Esoteric Survey

June Harwood Paintings at  The Benton Museum of Art at Pomona College Although Harwood was a key figure in the West Coast Hard Edge movement, t his is the first museum retrospective of her work . It focuses on various series of her 50 year career. It was  Karl Benjamin, Lorser Feitelson, Frederick Hammersley, and John McLaughlin who received much of the attention in the late 1950s Hard Edge scene. The group became known as The  F our Abstract Classicists, from the 1959 exhibition of the same name. It was Harwood's art critic husband,  Jules Langsner, who not only curated that exhibition but has been credited with the term "Hard Edge." I'm not sure it would be appropriate to call her the fifth Beatle of the Abstract Classicists but she was included in Langsner's  second exhibition,  California Hard-Edge Painting. The show also included  Florence Arnold, John Barbour, Larry Bell, John Coplans, Helen Lundeberg, Dorothy Waldman, and the origina...

 Harrison McIntosh house, designed by Claremont architect Fred McDowell. It was part of a tour by  Claremont Heritage . Ikebana arrangement by my friend Auralynn Nguyễn . In a McIntosh ceramic of course. In addition to the many McIntosh pieces, there are quite of few pieces by Sam Maloof.  Huge lantern by Harrison.    Soleri Bell = In the know . Karl Benjamin house, also by Fred McDowell. This and the McIntosh home are owned by the artist's children. They are doing a wonderful job preserving the legacy and so kind to open up their homes. Another  arrangement by  Auralynn Nguyễn .  This one too. Studies by Benjamin. I was pretty excited to see that Karl Benjamin was a Pacific Iron fan. Milo Baughman I couldn't figure this one out at first. I'm not sure about these pieces in particular but Karl traded a painting for some of his furniture. They made out on that deal.  I'm pretty sure it's this Pacific Iron daybed that has been reconfigured ...

I went on a field trip to Scripps College, Claremont to see their amazing collection of post-war American ceramics. With me were  Eric Huff and Tom McMillin (yes the ceramicist). Kirk Delman, the Collections Manager and Interim Director at the Ruth Chandler Williamson Gallery at Scripps College gave us the tour.   Tom (left) is a legend in California ceramics and added so much to the experience. Not only did he know many of the artist in the collection, his technical knowledge of glazes and ceramics was a great insight to have. Kirk has been at Scripps for 37 years so he knows the collection better than anyone else. He also knew many of the artists personally and shared some great stories about them. This was a major craft geek experience for me and Eric.    The bulk of the Scripps ceramic collection came from Fred Marer. He was a math teacher at LA City College, so far from a rich guy. He built an amazing collection that began in 1954 when he went to an exhibit...