Okay, declaring the Pasadena Museum of California Art to be "Best of Pasadena" is definitely going out on a limb. There are, no doubt, some who would argue that the Norton Simon, with its sizeable European art collection, is the best. Others would immediately leap up and shout: "What about the Pacific Asia museum."
But my vote goes to Pasadena Museum of California Art for curating consistently interesting--even provocative--exhibitions of art works by Californians. Take the Art + Science exhibition last year. The artists whose work was exhibited often have "day jobs" at JPL or Cal Tech. And these were not just cute little paintings done by scientists; the art work was good science first of all. 3D photos of Mars. Art work create on site by pendlums. Hyper close-ups of insects. Topping it all: wall shadow/art created by a technology that I really did not understand.
And that was just one show.
While the Art + Science show took up the entire exhibition space at PMCA, generally, their space is split up and each of their five galleries is devoted to one artist. For instance, the most recent exhibitions, for Fall 2009, included a retrospective of Wayne Thiebaud's paintings in the main gallery, prints by Frances Gearhart in the back gallery, and portraits on glass in the Foundation Gallery upstairs. In all, this show demonstrated a century's worth of work by California artists.
This last Saturday, a new exhibition opened, showcasing the early works of Millard Sheets. More about it to come...
The Gold Line station closest to the Pasadena Museum of California Art is
www.pasadenaneighborhoods.com/memorial_park_gold_line_station_museums.htm
PMCA is located at 490 E Union, Pasadena CA. Open Wednesday through Sunday, noon to 5 p.m.
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