2020/2021 Exhibitions (COVID-19 Season)
Click the link above to see individual images from this exhibition.
We didn't want you to miss this wonderful exhibition while the Museum was closed!
When Gardena High School moved to a new campus in 1956, the collecting program ended. It had been locked away until this traveling exhibition was organized in recent years.
Exhibition Curator, Susan M. Anderson, Former Chief Curator, Laguna Art Museum
Photo: Gardena High School Library with Purchase Prize Exhibit on Display, 1933
January 25, 2020 to June 2021 (extended)
There is a particular challenge to organizing a group exhibition for three stellar artists who are also related: in this case, a father, a mother, and their son, respectively Richard Amend, Susan Stinsmuehlen-Amend, and Wyatt Amend.
This exhibition is organized to highlight each individual artist rather than to focus on their similarities and familial influences on each other. However, it is apparent that they have inevitably been aware of each other’s work over the years as they all three work and live under the same roof that they call “The Amend Arts Compound.” Richard Amend’s giant black and white drawings alongside the two-dimensional studio glass by Susan Stinsmuehlen-Amend as well as the sculptural ceramics by Wyatt Amend provide a variety of mediums, surfaces, and constructions.
Susan Stinsmuehlen-Amend is a studio glass artist who has never blown glass. She explains, “I’m more about imagery and idea on the material.” Over the last decade, her work has primarily consisted of painting with vitreous enamels on transparent glass sheets. Susan’s works are in the permanent collections of LACMA, the Detroit Institute of the Arts, the Oakland Museum of California, and the Museum of Arts and Design in New York. In 1998, she was included in the California Glass Today group exhibition here at FAM.
Richard Amend is a painter and an equally capable drawer. His compelling black and white oversized drawings of peopled and unpeopled landscapes can be realistic or abstracted. A career in the film industry allowed him to travel widely, photographing sites for various cinematic projects. His paintings and drawings are begun from many of these photographs producing arresting and mysterious panoramic views of life. He has exhibited his work throughout California and abroad.
Wyatt Amend is a master ceramicist. Only in his thirties, his vessels and Propulsion Drones exemplify his finesse at the wheel and his command of clay and glazing compounds. Wyatt has developed new techniques to make his functional objects look like glass. His interdisciplinary process involves the use of a wheel, a lathe, and carving and grinding techniques typically used by woodworkers and cold glass artists. Although widely collected, this is his first museum exhibition.
Exhibition Curator: Michele Ellis Pracy, FAM Executive Director & Chief Curator
Images (L to R): Susan Stinsmuehlen-Amend, HandMade 2016, Painting on glass with vitreous enamels, 36” x 24”, Courtesy of the Artist; Richard Amend, Woman at The Coronation, 2016, Chalk on paper, 54" x 72", Courtesy of the Artist; Wyatt Amend, Graduated Goblets, 2016, Clay with glaze reminiscent of glass, and wood, Courtesy of the Artist
July 20, 2019 to June 2021 (extended)
It has been said that Will Bullas makes art fun! He is a master watercolorist with a sense of humor and wit that is often unexpected. He has award-winning artistic skills, and his creative works are unique and often full of whimsy.
The illustrations in this exhibition are somewhat of a departure from Bullas’ customary adult-centric humorous style full of visual puns and imaginative titles. In keeping with the theme of children’s book illustration art, the works shown are Bullas’ illustrations from an alphabet book written by David Domeniconi called M is for Masterpiece: An Art Alphabet. While the subject matter of the artwork in this exhibition is different than his usual fare, it shows off the creative talent of this artist through his unusual compositions that illustrate single art-related words or artist names from A to Z. The sophistication and detailed compositions should capture the attention of both young and old.
Exhibition Curator: Susan Yost Filgate, FAM Education Director
Image: Will Bullas, D is for Drawing, Watercolor on Crescent 100# illustration board, 13" x 18", M is for Museum, Watercolor on Crescent 100# illustration board, 13" x 18" (Both from the book M is for Masterpiece.)
Exhibition funded in part by the Bonner Family Foundation and The Foundation @FCOE
This exhibition season was made possible by a generous grant from
The McClatchy Fresno Arts Endowment
of
The James B. McClatchy Foundation
General exhibition support from The Eaton and Gibson Family Fund of Central Valley Community Foundation, A Friend of the Museum, Christy V. Hicks, Elaine Lynn, Anita M. Shanahan, and David & MaryAnne Esajian.
