Pasasdena Socirty of Artists 100th & Historic Exhibition100th
!00th Annual Juried Exhibition
Pasadena Museum of History
Pasadena, California
February 28, 2025 – September 14, 2025
To view this artwork online please visit https://issuu.com/pasadenasocietyofartists This catalog is available for purchase from the museum store or directly from Blurb.com
Artists represented on the cover:
Top (L - R): Agnes Lee, Maud Daggett, Joanna Kos
Bottom (L - R): Sam Hyde Harris, Jae Carmichael
Artwork appears courtesy of PSA members. Copyrights held by the artists. All rights reserved.
This catalog is dedicated to the founders and all of the members of the Pasadena Society of Artists. .
Welcome Statement
The Pasadena Museum of History and The Pasadena Society of Artists share a rich century-long history of fostering the arts in the Pasadena area. To mark this enduring partnership, the Museum hosted the Society’s Diamond Jubilee Exhibition twenty-five years ago In 2025, we are proud to present the Society’s Centennial Exhibition, currently on view in the Ralph M. Parsons and Willis Stork Galleries.
This commemorative retrospective showcases pivotal works spanning the decades, highlighting the Society’s members from its founding to the present day. Historic pieces by founding artists such as Benjamin Brown, Jean Mannheim, and F. Tolles Chamberlin are on display, alongside works by early members including Walter Askin, Jae Carmichael, and Jirayr Zorthian. The exhibition also includes a juried component displayed in two successive groups, comprising a total of 100 artworks by current members.
The Centennial Exhibition honors the timeless spirit of creativity as demonstrated by the artists featured in the exhibition, while also serving as a poignant reminder of the pieces tragically lost in the devastating 2025 Eaton Fire. These artistic contributions stand as a testament to the resilience and strength of the human spirit, even in the face of adversity and profound loss.
The Museum is committed to preserving and sharing Pasadena’s vibrant history, art, and culture. We regard the Pasadena Society of Artists as a vital partner in our efforts to present engaging exhibitions and programs that highlight both the historic and ongoing contributions of local artists. Our long-standing relationship with local artists began with Museum benefactor Eva Scott Fényes (1849-1930). After moving to Pasadena in 1896, Eva Fényes became involved with the area’s burgeoning art scene. As a passionate collector, Fényes acquired pieces from artists associated with the Pasadena Society of Artists, including her friend and patron of the Society, Benjamin Brown. Today, the Museum’s Fényes Mansion displays her collection, which includes several works now featured in this Centennial Exhibition.
We offer our heartfelt gratitude to the Society’s President, Kathleen Swaydan, the Board of Directors, and Committee Chairs for their dedication to curating this exceptional exhibition. In addition, the exhibition has been enhanced by loans from individual collectors, as well as the Altadena Library and the Pasadena Public Library. Finally, we express our sincere appreciation to The Paloheimo Foundation and Susan Stevens and Family for their generous support for the Museum’s presentation of the Pasadena Society of Artists’ Centennial Exhibition.
Jeannette L. O’Malley
Executive Director
Pasadena Museum of History
President’s Message
The Pasadena Society of Artists Centennial Celebration “100 Years – 100 Images” required a team of dedicated members to bring this exhibition together. Victor Picou (Executive Vice President), Robert Asa Crook (Historian and Archivist) and Lawrence D. Rodgers (Vice President of Exhibitions) started researching venues and historic aspects of the Pasadena Society of Artists as long ago as 2019. Their work was hindered for several years by the pandemic. However, as time passed, we assembled a committee and present this fantastic exhibition to you. I’d like to thank the Centennial Committee members: Lawrence D. Rodgers for his photographic skills, Victor Picou for his leadership, Debbi Swanson for her marketing skills, Martin Ehrlich, Robert Sullivan, Renee Rusak-Strouse, and MariBeth Baloga for their continued support.
I am grateful to the Pasadena Museum of History and especially to the Executive Director, Jeannette O’Malley, for allowing PSA to exhibit in the Museum and for her expert guidance. Our organizations were established a year apart making the Pasadena Museum of History a fitting location for our Centennial Exhibition. In addition, the Historical Exhibition that complements our contemporary exhibition would not have been possible without the expertise of Maurine St. Gaudens and her assistant, Joseph Morsman. They assisted PSA with locating many of the historic works of art.
I’d also like to thank our esteemed juror, Mr. Michael Obermeyer, President of the California Art Club. Again, PSA has a connection with the California Art Club as all 14 of our Founding Members plus many historic and memorable members, were also members of the California Art Club. The jurying process was no easy task and took several days to complete. The current membership submitted over 270 entries to be judged. Out of those submissions, Mr. Obermeyer selected the 100 works of art in the contemporary exhibition.
Finally, I’d like to thank all 122 PSA members who have maintained a 100-year-old tradition: an annual juried exhibition every year for the last 100 years!
Kathleen Swaydan President, Pasadena Society of Artists
A VERY BRIEF HISTORY OF PASADENA SOCIETY OF ARTISTS, PASADENA ARTS INSTITUTE, AND PASADENA
There are many fortuitous reasons for Pasadena’s early development. Multi-millionaires flocked to the small city, either renting suites in winter months, or outright building mansions along Orange Grove Boulevard. Early artists and craftsmen catered to this new wealthy settlement.
By the 1920s, Pasadena had grown large enough that city planners determined that newer, and more culturally relevant buildings needed to replace original structures.
At the time, the nation was reenvisioning its cities to address crime and poverty. The “City Beautiful” Movement encouraged urban beauty to support civic virtue. Pasadena leadership had long embraced this philosophy through its civically-minded residents.
Carmelita Gardens, at the intersection of Orange Grove and Colorado Boulevards, was one of the most impressive features of Pasadena. The city’s leadership saw an opportunity to establish a museum at the site to expose the public to a variety of art and culture. The
Pasadena Art Institute (PAI) was formed in 1922 to maintain such a museum for a broad selection of local, national, and international art.
Pasadena Society of Artists (PSA) was formed in 1925 on the grounds of the Pasadena Art Institute. A key purpose for the organization was “to provide a place for exhibition for Pasadena’s artists [where] only work of real merit will be accepted,”
PSA’s founders established a high criteria for membership and exhibition where prospective members were juried based upon work quality. But equally important, the new PSA did not set restrictions on gender of artists, or style of art. For professional women artists, such art associations were rare.
At first, the PAI hosted PSA’s annual exhibitions in the large mansion at Carmelita Park (aka Carmelita Gardens), including a room reserved for rotating PSA artwork. The shows were an immediate success, with regular art reviews in Southern California newspapers.
Local art was also seen and sold in Pasadena at the Asian-themed home and gallery of Grace Nicholson, an important eclectic dealer and early supporter of the PAI and PSA. (Nicholson’s building now houses the Pacific Asia Museum.)
The Great Depression and World War 2
Carmelita Residence of Prof. E.S. Carr Orange Grove Ave. Pasadena
significantly impacted Pasadena. Like other facilities in the city, Carmelita Park was repurposed for other needs, including housing the Red Cross. Through agreements with the city,
the Nicholson home and gallery became the headquarters of the Pasadena Art Institute with PSA shows, including the annuals and other shows, nurturing PSA artists to national and international attention.
Despite many challenges, the PAI and PSA became closer over the decades, with PSA artists teaching at the PAI and taking on
PSA Exhibition at PAI, 1946
leadership roles to maintain its vitality. Always modest in size, PSA drew its strength from its members’ commitment to the arts (In 1925, PSA numbered about 40 artists; six years after its founding, it had 50 artist members (1930); 19 years on, in 1944, PSA had 52 artist members.).
In 1954, the PAI changed its name to the Pasadena Art Museum (“PAM”). In 1968, Carmelita Gardens and its structures were demolished to make room for a new home for
the PAM.
However, with the new structure, the relationship between the leaders of PAM and PSA changed. PAM’s new leadership moved away from local art in favor of art produced by internationally celebrated artists.
The move was disastrous. The plans left the PAM insolvent. Much of the art by PSA members were “deaccessioned” from the museum’s collection and sold off to pay for the PAM’s debts. Furthermore, without the imprimatur of a museum exhibition, press coverage of PSA and its artists declined.
Not until 1974, when art collector Norton Simon took control of the new museum building, did the site show artwork again, albeit with Simon’s collection of old European and Asian art. Few know that the Norton Simon Museum of Art stands at the very spot where PSA was born.
Homeless since the 1970s, PSA now looks to a variety of suitable venues for its shows, including its annual exhibitions. PSA thanks the Pasadena Museum of History for its recognition of PSA’s contribution to cultural development and the museum’s hosting this centennial exhibition.
PSA’s story is not unique. As art museums continue to struggle to find relevance in today’s world, they often over-curate themselves to exclusion of local art. What is extraordinary is that PSA continues to exist, overcome challenges, and serve. PSA remains small in size (with about 125 members), but its continued existence attests to the strong commitment of its members in promoting community arts education and local artwork.
Pasadena Museum of History
Pasadena, California
February 28, 2025 – September 14, 2025
To view this artwork online please visit https://issuu.com/pasadenasocietyofartists This catalog is available for purchase from the Museum Store or directly from Blurb.com
Herbert V. B.Acker
FoundingMember
Pasadena Society of Artists
Herbert Van Blarcom Acker
Herbert Van Blarcom Acker was born in Pasadena, California on October 4, 1895.
Acker studied at the National Academy of Design in New York with Douglas Volk and Francis Jones He also studied at the Art Students League of New York with Frank DuMond, and F Louis Mora. At the Academie de la Grand Chaumiere, Paris, he studied with Cecilia Baux. Additional studies included the Academy Colarossi, Paris, and Academy of Fine Arts in Munich. His exhibitions included: Salon d’Automne, 1923
Société Nationale, in 1924, where he showed a canvas entitled Ultramarine and White Salons of America
Pasadena Art Institute, 1926-1950 (McBride Memorial Prize, 1931)
Los Angeles County Museum of Art from 1936-1938 Biltmore Salon, Los Angeles in 1925 Pasadena Society of Artists, 1925-1950 Society of Independent Artists
He was a member of:
National Arts Cub, New York American Federation of Arts
P & S of Los Angeles
Laguna Beach Art Association
Pasadena Art Institute
Pasadena Society of Artists
Art Students League, New York
His art style was realist, representational and naturalist. He was an easel painter who painted in oil. His work consists of desert landscapes and portraits. The latter can be found in private collections in the United States; London, England; and Buenos Aires, Argentina. He married Dorothy Ellis Dunn in 1929. She died in 1968 at age 70 in Westminster, California. They had a son Raymond David Acker who was born in 1931, and died in 2016 at age 85 in Rancho Mirage, California. He resided in Pasadena, California from 1925 to 1946. His addresses also included San Gabriel, California in 1947 and Altadena, California in 1959. He died in Garden Grove, California on March 21, 1977 at the age of 81. His remains are in a crypt at Rose Hills Memorial Park in Whittier, California.
Edward B. Butler
Founding Member
Pasadena Society of Artists
Born: Lewiston, Maine 1853
Died: Pasadena, California 1928
Edward Burgess Butler, businessman, art collector, painter. Butler was educated in the Boston public schools and started his business career there. in the late 1800s he moved to Chicago, Illinois where, along with his siblings, he founded Butler Brothers. The success of that business allowed Butler to build an art collection featuring the works of George Inness. This entire collection was later donated to the Chicago Art Institute. As a leading businessman in Chicago he was chairman of the finance committee for the Chicago World’s Fair in 1893. In addition, Butler was a trustee of the Chicago Art Institute.
In 1903 Butler began maintaining a residence in Pasadena, California, where he would spend the winter months. When he retired in 1914, he lived in Pasadena, where he painted in his studio overlooking the arroyo, and was active in the art community. He won several awards for his paintings. Butler was a charter member of the Pasadena Society of artists and it’s first president.
Information excerpted from the “Pasadena StarNews” , February 21, 1928
Artist’s biographical information excerpted from the Pasadena Star-News, February 21, 1928 Pasadena, California
PSA was unable to locate and display original artworks from these two founding members.
California Poppies circa 1920
Benjamin Brown (1865 - 1942)
Oil on Canvas 10" x 14"
Pasadena Museum of History Collection Fenyes-Curtin-Paloheimo Collection
Benjamin Brown
Benjamin Chambers Brown, Jr. was born in Arkansas in 1865 to a law-minded family. His father, a judge in Little Rock, wanted Brown to become a lawyer. Instead, he turned to studying photography and painting, principally at the University of Tennessee and the St. Louis School of Art. His talent brought him to Paris, France where he studied at the Academie Julian in 1890. While in France, Brown was exposed to the works of the Impressionists and Post-Impressionists. His short stay in Europe would forever influence his work. Brown was more than capable as a lithographer and etcher, but his oil paintings were by far his most popular art medium.
After returning from Europe, Brown opened his own art school in Little Rock. He also painted portraits which were in high demand among Southern society. In spite of this initial success, the Brown family made the bold move to Pasadena in 1896 after the death of the family patriarch. Brown initially hoped to recreate his success as a
portraitist to the Southern California elite. Yet, his efforts were met with indifference. His first Pasadena show was held at the Hotel Green, but sales were dismal.
Not until Brown changed his artistic focus by painting California and Southwest landscapes in a European style did success materialize. By 1905, he became well known for these landscapes, particularly those showing large expanses of California poppies. The painting on exhibit, “California Poppies,” is one such example of Brown’s most popular California landscapes.
Brown’s work was sought after across the country. He exhibited at the Louisiana Purchase Exposition of 1904, the Lewis and Clark Centennial Exhibition of 1905, the Alaska-Yukon-Pacific Exhibition of 1909, the Panama-Pacific International Exhibition of 1915, the Los Angeles Museum, and the Oakland Art Gallery where his works received awards.
Working Sketch for the Mural Modern Education/School Activities, circa 1942
F. Tolles Chamberlin (1873 - 1961)
Oil on Masonite 28.5" x 44.5"
Private Collection
F. Tolles Chamberlin
The Wachtels were not the only husband and wife artists to call Pasadena home. Frank Tolles Chamberlin and Katherine Beecher Stetson Chamberlin both had their respective collectors.
Frank Tolles Chamberlin (who preferred “Tolles”) was born in San Franciso in 1873, but when he was six, his family returned to the East Coast. Chamberlin received his first drawing lessons at the Wadsworth Atheneum. When he was 28, Chamberlin produced drawings and watercolor renderings for a landscape architect. While earning money through his drawings, he took night classes at the Art Students League, New York. By 1908, Chamberlin earned an all-expense paid scholarship to the American Academy in Rome. He was 35 years old. However, his three-year education in Italy paid off. By 1911, he was asked by the Academy to aid in mural commissions. Returning to New York in 1912, Chamberlin began his career in arts education. He was a popular instructor at the Beaux Arts Institute of Design.
Tolles Chamberlin is best known for his oil paintings, but he also was a talented sculptor and printmaker. He and his wife would make Pasadena home where both became important members of the community, including creating PSA as founding members. Tolles Chamberlin was elected PSA President from 1945–1947.
“Education (Study for the McKinley Jr. High School Mural)” is more than a proposal, but a working diagram of the final mural itself. Each block of design and color corresponds to a portion of wall space where the image can be effectively enlarged and integrated into the final work.
The mural was initiated in 1935 during the last days of the federal Public Works of Art Project. Over a seven-year span, the mural was conceived and painted, largely through the state-sponsored Southern California W.P.A. Art Project. In 1942, Los Angeles Times art critic, Arthur Millier, declared that the finished mural was “Chamberlin’s testament of faith in democratic education . . . The Southland’s finest mural.”
Bazaar Spolato (Italy) n.d.,
Alson Skinner Clark (1876 - 1948)
Oil on Canvas
36.75" x 51"
Collection of the Pasadena Public Library
Alson Clark
Alson Skinner Clark was born in 1876 to a wealthy Chicago family which allowed for travel back and forth from New York to Europe. By an early age, Alson Clark was well-familiar with France and its art.
Clark’s early artistic talent allowed him enter the Art Institute of Chicago at age 11. He would receive further education at the Academies Julien and Carmen in Paris as well as the Chase School of Art in New York. Much of Clark’s early professional life was spent in France. He painted with the broken brushwork and bright colors of the Impressionists with sufficient skill that he exhibited at the 1901 Paris Salon, the Salon des Beaux Arts, and other national exhibitions throughout Europe. Numerous museums and galleries in the United States displayed his work, often purchasing his paintings for their permanent collections. Clark studied under some of the greatest artists and art teachers in the world, including William Merritt
Chase in New York, under Alphonse Mucha in Paris, and in James McNeill Whistler’s famous 1899 class in the French capital. Much of Clark’s work is described as Tonalist or Fauvist, although he worked with, and learned from, the French Impressionist painters.
Clark moved to Pasadena where he settled into the Arroyo Seco (1149 Wotkyns Drive). He taught at Occidental College and Stickney Memorial Art School where he became its Director. He was a founding member of PSA, and acted as PSA’s President from 1930–1933.
“Bazaar Spalato” (painted around 1912) is one of Clark’s masterpieces, painted in and around the province of Spalato in Dalmatia (now part of Split, Croatia). Of the 24 canvases brought to Chicago in 1913, including the painting here, the Chicago Examiner declared that “Clark is master of his art in the application of colors as well as in construction. Always he paints in a radiant mood, and in Dalmatia he found that golden sunshine with which he exalted these subjects.”
Maud Daggett
A founding member of PSA and its first female President, from 1933-1934, Maud Daggett was born in Kansas City, Missouri in 1883. She came to Southern California with her family when she was a child. She trained at the Art Institute of Chicago and thereafter at Pasadena’s Throop Institute before she traveled to Rome and Paris for three years of further study.
Daggett was principally known as a sculptor, particularly of small frolicking children. While in France, her work was tied to La Belle Epoque – the beautiful age – which was nearing its end. Daggett participated in the official Salon the same year that Cubism would make itself known at the Salon des Independents. Daggett returned to Pasadena 1911 where she received many commissions. Daggett also exhibited in the 1909 Alaska-Yukon Exposition, the 1911 Paris Salon, and the 1915 Panama Pacific International Exposition in San Diego.
The plaster cast on display is likely a portrait of a young boy, potentially used as an intermediary model in the final casting of a bronze bust.
Pasadenans will be most familiar with Daggett’s Peter Pan frieze that runs along the fireplace of the Children’s Room of the Main Library.
Both Daggett and Benjamin Brown died within months of one another. Contemporaneously with the retrospective of their work at the PSA’s 1942 annual exhibition, the April 4, 1942, Pasadena Star News posthumously published a letter from Brown: “I have known Miss Daggett, since she was 14 and studying with Ernest Batchelder in art at old Throup Academy. . . . When I first came here, Miss Daggett and friends staged a reception for me and my work. . . . I know of all art functions and artists since that time.
Untitled (Portrait of Young Boy) Maud Daggett (1885 - 1979) Plaster xx" x xx"
Collection of the Pasadena Museum of History
“In fact, at the request of Wallace DeWolf of the Carmelita Art Gallery, I sent out invitations for a meeting, founded, and wrote the Constitution of the Pasadena Society of Artists. “. . . I will not evaluate Miss Daggett’s work, but always liked what she made. . . . You expressed my feelings at losing such a fine friend so much better than I can. . . .”
Untitled (Glassware and Toby Jug)
Antoinette de Forest Merwin (1861 - 1941)
Oil on Canvas 24" x 24"
Collection of Robert Asa Crook
Antoinette de Forest Merwin
Antoinette de Forest Parsons, later Antoinette de Forest Merwin, was a founding member of PSA. She was born in Cleveland, Ohio in 1861. She studied at the Art Student League in New York City, Saint Paul’s School of Fine Arts, and in Paris with the American Women’s Art Association where her studies of Dutch peasants received favorable reviews in 1898, and her painting of “A Young Volendamer” received similar notoriety in 1899. While in Paris, she studied with professional artists, including James McNeil Whistler. She exhibited at the Exposition Universal in Paris in 1900, The Salon des Artistes Francais in 1900 and 1901, and with the Boston Art Club among other venues. When she returned to the United States, she married attorney Timothy Merwin in 1903. For several years, the Merwins lived in New Jersey until the 1920s when Antoinette de Forest Merwin moved to 1064 Armada Drive, Pasadena without her husband. Yet, she kept her married name.
Historically, interest in Impressionism has waxed and waned with fashion. Critics of Impressionism often
found it sugary and artificial. In contrast, Merwin was a tonalist. Tonalism was an artistic style that emerged in the 1880s when American artists painted with an overall tone of colored atmosphere. Dark, neutral hues often dominated compositions by tonalist artists. Unsurprisingly, Parsons-Merwin’s instructor in Paris, James McNeill Whistler, was a leading tonalist. Compare Merwin’s “Still Life [With Glassware and Toby Jug]” and the one by Florence Tompkins. Although painted around the same time period, Parsons-Merwin is not focused upon the effect of light passing an object. The objects stand alone within an earthy color palette.
Two years before painting her Still Life, Antoinette de Forest Merwin painted the large empty interior space found in “Under the Studio Balcony.” As a tonalist, Merwin built interest in this work using contrasting tones and clever line juxtaposition to carry the viewer from the front to the back of the room. The rich darkened foreground keeps the viewer’s interest, but the brightly lit room beyond the doorway begs one to enter and see what treasures are waiting.
Alkali Lake (Daggett Lake) n.d.,
Wallace LeRoy DeWolf (1854 - 1930) Oil on Canvas 34" x 37"
Collection of Robert Asa Crook
Wallace LeRoy De Wolf
Wallace Leroy DeWolf was born in Chicago in 1854. He was largely self-taught, sketching and painting scenes of British Columbia and the American Southwest.
Before pursuing art professionally, DeWolf was a successful lawyer and real estate broker in Chicago. However, his business trips to the rural areas of the United States and Canada provided DeWolf with the opportunity to paint and sketch outdoors. Known for his open landscapes, DeWolf also produced portraits, particularly of those inhabiting the rural areas he depicted. His work is found in the book, “New Mexico the Land of the Delight Makers.”
DeWolf became an important member of the Print Committee at the Art Institute of Chicago, and one of its largest donors of rare etchings. Before moving to Pasadena, he was Director of the Art Institute of Chicago. In the mid-1920s, he was Director of the Pasadena Art Institute.
DeWolf’s story is similar to many others who escaped the wet cold snaps of the late 19th Century East Coast. The warm dry air of the San Gabriel Valley was believed to heal physical and mental infirmaries. DeWolf was one of thousands who settled near the Arroyo Seco hoping for a miracle for his ailments. Although DeWolf was a founding member of PSA, his time in Pasadena was limited. DeWolf’s health worsened with few friends or family members who could assist him. Barely a month before his death, DeWolf financially guaranteed a concert at the Pasadena Playhouse by a classical chamber orchestra. Ernest and Alice Coleman Batchelder would have appreciated the early Christmas gift.
On Christmas Day, 1930, DeWolf crawled into his closet and shot himself.
“Alkali Lake, Daggett, California” encapsulates the soft tones of the desert and its healing, warm, dry air. Originally exhibited at the Art Institute of Chicago, the painting was owned thereafter by the University of California.
Fall Landscape, Circa 1934
John Frost (1890 - 1937) Oil on Board 12" x 18"
Pasadena Museum of History Collection Fenyes-Curtin-Paloheimo Collection
John (Jack) Frost
John “Jack” Frost was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in 1890 to American illustrator Arthur B. Frost. He eventually became one of PSA’s founders.
In 1906, the Frost family moved to Paris where Frost and his father shared a studio. He was initially taught art by his father before his formal artistic training at the Academie Julian. Frost’s life in France allowed him to become a true member of the French Impressionists. He spent time in Giverny with fellow Pasadena painter Guy Rose, and was influenced by Monet and other artists of the Impressionist movement.
Jack Frost suffered from tuberculosis resulting in a two year stay at a sanitarium in Switzerland. After establishing himself as a successful illustrator in New York, Frost settled in Pasadena in 1918 where the warm, dry air was agreeable to his
medical condition. While in Pasadena, he married Priscilla Geiger in 1922. The beauty and variety of rural California inspired Frost to create California Impressionist paintings, both in oil and in watercolor. Frost favored luminous, atmospheric, colorful landscapes of the Sierra Nevada mountains, sunsets, meadows, coastal sand dunes, as well as the desert and village scenes of Southern California.
In this unusual, untitled painting (signed at its back) we see the antithesis of California Impressionism. Frost painted lush and colorful landscapes and genre paintings depicting the people of Europe and the Americas. Here, the greenery and bright color has withered off the forest trees, revealing the bones of the forest beneath.
In 1937, Frost ultimately succumbed to his lung ailments while living in his Pasadena home.
Foothill Path, Circa 1918
Jean Mannheim (1881 - 1945)
Oil on Board
18.75" x 23"
Private Collection
Jean Mannheim
Jean Mannheim was born in 1861 in Bad Kreuznach, Germany (then part of the Kingdon of Prussia). Although initially trained as a bookbinder, Mannheim would sporadically take art courses throughout Germany.
In 1883, Mannheim sailed to the United States where he taught at the Decatur Art School in Illinois while building a successful business painting oil portraits. Between 1891 and 1902, he made four trips to Paris, France where he studied art at the Academies Delecluse and Colarossi. He also exhibited in the official Paris Salon.
Jean and Eunice Mannheim ultimately settled in Pasadena in 1908. They built their house and art studio in a woodsy spot near the home of the Ernest Batchelders. Unfortunately, Eunice’s time in Pasadena was cut short when she died of peritonitis in January 1910 leaving Jean to raise their two daughters alone. Mannheim quickly gained a reputation within Southern California art circles. By 1911, Everett Maxwell, Director of the Museum of History, Science and Art
in Los Angeles described Mannheim as “essentially a figure painter [whose] great future lies wide and golden before him. However, since Mr. Mannheim’s arrival in the land of a thousand wonders, the silent call of the eternal hills has lured him forth to interpret their message of truth and beauty through the medium of his brilliant brush.”
Mannheim was strong in virtually all aspects of painting. He exhibited at the Alaska-Yukon Pacific Exhibition in Seattle, the 1915 Panama-Pacific International Exposition in San Francisco, and the 1916 Panama-California International Exposition in San Diego. The 1909 and 1916 art expositions resulted in gold medals.
In 1912, Mannheim co-opened the Stickney Memorial School of Fine Arts. Stickney was originally located in a large Craftsman building on a corner of Fair Oaks and Lincoln Avenues in Pasadena. Mannheim would later help found both the Pasadena Art Institute and PSA.
“Foothill Path” is one of Mannheim’s early efforts to paint the Southern California landscape which was already changing. Here, man’s presence is signified by the subtle traffic-carved wheel path that meanders into the hillside.
Desert in Spring (View of San Gorgonio Mtns. Palm Springs CA) n.d.,
F. Carl Smith (1868 - 1955)
Oil on Canvas 15" x 19"
Collection of Robert Asa Crook
F. Carl Smith
Frederick Carl Smith, a founding member of PSA, was born in Cincinnati, Ohio in 1868. He studied at the Cincinnati Art School, the Ohio Mechanics’ Institute, and the Academie Julian in Paris where he worked with French Impressionist painters, spending about seven years further developing his “painterly” brushwork. He married Isabel E. Smith, a fellow painter, in 1895 in London a few years before returning to the United States around 1900. By the time of his return, Carl Smith was well admired in Europe having exhibited at the Paris Salon twice, in 1897 and 1899.
Initially, the Smiths resided in Washington D.C. area where Carl exhibited at the National Academy of Design in 1900, the American Art Society in 1902; Los Angeles County Museum of Art, the Corcoran Gallery Annual of 1908, and the Society of Independent Artists of 1917. Although he painted several outdoor
scenes, his reputation in the United States at the time was primarily as a portrait painter.
By the time that the Smiths settled in Pasadena (at 217 South Oakland Avenue), Carl Smith was producing numerous Impressionist works of the Southern California area while attending Stickney Memorial Art School. Seven years after moving to Pasadena, he helped found PSA and later, the Laguna Beach Art Association. He remains known in the United States and in Europe for his portrait, marinescape, and landscape painting.
“Desert in Spring, Palm Springs, California” is one of several desert paintings that Smith painted of the area around San Gorgonio Mountain. Here, Smith utilizes the bright colors of the California Impressionists to depict the light and heat of the desert.
Pallbearers, 1908
Katherine Beecher Steson Chamberlin (1885 - 1979) Oil on Canvas 8" x 10"
Private Collection
Katherine Beecher Stetson Chamberlin
In 1918, Tolles Chamberlin married Katherine Beecher Stetson. Katherine was a talented artist in her own right apart from her husband, Tolles. She was born in Providence, Rhode Island on March 23, 1885, to painter Charles Walter Stetson and author and feminist Charlotte Perkins Gilman. Stetson received a MacDowell Fellowship which allowed her to study painting in Rome, Italy. She furthered her arts education at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts. Stetson was known for her oil paintings, but her talent extended to sculpture as well. After their marriage, the Chamberlins moved to Pasadena in 1925 where they both became active and prolific artists in Southern California, including helping to found PSA. Stetson Chamberlin was one of the first women to be elected to be
PSA President, a position she held from 19371938.
The Chamberlins resided in Pasadena until their respective deaths, which was 1979 for Stetson Chamberlin. By that time, she had earned her own collector base and reputation. Among the many galleries and museums that have shown Stetson Chamberlin’s work, these include the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, the National Academy of Design, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, as well as PSA where her work was represented in the First Annual Exhibition. The small painting on display, “Pallbearers,” is intended to look old. Painted in 1908, it would have been painted while Stetson was working in New York City. The style of painting is variously referred to as Italianate Revival, Allegorical, or Pre-Raphaelite, but each of these classifications only relates to a singular aspect of the work.
Frogs, 1917
Katherine Stetson Chamberlin (1885 - 1979)
Painted Plaster
3.5" x 2.5" x 4.25"
Private Collection
Fredrick Zimmerman
Frederick Almond Zimmerman was born in Canton, Ohio in 1886. After graduating from high school, Zimmerman moved to Pasadena in 1908 and enrolled at the University of Southern California. Unlike other artists in the growing Pasadena art colony, Zimmerman situated his studio in the downtown area at 225 South Los Robles Avenue, a venue known for its lively gatherings. Like the Orrin Whites, Zimmerman enjoyed hosting fellow PSA artists Antoinette De Forest Merwin, Ada Champlin, Harold Streator, and Herbert Acker in social teas at his studio.
Zimmerman traveled to the East Coast to study art. Although primarily a painter, Zimmerman would spend summers in New England with Victor Brenner, the sculptor of the Lincoln Penny, who would provide him with further artistic training in sculpture. Zimmerman was a founding member of PSA. He also was juried into several professional artistic associations from his earliest professional career, including the American Federation of Arts, Detroit’s Scarab Club, California Art Club, and the Laguna Beach Art Association.
In “Untitled (Beach Scene),” Zimmerman paints in lively colors to depict sunbathers in a bright scene. However, he would paint in different style, media, and detail to achieve desired effects. In “Untitled (Portrait of Mexican Man)” the portrait is subdued in color and elevated in facial details. Zimmerman relies upon line rather than color to express his subject.
Untitled (Portrait of Mexican Man), 1916, Frederic A Zimmerman (1886 - 1974)
Watercolor on Paper
12" x 8.5"
Collection of Paul Casebeer
Beach Scene, 1935, Frederic A Zimmerman (1886 - 1974) Oil on Canvas on Board 11.5" x 15"
Collection of Paul Casebeer
Brown Hillside n.d.,
Orrin A. White (1883 - 1969)
Oil on Canvas
24.75" x 29.5"
Pasadena Museum of History Collection, Gift of Nancy Dustin Wall Moure
Orrin Augustine White
Orrin Augustine White was born in 1883 in Hanover, Illinois. He graduated from the University of Notre Dame in 1902 with an artistic and scientific education. He excelled in his studies, teaching science and drawing for two years in Portland, Oregon at Columbia University (now known as the University of Portland). After further education in textile design at the Philadelphia School of Applied Arts, he became a professional textile designer at his family-owned factory while painting landscapes in his spare time. In 1912, White moved to Los Angeles where he initially worked for an interior design company. The year 1915 was pivotal for White. His paintings were exhibited at the Panama–Pacific International Exposition in San Francisco, and two of his paintings exhibited at the Panama California Exhibition in San Diego won the silver and bronze medals.
After World War 1, White moved to Pasadena and opened a studio at his home on the Arroyo Seco (2036 Linda Vista Avenue). White would also travel throughout Southern California and Mexico to paint and sketch landscapes plein air, that is, outdoors rather than in an indoor studio setting. His artwork would ultimately be collected in many public and private collections, particularly in Chicago, San Francisco, Los Angeles, and Pasadena.
On display is White’s “Brown Hillside” which was one of multiple award-winning canvases that White produced during his long life. In 1941, when “Brown Hillside” was displayed at PSA’s Seventeenth Annual Exhibition, it received PSA’s highest award – the James Ackley McBride Award. Over the decades, White would receive multiple James Ackley McBride Awards, including the first award made at 1930’s Sixth Annual Exhibition.
Pasadena Museum of History
Pasadena, California
February 28, 2025 – September 14, 2025
Untitled (Self-Portrait with Book)
Katharine Skeele Dann (1896 - 1963)
Oil on Canvas
32" x 28"
Collection of Kirk & Linds Edgar
Anna Katharine Skele Dann
Anna Katharine Skeele (also referred to as Anna Katharine Skeele Dann and Katharine Skeele Dann) was born in 1896 in Wellington, Ohio. Skeele initially studied art at Olivet College in Michigan and then, upon her move to Southern California in 1912, she continued her artistic studies at Pomona College and USC before finalizing her formal studies at the Grande Chaumiere in Paris and the Academy of Fine Arts in Florence.
Skeele is often recognized for her studies of Southwest scenes. However, she would also successfully complete portraits and landscapes of other subjects, mostly in oils. Skeele began painting the people of the Southwest in 1928, when she first visited Taos, New Mexico and was attracted to the inhabitants’ simple approach to life. She returned to New Mexico and Arizona often to paint and sketch the people and landscape in a style that was representational at first, but more abstract after 1948.
In 1936-1937, Skeele painted her only mural for Torrance High School entitled “Home Life in Old Taos.” The mural was commissioned through the New Deal’s Public Works Administration. (Restored and moved in 1974 to its current home in the Auditorium, the mural again underwent cleaning and restoration in 2001-2002 through the Torrance Historical Society.)
Skeele’s “Untitled (Self-Portrait with Book)” was painted about 1935, early in her career. This painting was influenced by the American Regionalism emerging in this time period. As a member of Dorothy Browdy Kushner’s “The Group,” Skeele continued to change as an artist, exploring Modernism and abstraction at a time when women artists’ forays into new styles and conventions were treated skeptically by critics and the art buying public.
Skeele’s work is part of the permanent collections of the Los Angeles County Museum, San Diego Museum, and Long Beach Museum of Art.
Anna Katharine Skeele Dann, “The Cornpickers” (circa 1926) “The Cornpickers” is a hand pulled lithograph, created at a time when new art collectors were looking for more affordable methods to collect art. Artists in California responded to the demand with etchings, lithographs, and other methods of limited mass production.
The subject of the piece reflects increasing exposure to contemporary artists from Mexico. Here, Anna Katharine Skeele (20 years before she married Frode Dann) presents an energetic print of laboring workers by carefully placing contrasting lines against each other.
Untitled, (Southwest Landscape) n.d.,
Collection of Eric Berg & Early California Antiques
Anya Fisher
Anya Fisher was born in 1905 as Anya Mikhailovna Lieberzon in Odessa, Imperial Russia. Her family was affluent and artistic with young Anya identified as a musical prodigy. However, after the Bolshevik Revolution left Anya Fisher’s father dead in 1917, her family fled Odessa to Minnesota. While there, she studied at the MacPhail School of Music and played with the Minnesota Symphony. Eventually, she won a scholarship to study at the Music Conservatory at Fontainbleau. However, when money was unavailable to fund her studies, she quit music forever and moved to New York City where she explored the bohemian, artistic subculture of Greenwich Village during the 1930s.
After her first marriage failed, Fisher moved to San Francisco, where she earned her living writing art reviews for the San Francisco Chronicle. While there, she met and married her second husband, Eddie Fisher, and moved to Los Angeles County. By 1947, Fisher was painting and drawing prolifically. Fisher was lauded as a painter, poet, and
teacher. Her visual artwork is known for bright colors and abstracted female forms. In all of her work, Fisher developed a particular style which some have described as fusing Russian religious icons with modern art technique. The result is a flattened perspective and jewel-like coloring.
Through it all, Fisher found limited opportunities for women artists in Los Angeles. While in PSA, Fisher nurtured relationships with local modern artists, including PSA artist Betye Saar.
During the 1950s, Fisher held solo exhibitions at the Pasadena and Long Beach Art Museums, among other galleries and public institutions. She also remained active in PSA, including acting as its President from 19871988.
“Untitled (Southwest Landscape)” is an oil and canvas work where Fisher pushed her abstraction into a new direction. Here, she has muted her colors and simplified her shapes, creating a surreal landscape where there is no particular reference as to the location of the depicted scene.
Arline Helm was born in raised in Los Angeles. She decided in high school that she wanted to be a commercial artist so she enrolled at Los Angeles Trade-Technical College. After 55 years as a commercial artist working as a retail illustrator, Helm attended evening classes at Art Center and Glendale College where she was introduced to watercolor. Thus began Helm’s self-proclaimed “love affair” with the medium. As a fine artist, Helm focused upon watercolor as her principal means of expression with the American Southwest being her favorite subject. She started exhibiting her paintings in earnest in 2004 with her first solo show in 2007.
Helm recounted that “a number of people
have told me that many of my paintings give them a feeling of peace and serenity. I guess that might be because while I am painting, I feel completely content and totally at peace with the world and everything around me. I love the peace and quiet of the countryside away from the city with its noise and over-population.”
“Vasquez Rocks” is an example of Helm’s colorful look at the Southwestern desert. In spite of the accolades and awards that she amassed in a short time, Helm’s fine art career was prolific but brief. She died in 2017, only ten years after her first solo show. Yet her legacy lives on. The Burbank Art Association awards an Arline Helm scholarship to a high school student pursuing art studies in
Despair
Betty Rodbard (1909 - 1999)
Bronze, Single Casting 8" x 2" x 4"
Collection of Betty Rodbard Young
Elizabeth “Betty” Rodbard
Modernist artist Elizabeth “Betty” Rodbard was born in 1909. She exhibited heavily with PSA during the late 1960s when her work was also being shown at the Long Beach and Los Angeles Art Associations, Mount Saint Mary’s College, and the Oakland Art Museum. Her work also traveled for two years to Japan and Germany along with other PSA artists of the time. Rodbard is known for painting, but she also worked in sculpture as the two works on exhibit attest.
Rodbard was a member of “The Group” – a loose association of women artists who met in a chicken barn at Dorothy Browdy Kushner’s studio and home to discuss modern art and their own abstract work.
Created in 1968, “Despair” and “Determination” are unique bronze sculptures cast and fabricated as part of a set. Rodbard’s bronzes are heavily abstracted and lacking facial features to convey emotion. Here, emotions of despair and determination are conveyed by the effective use of empty space to create movement and to portray emotion.
Determination, Circa 1968
Betty Rodbard (1909 - 1999)
Collection of Susan Rodbard Young
Bronze, Single Casting
8" x 2" x 4"
Untitled (Deer Grazing)
Conrad Buff (1886 - 1975)
Oil on Masonite 24" x 36"
Collection of Pasadena Public Library
Conrad
Buff
Future PSA artist Hansen Puthuff had been teaching life classes out of his Los Angeles studio when he co-founded the Art Students League of Los Angeles in April 1906. Unlike the art school bearing the same moniker in New York City, the Los Angeles school was far more modest. Yet, in spite of its modest size, the League produced a number of notable artists. These included future PSA painters Mabel Alvarez and Conrad Buff, both of whom have examples of their work in this exhibition.
Throughout his long and productive life, Buff was an experimenter. He was born in 1886 in Speicher, Switzerland. From a child, Buff was inspired by the great mountain ranges that surrounded his hometown. Even in later life, when he was painting the arid Grand Canyon, the appeal of mountains and valleys affected his art. After initially studying embroidery, an instructor encouraged Buff to switch to a fine arts career. Buff dropped out of school, a decision that angered his mother to the point he was evicted from his home.
At nineteen, Buff landed at Ellis Island. He undertook several menial jobs before arriving in Los Angeles County in 1907. By the time Buff matriculated into the Los Angeles’ Art Students League, he felt abused by nearly every employer on his journey to the West Coast.
Buff’s work at the art school was important in his professional development, but again he frustrated quickly, particularly with one instructor who regularly redrew and repainted students’ canvases according to the instructor’s own ideas. Buff resented this treatment.
Aside from illustrating the children’s books of his wife, Mary, Buff resolved to work for himself if feasible.
The painting on display, “Deer Grazing,” is an early example of Conrad Buff, painted at a time when his work was detailed and nearly pointillistic. As Buff developed into a significant modern painter, he abandoned detailed imagery for wide swaths of color juxtaposed against one another, forming the sense of a canyon scene, but abstracting the landscape.
Altadena Hills, Circa 1950, Dorothy Kushner (1909 - 2000) Mixed Media 22" x 27"
Collection of Janet & Andy Sway
Dorothy Ruth Browdy Kushner
Dorothy Ruth Browdy Kushner was born in 1909 in Kansas City, Missouri. In 1928, after graduating Kansas City Teachers College to become an elementary school teacher, Kushner changed career course, studying fine art at the Kansas City Art Institute, the Chicago Art Institute, the University of Wisconsin, and New York’s Art Students League. In 1946, she married Joseph Kushner and moved to Altadena where she experimented with Modernism. Her work moved from Realism to abstracted Modernism, resulting in a series of cubist-inspired work she referred to as Prismatics.
Among her regular visitors included PSA-affiliated artists Betty Rodbard, Dorothy Lotts, Sally Glenn, Katherine Skeele Dann, Audrey Peterson, Lee Hill, Mary Jane Kieffer, Ann Roberts, Bettye Saar, Esther Staeyart, Miriam Stein, Mildred Townsend, Corrine West, and
avant garde poet Helga Hansen (the widow of painter Ejnar Hansen).
Around 1951, the Kushner family moved to a chicken ranch in Arcadia. One of the barns became a studio as well as a gathering place for experimental women artists. A community developed as Kushner, and other progressive women painters and writers, gathered every month to supportively critique each other’s work. Referring to themselves as “The Group,” they met from around 1955 to 1972. Kushner exhibited frequently with art associations, but she was particularly active in PSA. During the late 1960s, she taught painting and drawing at Pasadena City College, Rio Hondo College, and Citrus College.
“Untitled (Altadena Hillside)” is a mixed media work that was created around 1950, likely before the Group began. It shows Kushner’s advanced understanding of aesthetics and abstraction. Here the Altadena landscape has been abstracted to a point that it embraces cubist perspective.
Duval Eliot
Duval Eliot, also known as Ruby Duval Bearden, was born in 1909 in Arkansas but moved with her family to Los Angeles where she would grow up to attend Hollywood High School and later at The Los Angeles Trade Technical College. She studied Commercial Art and Design while beginning her art career as a men’s fashion illustrator. She furthered her artistic training at the Art Center School in the former Douglas Fairbanks Senior Estate (at 2025-2027 North Highland Avenue) as one of its first students at the site.
Eliot quickly mastered oil, watercolor, and silkscreen (serigraphy). She became nationally known for her versatility, composition, and bright colors. Fortuitously, while at Art Center School, she simultaneously worked designing fashion illustrations for high-end department stores. In 1934, she eloped with Don Eliot, who taught sculpture at Stickney. By 1937, Eliot was teaching fashion illustration at Art Center School.
Throughout the 1940’s, Eliot supplemented her fashion commissions with watercolor paintings that expressed a hopeful California Regionalism. Eliot’s fine art watercolors focused upon open air scenes, but with common folk laboring in their pursuits as opposed to open natural landscapes. She furthered her fine art techniques with fellow PSA artists Ejnar Hansen, Conrad Buff, James Couper Wright, Leonard Edmonson, and with Milford Zornes.
During the 1950s-1970s, Eliot, and fellow PSA artist Curtis Tann, helped uplift baked enamel on metalwork as a popular art form.
In 2003, thirteen years after her death, an exhibition of Eliot’s work was held at Jae Carmichael’s former “Pasadena School of Fine Art” on Mentor Avenue where Eliot, Carmichael, and other professional artists would create art on Thursday evenings.
Her work remains in the collections of the Los Angeles County Art Museum, the Laguna Art Museum, The Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising (FIDM), The Carnegie Collection, The Autry Western Heritage Museum, and the National Museum of Women in the Arts (Washington D.C.)
Untitled, n.d., Duval Eliot
Drawing
28" x 23"
Collection of Julie Otto
Unrirled, (Arroyo Landscape), n.d.,
Enjar Hansen (1884 - 1965)
Oil on Canvas 12" x 16"
Collection of Tom Oldfield
Enjar Hansen
Ejnar Hansen was born in Copenhagen, Denmark in 1884 into a farming family. Like PSA artist Frode Dann, he was initially sent to a technical school to become a painting contractor and not a fine painter. However, he changed his career path and went to the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts in Copenhagen where he became part of the De Tretten (The Thirteen), a group of modernist painters who rebelled against academic style and expressed great interest in Expressionism and Cubism.
Yet, Hansen’s turn to modernism was far less extreme. He favored the works of Norwegian painter Edvard Munch who would paint his inner anxieties. Nevertheless, he also painted in an impressionist style.
By the time that Hansen settled into Pasadena in 1924, he was already supporting himself through teaching and painting. He joined the faculties of Chouinard Art Institute, the Otis Art Institute, Pomona College, John Muir College, and the Art Center School in Los An geles. He also provided
private teaching to several art students, including those who would ultimately join PSA. During his life in the United States, Ejnar Hansen’s paintings in oil and watercolor were commercially and critically popular. Awards at art competitions brought national commissions, particularly for murals painted under the auspices of the Works Project Administration (W.P.A.), including the mural “The Uncovering of the Comstock Lode” for a Post Office in Nevada.
However, for the most part, Hansen’s art was modest in size and included landscapes, stilllifes, portraits, and figurative paintings. Although his palette brightened with his exposure to California Impressionism, a somber theme continued into his later works.
“Untitled (Arroyo Landscape)” demonstrates the effects of California Impressionism upon Ejnar Hansen. Here, nature is devoid of mankind. The only potential sign of man is a dirt path that meanders through the foreground to the background.
Flintridge Hills Circa 1920
Elmer Wachtel (1864 - 1929)
Oil on Canvas 30" x 40"
Collection of Pasadena Public Library
Elmer Wachtel
Elmer Wachtel, “Flintridge Hills” (circa 1920)
At the time Elmer Wachtel was studying painting, American art looked to Munich, not Paris, for its artistic inspiration. Dark paintings with controlled brushstrokes and somber, contemplative scenes fit well into the Victorian homes, especially if they were displayed in fine gilded frames. If California artists were inspired by French artwork, they initially looked to French Barbizon painting style which shared a great deal of the qualities with German painting styles, including darker canvases with moody and solemn depictions of unfamiliar flora and fauna.
Elmer Wachtel’s “Flintridge Hills” shows Wachtel’s Tonalist side beyond that depicted in “A Golden Afternoon.” Here, Wachtel utilizes a darker foreground and a lighter background to provide a sense of depth. While he relies upon an energetic brushstroke, the greenish and muted brown tones are calming and nearly anticipatory.
Around the time that this painting was created, the Devil’s Gate Dam was built in 1920 to retain needed water. The dam’s effect upon the town of Flintridge was unknown, and controversial. Wachtel seems to be freezing the community in time before it becomes unrecognizable.
A Golden Afternoon, n.d.,
Elmer Wachtel (1864 - 1929)
Oil on Canvas
8" x 10" Estimated xanvas size Collection of Bradford * Lynn Macneil
Elmer Wachtel
One of the first professional painters to arrive in Southern California were Elmer Wachtel and Marian Kavanaugh Wachtel.
Elmer Wachtel was born in Baltimore, Maryland in 1864. When he was 18, he moved to San Gabriel, California, where his brother had married the sister of Pasadena Impressionist Guy Rose (Guy would marry future PSA artist Ethel Rose). Prior to arriving in California, Elmer Wachtel was a blue-collar worker with little formal education. Yet, after he arrived in California, he taught himself to play the violin to such a high level that by 1888, he became a First Violinist in the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra.
Discovering his visual arts talents late in life, Wachtel entered the Art Students League in New York City in 1900. Upon his return to Southern California, Elmer Wachtel continued to earn money as a violinist while also building his business as both painter and art teacher. He quickly devel-
oped his signature style.
Elmer Wachtel is often credited with incorporating his knowledge of the dark Barbizon style through his association with William Keith (a noted Barbizon painter of Northern California landscapes) and Wachtel’s travels to New York and London. However, Wachtel was not a true Barbizon purist, nor was he particularly a Tonalist. The majority of his work was also influenced by Impressionism. Elmer Wachtel was a member of PSA for only one year, 1929, before he died on a painting excursion with his wife.
The exact location of “A Golden Afternoon” is unknown, but the Los Angeles Times in 1911 commented favorably on a painting depicting Malibu bearing the same title. “The more distant hills, steep and craggy, and made radiant by rays of the declining sun, have the grandiose and brooding dignity of the lonely pyramids.”
La Loma Bridge Under Construction circa 1914
Ernest A. Batchelder (1875 - 1957)
Oil on Canvas 12" x 16.25"
Pasadena Museum of History Collection
Ernest A. Batchelder
Ernest Allan Batchelder was born in 1875 in Nashua, New Hampshire. Although his family was in construction, Batchelder wanted to teach art. Batchelder came to Pasadena in 1901 to teach at Stickney School of Art and Throop Polytechnic Institute (now known as Caltech). Within four years, he became Director of both Art Departments.
Batchelder was charmed by the philosophies of the Arts and Crafts Movement. By 1909, he had built a bungalow and art studio on a bank of the Arroyo Seco. The next year, he opened his “School of Design and Handicraft” to teach embroidery, pottery, metalwork, and other handmade crafts. Although the school closed after a year, many of its artisans stayed in Pasadena joining the active art colony.
Batchelder built a kiln in back of his home from which he produced handcrafted art tiles. Although mass produced to some extent, Batchelder saw his tiles as individual works of artistic expression. Thus, his tiles bridged the gap between industrial design and fine art.
Batchelder was active in both teaching and promoting artistic expression. He was instrumental in the founding of the Pasadena Art Institute and was also a Chairman of the Board of Directors for the Pasadena Playhouse to which he contributed an original tile fireplace and fountain.
His wife, Alice Coleman Batchelder, was also important to the cultural scene in Southern California. Pasadena’s Coleman Chamber Music Association is one of the oldest organizations in the United States dedicated to chamber music. Throughout their lives, the Batchelders supported each other’s diverse cultural efforts.
Many know of his quintessential fireplaces, but few are aware of Batchelder’s skill at painting. On display is a rare example of Batchelder’s oil on canvas work.
The construction of the La Loma Bridge, also known as the Huntington Terrace Bridge, allows us to date this painting accurately. For over a century, artists have painted this bridge. Batchelder’s work is one of the first.
Untitled, n,d,. Florence Tompkins (1883 - 1963)
Watercolor
16" x 19"
Collection of Robert Asa Crook
Florence Tompkins
Florence Lusk Tompkins was born in Washington, D.C. in 1883. In the 1920s, after Tompkins completed her art studies and moved to Pasadena, she refined her painting techniques with PSA artists Conrad Buff and Ejnar Hansen. Mostly known for still lifes, landscapes, and European scenes, Tompkins was talented in demonstrating the effects of light, particularly the translucence of flowers and leaves and the effects of light splitting through glass and onto objects around it. By the time she became a member of PSA, Tompkins was a well-respected artist with a burgeoning professional art career.
Unsurprisingly, Tompkins was also a member of other professional arts organizations and
societies, including the California Watercolor Society, a medium at which she excelled. Tompkins’ interests were not limited to the visual arts. A member of the Schubert Choralists, she would open her studio home at 866 North Chester Avenue where musical programs would be held. She also promoted the artwork of others in the Pasadena community, including by chairing the Pasadena Art Fair in 1952.
The watercolor on display examines the play of light and water through a glass vase, a favorite Tompkins theme. The beauty of the flowers is almost secondary to the effect of the light and shadow in the background.
Lupins, (San Fernando Valley)
Franz Bischoff (1864 - 1929)
Oil on Canvas 20" x 27"
Collection of Maria Antonia Nives Brackenridge
Franz Bischoff
Franz Bischoff, “Lupins, San Fernando Valley”
An early member of PSA, Franz Arthur Bischoff was born in Bomen, Austria in 1864. He showed talent in the popular art of painting porcelain while in the ceramic craft studios of Vienna. His exceptional talent led to employment in the ceramic studios of New York City, Pittsburgh, Fostoria, and Dearborn. While Bischoff lived on the East Coast, he founded the Bischoff School of Ceramic Art where he taught all aspects of ceramic craft. By this time, Bischoff had earned a substantial reputation as the “King of the Rose Painters.” His ceramics were selected for exhibition at the 1893 Columbian Exhibition in Chicago, 1904 Louisiana Purchase Exhibition in St. Louis, and the 1914 Panama-California International Exhibition in San Diego. After moving to Southern California, Bischoff
built his Italian Renaissance style home in 1908 (complete with gallery, ceramic workshop, and painting studio) along the Arroyo Seco in South Pasadena. The park-like setting was inspirational to him. He continued to paint ceramics, but Bischoff expanded his work into traditional oil on canvas painting. The painting on display, “Lupins, San Fernando Valley,” is a rare example of his later works on canvas.
Oil painting provided a counterpoint to Bischoff’s ceramic work. Although Bischoff attempted landscape, his bright colors and rich brushstroke were most effective in depicting floral subjects. Yet, Bischoff found excellent subjects within the Arroyo Seco, coastal scenes of Monterey, the Sierra Nevada Mountains, the stark Southwest deserts around Palm Springs, and the steep purple mountains of Zion National Park.
Golden Hills, 1944
Frode Dann (1892 - 1984)
Oil on Canvas 20" x 25"
Collection of Kirk & Linds Edgar
Frode Dann
Frode Neilsen Dann was born in 1892 on a farm in Jelstrup, Havbro, Denmark. Dann would later comment that he “should have been plowing and milking cows, not painting.” Although his parents were “plain farmer folk,” their six children all became writers or visual artists.
At fourteen, Dann’s father told his son that if he wanted to be a painter, Dann had to learn the profession, but his father initially directed Dann to apprentice as a housepainter, not as a student at an art school.
The situation rectified itself when Dann studied at the Royal Academy in Copenhagen where he learned to draw and paint in a variety of media. He also worked at the Royal Academy as an art restorer. In 1926, at the behest of an uncle living in California, Dann immigrated to the United States and settled in the Pasadena area. Frode Dann taught art at Otis Art Institute, and later at Chaffey College in Ontario, California, while he developed a professional reputation among the Southern California art community.
When he initially came to California, watercolor was his principal medium. However, in the 1940s he again returned to oil painting in earnest.
An important component to Frode Dann’s art career was his marriage to Katherine Skeele in 1946. Together, the Danns established the Pasadena School of Fine Arts in 1951, about the same time that they both became members of PSA. Frode Dann also became an art critic for the Pasadena Star News.
“Golden Hills,” painted in 1944, aptly shows Dann’s embrace of Regionalism. His subjects tend to be gentle landscapes and studies of urban development with portraits and still-lifes making up a much smaller body of his work. He generally avoided social criticism which was often associated with this style of work. Dann’s work seems naïve at first, but soft brush strokes and minimalized detail convey nature’s peaceful stillness.
Birds on the Rocks, n.d., Gwenda Davies (1923 - 2005)
Casine
24" x 30"
Collection of Helena Davies
Gwenda Davies
Born as Gwenda Mair in 1923 and artistically active in the 1950s and 1960s, Gwenda Davies was an abstract painter. “Birds on a Cliff” is one such example of her work. Gwenda and her husband, Richard, were both prominent figures in Altadena. Surrounded by people with strong left and right brain skills, the Davies incorporated both into their lives. The Davies were friends with scientists and artists alike, including PSA artist Jerry Zorthian. In addition to being a visual artist,
Gwenda was an art teacher and the curator of education at the Pasadena Art Museum. We are fortunate to show “Birds on a Cliff.” Much of Davies’ work was destroyed in the Eaton Canyon fire. This painting survived because it was away from the Davies’ former home awaiting consideration for its inclusion in this exhibition.
Bird in the Golden Rushes, n.d., (Golden Rutile in Smokey Quartz)
Katherine Clarke (1896 - 1990)
Oil on Panel 15" x 20"
Collection of the Robert Asa Crook
Katherine Clarke
Katherine Clarke, “Bird in the Golden Rushes (Golden Rutile in Smoky Quartz)” (circa 1959)
Katherine Foster Clarke was born in Honolulu, Hawaii in 1896, but grew up in Chicago. Clarke began her art studies at 13 years of age at the Chicago Art Institute. While at the Institute, she met her husband, Marquis D. Clarke. After further studies in Paris, the Clarkes settled in Pasadena in the late 1930s. Like other PSA artists, World War 2 brought new challenges and opportunities. During that time, Clarke drew weather maps at Cal-Tech where she was exposed to the mysterious beauty of crystals. After the war, Clarke taught art for 30 years at Pasadena City College and other schools. Her personal painting style varied. Clarke
would paint nonrepresentational landscapes at the same time she was depicting representational work such as “Bird in the Golden Rushes (Golden Rutile in Smoky Quartz).” Yet, there would be a common thread among her post-war work – the beauty and complexity of crystals found deep within the earth. In many ways, PSA was ahead of its time. Women and men came together to work, discuss, share, educate, and promote artwork with equal voice at a time when the works by women artists were still seen in many circles as inferior to those of men. “Bird in the Golden Rushes” was last publicly exhibited in 1960 at a PSA exhibition held at Descanso Gardens. At that time, Clarke was President of PSA (1959-1961).
Untitled (Altadena, CA), n.d., Hanson Putthuff (1875 - 1972) Oil on Can ,. bvcdeferghjtx vas Board 10" x 12.5"
Private Collection
Hanson Duvall Puthuff
Hanson Duvall Puthuff was born in Waverly, Missouri in 1875. Although his family was of little means, Puthuff studied at the Art Institute of Chicago before moving to Colorado in 1889 to study at University of Denver Art School. He traveled to Los Angeles in 1903 where he would teach evening classes at Los Angeles’ Art Students League while he worked a day job for over 20 years painting billboards. His commercial work afforded Puthuff with the opportunity to paint landscapes plein air, and often on the roadsides where he was painting a variety of signs. Aside from his labors painting clever jingles, Puthuff was known early on as a natural landscape painter. Like PSA’s Elmer Wachtel, Puthuff incorporated Tonalism into his own work which straddled Barbizon style painting – with its dark, moody foreground – and 47
bright Impressionism. Unlike Wachtel, Puthuff grew more comfortable with broad, seemingly unrestrained brushstrokes of color as his painting career developed. He was an avid plein air painter, working with many such California Impressionists, especially his friend and fellow PSA artist Sam Hyde Harris. Puthuff’s humble beginnings and personality belied his impressive exhibition awards, including multiple awards given at the 1909 Alaska–Yukon–Pacific Exposition, a bronze medal at the Paris Salon in 1914, and two silver medals from the Panama-California Exposition in 1915.
The small painting on exhibition, “Untitled (Altadena, California)” demonstrates the effect of Barbizon style painting on Puthuff’s work. Like other Tonalists, Puthuff silhouetted the dark tree line against the deep red mountains above Altadena, providing a sense of depth and interest to the work.
The Verdugos, circa 1925, Hanson Puthuff (1875 - 1972)
Private Collection
Oil on Board
13" x 14.5"
Watercolor
Collection of Carla Tomaso & Msry Hayden
Jae Carmichael
Jane Giddings “Jae” Carmichael was born in 1925 into the Giddings and Hollingsworth families, prominent pioneers that originally settled Pasadena. Jae Carmichael studied art at Mills College, and earned a Bachelor’s degree in fine art from USC as well as a PhD in cinematography and art history. When she joined PSA, Carmichael was attending Claremont College working towards an M.F.A. Carmichael also studied with other notable PSA artists, absorbing some of their painting styles.
Carmichael’s work varied both in technique, subject matter, and media. She was comfortable painting watercolor scenes as well as abstractions in oil. She produced sculpture, murals, oil paintings, stained glass (which can still be seen at the Mountain View Mausoleum in Altadena), photography, and films. From the 1950s, she was an active art teacher in Southern California, serving as Director of the Pasadena School of Fine Arts and, at the same time, serving as a cinematography professor at USC, a position that she would
hold in the ensuing decades.
Carmichael continually nurtured PSA, including acting as its President in 1970-1971. By the time she died in Pasadena in 2005, Carmichael was a notable painter, sculptor, and photographer, who staged more than 200 solo exhibitions in galleries in Los Angeles, Japan, and Europe. Her work is included in the permanent collections of the Oakland Museum of California, the Long Beach Museum of Art, the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, among other institutions.
Carmichael’s “Squash and Things” comfortably straddles both representational and nonrepresentational abstraction. By the time of its creation, PSA had moved from a traditionalist art society into one that comfortably included modern-style artwork alongside traditional academic art.
“Woods Cove, Laguna Beach” focuses upon dark rocks pulverized over the centuries by ocean tides. Ironically, the hard rock is at the mercy of the soft water and sand which constantly shapes it over time.
Woods Cove, Laguna Beach, n.d.,
Jae Carmichael (1025 - 2005)
28" x 33.5"
Squash & Things, n. d.,
Jae Carmichael (1925 - 2005)
Oil on Canvas
24" x 30.5"
Collection of Robert Asa Crook
Lying Lion, n.d.,
Jiyar Zorthian (1911 - 2004)
Pen and Ink
15.5" x 14"
Collection of Helena Davies
Jiyayr Zorthian
Few are known as talented fine artists as well as colorful local celebrities. Jirayr “Jerry” Hamparzoom Zorthian was both.
Born in 1911 in Kütahya, Western Anatolia, Zorthian and his immediate family escaped the Armenian Genocide by fleeing to the United States. Deciding to pursue a career in art, he earned a Master of Fine Arts at Yale University on a scholarship, and further studied art in Rome, Italy.
After finishing his artistic studies, Zorthian returned to the United States during the Great Depression. Zorthian’s work at this time was most like other American Regionalists, or “WPA artists.” Utilizing stylized figures with streamlined shapes, PSA artists Ruth Fracker Kempster, Frode Dann, and Katherine Skeele Dann adopted elements of Regionalism/Social Realism. However, Zorthian often embraced sharp commentary where others would borrow only the style. Initially, Zorthian worked on portraits and murals. In 1938, he painted eleven murals for the Tennessee State Capitol. Tennessee recognized the impressive
result by designating Zorthian with the honorary title of “Colonel”.
In the ensuing decades, Zorthian’s work changed both in color palette, inclusion of surrealism, and placement of exaggerated caricatures in his work. The playful “Lying Lion” and “Monkey” were both executed in 1953, the year Zorthian exhibited in a solo show as the Pasadena Museum of Art. Both were created with a Chinese/Japanese brushed ink technique and Zorthian’s penchant for playful caricatures. They represent a slice of work made at a particular time. Throughout his life, Zorthian was a unique sculptor, muralist, sketch artist, and painter. Much of his later work embraced bright colors, angular shapes, and jarring social criticism. Yet, Zorthian was also an optimistic, civically-minded creative, providing an outlet to professional artists and amateurs alike. He particularly enjoyed leading children to explore their innate artistic abilities.
Locals may remember Zorthian Ranch, Zorthian’s home and studio in Altadena. Sadly, much of the ranch and Zorthian’s artistic work was destroyed in the recent Eaton Canyon Fire.
14 " x 15.5"
Collection of End of the World
Monkey, n. d., Jirayr Zorthian (1911 - 2004)
Pen and Ink
Kay Snodgrass
Kay B. Kessler Snodgrass was born in 1940 in Bogota, Colombia to European émigré parents, but her life was lived throughout the world. After meeting her husband, Bob Snodgrass, in Boston, she graduated from the Massachusetts College of Art in 1978, majoring in printmaking. She was also adept in hand embossing, frequently combining both artistic techniques together.
Snodgrass and her family moved to Southern California in 1980 where she continued to produce fine art etchings in her garage studio. PSA honored Snodgrass with a distinguished artist exhibition in September 2015, less than a year before her death.
“Dansa Katrina” is an example of Snodgrass’ ability to synthesize humor and tragedy, incorporating symbolism from the cultures she encountered through her world travels. The place is Louisiana. The time is 2005, immediately after Hurricane Katrina struck thus forcing the poor to the tops of their roofs waiting for help. The horrified woman hanging perilously by a cable with child in hand is caught between life and death. The dancing skeletons in the turbulent broken levy incorporate the Medieval “Dance of Death” with the African and Native American cemetery spirits that haunt New Orleans.
“Soldiers” is an etching that takes a serious underlying topic and presents it at first glance with a dash of humor. Kay Snodgrass etched a hyper-realistic crate of asparagus, packed straight and uniform, and gave her work a disconcerting title. The viewer can enjoy the charm of fresh produce, or question if there is a hidden reference to war. Are these uniform soldiers shipping out to the front line, or are they stacked together for burial?
Dansa Katarina, n,d,. Kay Snodgrass (1940 - 2015)
Etching
30" x 23"
Collection of Robert Asa Crook
Etching
Private Collection
Soldiers, n. d., Kay Snodgrass (1940 - 2015)
18.5" x 24"
Artist’s Proof, 1967, Leonard Edmondson (1916 - 2002)
Monotype 19" x 25.5"
Collection of Stanley Edmondson
Leonard Edmondson
Leonard Edmondson was born in Sacramento in 1916. He formal art studies began at Los Angeles City College, and in 1937, he entered the University of California at Berkeley, receiving his B.A. degree in 1940 and his M.A. degree in 1942. Edmondson was particularly impressed by Paul Klee whose art would inspire Edmondson’s turn from figurative art to non-objective.
Edmonson would become known as a visionary modern painter, printmaker, teacher, and author. He returned to Southern California in 1947 after accepting a teaching position in the art department at Pasadena City College. Meanwhile, he continued to create his own works. Known for his printmaking, he also worked in a wide variety of media. At the time he joined PSA, Edmonson’s style was changing, incorporating Surrealism and Abstract Expressionism. He joined the California Watercolor Society around the same
time that Frode Dann, a fellow modern artist, joined. He was among a handful of PSA modernists who were changing the American art scene. After Edmondson took a class in etching in 1951, the following year one of his prints was an award winner at the Sixth Annual National Print Exhibition at the Brooklyn Museum. His first solo museum exhibition took place the same year at the De Young Memorial Museum in San Francisco followed by solo exhibitions at the Pasadena Museum of Art and the Santa Barbara Art Museum. He won his first Tiffany Fellowship in 1953 and the second in 1955.
“Untitled (Still Life)” was completed in 1967 at a time that Edmonson’s life and artwork evolved further. Artistically, the early 1960s saw Edmonson continue to push his work
Leonard Edmondson
Leonard Edmondson, Two Untitled Prints In 1960, Leonard Edmonson was awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship which allowed him to further study and develop his printmaking. Here, we have two prints, one that is signed “For Patron of PSA.” In comparison to the painting “Untitled (Still Life),” these prints are profoundly abstracted scenes, leaving the viewer to discern what is depicted. Edmondson’s work is represented in the collections of the Cranbrook Academy of Art, Bloomfield Hills, Michigan; the Brooklyn Museum, New York; the Dallas
Museum of Fine Art, Texas; the Detroit Institute of Arts Museum, Michigan; the Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art at Cornell University, Ithaca, New York; the Victoria and Albert Museum, London; the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, California; the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the New York Public Library, New York; Oakland Museum of California Art, California; the Bibliothèque Nationale de France, Paris; the Philadelphia Museum of Art, Pennsylvania; the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, California; the Seattle Art Museum, Washington; the National Gallery, Washington, D.C.; and the Worcester Art Museum, Massachusetts.
Untitled, 1967, Leonard Edmondson (1916 - 2002) Oil on Canvas 40" x 50"
Collection of Stanley Edmondson
Untitled Desertscape (Western Scene) Circa 1924
Louis Hovey Sharp (1847 - 1946)
Oil on Board
15.5" x 19.5"
Private Collection
Louis Hovey Sharp
Louis Hovey Sharp was born in Glencoe, Illinois in 1874. After graduating from Phillips Exeter Academy, Sharp studied at the Art Institute of Chicago. Sharp spent much of his artistic years painting in Italy, Switzerland, and the Austrian Alps. There he gained a love of mountain ranges which would frequently be the subject of his work in Southern California.
Sharp was also known for his desert landscapes. He sketched for a brief time on the Hopi reservation in Arizona before moving to Pasadena, California in 1914 where he would live with his wife, Mary Elizabeth Sharp, at their home on 750 North Mentor.
Sharp was one of the early members of PSA.
Initially, Sharp kept two studios in Pasadena and Taos, New Mexico (where he was an important figure in the Taos art colony). He would travel and paint in the Grand Canyon, the Monterey Peninsula and, for a brief time in 1929, he returned to paint in the Austrian Tyrol.
In “Springtime,” painted before he returned to Austria, Sharp takes California Impression to an extreme. The colors and energetic brushstroke suggest a lush forest, but the details are nearly abstract.
“Untitled Desertscape” is one of Sharp’s early attempts to depict the Southern California desert. For California Impressionists, such efforts were initially experimental. Sharp was one of several PSA artists who looked to the desert for inspiration. Here, he focuses his gaze upon the bright blue sky and its saturation of the land below.
Private Collection
Springtime Circa 1928, Louis Harvey Sharp (1847 - 1946) Oil on Paper on Board
15.5" x 19.5"
Mabel Alvarez
By the time she studied at the Art Students League of Los Angeles, Mabel Alvarez was already a notable painter. She was born in 1891 on the island of Oahu, Hawaii to a successful Spanish-Hawaiian family. Her father was a prominent medical doctor in leprosy research. Her brother was both a physician and author who would ultimately bear a son who would win a Nobel Prize in physics. However, Mabel Alvarez’ acclaim would come from the visual arts. In 1915, her youthful talent would land her in William Cahill’s School for Illustration and Painting in Los Angeles where her charcoal portrait of a woman in profile was used for the school’s catalog cover. That same year, her first public recognition occurred when she won the Gold Medal presented for her mural at the Panama – California Exhibition in San Diego. Two years later, a portrait was exhibited at the Los Angeles Museum which led to more exhibitions and awards.
From her earliest training, Alvarez was drawn to modern and unusual art. From 1921 to 1928, she was a member of the “Group of Eight,” experimental artists who held exhibitions in downtown Los Angeles where their work straddled California Impressionism and new modernist concepts. During her early years, her paintings became more colorful while she explored the spiritualist communities she found in Los Angeles County.
“Nudes Above The Sea” is a hand pulled lithograph depicting the backs of a man and a woman looking over land and water before them. Alvarez would have likely given this work a symbolic meaning. The nudes are stripped of their clothes and, in this sense, are purged of their outward social appearances. Where land meets water is the opportunity to explore conscious and subconscious at the same time. Whether the man or woman will walk to the beach to investigate remains to be seen.
Nudes
Mabel Alvarez (1891 - 1988)
Lithographic Crayon on Paper 20.5” x 15.5”
Collection of Kirk & Linda Edgar
Above the Sea
Clouds Over Laguna Hills n.d., Marion Wachtel (1876 - 1964)
Oil on Canvas 30" x 40"
Collection of Maria Antoinia Nives Brackenridge and Margaret Dale
Marion Ida Kavanaugh Wachtel
One of Elmer Wachtel’s pupils, Marion Ida Kavanaugh, an outstanding artist in her own right, became his wife in 1904.
Marion Wachtel was more formally educated than Elmer. She was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin in 1876 into an artistic family. Marion’s mother was an artist, and her great grand-father a Royal Academician in London. She studied at the Art Institute of Chicago and, like Elmer, at New York City’s Arts Students League. Before her arrival in California, Marion was known in Milwaukee as a portrait painter. A life-changing commission from the Sante Fe Railroad Company to paint scenes in their ticket offices brought her to California. Arriving in San Francisco in 1903, she became a pupil of William Keith. Learning of her proposed move to Southern California, Keith suggested that she contact Elmer Wachtel, another former Keith pupil, for further study.
Elmer and Marion Wachtel would become two of the most recognized names in early Southern California painting, with Elmer working mostly in oils, and Marion in watercolors. Marion tended to favor lighter and more saturated color schemes, whereas her husband focused upon the movement of trees and mountains within a composition. They both utilized similar compensational devices, that is a darkened foreground, sometimes with silhouetted plants and trees, and a distant landscape touched by sun.
During their marriage, the Wachtels traveled throughout California and the Southwest in a modified vehicle that could carry all the materials the two artists would need.
“Clouds Over Laguna Hills” is likely painted after Elmer’s passing which profoundly affected Marion artistically and productively. Her work was far more somber as Marion painted more and more with oils on canvas. Here, the clouds in the once blue sky seem foreboding a storm.
Truckee River, n.d.,
Martin Mondrus (1925 - 2020)
Watercolor
16" x 18"
Private Collection
Martin Mondrus
Martin Mondrus was born in 1925 in Los Angeles, California. His formal artistic training first took place at California State University., Los Angeles in 1953. He subsequently earned his M.F.A. at Claremont College in 1955.
Mondrus’ teaching began as a part-time art instructor at Pasadena City College leading to a full-time professorship at Glendale Community College. He was elected Division Chair in Art and Music from 1988 through 1990, and continued to participate as an instructor even after his retirement.
Mondrus was also a unique leader of PSA insofar as he acted as its President from 1963-1964 and again in 1992-1994.
Beginning in 1943, his artwork was the subject of over twenty solo exhibitions across the United States. His work was also included in several international shows, including those of PSA artist works which were shown in Japan and Germany.
Predominantly a painter, Mondrus also created fine art prints. Indeed, in 1964 he initiated a college printmaking class. His work tended to be representational portraits and scenes that he visited, including places in Pasadena. The darker palette of his work fit into
contemplative modern landscapes rather than the brighter work of California Impressionism.
As he described his own work, “Sometimes on a clear day . . . I see vistas filled with colors, life and movement. The intensity of this experience inspires me to start a painting and this will often bring me more in touch with what I see and feel. . . . I am seeking the universal by approaching the particular.”
In 1989, Mondrus was awarded the Service to the Arts Award from the Glendale Regional Arts Council. He also received special recognition from the California State Legislature for his contribution to art and teaching.
“My Father” depicts the artist’s father in front of his pickup truck. This is a subject that Mondrus would revisit often, painting multiple versions as his father aged.
“Truckee River” is a rare Mondrus watercolor that reduces the tree-line and foliage to watery spots of color. Potentially, this could be a study for an oil painting where the details of the image would have been delineated on canvas.
Private Collection
My Father and His Red Truck, n. d., Martin Mondrus (1925 - 2020) Oil on Canvas
Mildred Bryant Brooks
Mildred Bryant Brooks was born in Missouri in 1901. She received her initial art education at USC, Chouinard, and Otis Art Institute. She moved with her husband, Don Brooks, to Pasadena area so she could teach at the Stickney Art School in Pasadena. While living amongst the Pasadena artists, Brooks was encouraged by her former instructor and PSA artist, Frank Tolles Chamberlin, to learn printmaking. His advice was career changing. When she joined PSA, Brooks was at the height of her popularity and productivity.
Trees – and nature as a whole -- themed Brooks’ life work. She was fascinated by the symbiotic relationship between all living creatures, including interactions with humans.
In 1936, the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C. hosted a one-woman show of Brooks’ work. At the time, it was the most prestigious singular event of her career, but more was to come. The print on display is an excellent example of her work at that time. “Vagabonds” was sold to the public as part of a federal Public Works of Art edition which provided affordable artwork created by emerging and established artists. Brooks was one of PSA’s most active members. Yet, by World War 2, her eyesight deteriorated to the point that she had to move onto other forms of expression, particularly murals. An example of Brook’s interior murals exists in the dining room of the Blinn House (Pasadena Heritage) at 160 North Oakland, Pasadena. By the time of her death at age 94, Brooks had exhibited nationally and internationally. She also received the Pasadena Arts Council’s Gold Crown Artist Award in 1976. Her artworks are in the collections of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art; the Laguna and San Luis Obispo Art Museums; the Fine Arts Gallery, San Diego; the Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C.; the Cleveland Museum of Art; the University of Nebraska, Lincoln; and the University of Vermont, Burlington.
Clouds at Rest
Mildred Bryant Brooks (1901 - 1995) 28" x 40"
Collection of Kirk & Linda Edgar
Vagabonds, 1934
Mildred Bryant Brooks (1901 -1995) Etching on Vellum Paper, ed.50 21" x 23"
WPA - Public Works of Art edition Collection of Kirk & Linda Edgar
Nellie Evelyn Ziegler
Nellie Evelyn Ziegler was born in Columbus, Ohio in 1874. After studying art at the Columbus Art School, for which she received a twoyear scholarship to attend, she continued her studies overseas at the American Art School in Fontainebleau, France. Ziegler and her sister settled in Pasadena in the early 1920s. An early member of PSA who joined within two years of its formation, Ziegler was also active with Women Painters of the West. Ziegler was principally a landscape painter whose style evolved over the decades. Her work includes landscapes of various subjects, including the bucolic towns she encountered throughout the United States. She was also known as one of PSA’s “desert painters.” As to those paintings, they frequently were painted near Palm Springs.
Nellie Ziegler exhibited with PSA up to the time of her death. She died at her Pasadena home on June 27, 1948, and was honored with a retrospective of her work. Of the two submissions exhibited by Ziegler in January 1931, “Wildflowers in Carmelita Gardens” was appreciated by The Long Beach Sun art critic for its “gay foreground, and good perspective.” The oil on board on display is likely “Wildflowers in Carmelita Gardens,” painted with Kensington Place Cottage in the background. At the time that the Pasadena Art Institute purchased the Ezra and Jeanne Carr estate in 1924, the Carr’s lush gardens surrounded a stately mansion and two cottages. Up through the 1930s, the buildings housed numerous exhibitions of local and internationally known artists, including PSA’s first exhibitions. The former Carr home was torn down in 1969; the former grounds of Carmelita Gardens is now occupied by the Norton Simon Museum.
Wildflowers in Carmelita Garden, 1930
Nellie Ziegler (1874 - 1948 )
Oil on Canvas 27" x 22.5"
Collection of Robert Asa Crook
Windy Beach 1948
R. Stephens Wright (1863 - 1991) Oil on Canvas 16" x 29"
Collection of Pasadena Museum of History Fenyes-Curtin-Paloheimo Collection
R. Stephens Wright
Redmond Stephens Wright was a multitalented etcher, portrait painter, muralist, and landscape and seascape artist. He was born in Chicago, Illinois in 1903. He quickly taught himself the basics of etching and portraiture. He attended the Art Institute of Chicago and then Harvard University, developing his skills further as a muralist.
In the 1920s, Wright spent his formative years in Paris, further developing his style. Wright returned to the United States, working professionally as an illustrator in New York City until the late 1930s when he settled in Pasadena.
From 1937 onward, he was a regular teacher at the Pasadena Art Institute and at the San Gabriel Valley Art Center.
Wright was an enigma. PSA’s annual exhibition in March 1942 featured Wright’s aerial battle painting, “Gulls of the Fleet.” The Pasadena Star News of March 14, 1942, declared that the caliber of art dis-
played at PSA’s annual exhibition was exceptionally high, headlining its review as “Pasadena Artists Show New Spirit, Quality And Variety In The Best Annual Exhibition Staged Here In Recent Years.’ If one were to solely look at the prominent photograph of Wright’s “Gulls of the Fleet,” which depicted a squadron of American biplanes heading to aerial battle, one might think that this was the most patriotic PSA exhibition as well. Yet, Wright was an outspoken pacifist. He fell out of the public eye following World War 2, painting countless harbor and maritime scenes for his own pleasure. His works can be found in the Crocker Art Museum and in the collections of the Harvard Alumni Association.
Wright’s “Windy Beach” is an early example of a favorite subject of Southern California paintings. This oil on canvas painting depicts the beach where people, landscape, and seascape came together. The movement of the waves, boats, and the fluttering white towel give the scene a sense of energy.
Nishan Toor
Sculptor Nishan G. Toor was born in Harpoot, Armenia in 1888 at the time that the country was ruled by the Ottoman Empire. The situation for Armenians in their own country was becoming more dangerous.
Toor (condensed from Tooroongian) was initially educated at Euphrates College in Harpoot just before immigrating to the United States. In 1909, Toor furthered his studies in San Francisco at the Art Institute. During World War 1, Toor put his artistic skills to good use when he served in the United States Army’s camouflage division in Dijon, France. Following the war he returned to California.
In 1923, Toor returned to Europe for further art study, maintaining an art studio in Paris, France at the time. By 1936, Toor settled in Altadena where he would remain for the rest of his life as a self-described “disguised agitator.” A year later, he joined PSA. In 1942, Nishan Toor exhibited six pieces in the PSA annual exhibition which were critically described as “indicative of that man’s vigorous talent. The work from a spirited horse to a docile, pelican and from a wooden ‘Harmony’ to a bronze ‘Malicious Tongue’ in which we find a man in the throes of agony, being bitten by his own tongue, which is turned into a serpent.”
“Su-Kee,” is a later Toor work of cast ceramic, which survived the recent fires around the Altadena Public Library. She is Kwan Yin, bodhisattva of mercy, and her minimalistic form is calming to the mind. Toor and his wife, Evelyn, had a special love for Altadena and its library; both lectured on art and gifted material to the library as part of the Nishan Toor Memorial Art Book Collection.
Su-Kee
Nishan Toor (1883 - /????)
Cast Ceramic xx" x xx"
Collection of Altadena Public Library
Untitled, (Peruvian Desert) n.d.,
Collection of Josh Gordon
Ruth Blanchard Miller Fracker Kempster
Ruth Blanchard Miller Fracker Kempster was born as Ruth Blanchard Miller in 1904, in Chicago, Illinois. After her 1931 marriage to Henry Edward Fracker, she adopted her husband’s last name. Her father, Kempster Blanchard Miller was an engineer, author, and businessman. Fracker also painted using her father’s first name, signing her work as Ruth Kempster. Accordingly, references to Ruth Blanchard Miller, Ruth Miller Fracker, Ruth Kempster, and Ruth Kempster Fracker refer to the same artist.
In 1922, Fracker went to California to study at the Otis College of Art and Design in Los Angeles and the Stickney Memorial School of Art in Pasadena. Fracker continued her studies in New York, Paris, and Firenze. She later joined the Stickney faculty teaching portraiture. In addition to traditional painting on canvas and board, she also painted murals.
Classifying Ruth Blanchard Miller Fracker Kempster is difficult. She was an artist with a distinctive style. She was most like American Regionalists/
Social Realists such as PSA’s Jerry Zorthian, Frode Dann, and Katherine Skeele Dann. Yet, her nearly surreal presentation of mundane subject matters make Fracker’s work both beautiful and often disturbing at the same time. Like Grant Wood’s haunting “American Gothic,” we know that we are in the middle of a story, but the glassy and somber expressions of the subjects catch us off guard, keeping the story a mystery. With her internationally lauded painting, “Struggle,” Fracker won the silver medal at the Olympics 1932 Art Competition in Los Angeles. The artwork depicted a fight between a black and a white wrestler whose heads are much too small compared to their bodies. Fracker’s treatment of the subject matter is decidedly American Social Realism, subtly taking on racial discrimination. In “Untitled (Peruvian Desert),” Fracker’s gentle treatment of rolling hills is both simple and sophisticated. Like Tonalist painters before her, Fracker relies upon shadows to create interest and movement. Yet, she also utilizes light, contrasting colors to provide a sense of depth within the barren hills.
Ruth Kempster (1904 - 1978)
Oil on Canvas 22" x 26"
Untitled
Robert Moore (1933 - 2023)
Found Metal and rock xx" x xx"
Collection of Chris Moore
Robert Moore
Metal sculptor Robert Moore was born in Alhambra in 1936. After a stint in the United States Air Force where Moore learned cartography, he returned to the San Gabriel Valley to attend Pasadena City College and Long Beach State College where he majored in art with a focus upon sculpture and printmaking. Upon his graduation in 1962, Moore worked in the Technical Illustration/Graphics Department at the National Engineering Science Company while he pursued a career as a sculptor.
In the mid-1960s, he learned to construct sculpture through welding steel.
For over 50 years, he worked in figurative sculpture,
including large structural steel abstracts and kinetic sculpture. He integrated both scrap and new material in his work. Moore described his own work as transforming common perceptions of metal from the utilitarian into something of unexpected beauty. His public commissions were often mobiles and interactive works.
The collection of Moore’s sculptures on display are survivors of the recent Eaton Canyon fire which destroyed the Moore family home and Robert Moore’s former studio. The studio was occupied at the time by Robert Moore’s son, Christopher, another PSA sculptor. Although smaller than much of the artist’s works which tended to be large, the subject and appearance of Robert Moore’s work shines through these smaller examples
Metal Sculpture - Tall Abstract, (Left) Bird on Stand (Right)
Robert Moore (1933 - 2023)
Welded Steel; rescuded from the ashes of the Moore home & studio after the 2025 Eaton Canyon fire Collection pf Chris Moore
Untitled, (Mexican Street Scene), n.d., Ruth Lindsay (1888 - 1982)
Oil on Board 21" x 26"
Private Collection
Ruth Andrews Lindsay
Ruth Andrews Lindsay was born in Ada, Ohio in 1888. After high school, Lindsay was given her choice of five years in college or special training for a career. She chose the latter and started training in art. Lindsay studied at The Art Students League, New York, the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, Philadelphia, and the National Academy of Design. She later went to Europe, and specialized in portraiture at the Royal Academy in Brussels, Belgium. During this time, Lindsay painted scenes from the Dutch countryside, a popular subject in Europe and the United States at the time. By the early 1920s, Ruth Linday and her banker husband, Harry Lindsay, had settled into Pasadena (at 1025 Topeka Avenue). Lindsay was known as a particularly talented portraitist who was generous with her time in developing other artists. Active in PSA, she was elected President of the society from
1939-1941
During World War 2, Lindsay was one of several PSA artists who were involved in the war effort. Lindsay, along with PSA artists Ejnar Hansen and Katherine Skeele Dann, drew portraits of visiting soldiers one night a week at Pasadena’s Hospitality House. Lindsay also taught art at the Pasadena Aåœrt Institute during the war, including free sketching and outdoor landscape classes where she would alternate classes at the PAI with PSA artist Milford Zornes.
Ruth Linsday would paint a variety of subjects in oils and watercolors, but her portraits in sketch and paint were the most admired. “Mexican Village” is but one example of Lindsay’s outdoor scenes which most often depicted the lives of local people. Likely painted in the 1930s, the village scene is reminiscent of Lindsay’s earlier scenes of disappearing Dutch life that she painted while studying art in Europe.
The Parrots, Circa 1945
Sam Hyde Harris (1889 - 1977)
Tempera on Board
53.5" x 83.5"
Harris Art Works Collection
Sam Hyde Harris
Sam Hyde Harris was born in Brentford, England in February. He emigrated with his family in 1889 and settled in Los Angeles. In his teenage years, he attended evening glasses at the Art Students League, Los Angeles, and the Cannon Art School. His instructors included PSA artists Hanson Puthuff and Frank Tolles Chamberlin. Throughout his professional life he worked in commercial art. His commercial ventures included scenes of the Southwest which were printed as posters for the Santa Fe Railroad.
He also taught at the Chouinard Art School for many years.
Harris was among the prolific California Impressionists who painted a variety of landscapes. His early work from the 1920s through 1930s was particularly influenced by his teacher and PSA sketching partner, Hanson Puthuff. Harris and Puthuff would travel throughout Southern Cali-
fornia and Arizona painting plein air. These early landscapes are bathed in light and demonstrate a keen understanding of atmospheric effects, such as fog and haze, upon a particular scene. His paintings are sometimes described as “progressive compositions” – pushing the viewer’s eye to an unexpected place.
Harris disavowed Modernism, yet his own work developed gradually over the years, incorporating different colors which were in style at the time. Indeed, around the beginning of World War 2, his work mostly focused upon desert scenes which incorporated a bolder palette with reds, yellows, and greens. “The Parrots” is an unusual painting both in subject and technique. While it is atypical from Harris’ landscape work, this large painted screen does show the breadth of his abilities. Here, the subjects are painted in bright colors with strong outlines. The similarities between this work with stained glass windows are easy to see.
Trude Hanscom
Trude Hanscom, “Western Night” (1940) and “Untitled (Female Nude)”
Gertrude “Trude” Fandrich Hanscom was born around 1890 in Oil City, Pennsylvania. She initially worked as a stenographer. However, she soon gave in to her creative side and studied art at Syracuse University and Kline’s School of Graphic Arts at the Syracuse Museum of Fine Art (now the Everson Museum of Art).
After arriving in Southern California in the late 1920s, she married Charles Hanscom and continued her art education at Scripps College, Otis Art Institute, USC, and UCLA. Hanscom also worked under the tutelage of PSA artist Sam Hyde Harris. While working on her own art, Hanscom taught art to private students and at public schools.
In the late 1930s, Hanscom’s fine art prints gained recognition throughout Southern California. In 1937 she was given a solo exhibition of her prints at the Bowers Museum in Santa Ana which was critically acclaimed. Hanscom thereafter exhibited widely, including at the Oakland Art Gallery, Laguna Beach Art Association, the Los Angeles Museum of Art, and London’s Royal Academy.
Hanscom’s first showing with PSA in 1952 led to additional solo shows through the Pasadena Art Institute and, later, the Pasadena Museum of Art. Her prolific work never lost the public’s interest. Hanscom’s work is found in the Library of Congress, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City, the National Academy of Design, Pennsylvania State University, and the California State Library, Sacramento
While Hanscom is generally known for her landscape etchings, drypoints, and aquatints, she also worked as a painter, principally working in oils.
“Western Night,” an etching with aquatint highlights, was created around 1940. In the 1940s, the print was exhibited throughout the United States, receiving multiple awards.
The female nude, likely painted in the third quarter of the 20th Century, demonstrates that Hanscom was versatile not only in her media, but also her style and subject which included portraiture.
Western Landscape, n.d., Trude Hanscom (1890 - 1975)
Etching
21.25" x 12.75"
Collection of Robert Asa Crook
Untitled, n. d,. Trude Hanscom (1890 - 1975)
Oil on Board
34" x 28"
Collection of Charles N. Mauch
Shiro Ikegawa
Shiro Ikegawa was born in 1933 in Tokyo, Japan. He studied art in Japan and moved to Los Angeles in 1956 to further study Abstract Expressionism. He earned his M.F.A. at Otis Art Institute in 1961. Ikegawa worked primarily in printmaking but was also an accomplished painter, working in large-format acrylics and often employing collage. Academically, Ikegawa was an Assistant Professor of Art at Pasadena City College from 1961 through 1967, and a full Professor at California State University, Los Angeles from 1967 through 1976. He also taught at several other art schools on the West Coast.
Throughout his career, his work won many accolades, including National Endowment for the Arts Fellowships in Printmaking in 1974 and Conceptual & Performance Art in 1981. He also received two Ford Foundation grants in 1977 and 1980.
By the early 1960s, Ikegawa was active with PSA and its other modern artists. Ikegawa and Leonard Edmonson shared studio space (323 East Altadena Drive, Altadena) where they would create etchings as well as exhibit and teach new artists in printmaking. Ikegawa would frequently lecture and exhibit with fellow PSA modernists including Edmonson, Jae Carmichael, Gwenda Davies, Charles White, Curtis Tann, Robert Frame, David Green, David Schnabel, Betty Saar, Jonathan Scott, and Norma Chuan.
Ikegawa’s work was included in many exhibitions throughout the country including the Whitney Museum, Brooklyn Museum, National Museum of Modern Art in Tokyo, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Crocker Art Museum and the Santa Barbara Museum of Art.
Although simple in form, “One and Two” (dedicated “For Patron of PSA”) is similar to Ikegawa’s other work. In May 1964, Artforum wrote of Ikegawa’s prints that “However awesome . . . from a technical aspect, they do not obliterate the very personal conception. . . . [Ikegawa’s] prints suggest . . . amoebas, paramecia, and other . . . cellular creatures writh[ing] and divid[ing] in their confined but highly complex microcosm.”
75
For Patrons of PSA 4/100
Shiro Ikegawa (1833 - 2009)
Etching 23" x 19"
Collection of Helena Davies
Walter Askin
Walter Miller Askin was born in Pasadena, California in 1929. As a boy, Askin learned to draw from his father, a draftsman for the City of Pasadena, and his brother, an architect. Askin studied art at Pasadena City College at the end of World War 2 where he met and befriended one of his professors, PSA artist Leonard Edmondson. Thereafter, Askin, studied art at the University of California, Berkeley.
Askin’s unusual work tends to be lighthearted, including those works that explore serious issues. In 1954, Askin received his first solo exhibition at the de Young Museum in San Francisco. Thereafter, his artwork was shown at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, the Kunstlerhaus in Vienna, and the Whitney Museum of Art in New York, among other national and international venues. Askin returned to Berkeley to teach from 1969-1970. However, his longest teaching tenure was as Professor of Art at California State University, Los Angeles from 1956-1992, where he taught studio art and art history. Askin’s work often incorporated elements of pop art and caricature. Bright colors and strong line work are applied liberally, often playing against each other. Askin would also utilize backlit lighting in his work for dramatic effect.
Askin’s signature style and work are unmistakable. The displayed print, “Bruegel-Britannia” is an excellent example of his work where seemingly irreconcilable colors and design styles come together to make his art jump out at the viewer.
Bruegel Britannia (1970)
Walter Askin (1929 - 2011)
Color Screenprint: Kelpra Studio London
40.5" x 28"
Collection of Walter Askin foundation
Vase, n.d.,
Yoko Cohen (1824 - 2011)
Glazed Ceramic 20" x 8"
Private Collection
Yoko Cohen
Yoko Cohen was a particularly versatile artist, working as a painter, etcher, and ceramicist in her creative endeavors. Indeed, a soft watercolor painted of Yosemite contrasts with a dark ceramic vase in this exhibition. Both were created around the same time period. Cohen was born in 1924 in Kyoto, Japan, but immigrated to Southern California in 1961 where she married Herb Cohen. The Cohens lived in Pasadena where Yoko produced much of her prolific artwork and taught other
artists ceramic techniques. Throughout her artistic career, Cohen received numerous awards for work in different mediums. She was an active member of PSA, the Verdugo Hills Art Association, and the Sierra Madre Art Fair.
“El Capitan” shows the light touch that Cohen could give a well-known subject – Yosemite’s El Capitan rock and a shallow stream running near it.
“Untitled (vase)” is a high-fire vase where abstracted lines both compliment and contrast the shape of the vessel.
El Capitan (Yosemite National Park), n. d., Yoko Cohen (1924 - 2011)
Watercolor
20" x 16"
Collection of Lawrence D. Rodgers
Pasadena Museum of History
Pasadena, California
February 28, 2025 – September 14, 2025
To view this artwork online please visit https://issuu.com/pasadenasocietyofartists This catalog is available for purchase from the museum store or directly from Blurb.com
PSA Distinguished Artist Pat Cox
Artist’s Statement
The putting together of ordinary things in such a manner that they resonate far beyond what might be pre-envisioned lies at the heart of my work. The materials themselves: found objects, odds and ends, society’s discards, determine not only the structure, but often the composition.
I am drawn to second hand materials because of their transformative and expressive possibilities. For me these abandoned objects have beauty and power. They are mysterious and unpredictable. While they offer whispers of identity and hints of former lives, they remain enigmatic.
Pat Cox
Biography
Pat Cox was born in Pasadena, California. She holds degrees of Bachelor of Arts and Master of Arts from Mills College, Oakland, California. Her graduate year she was awarded a Resident Trustee Fellowship and a Traveling Fellowship in Art.
Originally, a watercolor painter, she moved from painting to collage, to mixed media, to assemblage. Influences and inspirations include Joseph Cornell, Robert Rauschenberg and Giorgio Morandi. In 1946 she married a Naval Aviator, traveled, and raised three sons. In between she taught painting classes, served as juror for the National Watercolor Society and other art organizations. She joined the Pasadena Society of Artists in 1965. In 1975 she was a Judge for the Pasadena Tournament of Roses. She served on the Boards of the Los Angeles Art Association, the Palos Verdes Art Center and the National Watercolor Society.
Her work has been included in exhibitions at the Guggenheim Foundation, Carnegie Hall, New York the LACMA Art Rental Gallery and the Los Angeles International Contemporary Art Fair. She exhibits her works nationally and is represented in museum, private and corporate collections.
PSA Distinguished Artist Pat Cox
Congreation
Pastiche
Love Letter Box Shelf
PSA Distinguished Artist Mildred Lapson
Artist’s Statement
Light emphasizes life, and makes me aware of the dimensions of the dark. As in the facets of life, it is impossible for me to feel one without the other. The contrast in meaning is more than significant to me. I equate the facets of light and dark to the facets of life with its brilliance and its sadness. Rays of light punctuate the prisms of brilliance on the jewels of life, which light my way in the creative expression of my art..
As with the architecture of all things, including nature’s or artists’ whimsical improvisations, nothing is lasting without firm footing. It is folly to depend on a lucky accident to determine the success of a painting. Experiments and improvisations are paramount to creative expressions throughout any artist’s life. However, when an interesting result occurs through the process of improvisation, I take particular note of how it happened so that I can re-create it at my will as it becomes a part of my ever evolving technique. I lean on design and composition for dynamic support, regardless of my improvisations. Since art in every age is a reflection of life, I feel that it is important to have a deep appreciation of its varied facets, and to be empathetic to human nature.
Biography
In 1936 Mildred Laps, received a Gold Medal Art Award from Mrs. Eleanor Roosevelt. Lapson is listed in the International Dictionary of Biographies, London, England; Who’s Who of American Art, ‘59ff Library of Congress Card No.36-27014: Who’s Who of American Women, ‘60ff Library of Congress card No.58-13264; Who’s Who of the West, ‘67ff Library of Congress card No.49-48186; Artwork of Mildred Lapson,’10ff Library of Congress card No.TXU001703142.
Her works were shown in the Metropolitan Museum, N.Y., Wadsworth Athenaeum Museum, Hartford, CT; Los Angeles County Museum, Frye Museum, Seattle, and over fifty other major U.S. museums and Galleries, private and corporate collections in the U.S. and Abroad, and are in the Permanent Collection in Perpetuity of the Ellis Island Museum, N.Y. ,Permanent Collection & Archives of the Pasadena Museum of History, Pasadena CA.; the Permanent Collection & Archives of the Colchester Historical Society, Colchester, Ct.; the Permanent Collection & Archives of the Monrovia Historical Museum, Monrovia, CA; the Permanent Collection & Archives of the State Theater of California, the Pasadena Playhouse; and Archives of the National Museum of Women in the Arts, Washington. D.C.
Under the auspices of the U.S. Dept of Justice and Immigration, Lapson’s paintings of immigration subjects toured the U.S. in all the Presidential Libraries and State museums for three years in celebration of the U.S.Centennial. President and Mrs. Ronald Reagan hosted a gala reception honoring Mildred Lapson for the event at the Reagan Library in Simi, CA.
A teacher of Fine Arts for the California Board of Education for over six decades, she pioneered the Fine Art interest and art programs in Southern California.
PSA Distinguished Artist Mildred Lapson
Courthouse 1899
Drummer Sketched during live performance
Immigrants Chinatown
Jazz
PSA Distinguished Artist Martin Mondrus
Artist’s Statement
I am not usually aware of having a specific purpose when I paint. Art is so much a part of me that it is difficult for me to imagine not. being deeply involved in it. Sometimes on a clear day, most often in winter or spring, I see vistas filled with colors, life, and movement. The intensity of this experience inspires me to start a painting and this will often bring me more in touch with what I see and feel.
After many sketches and much deliberation, I settle on a particular subject or view. Perhaps as many artists have done before me. I am seeking the universal by approaching the particular. Usually I return to work on the painting several times before I can develop it further in the studio.
I struggle with the problem of how different times of day and light conditions reveal an apparent, very different reality. My preference is to confront a fundamental underlying core of the subject, independent of fleeting light conditions.
Technique ie very important to me, but only in the sense that it enables me to execute what my inner needs and artistic impulses dictate. Technique then becomes for me an integral part of the whole process that changes and evolves as my artistic alma change and evolve.
Biography
Martin Mondrus has had over twenty solo exhibitions from 1943 to the present. He has exhibited widely in California and other areas in the United States. In addition, he has been represented in several group shows in Europe and Asia. His paintings and prints are in many private and public collections including the Downey Art Museum, The Skirball Museum, Gardena High School, the L.A. County Zoo and the Wilshire Ebell, Los Angeles.
In 1989, Mondrus completed a large mural at Glendale College where he also taught drawing and painting for thirty-four years. In 1964, he initiated and taught a printmaking class at Glendale College. Mondrus has won numerous awards for his work, and in 1989 he was awarded the Service to the Arts award from the Glendale Regional Arts Council. He also received special recognition from the California State Legislature for his contribution to art and teaching. Mondrus is an honorary member of the Pasadena Society of Artists and a member of the Los Angeles Printmaking Society.
Art
Educational Background
• First art classes at the Art Center School, Los Angeles
• Bachelor of Arts Degree, California State University, Los Angeles
• Master of Fine Arts Degree from Claremont Graduate School
• Special studies at Otis Art Institute, Los Angeles
• Special studies at the Atelier 17, Paris
PSA Distinguished Artist Martin Mondrus
Truckee River
View of Trinidad, Cuba
Cyrano Wit h Flowers
Elosia’s Garden
PSA Distinguished Artist Robert Moore
Artist’s Statement
Born and raised in the San Gabriel Valley, Robert Moore has, for most of his life, been dedicated to the art of steel. Schooled in sculpture and the technical arts, Moore has allowed these two influences to drive his work for over 50 years. From early in his career with figurative sculpture, to his midcareer exploration of large structural steel abstracts and kinetic sculpture, Robert’s mastery of steel is more evident today than ever.
Robert’s art is constantly exploring and transforming our perception of the material -a mainstay in his body of work. This ability to transform steel into something of unexpected beauty has brought him acclaim throughout his career from galleries and collectors alike. He continues to work from his Altadena home and studio, where he lives with his wife Linda.
Biography
Robert Moore began developing his artistic skills while serving in the U.S. Air Force as a cartographer. After the Air Force, Moore majored in art while attending Pasadena City College. From PCC he transferred to California State University Long Beach where he was introduced to sculpture by Kenneth Glenn and printmaking by Richard Swift. Graduating from Cal State Long Beach with a B.A. in Drawing and Painting, Moore began his professional career. At the same time he started work on a graduate degree in sculpture from Cal State Long Beach where he learned to weld.
After three years Moore began a collaboration with acclaimed artist Don LaViere Turner, working together for three years in California and Wisconsin. During this time period Moore developed his figurative steel sculpture. A year after leaving Turner, Moore received his first major public commission, “Horse, Life Size, #249”.
Moore continued his work creating kinetic sculptures while working on Rose Parade floats. During the early 1990’s several public commissions filled his studio, mainly mobiles and more interactive kinetic sculptures.
His experience with large kinetic sculptures led to a commission for a large mobile in the lobby of the Standard Hotel in Los Angeles. Currently, he continues to explore welded steel and kinetic sculptures,and mobiles.
PSA Distinguished Artists Robert Moore
This one of the few sculptures recovered from Robert Moore’s studio/workshop after the Eaton Canyon fire. The original finish is on the right.
Lone Figure
Three Marble Torsos
Girl on Trike
Storm
PSA Distinguished Artist Frank Robin
Biography
Frank Robin- Native of Southern France
Since he was a little kid he always liked to work with stones. Frank came to the USA in 1964- he worked in the Plaza Hotel in New York decorating the banquet rooms and making ice sculptures. He moved to California in 1966 and worked for 40 years in the Motion Picture industry. Fifteen years ago he ventured out into the local desert and started working with native stones. After retiring from the Motion Picture industry he joined the Pasadena Lapidary Society. He has made trips to Italy, Canada, and Colorado to work with marble. He is proud to present some of his favorite works at this event.
Artist’s Statement
To me, sculpture best depicts forms of themes of the natural world. If the stone talks to me, then we’re friends, and the relationship begins.
I prefer creating representational pieces that portray the human figure and other living things. I also like to experiment with abstraction. There is nothing like carving on a piece of stone until a new life is revealed, pushing the limits....be it Carrera marble, Granite, or Alabaster.
Story of the Stone
A vital part of creating a beautiful sculpture is finding the perfect stone. I enjoy going rock hunting in the California deserts, and have also bought some of the best rocks in world from Art City in Ventura. I select stones based on their size and color. My favorite stones to work with are Italian White Marble, French Granite, Italian Limestone, and California Tricolor Marble. As I begin to chip away at the rock, it speaks to me and inspires me to create something from it. At first, what seems like a mistake can sometimes lead to an artistic masterpiece. Most of the time I have a vision in my mind of what I want to bring into existence. Then I hammer away to make it a reality. There is a beauty hidden within each rock, and it is my joy to bring that beauty out.
PSA Distinguished Artist Frank Robin
La Vista
Rockfish
Bloom
Fran
PSA Distinguished Artist Fred Schoellkopf Biography
Artist’s Statement
Color is my major interest. The geometric form is the platform upon which I “hang my colors”. Acrylic paint is very stable, and the fluorescent pigments allow for experimentation. It’s always very fun to see what happens!
Fred Schoellkopf, born in Dallas, moved to California to attend Claremont Graduate School and received his Master of Fine Arts in 1968. His study of Josef Albers’ color experiments ignited his interest in color. He began using geometric forms, and experimented with acrylic paints; he later added fluorescent pigments to extend the color possibilities. Schoellkopf moved to a loft in Pasadena in 1969. In 1972, after a trip around the world, he was inspired by the black and white marble pavements at the Taj Mahal. Upon returning to Pasadena, he translated the designs to three colors, adding further divisions; these resembled Early American “Quilts”. Other series include “Smog” and “Arrows”.
PSA Distinguished Artist Fred Schoellkopf
Arrow Series Untitled
Arrow Series Syudy bo 5
Quilt Series No. 27
Earth Angel
PSA Distinguished Artist Kay Snodgrass
Artist’s Statement
I began drawing before I could read, perhaps because my mother allowed me to color and draw on the walls of our house. The act of drawing has always been very fulfilling for me. It is an experience both joyous as wellas tormenting. It is like a personal dialogue and the act of drawing always keeps me company. Drawing is the skeleton for whatever I create.Printmaking has allowed me to stretch my passion for drawing by forcingme to first create the “tool” which eventually creates the mark, whichfinally produces the print. I work on plates made from zinc, copper, wood, plastic or cardboard, andrun my prints off an etching press. I often work on a series of imagesshowing related themes such as ten separate prints relating to migrant farm workers ranging from border crossings at night to work in the fields. During the last year I have made a series of prints illustrating Spanishproverbs. I have made serigraph, woodcut, engraving, lithograph,embossing and etching prints. I do all my own printing, and my editions are small. The imagery is detailed and usually representational with limited color and always printed on fine printing rag papers, and is always the result of my persistent, intensive love of drawing.
Biography
“I was born in Bogota, Coloml:iia. in South America. I attended French, Colombian and American schools there and then continued my education in Toronto, Canada, England and the United States. I majored in printmaking at the Massachusetts College of Art in Boston, and also studied at the Boston Museum Schoo), Harvard Summer Schoo), Pasadena City College, and California State University at Los Angeles. I first exhibited my work in Boston in 1979, and have been in shows since then in New England, California and Colombia. I have received several awards and belong to various art organizations. After twelve years in La Canada, I moved to Mississippi in 1992. I moved back to California in 2001, and now have a garage studio in Pasadena. I use printmaking to say what is on my mind. The etching process has always fascinated me. That process is basically a tool-making operation. Unlike painting or drawing, the artist never touches the print. I work on copper, steel or zinc plates, using various tools and acid solutions. Portions of the metal plate are eroded by acid or by cutting with tools. Lines, gouges and designs then become ink-retaining crevices. Etching ink is forced into the crevices and later transferred by pressure to a sheet of damp paper. The depth of the crevices, consistency of the ink, and other details are very important. I run the etched plate through the press to produce a print on paper.
I often make a series of images showing related themes or activities. I used shoes to depict the stages of human life in a series of seven prints (1989) to show birth, marriage, war, celebmtion, death, etc. In 1992 I made a series of twelve prints showing migrant farm workers in various activi ties, ranging from border crossings at night to work in the fields. I also made a series of prints called Mississippi impressions, in which I cut the plates into th shape of the state of Mississippi. Many: of my art themes come from Latin America and South.em California. “
PSA Distinguished Artist Kay Snodgrass
Good Ol’ Boys
Matrimony 5–7
Lounge Lizards
Royal Flock
PSA Distinguished Artist Gretel Stephens
Artist’s Statement
“Since segueing from narrative figurative painting into abstraction, I have narrowed my concerns to a few basic elements: color, surface, edges, materials. My current interest is in maintaining the character of the linen support while applying multiple layers of oil paint to achieve a final color.”
Biography
Gretel Stephens was born in 1935 in Omaha, Nebraska. She moved with her family to California in 1942 and now lives in Pasadena, with a studio in Los Angeles. Since 1994, she has participated in Tom Wudl’s private instruction program. During the past 30 years, her work has been exhibited extensively and has been reviewed in Artslant, ArtScene, and Art in America. Her paintings are included in numerous private and public collections.
PSA Distinguished Artist Gretel Stephens
Encounter 1
Encounter 2
Interior Space Path
Pasadena Society of Artists !00th Annual Juried Exhibition
Pasadena Museum of History
Pasadena, California
February 28, 2025 – September 14, 2025
To view this artwork online please visit https://issuu.com/pasadenasocietyofartists This catalog is available for purchase from the museum store or directly from Blurb.com
Juror’s Message
As an artist, jurying and judging an art exhibition is never an easy task, especially when the variety and level of work is so high. That was certainly the case with jurying the Pasadena Society of Artists 100th Annual Juried Exhibition.
I try to completely separate my own vision and goals from the work I am viewing and refer to my personal list of what to look for - craftsmanship, creativity, how challenging might it have been to create, composition, color, is the work compelling. I also like to view each piece as much as possible before making any decisions. With the large number of work submitted, this could have been an overwhelming task but I am so grateful to all of the volunteers who assisted me and made my day much easier, and so much more enjoyable. The work I selected might change on any given day but I hope you enjoy this fine exhibition as much as I enjoyed being a part of it in my own small way.
Michael Obermeyer, Juror for PSA’s 100th Annual Juried Exhibition, February 2025
Michael Obermeyer Biography
A native of Southern California, Michael Obermeyer received a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Illustration at California State University, Long Beach. A twenty year career in illustration included works for Disney Studios, the Anaheim Angels, McDonnell Douglas, Coldwell Banker, and the United States Air Force. Because of his illustration background, he is equally comfortable with the landscape and the figure. Many of his paintings are in the U.S. Air Force Historical Art Collection in the Smithsonian Institution and the Pentagon.
Michael was awarded the “Best of Show Award” at the 25th Annual Laguna Beach Invitational Plein Air Competition in 2023 and was presented with the Laguna Plein Air Painters Association “Lifetime Achievement Award” in 2015. He recently won the “Collector’s Choice,” “Artist’s Choice” and the “Director’s Choice” Awards at the Laguna Beach Invitational as well as the “Best of Show” at both the Kern County Plein Air Invitational and the Grand Canyon Celebration of Art, the Gold Medal at the Carmel Art Festival and the “Irvine Museum Award” at the California Art Club’s 107th Gold Medal Exhibition. Collectors include the Marriott Hotels and Resorts, The Irvine Company, Hoag Hospital, Disney Resorts, California State Parks and many corporate as well as private commissions. Michael is the President of the prestigious California Art Club, and is a Signature Member of the California Art Club and the Laguna Plein Air Painters Association. Currently, his paintings are showing at galleries in Carmel, Pasadena, Balboa Island, Santa Barbara and Laguna Beach, where he is a regular exhibitor at the Festival of Arts
Exhibition Chair’s Message
I have been fortunate to serve the members of the Pasadena Society of Artists as their Vice President of Exhibitions for close to 21 years. It has been amost enjoyable experience.
The membership of PSA was very pleased when it was announced that the 100th Annual would be presented at the Pasadena Museum of History. This would be the Society’s second apearance in that museum. PSA presented the Diamond Jubilee Exhibition at the museum during April 2002. It too, was a combination of the 75th Annual and a review of PSA’s history to that point.
As the Vice President of Exhibitions and the Exhibition Chair my task was to concentrate on the 100th Annual. The museum staff and other PSA members would focus on the historical side of the exhibition.
Over 200 artworks were presented by more than 80 members of PSA for consideration by the juror. Then the museum informed me that only 100 pieces would be accepted, two seperate presentations of fifty artworks at a time. The juror, Michael Obermeyer reviewed all of the artwork and selected the 100 artworks.
The next task was to determine which fifty artworks would be presented at a time. So one weekend afternnon I got together with the PSA treasurer. I brought the list of artworks and two silver dollar coins. We proceeded to flip a coin for each artwork. “Heads” indicated the artwork would be in exhibition “A”, “Tails” in exhibition “B”. Thus it was ensured the selection process was totally random. The process worked out really well as evidenced by the actual artwork collections. It was decided to name the two exhibitions, the ”Spring Exhibition” and the “Summer Exhibition”.
The installation of all the artwork was accomplished by the museum staff. Each exhibition has been installed and presented in a very thoughtful manner.
We hope you enjoy your visit to PSA’s 100th Annual Juried Exhibition here at the Pasadena Museum of History. The Spring Exhibition will remain open until Sunday, June 1, The Summer Exhbition opens Thursday, June 5 and closes Sunday, September 14, 2025. There will be an Artists’ Reception and Open House Sunday, June 8. This event will be free to all in attendence.
Thank you for visiting PSA’s 100th Annual Juried Exhibition.
Lawrence D. Rodgers, !00th Annual Exhibition Chair Vice President of Exhibitions
Pasadena Society of
Artists
Awards Awards of Merit
Mariposa Queen
Art Carrillo
Acrylic Paint, Acrylic Marker on Canvas Summer Exhibition see page 166
Missing
Tsvetelina Valkov
Etching, Aquatint and Watercolor Monoprint Summer Exhibition see page 206
Square Series #40
Ken Weintrub Watercolor
Summer Exhibition see page 207
The Yoko Cohen Memorial Award
Blue Hamsa
Harriet Sherry
Ceramic Cobalt Slip Sgraffito Summer Exhibition see page 196
Awards
Honorable Mention
Offering the Light
Cyndi Bemel
Photography Spring Exhibition
see page 106
Marilyn Huckleberry
Chuka Susan Chesney
Watercolor, Pencil on Paper
Summer Exhibition
see page 170
Rodeo Clown
Kevin McCants
Watercolor on Arches Paper
Sping Exhibition see page 135
The James Ackley McBride Landscape Award
Deukmajian Shoji
Roger Dolin
Acrylic on Pellon on Repurposed Shoji Screen
Summer Exhibition see page 173
Pasadena Society of Artists
!00th Annual Juried Exhibition
Spring Exhibition
Michael Obermeyer, Juror
Lawrence D. Rodgers, Chair
Pasadena Museum of History
Pasadena, California February 28, 2025 – June 1, 2025
This exquisite glass vase graces a pristine tablecloth, imbuing the room with an air of tranquility. Delicate spring flowers and branches, carefully handpicked, infuse the space with pure joy, serving as a soothing balm for the overwhelmed soul. Painted with rich layers of oil, with a delicate hand, the vase exudes a sense of subtle elegance, while the white of the canvas peeks through. The simple pleasures of nature have such a wonderful ability to uplift our spirits.
Citrine
Julianna Aparicio-Curtis Oil 15" x 12" $375
Offering the Light Cyndi Bemel
Photography 17.25" x 11.75" $555
Ever-changing light and weather, where sky, sea, and land often blur into one, providing for a deep sense of unity in a moment. The merging of the elements feels timeless, ephemeral and brings beauty, comfort, and joy to our ordinary, mundane lives. There’s a tender cord that balances it all together.
“So much darkness. Offer whatever light you can.” Sandra Boynton
Oil on Stretched Linen 24" x 18" $3000
“Blue-Green-Yellow” hints at an abstract landscape with active elements of sun, wind, and ocean waves. It is filled with light and bursting with energy, color and texture. The inspiration is both my present home of southern California with its vibrant colors, palm trees and pristine beaches and the rugged landscape of my old home of Iceland, with its muted colors and heavy textures of mossy fields and red lava.
Blue-Green-Yellow Arnor Bielvedt
The After
Alcohol Ink Reverse Painting on Plexiglass 36" x 24" $2500
There was a major fire in the woods near my home. After the smoke cleared, many trees were destroyed and cut down. One burned tree remained...no leaves, the burned trunk and branches pointing to the sky. In creating THE AFTER, I painted the plexiglass with vibrant magenta ink streaks, symbolizing raw, cascading emotions against a more tranquil blue backdrop. This interplay between passion and peace is designed to invoke a sense of emotional depth and introspection and to provoke thought.
Katy Bishop
Friends & Cousins
Acrylic on Canvas 16" x 12" $2,500
A painting reflecting community and childhood memories. The people in the painting are kids I knew at a church I used to attend. You develop strong bonds and life time friends at church sometimes. This reminds me of that. I have a lot of good memories of those times.
Art Carrillo
Virginia Causton-Keene Oil on Panel 20" x 24" $2,700
Descanso Gardens is my happy place, I go there to decompress, smell the roses and think of England. This is a favorite path and especially beautiful in the early morning. It was a delight to re-create the peaceful atmosphere of the morning, with the sun glinting through the trees, and the shadows playing on the path and grassy banks. I painted with a very limited palette to create harmonious color throughout the painting. By looking at this painting I can be transported to my paradise.
Path to Paradise
Pasadena American Dream
Diane Chang
Oil on Panel 30" x 12" NFS
I am living the Pasadena American Dream. Growing up in the San Gabriel Valley, marrying at the Pacific Asia Museum, and raising my children in the first house we bought, I feel blessed to call Pasadena home. It was only recently that I learned my parents immigrated to America not just to escape the threat of communism, but also to flee the dictatorship in Taiwan. Democracy and freedom of choice make America so beautiful and precious.
Contact information for this artist can be found starting on page 212.
Watercolor and Pen and Ink on Paper 12" x 16" $500
I have painted this Spanish house many times because I love the window, railing, and the tree. I have also made collages of it. This time, I had some new black watercolor paint that is very dark, so I decided to use it and pen and ink to make some of the parts of the painting contrast. I also put a lot of orange and yellow in the painting to bring unity so the dark areas would show up. Sometimes I make the mistake of leaving too many areas blank. Then the painting doesn’t look finished. As time goes by, I’m finding that my style is loosening up. I really love the contrast between the carefull crosshatching in the glass window and the wild brushstrokes of the foliage and trees.
Casa Amarilla
Chuka Susan Chesney
Inkjet Print on Tissue and Spray Paint Seen Through Thin, Clear Panel 14" x 11" NFS Contact information for this artist can be found starting on page 212.
This work began as a collage of two elements, the male torso (printed on tissue paper) and Luna moth wings. As I painted, the moth wings deteriorated, each lost piece leaving an opening for a spritz of color. The printed figure was torn while laying it flat and adhering it. The accidental tear was the key to the meaning of the image: the colorful, fleeting spirit released from the husk of the corporeal form.
Cocoon
Fred Chuang
Face Tables (a Diptych)
Robert Crook
Sgraffito Porcelain Slip and High Fire Glaze over Black Stoneware set in found Table Frames 17" x 17" x 17" Each NFS
Two small rusty tables were found with their tops caved in by weather. They were ready for a resurrection. Triangular slabs of black stoneware clay were measured for the table openings, and grotesque faces were swirled into each. After covering with porcelain slip, each triangle was carved so that the smooth white would stand out against the rough black. I placed my name and my husband’s in the clay as if we too were caught in the spiritual maelstrom. At any point in the carving, firing, or fitting process, these table tops could have failed. But they survived!
“Topos I” is the first in a series of paintings inspired by a small painting in my sketch book. In this series I explore the process of obscuring a brightly colored base painting with a buildup of layers leading to an effect of an aerial view of a mountain range in the fog. Much like geography, the painting evolves and changes through repeated layering over time, eventually revealing the final heights and depths of a landscape.
Topos 1
Jean Cunningham Acrylic on Canvas 24" x 12" $1,600
Sacred Imprints-Wisdom of Ancestors
The exploration of ancestral spirits and historical imprints of Cape Coast and Elmina Castles in Ghana. Cyanotype photography is used to echo the narratives of dungeon walls with words of wisdom. The exhibition focuses on the interplay between light and shadow, texture and form, capturing the essence of ancestral messages. Through the cyanotype process, the images acquire a ghostly, dreamlike quality, emphasizing the connection between the physical remnants of the past and contemporary issues. Viewers are invited to engage with the echoes of wisdom that reverberate through these spaces, fostering a deeper understanding of their historical and spiritual significance.
information for this artist can be found starting on page 212.
Adeola Davies-Aiyeloja
Cyanotype on Textile 60" x 30" $4,500
A friend was showing me photos of a hike in La Canada near JPL that she had taken with her husband on their anniversary to commemorate their first hike together on the same trail. I loved the picture and was struck by the light and shadows and asked if I could use the photo. I did this painting as a surprise gift to them for her birthday.
Contact information for this artist can be found starting on page 212.
La Canada Trail Marion Dies
Acrylic on Canvas 20" x 16" NFS
starting on page 211..
“The Queen” represents the beauty and the colorful tradition of the Day of the Dead. A holiday widely celebrated in Mexico. which represents the tradition of honoring our ancestors. The celebration helps them to let our ancestors know that we have not forgotten them. And that we are grateful for all their contribution and companionship that they gave to our lives, while alive. Here you can see the amazing colors of the flowers and ornaments that they use to decorate their hair and their faces. I am so happy to be able to portray in this painting a very special tradition that has been going on for hundreds of years in Mexico .
Contact information for this artist can be found starting on page 212
Queen Lore Eckelberry
Acrylic on Canvas 36" x 36" NFS
This is the fifth in a series of garden totems I’ve been making. It has a theme of Earth stewardship and in particular saving the dying population of our bees. These amazing insects pollinate one third of the world’s food, according to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations.
In my totem, tiny bees are buzzing around various orbs doing their vital work. They are highly interested in the flower on the top, which they are circling. Meanwhile, Mother Earth wearily watches from her spot in the middle.
Contact information for this artist can be found starting on page 212.
Bee Kind to Mother Earth Mims Ellis
Cone 5 Ceramics, sculpy Clay, Metal wire. River Rock 48" x 7" x 7" $500
Cibachrome Preint 20" x 16" NFS
We have an innate response to color. It was the blue that dazzled through the shallow spring as it sped under the little wooden bridge I stood upon. Other colors flooded in when the streambed flashed bright in the sinking sun. Faces appeared in the turbulent current. I braced my camera against the wood railing and time exposed through the racing water as images refracted and reflected below.
Photo was taken in a heritage park marking the site of an early Native American village. I strive to photograph what is invisible to see.
In this wall-mounted piece, I use repurposed oven knobs on appliance lacquer to highlight climate change. By mixing everyday objects with familiar surfaces, I’m exploring how we’re contributing to environmental issues. Framed in white wood, this artwork encourages you to reflect on our role in shaping the climate’s future, blending homey vibes with big global concerns.
Cause It’s Hot as an Oven Gina M.
Etching on Paper 10" x 6.5" $125
OVERALL: I use an old art for contemporary stories and observations. FISH OUTTA WATER is an example of etching method called A LA POUPEE—I just call it different colored inks on the same plate. For about twenty years I worked in the entertainment industry. Designing wise, I was in a comfort zone, but much of the rest felt overly theatrical, and abundantly social. Like a FISH OUTTA WATER, I could change my stripes and breathe for a while—but only a little while at a time.
Contact information for this artist can be found starting on page 212.
Fish Outta Water
Steve Graziani
A Tweetable Moment
Colored Pencil
20" x 15" $2,770
Working in the backyard one morning many years ago I caught my cat Kotie napping on the back garage stoop while I was doing all the work! Sometimes I think it must be nice to be a house cat with no worries in the world. However, years later I returned to that image of her but spiced it up by opening one eye and drawing in some well-placed grasses, which lead to an unsuspecting bird oblivious to the cat behind him.
Kathryn Hansen
Digital Print on Paper 16" x 16" $500
Using greyscale images of geometric figures as my source, I am letting the computer interpret the stark reference material into vivid colors by using a randomization factor and amping up the values.
With “Black and White in Color-Akimbo,” my simple square image is transformed into an undulating series of brushstrokes that are applied in a grid pattern starting at the border and progresses toward the center. The angle and flow of the brushstrokes are dictated by a variety of factors including a polar-space algorithm and luminescence adjustment that together skew the square.
Contact information for this artist can be found starting on page 212.
Black and White in Color-Akimbo
Karen Hochman Brown
These images are part of my pattern vocabulary that I have used in various constructions and materials. They have developed from cultural history, favorite symbols, imaginary and personal shapes in textiles, clay, paper. I can repeat them, spelling out different messages, moods, artistic development- a personal language. I had wanted to make a book and had struggles with a theme/story; finally these images are part of my story.
Patern Book
Sharon Jeniye-Cohen
Tyvek, Mirror Papere, Foil, Mercury Paper 30" x 8.5" $350
Digital Photograph 11" x 14" $525
This yard that I have abstracted for purpose of this photograph holds an infinity of memories in my heart. In this yard, I fed several feral cats for many years. The property was eventually sold and I was asked to leave and feed the cats elsewhere. The yard became just a memory for me, but I did have my photographs that could be manipulated in order to show off the many ghostly qualities within this yard. It is a haunted place for me. Color and shapes add to the haunting, make it personal as well as universal. The yard lives forever in my soul as a home for my feral cats and my spirit.
Contact information for this artist can be found starting on page 212.
Yard Jigsaw Spinning
Jeffry Jensen
Saon Kashen
Photography 16" x 24" $400
Bideshi Bangladeshi translated Foreigner person from Bangladesh. Though I was born in Bangladesh, I was raised mostly in the states which has made me more of an American than Bangladeshi according to some people. There is no ranking or tally system that can distinguish the level of being something more than the other. My journey started out in Bangladesh, is currently now in America, but who knows where it will end up in the future. This piece represents one person who is in a limbo between two regions. 128 Contact information for this artist can be found starting on page 212.
Bideshi Bangladeshi
America the Beautiful Leah Knecht
Oil, Refuse, Resin in Vanity Mirror 27" x 45" $7,000
“America the Beautiful” reimagines John William Waterhouse’s 1903 painting, “*Echo and Narcissus”, with a modern environmental commentary. Painted on a vintage vanity mirror salvaged from the curb, the reflective surface remains visible in areas, inviting the viewer to see themselves as part of the narrative. Oil slicks and embedded trash—both real and painted—add texture and symbolism, while Narcissus is draped in an American flag. The message is clear: we are all complicit in the state of our planet, with America, as the largest per capita consumer of natural resources globally, bearing significant responsibility.
Contact information for this artist can be found starting on page 212.
Koerber Oil 13" x 14" $1,000
I took a trip to Catalina to get photos for paintings. I wanted to focus upon the crown jewel of Avalon Bay, the famous Catalina Casino, that has held court since 1929, establishing Catalina as a relaxed getaway with a touch of class. I chose to highlight the iconic Casino, composing “her”, near center, and within the upper third of the composition. The slow curve of rocks and pathway as well as the large portion of water, both serve as a compositional pedestal upon which “the queen” is situated. A touch of sunset adds a bit of glam.
Contact information for this artist can be found starting on page 212.
The Catalina Casino
Nora
The
Corner
Lambert Oil on Canvas 24" x 30" $1,700
In “The Corner,” a rain storm has polished the streets and sky. Everything glows in the late afternoon sunset. This time of day and these lightening conditions are my muses. I constantly search for compelling visual stories featuring brilliant colors and intense contrast. Transitional times of day, dramatic skies and glowing urbanscapes especially spark my imagination.
I challenge myself to observe my surroundings with fresh eyes and, through my paintings, express wonder in the constantly changing world—rich in life, vibrant color, and beauty.
Contact information for this artist can be found starting on page 212.
Bonnie
starting on page 211..
First Dance of the Year
Acrylic on Canvas 36" x 48" $7,500
Eigth Century Tang Dynasty reflects the grandiose time when China and the West met. People from all nationalities congregated in Chan Ann, the ultimate cosmopolitan metropolis. Buddhism, Christianity, and Moslem, even Judaism, thrived! The Imperial Concubine Yu Huan adorned the colorful robe in fashion and performed the first dance under the first moon for the emperor in love with her. An event immortalized by the poem by the most celebrated poet Li Bai, a Persian descendent. What better theme to show my upbringing in east and western cultures trying to demonstrate this rendering of Chinese calligraphy with Western styling.
Contact information for this artist can be found starting on page 212. 132
Agnes Lee
Archival Plantine Fiber Rag Print in Custom Black Walnut Frame
Benches (2022) is part of my Chinatown Reverie, a love letter to my ongoing tribute to where my family and I first settled as immigrants from Hong Kong. A pair of empty benches served as a perfect canvas filled with still-life memories during the peaks and throes of the pandemic. The contrast of bold reds and golden yellows epitomizes the colors of my childhood and the vivid nostalgia that comes along with it. I can’t imagine my roots without Chinatown Los Angeles.
Contact information for this artist can be found starting on page 212.
Benches Tommy Lei
In 1921, the Bugatti Type 13 ‘Brescia’ heralded a new trend in motorsport. Over 100 years ago this open-top sports car brought the era of large, heavy racing cars to an end. The lightweight body, superior chassis and powerful engines made the Type 13 a racing car that was way ahead of its time. There remain few of these original cars, with replicas being made, this grill is from one of the original vehicles. A few flaws show this it was once raced; in the number a solder repairs to the radiator and some enamel chipped away in the name. This photo was taken years in the past but recently enhanced to show its simplicity, age and beauty. Its development began in 1910 and was to go into production in 1914 then came World War One. All the automobiles were hidden and brought out in 1919 and again went into production, by 1923 it was a hit. It was just under 1.5 liter engine with a weight of just a little of a thousand pounds it was way ahead of its time and made it a standard for racing in the twenties; many innovations were to follow after David slew Goliath.
Brescia Brass Grill Warner LeMénager
Watercolor on Arches Paper 12" x 8" $1,600
Using Watercolor, on Arches 300 lb Paper, My goal with this painting was to capture that moment of intensity when watching Spanky the Rodeo Clown preparing for an event. The close-up on the face, furrowed brow and extreme close-up was intentionally Painted to show the seriousness of the moment, the seriousness of the man and the event.
Contact information for this artist can be found starting on page 212.
Rodeo Clown Kevin McCants
Found Metal Objects/Harvested Machine Parts 19" x12" x 9" NFS
i took apart an old, rusted out motor once and discovered all of these interesting components that could be repurposed for use in sculpture. With some bending and tweaking, parts could be made to look like wings or leaves, or perhaps the petals of a flower. Most of the floral pieces that i’ve made are single flowers. They are all right, i guess, but they feel bulky and obtrusive. This one projects grace and finesse much better. This sculpture was destroyed in the Earton Canyon fire.
artist
Bouquet
Chris Moore
Richard G. Murphy
Acrylic Paint on Canvas 21" x 16" $3,500
My “Facescape Series” of acrylic paintings on canvas features portraits of friends and neighbors I have come to know and appreciate as I attempt to capture the depth of their character, especially through their eyes. With “Cordell,” I was inspired not only by his expression, but his body art. As a self-taught artist, what is most exciting is what I discover with each series, and each new painting. Indeed, the freedom to experiment with different brushes while mixing/diluting paint colors often results in what I like to call “happy accidents” that create beauty while inspiring a technique that I can exercise in my next work of art. Consequently, when asked what I would consider to be my favorite painting, my reply is always “My next...!”.
Facescape Series: Cordell
Mexid Medium: Ink, Glitter Paint, Glaze 21" x 11" $2,000
Rays – especially cosmic rays, light rays, gamma rays, etc. – are the means by which the universe (more precisely, the different disparate chunks of the universe) communicates with itself from the deep past to the distant future. “Rowdy Rays” is an attempt to capture and represent this energetic phenomenon in human terms, albeit too imprecise and far from the complexity inherent in the phenomenon. By tearing and lifting the paper on which the work is done, a more palpable sense of this energetic reality is conveyed here.
Rowdy Rays
Albert Natian
Tom Oldfield
Photograph 20" x 16" $500
My photography is an escape from everyday reality. I am fascinated with the process of how things became what they are and where they are going, whether the subject is a grand landscape or some decaying technology from the past. Most of my work is in black and white using large format film and traditional darkroom techniques. This time however, a color image was calling to me and traveling with large format gear is a challenge so this image was captured and printed digitally. Bruge, Belgium, is a beautiful city of canals, gothic buildings, chocolate, beer, and fries. The old town is lovingly maintained and a very real door to the past. Although it can be crowded with tourists it is still possible to find a quiet spot by stepping away from the busiest places and finding a quite spot.
Contact information for this artist can be found starting on page 212.
Bruge
The Enlightment of the Digital Wave
South African Wonder Stone 22" x 18" x 14" $15,000
The proud young man boasts his connection to the digital wave. Because of the constant use of his digital communication devices, his cell phone has become embedded in his hand and brain.
His left arm has mutated since his devices do everything for him, replacing anatomy with antennas. His right arm has been lengthened through mutation allowing constant data into his body. Both eyes are mutated sight devices.
Victor Picou
In The Woods
Rebecca H. Pollack Photopolymer Etching
8.5" x 5.5" $600
Three of my passions converge in this piece; printmaking, photography and nature. This print was created using a photo sensitive plate, a light source and my photographic image printed in reverse on acetate. It achieves a rather mysterious look, which I like. Spending time hiking in the woods gives me a sense of peace, which I’ve tried to convey in this print.
A Geo-Expressionistic improvisation on paper of the spiritual core of a New Mexico landscape with cliffs and minerals and a potential Southwest thunderstorm. The lines are intuitive at the beginning and then suggest a subject to me over time. When I was 6 years old, a family friend gave me an art book titled Going for a Walk with a Line –a Step into the World of Modern Art. It must have had a lasting effect on me because I’m still going for walks with lines.
Mountain Spirit
Serena Refoua
Emerging I
Jean Richardson
Intaglio Etching with Watercolor 8" x 10" $350
COVID forced us inside. It forced isolation from family and friends. Grandparents were separated from their children and their grandchildren. Gatherings were restricted and people communicated electronically and not face-to-face. The compassion and intimacy that touch provides was discouraged and faces were masked so that even expression was obscured. But then vaccines helped us to emerge. We began to enjoy each-others company again. Life seemed to return to normal and we Emerged.
Lawrence D. Rodgers
Digital Photograph 10" x 15" $500
This is an image of the front end of a 1939 Bugattl Type 57C Cabriolet. It was designed and constructed by Vanvooren of Paris and features art deco accents and design cues. I was taken by the grilles over the headlights and how they complimented the Bugatti radiator cover. This particular Bugatti is a striking example from the world of French Art Deco automotive design. When I look at vehicles of all types I try to find and photograph the most distinctive features or details that interest me. It was a real pleasure to see this Bugatti.
Bugatti Type 57C Cabrio;et
A Breafast Still-life Jeannine Savedra
Oil on Canvas Panel 6" x 8" $450
The inspiration for this intimate still-life emerged from a simple yet elegant breakfast scene under the morning light at my kitchen table. My intention was to capture a rich visual experience that celebrates the simplicity of a morning routine and the intricate subtleties of everyday objects. I hope the result is a visually captivating still-life that offers the viewer an intimate glimpse into the artistry and vison behind the work.
Survival of the Owl People
Raku-fired Ceramic 18.5" x 13.5" x 8" $875
CRASH! The inspiration for this intimate still-life emerged from a simple yet elegant breakfast scene under the morning light at my kitchen table. My intention was to capture a rich visual experience that celebrates the simplicity of a morning routine and the intricate subtleties of everyday objects. I hope the result is a visually captivating still-life that offers the viewer an intimate glimpse into the artistry and vison behind the work.
Harriet Sherry
Sacred Oak Tree in Two Worlds
S. A, Smith
Acrylic, Applique, Assemblage on Wood Frame 19" x 24" x 3" NFS
Sacred Oak in Two Worlds presents visual elements to trigger the viewer into generating a personal narrative. The sacred oak tree is presented as a mirrored image, overseen by three ravens. A pack of hounds and the Sirius constellation provide direction to the guarded green door: a portal connecting two worlds. The work creates its own reality…coexisting dreamlike shapes and symbols do not always make sense to the awakened mind, but they create their own world. Each viewer will interpret the symbols from their own unique experience. This artwork was destroyed in the Eaton Canyon fire.
Contact information for this artist can be found starting on page 212.
Its Red not Golden Renee Rusak Strouse
Aerial Photograph 20" x 16" $150
What I see from above:
It was mostly a bright sunny day flying over San Francisco with the remnants of a marine layer from the Pacific. The western edge of the city was under fog like clouds. You could see a densely populated world at the edge of the clouds. But flying north those clouds started to separate and the north end of the famous Golden Gate Bridge came into view. I shot as many images as I could hoping at least one would be a winner. We were high, an altitude of 10,000 feet or more and moving fast with a tail wind. The cars were so tiny on the bridge and the small boats beneath were indistinguishable from the waves. What is interesting is, if you look closely an image of a face had formed just above the last support. Fun fact, the bridge is Red and not Golden!
String of Pearls Harmony
Debbi Swanson
Digital Still Life on aluminum (scanography) 20" x 24" $600 Contact information for this artist can be found starting on page 212.
In String of Pearls Harmony, I “strung” together the succulent named String of Pearls with other succulents, flowers, and jewelry pieces depicting flowers and birds, lizards and insects, plus a piece of vintage Murano glass. The result is a colorful energetic piece capturing much of the life in a garden. This is all created on a scanner. No “cameras” were used in the creation of this piece. The light is much different from what you would get with a camera.
Portrait of an Oil Can depicts a vintage, metallic oil can with a curved spout. This is an object I have used in many drawings and paintings but never as a standalone object. The oil can illustrates a sense of elegance as shown by its slightly worn texture and emphasized by the metallic sheen and the subtle shadows cast by the light source. It has been a well-used tool. I kept the background dark for contrast. I wanted to create a composition that is simple and focused, drawing attention solely to the oil can.
Portrait of an Oil Can Kathleen Swaydan Oil on Linen Panel 5” x 7” $275
Photographic Print on Hahnemüble Photo Rag 10" x 10" $650
The mighty Eucalyptus is a spectacle that begs attention. This particular beauty was admired at the Huntington gardens on a spring day during the pandemic. My IPhone camera scaled the tree’s base pointing skyward to appreciate its imposing girth and towering height with the sun obscuring its peak. This forest sentry is an inspiring symbol of strength with its grand outstretched branches and weathered trunk. The signature multi-toned bark peels back to boast an artist’s palette of rainbow colors.
Towering Eucalyptus
Laurel Termini
A Summer’s Day in Verdugo Park
Barbara Thorn
Watercolor 13.75" x 9.75" $350
One summer afternoon as I was sitting enjoying the day in Verdugo Park, I noticed the streaking rays of sunlight shinning through this tree! It was so brilliant and radiant that I snapped a photo of it. I tried to recreate the brilliance of the sun rays because it was so beautiful. It’s not often that one sees an image so radiant and bright as this. It actually glowed!
Flourshing
Low-fire White Ceramic Clay with Gold Luster 9" x 14" x 3" $850
This ceramic ampersand is based on an icon from the Matura MT Script font. Nevertheless, this symbol as well as every ampersand represents the word “and”. This art piece including all my other ampersand sculptures stand alone. Ordinarily, an ampersand means, connections, perfect pairings and collaboration. The gold luster color over clay reflects a positive, glowing and affirmative unity between two entities.
Cecilia Torres
Ken Weintrub
Pastel 12" x 9" NFS
Mission San Juan Capistrano is arguably one of California’s most beautiful historic sites. Lily pads in ponds, flower gardens, graceful archways and Spanish walls with a red tile roof all combine to soothe and inspire the visitor to this fabled landmark. Angled sun provides a patchwork of light and a lattice-like shadow pattern as seen from the shaded walkway en route to the mission’s aged, simple chapel.
Mission San Juan Capistrano
November Bloom
Karen Winters
Oil on Panel 20" x 24 " NFS
This painting was inspired by the powerful atmosphere of a late afternoon in the eastern Sierra at Whitney Portal, with Lone Pine Peak towering beneath a dramatic sky. I loved how the clouds broke just enough to bathe the landscape in soft light, enhancing the texture of the wildflowers below. Though the season is transitioning, the flowers still add life to the scene, reminding me of nature’s resilience. I wanted to capture this fleeting balance of light, color, and majesty.
My Ma gazes at great granddaughter Ava and coos- “Mi Chiquita Irish Rosa - mi pajarita.” She says to Ava. “You have a little spot of Mexican.” The Mexican cast iron pan is a halo. I paint this scene. It is frozen in time. This is a moment when Ma gazes at lil Ava and showers her with loving words - words that tell Ava her heredity her family history. I honor the Mexican and Irish cultures. In this painting I show the Irish cross and two haloes. Despite poverty, difficult births, and loss of children, Ma is comforted by our family babies.
Contact information for this artist can be found at the end of this section
La Bisabuela y Ava
Julianna Aparicio-Curtis
Acrylic 14" x 11" $430 Contact
“It was early evening when we stumbled upon a meadow in the Rocky Mountain National Park that truly captured my heart. As we sat in silence, watching the clouds gracefully dance in the amber sky, I couldn’t help but feel a sense of peace and tranquility wash over me. The soft lavender hues that covered everything in sight, painted a picturesque scene that felt surreal, a moment of pure bliss. I was so moved by this simple evening that I had to capture it in my own way. With each stroke of my brush, I brought to life the vibrant colors that danced in my memory. I used thick and delicate strokes of acrylic to envision this serene and calm atmosphere of that magical evening.”
artist
Rocky Mountain in Lavender
Frenzy
Focusing on texture, line and motion, I look to capture some essential element of a state of being. Frenzy is a state of mind that is often a response to anxiety, danger, or uncertainty. The arrangement of the wings in this piece suggests speed, frantic movement, and urgency. An artwork that leaves the viewer with questions and curiosity invites interaction and personal interpretation.
What causes this frenzy?
Frenzy
Baloga
Seeing Through Cyndi Bemel
Photography 12" x 36" $555
Waking at dawn, it’s a joy to roam vast expanses under endless skies, allowing the imagination to fill in the inviting space of vastness and raw beauty that lives in nature Even when the heart feels heavy, the spirit can feel light. Taking the time to make the time with gratitude.
“Your vision will become clear only when you can look into your own heart. Who looks outside, dreams; who looks inside, awakes” Carl Jung
Acrylic on Paper Collage 25" x 33" $1,000
The shape of a succulent leaf was the initial inspiration. Then different shapes seemed to move around a central force, the energy released by the coils to start birds and bats spinning and taking flight and navigating through an inner radar. I am inspired by the natural world but also by textile design. In this case the composition reminds me of a stylized pattern on a silk brocade, like that used in kimonos.
Pinwheel
Barbara Lai Bennett
In memory of Vincent’s friend, Joseph Roulin. They had a wonderful friendship that certainly helped Vincent through some difficult times. Jospeh, The Postman, is painted large with an expression of strong determination and stubbornness, as he contemplates the past and future. The textured surface and bright colors (orange and blues) celebrate the lively rhythm and movement of Vincent’s landscapes and portraits.
Postman Arnor Bielvedt
Airy Bamboo
Mariko Bird
High fire Ceramic 8.5" x 5" x 5" $470
I challenged myself to come up with a vase that has openings to give airy feelings, and this is the result. I started with a cylinder with a closed bottom (no comma) and made incisions on the side that resembled young bamboo’s skin. The texture at the base was added to look like the bamboo shoot. Once bisque fired, I applied red iron oxide and Patina Green, a glaze that I have become fond of in recent months.
Arcylic Paint, Acrylic Marker on Canvas 36" x 36" $3.500
This painting is part of my Community Portrait series. I invite the public to write a positive word or sketch onto the canvas. When that’s done I then paint a subject in the center. This piece focuses on the beauty of Mexican culture, specifically Dia De Los Muertos.
Mariposa Queen
Art Carrillo
Tranquility
at Ullswater Lake
Virginia Causton-Keene Oil on Canvas 20" x 16" NFS
Vacations at Ullswater lake is one of the happiest memories from my youth. The stillness of the water and the early misty morning left a lasting impression of peacefulness that I was eager to capture in this painting. I kept the tones cool to evoke the moments before the sun peeked it’s head over the mountains, and I used a scumbling technique to convey the feeling of the cool early morning mist.
Oil on Canvas 40" x 36" $6,000
“Heart of the Angels” is a celebration of the wonder of creativity. The vibrant sun dominates the canvas, its radiant energy encapsulated by the sweeping clouds. A lone palm tree reaches skyward fiercely, silhouetted against the sun, symbolizing resilience and the delicate balance between our earthly duties and divine creative calling. The flock of birds spiraling above the sun, evokes a sense of freedom and spiritual ascension as we embrace ourselves as creators.
Heart of the Angels
Bella Chen
And It’s Beside Her That I Rest
Acrylic and Colored Pencil on Paper 15" x 20" $5,000
This mixed-media piece, combining acrylic and colored pencil on paper presents a visually rich tableau set against a backdrop of deeply hued mountains and vibrant banana leaves. At the heart of this composition lies a solitary figure of a woman, lying on her side across the expanse of the paper, her expression solemn and penetrating, as if gazing directly into the viewer’s soul. The use of color and form creates a scene that is both serene and intensely emotional, inviting viewers into a moment of profound introspection and connection.
Contact information for this artist can be found at the end of this section
Anya Cherrice
I created Marilyn Huckleberry a few years ago. She is part of my series of Marilyns that contain at least 200 drawings and paintings of sizes from small to large. When I started painting Marilyn in this pose where she’s lying on a bed, I didn’t know why I was doing it. Then my nanny who took care of me when I was a baby, told me that my beautiful mother had to go to a mental hospital from the time I was three months old until I was a year old. When she came home, she lay in bed most of the time because she was taking a lot of meds. She couldn’t take care of me. For all (delete of) my childhood and teen years, my mom was not like the moms of other kids I knew. I think in my subconscious; I think of her lying in bed. I do remember she sometimes rested her chin on the palm of her hand. And she did get her hair done at the salon once a week. But then she would lie in bed, so her hair had this half messed up, half glamorous look. For me this painting is much more about my mom than it is about Marilyn
Marilyn Huckleberry
Chuka Susan Chesney
Watercolor, Colored Pencil on Paper 14" x 11" $400
Liz Crimzon
Original digital Photograph 11" x 15" $175
While passing through a courtyard at work, I spotted this small patch of clover, growing out of a tiny, 2–3-inch hole, that was knocked into the side of a large wooden planter. I love the way it grows out of what appears to be a knot in the wood, and the way the layers of white paint are flaking off, exposing the rings of the tree that the panel was cut from. The natural world will not be tamed! Even in our “concrete jungle,” nature always finds a way to grow new life.
Contact information for this artist can be found at the end of this section
Wooded Clover
Acrylic on Paper 20" x 16" $2.000
I did this right after completing Underwater Mosaic 1. I haven’t finished exploring the shapes and colors of an imaginary undersea vision. And once again, the Garibaldi swimming in the water and amongst the kelp gives me a chance to contrast the blues and greens with color pops of complementary orange.
Underwater Mosaic Marion Dies
Deukmejian Shoji Roger Dolin
Acrylic on Pellon on Repurposed Shoji Screen 71" x 53" $7.500
This painting is in honor of the many cultures that live where I live. My wife and I live very near to Deukmejian Wilderness Park where we hike every week or two. On a walk in our neighborhood I picked up a discarded Shoji screen with the intention of fixing it up and replacing the withered rice paper with a mural. I love to create detailed landscapes and scenes from nature using repurposed materials and this Pellon material saves money and I feel like I am contributing to the recycling efforts. The image itself is from way up on a steep trail that leads to Mt. Lukins, looking out over the Crescenta Valley. I used a photo from my cellphone camera. I use the Panoramic Mode so that I can point the camera directly at the ground and then drag it upward into the sky
Watercolor on cotton Paper 18" Diameter $450
There is so much we don’t know. Most of the time we are guessing and acting based on assumptions. What is happening inside a person we are observing? What we see is often deceiving and does not convey the vastness and interconnectedness of what is really going on. Here is the Mona Lisa showing her wild side and driving a car.
Mona Lisa at the Wheel
Darien Donner
Eyes of the Storm
Martin Ehrlich
Slb Built High Fire Porcelian 18.5" x 13.25" x 3" $875
Eyes of the Storm: This piece is dedicated to our friends in the Caribbean who endure the annual threat of hurricanes and hopefully live through the occasional actual weather phenomena as a price they pay for living in their version of Paradise.
This is one of the works comprising my recent three dimensional expansion on the 1950”s and 60”s OpArt era.
Beauty, wonder and growth.
The Breath
Patricia Fortlage
Archival Print 24" x 30" $1,500
Aries in the 4th Dimension
Judy Frisk
Watercolor 22.5" x 30" $1,740
This work is based on memories of wandering through an empty ancient arena as the pitch blackness was broken by blinding light pouring in through arched openings. Impossible for eyes to adjust, the dizzying disorientation transformed distant silhouettes into spirits from the past, or a past self from an ancient time. I create narrative works about our fleeting moments of self-doubt, disorientation and open clarity - the real, remembered, imagined or dreamed. Whether frightening or wondrous, we invariably meet up with ourselves. Intentional ambiguities are left in hopes of heightening intrigue, prompting curiosity, introspection and self-examination.
information for this artist can be found at the end of this section
Undying Questions
Steve Graziani
Etching on Paper 10" x 8" $135
•OVERALL: I use an old art for contemporary stories and observations. UNDYING QUESTIONS is one of my more ambiguous pieces. At art festivals I hear all kinds of interpretations, from cosmic science to religious—glad I’m not in charge of what people see in my work, only to create pieces where they see something. I’m neither a well-educated person, nor an overly spiritual one, so for me, UNDYING QUESTIONS boils down to a single one that keeps me going—what’s around the next corner?.
In my drawing The Fast and the Fuuurriest, I wanted to reflect deeper on current issues regarding waste and littering in a non-confrontational way. I want to use my artwork as a platform to raise awareness of the negative impact humans have on our exquisite planet. The man-made bottle cap carelessly dropped by a hiker in the forest while playful chipmunks chase each other around an ancient oak tree shows the incongruity between man and nature. I am hoping the viewer will pause long enough to reflect on this and think further about their impact on nature.
Contact information for this artist can be found at the end of this section
The Fast and the Furriest
Kathrytn Hansen
Coloredc Pencil 12" x 20" $2,530
Smiling
Kevin Hass
Traditional
Darkroom Color Print by Photographer 15" x 15" $700
The complex layers of color and texture in this subject attracted me to make this composition. Color is just as important as shape. The roughly worked grittiness of the wall is an absolute opposite to the smoothness of the face, and makes it stand out. In this way, I see it as approaching a 3-d photograph. The plant material specks left on the face resemble freckles to me, which is an added bonus to this complex image. Green growth on the plant is in just the right places to help our eyes travel through this Photograph.
Face
Late Night
R. Rene Hoffman
Gicleé 14" x 11" $400
On a not too late night walk through Descanso Gardens, I was taken by how the colored lights gave a different feel to the Japanese garden. Looking through the viewfinder, the pink lights were intense against the dark and blue lights. I took this image and other than a little cropping, there was no enhancement. The night looked just like this.
Tranquility
Karen M. Holgerson
Fabric Collage on Board 18" x 24" $1,500
Tranquility is a tribute to the wonderful summer days I spent as a child in northern Wisconsin with my grandparents. It is a creation of my imagination, for there was no prior plan. Just many pieces of cut fabrics and colors to choose from. It evolved overtime with many starts and stops into this final result. It is a tribute to the many childhood experiences I had learning about the natural world through hiking, camping, and fishing adventures –and time with my grandfather.
Vase & Flowers
Sharon Jeniye Cohen
Foil, Metallic Paper, Card Stock, Vellum 11" x 14" $400
Ikenobo is a school of flower arrangement in the Japanese art of Ikebana. The visual gestures include dramatic style, use of surrounding space, and horizontal planes exemplified by the surface of the water and a presentation platform. In this artwork I am emphasizing the presence of the water and the massing of the floral shapes. The transparent stems produce a layer of depth to an otherwise formal image.
Horses are poetry in motion. Zeus is a retired thoroughbred racehorse. His retirement means he gets to go out on trail in the San Gabriels but before anyone gets on him, he needs to run off excess energy to keep his rider safe. It’s a joy to watch his beautiful footwork as he maneuvers the relatively small circle he gets to run in at top speed. I wanted to capture that motion and I feel watercolor is a perfect medium in which to do so. It’s as if he is splashing through water with complete abandon.
Zeus
Eve Kessler Pastel, Watercolor, Acrylic on Arches Paper 20.5" x 32" $900
Kos Oil on Canvas 30" x 24" $2,900
The inspiration for this painting came to me during one of the sleepless nights. When I looked out the window, the city lights revealed mysterious shapes in the darkness, and a bright moon appeared in the sky. I translated these glimpses of reality into the language of abstraction, focusing on strong contrasts of light and shadow and the interplay of geometric forms.
Sleepless Nights
Joanna
Eileen Oda Leaf Oil, Mixed Media, Hand-Cut Canvases 11" x 12" x 12" $2,000
I am a Los Angeles based artist that creates two-and three-dimensional oil on canvas paintings of food, landscapes, people and street scenes. My art leans toward creating a moment in life that has struck a chord, that captures my heart and soul that is directly related to a desire to share this feeling with the viewer. My paintings are infused with layers of paint applied in typically thick vibrant colors where light and shadows interact in a way that captures a moment in time whether it is a landscape, portrait or even a 3-D food sculpture that I have coined exsculpainting.
Donuttone Cake
The last hour before sunset, known as the Golden Hour, seems to infuse the air itself with color that softly changes, deepening and darkening, cooling into the evening. It feels magical every time.
My goal as an artist is to bring these elements together and give them a voice to speak of humanity in an ev-
Oil 9" x 12" $550 Contact information for this artist can be found at the end of this section
The Golden Hour
Rosina Maize
Coming Into focus
Janet Manalo
Abstract, Mixed Media, Acrylic on canvas 32" x 32" $1,600
Many, many layers of acrylic washes and pencil shadings are used in this composition. The color palette is different than the ones I am currently using in other art pieces. I freely experimented with applying and wiping away paint to reveal delicate undertones. I rediscovered the joy of colored pencils. It became a refreshing experience because subtle blending allowed shapes to come into focus. er-changing age of technological change and present this to the viewer in a meaningful, communicative manner.”
Italian Sports Car
Kevin McCants
Watercolor on Arches Paper 10.5" x 13.5" $800
On vacation in Italy is where this beautiful Sports Car was found. Painted on 300 lb Paper and with Grumbacher Pans I was excited by all the Blues, Purples and Golds in the stones. The Rich Reds in the car, moving from Alizarin in the dark tones, to Cadmium in the lights made this an intriguing subject to paint.
17 Steps
George Paul Miller
Oil Painting on Canvas 30" x 30" $2,500
I once realized that 17 steps away from the place that I was standing was someone living the journey of a life I knew nothing of. A life filled with love and sorrow, joy and despair, poverty and richness. 17 steps away from where you now stand is someone that knows nothing of the journey of the life you are living. 17 steps away from where you now stand there is another life, and another, and another. All unaware that you and I and they are all touching, connected, affecting and dependent on one another. 17 steps away from the place that you now stand is someone living the journey of a life you know nothing of. And so I created this painting as a portrait of someone that may very well be 17 steps away from where I was standing.
artist
Fire, Smoke and Light 1/1
Rebecca H. Pollack
Print Image Transfer, Hand Colored cwith Pencil 10.5" x 7" NFS
Many, many layers of acrylic washes and pencil shadings are used in this composition. The color palette is different than the ones I am currently using in other art pieces. I freely experimented with applying and wiping away paint to reveal delicate undertones. I rediscovered the joy of colored pencils. It became a refreshing experience because subtle blending allowed shapes to come into focus.
Dissolution of Discourse
Rhonda Raulston
Encaustic and Alcohol Ink on Panel 12" x 6" $750
“Dissolution of Discourse” illustrates the fragmentation of political communication in our polarized society, contrasting dark upper layers with lighter bottom areas to represent ideological divides. Blurred middle sections evoke the erosion of nuanced dialogue and common ground, while the structured yet disintegrating bottom pattern mirrors the breakdown of communication channels. Amidst this chaos, a vivid red circle symbolizes isolated viewpoints, and scattered black dots represent disconnected facts and disjointed rhetoric. By depicting how political polarization reshapes our communicative landscape, this piece prompts reflection on whether this dissolution will lead to destruction or serve as a necessary deconstruction for rebuilding healthier discourse.
The Writing on the Wall Rhonda
Encaustic and Alcohol Ink on Panel 12" x 6" $750
“The Writing on the Wall” reflects the tension between religious ideals and the eroding ethical and moral conduct in America’s political landscape. Ethical norms are sometimes ignored or distorted to suit modern agendas, creating a growing disconnect between professed ideals of compassion and justice and public conduct.
Raulston
The seven etchings in this book depict the Judeo-Christian account in Genesis of the days of creation. Narrative stories were explanations that still resonate today. They try to answer the questions of how did the heavens and the earth and all that is in them come to be. How is it that there is light and darkness, water and dry land, fish and birds, animals and humans. While the stories differ in different cultures and the explanations change over time, the desire and quest to explain our presence continues.
Genesis Book
Jean Richardson Paper 10.25" x 92.5" $900
Audry
Inks and Acrylics on Canvas 24" x 12" $600
This vibrant artwork, titled “Audrey,” pays homage to the iconic Audrey Hepburn, blending her timeless elegance with a modern, explosive backdrop. The piece skillfully juxtaposes the serene and classic beauty of Hepburn against a riot of fiery colors that seem to capture the chaotic charm of the era she symbolizes. Silhouetted black forms overlay parts of her face and body, adding a layer of mystery and depth. Created using mixed media on newspapers, the work reflects fusion of past/present narratives, showing Audrey is not just as a frozen figure, but as a continuous inspiration, ever evolving.d
Contact information for this artist can be found at the end of this section
I Kruti Shah
I had the privilege of studying with great Native American potters at the Idyllwild School for the Arts. Mark Tahbo, Milford Nahohai, Nicolas Quezada, Dora Tse Pe, Tom and Sue Tapia, each from different pueblos, generously shared their techniques, family stories and beliefs connecting their art to the earth. In my teaching, I strove to share this lesson of respecting the earth as crucial to pottery. Hopefully “Blue Hamsa” honors lessons from Pueblo potters as I borrowed the feather, a symbol of prayer, and integrated a Hamsa referencing my culture.
Blue Hamsa
Harriet Sherry
Ceramic cobalt Slip Sgraffito 10" x 9" x 9" $700
An Afternoon at the Norton Simon Museum David Sikes Oil on Luan Veneer 36" x 24" $700
“An Afternoon at the Norton Simon Museum” reflects a special, captured moment where art, nature, and imagination intersect. The painting features a persistent red dragonfly (that dogged me while I was there) which alighted and appeared to view a Monet-looking figure across the expanse. By juxtaposing the dragonfly with the impressionistic water lilies, I aim to evoke a sense of tranquility and wonder. This piece invites viewers to appreciate the beauty in both the natural world and the artistic interpretations that capture its essence, blending the line between reality and art.
Contact information for this artist can be found at the end of this section
Photograph 18" x 12" $650
At day’s end when darkness is near and the air cools down, this lantern’s glow radiates light and warmth to the nearby area. With a strong sense of balance and symmetry, this light adds beauty and sets the tone for your “coming home.”
Latern – Coming Home
Robert Michael Sullivan
Still-life with Orange and Marbles
This painting, Still-life with Orange and Marbles, showcases a composition of various objects. My intent with this painting was to capture the shiny, copper-colored bowl’s reflective surfaces and the luminosity of the orange slice. I included a few vintage marbles with colorful patterns for added interest. Utilizing a softly lit surface with subtle tonal variations in the background enhances the realistic quality of the objects in the foreground. Overall, the use of light and shadow adds depth and dimension to the painting.
Contact information for this artist can be found at the end of this section
Kathleen Swaydan Oil on Linen Panel 8" x 6" $395
Print on Hahnemüble Photo Rag
Roses are synonymous with the national image of Pasadena as they adorn the floats of the annual New Year’s Day parade. This delicate varietal was seen newly unfurled on a weekend walk this August at the Arcadia Arboretum. The translucent petals caught my attention as the mesmerizing whorl absorbed the golden hour sun’s rays. Roses are high maintenance plants and it was particularly rewarding to capture this luminous image with a special appreciation for its ephemeral beauty.
Wild Eyes Rose Laurel Termini
Photographic
Barbara Thorn
Pastel 16" x 20" $450
My two-and-a-half-year-old niece Emily inspired me to create this look of happiness and innocence. The shadows across her face and hat stimulated me to recreate it on paper! I wanted to produce a playful look and contentment that most happy children convey! She is now 16 & driving! Time slips & flies away so quickly!
Emily #2
“Strolling in loops, Branching past They comeThe memories of us, Drifting leaves. Creating ways In the garden For our new Tendrils.”
Garden of Memories
Arella Tomlinson
Acrylic on Canvas Mounted on Panel 10" x 10" $450
There is a famous photo of Pablo Picasso carefully finishing the last piece of fish off its skeleton. He later impresses the fish skeleton into a white earthenware clay slab then places the slab on a thrown red earthenware plate decorated with bull images [Bullfight and Fish (verso: Faces); Museo Picasso, Barcelona]. This story has opened up for me the idea that a bodiless entity can be an art piece. My fish skeleton on a plate was glaze-fired through the raku technique.
Guihan
Cecilia Torres
3 Vessels
The artwork is a still life painting featuring three main objects. Central to the composition is a silver pitcher with a curved handle, reflecting soft lighting on its surface. To the left of the pitcher is a small blue and white ceramic container with its lid leaning against it. On the right side of the composition, there’s a brass teapot with an ornate handle and spout. The objects are illuminated from the right, casting gentle shadows to the left, and are set against a muted, gradient background, creating a calm and classical atmosphere.
Tucker
The Tea House Pasadena Japanese Garden
Suzanne Urquiza Oil on Canvas 16" x 20" $600
Earlier this year I participated in a Art Show at the Japanese Garden in Pasadena with PSA artists. The garden was a surprise as it was the first time I saw the beautiful gardens and pools filled with Koy and water lilies. I was especially taken by Tea house. The lovely shadows and light from the backend sun reflecting on the pond was so lively yet so peaceful. I have since painted others and plan to paint more of this enchanting place.
Valkov Etching, Aquatint and Watercolor Monoprint .5" x 6" $500
One of my favorite “constructions” of monoprints is a geometric background that “holds” a watercolor image. As the base of the inked plate is oily, the watercolor paints applied on it create an effect of hundreds of bubbles. Perhaps, they hide what is “missing” deep under their surface…
Missing
Tsvetelina
Series
This work is all about order resolving from seeming chaos. It is comprised of both positively and negatively painted shapes made with traditional watercolors as well as newly formulated water soluble raw pigments so that the materials and the painting method reflect and express the overall theme of this piece. The shapes in it seem to emerge and hide as they give one the feeling of both flatness and space at the same time.
Square
#40
It’s been said that conditions on Europa may be able to support human life as we know it. It’s one of the moons of Saturn and maybe, it already has visitors or a visitor. One that take advantage of the solar systems other world that has water and waves on which to surf. So the figure in it, human or not? I didn’t show a face. Rather leave to the viewer to decide.
Skinny dipping on Europa
Terrance Wilson
Acrylic on Masonite Panel 13.33" x 15" NFS
As an interbeing through the lens of consumerism and mindfulness based on the essence of Buddhist teaching such as the Four Noble Truths and the Noble Eightfold Path, Pigeonhole questions to the viewers rather than providing answers to the consumer culture and mindful living. Giving forms to ideas is to explore the boundaries between mental images and three-dimensional forms in mixed-media works. This ongoing approach to his art practice is to get viewers to think, agree or disagree and be curious. Pigeonhole deals with The Four Noble Truths; sufferings, self-righteousness, perceptions making aware of human nature and environmental sustainability.
Pigeonhole
Young
Watercolor and Ink on Paper 12" x 8" NFS
Descanso Gardens is known and loved for its display of tulips. I have been a volunteer gardener there for over 13 years and I love them too. We planted 32,000 bulbs this winter. When they come up, it’s always amazing to see the vibrant colors and interesting shapes of petals. I painted this vase of tulips in watercolor to capture their translucent colors from a photo my watercolor teacher gave me.
Jean Richardson jean.richardson@med.usc.edu Jeanrichardsonart.com https://www.pasadenasocietyofartists.org/artists/jean-richardson/jean-richardson.html
Lawrence D. Rodgers LawrenceDRodgers@gmail.com https://www.pasadenasocietyofartists.org/artists/rodgers/lawrence-d-rodgers.html
Renee Rusak Strouse Reneestrouse@gmail.com https://www.pasadenasocietyofartists.org/artists/renee-rusak-strouse/renee-rusak-strouse. html
Throughout Pasadena Society of Artists’ 99-year history, works by PSA members have been sold at major auction houses, collected in important art collections, and displayed in museums throughout the United States and Europe. Our legacy is immense!
Would you like to be part of our organization?
We are always looking for new, dedicated members. Our artists work in all media and styles of drawing, painting, sculpture, and photography. All have been juried into the Society.
New Member Screenings for the Pasadena Society of Artists are usually held twice a year, in the spring and fall. Please go to our website at www.pasadenasocietyofartists.org for more information. If you are interested in becoming a member, please complete a Membership Inquiry Form, found online, and contact our Director of Membership, Marion Dies. Ms. Dies will notify you when the next screening has been scheduled.
Qualifications considered for membership include the applicant’s dedication to artistic standards of excellence, professionalism, accomplishments, skills that benefit the Society, and the artist’s future potential. Applicants submit three (four if a virtual screening) pieces of artwork representing current media and style, created in the past two years. Artwork submitted is judged by presentation, talent, and originality. We encourage perseverance; a number of our members have been offered memberships after having been declined multiple times. Former members include Charles White, Walter Askin, Jirayr Zorithian, Conrad Buff, David Green, Enjar Hansen, Frode Dann, Jae Carmichael, Leonard Edmondson, Mildred Lapson, Paul Sample, Hanson Puthuff, Sam Hyde Harris, Martin Mondrus, Betye Saar and many more.
We look forward to welcoming new artists to the Pasadena Society of Artists as we approach our 100th anniversary in 2025.
For a Membership Inquiry Form go to: https://www.pasadenasocietyofartists.org/get_involved/join/application.html
Lawrence D. Rodgers
My journey as an artist began at age 6 when I watched my father freehand sketch a WWII fighter aircraft. That experience “threw the switch,” and I started drawing constantly. Throughout my school years, my parents recognized my “gift” and supported my artistic pursuits. During high school, I attended Saturday morning life drawing classes at Art Center in Los Angeles. During breaks from these three-hour sessions, I would explore the shop to examine clay models of future automotive projects and study automotive renderings in the student gallery. I had developed a particular passion for sketching cars.
Following two years at community college building my portfolio, I was accepted into Art Center College of Design’s transportation design program. After graduating with a BS in Industrial Design, I worked in various design capacities, including van interiors, consulting design, and automotive accessories. A significant chapter in my career involved working as a freelance illustrator for major automotive magazines, including ten years as a contributing artist for Motor Trend. I later provided design services and product photography for various companies until my recent retirement.
My connection with Pasadena Society of Artists (PSA) began in 1969 when I became a studio assistant for Pasadena-based artist Jae Carmichael at the Pasadena School of Fine Arts. Working with Jae, I learned invaluable skills, including artwork photography. When Jae became involved in reopening the Grace Nicholson Building, I spent many evenings setting up art exhibitions, perfecting the placement of each piece for PSA exhibitions.
After a brief hiatus, Jae and I reconnected when she invited me to assist with the Diamond Jubilee Exhibition at the Pasadena Museum of History. I helped install the exhibition and returned to work as Jae’s studio manager. In the early 2000s, when Jae asked me to attend a PSA meeting on her behalf, I became the Exhibition Committee Chair and subsequently volunteered for the vacant Vice President of Exhibitions position.
Although Jae passed away before she could mentor me in exhibition installation, I was determined to honor her legacy. What started as a short-term commitment has evolved into a 21-year tenure on the PSA Board of Directors, serving as VP of Exhibitions, President for two years, and returning to my current role as Vice President of Exhibitions. This journey has allowed me to combine my artistic background, technical skills, and organizational abilities in service of the arts community.
