Musings...
INAUGURAL BLOCK PARTY
SUMMER EXHIBTIONS
CALIFORNIA REVEALED
SNEAK PEEK FALL 2023
COLLECTION HIGHLIGHT
UPCOMING EVENTS
HIGHLIGHTS
ISSUE
of Art
NEWSLETTER SPRING/SUMMER 2023
Monterey Museum
MEMBER
Musings...
Musings is a seasonal publication for Members of the Monterey Museum of Art.
Our Mission
The Monterey Museum of Art cultivates curiosity in the visual arts and engages community with the diversity of California art—past, present, and future.
Our Vision
The Monterey Museum of Art is a collaborative center where art and community engage.
Board of Trustees
John A. Greenwald President
Adriana Hayward, Psy.D.
President Emerita
Tom Donnelly
Treasurer
Lisa Rheinheimer Secretary
Monika Campbell
Laura Gamble
Kristen Huston
Heidi Quinn
Caroline Scott Low
DeBorah Silguero, Ph.D.
Matthew Simis
Eric C. Smith
Lila Thorsen, Ph.D.
William G. Hyland Trustee Emeritus
Craig L. Johson Trustee Emeritus
Chief Editor / Writer / Project Manager
Candace Christiansen
Art Director / Senior Designer
Maureen Halligan
Photography
Maureen Halligan, Randy Tunnell Photography
©Monterey Museum of Art, Published June 2023
To report a misprint or error, please contact pr@montereyart.org
Museum Hours
Thursdays – Sundays (11:00 am – 5:00 pm)
Visit montereyart.org for tickets and more information.
Cover Image
Dorr Bothwell, Dreamer, 1929, oil on canvas board, 23 x 20 in. The Buck Collection at UCI Jack and Shanaz Langson Institute and Museum of California Art, © Courtesy of The Dorr Bothwell Trust and The Mendocino Art Center.
Photo: Randy Tunnell Photography
From the Executive Director
If you build it, they will come…
This was the hope of MMA’s staff, board, and volunteers who collectively spent thousands of hours planning our first ever Block Party and Dance Party. But a year later, as we stood on the empty street outside the museum, awaiting the arrival of artists, vendors, and partner organizations as well as the public, we wondered, “Will anyone actually show up?” Thankfully, the resounding answer was YES.
On April 15 thousands of children, parents, students, seniors, and MMA members enjoyed drawing, dancing, writing, flower arranging, and visiting the museum. Later that evening, hundreds more came to dance together under the stars.
At the end of the night, our team left the museum exhausted but proud. We were so gratified to receive your congratulatory emails, social media posts, and hear the wonderful buzz around town. Thank you for coming— and please mark your calendars for April 6-7, 2024, the next edition of the Block Party and Dance Party as well as our Spring Fundraiser. We look forward to sharing another fun and fabulous weekend of art connecting community
In addition to the Block Party, did you know that MMA provides free admission to almost 10,000 people every year? Children and families benefit from MMA’s Free Family Fun Days, free school tours, high school mentorship programs, as well as our low-cost summer camps. Hundreds of young people and newcomers visit the museum for the first time through our free First Fridays, and all children 18 and under, students, active military and their families, and EBT card holders receive free entry all year round.
But free admission comes at a very real cost. We spend more than $100 per person/per hour to open our doors and provide the remarkable exhibits and programs you appreciate and our whole community deserves to see.
Your support is vital, so please give generously to MMA’s end of year Annual Appeal Campaign to help ensure that everyone in Monterey County can benefit from our work. Gifts of all sizes are truly appreciated and are fully tax deductible. Please visit us online to make your gift today. Thank you so much in advance for your inspiration, partnership, and support.
Please enjoy our marvelous Summer Season and this edition of Musings.
Looking forward,
Corey Madden Executive Director, Monterey Museum of Art
Photo: Randy Tunnell Photography
MMA’s Inaugural Block Party
An Arts Festival for Everyone
This April, the Museum turned itself inside out for the Inaugural Block Party, extending past our doors and spilling into the street to meet our community and invite them in—in many cases for the first time. The festival provided an unprecedented opportunity to show the Monterey community what we’re all about and the direction
we are heading. With the Block Party, we set out to create an extension of our Museum and its core values: cultivating belonging and connection through art. We asked our participating artists, artisans, vendors, performers, and community organizations to offer a hands-on participatory activity for visitors of all ages, experiences, abilities,
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Photos: Randy Tunnel Photography
and interests to allow for deeper connections and expressions of creativity. At the end of the day, the Block Party welcomed more than 3500 visitors. We made new relationships with other organizations and visitors and got to know our neighbors better. The overwhelming success of the Block Party is also a reflection of the vibrant arts community that expands across Monterey County. We can’t wait to return next year, bigger and better than ever. Until then, we’ll be offering more ways to interact with art and each other through free First Fridays, Free Family Fun Days, and some exciting new public programming initiatives in the fall.
Save the Date Block Party, Dance Party, and Spring Fundraiser April 6 – 7, 2024
Presenting Summer 2023
All exhibitions officially open on May 25, 2023
The Summer 2023 Season is led by The Bruton Sisters: Modernism in the Making (May 25 –August 20, 2023), a traveling show organized by the University of California Irvine Jack and Shanaz Langson Institute and Museum of California Art. Curated by Wendy Van Wyck Good— local author, librarian, archivist, historian, and leading expert on Margaret, Esther, and Helen Bruton—The Bruton Sisters presents the work of three pioneering women who propelled the advancement of modern art in California, yet were largely overlooked during their lifetime. The exhibition, which also
includes related works by several of the Brutons’ contemporaries, reveals the sisters’ innovative use of materials, creative approach to design, and fruitful collaborative process. This is the first group exhibition of the Bruton sisters’ work in more than 50 years.
Also debuting this season is a genre defying showcase of artistic versatility from one of the Monterey region's most formidable portrait photographers—Martha Casanave.
Continued on page 10
The Bruton Sisters in Monterey
Margaret, Esther, and Helen Bruton grew up in Alameda, California, but they often visited the Monterey Peninsula as children. In the 1920s, when they were young adults, the sisters returned to Monterey to take advantage of its scenic beauty and vibrant modernist art scene. The Brutons loved the area so much, they built a second home here in 1924. Helen and Margaret settled in Monterey permanently in 1944 and lived here for the rest of their lives.
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Imogen Cunningham, The Bruton Sisters, Artists, 1930, 1930, gelatin silver print, 8 x 10 in. © 2022 Imogen Cunningham Trust
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in.
Join Us An Evening with the Curator: Wendy Van Wyck Good Thursday, June 29, 5:30 – 7:00 pm
Margaret Bruton, Barns on Cass Street, circa 1925, oil on canvas, 38 x 44
Collection Monterey Museum of Art, Gift
of
the artist 1973.022.
Continued from Page 8
Martha Casanave: EXPLORATIONS (May 4–August 20, 2023), presents a mysterious and compelling narrative of the Monterey landscape, both natural and man-made, through two series taken with a pinhole camera. An intrepid creative, Martha Casanave has largely spent her career practicing outside established traditions. Yet, traces of influence from West Coast landscape photography can be identified in works such as Untitled (Two Starfish), 2000, (below) which harkens back to Wynn Bullock's long exposures of moving water (Sea Palms, 1968) or Edward Weston's uncharacteristic shell in the desert (Shell, 1931). Weston was criticized for putting a shell where it didn't belong, and for altering the natural scene in
a photograph. In EXPLORATIONS, Casanave also ignores the boundaries of dated rules to employ her chosen props; move shells, pebbles, and seaweed; and even introduces a staged character to her compositions.
“ For me, photography is like magic. One of the reasons for my fascination with the nineteenth century is, in fact, the invention of photography. But the pinhole principle, the camera obscura, which far predates the ability to “fix” an image, is even more mysterious and magical. Its allure is its very simplicity: a box with a tiny hole creating an image—no lens, no viewfinder, no shutter. It is purely optical phenomenon, unadorned by modern technology.”
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–Martha Casanave
Martha Casanave (b. 1945), Untitled, 2000, silver gelatin print, 24 x 20 in. Courtesy of the artist.
The presence of photography continues in the Museum's upstairs Marble Galleries with the 2023 Weston Scholarship (May 11 - July 30, 2023), a community exhibition of award-winning photography by high school and college students from Monterey and Santa Cruz Counties. The photographs, selected from winning portfolios, were created in local high school and college photography courses during the 2022-2023 academic year. Founded in 2004, the Weston Scholarship is part of the Weston Collective, a nonprofit organization in Monterey County where science, technology, and art meet through photography. The collective seeks to spread awareness of Edward Weston’s legacy while preserving the rich photographic history of Monterey Bay.
In a gallery adjacent to the 2023 Weston Scholarship exhibition is a small collection-based
exhibition, The Weston Legacy, featuring a selection of iconic photographs from past generations of the Weston family, including Edward (1886-1958), Brett (1911-1993), and Cole Weston (1919-2003).
Spread across the Museum’s entry hall and Coburn gallery is a star powered and playful exhibition of funk art drawn exclusively from the permanent collection. You’ve Got to be Kidding: Humor and the Absurd in California Art (May 11 – July 30, 2023) includes works by Gilhooly (1943-2013), William T. Wiley (born 1937), Robert Arneson (1930-92) and Clayton Bailey (19392020). Read more on page 16.
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Join Us
tickets and
montereyart.org
Jose Queved, Cabrillo College, digital photographic print..
For
more information visit
California Revealed
A Project of the California State Library
WRITTEN BY VOLUNTEER ARCHIVIST, ELEANOR UHLINGER
Thanks to two generous grants* from California Revealed, a project of the California State Library, the Museum recently digitized and made available fascinating oral history interviews conducted by Donald R. Anderson and Betty Hoag Lochrie McGlynn with important California photographers, artists, and their families. Anyone may access these interviews from the California Revealed website https:// repository.californiarevealed. org/partner/monterey-museumof-art
The Donald R. Anderson Collection features more than 18 hours of interviews Anderson conducted from 1999-2004 with California photographers, (each of whom are part of the Museum’s collections) about their lives, influences, works, and their philosophy of teaching.
Interview topics include: personal stories; equipment and techniques; the early years of photography on the Monterey Peninsula and in California; Ansel Adams; Yosemite Workshops; the Friends of Photography; the Foundation for Photographic Preservation; and photography programs run through Monterey Peninsula College, University of California Santa Cruz, and more.
Donald R. Anderson (1937-2014) was an accomplished fine-arts photographer. Moving to Monterey in 1998, Anderson taught photography and the history of photography classes at Monterey Peninsula College, California State University Monterey Bay, San Francisco State University, and University of California Santa Cruz Extension. Prior to arriving in Monterey Anderson taught the
same subjects at the University of Louisville (Kentucky). Anderson was an active Board Member of and consultant to the Santa Cruz, CA-based Foundation for Photographic Preservation.
The Betty Hoag McGlynn Collection features more than 67 hours of oral history interviews McGlynn conducted in the 1960’s with California artists, their families, and friends, who discussed their lives, influences, and works; personal stories; and the early history and development of the Carmel/ Monterey Peninsula art scene particularly as it grew following the 1906 San Francisco earthquake.
Betty Lochrie Hoag McGlynn (19142002), namesake of the Museum’s Betty Hoag McGlynn Archives, was an art historian, research director, archivist, and author specializing in American and California art
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(particularly artists of Northern California). McGlynn began her professional career as a field researcher for the Archives of American Art, interviewing more than 200 Southern California artists who worked on the Federal Arts Project (circa 1933-1946) of the Works Project Administration. (Many of those interviews and their transcripts are available online via the Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution). Having developed an interest in art at a young age, McGlynn spent five
decades working for museums, historical societies, and art associations in Northern California and as a private consultant. The daughter of artist Elizabeth Lochrie and daughter-in-law of artist Thomas Arnold McGlynn, Ms. McGlynn was a recognized authority on early California art and artists. She authored the book, Carmel Art Association: A History c1987; edited Noticias del Puerto de Monterey: A Quarterly Bulletin of Historic Monterey issued by the Monterey History and Art Association; and was a
frequent lecturer and contributor to art magazines, newsletters, and newspapers.
McGlynn’s substantial archive of clippings, correspondence, images, and research notes are available to scholars and researchers by appointment. (See also: Betty Hoag/Betty McGlynn collections located at the Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution and the Bancroft Library, University of California Berkeley).
* This project was supported by California Revealed and administered in California by the State Librarian. The program is made possible by funding from the U.S. Institute of Museum and Library Services under the provisions of the Library Services and Technology Act.
Photo: Maureen Halligan
Sneak Peek Fall 2023
Contemporary California Artist Tsherin Sherpa
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Tsherin Sherpa, Untitled (detail), 2017, platinum leaf, gold leaf, acrylic and ink on canvas, diptych, 48 x 72 in. The KaoWilliams Family Collection
This fall, MMA will present one of its most significant exhibitions to date featuring the work of contemporary California artist Tsherin Sherpa. One of the most renowned artists of Himalayan descent Sherpa’s groundbreaking artwork continues to garner international acclaim. Sherpa was recently honored by the Asia Society for his significant contribution to contemporary art. Born in Kathmandu, Nepal in 1968, Tsherin Sherpa emigrated to the San Francisco Bay Area in 1998. Sherpa currently works and lives between Kathmandu (Nepal) and Northern California (USA). Sherpa’s work is a blending of these two worlds. Grounded in his personal experiences within the Himalayan Diaspora and his training as a thangka painter, (traditional Buddhist art), the artist boldly reconfigures rich Buddhist iconography with pop culture references to explore contemporary concerns. The resulting works form a narrative interplay of opposites: sacred/
secular, traditional/contemporary, and settlement/movement.
Tsherin Sherpa has exhibited across the United States, Europe, and Asia—including representing Nepal in its inaugural participation at the Venice Biennale in 2022. He has also been part of Yokohama Triennale (2020); Yinchuan Biennale (2018); Kathmandu Triennale (2017); Asia Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art, Brisbane (2015-16); and Dhaka Art Summit (2014).
Sherpa's work is included in private collections around the world, as well as in the collections of Victoria & Albert Museum, London; Rubin Museum of Art, New York; Queensland Art Gallery & Gallery of Modern Art, Australia; Asian Art Museum, San Francisco; Virginia Museum of Fine Arts; World Museum, Liverpool; Samdani Art Foundation, Dhaka and Uli Sigg Collection. In February 2022 the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts presented the artist's first museum mid-career retrospective, Spirits, which travelled on the Peabody Essex Museum in Salem, MA, and will open at the Asia Society in Houston in September 2023.
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Photo: Riccardo Tosetto, 2022.
Tsherin Sherpa's first solo-exhibition in California, Tsherin Sherpa: Different Worlds opens at the Monterey Museum of Art on September 7, 2023
Acquisition Highlight
Annette Cocoran's California Teapot
A centerpiece of You’ve Got to Be
Kidding: Humor and the Absurd in California Art is a whimsical teapot by renowned Pacific Grove based potter, Annette Corcoran (b. 1930), called California Teapot (2000), a recent gift of the Winfield Family. Corcoran has been creating highly detailed and expertly crafted porcelain vessels in various combinations of birds, waterfowl, flowers, vegetables, and abstract geometric shapes, among other things, since
1970. Her work can be found in important museum collections across the country, including the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, and Oakland Museum of California. California Teapot is made in the shape of a geological section of the Golden State itself, and across its top are highlights of California’s most familiar icons and agricultural products in miniature sculptural form while identifying its geographical
neighbor states on each of its sides. One would be hard pressed to find the teapot’s spout and lid, which are humorously located at the tail end of the applied sperm whale, and in the form of a pot of gold at the end of the proverbial rainbow (which doubles as the vessel’s handle), respectively. The piece is a delightful example of the many ways that California artists have utilized humor and the absurd as a driving strategy in their creative process.
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Annette Corcoran (b. 1930), California Teapot, 2000, porcelain, 6.83 x 13 x 4.5 inches. Gift of the Winfield Family.
The Fire of Heaven Catalogue
Enrique Martínez Celaya and Robinson Jeffers
Our long-awaited catalogue for the 2022 exhibition The Fire of Heaven: Enrique Martínez Celaya and Robinson Jeffers is now available. Co-published with German publisher Hatje Cantz, this beautiful book documents Martínez Celaya's residence at Robinson Jeffers' Tor House and the 2022 exhibition which included work inspired by and set in conversation with the 20th century poet's writing. Catalogue contributors include Shana Nys Dambrot, author, critic, and Arts Editor for LA Weekly; Elliot RuchowitzRoberts, President of the Tor House Foundation; and Corey Madden, Executive Director of the Monterey Museum of Art.
Now available for purchase at MMA Pacific Street.
Thursday through Sunday, 11 am – 5 pm.
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Acknowledgements
January 1 – May 1, 2023
Thank you to all who have generously supported the Museum this season. The exhibitions and programs we create and present are only possible because of the generosity of people like you.
Grant Supporters
California Natural Resources Agency
Monterey Peninsula Foundation
Louise M. Davies Foundation
Maud Porter Fund
Sumitomo Foundation
Greater San Fernando Valley Chamber of Commerce
To learn about how you can support MMA or to make a gift, visit montereyart.org/support/donate/, email us at advancement@monterey.org, or call us at 831.372.5477 x104.
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Photo: Randy Tunnell Photography
Block Party Sponsorship & Annual Spring Fundraiser
The Museum extends its deep appreciation to our event and fundraiser Co-Chairs Adriana Hayward and Caroline Scott Low, the Block Party Fundraiser Committee, and all of the Sponsors.
Event Co-Chair
Adriana Hayward, Psy.D.
Caroline Scott Low
Event Committee
Elizabeth Barlow
Monika Campell
Fran Chapman
Deborah Costigan
Karen Folgner
Amalia Gomez Micone
Kristen Huston
Claire Jackson
Jana Magginetti
Karen Patton
Roseanne Pierre
Heidi Quinn, Lisa Rheinheimer
DeBorah Silguero
Holly A. Temple
Sponsors
Nancy Eccles and Homer M. Hayward
Foundation
Frank and Judith Marshall
Elizabeth Barlow and Stephen McClellan
Caron and Alan Lacy
Caroline Scott Low and Graham Low
Sally Lucas
Mike and Cass Antle
Diane Coward
Claire and Joe Jackson
Christine and Craig Johnson
Julie Packard
Lila and Mike Thorsen
Craig and Fran Chapman
Susan and David Gill
Amalina Gomez Micone and Noam
Krantz
Steve and Maryan Ackley
Judy and Tom Archibald
Beall Family Foundation
Donald M. Davis
Tom Donnelly
Jeannette and Don Fowler
Laura Gamble
John and Carol Greenwald
Jacki Horton
Joe and Kristen Huston
Linda and Rick Kunnath
Corey Madden
Susan Manchester
Corinne and Larry Marcus
Jane Olin
Karen Patton
Matthew Simis and Michael Gray
Fred Vinton
Jeanne and Cyril Yansouni
Marietta and Pierre Bain
Mose and Diane Thomas
Corporate Sponsors
Arts Council for Monterey County
Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management
KAZU 90.3
Albatross Ridge
Hear & Now Monterey
Jana Magginette Interior Design
Karen Wilson Designs
Monika Campbell, Compass
DRE#01370848
Monterey County Weekly
Scheid Family Wines
Seaview Inn – Carmel-by-the-Sea
Stocker & Allaire
1st Capital Bank
Bambace Peterson Team, Compass
Chicago Title, Carmel
C.L.A. Wealth Management
Jacquie Adams Homes - Sotheby’s International Realty DRE#01702965
Noland, Hamerly, Etienne & Hoss
Studio Pierre
Hauk Fine Arts
H.M.C. Architects
Kasavan Architects
Monterey Peninsula Unified School District
Parker-Lusseau Pastries
The Nut Hut
Art Connecting Community
Annual Appeal 2023
The Monterey Museum of Art strives to offer fun and dynamic art experiences for all ages across Monterey County and beyond. The exhibitions and programs we create and present are only possible because of our local supporters. Your annual donations are truly essential for us to continue our work.
Please consider a gift through June 30 in support of:
• Maintaining our free admission programs serving nearly 10,000 visitors of all ages every year
• Creating access to free arts education throughout Monterey County with our new mobile programs
• Expanding K-12 school tours and covering the cost of buses for public school classrooms
• Deepening our high school mentorship program to cultivate next-gen artists and museum professionals
• Relaunching our Artist in Residence program— and helping support more public art installations
• Growing our Spring BLOCK PARTY and Dance Party event—expanding Monterey’s downtown cultural district through festive and accessible public art experiences
Give today at https://montereyart.org/annualappeal-2023
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Photo: Randy Tunnell Photography
Upcoming Events at MMA Join Us
June 2
June
June 29
July 7
August 4
August 5
August 12
Annual
MMA Summer Camps
Select Weeks June – August 2023
The Museum is offering six different art camps this summer for ages 5 -17 at our Pacific Street and La Mirada locations—and there are only a few spots left! Camp themes and activities include Cartoon creation, eco artmaking, LEGO® building, and Halloween in July!
Sign up at montereyart.org/learn/artcamp
Friday 5:00 – 7:00 pm An Afternoon with the Artist 2:00 – 3:30 pm An Evening with the Curator 5:30 – 7:00 pm First Friday 5:00 – 7:00 pm
Friday 5:00 – 7:00 pm Free Family Fun Day 11:00 – 3:00 pm
First
First
Members' Meeting 11:00 am – 1:00
visit montereyart.org/events for tickets and important updates.
pm Please
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Summer 2023
Exhibitions Calendar
Please
Martha Casanave: EXPLORATIONS
May 4 – August 20, 2023
You've Got to be Kidding: Humor and the Absurd in California Art
May 11 – July 30, 2023
2023 Weston Scholarship
May 11 – August 20, 2023
The Bruton Sisters: Modernism in the Making
May 25 – August 20, 2023
Currents: Jane Ivory
June 2 – July 30, 2023
Upcoming
Currents: Todd Gilens
August 4 – October 1, 2023
Tsherin Sherpa: Different Worlds
September 7 – November 26, 2023
Mark Steven Greenfield
September 7 – December 17, 2023
Sacred Encounters
September 7 – December 17, 2023
Currents: Abira Ali
October 6 – December 17, 2023
Monterey Museum of Art 559 Pacific Street, Monterey, CA 93940 Stay Connected Sign-up for enews at montereyart.org/enews Visit us anytime online at montereyart.org General inquiries 831.372.5477 facebook.com/montereyart.org instagram.com/montereyart
report a misprint or error, please contact pr@montereyart.org SPRING / SUMMER 2023
To
visit montereyart.org for tickets and important updates.
montereyart.org
Image above: Valentin Popov, St. Superman (detail) 2020, oil and gold leaf on 100-yearold carved woodblock, 20 x 16 in. Gift of Mr. Fred Webster, 2021.046