PAST EXHIBITS

“DAY OF THE DEAD” ALTAR EXHIBITION 9/22/01-11/3/01
The National Steinbeck Center presents a “Day of the Dead Altar exhibition” with both traditional and conceptual altars on display from Saturday, September 22nd through Sunday, November 3rd in the National Steinbeck Center gallery at One Main Street, Salinas. The colorful and moving altars were constructed by community groups, schools, and local artists including Creekside Elementary School, Cesar E. Chavez Elementary School, VNA Hospice, and Galeria Tonantzin. The exhibition is free with paid admission to the Museum. Although the altars honoring the lives of lost loved ones are often celebratory in tone, especially moving this year is the altar by Salinas firefighters and Salinas Police in honor of lost police and firemen in the September 11 attacks. Viewers can write their own thoughts and leave them on the altar, or bring a memento or photograph to lay on the Day of the Dead Community Altar to honor their deceased loved ones. (Please bring copies as photos and mementos are not replaceable).

In conjunction with the exhibition, the 4th Annual El Día de los Muertos/Day of the Dead Procession and Community Free Day will take place on Sunday, October 28, 2001. The Free day is from 10:00AM - 5:00PM, the procession will start at 12:00PM from the corner of Alisal and Main to the Center, and there will be entertainment and food and craft booths from 1:00PM - 4:00PM Thanks to the sponsorship of Macy's West, admission is free.

This year’s theme is “Hijos de Mi Alma; Honoring the Children of Our Souls.” The intent is to not only honor the young lives lost, but also to offer opportunity for young people to learn the traditions of early Mexican culture. This year’s procession will feature Ballet Folklorico and Aztec dancers, mariachi bands, children’s dance troupes, schools, and community and cultural organizations. A new food/craft fair will feature booths with traditional Mexican food and crafts relating to El Día de Los Muertos by community organizations, schools, and businesses. Call (831)775-4722 to be in the procession or to apply for a booth.

Contrary to what its name implies, the El Día de Los Muertos celebration is a very positive and warm tradition. It is a uniquely Indo-Hispanic custom that demonstrates a strong sense of love and respect for deceased loved ones, family relationships, and community solidarity.

The modern day El Día de Los Muertos tradition is a fusion of the pre-Hispanic cultures of the Valley of Mexico and Christianity. It is important to realize that this tradition is not like the Halloween holiday, which is based on a medieval European concept of death, demons, witches, and other images of terror, all of which are negative. The El Día de Los Muertos traditions are positive and honor and celebrate the lives of those who have passed on in a jovial and often humorous way. They also help to alleviate the pain of those who are left grieving by providing a constructive outlet for their grief.

Central to the tradition is the construction of an ofrenda or altar. Entire families work together to construct the altar, which is decorated with flowers, candles, religious images, incense, the favorite foods of the deceased, photographs, toy or paper skeletons or skulls, and glasses of water. Whatever the deceased enjoyed in life is remembered in preparing the altar. For more information call 831/775-4722.

Other local Day of the Dead Events will take place from October 5 - November 3 at Hartnell College Gallery, Salinas, (831)758-9126; the Pajaro Valley Arts Council, Watsonville, (831)722-3062; and at California State University Monterey Bay, Seaside, (831 582-3005.

The Day of the Dead Free Day is made possible by Macy’s West and Amerikleen. The Altar exhibition is sponsored by Community Bank and Mills, Inc. Family Programs are supported in part by the David and Lucile Packard Foundation. Media sponsors: KSMS TV, The Californian, El Sol, KLOK, KSES, KWAV and Magic 63 KIDD Radio. -30-
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SOUP TO NUTS: POP ART AND ITS LEGACY 6/23 –9/9/2001
The works of many of the principal artists associated with the Pop Art movement are represented in Soup to Nuts: Pop Art and Its Legacy, which runs Saturday, June 23, through Sunday, September 9, 2001 at the National Steinbeck Center at One Main Street, Salinas. In addition to Soup to Nuts, the Center is Showing Late Modern: Prints from the Monterey Museum of Art a selection of prints by noted artists such as Alexander Calder, Robert Rauschenberg, James Rosenquist, and Lee Krasner. These prints give the viewer an opportunity to look back on a period of artistic exploration, the vibrant and sometimes confrontational styles of the sixties and seventies. Because of its location in Salinas, there will also be special emphasis on Claes Oldenburg's sculpture “Hat In Three Stages of Landing,” with models and drawings on loan from Hartnell College Art Gallery.

Something of an ill-defined, collective love affair with Pop Art has been raging strong since 1962, the year the movement created an international media sensation. Pop may now claim the distinction of being the one modern style widely approved of by a general audience; Andy Warhol may well have superseded Picasso as the most recognized artist of the 20th Century. Soup to Nuts presents prints by many of the principal American
artists associated with the movement: Warhol, Lichtenstein, Rauchenberg, Wesselmann, Oldenburg, Indiana and Stuart Davis. Also included are contemporary artists David Salle, Chuck Close and Richard Estes.

Members of the Independent Group, Peter Blake and Eduardo Paolozzi (who founded the Pop Art movement in the late 1950s) are shown along with other important British Pop artists: David Hockney, Patrick Caulfield, Allen Jones, R.D. Kitaj, Joe Tilson; and Canadians: Greg Curnoe, Joyce Wieland, and Michael Snow. This exhibit of lithographs, screenprints, silkscreens, etchings and aquatints is drawn from the collections of the University of Lethbridge, Alberta, Canada.

“Pop” stands for “popular” art. The term “Pop art” first appeared in an article by the British critic Lawrence Alloway, “The Arts and the Mass Media,” which was published in the February 1958 issue of Architectural Design. Although Pop art is usually associated with the early 1960s (Time, Life and Newsweek magazines all ran cover stories on in 1962), its roots are buried in the 1950s. The show that thrust Pop art into America's consciousness was The New Realists, held at New York's Sidney Janis Gallery in November 1962. Pop art was simultaneously a celebration of postwar consumerism and a reaction against Abstract Expressionism. Rejecting the Abstract Expressionist artist's heroic personal stance and the spiritual or psychological content of his work, Pop artists took a more playful and ironic approach to art and life, often drawing on advertising and the media for subjects. A number of special programs will accompany the exhibition.

The “Soup to Nuts: Pop Art & Its Legacy” exhibition is sponsored by the Eastern Washington University Foundation and is touring the United States under the auspices of Exhibit Touring Services (ETS), a traveling exhibition service, and a program in the College of Letters, Arts and Social Sciences at Eastern Washington University. Special thanks to the Monterey Museum of Art for “Late Modern: Prints from the Monterey Museum of Art” and Hartnell College Art Gallery for Claes Oldenburg's “Hat in Three Stages of Landing” models and drawings.
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FROM STORY TO SCREEN: STEINBECK & HOLLYWOOD
3/24/01 - 6/10/01
The new exhibit “From Story to Screen: Steinbeck and Hollywood” opens on Saturday, March 24, 2001 at the National Steinbeck Center at One Main Street, Salinas. The opening reception, sponsored by Northridge Mall, is free and open to the public and will feature Steinbeck movie characters and Oscar ballots, with a prize from the Museum Store for one of the people who guess the most right answers in Sunday's Academy Award telecast. A special "Steinbeck & Hollywood" film series, cosponsored by the Monterey County Film Commission, accompanies the exhibition, which will run through June 10, 2001.

In a 1936 letter to his literary agent Elizabeth Otis, John Steinbeck wrote, “My stuff isn't picture material,” but the next fifty years would prove him wrong. During that period Hollywood produced a least ten motion-pictures based on published and unpublished stories and screenplays by Steinbeck. The success of Steinbeck's films was due to such talented directors as Alfred Hitchcock, John Ford, and Elia Kazan to bring the author's literary vision to the screen. These films featured stars such as Henry Fonda, Hedy Lammar, and Marlon Brando, and garnered twenty-nine Academy Award nominations, including three for Steinbeck as best writer.

The first work of Steinbeck made into a motion picture was in 1939 with Of Mice and Men, staring Burgess Meredith as George and Lon Chaney, Jr. as Lennie. Other film adaptations include: The Grapes of Wrath (20th Century Fox, 1940); The Red Pony (Republic, 1947); East of Eden (Warner Bros., 1955); Cannery Row (MGM, 1982), and Of Mice and Men (MGM, 1992).

Tracing Steinbeck's works from written composition to screen adaptation, “From Story to Screen: Steinbeck and Hollywood” draws from the Center's archival collection, various film archives and research libraries, and private collections. The exhibit will display examples of Steinbeck's published works, including a copy of Their Blood is Strong, a pamphlet featuring Dorothea Lange photos and reprints of Steinbeck's 1936 “Harvest Gypsies” articles, as well as first editions of The Grapes of Wrath and Of Mice and Men, illustrating Steinbeck’s stories.

Movie-related items include many original lobby cards, production stills, and vivid and dramatic posters. Ephemeral items include, movie tie-in book editions, exhibitor campaign books, and a press release from Warner Bros. Studio dated January 7, 1955 describing James Dean as a “sensational newcomer,” and “bright new Hollywood star.”

The Steinbeck & Hollywood film series is co-sponsored by the Monterey County Film Commission and will begin on Saturday, April 28 with The Grapes of Wrath at 11:00 AM. There will be an introduction, lunch and discussion following the film. The cost is $16, $12 members, includes museum admission. On Saturday, May 19 the Center will present the 6 hour made for TV movie East of Eden (1981). The Moderator is producer Ken Wales, and the panel includes actors Timothy Bottoms and Sam Bottoms, who starred as Adam and Cal, respectively.

The program begins at 10:00 AM with Part 1, followed by a break for lunch, and Part 2 at 12:30 PM and discussion. The cost is $40, $30 for members. On Sunday, June 10 visitors can see a double feature with Tortilla Flat (1942) starring Spencer Tracy and the made for T.V. film The Red Pony (1973) starring Henry Fonda and Maureen O'Hara. The cost is $16, $12 for members and includes introduction, lunch and discussion.

Opening Reception sponsor: Northridge Mall. Media sponsors: Coast Weekly, KWAV, KLOK, and KSES radio.
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THIS LAND IS YOUR LAND: THE LIFE AND LEGACY OF WOODY GUTHRIE 1/13/01 - 3/4/2001
The Smithsonian’s groundbreaking exhibition, This Land is Your Land: The Life and Legacy of Woody Guthrie opens on January 13, 2001 at the National Steinbeck Center at One Main Street with a free reception from 5:00 PM to 7:00 PM. There are several special events, lectures, a concert and film series which accompany the exhibition, which will be on view through March 4, 2001.

In collaboration with Nora Guthrie, Executive Director of the Woody Guthrie Archives, the Smithsonian Institution Traveling Exhibition Service (SITES) has organized an exhibition that draws from rarely seen objects and film footage, original artifacts, folk art and illustrations to reveal the complexity of a man who has been described as a poet, musician, protester, idealist, hobo, and folk legend.

Visitors to the exhibition will hear previously unreleased music and interviews from the Smithsonian Folkways collection throughout the exhibition. At the first sensory activated stop, Woody's traditional influences play - i.e. samples of country western, blues, and anglo-ballads. At the second stop, visitors will hear Woody's folk story voice as he introduces excerpts from his album “Dust Bowl Ballads.” The last stop is a video which includes interviews and songs from artists influenced by Woody such Bob Dylan, Bruce Springsteen, and Billy Bragg.

This Land Is Your Land: The Life and Legacy of Woody Guthrie is free with paid admission to the National Steinbeck Center museum. and is open daily from 10:00am to 5:00pm. Museum admission is $9.95 for adults, $7.95 for seniors (over 62) and students with ID, $6.95 for youth 13-17, $5.95 for children 6-12 and free for children 5 and under, and free to members. For additional information call 831/775-4720 or visit http://www.si.edu/sites.

This Land is Your Land follows Guthrie’s life through his personal history and artistic development. The exhibition employs a minimalist design, evoking the physical landscapes of the places in which Guthrie lived and worked – such as Oklahoma, Texas, California, and New York. Guthrie’s voice and those of his biographers act as counterpoints to the exhibition’s narrative. The final section of the exhibition highlights Guthrie’s legacy and features contemporary artists who have been influenced by his work.

Guthrie was born in Okemah, OK in 1912. Family tragedies and hard times led him to Texas and then to California, where he began his music career, singing songs as a Depression era Dust Bowl refugee. Well versed in the booms and busts of land, fortunes, and hearts, Woody sang to migrant farm workers and at union rallies. His empathy for the common man infused his music with purpose and sparked a lifelong dedication to social activism.

Guthrie’s wanderings from Los Angeles to New York City, where he finally settled, made him an accidental traveling folklorist, collecting cowboy songs, mountain ballads, religious music, blues and work chants. He then blended these styles into more than 1,000 original songs.

His prodigious career spanned only 17 years, until his early death in 1957 when Huntington’s Disease finally took his life. During that time, he wrote numerous songs and poems, four novels, and hundreds of letters, essays, and newspaper columns. He drew and painted prolifically and recorded hundreds of songs, both traditional tunes and his own compositions. He sang about love, war, natural disasters, unionism, fascism, and children. Woody Guthrie’s “ballads” echo in the music of many of today’s emerging songwriters. As folk artist and diarist, his voluminous drawings and autobiographical musings illustrate the world as he saw it.

This Land is Your Land: The Life and Legacy of Woody Guthrie has been organized by the Smithsonian Institution Traveling Exhibition Service and the Woody Guthrie Archives in association with the Smithsonian’s Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage. The exhibition has been made possible through the generous support of Nissan North America. Additional support has been provided by the Smithsonian Institution Educational
Outreach Fund. Local Exhibit Sponsor: Lombardo & Gilles Local media sponsors: KION/KCBA TV, San Jose Mercury News, the Monterey County Herald, KPIG Radio.
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A PACKAGE DEAL: THE ART OF AGRICULTURE

Cheerio Merril Packing Co.	Red Coach Inn Bruce Church Co.	King o' Hearts K.R. Nutting Co.	Hi-Goal E.E. Harden Packing Co.

A Colorful exhibition of 120 produce crate labels from the Salinas Valley, “The Valley of the World” and beyond. This exhibit celebrates the art of over 120 fruit and vegetable crate labels from the Salinas Valley, described by Steinbeck as “the Valley of the World,” and beyond. Around the turn-of-the-century these crate end paper labels were seen as miniature posters and served as artful point-of-purchase advertising in an age otherwise devoid of color advertising.

To attract more business, the packing houses around Salinas were among the first to rely on bold visual images and catchy brand names. But it was the striking colors produced by a relatively new technological breakthrough called chromolithography that ultimately seduced the eye. In their heyday these labels were considered the pinnacle of commercial art.

The collaboration between fruit and vegetable growers and commercial artists led to thousands of different label designs and a huge variety of subjects. Exhibit curator Richard Saunders has grouped the collection into nine themes including; animals, transportation, comic, sports, pin-up, wild West, children, California-scene, and patriotic and war. “A Package Deal: The Art of Agriculture” shows us how, in the hands of a good commercial artist and talented graphic designer, the lowly crate label accurately reflected the evolution of American values, politics, aesthetics, and technology. This project is made possible in part by a grant from the California Council for the Humanities, a state affiliate of the National Endowment for the Humanities.
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MODOTTI AND WESTON: MEXICANIDAD PHOTOGRAPHIC EXHIBITION
3/31 - 8/6/00
The National Steinbeck Center is proud to present Modotti and Weston: Mexicanidad. The show of over 65 vintage photographic prints from photographers Tina Modotti and Edward Weston in 1920’s Mexico runs from March 31, to August 6, 2000. Modotti and Weston: Mexicanidad is a traveling exhibition organized by the George Eastman House International Museum of Photography and Film with support from the Gannett Foundation. The exhibit is supported by The David and Lucile Packard Foundation and by media sponsors the Monterey County Herald and classical KBach radio.

For many photographers, the importance of place, whether home or country, contributes to a defining expression of life and art. Mexico was such a place for photographers Tina Modotti (American, 1896-1942) and Edward Weston (American, 1886-1958), who traveled from California to Mexico in the late summer of 1923 and stayed there until 1926.

They found a country that was reverberating with the modernizing effects of recent revolution: political and social reform coupled with cultural initiatives and new industries prompted a momentous revitalization of Mexican Society. The Mexicanidad movement, led by a community of artists, writers, and political activists, realigned national identity with Mexico’s indigenous and ancient heritage rather than its colonial past. It championed all things Mexican by asserting the distinctiveness of native culture.

This exhibition of 65 vintage photographic prints examines Modotti’s emergence as an independent artist in which her work is a tenuous balance of pure formal beauty and political intent. Photographs by Weston, many of them portraits of Modotti and their life together, will be presented with those of Modotti. Open-air markets, laborers, women, and children were subjects Modotti chose to celebrate the heroic character of Mexico’s most unrecognized citizens – the indigenous working class.

The life of Tina Modotti was shaped by the fervent culture and politics of 1920s Mexico. With the photographer Edward Weston, Modotti immersed herself in a bohemian lifestyle. She counted among her friends both the artistic and revolutionary; among them were Diego Rivera, Frida Kahlo, Manuel Alvarez Bravo, Jean Charlot and Julio Mella. Immersed in this atmosphere, Modotti first developed her purist approach to photography. By 1926, she had united her photographic ambitions and her growing involvement with social activism and revolutionary politics.

Modotti and Weston were decisively changed by their encounter with Mexico, its culture, and its people, leaving with very different visual interpretations of their experience there. They realized a renewal of purpose and identity in their lives and the art that echoed a similar national renewal brought about by the “movement”. Together, then individually, Modotti and Weston envisioned photography as in step with its time, giving a voice to needs and concerns both personal and social.

On Sunday, April 30th at 2:00 PM Amy Conger, Ph.D. will present “Edward and Tina: An Affair to Remember.” She will discuss the impact that the art and politics of Mexico had on the lives of Edward Weston and Tina Modotti when they traveled there together in 1923. Conger is the author of the definitive biography of Weston and has written extensively about Modotti. $3 for lecture or free with museum admission.

On Sunday, May 28th at 2:00 PM there will be a special program Laughing Eyes: A Special Reading of Letters Between Edward Weston and Cole Weston presented by the photographer’s son and author Cole Weston. Here is an intimate glimpse into the lives of the first family of 20th Century photography – The Westons. Through these letters we see an artist mature into his role as one of the great photographers of the century and a boy grow up through the era of the Great Depression and World War II. Cole Weston and editor of Laughing Eyes, Paulette Weston, will be on hand for a book signing following the program. The lecture is free of charge. Museum admission sold separately.

On Sunday June 11th at 2:00pm there will be a slide lecture Tina Modotti and the Mexican Renaissance presented by Patricia Albers, author of Shadows, Fire, Snow: The Life of Tina Modotti. Albers will put Modotti's photographs into context by discussing the artistic and political environment in the 1920's and Modotti's associations with renowned artists such as Diego Rivera and Jose Orozco. This lecture is free of charge or free with museum admission.
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SUNSET MAGAZINE EXHIBIT EXPLORES A CENTURY OF WESTERN LIVING 2/7/00-3/25/00
The National Steinbeck Center presents Sunset Magazine: A Century of Western Living, 1898-1998 February 7 through March 25, 2000. For centuries the American West has excited the world’s imagination. Since 1898, “Sunset Magazine” has fed that excitement with words and pictures about life and lifestyles in the West. The Sunset Magazine: A Century of Western Living, 1898-1998 exhibit explores how “Sunset Magazine” has reflected and helped shape our image of the West, from the magazine’s beginning 100 years ago as a promotional piece for the Southern Pacific Railroad to its current status as a premier lifestyle magazine.

Sunset Magazine: A Century of Western Living, 1898-1998 presents the richly visual history of the magazine through paintings, drawings, photographs, memorabilia, and artifacts. It features early cover art, illustrations, and posters that captured the beauty of the Western landscape by artists Maynard Dixon, Ray Bethers, and Maurice Logan. Several acclaimed literary figures, including Jack London, Brett Harte, Joaquin Miller, Charmaine London, and John Muir, were “Sunset’s” contributing writers during the early years of publication.

Visitors can track “Sunset’s” century of influence on the American lifestyle from popularization of the barbecue and use of inventive technologies in home design, to its coverage of food, gardening, and travel. Artifacts and articles illustrate the ideas and innovations introduced by the magazine, which are now a part of daily Western life. There will be two special programs held in conjunction with the exhibition. The lectures are open to the public and free of charge. Museum admission is charged separately.

On Sunday, March 12th at 2pm, visitors will enjoy a special presentation, The Thunderbird Remembered: The Life and Times of Maynard Dixon. Daniel Dixon, son of painter Maynard Dixon and photographer Dorothea Lange, will recall life with his father in an hour long talk about the book, The Thunderbird Remembered: Maynard Dixon, the Man the Artist.

Maynard Dixon’s works are featured in the Sunset Magazine exhibition. There will be a special Members’ Only Luncheon at 12pm immediately preceding the 2pm lecture with Daniel Dixon. Join us for an exclusive and intimate dining experience with lively conversation. The cost is $50 per person and space is limited. Call 831/775-4724 for advance reservations for the lunch.

On Sunday, March 19th at 3pm Sara S. Hodson, Curator of Literary Manuscripts at the Huntington Library, will present a slide lecture highlighting author Jack London’s connection to “Sunset Magazine” and explore his many careers. The lecture is entitled The Thousand Strong Arms of His Mind: The Jack London Collection at the Huntington Library.

This project is made possible in part by a grant from the California Council for the Humanities, a state affiliate of the National Endowment for the Humanities. The traveling exhibit is sponsored by the California Council for the Humanities and is being toured by California Exhibition Resources Alliance CERA, a program of CCH, in collaboration with the California Historical Society, Stanford University Libraries, and the Honorable L.W. “Bill” Lane, Jr. The exhibit is based upon the original exhibit shown at the California Historical Society and the Hoover Institution at Stanford University.
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IMAGES OF RESILIENCE: CONTEMPORARY MEXICAN & CHICANO ART 10/30/99-1/9/00
The National Steinbeck Center opened its fall exhibition, “Images of Resilience: Contemporary Mexican and Chicano Art” on October 30th. This vibrant and exciting exhibition will run from October 30 through January 9, 2000 and highlights significant contemporary Hispanic artists in our midst who have become well established in the arts community.

Artists who will be represented in this important exhibition include nationally renowned artists such as Rupert Garcia, Carmen Lomas-Garza, Amalia Mesa-Bains, and Enrique Chagoya. Featured local artists will include Jose Ortiz and George Rivera, the Executive Director of the Triton Museum of Art located in Santa Clara, an accomplished artist and a graduate of Seaside High School. Works included in the exhibition are on loan from the Mexican Museum of San Francisco, the Oakland Museum of Californian, the private collection of Cheech Marin and more.

On Saturday, December 4th at 2pm there will be a lecture related to the exhibition by Dr. Amalia Mesa Bains, Director of Visual and Public Art at CSUMB. The art exhibit is sponsored in part by media sponsors, KSMS TV, The Californian, El Sol and KLOK/KSES Spanish Radio.
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“BOMBS AWAY:TRAINING FOR WAR,” STEINBECK AND SWOPE
JOIN FORCES
7/31/99- 10/17/99
The National Steinbeck Center presents “Bombs Away: Training for War,” Steinbeck & Swope Join Forces. This exhibition opens July 31 and runs through October 17, 1999. The exhibition features over 50 photographs taken by John Swope during his assignment with John Steinbeck in World War II. Photographer Swope joined together with Steinbeck in May of 1942 for an incredibly hectic and fast paced assignment.

They traveled to various Air Force bases in the United States covering more than 20,000 miles in 30 days. Their assignment was to document the various jobs needed to form a bombing team. The result was Steinbeck’s Bombs Away (1942), with photos by John Swope.

On exhibit will be images of the trip during the assignment that were not published in the book. Additionally, a roll of film was recently developed posthumously that depicts several images never previously shown of Steinbeck himself, as he traveled, wrote, and visited with the air force officers from base to base.

The exhibition is co-curated by artist Mark Swope, John Swope’s son, and museum director Patricia Leach. A special, limited edition catalog will be available depicting several photographs featured in the exhibit and an article about Swope’s career by Craig Krull.
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RED GROOMS “RUCKUS RODEO”
May 1 – July 18, 1999
To coincide with the annual Salinas Rodeo July 15-18, 1999, the National Steinbeck Center will present Ruckus Rodeo, on of the most popular works of art at the Museum of Modern Art in Ft. Worth, Texas.

Ruckus Rodeo is a walk-through exhibition which brings to life the excitement of a modern rodeo. The “sculpto-pictorama” work is by internationally renowned artist Red Grooms, best known for his association with the Pop Art movement in the 1960’s. This work combines a naïve, cartoon-like ambiance with an urban sensibility and sophistication.

The entire gallery space is transformed into everything rodeo with bleachers full of intricately rendered rodeo fans, a 10 foot rodeo queen on horseback, an airborne bull, cowboys leaning on railings (one injured cowboy on a stretcher), musicians and rodeo clowns. The exhibit is brilliantly exaggerated and brings the visitor in through humor, vibrant color and action.

Red Grooms was one of eleven artists chosen by The Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth to create works for a 1976 exhibition celebrating The Great American Rodeo. He attended the Ft.Worth Stock Show for inspiration, making several sketches to complete a panoramic view of the rodeo in progress. He used sculpture, wire, canvas, burlap, acrylic paint and fiberglass material and painted it with rich vibrant colors. For over a year he fabricated the major figures, which were put together with the help of painters, sculptors, engineers and carpenters. A variety of special programs will accompany the exhibition.
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CROSS-EYED: TWO SIBLINGS/DISTINCT MEMORIES
1/23/99-4/18/99
A new art exhibit CROSS-EYED: Two Siblings/Distinct Memories opens to the public on Saturday, January 23, 1999 and runs through April 18, 1999. The artists, brother and sister John and Leah Harper, have created a magical, humorous exhibit of writings and three dimensional artwork based on their differing childhood memories and early childhood experiences.

Growing up in a large family on a one-acre plot of land south of Redding, California, the Harpers did not have much in material terms. Active imaginations and childhood creativity more than made up for the lack of fancy toys, board games or televisions. John Harper notes they were a very large family “sharing an acre of land with our chickens, pigs, turkeys, ducks, and at least one cow, not to mention the fruit trees, a vegetable garden and Mom’s strawberry patch. It seems to me we had everything,” he says.

The result is a wonderful three dimensional exhibition with whimsical, childlike objects which are likely to evoke childhood memories from the gallery visitors themselves. There’s the family cow that John and his brother Philip “watered” by putting a large garden hose in her mouth; the “bombs” made out of old Listerine bottles; Grandma Harper’s novel poultry-raising practices including a baby walker for crippled turkeys; the night Philip almost flew out of the yard while strapped into a real parachute with the help of 80 mile an hour gusting winds, and much more.

John Harper is an artist and Shasta College art instructor and his sister Leah is a teacher, artist, puppeteer and musician. The artists picked several childhood stories, recorded their differing versions and collaborated on the sculpted objects. To keep the feeling of the environment they grew up in, they used as much natural material as possible. A chicken is made up of rosebud pods, the cow is laminated wood, and a turkey is covered with three thousand books of matches.

Visitors to the Steinbeck Center will be invited to write down their own childhood memories after they read the differing stories and view the often times humorous artwork. The artists will be the featured guests at the February 11, 1999 “Sweet Thursday” lecture at 6pm (free with museum admission), and will be present for the member preview opening the evening of January 22nd.

Family Memory Making, a workshop for children and their families, invites visitors to bring in significant objects, clothing and slides to create beautiful keepsake image transfers or portraits. It takes place both February 6 & 7 between 12:00 and 4:00pm and costs $10 per family for members, $12 for non-members.
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EL ARTE DE MEXICO: TRES ASPECTOS DE TRADICION
(Mexican Art: Three Aspects of Tradition) 9/26/98 - 1/13/1999
A new exhibit El Arte de México: Tres Aspectos De Tradición opens at the National Steinbeck Center on September 26th and runs through January 13, 1999. The exhibit focuses on three distinct but interrelated areas of 20th century Mexican Art. First the exhibit will include works of art by Mexican Masters such as Rivera, Orozco, and Siqueiros, who were contemporaries of John Steinbeck, and shared similar social concerns with the author. The consolidation and application of revolutionary beliefs, their sense of history and pride in Mexican culture, and the idealism that their expression could help produce a more just society influenced artists and writers like Steinbeck.

Steinbeck had a deep interest in Mexico, having traveled there many times, researching and writing several novels including Viva Zapata, The Sea of Cortez and The Pearl, which was illustrated with woodcuts by the famed Mexican artist, Jose Clemente Orozco in 1947. Steinbeck and his first wife, Carol, were longtime friends with the Mexican artist, archaeologist, and author, Miguel Covarrubias and wife Rosa. According to Steinbeck’s son, Thom, his father knew the great Mexican muralist Diego Rivera. They certainly shared similar concerns and influences. Both Steinbeck and Rivera were very aware of the importance of the customs and traditions of the Mexican people.

The second aspect of the exhibition focuses on folk art that was created specifically to be utilized in the traditional celebrations (fiestas) in Mexican Culture beginning with the Days of the Dead (Los Dias de Los Muertos), continuing with the celebration of the Virgin of Guadalupe, Christmas, and concluding with the Epiphany. In Mexico a vibrant folk art tradition, incorporating Indian and European influences, spans many centuries. Although the artists have been generally anonymous, it is becoming more common for particular artists to sign their work. Certain cities, towns, and villages are known for a particular type of folk art. Objects are created to signify certain aspects of Mexican religious celebrations.

The third aspect expands upon the mutual inspiration and relationship between fine art and folk art and Mexican traditional celebrations. The exhibition will also include artwork from Mexico and California featuring contemporary fine artists’ interpretations of the same celebrations. A variety of programs, performances, and workshops are being planned to accompany the exhibition.
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THIS SIDE OF EDEN: IMAGES OF STEINBECK'S CALIFORNIA
6/27/98-9/13/98
The National Steinbeck Center’s inaugural art exhibition, This Side of Eden – Images of Steinbeck’s California, runs from June 27th through September 13. This art exhibition was recently featured with fifteen photos in the July/August issue of American Art Review. The exhibit covers a tumultuous period in both California’s and U.S. History. It was also a time that inspired John Steinbeck to produce his greatest writings. Many of the pieces in this exhibition are a reflection of those writings. Artwork includes pieces by local artist Judith Diem, Ellwood Graham, Millard Sheets, Maynard Dixon, Sam Colburn and more. While a number of the works of art come from museums and universities, many pieces that have not been seen for years, were discovered in private collections.
A catalog is available from the museum store.
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