Coso Room Gallery
The gallery provides a synergistic role in the mission of the Maturango Museum by providing a professional exhibit space, including an audio-visual projection system and correct lighting for:
- Visually pleasing art exhibits by local, visiting, and traveling artists to be experienced by our local community and all visitors.
- Informative workshops for children and adults
- Concerts
- Lectures
- Docent activities including storytelling and art programs
- Meeting space
- Curator exhibits including the Annual Wildflower Show
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Joint Art Exhibit – Lori Michelon: “Desert Miscellany” and Jael Hoffman: “States of Being”
November 2 – January 31, 2025
Reception Saturday December 7, 2-4 pm
Lori Michelon
I first came to the Eastern Sierra to camp when I was 5 months old! Since then, this area has been a big part of my life – many, many years of living first in Mammoth, then Tom’s Place. Scattered here and there were other wonderful living places: San Francisco, Reno, Orange County, France, and Sonoma County. All good places for a variety of reasons. It’s always important to get some perspective. I have a BA in French and got to live in France for two years – wonderful. Much later, in my mid-40s, I got an MFA in printmaking from CSULB – received in 2005, after commuting to Long Beach from Tom’s Place for five years! Printmaking is my love – it’s the BEST: labor-intensive, meditative, and surprising. Drawing is also a BIG LOVE. I am interested in the creatures that we share this area with, sometimes these creatures need to be dressed in haute couture; they are always important and need to be revered and adored. They come in peace. Let’s welcome them. Lori
Jael Hoffmann
I mainly work in metal sculpture, soldered jewelry, and block print. A collection of my larger work is displayed at the Olancha Sculpture Garden in Olancha, CA.
Many of my pieces reflect psychological states of being that arise from unresolved inner tensions or the process of change that follows their acceptance. As I have learned, embracing oneself despite adverse narratives offers a refuge from dysfunctional repetition, thereby making space for ways of joyous engagement.
My latest exploration has been attaching glass to metal via the stained-glass method. This allows me to play with light and color to expand on the traditional expressions of metal.
Now Available
Information guidelines and applications for future shows are now available including Artist Prospectus & Application, Coso Room Diagram, and the Application Guidelines Presentation.
Contact Andrea Pelch – Gallery Coordinator | gallery@maturango.org
Past Exhibits
Frances Nichols’ Retrospective Art Legacy Gallery Exhibit
January 6 – March 31, 2024
Opening Reception Sunday, January 14, 2 – 4 pm
The artwork in this exhibit will include many subjects from around the world painted over a lifetime of experience. The art will be for sale and an opportunity to view a body of work from a very lovely lady with outstanding talent. The paintings are made in watercolor, pastels, and oils – some framed, some not. Frances Nichols passed away a few years ago and left an abundant amount of artwork. Her family has been gracious to share her artwork with us.
The spirit of this exhibit is to spread Fran’s Art Legacy to people who like and appreciate her work.
For her 2020 exhibit at the museum, Frances said, “My passion is landscape. I try to etch a memory of a place, beginning with an idea of the finished piece, but leaving myself open to the work evolving. I work in plein-air on-site or from my own photos in the tradition of the early California Impressionists. Realistic representation is balanced with the Impressionistic play of light and color on the landscape. For me, the landscape is a prism where the time of day can transform the light moving through it into a constantly changing color. My subject matter is the Indian Wells Valley, Owens Valley, Antelope Valley, and the Eastern Sierras, ranging from desert washes, and mountain canyons, to the explosion of spring color in the desert. This exhibit includes works in pastel, oil, watercolor, and gouache. As the song says, ‘Love the one you’re with!’ I enjoy working in all media and my favorite is the one I’m using that day. I do love the immediacy of pastel with its instant color and layering, and the drama underpaintings can bring, but I also like the richness of oil and the fresh luminosity of watercolor.”
Creativity
November 4 – Dec 30, 2023
The “Creativity” Exhibit will feature artwork from 22 artists. Various subjects in watercolor, oil, pastel, acrylic, metal, wood, and ceramics. The Opening Reception is free and open to the public.
The Desert Artists’ League (DAL) was founded in 1957 by a group of artist friends. We are a talented group of people who work in a variety of media: watercolor, acrylic, oil, encaustic, ceramics, pastel, mixed media, and fiber arts. We love to share camaraderie, enthusiasm, tips and techniques.
General meetings are held on the first Monday of the month (unless it falls on a holiday, then we meet on the second Monday) from September through May. Currently, we meet at the Church of the Nazarene 571 N. Norma St. Ridgecrest at 6:30 PM. Meetings are open to anyone interested in art, whether making art or simply enjoying art. Guests are welcome. There is no charge to attend the first time, afterward, we ask guests to pay $5.00.
See the DAL website at desertartistsleague.org/ for more information.
“Archaeoclay - Glyphs of the Earth”
Patrick Crabb’s Art Exhibit “Archaeoclay – Glyphs of the Earth” June 3 – August 19, 2023 Opening Reception same time.
Artist Statement
Patrick S. Crabb
My life passion is working in clay. This material is the reason “I rise with the sun”, working creatively for nearly 50 years. Clay is my material to express in countless ways, leading my hands/heart/mind thru life. Archaeology and anthropology have been my guideposts. I look to ancient cultures and their histories to guide me in the present and onward into the future.
The images shown here on the walls are my reflections of rock art. Their mysteries have plagued my mind for decades. And now, I am attempting to make personal reflections from their influences. The images are not site specific. My technical approach is gestural in its imagery along with its construction.
The clay bowls have influences from my love for the ancient Mimbres Cultures of the American Southwest. The black-white graphics reflect the simplicity akin to that culture.
www.patrickshiacrabb.com
The Open Studio Tour
In the Coso Room October 22 – 23
Joy Gonzalez’s Art Exhibit
“A Sense of Light”
In the Coso Room July 2 – August 26
Joy says, “I am a third generation native Californian and have grown up loving the western landscape. I am primarily a traditional oil painter, but my goal is to paint expressively and capture the beauty we have all around us. The Eastern Sierras and the Pacific coastline are especially inspiring!
My love for California and the Southwest was fostered by growing up in a family with a long California history. My great-great-grandparents homesteaded in the Sierra Nevada foothills and started a ranch and orchard. My father loved the mountains and the ocean and took our family camping on vacations. I still love camping and backpacking and find that it inspires my artwork. In this increasingly chaotic world, getting back to nature seems to restore sanity and serenity, and that is what I try to bring to my artwork.
My goal is to paint expressively, yet maintain a sense of realism, and to convey my deep appreciation of the beauty of nature. My goal in painting outdoors is to capture the ever-changing light and deepening shadows, and my studio work builds on the knowledge of nature’s colors learned from observing and painting outdoors.”
ARTifacts! 2022
Museum Members’ Artistic Interpretations of Curated Objects
Our museum curators have chosen objects from collection storage and our museum members have artistically interpreted their assigned item and made an “art object”.
Benny Alba – “Dusk and Blue Horizons”
