At the Center

August 9th, 2007

The Center for the Arts Museum, Escondido, Offers Special Exhibition

From now till September 30, 2007, the Center Museum will feature works ranging from photographs of famous faces to the more traditional Native American art form of basket weaving. Exploring the dramatic images and rich textures is just part of your Center Museum experience. New museum events include weaving demonstrations, lectures, gallery talks, and A Taste for the Arts - a new opportunity to experience late nights at the Center Museum.

Some of the Special Events:

Cultural Fusion: Exploring the Multi-Cultural Influences on the Arts of this Region

The works featured in this exhibition, the result of a juried selection, include paintings, mixed media, sculpture, and video art. Local artists submitted works to be hand selected and displayed in Cultural Fusion. Each work is a strong reflection of the artistic interpretations of the multi-cultural influences in this region. This region - which includes the counties of San Diego, Riverside, and Imperial, plus the cities of Tijuana and Tecate - defines its own visual sensibilities through the combined cultural influences of Asia, Europe, Mexico, and Native America. In this mixed cultural landscape, visual artists have learned to work with, around, or against the image of each new culture. Because of this, the visual arts have developed to reflect a mixture of these disparate cultural and ethnic views. This exhibition is a billboard for a contemporary look at this region's history. The juxtaposition of different interpretations of cultural influences provides the landscape for discussion and personal reflection.

Both young and old enjoy beautiful works of art in the Cultural Fusion exhibit
Photos courtesy of Marc Nuechterlein

In Character: Actors Acting: Written, Directed & Photographed by Howard Schatz

Rosie Perez, Michael Douglas, Chevy Chase, Patrick Stewart, and many more will be on view at the Center Museum. Come see photographs of your favorite Hollywood stars doing what they do best, acting. In Character: Actors Acting is a collection of portraits featuring your favorite luminaries of the stage and screen. Capturing the creativity and passion of acting as never before, photographer Howard Schatz directed each photo shoot, setting the scenes and providing the dialogue as the actors performed. The resulting photographs depict a wide spectrum of emotions including hilarity, tragedy, jubilation, melancholy, contentment and despair. The images are accompanied by the directions provided by Schatz during the photo shoot.

Art patrons take in the exhibit of In Character: Actors Acting: Rosie Perez, Michael Douglas,
Chevy Chase, Patrick Stewart, and many more will be on view at the Center Museum.
Photos courtesy of Marc Nuechterlein

Weaving Connections: Cultural Exchanges during the Southern California Basket Trade, 1880-1940

This exhibition takes a historical look at the work of Southern California Native American weavers, highlighting their strong legacy of bold and inventive basketry designs. Weaving Connections features the intricate work of local tribes such as the Cahuilla, Kumeyaay, Chemehuevi, and examines the importance, skill, and tradition of Native basketry. Beginning in the 1880s, a thriving market for Native American basketry grew out of America's collective nostalgia for the past in the midst of rapid technological change. Throughout the 1900s, weavers continued to develop a complex new visual vocabulary that reflected outside influences in their Native communities.

Silent Ties: New Work by Shauna Peck

Silent Ties features new work from Peck for the first time in over five years. Peck's art has become increasingly representational, through her use of common objects and human forms, as she uses metaphors to emphasize experience. Shauna Peck received her Master of Fine Arts from Claremont Graduate University in 1986. Her work can be found in various museums and private collections, including the San Francisco Museum of Art and the Bronx Museum, New York.