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BBH Gallery Monthly June ‘07
News, Articles, and Opinions
from the world of California’s Heritage Art
Linda Sorensen & Daniel Rohlfing, proprietors.

Dear Friends of Bodega Bay Heritage Gallery,

Bodega Bay Heritage Gallery (.com)
is Opening a New Gallery in Bodega Bay in July!

To borrow and twist a line from the wise old chief in the famous Dustin Hoffman film, Little Big Man, our new gallery "may be small in size, but it will be big in spirit." (Little Big Gallery)

Bodega Bay Heritage Gallery will be located in the Blue Whale Building in Bodega Bay, 1580 East Shore Road, Unit K. We'll have some pretty prestigious neighbors: the nearby Ren Brown Gallery, Local Color Gallery, and Bodega Bay's famed Seaweed Cafe. We hope to open July 1st or sooner, and we will have an opening event during the Forth of July weekend. So, towards the end of June, check our website, plan a visit, and "walk right in, its around the back." Our shingle will soon be hanging in Bodega Bay! Pictures of the new gallery will be posted on our site soon.

* * * * *
Thelma Speed Houston Retro Exhibition Gala

Thelma Speed Houston Cathedral Midsized Thumbnail
"Cathedral"
Thelma Speed Houston Big Sur Midsized Thumbnail
"Big Sur"

(from our Thelma Speed Houston collection, "Cathedral" and "Big Sur")

Linda and I helped sponsor and attended the gala opening of the Thelma Speed Houston Retro Exhibition in Vista, California, about thirty miles north of San Diego. It was a stunning event. The star of the evening was a collection of over a hundred of Thelma's paintings, being studied and appreciated by a large crowd of art lovers. Official welcomings were offered by Vista's mayor, His Honor Morris B. Vance, and exhibition curator, Dorothy Jacques. Special guests included Thelma's daughter and Thelma's artist nephew, Kene Lohmann.

The highlight of the evening was enthusiasm of the host, Ken Jenkins.

Ken Jenkins Photo with coexhibitors
Pat Venolia, Ken Jenkins, and Dorothy Jacques as the trio planned for the Thelma Exhibition.

You may have seen Ken Jenkings before. He plays the irascible but lovable Dr. Kelso on the hit NBC series "Scrubs. " But Ken's overnight success is the result of a 40 plus year career in the theater and in films. He is passionate about the arts and has found time to lend his energies and time to the Thelma Speed Houston Exhibit. He is a major collector of Thelma's work.

And, when it comes to Thelma Speed Houston, Ken is an enthusiast of the first order. He spent much time at the gala with guests including Linda and me, praising Thelma's grand accomplishment of creating a painting a day for fifty years. With awe, Ken explained that into each one of those paintings, Thelma invested her zest for life which flowed onto the paper with a symphony of color, masterful composition, and feeling of the moment.

There are Some Changes on the
Bodega Bay Heritage Gallery Site
... improved navigation

Before, you could access the paintings according to the artist's last name, and we had a section for recent acquisitions. But now, we've added some new avenues. You can search our watercolors, our farm scenes, coastal scenes, deserts, mountains, national parks, and still lifes and portraits. This makes the browsing experience a bit easier. Let us know how you like it.

Dedrick Brandes Stuber 1878 - 1954

June's Painting of the Month

Dedrick Stuber Farm Landscape

Dedrick Brandes Stuber 1878 - 1954
Eucalyptus and farmhouse, Oil on canvas, 12 x 14

Dedrick Brandes Stuber is known for his California landscapes; seascapes, mountain landscapes, and desert scenes. Some of the examples of atmospheric tall willowy eucalyptus trees in a pastoral setting with a farm, or with a small town with a particular church at their bases or in the distance have been identified as around Elsinore in the 1920’s or thereabouts.  The featured painting is of this type. Several examples are known of tall ships sailing or in harbors, of deserts blooming and with billowing clouds, and of desert monuments glowing red from the sunset, and these probably date from earlier periods.  The more urban (or suburban) scenes of complex brushwork skillfully suggesting forms of homes and their yards, probably in and around Los Angeles (some identified as his own yard or neighborhood), are particularly prized by collectors. The bright colors of his skies and forms of his clouds are distinctive as well as certain other characteristics of specific types of his works.  The moonlit and sunbeams scenes are also popular and are well represented currently in the major galleries of Early California Art.
 
He was born in New York, and attended the Art Students League.  He studied with Bridgman (Charles J.), Julian Onderdonck, and Clinton Peters, and was influenced by Barbizon painters Camille Corot and Charles Francois Daubigny.  He moved to California in 1920, but there is evidence that he had made an earlier trip, because there is a 1915 painting called "Silver Mining" in a private collection. He also painted in Arizona. He preferred painting plein air at sunrise, when it was cool and shady. His work resides in the Smithsonian American Art Museum in Washington, D.C., the Pasadena Art Museum, The Fleischer Museum of Scottsdale, Arizona, and the Irvine Museum.  His work is associated with the following galleries:  Wilshire Galleries, Barker Brothers, Newhouse Galleries.  He was a member of the Laguna Beach Art Association, the Glendale Art Association, the Painters and Sculptors of Southern California, and the Painters and Sculptors Club.
 
Sources:  AskArt; Edan Hughes books; The Redfern Gallery website