Show Preview | Gold Medal Exhibition

Los Angeles, CA
Autry National Center, March 30-April 20

John Cosby, Afternoon Break, oil, 24 x 36.

John Cosby, Afternoon Break, oil, 24 x 36.

This story was featured in the April 2014 issue of Southwest Art magazine. Get the Southwest Art April 2014 print issue or digital download now–then subscribe to Southwest Art and never miss another story!

Although the California Art Club sponsors approximately two dozen exhibits every year, president Peter Adams calls the group’s upcoming Gold Medal Exhibition “our biggest annual show featuring the best of the best. Most of our top-tier artists participate,” he explains. “They show their newest and best work. It’s work that hasn’t been exhibited anywhere else before.”

Out of more than 300 entries, 160 members of the 105-year-old club were selected to show paintings and sculptures in the 103rd annual Gold Medal Juried Exhibition and Sale, which opens on March 30 and runs through April 20 at the 
Autry National Center in Los Angeles. More than 200 works are on display, including oil, pastel, and watercolor paintings as well as bronze and marble sculptures.

Prior to the March 30 public opening, there are two special events. A preview dinner for members of the club’s Collectors’ Circle is on March 28 from 6 to 9 p.m. The Artists’ Gala Reception on March 29 from 6 to 9 pm. includes an awards ceremony during which Best of Show awards for painting and sculpture are announced.

Warren Chang, Lunch Break: Homage to Pyle, oil, 24 x 40.

Warren Chang, Lunch Break: Homage to Pyle, oil, 24 x 40.

Warren Chang, the 2013 recipient of the Dean Cornwell Award for Best Multi-Figurative Work, entered his oil painting LUNCH BREAK: HOMAGE TO PYLE in the show. “My piece was inspired by a painting of pirates by illustrator Howard Pyle, but it’s about California farmworkers in the Castroville area,” Chang says. “The grower gave me permission to take photos of his workers during the artichoke harvest last April. I’m interested in their struggle. Painting people is what I love to do.”

The landscape around Southern California’s Laguna Beach is what excites John Cosby. His oil painting AFTERNOON BREAK focuses on an area of the beach that’s part of his regular stomping ground. “I enjoy coastal scenes, where the land meets the sea,” Cosby explains. “It’s a place where people stand on the shore and are in awe of the ocean. There’s a richness in color that comes there in the late afternoon, which is why I like to paint during that time of the day.”

While California pastel artist Kim Lordier often paints landscapes close to her home, a painting she created southwest of Denver is featured in the exhibition. GOSSAMER COAT captures a winter scene outside Evergreen, CO. “Friends from Colorado were showing me around, and I found this scene where I loved the dramatic quality of the light and the gossamer coat of ice on sea-green-colored water,” she recalls. “There was a light dusting of snow on the ice, and the cloudy sky had blue areas peeking through it. Lots of elements in the scene intrigued me.” —Emily Van Cleve

contact information
626.583.9009
www.californiaartclub.org

Featured in the April 2014 issue of Southwest Art magazine–click below to purchase:
Southwest Art April 2014 print issue or digital download Or subscribe to Southwest Art and never miss a story!

MORE RESOURCES FOR ART COLLECTORS & ENTHUSIASTS
Subscribe to Southwest Art magazine
Learn how to paint & how to draw with downloads, books, videos & more from North Light Shop
Sign up for your Southwest Art email newsletter & download a FREE ebook