California Art Club presents 112th annual Gold Medal exhibition at Bowers Museum

Although it is billed as an unthemed art exhibit, the works featured in the California Art Club’s Annual Gold Medal exhibition does have one thing in common: It all upholds the classic techniques favored by the club’s founders at the beginning of the 20th century.

The California Art Club is an educational nonprofit organization and among the oldest and largest arts organizations in the state. Founded in 1909, it aims to promote the fine arts in painting, drawing, and sculpture and works referred to as traditional and representational art.

In its early years the club showcased many California Impressionists of the time, also known as plein air painters, including artists who were involved in the Laguna Art Colony from 1918 to 1935. Today the club boasts 14 chapters, with renowned Orange County artist Michael Obermeyer currently serving as the organization’s 45th president.

On Sunday, the California Art Club will return to Bowers Museum in Santa Ana to present its Gold Medal exhibition, an art show that showcases 170 paintings and sculptures that has been selected by the club’s panel of art scholars and artists.

“We are pleased to return to the Bowers Museum with our 112th annual Gold Medal exhibition and showcase many new works in which our artists strive to innovate by finding inspiration in the unexpected, as we appreciate and learn from cultures from around the world,” Obermeyer said in a statement.

This is the second year the California Art Club has presented its Gold Medal exhibition at Bowers and the show will focus on contemporary-traditional artwork, selected from nearly 600 submissions. The exhibition is inspired by the European art salons of the 19th century, when artists submitted their best work for jury review.

The artworks featured in the Gold Medal exhibition demonstrate techniques used by those who founded the California Art Club, which came to be known as California Impressionism.

Frank Ordaz’s “Between Heaven and Earth.”

(Courtesy of Bowers Museum)

Participating artists include painters Peter Adams, John Asaro, Brian Blood, Warren Chang, John Cosby, Dennis Doheny, Kathleen Dunphy, Michael Godfrey, Laurie Kersey, Frank Ordaz and Mian Situ. The works of sculptors Béla Bácsi, Adam Matano and Christopher Slatoff are also represented.

Bowers will present an opening day lecture with art historian Jean Stern in the Norma Kershaw Auditorium titled “The Art of Appreciating Art.” Stern will discuss the key elements art experts and collectors keep in mind when viewing art, using work from the Gold Medal exhibition as examples. Tickets are $15, and $10 for members.

In conjunction with the exhibition, a series of educational programs will also run at Bowers Museum. On July 16, families are invited to “Learn from Master Artists with the California Art Club: Plein Air Landscape Painting with Robin Hall.” The Gold Medal artist will help artists of all ages learn about landscape in the style of traditional art.

Artist Spotlight Talks will be given by participating artists every Saturday morning throughout the show’s run to answer questions and provide insight on the work and techniques favored by the California Art Club. On July 23, Christopher Slatoff, Sculpture chair for the California Art Club, will lead a hands-on workshop on three-dimensional art.

On Sept. 10, the exhibit will close with a Paint/Sculpt-Out in which California Art Club painters and sculptors will set up in the Key Courtyard to create new works inspired by live models posing in traditional folk costumes.

Admission to the Gold Medal exhibition is included in general admission at Bowers Museum, which is $18 for adults, $15 for seniors and students and free for Bowers members and children under 12. More information can be found at bowers.org.