The True Artist is an Amazing Luminous Fountain: Selected Works from the di Rosa Preserve: Art & Nature (original) (raw)

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The True Artist is an Amazing Luminous Fountain: Selected Works from the di Rosa Preserve: Art & Nature

June 18 - August 14, 2005

The exhibition The True Artist is an Amazing Luminous Fountain: Selected Works from the di Rosa Preserve: Art & Nature opens at the Palm Springs Art Museum on June 18, 2005 in the Museum's Annenberg, main level.

Approximately 50 artworks features twenty artists who have shaped the Bay Area art scene since the rise of the Figurative Art movement of the 1950s. The exhibition gives special emphasis to the Beat-influenced painting and sculpture coming our of San Francisco's North Beach through the work of Joan Brown, Bruce Conner, Jay DeFeo, Wally Hedrick, and Manuel Neri. The exhibition also highlights the flourishing of the ceramic art movement that began at the University of California, Davis and spread throughout the region exemplified in the work of Robert Arneson, Viola Frey, James Melchert, Richard Shaw, and Peter Voulkos. The use of found materials in the Dada-influenced "Funk Art" movement is represented by David Ireland, Paul Kos, and Bruce Nauman. The final section includes others who made an impact on the Bay Area art scene yet don't fit into any single genre such as William Allan, David Best, and Squeak Carnwath. The exhibition is organized by the di Rosa Preserve: Art & Nature, Napa, California.

Enhancing The True Artist is an Amazing Luminous Fountain: Selected Works from the di Rosa Preserve: Art & Nature are several recently open exhibitions in other areas of the Museum including B_ay Area Art: Selections from the Permanent Collection_, Beatrice Wood: Making the Rounds, and In Other Words/En Otras Palabras: The Community Responds to the Permanent Collection. Bay Area Art, located in galleries adjacent to the Di Rosa exhibition as well as in the Marks Graphics Gallery features modern and contemporary paintings, sculptures, and works on paper from the Museum's permanent collection as well as artwork loaned from local collections. The exhibition demonstrates various art movements that flourished in Northern California in the last half of the 20th century. Both the Di Rosa exhibition and the Bay Area exhibition close on August 14, 2005.

The Beatrice Wood Ceramics exhibition features works from the Museum's permanent collection as well as the loan of significant pieces from the artist's studio in Ojai, California. Artist, actress, writer Wood died in 1998 at the age of 105 and is remembered as a freethinker and lover of life. Affectionately referred to as "The Mama of Dada", Wood was a member of the Dada movement of art in the early 1900s which, according to the artists, themselves, was based on the principles of deliberate irrationality, anarchy, and cynicism and the rejection of laws of beauty and social organization. At age 40, Wood developed an interest in pottery and she developed a revolutionary luster-glaze technique. The works on display in this exhibition will combine her love of folk crafts from many cultures with warmly humorous observations of human nature. The exhibition continues through August 21, 2005.

Called "An American Treasure", Wood was named the Smithsonian Institution's Esteemed American Artist in 1994. Her 1991 and 1992 appearances on ABC's Good Morning America revitalized her popularity and brought new attention to a well-known work titled "Good Morning America" -- a ceramic representation of a bordello with the "ladies of the evening" in the front of the piece and the professional men customers on the back. Wood believed this piece to be a metaphor for the bargaining arrangement between men and women outside of marriage. The piece is featured in this exhibition.

About art at the di Rosa Preserve

The di Rosa Preserve houses one of the largest regional art collections in the country with more than 2,000 works by some 900 artists. Amassed throughout the last forty years, the di Rosa collection represents the most extensive gathering of contemporary California Bay Area art available anywhere in the world. Art in many forms is displayed in harmony with nature on the Preserve: in magnificent outdoor arenas, in a 130-year old winery-turned-residence, in an ancient olive grove and on the lake itself. Rich in flora and fauna, the open space is home or a migratory stopping point for a fascinating array of wildlife, including Canada Geese, the Blue Heron, Snowy Egrets and the Preserve's own peacocks.[1]

1. text excerpted from di Rosa Preserve web site.

Editor's note: RL readers may also enjoy these earlier articles and essays:

Also from the Web:

The Beatrice Wood Center for the Arts celebrates the life and work of Beatrice Wood

TFAO also suggests these DVD or VHS videos:

_Beatrice Wood: Mama of Dada._This documentary on the life of potter Beatrice Wood provides a glimpse into her life, loves and influences. Included are rare archival photographs, original artwork, and insightful commentary by art historians and interviews with Beatrice herself. Written and directed by Tom Neff. 93. 55 min. Video/C 8471. Available from Media Resources Center, Library, University of California, Berkeley.

TFAO does not maintain a lending library of videos or sell videos._Click here_for information on how to borrow or purchase copies of VHS videos and DVDs listed in TFAO's Videos -DVD/VHS, an authoritative guide to videos in VHS and DVD format

rev. 6/29/07

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