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 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…
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…
Terry Masters is the most respected name in desert art, but it’s not always easy to locate either the man or his work. While other artists rush to openings or mingle over martinis, he’s likely to be off alone painting…
The Agnes Pelton hometown revival gathers steam in 2012 with several big events honoring the Mystic Genius of Cat City. Sunday, January 22—Nancy Strow Sheley presents a talk on Pelton at the Cathedral City Historical Society. An associate professor of…
Due to the popularity of the first appraisal day last April, the Historical Society of Palm Desert will host another event on Saturday, November 19, 2011. Kevin Stewart, a foremost authority on desert paintings, will be there to give verbal…
Long Beach photographer Michael E. Gordon is a champion of overlooked deserts, preferring the quiet corners of the Mojave to the more obvious drama of places like the Grand Canyon. Now he takes on a similarly ignored and yet most…
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…
Many early artists painted the ancient lake in the desert, and recently a new parade of painters and photographers is trekking to the Sea. It was about time someone staged an exhibition celebrating this vibrant scene. The Salton Sea Museum–in…
There are so many publicists in Palm Springs that it’s hard to keep an event secret. But one well-kept secret—to locals at least—is the Palm Springs Photo Festival. (Thanks to Tom Brewster for cluing me in.) This high quality gathering…
