In addition, Bodega Bay Heritage Gallery is pleased to continue presentation of the following oil painters: the flowing landscapes of Linda Sorensen, the luminescent desertscapes of Kathi Hilton, and the translucent seascapes and dynamic landscapes of Alex Dzigurski II. We look forward to seeing you soon.

We are teaming with our talented local framer and great friend, Gary Smith. Gary will be conducting his Small World Framing from this location. He will often be on site to assist you with all your custom framing needs. As he has done for some time, Gary will continue to feature the art work of notable engraving artist, the late Gail Packer, and original abstract-influenced landscape, seascape and floral watercolors by Bodega Bay's Jean Warren.

She was a founding member of the California Water Color Society in 1921. Elmer Wachtel died in 1929. After Elmer's death, she retreated from painting for several years, but then began painting again, this time adding oils to her watercolor work. She continued painting until shortly before her death.

Norwegian Paul Lauritz (1889 - 1975) was quite adventurous in his early life. He arrived in Vancouver, British Columbia, when he was 16 years old. Edan Hughes writes that Lauritz soon moved South to Portland where he met his wife Mary, and they then went to Alaska in search of gold. Although he didn't strike it rich, he found inspiration among Alaska's natural beauty, and he met and exhibited with Alaskan artist Sydney Laurence. In 1919, he moved south again, this time to Los Angeles where he returned to his art. He painted portraits, landscapes and marine scenes, one which was commissioned by the King of Norway. From his LA home, he ventured on painting excursions into the Sierra and the deserts of the Southwest. He taught at the Chouinard School of Art and the Otis Art Institute, was president of the California Art Club and many other associations, including the Salmagundi Club in New York. His work resides in many museums and received numerous awards.

San Francisco in 1998, he focused on painting portraits but began painting landscapes. His passion for travel next sent him to the Pacific, spending time in Hawaii and Samoa and then on to Spain. When he returned to San Francisco, he lost his home and studio in the '06 quake and fire. In 1907, he was appointed dean of the San Francisco Art Institute, and held that position for six years. Afterward, he spent time in Taos, NM, Calgary, British Columbia, and Saratoga, Ca. In his later years, he painted orchards near his Saratoga studio. He is best known for his Japanese, Hawaiian, and Samoan figures and his San Francisco scenes.

Hanson Duvall Puthuff (1875 - 1972) is remembered for his California landscapes and desert paintings, and his involvement in the Southern California art world in the early 20th century. He studied at the Art Institute of Chicago, the University of Denver Art School, and the Chicago Academy of Fine Arts. He came to California as an adult, arriving in Los Angeles at the age of 27. Initially, he worked painting billboards and theater scenery, and began teaching private art lessons. By 1926, he was painting plein air full time. He received a major commission from the Santa Fe Railroad for a series of Grand Canyon and Southwest scenes to be used for the railroad's advertising. From his homes in La Canada and Corona del Mar, he would take painting expeditions often with artist friends such as Edgar Payne. He helped form two artist organizations, the California Art Club and the Art Student's League of Los Angeles. He was one of a group of painters known as the Garvanza Circle which included Fernand Lungren, Carl Oscar Borg, Maynard Dixon, Granville Redmond, and Elmer Wachtel. One of his students was Sam Hyde Harris.

One of California's best known impressionist landscape painters was William Wendt (1865 - 1946), often called the Dean of Southern California artists. He was not a studio painter, and his works are known for their rich hues of green and brown. He was a co-founder of the California Art Club along with Hanson Putuff, and served as its president for several years. Although mostly self taught, he did study briefly at Art Institute of Chicago, and remained there as a commercial artist. While at the Art Institute of Chicago, he met his life long friend, Gardner Symons. Both men liked the impressionist style begun in France in the 19th century, and Southern California provided the light and dynamic scenery filled with bright colors, atmospherics and shimmering light well suited for impressionist interpretations. He painted throughout California and the Southwest, but refused to paint the Grand Canyon, saying " ... it is impossible." In 1919, he left the growing LA area for the solitude of Laguna Beach.

In 1908, Alfred Richard Mitchell (1888 - 1972) came to San Diego at age twenty. As he grew into adulthood, he painted scenes of buildings of the young city of San Diego throughout the early years of the twentieth century. Today, his paintings serve as a fine art historical record of the period. He was quite adventurous. As a teen, he prospected for gold in western Nevada. He studied art at the San Diego Academy of Art under its founding artist, Maurice Braun, who regarded young Alfred as one of his most talented students. After returning to his native Pennsylvania for further study at the Pennsylvanian Academy of Fine Arts, he returned to San Diego in the early 1920's. He participated in the San Diego Art Guild, the La Jolla Art Association, and was one of the original founders of the Laguna Art Association. Due to his strong colors and undertones, he is considered more a post-impressionist. In a time when more artists were retreating back into their studios, Alfred preferred to paint plein air.

known for his masterful impressionist landscapes of the Santa Barbara region, with compositions often filled with poppies or lupines with the deep purples of California hills in the distance. During his career, he did no commercial work, making his entire living from selling his paintings.

William Henry Clapp (1879 - 1954) was a gifted painter and etcher. He employed differing styles, from Impressionism to Fauvism to Pointillism. His younger sister died at age 17 due to tuberculosis, and being deeply committed to his family, he remained with his parents until their deaths. He came to Oakland, California in 1885, and returned with his family to Montreal soon after the turn of the century. In Montreal, he studied at the Montreal Art Association and then on to Paris. There, he was greatly influenced by Claude Monet, and was exposed to the works of Picasso, Cezanne, and Gauguin who were just beginning to exhibit. He was well rooted in older techniques as well, from his studies at the Ecole des Beaux Arts and the Academie Julian, but he was most influenced by Impressionism. He returned to Montreal becoming part of a group of progressive painters known as the Canadian Art Club. In 1915, his father purchased a pineapple plantation in Cuba. He sent some Cuban paintings back to Montreal. But a hurricane ended the family's Cuban days. Next, the family moved to Piedmont, CA. By this time, William was thirty-eight, and he became director of the Oakland Art Gallery for thirty years, from 1918 - 1949. In this role, he was a proponent of modernism and experimentation in the arts. He arranged exhibitions for the Society of Six led by Seldon Gile, quite a contrast from previously esteemed local artists such as Arthur Mathews and William Keith.

San Franciscan Armin Carl Hansen (1886 - 1957) studied art at the Royal Akademie in Stuttgart, Germany where both his father and grandfather had trained. He learned to paint from German impressionists and developed a style which relied on a darker and more muted palette. After six years in Europe, Armin returned to San Francisco and set up his studio. He eagerly anticipated the Panama-Pacific International Exhibition ready to open in February of 1915. When the fair arrived, he submitted six etchings and two paintings, for which he won two silver medals. In 1916, he moved to Monterey where he produced his most enduring work. He painted scenes of the local sardine industry with the colorful Portuguese and Sicilian fisherman going about their work. He also painted the coast, often at Point Lobos, just south of Camel.

Famed California impressionist painter Guy Rose (1867 - 1925) was the son of an influential California state senator. He was raised on a Southern California ranch and vineyard. As a nine-year old, he was accidentally shot in the face while hunting with his brothers. During his long recuperative period, he began to sketch and experiment with watercolors and oil paints. This led eventually to his studies at the California School of Design in San Francisco. In 1888, he continued his studies in Paris at the Academie Julian, studying with Jules Lefebvre. There he won a scholarship to the Academie Delacluse. From Paris, he relocated to New York where he did illustrations for Harper's Weekly, Scribners, and Century. In 1899, he returned to France, and bought a cottage at Giverny. After spending some time in Paris and Argentina, he lived in Giverny for eight years, from 1904-1012, where he enjoyed a close relationship with Claude Monet, whom Guy regarded as both his friend and mentor. In 1914, he moved to Los Angeles where he served as director of the Stickney Memorial School of Art in Pasadena. He won gold medals at both the Panama-Pacific International Exposition and the Panama-California Exposition in San Diego. His works are in the Laguna Beach Museum, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, the Oakland Museum, and the Pasadena Art Institute.

Here is an exhibition which pulls back the curtain of Rockwell's creative process, allowing a glimpse into Rockwell's underlying genius. Everyone knows he created enduring images of American life, but few know that he used cameras to help do it.

First came Rockwell's inspired vision. Then, as part of his method, he would use photography to study elements of his vision. He commissioned a variety of photographers as collaborators who often made use of Rockwell's fellow townspeople and neighbors to serve as models in pre-conceived poses and settings. Once Rockwell had these photos in hand, he would retreat to his studio and take to his palette, easel, and brushes.

Rockwell is well loved today because he was willing to address large topics of social conscience with heart. Many of his critics choose to refer to his work as "illustration" rather than art, with some adding a kick labeling it is dripping with sentimentality. We even have a modern adjective, "Rockwellian," to refer to sentimental scenes of the American past. But other critics see his composition and story-telling content as sharp as any scalpel, designed to cut to the conscious and sub-conscious thoughts and feelings of his contemporary audience.

Here's where Brooklyn Museum's exhibit is helpful. How did Rockwell get his images to compel such strong responses from his audience? The answer is, in part, he studied real people emoting the very qualities he was hoping to depict, and he used cameras to capture the body language and expressions.

The Brooklyn Museum describes this exhibition. ... "Beginning in the late 1930s, Norman Rockwell adopted photography as a tool to bring his illustration ideas to life in studio sessions. Working as a director, Rockwell carefully staged his photographs, selecting props and locations, choosing his models, and orchestrating every detail. He created an abundance of photographs for each new subject, sometimes capturing complete compositions and other times combining separate pictures of individual elements. These photographs were the focus of a recently completed two-year project at the Norman Rockwell Museum that preserved and digitized almost 20,000 negatives. For the first time, Norman Rockwell: Behind the Camera presents these study photographs alongside his paintings, drawings, and related tear sheets to offer a fascinating look at the artist’s working process."

On May 16, 1967, Look Magazine published Rockwell's New Kids in the Neighborhood. The elements of this composition are a delight to behold. Rockwell is seeking to address the way forward as America deals with desegregation. For a backdrop, he creates a scene in the midst of the American Dream, a neighborhood of new houses with new cars in the driveway. But in this dream, he shows a family of African Americans moving into a previously all-white neighborhood. Apart from a shadowed mover focused on his task, adults are absent and we have only children, left to their own curious natures to play out the drama as white encounters black. Rockwell contrasts these children in the initial uncomfortable curiosity of the moment, but provides clues that these children will move beyond that moment.

To foreshadow that eventual mutual acceptance, Rockwell provides visual clues that these children will eventually make great friends. Both sets of kids have pets, the new kids have a white cat, the neighborhood kids have a black and tan dog. The girls both have pink ribbons in their hair. The boys have baseball gloves and well worn tennis shoes. Looking at the painting, you can't help but feel that the awkwardness and curiosity of the initial moment will proceed quickly to new and lasting friendships. The photo studies for this work were done by Louie Lamone, 1918 - 2007.