J._M._W._Turner  Avalanche and Thunderstorm, 

The Art of Storm...

Last night I stood outside on my covered patio and breathed in the warm heavy air of  Hillary,  a tropical storm. It  was the first storm of this kind in 80 years, and it is a prognosticator of what will come in our future.  As I watched the trees in the howling throws of winds and rain, I had the feeling that " the chickens are coming home to roost". In this scenario, the chickens being the increasing amount of  burning fossil fuels, such as coal, oil, and natural gas.  

Today much of art is created to bring to awareness of a cultural problem. I have always thought of our planet Earth as a being on which we depend, much like children depend on their mother for sustenance and safety. Our Earth is sending us events to foretell us that our future environment for human life is in jeopardy. The Planet will be here for millions more years, but the environment for our life's support is what we should be concerned with. Saving the Planet is not the problem. Saving our environment that supports our lives is the problem.

The Life Line   Winslow Homer

 

Over the many millennia, artists have told stories of storms in their paintings, which were inspired by the energy of the storm and the electric impulses of the storm becoming their own energy. The two artists that I mention here, were not aware of our existential crisis of today. The Art of Storm today, therefore is being painted by our Planet Earth, we should view these images with our eyes, our minds, and our hearts, for these new images are real. Not hanging on a wall, but are living breathing events creating pictures of our future. 

Palm Springs August 20, 2023

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Camille Pissarro

and

The Oceanside Plein Art Festival

It is different. Painting outside and absorbing the vibrations of color, air, and the breezes that make it all possible. The immediacy of the moment when the ever changing sky makes the scenery dance on the canvas. The brush assumes an independence, and covers the whiteness of the canvas with impatient Impressions. Plein Air has never been my first love for painting. I have had moments of delight, but feel that the studio is more in line for my physical inclinations.

Jameson Eureka 2006

Most think of Van Gogh when considering the style of impressionism...the yellow sunflowers and brilliant blue sky. My favorite of this genre is Camille Pissarro.

The muted color pallet, the considerable detail is beyond compare. He is recognized as the Father of Impressionism.

The Artists in San Diego County and beyond will come together July 15 - 22 for the annual Plein Air Festival. This event is sponsored by the Oceanside Museum of Art. The spirit of Pissaro lives on for painters the world over, and so, we in Oceanside and beyond will have the good fortune to be one with Nature as Painters, and Visitors from here and abroad... 

                                          

                        Boulevard Montmartre, morning, cloudy weather, 1897. National Gallery of Victoria

The Exhibition of Henry Moore and Georgia O'Keeffe now at the San Diego Museum of Art  and  closing August 27, 2023. 

Georgia O'Keeffe

the Muse Within

An Artist who declined to be categorized as a Woman Artist, she was a person who lived her life as truth as she saw it. Color. shape, texture,and line. Her imagination created works which will be treasured for all time. I see her work and realize that here was a soul which gave us her self, imaged in color and infused with mystery. Georgia O'Keeffe small in stature, but characterized monumental in her dedication to work, and gives rise to the question of women in art and whether or not they should be categorized as women artists or artists who paint.

I read that women actors are now actors in the media. This should be the norm for women in the arts of all genres. I declined to exhibit in The National Museum of Women in the Arts (NMWA) back in the day, for the reason of being labeled. I echo her stance about labels and it is my belief that labels of any kind are not needed, that works of art should stand on their own.

As a small child, she always knew that she wanted to be an artist. When small it was a natural inclination to do the drawing and was encouraged by her mother to be herself. Her Muse within was born early and this gave rise to the unflinching drive which was a lifelong ability to create her art.

This muse within gives joy, purpose, doing, completion, and the secrete smile that comes and means the work is Truth. Done. There is no greater feeling of worth when the nature of creating an art work is done.

It has always been my philosophy that all children have this creative ability. They paint with abandon, sings songs with words that only they know. Somewhere along the way this ability is lost, and most never are never to reconnect for many reasons. (Which is another post). Georgia was the exception in a most wondrous way. Her Bigness, her colors and the emotional impact of viewing her work is seductive and compelling. The Bigness was born when she lived in Texans and contemplated the vastness of the sky. How large it was compared to New York. How blue and big.. This became a conscious guide for her work.

Large Flowers, large skies, large clouds, and large bones. She collected bones from the desert, leaves which became withered sculptures, shapes from nature, and painted it infused with her colors and imagination of her environment.

In this exhibition, Georgia O'Keeffe and Henry Moore share similarities in combining negative space and sensuous forms. They are the elements which give a yin- yang feeling to the over all exhibition. His being three dimensions and hers being two dimensions. Hers bringing exhilarating and brilliant color, and his being of a solid and limited palette of stone, wood, and bronze.

Yes, Georgia, you did so very well. You have given us worlds of wonder from the heart, driven by the Muse within. As a woman and artist, I thank You. Your work will be for All Time as an Artist, and, as a woman who lived outside of the definition of society's of a woman's role and inside of the world of imagination. She became one with Nature...Above all an Artist of masterworks.

 

                 Georgia O'Keeffe

 

Watching Henry Moore

 

From time to time for this blog, I muse on art events which are not in the City of Oceanside. Last Thursday was one of those times. The San Diego Museum of Art located in Balboa Park is currently now until August is exhibiting the Sculptures of Henry Moore and the Paintings of Georgia O'Keeffe.

As a sculptor painter I view art works differently than those who do not have this background. When I am in the presence of a sculpture, the three dimensions are compelling and enchanting. The lines, the shadows, the music of repeats are so very different from the viewing of a painting. A painting you see only one dimension no matter where you stand. It is always the same. A sculpture, you walk around and the front, sides, and back show a design of splendid alignment. The lines are in tune with each other no matter where you stand, the repeats are giving music to the arrangement of shapes.

 

For abstraction of life forms into sculptures, Line, Shadows, and Repeats are essential. These elements are the music of sculpture. A realistic art work in sculpture has these elements as well, but that is for another blog post.

Let me tell of the shadows. Shadows are the element of three dimensional shapes. Without shadows, the work would look flat. Henry Moore, a master of shadows which fall on rounded shapes throw a strait line. To give an example, look at a car's fender and see the highlight and the shape of the highlight. It is perfect and shows that the surface is perfect in it's self so the highlight is perfect as well. This, then is also true with shadows. When a shadow falls on a curve it also has to be perfect from all sides. The challenge for the artist is find and make the shapes perfectly smooth and round for any small bump will throw the shadow into a imperfect wavy line.

 

Lines are the sharp edges of the sculpture. Some sculptures to not have sharp edges and there are no lines which define where dark and light of where shadows fall. Sometimes I had a hard time conveying to my foundry workers the idea of a curved strait line. It seems like an oxymoron. Again back to the fender on a car. The fender is a curved line, but perfectly strait. Therefor any shadow or highlight will be a perfect line as well.

Repeats are the music in a sculpture. Repeats are a line, shape or shadow which are repeated in the viewing of the work. These repeats can be close together or at a distance when you view the sculpture from different angles. The repeats can be subtle, or of great impact. The dance of the repeats bring a cohesiveness to the work and it is what makes a sculpture a masterwork. 

 

Walking around these masterworks, Watching, I see the dance, hear the music, and see the lights and darks. They sing to me, and give a great sense of a sublime awareness of a gift. A gift from Henry Moore, a master forever.

 

 

 

 20,000 Years

Long ago and far away in time, our Valley of the San Luis Rey was a wondrous home to the Luiseno People. The land was a natural habitat, a beautiful and unspoiled world, for the people of this time. The flora and fauna has disappeared due to our present culture of displacement of the natural lifescape of yesteryear. The Valley vibrates with the State 76 Hwy day and night, the thunderous roar of Camp Pendelton jets and training artillery, the whine of the passenger jets high over head, leaving their polluted contrails drifting through the sky with the toxic particles drifting down on our modern culture of more.

Being one with the City of Oceanside CA seems like forever. My first visit when I was 3 years old sitting in a little rocking chair gazing out beyond the pier infused me with the mysteries of the Sea. A small child becoming one with nature imprinting for all time the beauty of the Ocean. The year was 1938. Our City, then was a small beach town off the beaten track.

Last week I was awakened by a flute song that was being played by Faustino Frederick. He was standing in front a large mural to be unveiled that tells the story of the Payomkawichum, People known as Luiseno. People of the Sea.

There were many people there to celebrate this event, but in the listening to the sweet sounds of the flute, my eyes closed and a vision of long ago emerged in my minds eye, of the way it was. Twenty Thousand years ago the Luiseno people were living in the San Rey Valley. The air was crystal clear, the trees were majestic, the river so pure you could drink it dipping your hands in the cool sweet liquid...

This reverie lasted moments but when in enthralled by the magic flute, it seemed like my time in this vision was beyond time. And so it was, the sounds of life of yesteryear gave way to the whispering crowd waiting for the speeches to end and the unveiling of the mural of history of 20,000 years.

                                      The Luiseno Mural located in East Oceanside at the Public Library

The moment arrived, the coverings removed and there in a golden glow of painted history was a splendid visual art work. The artist is Gibran Isaias Lopez of Escondido. Happy clapping erupted and cries of wonder echoed though the crowd. It will be there in the Children section of the Library for all to see and learn about the the People of so long ago. They, the Luiseno, are still here today and enrich our lives everyday with their wisdom, knowledge of the San Luis Rey and the sweet music of long ago...20.000 years of harmony with Nature...

I love my City of Oceanside, but from time to time, I dream of the White Horse high on his hill above the 76 with his head turned towards the Sea ...

 

 

 

 

OMA Rising

                                                                   Oceanside Art Museum

Thirty Years ago, I stood in front of the old City Hall in Oceanside. It was boarded up and was destined to be the City Clerk's storage building. I was told that the Council had voted on this proposed use and that the City Staff would not consider using the beautiful old Irving Gill building for an Art Museum. The concept was presented by the Arts Commission to the City Council and fortunately, they welcomed the idea of an Art Museum for our City which until then was missing this vital element of human endeavor...

 

 

That was then, and now after our 25^th Anniversary as an Art Museum, I look with wonder at what has been accomplished. Many folks have been given their time, their art, their treasure and hands on support. We thank them all. Our Executive Director, Maria Mingalone, to whom we owe so very much, gave this update at last Saturday evening's annual Patron Party, and shared with us the Rising of OMA. 

 

• OMA is at the epicenter of our Cultural Arts District designated by the State Legislature in 2017. In 2023 the state is now investing over 460K in the arts in Oceanside.

• New York Times … OMA is first on the list to see art in California along with the Norton Simon Museum and the Brewery Art Walk in LA, in the article published April 28^th 2023.

• OMA is one of four museums in the state of California to receive the 2023 Superintendents Award of Excellence in Museum Education. It is award to museums who make a significant contribution in California's K- 12 educational system.

• OMA has been selected for the Getty Foundation's ambitious Pacific Standard Time Initiative, titled “Art and Science Collide” which launches in fall 2024.

• OMA is expanding to bring into our campus the adjoining Gill Fire Station 1. We will have new spaces for expanded Educational classes, lectures and exhibitions. From one lonely abandoned Gill building to an entire City block, OMA stands proud.

So I thank Maria, our Staff, Our Generous Oceanside and regional Supporters, and a growing list of amazing cultural partners who have made this miracle possible. 

     Something wondrous awaits for us as we imagine new spaces for OMA at O'side's Fire  Station 1.

       OMA Rising exists because of the spirit of creativity in all of its many forms, resides within us all.

 

 

Extraordinary works of Art at the Oceanside Museum of Art.

Robert Xavier Burden February 18–June 4, 2023

In the previous post, I offered images of Robert Xavier Burden There is no way possible to describe these monumental works which depict stories connecting his imagination with tales we all know and love.

King Kong and Fay Wrey, Bat Man, Peter Pan and inscribing them into frames of imagination that take you on a journey of yesteryear and beyond...The works are anchored by a central theme or image. The intricacies of each painting are profound and the word awe is my personal reaction in viewing these works.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Melissa Meier March 11–June 25, 2023

From Nature sculptured forms are incredible art creations which can make one wish you could touch. The exception is one sculpture make of porcupine quills. As a sculptor myself, the three dimensional element of the doing is exciting for it has sides, and a back. This aspect of creating is one of 360 degrees with infinite possibilities. The viewer sees the relationships of the form melding into itself and becoming a new image in 3D reality while walking slowly around the sculpture. The media is of Nature's gifts which Meier uses in a whimsical and painstaking effort. Patience is a quality demanded of this artist and she has conquered this challenge majestically.

 

FirstFriday Art Walk Oceanside May 5 Artist Alley and the City Plaza at the Library Courtyard...

Happy Feet and Happy Drumming ... dancing and making art. The Exhibitions by regional artists are now displaying in a venue across the street from Artists Alley. This natural progression is one which has origins of yesteryear in the early 90's. So, it is wonderful and timely, as we return to our Art Walks with the pandemic in the rear view mirror of yesterday... June 2^nd will be the next event.

 
 

Oceanside Museum of Art

First Friday Art Walk

Spring and the energies of the earth's awakening spurs my inclination to finally finish the painting staring at me for the past cold months of this year. Joy, I let it in and now with the warmth of spring pulsing though my artist joints, I set out once more to find and explore the possibilities of the blank canvas inviting me to the chase of the muse...

Join me in the walk of art and meeting the artists in Artists Alley and the  Oceanside Museum of Art.

 

First Friday Art Walk will debut May 5^th, 2023 Oceanside CA

 

 

 

 

                                                       Sequoia Park Eureka CA

THE ART OF TREE 

It is strange how one thing leads to another. Last week I visited my Daughter in Torrance to meet my new Great Grand Son. While there, she gave me a book, The Over Story by Richard Powers. A few years ago when I was rereading On Walden Pond, by Thoreau,I wondered at the time why I haven't come by any other who would write such a book that touched my heart. At last, this book by Powers ends my quest.

I have always had a 'thing' about Trees. I have planted them, hugged them, raked the leaves from them, Photographed them and Painted them. Although my belief system is not of the formal religious theology of churches or the bible, I have a feeling deep in my central nervous system that the light within us all is the result of the creative force which makes life possible, and is eternal if left alone.

Children have always climbed trees, I did when as a child reached for that elusive walnut, sweet and crisp in my mouth, and always, always reached for one more. I would hide in the tree, reading my books and becoming invisible to the outside world, and melding with the branches of my inside self.

When as a teacher, my privilege was to lead the children's choir for the Spring Sing. Joyce Kilmer's Tree was the last on the program. The light in their eyes, the sweet knowledge of their innocence, for me, always led to the tears of recognition of our Earth's plight.

As one small boy at the Oceanside Museum of Art told me one day when I asked him what his sculpture was about, he told me, " It's all Connected". His eyes shining with the knowledge of his young world view astounded me, but when considered later, I was certain that the light his eyes came from a universal source.

                                                    All Connected by 5th grade Student

Our planet's trees are the life giving source of oxygen essential for our lives, and yet, we keep cutting them down to make stuff that will never give us the source of life, and that trees make our planet green. The Pulitzer Prize book by Powers gives the adult version of Tree. It will picture in your minds eye, the beauty and the inter-connectiveness of all living beings plants, animals, and human beings.

 

                                                        The Cherry Tree  in Spring

 

 

 

 

The Mission San Luis Rey Oceanside CA

THE HERITAGE DISTRICT

OF EAST OCEANSIDE CA

It is early morning, and I am stopped at the end of a cul-de-sac, San Miguel a street in my community and take in the entire San Luis Rey Valley. It is 6:00 AM and if patient, I will hear the bells of the Mission San Luis Rey. It shines there in the early morning sunrise, and I feel the history of the Valley. I have resided in Oceanside for 24 years, and in my mind, I have lived here forever.

Giant Pepper Tree Guardian of the Mission...

I walk this walk many times a week, and it always is an amazing conformation of our human existence over time. 

 When I visited the Chapel, the feeling of oneness of making was strong in my awareness. The hands and feet of the early occupants told me stories of their lives in the beginning of the Mission.

It is the beginning of my day, and I take with me the knowledge of our human history and the ongoing efforts for the preservation of our heritage here in the San Luis Rey Valley where the Great White Horse once lived, and became an integral symbol of my art.

 OCEAN VIBES FILL THE AIR @ OCEANSIDE CA. 

FIRST FRIDAY ART WALK

iT IS SUMMERTIME AND OUR HAPPY FEET WILL DANCE TO THE VIBE OF THE OCEAN  WAVES AND MUSIC BY DARING GREATLY !

Start at the Oceanside Museum of Art and take in the exhibitions in the many galleries. Then stroll down to Artist Alley one block west on Pier View Ave, and find the funnest part of ART WALK. So much to see and pehaps buy? Then wander back up to the Museum and listen to the happy sounds the Daring Greatly. Hope to see you there!  

ART EXPLOSION !

At the O'side Bakery East Oceanside on Mission Ave.

March 24, 5:30PM -7:30 PM

At last we are entering into a new phase of being almost normal. The past two years have had such a negative effect on the Arts Community, and our joy of meeting in person. Zoom is great, but no substitute for “being there”. Come, and join us at our favorite place for great bakery treats, beautiful art, and music for our happy new place in time.  

 Linda Ponder is a North County artist, painting primarily abstract figurative. She studied under Larry Butler (Delta College) and Reed Cardwell (UCSD). She has shown in many juried competitions including winning an outstanding award in the Carlsbad Oceanside Art League Regional Show (COALS). Her works have also been in the Sharp Gallery and the San Diego Museum of Living Artists in Balboa Park.

Linda describes her approach to the canvas as emotive – a moving of the mind or soul; an excitement of the feelings. Her paintings have a magical and strange beauty; unexpected, and some might even say, unconventional. The results are often whimsical, childlike and surreal

 

 Oceanside Public Library

THE SOURCE

before Google

There is a wondrous place for all of us. A Place where the replenishment of our mind and soul is free, a Place where there is a quietude for our escape from the madding crowd of our lives, and it is a Place where we find the New, the Past, and perhaps the Future. This Place is our Oceanside Public Library. It is open all of the days of the week, and all are welcome. 

The  Entry for the O'side Library

Over the years, I have found refuge in these lovely and magical places of learning, and soul searching. Passing along the stacks, we find other worlds of possibilities. We find the histories of great men and women who have made our world what it is today. We can run our fingers over infinite possibilities of ideas to challenge our thinking minds. The What ifs are infinite...each book is there only to be touched and opened, we read and explore possibilities.   

These Places, reservoirs of history, we find ancient philosophers, Plutarch, Epictetus, Marcus Aurelius the builders of monuments, Imhotep,Vitruvius Pollio , science of our past, present and future, are a gift to us. One of the most famous Libraries of all was The Library of Alexandria in Egypt. When it was lost, much of the historical writings of that era were lost along with it. Our own American History is replete with the building of Public Libraries in great cities and small towns.

The  Library of Alexandria ruins...              

In 1944, in the very small city of Etiwanda CA, the library was in a room of the Elementary School. I retreated there every day in the summer to read, and to be free to roam in the adventures which were in the fun books of the Black Stallion, Zane Grey, and Nancy Drew... At Whittier college 1954, the Mendenhall Building was a place for studies, and research.

The OED, located on its own platform, and preparation of exams, but it was also where I met my husband, and the proud old building is still there, beautiful, now the business center for the college.

There is a new venue for the Arts in our lovely Oceanside Library.  The visual arts, Paintings and sculpture are at home in this place for contemplation of what it all means. Artists of all genres have endeavored to tell their stories of what it all means to them by way of the visual arts, and we are so very fortunate to view the works from these story tellers presented within the framework of the visual arts.

Please join us on beginning on January 7^th to view the enchanting works of Linda Phillips. A public reception is January 12, 3 to 5 PM.

Linda Phillips

Before Google, we knew that our search for knowledge, research, and the search for truth could be found at our local Public Library. We took our children, our students, and ourselves to these places of quite contemplation and hoped to find answers and adventures of other lands and the people who lived there. Now it is the I-phone to Google, and we find ourselves in the midst of the public arena full of hustle and bustle. Fingers no longer can explore the stacks of what ifs, and we are left with only the word of the moment... 

The new Library of Alexandria 

 

The Twenty Fifth Anniversary of OMA

A Historic Occasion

February 26th 2022

We Celebrate an Institution which changed the Face of the City of Oceanside California. In this New Year of the new we the celebrate the history and creation of our Oceanside Museum of Art. We will gather in the New Seabird Hotel to raise a glass to the Founders and Supporters of the Museum which did in fact change the Cultural Soul, and the architectural fabric of the City. They gave our residents and visitors a new and glorious gathering place. We had a new Home for us!..

Our cultural art visions were met with citizens eager for change for our City. The challenges of an old building which had been designated for storage for the City Clerk was transformed into a place of wonder for our creative spirits for the artists, the patrons, residents and visitors.

The Supporters who have championed the effort with extraordinary funding support which in its self is a creative element. For they have created the place where the Arts and Artists can flourish and reside. To Create a Place of Art is the highest and most fundamental form of creative effort. Without these creative supporters, the arts would not exist. We raise a glass to these creators for a Space for Art in Oceanside, OMA, the institutional face which changed Oceanside from a military town into a City of incredible energy for change, the a melding of our Cultural Soul.

Founders and Supporters representing Hundreds of Our OMA Family  

We thank You, the Founders, and Supporters whose gifts and funding will sustain the future of OMA.

 The Art of Harmony

                                                                    The Rewilding of Patagonia

The Old English Dictionary: Harmony concord, accord, agreement, peace, peacefulness, amity, amicability, friendship, fellowship, comradeship, solidarity, cooperation, understanding, consensus, unity, sympathy, rapport, goodwill, like-mindedness.

I have long thought of our Planet Earth as a living breathing being. Like humans, it has its ups and downs throughout the millennials of existence. The Holocene (“entirely recent”) epoch, which began 11,700 years ago after the last major ice age in which we now live within has been harmonious most of the time for humans to thrive and evolve.

I look at images of our Planet Earth as taken from the space station, and the wonder of the creation of this tiny speck in the cosmos, it is truly a work of art in comparison with the other planets in our solar system. No where else in our planetary system are there the spectacular and beautiful life forms in our oceans and on land. There are no artists which can produce art that would compare with the Art of Nature.

After reading a new book published this year about Doug Tompkins, an environmentalist who lived and breathed his love of “beauty” of our world, my thoughts were of how our present cultures are in direct opposition of being in Harmony with our Planet Earth. We are, All, artists in the way we paint our daily lives. Do we paint our day with the brushes of garbage, pollution, excess of wants, or, do we paint our day with the brushes of buying only what we Need, and can use without creating the garbage of pollution. Doug Tompkins painted with his brush by creating National Parks in South America.

Drinking water from plastic bottles, instead of water fountains like we used to do, pampers for babies instead of cloth dippers fill our landfills. Huge cars and trucks with more horsepower than is needed to take us on frivolous trips which have no imperative to be harmonious with Nature, is our “Right” to do without thinking of the consequence of each act. Do we look at each day and wonder how we can be in harmony with our planet Earth, and use the brushes of harmony with Nature for the endurance of the human species? The Planet Earth will be here long after our species dies off due to the brushes of greed and wants, and our human existence will not suffer the continuous creation of garbage, because we believe it is our “Right”, this Life Style of Western Culture.

A million bottles a minute...Humanity paint brushes for the Planet Earth.

The Art of Harmony with Nature should be our primary concern and needs to be the predominate brush with which we paint our days. Our art works will determine the continuation of our Human Species or Not. Understanding, in the above definition, is the most important of all of the synonyms. If we do not understand the consequences of our painting in our daily lives, the pictures of Harmony of Art with Nature will not be in our Museum of Human History.

The Paint brushes of Doug Tompkins