Dear Friends and Collectors, I wrote to you a few weeks ago about the Huntington Beach Art Center exhibit and I want to encourage you to check it out. The Huntington Beach Art Center, Scapes and Scope: Visions of the Land, Sea and Urban Space is available through October 23, 2021. Check out the main link for the show here. The show is an invitational and open call juried exhibition focused on landscapes. The show was juried by EE Jacks and Jim Ellsberry and curated by Jim Ellsberry, a Southern California artist. There are two parts to this exhibit: the in-person exhibit of 118 pieces within the 3000 square feet of gallery space in downtown Huntington Beach, and the online exhibit with 49 images.

Mr. Ellsbery and Mr. Jacks took the idea of “scapes” and their many iterations: landscapes, seascapes, urbanscapes, skyscapes, and even nightscapes (nocturnes). The exhibition shows emerging to established artists and a wide variety of mediums such as oil, acrylic, pastel, watercolor, and charcoal. The overall superior quality of the works transmits the wonder of nature and each artist's passion for their subject and allows the viewer to see landscapes in a new and contemporary way. I found this show exhilarating to view and feel very fortunate to be included in both the in-person and virtual shows.

Although the in-person exhibit is available online (click here for the link) ), it’s worth it to visit the exhibition in person to see through the eyes of the curator. The first room is anchored in traditional nature landscapes with some innovative pieces mixed in, including a major piece by Richard Humphrey and two pastel pieces by Lorenzo Chavez. The second room flows into more urban pieces, some with an abstract approach, and nocturns or nightscapes, including an important piece by Thom Wright. The final room recalls some early abstract expression work of the New York school with a piece by Susan Stone. There are some truly sublime pieces within this show, and I feel it helps to stretch the idea of contemporary landscape beyond traditional themes.

The online exhibit is organized alphabetically by artist (click here for the link) and casts a much wider net, with national and international submissions. The virtual exhibition also includes commentary by the artists which provides further insight into their work.

Click here to see the press release from the Huntington Beach Art Center with details on where and when. It’s so good to be back to seeing exhibitions in person after the long winter of the pandemic. My friends at Stu News Laguna Beach wrote an article about the exhibition. See it here.

Yours in art,
Gianne

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