Gold Wasn’t Only Glitter at Bowers

It was something out of James Bond: Plainly dressed men toting ordinary suitcases transported pre-Columbian gold pieces worth tens of millions of dollars by air from Colombia to California.

The result: an exhibition--”Tribute to the Gods: Treasures of the Museo del Oro”--at the Bowers Museum of Cultural Art in Santa Ana that leaves you breathless.

While thousands of visitors participated in the museum’s grand reopening festivities on Sunday, it was museum donors who got the first peek at the facility’s new exhibits, which include Chinese art from the Chang Foundation in Taipei, during a black-tie reception on Friday night.

“Our security is enormous,” said Patricia House, the museum’s director of development. “Three hundred and fifty pieces of pre-Columbian gold, most of which have never left Bogota, are on display.”

Gathered around viewing cases gleaming with ear ornaments, masks, necklaces, bells and bracelets, the Fellows listened to Armand Labbe, the museum’s director of collections and research, discuss the exhibit: “When we’re looking at Pre-Columbian gold, we have to ask ourselves, ‘What was the relationship of the Indians to gold? Did they look upon gold in the same fashion as Europeans?’

“Unequivocally, no. They looked at gold much in the same way we look at vitamins and minerals. . . . They even buried it in the ground to revitalize the earth.”

Bowers activist Judy Fluor-Runels, who had peeked at the collection the day before, ached to wear one of the huge gold-disc necklaces to the reception. “I asked Armand if I could wear it, and he said our insurance doesn’t cover that , “ joked Fluor-Runels, president of the museum’s board of governors.

For Peter Keller, the museum’s executive director, the highlight of the evening was “finally having the doors open” on the facility, which has undergone a $12-million expansion and renovation.

“It’s wonderful to be able to show people what we and our staff have accomplished. We’re very proud,” Keller said.

When guests weren’t gushing over gold or listening to James Spencer--chief curator of the Chang museum in Taipei--comment on the exhibit of Chinese ceramics and paintings, they were dipping into appetizers created by David Wilhelm (whose new Indigo restaurant at the museum will be previewed on Nov. 15 with a dinner for the Fellows, a museum support group) or inspecting the new gift shop.

One reception guest, Florence Nalle, attended the original opening of the Bowers in 1936. “I mainly remember the doll exhibit,” Nalle said. “There were beautiful porcelain and bisque dolls on display. They were in style then. People collected them.”

Also among guests was Apache artist Allan Houser (who recently received the National Medal of Arts award from President Bush) whose smooth white marble sculptures sit in a garden near the museum’s Leo Freedman Foundation Galleria and on the patio.

“I try to stress simplicity, give my works as much sculptural form as I can,” said Houser, who lives in Santa Fe, N.M. “I hope my works will be at the Bowers for a long, long time.”

Also among guests: Henry Segerstrom, whose mother, Ruth, endowed the California Legacies Hall; Mary Jones, former Orange County protocol chief (“This wonderful museum just shows you what Orange County can do,” she said); Mary and Peter Muth (who remembered seeing the gold exhibit during a trip to Bogota years ago); Peter and Sharon Jaquith--trustee of the Leo Freedman Foundation, donors of $1 million to the museum; Lois and Buzz Aldrin; Paul Apodaca, the museum’s curator of American Indian and folk art; and Ana Maria Falchetti, assistant director of the Museo del Oro in Bogota.

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Season opener: Devotees of the Pacific Symphony orchestra gathered with music director Carl St. Clair on Wednesday at the Westin South Coast Plaza hotel for a post-concert (Leonard Bernstein’s “Benediction” and Mozart’s “Piano Concerto No. 17”) gala dinner.

The event marked the opening of the Pacific Symphony’s 14th season. “This was one of the best concerts we’ve ever given,” said the symphony’s executive director Louis Spisto. “And to top it off, tomorrow night marks the beginning of our broadcast season on KUSC radio. After each of our concerts, KUSC will air it the following night. The season couldn’t be getting off to a better start.”

The gala honored the memory of the late Leo Freedman, founder of the Leo Freedman Foundation, a benefactor of the orchestra. The event was co-sponsored by the Pacific Symphony Assn. and the Pacific Symphony Orchestra League.

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Happy anniversary: Talk about an anniversary splash. Orange County Philharmonic donors Harry and Helen Reinsch, married 50 years ago today, were feted at the Center Club on Saturday night following a concert by the Los Angeles Philharmonic conducted by its new music director, Esa-Pekka Salonen.

Planning the posh, sit-down dinner was Richard Reinsch, son of the popular couple. Richard Reinsch helped underwrite the performance, which he dedicated to his parents.

“I just had to do something for them,” said Reinsch, during the champagne reception at the Center Club. “They are such special people.”

Helen Reinsch had some advice on how to achieve marital longevity: “Build on the good and overlook the bad,” she said. “There’s always some bad. Nobody’s perfect.”

Finland-born Salonen called Segerstrom Hall “a great place; the people in Orange County should be very happy with it.”

Also among guests for the dinner, which included veggie-stuffed chicken and chocolate and raspberry anniversary cake, were concert pianist Emanuel Ax and Erich Vollmer, executive director of the Orange County Philharmonic Society.