The Summer Show

July 22 – August 19, 2023

Juried all-media exhibition hosted by and open for submission only to members of the Palos Verdes Art Center’s seven active artists groups: Artists Open Group, Pacific Arts Group, Paletteers,  Peninsula Artists, Photographic and Digital Artists, The Artists Studio, and Third Dimension.

Kathie Reis Memorial Award BEST of SHOW: Astrid Francis, Three Beauties, 2020, Acrylic on canvas

The People’s Choice: James Gardner, Bronze Pelican, 2022, Bronze

Scroll down for images and to read essay by juror Dennis Keeley.

PAUL ANDERSON, ROBIN ANGELIDES, SARAH CATHERINE ARNOLD, KATHERINE BERGSTROM, DELORA BERTSCH, PAUL BLIEDEN, RODNEY BOONE, ELLEN CANTOR

SARA COE, NORMA CUEVAS WHITE, GINGER DONER, LYNN DORAN, REGINA DUPRAT, ASTRID FRANCIS, JAMES GARDNER

ADOLFO GIRALA, VIOLETTA GUERRERO, MING H2 WU, LYNNE HAGGARD, JAMES HARTER, TERI HOGAN, ROBIN JACK SARNER

JESSICA JIMENEZ, OLE JOHNSON, RUSSELL KNIGHT, CARLA KOEHLER, SUZANNE KUUSKMAE, CAROLYN LIESY, TRISH MCCOY, LAURA MILLMAN, RICKS MOULTON

LUCY NEARY, NICOLAS NOMICOS, DIANE REEVES, PAM REID, NANCY SEWELL, SUNG-HEE SON, JOHN STINSON, DAVE STREETER, ARIEL SWARTLEY, LISETTE THIERRY

“Nothing can be done except little by little.”

Charles Baudelaire

We use words in some attempt to intellectually describe this world, but all our efforts to explain can only resonate in that world of words. Art is often, or maybe even almost impossible to explain, but at the same time clearly exists in between the spaces where words and art overlap. The arts reflect a magnificent world of creative ideas, poetic expression, and personal dreams.

I know artists make all their work twice. Once in their imagination… and then again when producing the finished work. They use almost anything as tools, and then apply a quality of craft to bring their creativity and imagination to life. I have a very high regard for people who choose this process of personal expression to complete their relationship with the world.

It was a great honor and pleasure to juror the Palos Verdes Art Center’s 2023 Summer Show.It’s never easy to choose work for a group show. It’s a little bit like making a giant esoteric jigsaw puzzle. Not everything fits, but in the end, I think you see something more interesting than just a collection of pieces. Together, I believe the various works build into a singular voice that speaks to the critical importance of inspiration, communication, and craft.

To quote my friend and colleague, Mary Virginia Swanson, “If you don’t submit your work for opportunities like this, you have a 100% chance of not getting in. As soon as you let go and allow people see what you make, the odds of getting known begin to get distinctly better.” I would add that as artists, we make work for ourselves, but we must share it with others to change ourselves and the world.

Baudelaire also said that artists are like children with adult discipline, for artists, like children, are in a constant state of transformation. Always landing somewhere, but never staying long. The work and its ever-changing manner are the constant.

I hope you enjoy this exhibition in a celebration of the summer season. It is a time when all things grow.

Dennis Keeley

Juror, The Summer Show

Dennis Keeley works as an artist, photographer, teacher and writer. His photographs have been exhibited in numerous one person and group shows and he is published internationally in books and studies concerning urban circumstance. He has works in the permanent collections at LACMA, MOCA, the J. Paul Getty Center Trust, and Conservation and Research Institutes and was commissioned by the California African American Museum in Los Angeles. In 2016 he was chosen by Month of Photography Los Angeles (MOPLA) to exhibit his portraits of musicians in a solo exhibition entitled, “25 Years of Music.” Dennis Keeley is past-Chair of the Photography and Imaging Program at Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, and has served on the Board of Directors at Angel’s Gate Cultural Center in San Pedro, CA for more than ten years.

This exhibition is made possible, in part, by generous support from –