A Fringe Arts Festival on L.A. County’s Outer Edges

More than 50 visual arts events including open studios, lectures, demonstrations, gallery tours and special exhibitions are included in the annual Fringe of the Fringe Arts Festival, which takes place throughout Pomona, Claremont, the San Gabriel Valley and Riverside and San Bernardino counties, next Sunday to Oct. 12.

Founded in 1987, the festival attempts to bring attention to artists and arts events “on the fringes” of L.A. County. Included are visual and performance art, theater, music, dance, comedy, radio programs and other events.

Visual art highlights include: “Pomona Collects: German Prints and Sculpture, 1900-1935,” at Pomona College’s Montgomery Art Gallery, now through Oct. 14; “The Difference Between . . .” a solo exhibition of works by Sandra Rowe, at Riverside’s Art Works Gallery, through Sept. 28; “Dirty Drawings,” featuring “erotic” works by 65 artists, at Pomona’s DA Gallery, Sept. 21-Oct. 17; “L.A. Multi Direction,” a group show including Kim Abeles, Anne Bray, Daniel J. Martinez and Paul Soldner, at Claremont Graduate School, Sept. 23-Oct. 4; “The Dark Side,” featuring works on dreams and psychosis by Lee Waisler, Soonja Kim and Madden Harkness, at Cal State San Bernardino’s University Art Gallery, Sept. 26-Nov. 8; and “Sculpture and Drawings of Emiko Higo and Maari Omori,” an environmental installation at UC Riverside’s Brandstater Art Gallery, Oct. 1-Nov. 2.

For a calendar of events, call (714) 397-9716.

IN THE GALLERIES: Twenty-two galleries are taking part this year in the Santa Monica/Venice Art Dealers Assn. 3rd Annual Open House, which will be held Friday from 6-9 p.m. Many spaces are holding opening receptions in conjunction with the event. Participating galleries include Angles, B-1, Robert Berman, Ruth Bachofner, Blum Helman, Shea & Bornstein, Roy Boyd, James Corcoran, Dorothy Goldeen, Richard Green, Christopher Grimes, G. Ray Hawkins, Michael Kohn, Koplin, Richard Kuhlenschmidt, L.A. Louver, Luhring Augustine Hetzler, Meyers/Bloom, Pence, Tatistcheff, Tortue and Shoshana Wayne.

Three leading Mexican galleries--Mexico City’s Galeria OMR and Galeria de Arte Mexicano, and Monterrey’s Galeria Arte Actual Mexicano--have joined forces to open the Parallel Project Gallery, where they will hold a series of three exhibitions as part of the “Mexico: A Work of Art” festival. The temporary gallery, at 1634 17th St., Santa Monica, opens Friday with “The Earth Itself,” featuring works by Mexican women painters including Frida Kahlo, Maria Izquierdo, Dulce Maria Nunez and Olga Costa. Subsequent shows--including works by Diego Rivera, Rufino Tamayo, Julio Galan, Francisco Toledo and Nahum Zenil--are “Mexico: Ancient Dreams/Modern Myth” (opening Oct. 17) and “A New Antiquity of Form” (Nov. 21).

Information: (213) 399-7024.

Ersgard Gallery has relocated to 1001-A Colorado Ave., Santa Monica, next to Brendan Walter Gallery. Ersgard, which was formerly a few blocks away on 4th Street, inaugurates its new space Friday with recent paintings and prints by Swedish artist Cajsa Holmstrand.

GRANTS: Several Southern California organizations have received grants through the National Endowment for the Arts’ Art in Public Places and Visual Artists Forums programs, which encourage public art projects and greater public discussion and understanding of contemporary art. Local recipients are L.A. Contemporary Exhibitions, which gets $5,000 for a series of lectures and panel discussions; L.A. Center for Photographic Studies, awarded $6,000 for its arts journal, Frame-Work; and Astro Artz, awarded $15,000 to publish High Performance magazine. Other nearby recipients include the city of San Buenaventura, which gets $25,000 to commission artist Ned Kahn to work with architects on restoration of the historic Ventura pier; San Diego Museum of Contemporary Art, which gets $25,000 toward an artist/designer collaboration on a satellite museum in downtown San Diego, and UC San Diego’s Stuart Foundation, awarded $30,000 to commission artist George Trakas to redesign a three-acre campus site known as Pepper Canyon.

EVENTS: CampSites, a free outdoor festival of art installations, will be held from noon to 6 p.m. next Sunday at Runyon Canyon Park, 2000 Fuller Ave., in the Hollywood Hills. Fifteen individual artists and groups--including Karen Frimkess-Wolff, Pamela Leeds, Cindy Kahn and Shamanarts--will create separate environmental installations. Musical entertainment and refreshments will be provided.

Information: (213) 666-5004.

A daylong walking tour of public art in downtown Los Angeles will be held Sept. 21. Sponsored by the Society of Architectural Historians/Southern California Chapter, the tour focuses on the effect of public art policies on architecture and urban design. Featured will both public and private murals by artists including Terry Schoonhoven and Frank Stella, a number of works inside the Ronald Reagan State Building, seven works in the “Poets’ Walk” at Citicorp Plaza, Tom Eatherton’sq) Metro Rail artwork “Unity,” and the Biddy Mason project. The cost is $40, including lunch at Engine Company No. 28.

Information: (213) 624-2400.

The Museum of Neon Art celebrates its 10th anniversary with a $75-per-person fund-raising party Saturday from 7:30 to 11 p.m. at the Santa Monica Pier Carousel. Included are a buffet dinner, unlimited carousel rides, entertainment, and a silent auction of works by artists including Lili Lakich, Candice Gawne and Guy Marsden.

Information: (213) 617-0274.

Beyond Baroque hosts a benefit performance for VIVA! a group that promotes Latino gay and lesbian art and artists, next Sunday at 7 p.m. The event--with performances by Monica Palacios, Luis Alfaro and Albert A. Araiza--is held in conjunction with the opening of the exhibition, “VIVA!’s Mexico: Too Many Centuries of Denial, Invisibility and Silence.” Tickets are $12.

Information: (213) 822-3006.

DEADLINES: Grant applications are due by Oct. 18 for the J. Paul Getty Trust Fund for the Visual Arts, which will award $180,000 in 1991-92. Five $15,000 fellowships will go to mid-career artists and several $5,000 to $30,000 organizational awards are available. The grants, administered by the California Community Foundation, will be announced in January, 1992.

Information: (213) 413-4042.

Oct. 2 is the entry deadline for UC Riverside’s Emerging Southern California Artists Competition. Three winners will be selected for solo exhibitions in the University Art Gallery in the coming year. The competition is open to artists in any media.

Information: (714) 787-3755.

ETC: Phyllis Chang, former education coordinator for the Los Angeles Festival, has been appointed museum educator for the Craft and Folk Art Museum. . . . Ruth Bachofner Gallery in Santa Monica will be open Sundays, from 1-5 p.m., beginning next Sunday. . . . Museum of Neon Art founder Lili Lakich will lead an eight-session course on neon sculpture beginning Tuesday at the museum. Space is limited. Information: (213) 617-0274. . . . Last Sunday’s Calendar included an incomplete number for information about the Artes de Mexico and Mexico: A Work of Art events. The correct number is (213) 688-ARTS.