California Sculpture

[frandal2]

I'm doing research for a Master's Thesis on California Sculpture. I am interested in the following topics:

1. CA Sculpture History
2. CA Sculptors
3. Collectors of Sculpture in CA (private/public)
4. Schools of Sculpture in CA
5. Legislature affecting, promoting sculpture in CA
6. Residencies, artists groups, sculpture centers
7. Foundries and other sculpture fabricators
8. CA sculpture movements
9. CA sculpture parks and gardens

Any and all help and ideas are welcome. My intent is to do live interviews after my preliminary round of research.

Frances Vandal
P.O. Box 88434
Los Angeles, CA 90009
frandal2@att.net

[fritchie]

Frances - Thanks for helping show us what a new world the Internet has brought us - you can get suggestions from everywhere (irony deliberate but sympathetic). Let me start your list with Frederick Weisman. He was a major player in New Orleans art, both painting and sculpture, for probably 15 years until his death about 8 - 10 years ago.

I believe he made his fortune in the L. A. area, but he “discovered” New Orleans somewhere around 1980 - 85 , bought a home in the French Quarter, filled it with contemporary art, much collected locally, and soon became both a major donor and a board member at the New Orleans Museum of Art. The museum was designing a major expansion, and he assured a significant section for contemporary Louisiana art.

Here was a man who had the courage of his convictions in art, and who had generally excellent taste. I believe he made major donations to both L. A. and to his university alma mater in Michigan or Wisconsin as well as to NOMA.

I look forward to additional posts here. Thanks for starting an interesting thread.

[frandal2]

Thanks for your help.
Weisman is a big name in LA art and other philanthropic circles. I'll look him up.

Any suggestion as to how I my reach a larger audience with my topic? How did you find my post?

Frances

[fritchie]

You're about in the best place, with regard to this site at least. Give people a little time. As for your list of topics, I have trouble imagining how you might cover more than about 1 - 4 of those in one Master’s Thesis. I was a professor of chemistry for many years, and would have suggested to a student of mine to narrow the subject quite a bit. I think you will find gathering information more feasible if you do this at an early stage.

But, of course, the approach is up to you and your advisor.

As far as finding your post, I survey this website each day. I really can’t suggest other sites to post. I’m sure there are many. Use a search engine to locate similar discussion groups.

[adambradley]

Frances,

I will move to S. California in January and I would like to find out about "sculptors" in the area, or "sculpture centers" where I might make contacts.

If you have any sugestions I would appreciate them. I will be researching this topic also and will pass on any info I find.

One specific sculptor I can inform you of is my mentor/Teacher.
His name is Matthew Welter. He has done allot to influence artists in the medium of wood over his 30 year career. He has run a sucessful sculpture business for the last 20 years at Lake Tahoe Ca. And has developed a one-of-a-kind apprentice program, designed to train aspiring artists in wood sculpture, sculptured furnature, cold casting and the business of art. I believe his most impressive works are his contemporary wood sculpture. He has a significant body of this work, but is only begining to develop this market.

Is this interesting to you? If you would like more information let me know.


Adam

[frandal2]

Adam,
I think you're moving to the right place. The weather and wide open space makes for long hours of available natural light and the natural beauty of the environment is so diverse and inspiring.

What part of SoCal?

There are quite a few museums, lots of excellent schools: some specifically for art or graduate programs and then there are some excellent community colleges. Galleries abound that show everything from the Masters to Arts & Crafts to New Media, you name it.

Then there are the artists' enclaves. Venice Beach, Long Beach, the Brewery in downtown LA, Silverlake, Hollywood, Claremont, San Diego, Vista, Art City in Ventura.

Most of my contacts and area of interest are in stone and metal, both fabricated and cast. There are some beautiful wood turning. The Del Mano gallery in Brentwood showcases some very nice turned bowls and other unusual wood sculpture. Ojai, CA is the center for several artists communities. The late Beatrice Woods lived there until well in her 100's.

I would be interested in any women sculptors who have taken up the trade/art from your former mentor and teacher.

Although there are many wood sculptors, I've noticed that WAshington state and Oregon seem to have a large number of wood sculptors doing some very beautiful large-scale abstract wood pieces.

Have you seen Nadelman's sculptures? The Whitney in New York recently had a showing of his work. His figures look like wood but I believe most of them were done in plaster.

Thanks for your writings,
Frances

[jwebb]

You seem to be very knowledgeable about California sculpture already, and I'm not, but here are two items I've come across that I like very much. One is the work of John Atkin, who is British by birth but now, I think, resides and works in Calif. The other is the New Guinea Sculpture Garden at Stanford University.

[frandal2]

Thanks to Jwebb and Adam for their posts. Here's a reply to Adam re: CA sculpture communities.

Adam,

I am familiar with the Laguna Arts scene although it's been over a year since I've been down that way. Every summer they host the
Laguna Arts Festival, The Pageant of the Masters and the Laguna Sawdust Festival. Friends of mine who have tried to enter those art
festivals/juried shows have told me it's very hard to get in unless you're a local resident. Laguna has such a high concentration of artists
living in the city limits who make their home and studio there. It is quite beautiful.

Fallbrook also has a similar concentration of artists and artist colonies. It's inland from Laguna. I've taken bronze patina classes there
from Ron Young. He used to work at the Johnson Atelier at Grounds for Sculpture.

My thesis? Well, I know I must narrow my topic. To do it on the history or even current trends in California Sculpture is far too
broad a topic. My angle will be what are the trends influencing women who live in California to choose the plastic arts/3-dimensional form to
express themselves. Sculpture, particularly in the metal and stone materials has more often than not been heavily dominated by men. So I
wonder what draws people and in particular, women, to this form of expression.

How is it you, Adam, chose wood as your medium? You actually gave me a lot of information. You told me about your teacher/mentor who
lives and works in the Lake Tahoe region. That's another aspect I want to cover. People don't often develop in a vacuum. There are
important people influencing their decisions. Other factors might be the access to facilities, or schools, or places to show and sell work.
How easy is it for a sculptor, man or woman, to support themselves full time on their art? There are several excellent books written that
have given me a lot of good impetus for my topic: Art/Women/California: Parallels and intersections, 1950-2000 by Fuller and
Salvioni; Women and Art: Contested Territory by Chicago and Lucie-Smith; and the seminal exhibition catalogue published by
LACMA, Made in California: Art, Image, and Identity, 1900-2000 by Stephanie Baron.

In 1984, Los Angeles hosted the summer Olympics. Concurrent with the Olympic games, an exhibition was hosted for the LA Olympic Arts Festival titled: California Sculpture Show. It was held at USC's Fisher Art Gallery from June 2 - August 12, 1984. Of the twelve artists represented, all were men. All of them. This was a truly excellent show, well curated, that showcased the diversity and energy of California sculpture. To quote from Lyn Kienholz's introduction to the exhibition catalogue, "While in the last few years a generation of women sculptors has emerged in California, the preceding generations, including those represented in this exhibition, produced very few. Among those working, some are in such categories as site-specific or conceptual and/or performance, categories not
included in this exhibit. Hopefully, the prejudices that have kept so many women from sculpture are disappearing." copyright 1984
California/International Arts Foundation.

I'm curious to see how women sculptors have faired in the twenty years since that exhibition. I'm also excited to see Lee Bontecou's show opening at
the Hammer Museum in Westwood.

Thanks for your advice about changing my topic request on the scultpure blog. I will do so.

Frances