The heroes of early desert photography recognized that a time and place was passing long before anyone else came to the same conclusion. They had a way of seeing what would be missed. Mecca postmaster Susie Smith, for instance, documented…
Category: Galleries
Michael Gordon’s Desert Photography on View in Long Beach
The desert drew modernists like Cady Wells and Dorr Bothwell, but also inspires more formal, almost old-fashioned (in a good way) interpretations. For a chance to see the latter, stop by the Long Beach El Dorado Nature Center Art Gallery…
Kevin Stewart Gallery Returns to Downtown Palm Springs
September 20, 2010–Readers of California Desert Art are invited to the opening of Kevin Stewart Fine Art in a new location in Palm Springs, on Friday, October 1st, from 5 to 7 pm. Kevin Stewart—along with his wife Diane–are respected…
California Art Experts Offer to Restore Carl Bray Gallery
August 3, 2010–The Carl Bray home and gallery in Indian Wells has been stuck in limbo, with the city determined to tear it down and preservationists determined to hang on to it. There were two big developments at an Indian…
Fernand Lungren “The Desert Speaks” Exhibit in Los Olivos
August 2, 2010–If you’re traveling anywhere near Santa Barbara before September 19th, consider detouring to Los Olivos to see works by Fernand Lungren, who’s been called the foremost desert painter of the early 1900s. Lungren, who was a resident of…
Celebrate Lora Woodhead Steere, a Pioneer of Idyllwild Arts
Lora Woodhead Steere was only a baby in 1890 when she first rode a wagon into Strawberry Valley in the San Jacinto mountains. In 1946 she met Max Krone, who was founding a new school in Idyllwild, and Steere went…
Faces of the Frontier in San Diego
A photo exhibit at the San Diego History Center through June 6th explores themes important to the development of art in the Coachella Valley, including the coming of the railroad and the exploits of surveyors who first captured the desert…
Smoketree Painters Included in Grand Canyon Exhibit
The Blue Coyote Gallery (Gary Fillmore’s gallery in Cave Creek, Arizona) and the Grand Canyon Association collaborate to present Canyon Magic, an artistic appreciation of “the world’s best known chasm”, now through June 10, 2010. The show is at the…
Desert Art Center: Clubhouse of the Legends
An institution that nurtured generations of Smoketree painters—the Desert Art Center—celebrates its 60th anniversary this year. This is not some moldy shrine to art history; it’s a working co-op gallery in downtown Palm Springs. Located at 550 North Palm Canyon,…
Gary Fillmore Speaks in Palm Desert
Gary Fillmore, a well-known authority on Arizona and Western art, comes to Palm Desert on Friday, April 23rd to speak on the painters Marjorie Reed, John Hilton and Jimmy Swinnerton. All three once lived and painted in the Coachella Valley.…