Grace Hudson Museum

Northern California Visionary Art: A Contemporary Legacy

"Illumination" by Krista Lynn Brown, acrylic on canvas, 20" x 16"

May 10 - September 7, 2008

In the late 1960s the San Francisco Bay Area became the focal point for a new art movement labeled Visionary Art. It materialized against a background of Vietnam War protests, campus riots, a new idealistic counterculture, far eastern spiritual influences, underground comics, psychedelic music and poster art. It was a time of mind altering drug experimentation and free love. Massive numbers of youth were fleeing their middle class upbringing to seek other paths of consciousness and utopian dreams. Concepts of ecology and a back to the land movement were beginning to flourish. The first television generation was seeking new realities.

A nucleus of artists developed on this wave of rising consciousness. They were influenced by Surrealism, Jungian universal archetypes, personal dream awareness, ancient art symbols, and non-Western religious philosophies. These new Visionary Artists expressed new alternate realities in their detailed dream-like images.

"Fire on the Water at Night in the Rain" by Bill Martin, oil on canvas, 24" diameter

This exhibition germinated from the large number of Visionary artists who are now located in rural Northern California. The selection of works follows the traditions of personal dreamscape, utopian landscape, spiritual awakening, and apocalyptic visions as originally manifested in early California Visionary Art. Both original and recent artworks by some of the founders of this movement are represented. Also included are paintings by artists who have immigrated here from afar or are younger painters who represent a second Visionary Art generation.

"Sharing the Wealth" by Mark Henson, oil on canvas, 48" x 66"

It is clear from the powerful artwork that California Visionary Art remains an important contemporary creative and idealistic force. It continues to offer alternative spiritual realities and serves as an ecological conscience, even a seer of doom, for the competitive materialistic world. For all, Visionary Art offers a plethora of intriguing epiphanies to ponder.

Marvin Schenck, Curator, Grace Hudson Museum

"Annunciation" by Bonnie Bisbee
oil on canvas, 72" x 48"

Boat of Dreaming by Krista Lynn Brown
acrylic on canvas, 20" x 16"

"Reforestation by Magic" by Paul Pratchenko, acrylic on canvas, 65" x 65"

List of Artists: Thomas Akawie, Andrew Annenberg, Don Bear, Bonnie Bisbee, Krista Lynn Brown, Josie Grant, Mark Henson, Nick Hyde, Bill Martin, Paul Nicholson, Gene Avery North, Maire Palme, Paul Pratchenko, Janet Rayner, Mark Roland, Douglas Volz, and John Wagenet.

Exhibition organized for the Grace Hudson Museum by Marvin Schenck, Grace Hudson Museum Curator, and Douglas Volz.

"Gaia" by Gene Avery North, oil on panel, 46" x 36"