “French Normandy� with Private Pool and Spa. 5 Bdrm + Office, 5 Bath. Turn-key Furnished. Separate Guest Suite, Panoramic Ocean Views!

Luxury Ocean View Rental, just steps from the sand in South Laguna Village, 4 Bdrm + Studio + 4 Bath. Quintessential cottage home, walk to cafes and restaurants!

30802 Coast Highway #A1, Laguna Beach

$3,500/mo.

Panoramic Ocean Views from modern home across from Montage Resort & Spa. Walk to beach, shops. 3 Bdrm, 2 Ba. All new w/wood floors, tall ceilings, skylights. Lrg deck, Encl. yard. Clubhouse w/pool & spa.

1137 Marine Dr, Laguna Beach

$45,000/mo.

Turn-Key Ocean Front Vacation Rental with Coastline Views in North Laguna. Spa, 4 Bdrm + Bonus Room + 3 Baths. Walk to local shops, galleries and restaurants downtown!

310 Lookout, Laguna Beach

$9,000/mo.

Sweeping Ocean & Village view contemporary in North Laguna! 3,800 sq. ft. w/ 4 Bdrms + 3 Bath, Large kitchen with high-end appliances.

Expansive walk-around decks & cul-de-sac location. Walk downtown!

15 Blue Lagoon, Laguna Beach

$12,000/mo. Summer

Neighboring the Montage Resort & Spa with sprawling Ocean Views.

Turnkey 2 Bdrm + 2 Bath villa at Blue Lagoon with Resort Amenities: Pool, tennis, beach access. Fully furnished and ready for move-in.

$1,350,000 or $5,000/mo.

1295 Ocean Front, Laguna Village, $7,300,000 or $9,500-$20,000/mo.

Stunning Ocean and Catalina views from this “all one level” dual-master condo across from the Montage Resort & Spa. Spacious 1,521 sf and ocean views from every room! Expansive and Private covered outdoor living spaces, a well-appointed Granite kitchen w/convenient interior laundry room.

21736 Wesley Dr. #4, Laguna Beach

2 Bdrm + Office, 2 Bath Ocean Front cottage in the heart of Laguna Village, steps from sand, shops, restaurants. Panoramic white water/Catalina Island views from this completely remodeled w/expansive deck. Turn-key furshnished rental of Penthouse/upper duplex. Direct Beach Access.

31107 Coast Hwy, Laguna Beach, $25,000-40,000/mo. seasonal Laguna’s legendary beach-front “Rock House.” Nine steps to the sand on nearly a quarter-acre with ocean, sunset, coastline, and Catalina views.

Large beachfront patios, grotto, waterfall spa + billiard room w/pub bar and Home Cinema. 2 Ocean Front bedroom suites.

63 Asilomar Rd, Ocean Ranch

$3,288,000

Stunning “soft contemporary” with gorgeous panoramic OCEAN VIEWS. 4 Bdrm/6 Bath, 5531 sf on qtr acre lot. Recent 2016 renovations include designer marble kitchen, saltwater pool/spa, AV/Sonos security; 450 sf covered outdoor entertaining space with summer kitchen and fireplace. 24-hour gated Ocean Ranch.

Colin Fisher Studios A Unique Art Gallery

A Great Shopping Experience

68929 Perez Road, Suite M, Cathedral City, CA 92234, 760-324-7300, Email:colin@colinfisher.com

Features Page 30

ART. MALLS. WALLS. Mall Walking Will Never Be the Same

Page 38

MUSES AND MENTORS

Page 54

The Gregory’s are Inspired by Teachers, the Desert and Each Other

A PASSION FOR NATIVE ART

Laguna Beach Art Collectors: Ron and Fran Chilcote

ON THE COVER: Westfield Palm Desert Mural by Adam Enrique Rodriguez and Ryan Campbell THIS PAGE: Painting by Adam Enrique Rodriguez

Spring/Summer 2017 Ivan Grundahl

384 Forest #8 • Laguna Beach CA 92651 • 949.494.8208 heshmatshirazi@gmail.com • www.justlookingboutique.net Mon-Sat 10-6pm • Sun 11-4pm

Body ART That works in any room....

...and can work any room!

Smiles - Implants - Sedation - TMJ General & Comprehensive Dentistry

Studio

Dr. Rob Strain

Dr. Laura Wittenauer

Dentistry 760/ 568-9494 studiodentistry.com

Talented, seasoned artists and educators to meet your challenges.

Departments HIGHLIGHTS

ART ESCAPE

Arthur Lyons Film Noir Festival 2017

The Golden State’s Eucalyptus Culture(s)

Desert X Opening Night Party, Ariel Vargassal at Jorge Mendez Gallery, Rebecca Fine Art,

Laguna Beach and the Greenbelt

Contextualizing the Pageant of the Masters

Pg 20 Festivals

Pg 22 Openings

Pg 28 Destinations: Pinball

ARTIST PROFILE

Pg 88 Precious Metals

Artist John De La Rosa Welds Worthless Scraps into Brutally Raw Objects of Beauty

Pg 70 Forestry & Iconography

Pg 75 Celebrating a Treasured Historic

American Landscape Pg 80 Richard Doyle Narrates

CALENDAR

Pg 94 Quench your thirst for art THIS PAGE: Detail of painting by Nash included in the 85th Anniversary Exhibition of Fesitval of Arts at The Ritz Carlton Laguna Niguel

STEVE ADAM ORIGINAL ARTWORK

#0523 Laguna 46” x 66”

C OASTAL M ODERN

AND

A BSTRACT A RT

Steve Adam Gallery 760 South Coast Hwy., Laguna Beach, CA 92651 949.294.9409 • www.steve-adam.com STEVE ADAM GALLERY

C o- Pu blisher s C h r is t in e Do dd & J an n een J ack son C hr is tine D odd C r eat ive Dir ector Gr ove Kog er C o py Edito r Janneen Jac k son A dver t isin g Dir ec tor jan n een @ Ar t Pat r o n Mag azin e.co m (949) 310- 1458 Rob Piepho A dver t isin g C o n sult ant r o b@ palmspr in gsAR T mag azin e.com (760) 408- 5750 Ad ver tising D esig n J ar ed L in ge C yn t h ia Wo o dr um T im Sac k Media C o n sult an t t im@ Ar t Pat r o n Mag azin e.co m Randy C a tiller Website Desig n C ontr ibu t or s N ico le Bo r gen ich t St acy Da v ies L in da McAllis ter L iz Go ldn er Ter r y H as t in gs Gr ove Ko ger To m L amb Ro b Pieph o Pam Pr ice An gela Ro meo w w w.Lagu naBeachAR T mag azine.com w w w.PalmSpr ingsAR T mag azine.com For Advertising and Editorial Information: P.O. Box 9492, Laguna Beach, CA 92652 or email info@lagunabeachartmagazine.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 by Laguna Beach ART Magazine, LLC Pick up a copy of ART Patron Magazine at the following fine art fairs: Art Palm Springs • Festival of Arts • Indian Wells Arts Festival • Laguna Art-A-Fair Pageant of the Masters • Southwest Arts Festival • Spectrum Indian Wells

HIGHLIGHTS

Festivals

Arthur Lyons

FILM NOIR

Festival 2017

20 ART PatronMagazine.com

Founded in 2000 by detective novelist Arthur Lyons, the Palm Springs Film Noir Festival once again invites you to the dark side this May with a host of B-grade, gritty cinematic exploits and notable guest speakers.

The festival kicks off its opening gala on Thursday, May 11, with 1948’s Hollow Triumph, director Steve Sekely’s adaptation of a novel by Murray Forbes that features mobsters, identity-swapping, and bodies dumped into rivers. The twisty tale stars Paul Henreid and Joan Bennett—with a notable appearance by Jack Webb in his film debut —and Paul’s daughter Monika Henreid will be on hand after the screening to discuss her father’s life and legacy.

Friday’s lineup includes 1951’s Under the Gun, a prison-break saga starring Richard Conte and Audrey Totter; 1950’s Side Street, a police procedural noir from director Anthony Mann (El Cid) that reteams Farley Granger and Cathy O’Donnell in what Slate Magazine called “a scurrying spectacle of dog-cat-andmouse throughout the veiny streets of New York City”; and All the Kings Men, writer-director Robert Rossen’s Oscar-winning 1949 adaptation of Robert Penn Warren’s novel starring Broderick Crawford as an idealist who descends into political corruption. Rounding off the evening is Black Angel, a 1946 all-star production featuring Dan Duryea, June Vincent and Peter Lorre, with special guest Richard Duryea, Dan’s son, speaking after the film.

Saturday keeps things rolling into chaos with The Chase, a nightmarish expressionistic tale from 1946 starring Robert Cumming as a WWII vet with PTSD who unwittingly gets tangled up with girls and gangsters; Split Second, actor Dick Powell’s 1953 directorial debut about escaped convicts and their hostages holed-up in a ghost town, featuring Stephen McNally and Alexis Smith; and Meet Danny Wilson, a 1951 “noir-light” starring Frank Sinatra as a singer under the thumb of gangster Raymond Burr that features a standout duet between Sinatra and a sassy Shelley Winters. The evening closes with Charley Varrick, a 1973 crime film by director Don Siegel (Dirty Harry) starring Walter Matthau as a former stunt pilot who uses his crop-dusting business to hide his petty robberies. Andrew Robinson plays his partner in crime and will appear after the screening to talk about the film.

Sunday’s films are an even more eclectic bunch, starting off with 1947’s Desperate, director Anthony Mann’s blue-collar breakup of trucker Steve Brodie’s accidental trip into transporting stolen goods, co-starring Audrey Long; and The Body Snatcher, a 1945 horror film from director Robert Wise (West Side Story) based on the short story by Robert Louis Stevenson. Featuring Boris Karloff and Bela Lugosi in their final screen appearance together, Snatcher is a torrid tale of grave robbing and psychotic pseudoscience, but one that Karloff apparently enjoyed making since he could finally forgo all of the heavy makeup (and platform shoes) of his previous films. His daughter, Sara Karloff, will be on hand after the film to reveal even more.

Closing out Sunday is 1950’s Night and the City, director Jules Dassin’s London-based noir starring Richard Widmark and Gene Tierney that was made while Dassin was in the process of being blacklisted—rendering it impossible for him to edit or oversee the musical score for the film. Panned by critics upon its release, City gained new appreciation in the 1960s and is now considered a seminal noir, described by critic Andrew Dickos as “a work of emotional power and existential drama.”

Arthur Lyon’s Film Noir Festival screenings take place at the Camelot Theatres, 2300 East Baristo Road in Palm Springs. Festival passes are $125, with single tickets available for $13.

HIGHLIGHTS

Openings

DESERT

Opening Night Party

written and photographed by Rob Piepho 22 ART PatronMagazine.com

A parcel of sparse desert land tucked away in Rancho Mirage was chosen as the site for the Desert X opening night party and the setting for an important work by conceptual artist Tavares Strachan. For those unfamiliar with it, Desert X is a series of extraordinary art installations placed in carefully chosen locations throughout the Coachella Valley. Intended to offer an educational and aesthetic experience to residents and visitors alike, the installations explore the relationship between art and nature.

The evening began with emcee Speed, a New York-based tour guide, corralling partygoers outside the walls of the event to deliver a poetic prelude to what we were to witness inside. Sprinkling his comments with references to Moses and hermits, he discussed the importance of disorientation in contemporary art, emphasizing that it’s while experiencing this seemingly confusing state that we finally see reality for what it actually is.

Once inside, we were guided to three bar stations to sample craft libations from Red Bull. Then, as evening faded into dusk, the performance began with a procession of strolling performers dressed in white and playing a variety of percussion instruments in Dadaesque fashion. When the music stopped, sunken lights illuminated Strachan’s elaborate installation I Am, a series of 290 three-foot-deep pits arranged over 100,000 square feet of ground that was transformed into a sensational piece of aerial art. Strachan explained I Am as a work exploring the connections between human beings and their environment.

As such, the piece captured our spirits and lifted us into a transcendental state of existence.

HIGHLIGHTS

Openings ARIEL VARGASSAL

at Jorge Mendez Gallery

written and photographed

by Rob Piepho

It was the launch of Modernism Week and Art Palm Springs, and Jorge Mendez Gallery had opened its doors for a cocktail reception to share outstanding works from Latin America’s most prominent classically trained artists. As I entered, gallery owner Mendez was mingling with collectors and artists, but I was immediately drawn to the works of one painter in particular— Ariel Vargassal. His practice of confining his figures within his large-scale, hyperrealistic canvases endowed them with a fantasy-like quality, as if his subjects were uncomfortable with the spaces that they occupy.

Vargassal was born in Mexico City into a family whose richly mixed cultural heritage gave him a distinctive sense of style. He leaned toward the arts in school, and when he wasn’t molding small sculptures out of clay, he was scratching countless drawings in his sketchbook. Thus it made perfect sense for him to pursue a Fine Arts Degree at the University of Mexico.

Studying the works of the masters ignited Vargassal’s passion and determination. After graduation he became one of the youngest art teachers in Mexico City’s high schools, and was invited to show his work in a wide range of local venues, including the prestigious Polyforum Cultural Siqueiros.

Vargassal’s first international success came during the Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City, where he represented the visual arts from his native country.

Following the games, he received invitations to exhibit in galleries throughout the United States. He eventually moved to Los Angeles, where his work has been featured on book covers and in magazines and television shows, including Beverly Hills, 90210 and America’s Next Top Model.

In addition to exhibitions in Mexico City, Salt Lake City, and Los Angeles, Vargassal has showcased his paintings in San Francisco and New York City. His work was included in a show devoted to international Surrealism in Lisbon, and he has recently received invitations to exhibit in Canada (Galerie Gora in Montreal), Germany (the Contemporary Museum in Berlin) and France.

Jorge Mendez Gallery, 756 N. Palm Canyon Drive, Palm Springs.

760.656.7454. www.jorgemendezgallery.com

24 ART PatronMagazine.com

HIGHLIGHTS

Openings

26 ART PatronMagazine.com

REBECCA Fine Art It was a Saturday and the doors were open for another eclectic show at Rebecca Fine Art in Cathedral City. Gallery manager Maris Kazaks greeted me with a smile of anticipation as I entered, and proceeded to show me the incredible works featured in the exhibition “This is Now.” The gallery has 3500 square feet of viewing space, and I was impressed with its organization and layout as I made my way through its spaces. Works by Joe Novak (left), John Neumann, Donald Spencer and Rom Lammar immediately caught my attention thanks to their wonderful use of composition and color. Born in 1930, Novak explores variants of color as they morph through light and darkness, lulling viewers into a serene and contemplative state of mind.

Neumann, who was born in 1952, creates balanced and imaginative painted steel works. But with all there is to see, don’t miss the works from artists such as Robert Rauschenberg, Peter Busa and Salvador Dali known for their earlier contributions. If you haven’t visited Rebecca Fine Art, this is your chance to learn more from the gallery’s passionate staff about the art world’s up-and-coming figures as well as its established masters.

Rebecca Fine Art, 68895 Perez Rd., Cathedral City. 760.534.5888. www.rebeccafineart.net

Geoff Fellows IRT-4513C-A

Financial Advisor

www.edwardjones.com Member SIPC

32392 Coast Hwy Suite 190 Laguna Beach, CA 92651 949-499-4028 ART PatronMagazine.com 27

HIGHLIGHTS

28 ART PatronMagazine.com

Destinations

PINBALL The bus was loaded and we were off to a special place celebrating a nostalgic pastime that’s been forgotten in the wake of modern technology—pinball. That’s right. If you’re old enough to remember pinball machines, you’re old enough to remember the original Atari video games. Boy, have times changed!

It was 5pm on Saturday, and a special tour provided Palm Springs Modernism ticket holders with a chance to see the first and only Museum of Pinball. Located 20 minutes from Palm Springs in Banning and open only twice a year, the 40,000-square-foot museum houses a wide range of vintage and modern mechanical pinball machines, fascinating arcade games that are making a comeback in mainstream society. It was an opportunity not to be missed.

Thanks to distiller William Grant & Sons, the event featured mixed drinks to complement delicious hotdogs and chips—just what we needed to carry us back in time! Helpful volunteers guided us to stations to sample the latest craft cocktails made with Sailor Jerry Spiced Rum. The Mai Tizzy, it turns out, combines rum with Ancho Reyes Chile Liqueur, amaretto, orange juice, pineapple juice, and a splash of grenadine with a pineapple wedge. The simpler Old Ironsides mixes the rum with pineapple juice, sparkling water and a lemon wedge.

After a few sips of our delectable drinks, we were ready to play. We strolled through row after row of machines dating back 70 years, and discovered that it was as much fun now as it was then.

Seeing the simplicity of design in the models built in the 1940s and 1950s, we realized that while the level of entertainment may have changed over the years, the level of amusement hasn’t.

Museum of Pinball, 700 S. Hathaway, Banning. www.museumofpinball.org/about-us/

Marianne Champlin THE ARTISTS STUDIOS

“British Columbia Inside Passage” 12x16 Oil

“Golita Beach Sea Gulls” 16x20 Oil

3251 - 3275 Laguna Canyon Road, Unit C1 | Laguna Beach, CA 92651 760.580.0153 | mariannechamplin@icloud.com | ChamplinPaintings.com ART PatronMagazine.com 29

mall walking will never be the same

30 ART PatronMagazine.com

LS .

ART .

AL

LLS. W A M

ART PatronMagazine.com 31

written by Angela Romeo photographed by Terry Hastings

32 ART PatronMagazine.com

Art. Malls. Walls. These concepts just don’t seem to fit together, yet the Westfield Palm Desert has found a way to bring art into the mall fold and still leave the “mall” out of the mix.

Westfield General Manager Diana Grasso saw a need—to keep the mall active. And she had a desire—to bring art to the general public. But she also had the will to experiment in order to fill vacant space with activity. With a chance to improve community relations in the process, Grasso recognized the unlimited possibilities of art in the mall setting. In partnership with the City of Palm Desert and the Coachella Valley Art Scene, she instituted what has become an annual STREET Art and Music Festival. The event drew 1,500 people in 2015 and nearly 4,000 last year.

It all began as a pop-up with the Coachella Valley Art Scene, a collective that was operating out of a vacant space in the mall. Called MAKE, the pop-up was a place for disenfranchised artists to work. But it also became an impromptu drop-in center for people to practice their own creativity. “We had grandparents with grandchildren come in,” Grasso recalls. “Together they sat and colored or painted. It was an unexpected but welcome use of the space.

More importantly, people began to see art works that they might never have seen. Or they saw what some refer to as graffiti or vandalism in an entirely new light. It was a chance to see the artists as people and not as gang members or vandals.”

In addition, Grasso stewarded Westfield Walls, a collection that currently runs to seven murals on the third level of the parking structure showcasing local and out-of-area artists. “We needed art and they needed walls that they can legally paint,” she remarks. “It’s been working out really well!”

Not content with her initial successes, Grasso took on other projects. “We are a community center and the only fully enclosed mall in the valley,” she

points out. “Over 8 million people walk through these doors. Some are snowbirds. Some are retirees. We get families with young children. We get teenagers looking for a place to go. And we have walls—so it was only logical that we embrace other murals as a step into public art, art in public spaces. “ Grasso and her staff drew on the talents of one of the artists from MAKE, Indio resident Adam Enrique Rodriguez. “We had worked with Adam from the beginning,” she says. “In fact, he has a studio in a former Cinnabon store. When he approached us about an indoor mural, we said yes.”

The result is that Westfield Palm Desert is presently home to Rodriguez’s 80-foot Valley Code, which depicts the sweeping vista of the valley in alternating panels of daylight and nighttime. A poignant statement of the valley’s beauty and disparity, the work makes no judgments but simply represents what exists.

Two collaborative murals are located outdoors.

The first was created by Rodriguez and Kenyan artist WiseTwo. “The project displays our individual styles and backgrounds,” says Rodriguez. “WiseTwo often works in the midst of gunfire and street fighting, and his contribution to the mural reflects his cultural heritage. We completed the wall in two days in the heat of summer.”

Rodriguez and local artist Ryan Campbell collaborated on the second outdoor mural (cover image), another piece that incorporates its creators’ individual styles. “Ryan started as a street artist,” Rodriguez explains. “He has been and continues to be an important part of the Coachella art scene.”

ARTWORK by RON SCHARFE SEE THE COLLECTION AT MY STUDIO IN PALM SPRINGS AND ONLINE

w w w. r s c ol or s a r t. c om • r on@ r s c ol or s art . c o m 7 6 0 -9 0 2 -4 3 4 7

Rodriguez’s participation with the Westfield Palm Desert is a prime example of art and community working together. “I am a Coachella Valley resident,” he reflects. “I attended Indio High School. I am what can happen when someone reaches out and believes. First it was a teacher, then it was myself. Now is it Diana and her team. They believed in the artists of this valley and they believed in me. By allowing me to work at the former Cinnabon location, I have a workspace, a safe place to create. I am very grateful for that opportunity.”

The synergy that Grasso, Rodriguez and his fellow artists have created at Westfield stands as an example of community.

“By making art more approachable, we are exposing people to work they may never have seen,” Grasso notes. “We are also taking the negative connotation of ‘graffiti’ out of the equation.

34 ART PatronMagazine.com

Our customers are seeing art. Our tenants are happy because the increase in foot traffic means new potential sales. We are part of the community.”

The Westfield collaboration has not gone unnoticed by the mall’s corporate office. “Our Westfield Walls Project was featured in our annual report,” Grasso continues. “What we have created here is being seen as a role model for other locations. There is no escaping it, the mall is part of the community. And we have a duty to be good community citizen. What we have created here with Adam, the City of Palm Desert, out tenants and the other artists is very special. We are all residents taking pride in our cities.”

The future of the mall may very well rest, not within its walls, but on them.

36 ART PatronMagazine.com

You can visit paradise... or you can OWN it.

Representing buyers and sellers of fine estates, mid-century and architecturally significant properties in the Palm Springs area.

Call for a private consultation today: 844.447.3477 Ryan Gaertner CA BRE: 01372839 www.DesertmlsSearch.com Top 1% Producer in the Desert

ART PatronMagazine.com 37

Muses and Mentors written by Linda L. McAllister photographed by Terry Hastings

38 ART PatronMagazine.com

ART PatronMagazine.com 39

Inspired by Teachers, the Desert and Each Other, Palm Desert’s Ron and Marcy Gregory Took a Leap of Faith More Than Thirty Years Ago to Build Their Dream Home on What Was Once a Sleepy Little Oasis Decades before El Paseo became known as the Rodeo Drive of the desert, black and white aerial photos of it depict a dusty line in the sand surrounded by a scattershot of buildings and the vastness of the desert. So when Marcy and Ron Gregory decided to make Palm Desert their home in the late 1970s, Marcy, a painter and sculptor, says, “It was a leap of faith.”

Ten years after arriving, they built the home where they raised their son and daughter and where they still live with two rambunctious dogs of vastly different heights and a pair of large turtles, Frida and Diego, that amble around the side yard. Tucked away just blocks south of the now bountiful and bustling El Paseo, the house remains as fresh and contemporary as the day the Gregorys envisioned it.

Ron, a landscape architect fascinated by underground homes at the time, provided the creative vision for the exterior. “We wanted an earth home, but Palm Desert’s building codes wouldn’t allow it,” Marcy explains. “Lots of compromises had to be made to have a giant

OPENING SPREAD: We built our house in 1987. It faces south, so we designed massive berms to insulate us from the summer sun. THIS PAGE: Ron and Marcy Gregory; Aerial photo from the sixties looking south past Hwy 111 and El Paseo towards Shadow Mountain Racquet Club, showing our neighborhood and the lot on which we built our home. OPPOSITE PAGE: Our dining room. Ron and I designed and built the table base, and the two pieces of art were from local consignment shops.

40 ART PatronMagazine.com

ART PatronMagazine.com 41

42 ART PatronMagazine.com

earthen berm on the south side of the house,” Ron adds. Some of their neighbors thought the new home stuck out like a sore thumb, and told the couple so. “I’m a middle-class boy; I don’t have highfalutin ideas,” he says with a laugh. “We were venturing into the unknown.” His approach when working with clients surely helped.

“I like to see myself as a translator for people who want to do something.”

Ira Johnson, who had designed many of the Eldorado Country Club houses in the 1960s, was the Gregorys’ architect. His trademark rounded wall corners and horizontal windows in the shape of an oval racetrack remain in the 3,500-square-foot residence. A visual feast of art and sculpture greets visitors, and the Rocky Mountain

OPPOSITE PAGE: Our bookshelves, stocked with finds from the Rancho Mirage Public Library's used book selection and our nicknacks including The champagne bottle from the night Ron proposed to me in June 1977. THIS PAGE: A tryptic from my in-law's home, painted by one of their friends, which reminds us of the Oakland estuary they used to sail through to reach the San Francisco Bay. ART PatronMagazine.com 43

44 ART PatronMagazine.com

CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT OPPOSITE PAGE: My favorite sight which greets me every morning when I enter the kitchen. I love looking at those little feet!; A painting

by Terry Masters which we bid on and won about fifteen years ago at COD's once popular fundraiser, Getting To Know You; My first four portraits, painted in the Artist Council's class taught by the talented teacher Kwok Wai Lau.; My portrait of Ron in his favorite sleeping position from a photo taken in 1978; my sculptures.; A display of my sculptures; We bought the reclining woman in San Miguel de Allende twenty two years ago; the Louise Bourgeois image framed in white is from the Palm Springs Art Museum's Artrageous fundraiser's catalog because we were out bid on the real thing immediately; the paper mache lion was a gift for my parents' anniversary, which I bought in San Miguel de Allende fifty years ago, and he still survives! My study with a display of my sculptures.

ART PatronMagazine.com 45

Quartzite floors throughout provide a neutral ground for the rich palette of persimmon, burnt orange and cinnamon used in rugs and upholstery.

Marcy’s wood sculptures and paintings are prominently displayed.

“My kids grew up taking art classes at the Palm Springs Art Museum, and their teacher, Florence Treatman, said, ‘Marcy, we’re making Louise Nevelson boxes in my adult art class, you should come.’ And I’ve never stopped with the sculpture.” In her garage and outdoor studio, Marcy transforms stacks of new and old wood into painted treasures while incorporating metal and cardboard as well as knobs and curved quarter-moons made for her by cabinetmakers.

Painting classes at the museum with Kwok Wai Lau followed in 2004.

“We had a big wall in our living room to fill,” Marcy recalls, “so I went to class with four photos—one of me, Ron and our kids, Carly and Jeff. I started freeform and didn’t know if they’d even be recognizable. When Kwok saw my style and said it’s reminiscent of Alex Katz, I found out that I’m a realist!” Ever the perfectionist, Marcy felt she hadn’t quite captured her daughter, so she painted over Carly’s first portrait to produce a final version. The bigger-than-life results share a prominent spot over the living 46 ART PatronMagazine.com

Top: Frida the Tortoise and her mom.

Above: Seated Woman by artist Robert Barron which we filled with rose quartz and added a dead encilia shrub head dress.

Next PAge: A Shig Joshua Tree sculpture.

ART PatronMagazine.com 47

IZEN MILLER GALLERY May 20

“COLOR LINE FORM” Carole Beauvais, Masha Keating, Marcy Gregory

Exhibit Thru July 24 Continuing in the back gallery: • Thomas Anderson • Carol Bishop • Ilana Bloch • Catherine Bohrman • Philippe Chambon

• Michael Davis • Downs • Katherine Kean • Barry Orleans • Mardi de Veuve Alexis

www.izenmillergallery.com 73-740 El Paseo, Palm Desert, CA 92260 760.898.0223

48 ART PatronMagazine.com

room sofa. “I painted them all in two weeks.”

Sculpting soon drew Marcy back full time, however, as muses Nevelson, Picasso, Pomodoro and Purifoy continue to provide inspiration. “I draw upon interesting shapes or containers I have on hand,” she explains. “I’ll choose a few that are calling my name, place them on my work table, and somewhat like maneuvering the planchette on a Ouija board, a composition begins to emerge.”

Prone figures are a recurring theme in the paintings that hang in the Gregory master bedroom. Ron, who makes clients’ dreams come true, has a harder time with his own sweet dreams.

“I’ve always been sleep-challenged,” he says. “Years ago I bought into the concept of associating the bedroom with being a restful place, and the sleeping figure paintings give me subtle encouragement to do the same.”

This creative couple have a clear sense of duty when it comes to house responsibilities. “He does everything outside and I do everything inside,” Marcy says, laughing. Years ago, Ron transformed this dusty oasis into a richly inviting landscape dotted with palms, succulents and bougainvillea that shield the house from the unrelenting summer sun. And Marcy, who paints realistically but sculpts with abstract abandon, made the inside a home.

LAGUNA GALLERY OF CONTEMPORARY ART LGOCA

“Not Your Typical White Walled Gallery Affair”

Cutting Edge • Contemporary • Mixed Media • Sculpture • International Artists • Commissions 611 South Coast Hwy, Laguna Beach, CA 92651 • 949.677.8273 • LGOCA.com

LGOCA Serge Armando • Robin Hiers • Joseph Moscoso • Jessica Osborne • John Szebo • Tania Alcala • Kym De Los Reyes Greg Stogner • Iris Bourne • Becky Black • Allison Cosmos • Dodi Sy • Adolfo Girala • Jessica Watcher • Vladimir Prodanovich Judi McCandless • Eric Nadeau • Derek Gores • Maxwell Carraher • Linnea Toney Leeming

a

J

u

l

a

o

n

n

-

s

M

o

a

n

-

u

a

e

r

l

t

A

.

l

c

o

o

n

s

m

o

A PASSION FOR

NATIVE ART Collectors Ron and Fran Chilcote written by Liz Goldner photographed by Tom Lamb

54 ART PatronMagazine.com

Chieftain by Malcolm Furlow ART PatronMagazine.com 55

Lavandeiras by LĂ­a Dray, 1989 Rio de Janeiro (Brazilian Art NaĂŻf painting) 56 ART PatronMagazine.com

Anjo Vermelho by Faróleo 1982 (Brazilian Art Naïf painting)

Collecting art and supporting indigenous people are nearly synonymous for Ron and Fran Chilcote. The couple have traversed our planet, living for extended periods in Brazil, Chile, Spain and Portugal. And throughout their travels, they have acquired art, artifacts and furnishings, many of them created in remote areas. Ron explains that the so-called popular art by impoverished people from these regions has always fascinated him, whether the works are paintings, carvings, ceramics or rugs. His thoughts, he says, are “always for others and their problems.”

Ron is Professor Emeritus of Economics and Political Science at UC Riverside, and his wife Fran is a photographer, editor and homemaker. Ron ART PatronMagazine.com 57

Oil painting by Francisco “Chico” da Silva from the 1960s

also helped found and still manages Latin American Perspectives, a peerreviewed academic journal addressing issues of social, economic and political justice involving native peoples—matters that dovetail with much of the art that the couple own. He adds that his first academically oriented travels throughout Latin America, particularly to Guatemala and Chile in 1958 and to Cuba on the eve of its revolution, stimulated his interest in naïve art pieces.

Thanks to their lifetime of collecting, the Chilcote’s Laguna Beach home overflows with paintings, drawings, ceramic figures and wall hangings. While they don’t always know the names or dates of the pieces, many of them were created during the second half of the twentieth century. One of their favorites is a 6 by 10 foot oil by Francisco “Chico” da Silva from the 1960s that they 58 ART PatronMagazine.com

rescued years ago from a demolished hotel in Fortaleza, Brazil. With its yellow background and intricate folkloric design illustrating Amazonian snakes, dragons and underwater plants, it depicts an exotic world inspired by native thoughts and dreams.

Another cherished piece is a woodblock print of a cowboy, an ox and a parrot by Brazilian artist Gilvan Samico. Ron says that the work was inspired by the covers of the hand-made pamphlets known as “literatura de cordel� that hang from strings in market stalls. The tradition of producing these booklets, which contain ballads of romance, mystery and social conflict intended to be sung by troubadours, dates back hundreds of years. Ron has acquired thousands of the pamphlets, many of which are archived at UC Riverside.

ART PatronMagazine.com 59

Chieftain by Fritz Scholder

Woodblock print by Brazilian artist Samico

Another piece bearing the stamp of this tradition is a blue-hued painting combining figurative with cubist elements by Brazilian artist Lula Cardoso Ayres from the Recife area of Brazil.

With its ocean view, Ron’s office is filled with a lifetime of mementos. On one wall he has hung colorful primitive paintings by Brazilian artists illustrating indigenous people and rural scenes. And on the office’s shelves he has created a miniature village made up of hundreds of brightly painted ceramic and wooden figures— cowboys, bandits, musicians, dancers, horses, donkeys and religious figures—from Brazil and Portugal. Ron’s mission has been dedicated to supporting marginalized peoples, and collecting their art and artifacts not only helps with the effort but also pays respect to the nobility of their lives.

60 ART PatronMagazine.com

SANDRA JONES CAMPBELL

"THE SPY RETIRES" ACRYLIC ON CANVAS 48X36 INCHES

Given their admiration for indigenous art, it is not surprising that the Chilcotes also collect Southwestern American works. Hanging above their dining table are two paintings by Taos-based artist Malcolm Furlow, including Rodeo, which depicts a cowboy riding a bucking bronco and employs bold strokes of bright colors suggesting motion and drama. The more subdued Bison, rendered in broad swaths of multi-colored paint, captures the lumbering quality of its majestic subject. Other Southwestern works in the Chilcotes’ collection include two vibrant paintings of coyotes created with strong assertive lines and contrasting colors by John Nieto, and an untitled painting by Nivia Gonzales of a proud native woman carrying a bowl on her head. Chieftain, a lithograph by Native American artist Fritz Scholder,

SANDRA JONES CAMPBELL STUDIO 949 310 0074 CALL FOR APPT. SANDRA@SANDRAJONESCAMPBELL.COM SANDRAJONESCAMPBELL.COM LAGUNA BEACH, CA 92651

ORIGINALS

PRINTS

COMMISSIONS

ART PatronMagazine.com 61

Rodeo by Malcolm Furlow

62 ART PatronMagazine.com

Bison by Malcolm Furlow

demonstrates his influence on Nieto and Furlow.

There is much more in the Chilcotes’ home.

Having lived in Laguna Beach since 1972, they have come to appreciate works by our renowned California Impressionists. Among their favorites is an elegant watercolor, Laguna Hideaway, by pioneer artist Norman St. Clair from about 1896.

Inspired by this piece and other Laguna landscapes from a century ago, Ron has produced his own impressionistic photographs. These large prints, which he manipulates during the development

stage, depict local landscapes, seascapes and even the lush greenbelt near Laguna Canyon Road.

One photo of a vernal lake is a study in greens and blues, capturing the luminescent quality of flowing water.

In the couple’s living area is a 200-year-old grandfather clock from Scotland that Fran grew up with. Here also are four antique carved wooden chests from Brazil and Portugal. Fran stores old books and other rarities in them, and adorns their lids with 300-year-old floral decorated plates from

ART PatronMagazine.com 63

Small ceramic sculpture of peasants fleeing drought for seacoast in NE Brazil

Portugal. Dozens of other Portuguese plates, along with azulejo tiles from eighteenth and nineteenth century Spain and Portugal, are displayed throughout their home. A large Portuguese Arraiolos rug, exhibiting the influence of Persian art and of the Moors who invaded Portugal in the seventh century, graces their living room floor.

Ron and Fran Chilcote’s ocean-facing hillside home includes numerous other paintings, drawings, objects and furnishings from across the globe. The couple have been married now for 56 years, and their treasures reflect the life they have lived and the altruistic work they have accomplished together.

Atlanta - Palm Desert Jean Candler Glenn

Paul Tamanian

Scott Upton

Silver Lake, oil and ink on canvas 48 x 48 inches

Yipes Stripes, mixed media on aluminum 30 x 30 inches

Sky with Scattered Flowers, mixed media on canvas 30 x 30 inches

thomasdeansfineart.com 73655 El Paseo, Suite E, Palm Desert, CA 92260 • 760 797-7424 Open Saturdays, June through August, 11-5 pm. Other times by appointment or chance.

End of the Season Sale Paintings & Sculpture May 27 - August 19 ART PatronMagazine.com 65

ART ESCAPE

Forestry & Iconography The Golden State’s Eucalyptus Culture written by Grove Koger images from Laguna Beach and the Greenbelt the new book “Celebrating a Treasured Historic American Landscape”

Laguna Road by Joseph Kleitsch 70 ART PatronMagazine.com

Were they a good idea? A bad idea?

Over the past few decades Californians have had sharply differing opinions about them, but they certainly seemed like a good idea at the time.

That time was California in the 1850s, when so many of the new state’s forested acres had been stripped of trees for fuel and construction. In other parts of California, the naturally spare landscape struck newcomers as barren and uninviting. As Jared Farmer notes in his fascinating Trees in Paradise, it was about then that W.C. Walker’s Golden Gate Nursery of San Francisco started selling the seeds of a new and unusual tree—the eucalyptus.

Eucalypti are natives of Australia and thereabouts, but of course countless species now grow in California. One in particular, the Tasmanian blue gum (Eucalyptus globulus), is common in the lower elevations, and its blue-green color and menthol odor are familiar to most of the state’s residents. They’re also giants to be reckoned with. The largest one in California—and the nation—is growing in the Lost Coast community of Petrolia. It’s 141 feet high, 49 feet in circumference, and has a spread of 126 feet.

We can’t be certain, but when nurseryman Walker planted some of those seeds himself in 1853, he may have been the first person in the state to do so. In any case, he hoped to harvest much more than firewood and timber from the exotic trees. Their leaves would yield a medically valuable oil and their flowers a bumper crop of honey. Walker’s optimistic fellow Californians followed suit over the following decades, with encouragement from the federal government. The Timber Culture Act of 1873 specified that homesteaders put a minimum number of their acres in trees, and the fast-growing eucalypti were an obvious choice.

Summer’s Journey

17 x 51

Tryptic Mixed Media & Acrylic on Torch-cut Steel Mounted on Wood

ART PatronMagazine.com 71

Painting by Brown

72 ART PatronMagazine.com

Not coincidentally, California was filling with human newcomers as well, including the men and women who would become its most prominent artists.

One of them, Italian-born San Franciscan Giuseppe Cadenasso, became famous for painting eucalypti. Initially the works drew ridicule, but after his death in 1918, the San Francisco Bulletin remembered him as “the first California artist to catch the mystic beauty of the eucalyptus tree with a facile grace and atmosphere entirely his own.”

Presbyterian Church, Laguna Beach by Tom Lamb

St Mary of the Valley by

Farther south, George Rogers bought 155 acres in the early 1880s in what’s now downtown Laguna Beach and planted much of the ground with eucalyptus seed. He subdivided the land a few years later, a step that led to the creation of what are now some of Laguna’s most prominent thoroughfares.

A bucolic 1915 photo of the dusty but appropriately named Forest Avenue includes a number of the shaggy trees, and while most had been cut down by the late 1920s, the newly formed Laguna Beach Garden Club saw to their replanting. “Streets are being smoothed and straightened,” author M.F.K. Fisher would write a little later of a barely disguised Laguna. “Old eucalyptus trees are uprooted to make way for curbings.

Cena Rasmussen Painter of Heavenly Places

Scheduled for unveiling at St Mary’s of the Valley in Yucca Valley on May 14, 2017

cena-rasmussen.pixels.com

760-218-6637

ART PatronMagazine.com 73

3 DIGIT CODE

ZIPCODE

APT

MASTERCARD / VISA

CITY

ADDRESS

STATE

E-MAIL NAME (Please Print)

SUBSCRIBE

Current Issue $8 1 Year Subscription $18

74 ART PatronMagazine.com

Subscribe Online At: LagunaBeachArtMagazine.com Or Send Check or Credit Card Information To: Laguna Beach ART Magazine, P.O Box 9492, Laguna Beach, California 92652

‘Desecration!’ the artists shriek.

‘Necessity,’ soothe the progressives, and they plant more trees in much more orderly rows.”

English-born Norman St. Clair had begun living in Pasadena around 1900, but he visited Laguna on a regular basis and set up a studio there in 1903, coming to be regarded as the little community’s “pioneer” artist. At least one of his watercolors, Eucalyptus— Laguna, depicts the trees that had by then become ubiquitous. Other artists followed and were naturally drawn to the giants, which soon became as common on canvas as they were on the ground.

Joseph Kleitsch painted them shading Laguna’s old post office, Granville Redmond painted them towering over meadows glowing with wildflowers, and Edgar Payne painted them rising dramatically against a backdrop of distant foothills. Perhaps the most striking example is Guy Rose’s dramatic Laguna Eucalyptus. It wasn’t long before the plein air, Impressionist-influenced painters of Southern California became known as the “Eucalyptus School.” Few of them were natives, of course, making the vaguely derisive label accurate in more ways than one.

All things considered, eucalypti haven’t lived up to their promise. Wharf owners and railway men learned early on that their timber made poor pilings and ties. On the other hand, their fallen leaves and constantly peeling bark can be serious fire hazards, as community after community has learned. The trees crowd out native species, alter soil chemistry and nitrogen mineralization rates, interfere with migratory bird patterns—it’s a litany of unpleasant facts that you’re undoubtedly familiar with.

And yet …

In the century and a half since W.C. Walker planted his first eucalyptus seeds, the trees have grown to be reassuringly familiar if problematic features of the landscape. But thanks to a generous assist from the Eucalyptus School, they’ve become something else as well, something bigger—cultural icons. A number of them even appear on Laguna’s Heritage Tree List. And unpleasant facts are no match for icons.

Laguna Beach and the Greenbelt

Celebrating a Treasured Historic American Landscape This book celebrates Laguna Beach and its greenbelt, which have been designated a Historic American Landscape by the National Park Service, Department of Interior, and presents the nomination documentation that is housed in the Library of Congress.

It is dedicated to the generations of devoted people responsible for shaping the city’s character and traditions.

Laguna’s mountains and dramatic canyons, coastal cliffs, and everchanging ocean views attracted plein air artists and others beginning early in the last century, and from the beginning its residents were dedicated to protecting and embellishing it. The fortunate confluence of geography, history, and community resolve has resulted in the preservation, in the face of the surrounding suburban sprawl, of an authentic small town and a vast area of protected open space that provides breathing room for all of us.

The genesis of this project lies in a visit to Laguna Beach by Noel Vernon, professor at Cal Poly Pomona, on August 10, 2009. Vernon was ART PatronMagazine.com 75

the American Society of Landscape Architects coordinator for the Historic American Landscapes Survey (HALS) and introduced the program to Ann Christoph, Vonn Marie May, Ted Wells, and Tom Osborne. At that meeting, Christoph suggested nominating the city of Laguna Beach and the Laguna Greenbelt as a Historic American Landscape. The nomination would emphasize the fact that the dramatic and scenic landscape had been the basis of the development of Laguna Beach as an art colony, with a tradition of environmental awareness and protection, and ultimately as a center of citizengenerated landscape preservation.

The HALS nomination idea was discussed for years and was well received, but it was not acted upon until Ron Chilcote organized a committee that met for the first time on March 9, 2015.

The group agreed that the greenbelt, the legacy of plein air painting, the seascape and bluebelt, and Laguna Beach as a special place all pointed to a need to identify the history and effect of this unique landscape: to describe its characteristics, document its importance, and record its past so that present and 76 ART PatronMagazine.com

We have the ART and FRAMES that fit YOUR style

Members included Barbara Metzger, writer and editor; Ann Christoph, writer; Tom Lamb, graphic design, photography and collections; Mark Chamberlain, photography and collections; Eric Jessen, art history and collections; Verna Rollinger, Bob Borthwick and Harry Huggins Greenbelt history and mapping. Alison Terry, representative of the American Society of Landscape Architects, advised and coordinated submission of the materials to the National Park Service.

200 Briggs Ave, Unit A I Costa Mesa, CA 92626 P 714.970.2600 I F 714.252.7300 www.BellissimaArtandFraming.com

Cove Gallery 1492 S. Coast Hwy Laguna Beach

2017 Laguna Art A-Fair Booth #B8

yurkuz@msn.com • www.yurikuznetsov.com 78 ART PatronMagazine.com

Town in the Night, mixed media, 24”x24”

YURI KUZNETSOV

future generations would recognize its significance.

With knowledgeable and enthusiastic members, the committee coalesced to produce the nomination application. The committee members were as follows: Bob Borthwick, Mark Chamberlain, Ron Chilcote, Ann Christoph, Harry Huggins, Eric Jessen, Tom Lamb, Barbara Metzger, Verna Rollinger, Historic landscapes are special places. They are important touchstones of national, regional, and local identity.

They foster a sense of community and place. Historic landscapes are also fragile places. They are affected by the forces of nature, and by commercial and residential development, vandalism and neglect. They undergo changes that are often unpredictable and irreversible.

For these reasons and for the benefit of future generations, it is important to document these places.

LA DOLCE VITA 989 Cliff Dr

|

Laguna Beach

|

$15,989,000

HANZ RADLEIN 949.245.4479 Hanz@Radlein.com www.HanzRadlein.com Cal BRE No. 01954778 Co-Listed With Mike Johnson, Villa Cal BRE No. 01429647

ART ESCAPE

Richard Doyle Narrates

Contextualizing the Pageant of the Masters

written by Liz Goldner photographs courtesy of Pageant of the Masters and the Ritz Carlton 85th anniversary exhibition Celebrating 85 Years of Art 80 ART PatronMagazine.com

Richard Doyle After Richard Doyle concluded his commentary for last year’s Pageant of the Masters, a woman from the audience walked into his booth and asked, “Are you the narrator?” When he replied that he was, she thanked him, saying, “I felt like you were talking to me.”

“That was the moment when the light came on,” Doyle recalls. “Creating the character of the narrator, the spirit guide if you will, of the evening, is the challenge for me, so that the character can tell the general story of the evening, delve into these various little dramatic episodes, and underscore what’s going on onstage.”

Doyle began narrating the pageant in 2011, talking about the importance of dreams and imagination for the Only Make Believe show. For the 2012 program, The Genius, he told stories about the relationship between art, science and technology. In the 2013 production, The Big Picture, Doyle explained in his confident voice how masterpieces of art have inspired and informed the movies. And for 2014’s Art Detective, he wryly described the unsolved mysteries that fill art history.

The 2015 Pursuit of Happiness event 82 ART PatronMagazine.com

was family-friendly, and last year’s Partners, with its theatrical and scientific partnerships, was enhanced by live dance routines, all of which Doyle introduced.

For seven successive pageant productions, including this year’s The Grand Tour, Doyle’s theatrical voice has filled the Irvine Bowl, moving the show forward and entertaining the audience during each living picture.

Doyle’s storytelling skills were on display this spring as he prepared for the summer’s production. He recounted tales from his life, suggesting that he was destined to become a pageant narrator. “I was telling stories since I was a little kid,” he explains. As a teenager, he moved with his family to Italy, where he began learning to speak foreign languages—a step that he regards as a good preparation for acting.

He also saw great art, an experience that fortuitously helped prepare him for The Grand Tour. The program, he says, “is based on letters from children and explores how they experience art.

It’s a device to take us through the art of Europe. By working on this year’s production, I’m learning a lot more about the art I saw as a child.”

Discussing his acting career, Doyle remembers meeting David Emmes, the founding director of South Coast Repertory, at Long Beach City College in 1964. “I joined SCR that year, worked with the theater for a few more years, and then was drafted into the army and went to Viet Nam. In 1969, I returned home, attended Long Beach City College and then transferred to the Cal State Long Beach Theater Arts Department. I also rejoined South Coast Repertory, as Emmes told me that the county was growing and needed the arts.”

Doyle has performed in more than 200 productions at SCR. He has acted as the Ghost of Christmas Past in the holiday production of A Christmas Carol for 32 years, and performed in Shakespeare’s Midsummer Night’s ART PatronMagazine.com 83

Dream, Oscar Wilde’s Importance of Being Earnest, Stephen Schwartz and John-Michael Tebelak’s Godspell, and Cole Porter’s Anything Goes. He has also had parts in such television programs as Cheers and Mash, and has done voice-overs for Hanna-Barbera cartoons (often playing the bad guy) and a variety of video games. Doyle’s skills inspired pageant director Diane Challis Davy to invite him to narrate the 2011 production. “For me,” she points out, “Richard was the obvious choice. I’ve never had a second thought.”

“While preparing for my first year at the pageant,” Doyle recalls, “the production managers walked me through the back stage, introduced me to the script writer, Dan Dulling, and even asked me to help write the script.”

Beginning with that year’s production, pageant managers have sent Doyle their demos, written text and story ideas, and encouraged him to help determine the arc of the story. “Narration here is a collaborative effort,” he says. He adds that the pageant composer listens to him read the story lines and then puts music to the narration.

Doyle sums up his experience at the pageant as narrating to 2,700 people for seven evenings a week over a period of eight weeks. And each night is special. Before intermission one evening during The Genius production, NASA’s rover Curiosity landed on Mars.

The audience cheered, so Doyle waited for them to calm down before urging them to enjoy the intermission. “There is a kind of quality communication that is still possible between human beings, without electronics,” he remarks.

“You can sit as a group together and experience a live performance, an exchange of ideas.”

84 ART PatronMagazine.com

What the Water Gave Me: The Hike 40” x 90” (3 Panels) Acrylic on Canvas

ROBIN RAZNICK

Contemporary Works on Paper and Canvas 619-985-3184

www.RobinRaznickFineArt.com

What the Water Gave Me: Lightning Strikes 36” x 84” (3 Panels) Acrylic on Canvas

85 Years of the Pageant of the Masters

We have the largest selection of fine art supplies in South Orange County and we offer discount prices everyday! Art classes offered all year for all levels.

Try something new this Summer! Custom Framing is done on the premises and we offer digital art prints for the home or office.

86 ART PatronMagazine.com

As pageant narrator, Richard Doyle continues a tradition dating back to 1933. At that time, artists donned costumes and marched through Laguna Beach to the Festival of Arts grounds.

There they posed behind oversized frames, re-creating well-known works of art. Roy and Marie Ropp refined that display two years later and officially renamed it the Pageant of the Masters.

Today the event, which plays to more than 210,000 visitors each summer in the Irvine Bowl, transforms models and props into oversized recreations of works of art, from ancient to modern to contemporary, accompanied by original music played by a live orchestra.

For several summers, the Ritz Carlton in Laguna Niguel has mounted exhibitions related to both the festival and the pageant. According to Pat Sparkuhl, artist, former festival exhibitor and curator of the Ritz Carlton exhibition, this year’s show, Celebrating 85 Years of Art, draws from “collection artworks from 1913 to 2015, historic pageant photographs, vintage news articles, and early festival and pageant advertising materials.” One memorable image, from the 1940 pageant, depicts a volunteer posing as a nobleman, re-creating Dutch artist Franz Hals’ 1624 painting The Laughing Cavalier.

PRECIOUS METALS Artist JOHN DE LA ROSA Welds Worthless Scraps into Brutally Raw Objects of Beauty

John De La Rosa finds beauty in the scaly, pockmarked and degraded metal shards that others see as scrap. As a welder in his father’s generations-old manufacturing business, he swept up the same junk off the floors when he was a boy. But as an adult, the parallels between the raw metal and his own life became clear. “We all rust, we decay, and we can become beautiful from the broken parts,” he remarks.

Artistic beauty is something that California native De La Rosa, one of 10 children in a Latino family, saw growing up, although not in the traditional sense. “I consider food, music and so many other things as forms of art,” he says. He saw it in the 12 dozen tortillas his mother made each day for the family, and in the porch rail on their home that his father made from a zigzag piece of metal pulled from a dumpster. As De La Rosa the sculptor leaned on that rail a week after his father’s death, he felt the sturdy legacy that his father and grandfather had passed down to him. “It was art,” he explains, “and so in many ways, it was always in me.”

88 ART PatronMagazine.com

written by Linda L. McAllister photos courtesy of A La Mod, Palm Springs

ART PatronMagazine.com 89

90 ART PatronMagazine.com

Comfortable for years as a welder fusing metals, De La Rosa found it uncomfortable calling himself a sculptor. He credits his partner, landscape historian Steven Keylon, with first giving him the title, and his friend, American minimalist poet Aram Saroyan, with urging him to do what he loves— and sell it. So on weekends when the metal shop was closed and he was alone, De La Rosa began digging through his stash of torch-cut scraps, some dating back to the 1960s when the business was new, to create beauty from something that most people dismissed as worthless. Those scraps “sort of represent how we all change in some beautiful way,” he suggests.

From New York collectors to Palm Springs art aficionados and eBay aesthetes, folks have taken notice of De La Rosa’s raw, Brutalist designs. When he sold his first sculpture, he was amazed that a stranger actually understood him. “They got what I was doing,” he says. “The money didn’t matter to me, just the fact that someone paid for … a concept that came out of my head.” Much as his father used to awaken thinking of new ways to fix a piece of machinery, De La Rosa says his best ideas come just before he’s fully conscious, in that gauzy, magical twilight zone. “I get a vision for a piece, and then I don’t rest until I can create what I saw,” he explains. “I never create a new piece of metal to fill a gap in my vision; I go out and find it.”

Exclusive Designs The Best Diamond Prices

1153 South Coast Highway Laguna Beach (1/2 block north of Pottery Shack) lanceheck.com 949 494 3299

Rock Her World.

ART PatronMagazine.com 91

92 ART PatronMagazine.com

Mermaid Of Malibu 24” x 36” Mixed Media

Morris Island Lighthouse 12” X 24” Mixed Media

Steven Bielak | (909) 645-1397 | swbielak@gmail.com www.tinyurl.com/myhandatart | www.facebook.com/myhandatart

De La Rosa’s favorite scraps are those that have been driven over (and over again) by forklifts and other heavy machinery so that they are bent. And battered. And bruised. Though simple, sweeping lines defined De La Rosa’s earliest work, he’s graduated to manipulating the metal more and more to get an ideal texture that enhances the form. He describes the slow, painstaking process this way: “Before welders at the factory start to weld, they tap their guns at the side of the table, which creates a build-up of metal. After years and years … a sort of swallow’s nest of metal has formed over time and inspired me. I now work in a process that gives me a lava-like texture by turning the gas off on the welding torch.”

De La Rosa, who’s 54, splits his time between Palm Springs and his workplace just east of Los Angeles. He is now a grandfather, and like the generations of welders—and artists—before him, he wants to leave this little girl a legacy. “My biggest fear in life is to be mundane,” he muses.

“Worse than dying. I wanted to let [my granddaughter] know that I was here, to leave something tangible behind.”

From the misunderstood outsider who says that some in his family made him feel like a freak when he began sculpting scrap metal to the wholly complete artist, father, grandfather and partner— John De La Rosa has cast a beautiful legacy.

ART PatronMagazine.com 93

CALENDAR Now - May 13 “California Dreaming” Ilana Bloch, Ed Flynn, Vivian Flynn

Izen Miller Gallery 73740 El Paseo, Palm Desert Continuing in the back gallery: Carole Beauvais, Catherine Bohrman, Philippe Chambon, Michael Davis, Downs, Marcy Gregory, Katherine Kean, Masha Keating, Barry Orleans, Mardi de Veuve Alexis izenmillergallery.com; (760) 898-0223

Saturday, May 13, 5-8pm Perez Road Art District 2nd Saturday Art Walk

68845 & 68895 Perez Road, Cathedral City Be a part of the creativity, expression and inspiration as Perez Road Art Galleries stay open late to host the 2nd Saturday Art Walk.

Friday, May 5, 12-4 pm New works by Brian Hicks, Ceramic Artist

Gallery500, 500 S Palm Canyon Dr., Palm Springs Come see the newest works ranging from Midcentury modern to cubist inspired designs. http://the500ps.com/gallery500.html; (760) 656-7368

Now – June 26 On the Grid: a look at settlement patterns in the high desert

Palm Springs Art Museum Architecture and Design Center 300 S Palm Canyon Dr., Palm Springs Coinciding with the inaugural presentation of Desert X, the international art biennial in the Coachella Valley, the museum presents On the Grid: a look at settlement patterns in the high desert, an exhibition focused around Lay of My Land, a major sculptural work by the Joshua Tree-based artist Andrea Zittel. Sun, Mon, Tue, Sat 10 am-5 pm, Thu & Fri 12-9 pm, Closed Wed. www.psmuseum.org/architecture-designcenter; (760) 423-5260

Now –June 30, 5-8 pm “This. Is. Now.”

Rebecca Fine Art Gallery 68895 Perez Road #7, Cathedral City This exhibit will focus on the modern art today - with unique styles & new media. Several artists will be in attendance - don’t miss out! Free .www.rebeccafineart.net; (760) - 774 7847

Now- October 15 Pat Lasch: Journeys of the Heart

Palm Springs Art Museum in Palm Desert, The Galen 72567 CA-111, Palm Desert The artist’s first major museum exhibition, Journeys of the Heart surveys 43 years of work

by Pat Lasch. Driven by personal stories and influenced by feminist practices, Lasch’s ouevre incorporates a range of media, from ceramic, bronze, and cut paper to wood sculpture and lace-making. www.psmuseum.org/palm-desert; (760) 346-5600 94 ART PatronMagazine.com

Friday, May 5, 5-8 pm Opening Reception: Allen Zeleski

Coda Gallery, 73-400 El Paseo, Palm Desert Before there was plastic, toys were made from tin. That transition explores the loss of childhood innocence and opens a dialogue on a more intellectual level. With an inherent sense of whimsy, thought and provocation, Tin Nation asks questions of which there are no answers.

CodaGallery.com; (760) 346-4661

Saturday, May 6, 5-8 pm Artist’s reception Christopher Georgesco & Mandy Main

Rebecca Fine Art Gallery 68895 Perez Road, Cathedral City Meet & greet renowned sculptor Christopher Georgesco and also painter Mandy Main will be in attendance. Free admission www.rebeccafineart.net; (760) - 774 7847

Saturday, May 20 – July 24 “Color Line Form” Carole Beauvais, Masha Keating, Marcy Gregory

Opening Reception: May 20, 6 – 8 pm Izen Miller Gallery 73740 El Paseo, Palm Desert Continuing in the back gallery: Carole Beauvais, Carol Bishop, Ilana Bloch, Catherine Bohrman, Philippe Chambon, Michael Davis, Downs, Marcy Gregory, Katherine Kean, Masha Keating, Barry Orleans, Mardi de Veuve Alexis, Limited Edition Prints (secondary market) izenmillergallery.com; (760) 898-0223

Thursday, May 25, 5-7 pm Grubstake Days Western Mixer

Elks Lodge 55946 Yucca Trail Yucca Valley CA 92284 The 67th Annual Grubstake day event includes live music and dancing, cash bar, prizes, opportunity drawings. Light snacks. www.grubstakedays.com; (760) 365-6323

Saturday, May 27, 12-2 pm Artist/Designer Reception: Designs by Eddie Kreg Anderson Gallery500, 500 S Palm Canyon Dr., Palm Springs See new designs and learn about the Purple Hand Project! (No charge) the500ps.com/gallery500.html; (760) 656-7368

Saturday & Sunday, May 27 & 28, 7 pm and 6 pm Grubstake Rodeo

Homestead Valley Park 1501 Belfield Blvd. Landers, CA Live music and dance included after each event/wristbands only admitted www.grubstakedays.com; 760-365-6323

Monday, May 29 10am to 2pm Kids’ Day

Yucca Valley Boys & Girls Club 56525 Little League Drive Yucca Valley Games, prizes, jumpers & more! www.grubstakedays.com; 760-365-6323

Saturday, June 3, 5-8 pm Artist’s reception John Neumann & Guillermo Valentin

68895 Perez Road #7, Cathedral City, CA Meet & greet German sculptor John Neumann and Mexican sculptor Guillermo Valentin - chat with artists & get a different perspective of their art! Free admission www.rebeccafineart.net; (760) - 774 7847 ART PatronMagazine.com 95

Thursday, June 8, 12-4 pm New Works by Vicki Bon Homme, Painter and Mixed media Artist Gallery500, 500 S Palm Canyon Dr., Palm Springs http://the500ps.com/gallery500.html; (760) 656-7368

Saturday, June 9, 5-8 pm Perez Road Art District 2nd Saturday Art Walk 68845 & 68895 Perez Road, Cathedral City Be a part of the creativity, expression and inspiration as Perez Road Art Galleries stay open late to host the 2nd Saturday Art Walk.

Friday, June 30, 12-4 pm Works by James W. Gallucci, Digital Artist

Gallery500, 500 S Palm Canyon Dr., Palm Springs Come see the Palm Springs Modern and futuristic inspired art, heat infused on to metal (No charge) http://the500ps.com/gallery500.html; (760) 656-7368

Saturday, July 1 – August 26 Gallery Artist Group Show

Jul 1st Opening Reception 6-8 pm Izen Miller Gallery 73740 El Paseo, Palm Desert Carole Beauvais, Carol Bishop, Ilana Bloch, Catherine Bohrman, Philippe Chambon, Michael Davis, Downs, Marcy Gregory, Katherine Kean, Masha Keating, Barry Orleans, Mardi de Veuve Alexis, Limited Edition Prints (secondary market) izenmillergallery.com; (760) 898-0223

HOPA

HOUSE OF PHOTOGRAPHIC ART San Juan Capistrano, CA

A Major West Coast Reservoir of Vintage and Contemporary Photographic Works of Art

“Graham Nash” Presenting a collection of photographic work by two-time Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee, Graham Nash.

Now Open Saturday, July 8, 5-8 pm (Through Sept. 30, 2017) “Summer Group Show” - Opening Reception

68895 Perez Road #7, Cathedral City, CA To fight the summer heat, RFA gallery is bringing together cool, cutting-edge artists for a group exhibit. Several artists will be in attendance - don’t miss out! Free admission www.rebeccafineart.net; (760) - 774 7847

Saturday, July 14, 5-8 pm Perez Road Art District 2nd Saturday Art Walk 68845 & 68895 Perez Road, Cathedral City Be a part of the creativity, expression and inspiration as Perez Road Art Galleries stay open late to host the 2nd Saturday Art Walk.

For full calendar listings visit www.ArtPatronMagazine.com

“Marilyn Monroe” Photography by Kelley, Barris, Greene, Schiller, Bernard, Kirkland and many more top Hollywood photographers.

Ongoing through Summer 2017 Critics, reviewers and auction houses all agree, “Fine art photography is a new affordable collectible.”

Also featuring: Ansel Adams, Graham Nash, Ernie Brooks, Linda McCartney, Arnold Newman, George Hurrell, Alfred Stieglitz, Edward Steichen, Robert Hansen and Baron Adolf de Meyer

To attend openings, lectures or schedule a guided tour,

please call 949.496.5990

Gallery Open to the Public by Appointment 27184 Ortega Highway, San Juan Capistrano, CA 92675