Desmarais Had Help

I would like to expand on the comments Stuart Spence made in his letter (Letters, April 9) in regard to the contribution of the Laguna Art Museum.

I am sure that the Laguna Art Museum will continue to be a vital asset to Orange County and to California (in the wake of the firing of director Charles Desmarais). Yes, Charles Desmarais made an important contribution, but he was not acting alone.

The mission of the museum, since its origins as an art association in 1918, is to present the art of California, both present and past. That it has succeeded in this undertaking is evident not only in the fine contemporary exhibitions, but also in the historical shows it has organized over the last several years as well.

These were developed during the tenure of the last three directors, Tom Enman, Bill Otton and Desmarais. Curator (and now acting director) Susan Anderson has worked diligently at this endeavor, along with able guest curators such as Dr. Patricia Trenton and Nancy Moure.

Trenton’s show, “California Light, 1900 to 1930,” from 1990, was one of the most successful exhibitions of the museum to that date, and traveled to the Crocker Art Museum in Sacramento, the Dixon Gallery and Gardens in Memphis, and the Montclair Art Museum in Montclair, N.J.

Moure recently presented “Loners, Mavericks and Dreamers: Art in Los Angeles Before 1900” (November, 1993, to February, 1994). Anderson has presented numerous exhibitions that pay tribute to the art heritage of California, including the groundbreaking “Dream and Perspective, the American Scene in Southern California, 1930 to 1945” in 1991.

Indeed, and perhaps more important, she has succeeded in presenting a balance of exhibitions that pay tribute both to the past and the present in California art.

It has been my privilege to have enjoyed a more than 10-year association with the Laguna Art Museum in various capacities, both as a volunteer and as a guest curator.

No institutions are free of problems. I think that the staff, the volunteers, and the board members should be encouraged and thanked for the fine jobs they have accomplished.

JANET BLAKE DOMINIK

Westminster