New Years Resolution: when traveling, be sure to visit art!

Art Adventure in Palm Springs

At Thanksgiving I was fortunate enough to travel to visit family in Palm Springs, California. I like to practice what I preach so, I made art a part of the trip by taking in the exhibits at the Palm Springs Art Museum.

Founded in 1938, the museum started with natural science exhibits and Cahuilla Indian artifacts. Today, it houses a mostly contemporary art collection in a beautiful modern building just off the main shopping district of downtown. In addition to the main museum, they have a separate building dedicated to architecture as well as two modern homes, The Aluminaire House and the Frey House II that can be toured.

During the time I was visiting, their main exhibition had a local connection. Jordan Schnitzer has loaned them his collection of prints by David Hockney, an English painter, printmaker, and photographer. Hockney is associated with the Pop Art movement of the 1960s and is considered one of the most influential British artists of the 20th and 21st centuries.

The collection has examples throughout his career, including work done in the last few years. I was struck by the color, the simple but bold compositions, and mostly by his inventive use of technology. He has turned his interest towards sketching on an IPad, creating surprisingly tactile, layered renderings of landscapes with depth and vibrancy. Some are 40 feet long, printed in sections. Even standing a foot from the work, it looks and feels as though it was sketched directly onto the paper. He masters every medium he tackles.

I also took in the Particles and Waves exhibit, a collection of California Abstract artists. The exhibition combines artists over a span of nearly 50 years, working non-figuratively with diverse material and inspired by the scientific investigations of their time. I found the exhibit meditative. There were pieces that involved light and movement, large luminous glass pieces, and paintings that artfully reminded me of what you might see under a microscope.

The museum also had an exhibit of their permanent collection of glass art. It included a wide range of work showcasing the diversity of the medium. I found Karen LaMonte’s “Pianist’s Dress Impression,” a life size sculpture of a woman’s dress, stunning. Filled in with an invisible body, the dress had a fine amount of detail and glowed in uncolored frosted glass.

Upstairs, the museum offers a selection of their permanent collection that includes many contemporary artists such as Alexander Calder, Louise Bourgeois, Duane Hanson, Helen Frankenthaler, Rick Bartow and Dale Chihuly.

All the exhibitions mentioned in this article are ongoing, lasting until February and March of next year. If your winter vacation plans take you to the Palm Springs area, I highly recommend working in a visit. I am a firm believer in making time for art wherever I go. It provides insight into the community you are visiting and the values they hold dear.

I hope everyone has made a New Year’s resolution to get out and support the arts!

Amy Mower is a local artist and lifelong Beaverton resident. She is passionate about the future of the arts in our community.