Event: Past
Padua Hills Art Fiesta
Padua Hills Theatre
4467 Padua Ave., CA 91711
Padua Hills Art Fiesta to Focus on Midcentury Art and Architecture in Claremont
Updated October 27, 2016 (Claremont, CA) – The Claremont Museum of Art will host the 13th Annual Padua Hills Art Fiesta on Sunday, November 6 with an outdoor art show, art and craft demonstrations and music under the shady olive trees of the beautiful Padua Hills Theatre. A preview of the recently produced film Claremont Modern: The Convergence of Art + Architecture at Midcentury will be shown throughout the day accompanied by an exhibition produced by Claremont Heritage.
- Sunday, November 6, 11 am to 4 pm at the Padua Hills Theatre, 4467 Padua Ave., Claremont. Admission is $8 for adults, $6 for Claremont Museum of Art and Claremont Heritage members. Children under 18 are free.
- Twenty five area artists will display and sell their paintings, prints, ceramics, glass, sculpture, textiles and jewelry. Area art organizations will provide art and craft demonstrations.
- A 20-minute preview of the new documentary film Claremont Modern: The Convergence of Art + Architecture at Midcentury will be shown throughout the day accompanied by an informative exhibition produced by Claremont Heritage.
- ARTstART students will lead children in creative Art Activities. A Music Stage will feature local performers. Festive foods will be served with traditional Jamaica punch and fresh lemonade.
The Padua Hills Art Fiesta originated in 1953 for local artists to bring art into the community. The studio art movement that flourished here in the 1950s centered on the use of natural materials and traditional sensibilities – watercolor, pottery, woodworking, sculpture in stone, bronze and ceramic, mosaic, textiles as well as painting. Visitors came from miles around to meet the artists and watch “art in action” at the popular festival. In 2011, the Claremont Museum of Art revived this tradition with a new generation of artists sharing their talents.
THE ARTISTS
The outdoor art show will feature twenty-five area artists showing their work under a grove of shady olive trees. New artwork this year will include woodworking by Hal Metlizky; ceramics by Kristen Erickson and T. and Jon Pacini; weaving by Patricia Hinds; and paintings by Jackie Knell, Roz McMillan and Dee Small.
And visitors will find many favorite returning artists: Paul Brayton, Sumi Foley, Sandy Garcia, Rebecca Hamm, Kathryn Herrman, Mike Hill, David Holzberger, Aleta Jacobson, Sherry Marger, Kathleen, Jerry Owens, Kazumi Kobayashi Svenson, Gaby Tepper, Barry Vantiger, Ahlene Welsh, Jan Wheatcroft, Maureen Wheeler and Larry White.
“Art in Action” can be found on the hillside terrace provided by Chaffey Community Museum of Art, Alba Cisneros, The Clay Yard, dA Center for the Arts and Maloof Woodworkers. Art-making activities will be led by Project ARTstART students.
MUSIC, FOOD & SPONSORS
Music performances will be provided by Gloria Cangahuala and Anne Sherrill of Claremont Symphony Orchestra, Stefan Pajaro-van de Stadt with Aviva Mann, Silver Tree with Jessie Lyn and Kyle Thompson, and David Hostetler. Tacos will be served by El Merendero along with Bert & Rocky’s ice cream and traditional Jamaica punch and fresh lemonade.
Special thanks to Art Fiesta sponsors Wheeler Steffen Sotheby’s International Realty and Ryan Zimmerman, Broker Associate, Wheeler Steffen Sotheby’s International Realty. And thanks to Scout Troop 407 for their invaluable helping hands.
THE EXHIBTION + FILM
Claremont Modern: The Convergence of Art + Architecture at Midcentury
Postwar Claremont: A Center of Modern Design and Architecture
With the development of substantial art programs at the Claremont Colleges, spearheaded by the artist and educator Millard Sheets, Claremont attracted a large number of artists in the years following World War II. Painters, sculptors, ceramists, muralists and mosaic artists, architects and designers shared ideas and forged close friendships. With a cultural climate that was conducive to the integration of art, craft, and architecture, Claremont became an important center of Midcentury Modern design.
Persons associated with the Claremont Colleges and art community were highly receptive to modern trends in architecture, and many of them engaged the services of local architects to create houses and other structures suited to the informal, nature-oriented lifestyle of Southern California.
The Exhibition
To record and interpret this important chapter in the cultural history of Claremont and Southern California, Claremont Heritage Executive Director, David Shearer has curated an exhibition entitled Claremont Modern: The Convergence of Art + Architecture at Midcentury.
The exhibition will chronicle the efforts of forward-looking architects, artists and designers to create living environments suited to the physical and cultural landscape of Claremont and Southern California. It will capture the full sweep of the area’s rich architectural heritage, from early expressions of modern thinking, as seen in the 1903 Mary Darling House by Greene & Greene, through the residential housing boom of the postwar period, to institutional and commercial projects that advanced modern ideas in architecture and design, including Millard Sheets’ historic local projects including: Garrison Theater, Pomona First Federal Bank and Sheets Studio.
The exhibition will feature archival imagery including photographs and drawings of architectural projects that integrated art into the design. Architects featured include: Millard Sheets, S. David Underwood, Rufus Turner, Foster Rhodes Jackson, Criley & McDowell, Edward Durell Stone and more. Work by Claremont artists will show the influence of the architecture and their perspectives on modern design. They include Millard Sheets Studio, Harrison McIntosh, Paul Darrow, and Betty Davenport Ford among others.
The Film
The 90-minute documentary film Claremont Modern: The Convergence of Art + Architecture at Midcentury, is a companion piece to Design for Modern Living: Millard Sheets and the Claremont Art Community 1935 – 1975, a film produced in 2014 by filmmaker Paul Bockhorst in partnership with the Claremont Museum of Art. Claremont Modern expands the scholarship and examines the regional influences that helped to establish a unique chapter in the annals of Modernism. A 20-minute preview of the film will be shown throughout the day of the Art Fiesta.
The documentary is produced by Emmy Award-winning filmmaker Paul Bockhorst, in cooperation with Claremont Heritage. A veteran writer, producer, and director, Bockhorst has produced dozens of programs that have appeared on PBS, NBC, ABC, Turner Broadcasting, and the Disney Channel. He recently received an Honorary AIA Award for his many documentaries on art and architecture.
Principal funding for Claremont Modern was generously provided by The Ahmanson Foundation, Andy and Blenda Wright, the Windgate Charitable Foundation, and Brent Harris.