RAISING THE GLASSWARE AT THE GETTY

A new, permanent installation of important European glass and Italian maiolica , recently acquired by the J. Paul Getty Museum, opens Tuesday at the Malibu institution.

The glass vessels, ranging from delicate and decorative Venetian “filigree” finery to the colorful enameled ware and rustic “forest” glass from north of the Alps, represent the best of Italian, German, Austrian, Bohemian (Czechoslovakian) and Dutch production from about 1500 to 1700.

The collection of Renaissance maiolica (also called majolica) represents the major Italian pottery centers that produced the lustrous and brilliantly colored tin-glazed earthenware. ( Maiolica originally referred to the ceramic ware of Valencia, shipped to Italy from Majorca.)

Maiolica colors--blue, green, manganese purple, yellow and orange--adorn the pottery pieces that served various functions from practical drug jars, plates and jugs to highly decorative objects.

Depression-era photographs, Hockney prints and etchings by a skilled Scottish artist will fill the halls of UC Santa Barbara’s University Art Museum starting Wednesday.

“The Highway: Documentary Photos of an American Habitat Between Depression and Affluence, 1943-1955” is a historical, sequential exhibition with 134 archival photographs by Roy Stryker.

Scenes depicting an urban, industrial, optimistic America, transported from the comforts of home to a highway habitat by the advent of the automobile, are on view. Stryker produced the archive at the University of Louisville as a sequel to his Farm Security Administration project, which documented a distressed 1930s agricultural society.

“Prints by David Hockney From the Kahn Collection,” loaned by Harry and Margery Kahn, promises a diverse selection of Hockney’s witty, realistic works, including examples from his Blue Guitar portfolio.

“Etchings by James McBey From the Permanent Collection” displays the works of the talented Scottish graphic artist, who was principally active in the first decades of the 20th Century. Unpublished biographical materials, supplied by McBey’s widow, supplement the collection. All three exhibits run through Feb. 23.

Two new members have been elected to the County Museum of Art’s board of trustees: Iris Cantor and Yvonne Lenart.

Iris Cantor, with her husband, international financier B. Gerald Cantor, have made several donations to arts organizations throughout the country, including those which established the County Museum of Art’s B. Gerald Cantor Sculpture Gardens and the Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Sculpture Plaza.

Yvonne Lenart, with her late husband Harry Lenart, a museum trustee since 1975, is a major benefactor to the museum’s capital campaign. Over a 20-year period, the Lenarts acquired a substantial collection of South and Southeast Asian sculpture and, largely due to their support, the County Museum now holds one of the country’s most comprehensive collection of Southeast Asian art. The Lenart Foundation recently purchased works by three contemporary artists for the museum.

The San Diego Museum of Photographic Arts has received two important gifts: 23 photographs by the late Andre Kertesz, donated by New York collector Noel Levine, and two portfolios of works by Philippe Halsman given by New York gallery owner Marjorie Neikrug. One portfolio contains 10 portraits of Marilyn Monroe, the other 10 images of Salvador Dali.

The National Endowment for the Arts awarded 34 grants nationwide to art service projects as part of the NEA’s Inter-Arts Program.

Two California organizations were among the 34: Arts Resources and Technical Services Inc. of Los Angeles received $4,000 to provide partial salary support for a program manager to double the number of arts organizations assisted through the organization’s Business Volunteers for the Arts program and the Los Angeles Arts Loan Fund. ARTS is expected to be able to provide services to 90 additional arts organizations in the Los Angeles metropolitan area.

The second grant, of $10,000, went to the California Confederation of the Arts in Sacramento for information and management services to be provided to more than 1,100 artists and 550 arts organizations throughout the state.

These services include information and referral services, individual consultations, periodicals, workshops and seminars designed to develop or enhance the administrative skills of artists and art managers.

The National Endowment for the Arts has published “The Arts and 504 Handbook,” a how-to guide for making arts programs accessible to disabled people.

The 97-page booklet, produced by Barrier-Free Environments Inc. for the federal arts agency, explains NEA 504 regulations and describes various approaches to access, audience development and staff training.

It includes sections on communicating with the hearing-impaired, the visually impaired and those with learning impairments.

Other chapters look at specific arts disciplines: the visual arts, performing arts, literary, media and design arts.

Copies are available from the Government Printing Office, Superintendent of Documents, Washington 20402, for $3.75 each. Orders of 100 copies or more receive a 25% discount. When ordering, please specify that you want “The Arts and 504 Handbook.”