Museum Exhibits

Norton Allen: Tracking the Elusive Mapmaker

Note: Through April 30, 2011, the Historical Society of Palm Desert presents the first contemporary display of Norton Allen’s work. Some 25 maps are on loan from book dealer William Dailey. Also on display are Norton Allen sketches and artifacts. www.HSPD.org My fascination with Norton Allen goes back to a hot day 15 years ago when I brought home a cardboard box of old Desert Magazines. The magazine, published from 1937 to 1985, offered an alternative to the Palm Springs of golf and martinis, introducing me instead to an appealing world of mirages, ghost towns and lost treasure. Then there…

Cady Wells and the Desert Modern

By Ann Japenga

I’m no longer surprised when I hear about a hot Southwestern artist and then find he or she had ties to the Coachella Valley. In fact, I’ve come to expect those connections. The newest discovery is Henry Cady Wells, a modernist Santa Fe artist who lived in Palm Springs at one time. Georgia O’Keeffe once remarked that she and her friend Wells were the two best artists from their region. And while Wells has been relatively obscure till now, his day has come largely due to the efforts of Lois P. Rudnick, editor of a satisfying new book from the…

Early Desert Stash in Borrego, Terry Masters’ Grand Opening, California Watercolors in Pasadena

By Ann Japenga

Bunnie Hamilton had operated her small gallery in Borrego Springs—the Galleria at the Palms at Indian Head–for less than a year when a jaw-dropping collection of desert art fell in her lap. An unnamed collector gave her his comprehensive collection—65 ocotillos, yuccas, smoke trees and dunescapes– by big name desert artists to be sold at auction prices. The all-star team includes John Hilton, Jimmy Swinnerton, Fred Chisnall, Wilton McCoy, Charles Fries, Paul Grimm, Sam Hyde Harris, Darwin Duncan, George Bickerstaff, William Darling, Joane Cromwell and others. A few contemporary artists are included, and there are some seascapes amidst the many…

Women Artists in Flagstaff, Mystery Painting, Paul Landacre, Desertscapes

By Ann Japenga

Arizona’s Pioneering Women Artists To explore the edges of California desert art, you sometimes have to leave the state. After all, the artists who painted Mt. San Jacinto didn’t pay much allegiance to state lines and many wandered over into Arizona. Arizona’s Pioneering Women Artists at the Museum of Northern Arizona in Flagstaff (now through May 12, 2013) introduces ten women who roamed the West from 1905-1940. Among them: Lillian Wilhelm Smith, illustrator of Zane Grey novels, and our own stagecoach artist Marjorie Reed. Exhibit collaborators Lonnie Pierson Dunbier, Betsy Fahlman and Fran Elliott have done tireless detective work to…

Morongo Art Tours, the Desert Van Gogh and more

By Ann Japenga

October 27-28, 2012, Weekend Two of the Hwy 62 Art Tours, is your chance to visit the backroad studios of dozens of high-desert artists in the Morongo Valley, Joshua Tree and beyond. You’ll have to search out the landscape artists amidst all the potters, jewelers and performance artists, but the landscape here is always the main attraction—along with the earthy ambience that stands in refreshing contrast to everything Palm Springs. Look for the Wonder Valley studio of Robert Arnett (see an article on Arnett on California Desert Art soon), one of the early colonizers of the remote area; and don’t…

San Diego Landscapes, Desert Art Center, Joshua Tree Classes, David Greene

By Ann Japenga

The Smoketree School is indebted to San Diego for the landscape painters who wandered through Ramona and Julian all the way to the desert country. Two current exhibits at the San Diego History Center offer a chance to get acquainted with our shared heritage. In Landscapes Rediscovered: Depression-era San Diego Paintings, work unseen for 70 years is now on display. While in the collection of the San Diego Unified School District, the paintings had been dinged and exposed to the elements. With all their blemishes, works by artists such as Charles Reiffel and Maurice Braun (both painted the desert) are…

Tony Foster, Carl Borg and More

By Ann Japenga

Two Views of Sleeping Ute, courtesy of Tony Foster

With Desertscapes behind us for another year, the theme of desert-influenced art continues in these exhibits locally and elsewhere in the West. Sacred Places—Watercolour Diaries from the American Southwest opens May 18, 2012 (through July 14) at Gerald Peters Gallery in Santa Fe. British adventure artist Tony Foster models all the “best practices” for plein air painters. He travels far into the wilderness, hiking 12-14 miles a day, in the style of early exploration artists. He keeps an expedition-style log and annotates his paintings with journal entries, as well as quartz crystals, glass beads, quail feathers, arrowheads and sand–all collected…

Desertscapes, Armentrout-Welch Collection, Swinnerton and more

By Ann Japenga

March and April 2012 are packed with desert art events crowned by Desertscapes, the third annual Valleywide celebration of desert art. Participants include the City of Palm Desert, the Walter N. Marks Center for the Arts at College of the Desert, the Coachella Valley Watercolor Society, the Desert Art Center, the Palm Springs Art Museum, California Desert Art and others. Scroll to the end for more non-Desertscapes March and April events. For additional Desertcapes scheduling: http://desertscapes.net/ Desertscapes events: Opens April 2nd-28th, April 14th reception and Appraisal Day: the Historical Society of Palm Desert presents an exhibit of Jimmy Swinnerton and…

Lockwood de Forest Exhibit Opens in Palm Springs

By Ann Japenga

Lockwood de Forest, Mount San Jacinto from near Palm Springs, February 7, 1912 oil on artist's card stock, Collection of Palm Springs Art Museum, gift of Lisa de Forest through Sullivan Goss—An American Gallery

The Smoketree School abounds with colorful geniuses but we have not been able to claim an aristocratic all-star equivalent to a Thomas Moran or Albert Bierstadt. Thanks to the Palm Springs Art Museum and Sullivan Goss Gallery in Santa Barbara, we now have a candidate for this position in the early desert painter Lockwood de Forest. An exhibit of his works opens December 17th, 2011, at the Palm Springs Art Museum, with a members’ preview on December 16th. De Forest is linked to the prestigious Hudson River School; he explored Palm Springs on horseback as early as 1904. His desert…

Desert Paintings Appraisal Day in Palm Desert

By Ann Japenga

Readers of this site send me questions—Who is Ollie McDonald? Know anything about Larry Sitter? I usually refer them to a local dealer or the website AskArt. Next Saturday those of you in the Coachella Valley have a chance to bring your questions—and your paintings—to the real experts. On Art Appraisal Day at the Historical Society of Palm Desert–held in conjunction with the Valleywide celebration called Desertscapes–appraisers Kevin Stewart and Alissa Anderson will give informal, verbal valuations of desert and California paintings, prints and photos. If they don’t know your artist, they’ll steer you to someone who might. For every…

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Museum Exhibits

Norton Allen: Tracking the Elusive Mapmaker

Cady Wells and the Desert Modern

Early Desert Stash in Borrego, Terry Masters’ Grand Opening, California Watercolors in Pasadena

Women Artists in Flagstaff, Mystery Painting, Paul Landacre, Desertscapes

Morongo Art Tours, the Desert Van Gogh and more

San Diego Landscapes, Desert Art Center, Joshua Tree Classes, David Greene

Tony Foster, Carl Borg and More

Desertscapes, Armentrout-Welch Collection, Swinnerton and more

Lockwood de Forest Exhibit Opens in Palm Springs

Desert Paintings Appraisal Day in Palm Desert

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