Sunday, October 3, 2010

October - Exploring The Visual Art In My Home Town Sacramento, California

  Winding River by Wayne Thiebaud (click)
I'm a Native Californian,  born in Sacramento.  Even though I only lived there until 1959 I still consider it my home town.  Much of my family still live in or around that area.  I have since lived in Los Angeles, Redding, San Diego and currently in Oceanside, all cities within California.  For what ever reason my heart/soul is tied to this Region.  The rivers, the delta, the trees, the farm land, the climate, the city all seem right to me.  My roots were some how imprinted, it made it's mark on me and I've never been able to shake that feeling.

The Delta by Gregory Kondos (click)

When I see works of these artists that have lived, taught and painted in this region at one time or another such as Wayne Thiebaud, Gregory Kondos & Fred Dalkey they capture the deep feeling,  the sense of that place I consider home.  In  getting to know these artists better this year,  I had gone to the Pasadena Museum of  California Arts to see the excellent exhibit  "Wayne Thiebaud - Seventy Years of Painting."  Then just recently my cousin and I went to Sacramento City College where all three taught at one time, to see the opening of the Gregory Kondos Gallery which is on the campus and we were able to see all three artist's fine work at this exhibition.
Messrs. Thiebaud, Dalkey & Kondos (click)

I just started coming back to Sacramento over the last three or four years trying to get myself reacquainted with the town after being gone for so many years and have been enjoying every minute.   So in this months blog I'll continue that journey were my focus is the visual arts of this area.

This month The Crocker Museum, Founded in 1885 is re-opening October 10th after having completed a major expansion adding a new 125,000 sq ft building.  I have provided a very cool link to the Sacramento Bee newspaper which has created a Virtual Tour of the Crocker "New & Old"  with quite a few 360 degree views of the various galleries.

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Entrance to The Crocker Museum
In October Focus I've provided you links to the excellent and varied galleries you will find in the city. When I get to town my cousin Julie and I try to visit as many of them as we can.  We have had the pleasure of seeing a lot of excellent art, artists and challenging exhibits.  So I hope you really enjoy these links.

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In Enjoy! Another excellent find from my cousin Willie.  IPad three-D light painting.  Seeing is believing!


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The talk I have chosen from Ted.com is by Graphic Artist vs. Graphic Designer Marian Bantjes.


"In graphic design, Marian Bantjes says, throwing your individuality into a project is heresy. She explains how she built her career doing just that, bringing her signature delicate illustrations to storefronts, valentines and even genetic diagrams." 


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Live! at "The Club" - Cachoa!!!  


I saw a film on PBS American Masters called "Cachoa: Uno Mas" Preview film here and was blown away.  I knew his influences, his music ... I did not know him until now.  John Santos said besides all the wonderful things said about him "humility is the man".   I have provided a link to the film and links to his music.


As a side note.  I have included four links. Two are to Cachao performing his composition "Chanchullo" and the other two are Santana & Tito Puente performing, to me the iconic,  "Oye Como Va" ... and I'll say no more, enjoy!


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And finally "Foodie"  I'm told since Sacramento is surrounded by all this agricultural ... farm, vineyards, orchards, ranches, etc ...  "slow food" & "farm to table"  is a big part of the region.  I know from reading Chef Michael Touhy's Executive Chef of Grange Restuarant at Citizen Hotel in Sacramento wonderful blog that is probably true.  The Chef  " ... I am thankful to be in a place like sacramento. we are fortunate to be surrounded by many small farms making it much easier for them to get their products directly to us or via one distributor, produce express. one could argue, that sacramento has a local food way that is unparalleled to any in the country."


So see how they do it in Australia and visit the Chefs Blog "Front Burner" to see how food is done in this region.


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I will continue to update the links that have some relationship with the exhibit "Via La Revolution - Dialogue With The Urban Landscape" .  


I've added a link to Banksy's book "Wall & Piece",  Swoon's book "Swoon" and Shepard Fairey's Book "OBEY".   For Banksy's film "Exit Through The Gift Shop" I added a link were you can sign-up to be notified when his DVD will be release in a format that can be view in the US & Canada.  The European DVD is already out.








That's it for now ... Enjoy the journey!





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