Agnes Pelton’s Fish Story, Billie’s Cabin, Sharon Ellis Show, Tribute to Jan Rindfleisch and more

When Thomas Penniston wrote to ask if Agnes Pelton might have painted the painting he’d found online, of a fisherman in an Eastern stream, I doubted that she did. Would Hilma af Klint have painted a bear hunt in the Absaroka Mountains?

With help from Tom himself (a Wisconsin-based collector of sporting art) and the art dealer and Pelton expert Michael Kelley—along with a weigh-in by Pelton relative Nyna Dolby–I can now say: I was wrong. Agnes likely painted the fisherman in the stream. What’s more, she likely copied an earlier painting by Oliver Kemp, and Oliver himself borrowed from an even earlier 1862 lithograph by AF Tait. A version of the Kemp painting appeared on the cover of the Saturday Evening Post in June, 1907.

It’s a plot too dizzying to be fully recounted here, but it appears that early in her career, sometime around 1910, Pelton signed the fish painting Agnes Lawrence. Why didn’t she use her full name? Again, this question inspired a lot of speculative chatter between Tom, Mike and myself. “I think it’s safe to say that Agnes copied the Kemp picture, most likely ‘on order’ to satisfy a commission,” Michael Kelley concludes. “I think she used her middle name of Lawrence, instead of her surname of Pelton, to prevent recognition of her true identity. Think of it as ‘My Little Secret.’”

The mainstream popularity of sporting illustrations in the early 1900s might have inspired Pelton to try this route as an avenue to income. In which case, be on the lookout for more fish.  I had actually never heard of sporting art (hunting and fishing) as a genre but Tom’s painting opened up a new world for me.  The field is popular at present; Tom attended the North American Decoy Auction in April where the Oliver Kemp version of the fisherman sold for $10,000. More impressive was an Elmer Crowell wood duck that brought $500,000.

And how much did Agnes’ fish go for when Tom grabbed it from an online dealer in New Jersey? “Let’s just say I purchased the painting at a bargain price,” he says. “No one knew the signature was tied to Agnes Pelton and it was just sold as a quality fishing painting from the 1900s. I felt the quality was quite a bit better than what an art student or naïve painter would render.

“It’s incredibly rare to see a master artist quality fishing painting done by a woman in this time period,” he added. Only when he began researching the name Agnes Lawrence did he discover the possible link to our favorite artist from Cathedral City.

Agnes Pelton, the mystic master of the desert, now joins the great pantheon of bro-dude (for the most part) sporting illustrators. Agnes’ fish and Agnes’ stream are in Tom’s collection at his home in the Sugar Camp township south of Eagle River, Wisconsin, alongside his collection of Adirondack guide paddles and 1920s wooden rowboats. Penniston would consider selling Agnes’ painting to a Pelton enthusiast to make way for even more rowboats and canoe paddles. You can reach him at pennistn@wekz.net

Sharon Ellis and the Earthly Sublime

Yucca Valley artist Sharon Ellis works in the direct lineage of Agnes Pelton, Charles Burchfield and other American Modernists, stirring into the mix her devotion to 19^th Century Romantic painting. As she studies the natural world in the High Desert and beyond, she is always alert to the symbols of beauty and danger we all need these days. You can see her latest work in a show at the Michael Kohn Gallery in Los Angeles, June 14th through August 9th, 2025.

https://www.kohngallery.com/exhibitions-2

Tribute to Pelton Scholar Jan Rindfleisch

Jan Rindfleisch, an important figure in Pelton scholarship, died on March, 8, 2025, after a long fight with cancer. In her articles for this website, she wrote of rarely-seen Agnes Pelton paintings, the early days of Pelton scholarship, and a Cathedral City couple–Cornelia and Irving Sussman–who were critical to Pelton’s success.

As Jan checked in periodically while working on her articles, I got to witness her physics brain (she worked at JPL in the early days of space flight) wrestling with her artist-educator-bohemian brain. She was both precise and free-ranging at the same time, and she cared deeply about collaboration; in her view art history belongs to everyone and it should be freely shared. Rindfleisch was a former director of the Euphrat Museum of Art in Cupertino and a former instructor of art and art history at DeAnza Community College. She was highly influential in Silicon Valley art and activism.

See Jan Rindfleisch’s articles about Cathedral City artists here:

https://www.californiadesertart.com/tag/jan-rindfleisch/

Look Inside Billie Seaman’s Cabin

The artist and art teacher Matille Prigge Seaman, known as Billie, was one of the earliest Cathedral City Cove residents and a friend to Agnes Pelton. Her story remains somewhat elusive but now we get a rare glimpse into the interior of her cabin. The photo is among recently rediscovered images from the Wilson Ellis Collection of the Cathedral City Historical Society. The images were recently posted for public view on the California Revealed website. California Revealed is a nonprofit that digitizes local historical collections, an invaluable service to small communities.

The cabin interior is a jackpot find for a researcher or a historical novelist. “Look what’s in there,” Cathedral City historian Denise Cross marveled when she first saw the image. “Matille Prigge, the excellent horsewoman from White Plains, NY…two riding crops, two old horse bits, parts of a bridle…outdoor iron tripod with cooking pot, frames, stretcher bars, huge ice hook. There’s a blue ribbon hanging left of window.  Blew it up to read 6^th Championship Show, East Club Lodge, First Round.” Billie’s cabin still stands along Cathedral Canyon Road.

Here you can view hundreds of recently unveiled documentary-style photographs by Wilson Ellis of Cathedral City:

https://californiarevealed.org/partner/cathedral-city-historical-society

Back to the Boho with Janet Morgan

The early desert artists were punks at heart. They made stuff all the time (DIY), even though there was little money, social status or fame to be gained here. That has changed considerably in recent years as “California desert” is now a hot marketing term and “desert artist” is a marketable brand even if you live in Tulsa. Janet Morgan’s new book What Art Can Do steers us back toward the original boho values. Of the mainstream art world with its glamorous “art stars” she says: “It’s really hard to get in and…do you really want to?”

Morgan is a Brooklyn-based artist who, along with her husband Greg Frux, served as artist-in- residence at Death Valley in 2005. Their book Welcome to Death Valley was featured on this website. In her recent book available on Amazon—done in conversation with Heather Sanderson–Janet explores the necessity for artists to make mistakes in public. “I’m quite willing to make a fool of myself,” she writes, giving as an example the fact that she and Greg send out nude Holiday cards. The book will appeal to anyone who yearns for less glitz and more time resting on a sand dune with Carl Eytel.

Explore the work of Janet Morgan and Greg Frux as seen on California Desert Art. (The mini-images you see date to the early days of the website.):

https://www.californiadesertart.com/tag/janet-morgan/

Robin Brailsford and the Radical Aims of Public Art

San Diego artist Robin Brailsford, who died on March 9^th, 2025, was a mosaic artist who contributed major public art pieces in California, Nevada, New Mexico and beyond, transforming mass transit stations and wildlife refuges with her visions of history and place. She believed in the radical possibilities of public art. Community—not individual fame—was the prize.

I first learned of Robin when she tracked me down to extol the wonders of a Dulzura pioneer artist named Hazel Sheckler. Robin acted as a tireless publicist for the long-forgotten artist who had lived in her neighborhood, and I was easily convinced to write an article about her. “Let’s get this adventure started,” Robin wrote, with her trademark enthusiasm.

I had not heard of Robin at the time but now know she should be a household name in California due to her vision and imprint all over the state. She and her partner Wick Alexander built a cinder block home in remote Dulzura, a few miles from the US/Mexico border and in view of sacred Mt. Cuchama–and just down the road from the house where Hazel Sheckler had lived. From her nearby perch, Robin helped look out for Hazel’s collection and her reputation.

Her death was due to a stroke; Wick Alexander said she also suffered from copper and lead toxicity probably brought on by art materials she worked with. Alexander writes: “Her last LithoMosaic artwork is to be installed in June in Imperial Beach. There is a celebration of her life on July 13^th at 9am at her mosaic called The Map of the Grand Canyons of La Jolla, located at La Jolla Shores in Kellogg Park.”

For more on Robin Brailsford see: https://www.robinbrailsford.com/