Chaffey Community Museum of Art

02/16/2021

Dee Marcellus Cole

In 2016, CCMA honored Dee Marcellus Cole (b. 1932) as Artist of the Year. Cole is a longtime Upland resident who has created a substantial body of original and innovative sculpture. She calls herself a “faux folk artist.” Cole was awarded an MA degree, from the Claremont Graduate School in 1984.
Avatar
paper, metal and plaster-2016

Avatar is a nearly life-sized figure standing in contrapposto. The lamp and beaded shade was made by John Neiuber. Cole incorporated found objects such as the high-heel boots then built up the figure in plaster and in paper maché. The woman’s curving forms play against the verticality of the lamp pole.

Cole revels in strong and powerful color painted in unusual patterns. Her playful and inventive vision has produced a figure that is non-human, but ultimately non-threatening. Avatar is quite original and unforgettable.

02/15/2021

CCMA honored Jan Wright as 2015 Artist of the Year. Wright’s works have been shown in over 200 exhibitions. She studied watercolors with Chris Van Winkle, Tom Fong, Milford Zornes and others. Wright is active in the local arts community.

Sentinel III
Watercolor and acrylic-2015

This beautiful landscape has three clear divisions which are made with independent techniques. At the base is a large saturated red triangular shape which reveals an interesting sponged texture. The yellow area is of a lower intensity than the red and is painted in a smoother flatter manner. The massive span of trees is created with its own texture which appears as if the end of a brush was dragged through the liquid color to form the illusion of spiky leaves.

Wright has created an inventive original work inspired by a typical California Scene landscape motif.

02/09/2021

In 2014, CCMA recognized JoAnn Formia (1929-2016) as Artist of the Year. She stated she was less interested in the finished product than in the process of creating watercolors. As she has said, “It is the journey that is important.” Formia studied watercolor with Oscar Van Young, Robert Uecker, Henry Fukuhara, and Milford Zornes.

Fog Lifting, Moon Storm Beach
Watercolor-2012

This work captures an overcast Pacific coast scene and communicates its gloomy effects. It is a good example of the survival of plein air watercolor into the 21st century. The viewpoint is elevated, positioned up on the cliffs.

The image is subdivided diagonally with the land painted in earth tones and the water and sky delineated in higher values. The sea and sky are created with thick wet washes of watercolor. The work shows firm mastery of watercolor technique.

02/05/2021

In 2013, Sylvia Megerdichian was recognized by CCMA as Artist of the Year. Megerdichian’s (b. 1944) works draw on her heritage as an Armenian American and capture her personal life journey. Megerdichian, was born in Tehran, where she received her early art schooling. Sylvia and her family emigrated to the United States in 1979. She studied art at Chaffey College, and in 1993, founded Art Box Studio in Upland, where she teaches, hosts art workshops, and creates her paintings, drawings, and collages.

Connections—Silent Woman Series
mixed media collage-2011

This work presents three women arranged across the pictorial surface. They illustrate the “Three Ages of (Wo)Man”; childhood, adulthood and old age, which is a well-known art historical motif.
The artist used saturated color in an abstract way. The “connections” of the title are formed by visible brushstrokes of red and of blue that swoop across the composition, like a painterly umbilical cord.

02/02/2021

From CCMA’s collection….The 2012 Artist of the Year was awarded to Harrison McIntosh (1914-2016). McIntosh is an important American ceramic artist who is most famous for his elegant, mid-century modern objects. His distinguished career spanned over 60 years. McIntosh’s style was consistent; he was inspired by the simplicity of mid-century modernism and by traditional Japanese pottery. McIntosh used the G.I. Bill, as did many Pomona Valley artists, to study at the Claremont Graduate School between 1948 and 1952.

McBurney Wedding Plate
Illustrations by Paul Darrow
ceramic -1958

The large flat plate was fired in McIntosh’s studio in Padua Hills. The surface became a “canvas” for Darrow’s lively caricatural drawings, subdivided into 8 vignettes. Darrow creates a lively wedding reception with semi-inebriated guests speaking louder and louder to make themselves heard. This work is an example of the close relationships among the artists of the Pomona Valley.

01/28/2021

Today CCMA presents the works by Donna Morin that are currently on display in Terminal 4 at Ontario International Airport.

Donna Morin
Acrylic artist
Loma Linda, California
Artist Statement: Art is about how life gets into us. It becomes more – shifting, absorbing new influences. This fundamental premise celebrates new conversations with new compositions. Side-by-side imagery joins abstraction, color, subject matter, and shares a rich bond more than a dialogue. Pairing becomes a community transformation.
Like life chapters that begin then begin again, experiences sits in memory, expanding life naturally. Part :Counterpart places images together, representing memory with a connection, piecing together a lifetime journey dialogue of what has gone before with now. Elements trace ancient geometric tenets through modernism, forming a present conversational exchange.
“Now” becomes the larger magical field.
Artist Biography: Donna Morin was born 1939 and raised in San Jose, California. Now retired, for 25 years Ms. Morin taught Drawing and Painting at San Bernardino Valley College as adjunct faculty. Ms. Morin continues painting and printmaking in her Loma Linda home studio. Her work has been shown nationally and won numerous awards. Her recent exhibit at Riverside Art Museum can be viewed on YouTube by entering Donna Morin, Part: CounterPart, by Eric Minh Swenson.

01/26/2021

The new year’s first installations of Art at the Airport managed by CCMA got off to a great start with works by Lauren Verdugo and Donna Morin. First up is Lauren. We’ll spotlight Donna next. Both of their works are located in Terminal 4.

Lauren Verdugo
Mixed media artist
Rancho Cucamonga, California
Artist Statement: These cardboard portraits are my response to influences and are intended to remind the viewer of powerful stories that have shaped our current society. I use materials that are typically considered waste to emphasize the importance of the figure in frame.
Artist Biography: Lauren Verdugo is an artist and woodworker whose work ranges from furniture to sculpture, often using mixed media (found objects, steel, wood, cardboard). Her furniture explores the limits of minimal design, reflecting her roots in mid-century design.
Born in Fullerton in 1996, Lauren is completing a BA degree in Applied Design at San Diego State University. In 2020 she received a California Arts Council grant, an Art Council Award from the School of Art and Design at SDSU, and in November 2020, was nominated for a Windgate –Lamar Fellowship Award.
Since 2012, Lauren has been an art education assistant and workshop assistant at the Sam and Alfreda Maloof Foundation for Arts and Crafts in Alta Loma, California She serves the local community through her work in K-12 arts education and non-profit art organizations to promote emerging artists in the local area.
Laurenverdugo.com; Instagram: @laurenverdoodles

01/23/2021

Sam Maloof
2011 Artist of the Year
1916-2009
Sam Maloof is widely acknowledged as the most outstanding woodworker of his generation. He was the first craftsman to receive a MacArthur “genius” grant, and is considered to be a central figure in the postwar American crafts movement.

From 1946 to 1949, Maloof was Millard Sheets’ assistant, helping with murals, frames and silk screen prints. He left the Sheets workshop in 1952 and established his own studio. Among his first clients were artists Emil Kosa, Paul Darrow and Millard Sheets.

In 2020, the CCMA, in partnership with the Ontario Museum of History and Art organized a joint exhibition, Shaping Wood/ Shaping Artists: Sam Maloof which presented works by Maloof with other pieces by two master craftsmen who worked for him (Larry White and Mike Johnson). The exhibit documented Maloof’s strong legacy and continuing influence in the Pomona Valley

Currently there are no works by Maloof in the CCMA collection. This the Maloof rocking chair that is in the Smithsonian Institution.

01/20/2021

Betty Davenport Ford (1924--)
2010 Artist of the Year

Born in Upland, Betty Davenport Ford developed a strong local reputation for her engaging ceramic sculptures of animals. She attended Scripps College on a scholarship and was awarded a BA in ceramic sculpture in 1946.

She married Harold Ford in 1947, and the couple moved to Detroit where her husband worked at General Motors. There, she pursued graduate studies at the Cranbrook Academy of Art in Michigan and was awarded her MFA in 1950.

When they returned to the Pomona Valley, they built a home and studio near the Sheets’ in the Padua Hills. From this base, the couple raised two children and Betty pursued her successful career.

Ford was a prolific sculptor. Her works have been exhibited in many local and national shows almost annually. She worked in a number of media. In 2014, a one-person show that spanned three local venues, Betty Davenport Ford: Capturing the Animal Spirit was mounted.

01/18/2021

Bob Smith shared the honors of CCMA’s Artist of the Year in 2009.
Bob Smith (b. 1930) is a well-known Pomona Valley artist, illustrator, teacher and author. He was educated at Pomona College and the Claremont Graduate School. Like Andree Mahoney and Martha Underwood, he joined the Chaffey College faculty where he taught for forty years.

Please Repeat the Question
Oil on canvas, 2005

This political satire is rendered in a broad painterly style that is quite original. The rapid execution communicates a vibrant energy, which attracts the viewer’s eye. The main figure has just spoken a phrase often used as a delaying tactic preceding an evasive prevarication. The subject of this work seems as relevant today as when it was created fifteen years ago.

01/14/2021

In 2009, Andree Mahoney and Bob Smith were jointly honored at the first annual President's Dinner. A painting by the latter was featured on the program. We’ll first take a look at Mahoney’s work and then at Smith’s.
Andree Mendenhall Mahoney has spent her entire professional life in the Pomona Valley. She studied at Scripps and the Claremont Graduate School. She worked in the Sheets Studio on mosaic production and in 1963, joined the Chaffey College Ceramics department. Mahoney taught there until her retirement, in 2000.

Temple to the Mountain: Day
Stoneware, porcelain high and low fire, glazes and low fire lusters
2009

This strange, otherworldly architectural scene blurs the categories of sculpture, relief sculpture, and 2-dimensional work. It demonstrates a high level of technical expertise, since each section had to be individually glazed and then assembled into the finished product. Conceptually, Mahoney has imagined a scene out of a Surrealist inspired dream that is original and uniquely personal.

01/12/2021

In 2008, Martha Menke Underwood was honored as Artist of the Year by CCMA and was given a plaque at the annual anniversary dinner.
Martha Underwood (1934-2012) had an important career in the Pomona Valley. She became an essential member of the Sheets’ studio, in the early 1960s working in tapestry and mosaic production. She then taught a broad range of courses at Chaffey College for 27 years.

Doves in Flight
Watercolor-1999

In this work, Underwood uses the dove, a symbol of peace, from the Old Testament into the present. We see the artist’s command of the medium. She employs subtle layering, on thinly washed watercolor. The abstract shapes are held in check by the shapes of the flying doves with outspread wings.

This watercolor is an elegant demonstration of the artist’s ability to take a familiar symbol and transform it into an innovative, imaginative work of art. It also shows the ongoing capacity of watercolor to remain a sensitive medium of artistic expression.

01/07/2021

In 2006, John E. Svenson (1923-2016) was the second person to be honored as the Artist of the Year by CCMA at the 65th anniversary celebration.
John Svenson was raised in Montclair, and served in the US Army Air Corps during World War II. In 1948 he married Lou Ann, raised two sons and studied at the Claremont Graduate School, mentored by Albert Stewart. The Svensons became an integral part of the circle of artists of the Pomona Valley. Lou Ann Svenson served as president of the CCAA ca 2000 when it was exhibiting in the Filippi Winery.

Through his work with the Sheets Studio from the 1950s to the 1970s, Svenson created over 20 sculptures for the Home Savings of American banks and the Ahmanson Corporation.
Svenson also created many sculptures for public institutions, such as churches, schools and hospitals. Locally, people are most familiar with his 8-foot bronze statue of George Chaffey, which is in front of the Upland Civic Center. Although known mainly for his work in wood, Svenson created in virtually every possible medium.

Nature Song (Desert Life)
Mixed media construction

This impressive relief sculpture uses wood, ceramic and stained glass to create a charming scene, which is populated by Svenson’s adorable cast of birds. Compositionally, it is organized into thirds. There are three lotus plants from which flowers emerge. There are three small blue birds grouped together. There are three larger birds, a pair of birds in a reddish/brown hue and just underneath, an owl. All these smaller forms appear to “sit” on a stylized wooden branch with a large negative space in the center. Svenson has used the grain of the wood, to wonderful effect, in a soft gray tone.

While the work protrudes from the wall only a few inches, it creates the effect of much deeper relief. If it were hung against a window, as one presumes it was intended to do in its original site, the light shining through the stained glass would have created a strong impact.

01/05/2021

CCMA begins the new year with a retrospective look at the recipients of its Artist of the Year recognition. Since 2005, this recognition has been bestowed upon a select few artists who have made a significant contribution to the art word and who have supported the museum.

Each artist has developed a highly personal style and subject matter during many years of dedication to art. Most of the artists used painting and/or watercolor as their chosen medium. However, there are several notable sculptors, and ceramicists as well as a photographer included in this elite group.

The concept of Artist of the Year was initiated in 2005 to honor Milford Zornes (1908-2008), a nationally recognized master watercolorist. Zornes completed his BA at Pomona College in 1934. After the war, he taught at Pomona College from 1946 to 1950. Zornes’ longevity was astonishing. He passed away at age 100 in his Claremont home. The CCMA is privileged to own seven high quality watercolors by Zornes.

This piece, Over Cayucas
Watercolor

Cayucos State Beach is in San Luis Obispo County just north of Morro Bay. In this work on his characteristic large paper, Zornes presents a vista both timeless and immediately recognizable as California summer. The rich natural colors of the hills evoke the dry hills of much of the central coast. His handling of the medium is confident and free yet controlled. Each touch of the brush is precise.

12/28/2020

Chaffey Community Museum of Art

For those that missed the "What I did While Sequestered" online exhibit, here you go.
Thank you to our 2020 fearured artists!

First Annual Virtual Art Exhibit, October 2020

12/25/2020

What a better way to say Happy Holidays from CCMA than to share artwork from the 2020 winner of the city of Ontario’s Holiday card competition,
Elisa Arancibia.

12/23/2020

Robert Dickson is the 2019 City of Ontario's holiday card winner.

This watercolor image depicts the R. Jack Mercer Community Bandstand located in the Euclid Avenue Parkway at C Street in Ontario, California. A gazebo has been located at this intersection for more than 100 years. The bandstand was refurbished by the Kiwanis Club of Ontario in 1997, then re-dedicated on July 4, 2001 in honor of R. Jack Mercer, director of the Chaffey High School Marching Tiger Band from 1958 to 1984 and director of the Ontario Chaffey Community Show Band from 1985 to 2013.

About the Artist
Artist Robert G. Dickson resides in Upland, California with his wife Antoinette. After retiring from careers as a professional musician and an elementary school teacher, Bob began painting and attending workshops in various art techniques. In addition to painting in watercolor and acrylics, Bob frequently plays piano at artist receptions at the Chaffey Community Museum of Art in Ontario. He also serves as volunteer officer, with the rank of Lieutenant Commander, in the U.S. Naval Sea Cadet Corps.