"Dialogue of Generations"
     by Jeff Gambill

Oil on canvas - 60" x 48"

In his effort to support fine art in regional museums, Peter Norton donated "Dialogue of Generations" to the Carnegie Art Museum in 2001. Created by Los Angeles based artist Jeff Gambill in 1991, the painting depicts a maroon ball suspended inside a golden square, framed within a rectangle of sky blue. Affixed to points of attachment jutting from opposite sides of the maroon ball are tie lines tethered to hooks at the bottom of the painting. While the title may hint at meaning behind these formal devices, the interpretation of this provocative painting shifts depending upon the life experience of the viewer.         

Are the tie lines anchoring the ball, preventing it from floating away like a balloon, or is the ball holding up the hooks and the implied world to which they are attached? Artist Gambill is fascinated by family history, elusive memories and places of the past. This image comments on the intimate relations between family members by incorporating contrary elements. Are these relations burdensome - signified by the heaviness of the ball, or are they supportive as evidenced by the lighter-than-air quality of the floating sphere? Do family ties hold us down or do they secure us?
According to the artist, this painting's conception was "a direct translation from a drawing," rare to his process of creation. The sky blue background is a motif that often appears in much of his work, as do the tie lines, albeit in different contexts. While much of Gambill's work is rooted in "personal symbolic content," he acknowledges that memories are not always specific, yet, at the same time, "history can't get rid of what is always there."

As well as tending to his fine art career, Gambill also manages the First Independent Gallery at the Bergamont Station in Santa Monica. His is represented by the Rosamund Felson Gallery (also in Santa Monica). In addition to the Carnegie Art Museum, his artwork can be found at the Orange County Museum of Art, Laguna Art Museum, Oakland Museum of California.

Based on an artist interview, January 8th, 2002, with Hollis J. Price

The Museum assisted by the Carnegie Art Museum Cornerstones and private donors is acquiring a new landmark painting by Frank Romero. The mural sized painting is an overview of the history of the Chicano art and social movement in greater Los Angeles during the 1970s-80s. As outdoor murals are at risk from pollution, weather, taggers and graffiti removal programs, this acquisition will preserve a unique period of California art history and bring a great artwork of tremendous cultural content to Oxnard. Romero is nationally recognized for his fearless colors, pointed humor and images drawn from his Chicano heritage and Southwest folk art.

Romero is a founding member of the Chicano art movement group, Los Four, which created major outdoor murals in the 1970's in Los Angeles. Romero's mural, The Death of Ruben Salazar, was acquired last year by the Smithsonian's National Museum of American Art . His art has also been collected by the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, the University of New Mexico and Orange County Museum of Art. His Los Angeles 1984 mural, "On the Way to the Olympics" and his mural featured in the current Hollywood movie Pleasantville, are perhaps among his more well known paintings.

The acquisition of this milestone artwork for the City of Oxnard's Carnegie Art Museum will be a major attraction for our area and its young people. It will further the growth of a remarkable Latino art collection within the community. Many educational workshops and lectures will be conducted around the topics of the mural. A major lecture series on the mural for college students has been planned with California State University Northridge Channel Islands with the sponsorship of the Procter & Gamble Fund.

 

Donation of Artworks from
Lannan Foundation

The Carnegie is the proud recipient of ten contemporary artworks given by Lannan Foundation through its Museum Gift Program. Works by contemporary Californian and Asian artists of the 1960s-80s comprise the gift. Included are paintings by Jerry Brane, Gary Hall, Wonsook Kim, Franklin Liegel, and Rick Stich; a drawing by Jud Fine; and non-objective sculpture by Cheung Yee. The donation is timely as it allows the Carnegie to better expand its collection to include non-traditional art in addition to its representational style art holdings. The Carnegie permanent collection aims at representing the diverse range of art created in California, and, art from cultures that have contributed to our region's visual heritage.

New Dvortcsak

Impressed with the stunning luminosity and skillful mastery shown in paintings by Ojai artist, Michael Dvortcsak, the Museum acquired his recent major work, Chrysalis. Members may remember his outstanding exhibit at the Carnegie in June 1997. Exploring light and the "transmutation of the inert to the living", Dvortcsak blends the best of old masters painting techniques with contemporary exploration of form and primordial mystery.

"Chrysalis" by Michael Dvortcsak (oil on canvas) 1999

 

Jackson Wheeler Collection

Applauded poet, Jackson Wheeler, has made a promised bequest of his collection of over 50 works. For thirty years, Wheeler has carefully collected pivotal works by Ventura County artists and photographers, making this a precious record of art produced in our area.

"Plate of Figs" by Anne M. Veis 1970

 

Artists represented in the Collection of Jackson Wheeler: Cornelius Botke, Jessie Arms Botke, Kitty Botke, Christine Brennan, Horace Bristol, Michelle Chapin, Donna Clark, Carlisle Cooper, Bob Eyberg, Aimée French, Sue Gerding, Lawrence Hinkley, George Hitchcock, Barbara Hoff, Gerd Koch, Mark Lane, Sherry Loehr, Hiroko Yoshimoto, Jane McKinney, Mary Michael, Mark Matthews, Ginger Moore Maxwell, Sally Miller, Carol Milton, Michael Moore, Mona Neuhaus, John Nichols, Julie Doll Nicolle, Aileen Worthley, Richard Peterson, Susan Petty, Howard Quam, Shirley Ransom, Douglas Shively, Robert Smith, Paul Stempen, Charles Spink, Linda Taylor, Anne Veis, Robert Wassal, Charlotte Watts.