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Link to Previous Shows:

Romance of the Bells, 2007
La Charreria Mexicana, 2007
Metal Works North, 2007
Radiant Visions, 2007/2008
Art and Poetry from Native California, 2008
Visionary Art, 2008
Lewis & Clark Revisited, 2008
Lon Megargee, 2008/2009

Link to all GHM Exhibits
prior to 2007

"Spring Lupine" by Carl Sammons - pastel, circa 1920's

March 28, 2009 to June 28, 2009

In a love affair that lasted more than 40 years, artist Carl Sammons (1883-1968) immersed himself in California's landscapes, creating paintings that are nothing less than songs of praise to the beauty of the natural world. His brush reverently portrayed meadows glowing with lupines, spiky deserts awash in wildflowers, thundering ocean breakers, and golden hills etched with the green filigree of oaks. The 79 paintings and pastel drawings in this exhibition have been primarily selected from the collection of Donna Walsh Sumner, Carl Sammons' niece. The exhibition was organized and circulated by Hearst Art Gallery, St. Mary's College of California.

"Desert Clouds" by Carl Sammons oil, circa 1940's

"Desert Wildflowers" by Carl Sammons pastel, circa 1920's

"Desert Wildflowers" by Carl Sammons
oil, circa 1945

Carl Sammons was born in Nebraska in 1883. He was passionate about art even as a child, but worked as a sign painter in Sioux City before beginning his career as an artist. He moved to California in 1920, the year he also switched from painting in the darker Tonalist style to the brighter, more vibrant Impressionist style. Impressionism is characterized by visible brush strokes, open composition, and an emphasis on the changing qualities of light. In 1923, when Sammons was 39, his Impressionist paintings were discovered by Harry Noyes Pratt, a prominent figure in the San Francisco art world, who praised his work and became a friend and supporter. John M. Gamble, a prominent early Impressionist, also admired Sammons' art, declaring him the best painter of wildflowers in the West.

"East of Capetown, Humboldt County" by Carl Sammons - oil, circa 1925

With his wife Queen Esther Stewart, Carl Sammons traveled the length and breadth of California and the Southwest from 1920-1960. Stewart and Sammons shared a religious belief in God and a deep appreciation of California's natural beauty. Sammons felt that painting was an act of creation, expressing the artist's unique interpretation of God's handiwork. His style was to paint rapidly to capture the light; his brushstrokes were broadly applied, then meticulously finished later in his studio. In addition to deserts, oceans, and rolling hills Sammons also painted redwoods, lakes, high mountains, and the flowers and birds of Golden Gate Park.

Once regarded as one of the state's premier Impressionists, Sammons' work fell into obscurity after his death in 1968.

"Stow Lake, Golden Gate Park" by Carl Sammons - pastel, circa 1926

"Smoke Trees, Palm Springs" by Carl Sammons - oil, circa 1960's

Master Artist William Dreher Gives Pastel and Painting Workshop

Saturday June 20, 10:00AM to 5:00PM

In connection with the current exhibition, "Carl Sammons: California Impressionist Landscapes from the Donna Walsh Sumner Collection," the Grace Hudson Museum is offering a plein air landscape class on Saturday, June 20, from 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. with noted California landscape artist Warren Dreher. The class will feature demonstrations in pastel and oil painting. The class fee is $50 with limited enrollment. Call Marvin Schenck, Curator, for reservations and more information at (707) 467-2836.

"San Francisco Bay Near Oakland", pastel by Warren Dreher

Warren Dreher is one of the Bay Area's premiere landscape painters whose work evokes both early twentieth century American realism and, after relocation to California, the Society of Six (Bay Area Post Impressionists) as well as the latter Bay Area figurative school, especially the work of Elmer Bischoff. At this point in time he has spent thirty years on each coast.

In the 1960's he began a series of architectural and landscape paintings in both pastels and oil, which continue to this day. Often compared to Edward Hopper, his paintings convey quiet moments of captured light. Dreher calls them journal entries. His current works explore the unique light qualities of Southern California, in particular San Diego, as well as Contra Costa County, the coastal communities and his twenty-year series on the Sacramento River Delta.

In the early nineties he curated numerous exhibits of contemporary and historical paintings at the Bedford Gallery in the Regional Center for the Arts in Walnut Creek, California and the Lynn House Gallery in Antioch, California. Among these were: The Outdoor Studio, Vanishing Point, Along the River and Diablo from the Delta.

"Mt. Diablo", pastel by Warren Dreher

Warren graduated from the Rhode Island School of Design with a BFA in Sculpture and Art Education in 1970. He did graduate work with Budd Hopkins, Hardu Keck and New York Abstract Expressionist painter Jack Tworkov at the Fine Arts Work Center in Provincetown, MA in 1975.

His work is represented in well over a thousand collections, private, public and corporate, across the nation, including the Hearst Art Gallery at St. Mary's College of Moraga and Kaiser Permanente Corporate Collection. Warren Dreher lectures and conducts painting workshops throughout the Bay Area and Northern California.

LECTURE: "Sammons Life and Work"

Sunday March 29, 2:00 p.m.

A free lecture on Sammons' life and work will be given by California art expert Alfred C. Harrison, Jr. on Sunday, March 29, at 2:00 p.m at Grace Hudson Museum, followed by a reception. Harrison, the owner of North Point Gallery in San Francisco, began collecting 19th-century American and early California paintings during the 1970's. His extensive research on the art of early California has been widely published.

A free reception for the exhibition will follow the lecture.

Tours: Call the Grace Hudson Museum to arrange group or school tours for this exhibit, (707) 467-2836

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Link to previous exhibits:
Romance of the Bells: The California Missions in Art, 2007
Viva La Charreria Mexicana, 2007
Metal Works North, 2007
Radiant Visions; Huichol Indian Art, 2007/2008
Art and Poetry from Native California, 2008
Northern California Visionary Art: A Contemporary Legacy, 2008
Lewis & Clark Revisited: A Trail in Modern Day, 2008
Lon Megargee: Legendary Prints of the Southwest, 2008/2009

Link to all GHM Exhibits prior to 2007

Grace Hudson Museum - 431 S. Main Ukiah, CA - 95482 - 707.467.2836