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,…
Scores and Screaming Deals – Tips For Collectors
All of us who really appreciate the early California desert painters sooner or later come to the realization our taste level has exceeded our pocket book. Here are some tips to keep you in the game without a lot of money.
Read all you can about the early California desert painters in art magazines, the Internet, and library books. Become familiar with the individual artists’ styles. Visit art galleries and antique stores. Look online at auctions in San Francisco and the east coast. Attend local art auctions like the John Moran auction in Pasadena. Sometimes, prices depend on who is in the auction room and their particular interests at the time a quality desert painting comes up to bid.
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.…
Early Painters of the Borrego Desert
Around 1930 a young botanist from Chicago came to the Borrego desert to dig in the sand and collect native plants. At some point hunting for tansy-mustard and tidy-tips wasn’t enough for her, so she took out her easel and began painting the dunes and smoke trees.
Last month I picked up one of her 1930s Borrego paintings on eBay for $99. When I hung the painting on my bedroom wall, it immediately connected me to Edith Purer herself (she became California’s first woman ecologist), as well as to the plants, topography and mood of Anza-Borrego.
Desertscapes, a Celebration of Early Desert Artists in Palm Desert
The City of Palm Desert is joining with organizations Valleywide (including the Palm Springs Art Museum, the Living Desert and Edenhurst Gallery) to present Desertscapes, a monthlong celebration of the early desert artists and contemporary artists who are continuing the tradition.
Painters of the Desert Anniversary
PAINTERS OF THE DESERT ANNIVERSARY–If Desertscapes weren’t enough excitement for one year, 2010 also marks the 50th anniversary of the publication of “Painters of the Desert”. It’s rare that a single book defines an entire genre of art, but that’s…