RECENT PAST EXHIBITION

JUNE 20 - DECEMBER 30, 2023

Fort & Atwell Galleries | BLOWING ROCK ART & HISTORY MUSEUM

GIFTED: Collecting the Art of California at Gardena High School: 1919-1956 was developed for the hundredth anniversary of the Gardena High School Art Collection (GHSAC) in 2019 and illustrates the unlikely history of a communal approach to collection-building and a microcosm of California's modern art history. BRAHM is pleased to announce that it will be hosting this exhibition in the summer of 2023. This will be the first occasion that the Gardena Collection has been exhibited on the East Coast and further cements the Museum's role as an important site for interpreting early American Modern painting, including Impressionism, figurative, landscape and genre painting. Accompanying the exhibit is a catalog of over 200 pages with color plates of the entire collection and interpretive analyses of its historical background and artistic significance.

A century ago, an exceptionally focussed art collection was born out of the recommendation of a school principal. He urged the senior class of Gardena High School to gift the school with an original landscape painting by artist Ralph Davison Miller. Thus began an unprecedented annual tradition:

For nearly 40 years, each senior class selected, purchased and donated works of art to the school, ultimately amassing an exceptional permanent collection of paintings. Each gift was carefully selected and purchased from an artist of note, often reflecting historical content from that year. The high level of sophistication demonstrated by the students’ choices was the result of the aesthetic discourse and collaboration nurtured by the school.

Today, the Gardena High School Art Collection is widely acknowledged as one of the nation’s outstanding collections of early 20th century California art, with works by some of the state’s most celebrated artists. Through more than 40 paintings, GIFTED traces the history of Southern California art in the early 20th century, when plein-air painting and the Arts and Crafts movement were flourishing, and chronicles the school’s ambitious efforts within the wider cultural scene of Los Angeles at that time.

GIFTED: Collecting the Art of California at Gardena High School, 1919-1956 is organized by the GHS Art Collection, Inc. in association with the Gardena High School Student Body and curated by Susan M. Anderson.

BRAHM's presentation of this exhibition is generously supported by:

The Mariam & Robert Hayes Charitable Trust, The Catsman Foundation, Monica & Chip Perry, Lou Gottlieb & Gloria Lipson, Our State Magazine, Anonymous Donor, Monkee's of Blowing Rock.

https://www.blowingrockmuseum.org

Palos Verdes Art Center / Beverly G. Alpay Center for Arts Education is pleased to announce GIFTED: Collecting the Art of California at Gardena High School, 1919-1956, organized by the GHS Art Collection, Inc. in association with the Gardena High School Student Body and curated by Susan M. Anderson. The exhibition featuring 50 paintings will open at Palos Verdes Art Center September 17, followed by a public reception, September 24 from 6 to 9pm. Docent tours will be available Tuesdays and Saturdays during the run of the show, from 10am to noon and by appointment. Contact Gail Phinney, Community Engagement Director, at gphinney@pvartcenter.org to schedule an appointment.

The exhibition and accompanying catalogue chronicle the history of the school’s ambitious endeavor within the context of the wider cultural scene in Los Angeles, revealing that a broader public than was previously known—one driven by educational rather than economic values—participated in the development of Southern California art.

A Fundraising Campaign for Wachtel Painting Conservation

ACKNOWLEDGMENT

We appreciate the donations for the Wachtel conservation from the following alumni and friends:

Yvonne Boseker, Frank Davies, Ronald Evans, Paul and Joanna Giuliano, Sheldon Keith, Margaret Locarnini, Susan Negrete, Robert and Gloria Paulus, Perry Saupe, Glen Keith, Emily Woo, Stephen and Debra Dinsmore—In memory of Michael Chaffin Dinsmore, Terreah Dietel, Elena Boulter, Meiko Inaba, Thomas Kibler, Russell Morimoto, Paula and Andrew Pentaleri, Roth Fine Art Appraisals, Nick Williams, John Young, Carol Langston, Jo Anne Yamato, Jacqueline Ledbetter, Dennis Perkins, Joyce Ishimoto, Loren Sanladerer, Judy Larson—In memory of Gary Block, Nancy Roebuck, Barbara Bauer, Tony Bressickello, Melissa Cronin, Bruce Harvey, Calvin and Marsha Hobel, Richard Barnes, Stephen Andress, Stephen and Debra Dinsmore in memory of Michael Chaffin Dinsmore, Carol Langston, Amy Grat, Steven Kimberly, Dave Gregerson, the Cobble Family—In memory of Joan Cobble, Joyce Yamagishi, Carol Cromer Szuba, Edwin Wong, Karen Langston—In memory of Arlene Strunk, Rosemary Gambrell Krumme, Myron K. Schlaegel, Richard and Marian Enright, Juanita Veil, Patrick Greene, David Miyoshi, Nick Polizzi, Teresa Rosales, Edmund Russ, Mary Jane Dench Rudie in memory of Darlene Dench Becktel and Robert Becktel, Rosemary Gambrell Krumme, Sheila & Gary Younkin, and The Palos Verdes Art Center: The Circle.

In memory of Eiko Moriyama:

Bruce Dalrymple, Michael and Margie Draper, Craig Ihara, Carol Kofahl, Los Angeles County Art Education Council, Florence McAlary, Pamela Nokes Rockwell, Janet Halstead Sinclair, Jane Tokubo, Bea Walker, Kathy Zimmerer-McKelvie, Jean Sloss Sargeant, Steve Lock, and Nancy Lindahl.

The Santa Barbara Coast, 1924

Elmer Wachtel (1864-1929)
84 x 48 inches, oil on canvas
Winter Class of 1926

Updated Spring 2023

Dear Supporters of the Gardena High School Art Collection,

This is the current status of the art collection in Spring 2023.  Most of the paintings in the collection have been cleaned and conserved. They are insured and are currently in professional art storage.  Over the past four years the collection has been exhibited at the Hilbert Museum at Chapman University, the Fresno Art Museum, the Oceanside Museum of Art, the Thousand Oaks Museum of California Art, and the Palos Verdes Art Center.  In June this year, for the first time, we are excited to announce that fifty of the paintings will be traveling out of state to the Blowing Rock Art and History Museum in North Carolina.  This will be the first appearance of the collection on the east coast.

The extensive restoration of “The Santa Barbara Coast” by Elmer Wachtel (a gift from the winter class of 1926) will soon be finished.  Many thanks to all those of donated towards this costly restoration.  

Our long-range plan is to find a permanent home at an established museum so that the paintings will be displayed for the public to appreciate, and for students in the Gardena community to have access to them during field trips. The museum would take on the responsibility and expense of properly caring for the collection,  including costly insurance and storage. The GHS Art Collection Board is currently responsible for the ongoing expenses of the collection and does not have the resources to support these costs indefinitely. We are hopeful that a permanent home can be secured within the next few years.

A beautiful book, Gifted: Collecting the Art of California at Gardena High School, 1919-1956, was published to accompany the collection.  It includes photos of all the paintings and a history of the collection written by art historian Susan M. Anderson.  This book is available for purchase on our website (www.ghsac.org).

Please consider donating to the GHS Art Collection so that we may continue caring for the collection and making it available for the public. To donate, please send a check to GHS Art Collection, P.O. Box 111, Gardena, CA 90248. You may also donate on this website.  Your support is greatly appreciated.  

Donations are tax deductible.

Tax ID#:  37-1591566

The Collection

The Gardena High School Art Collection is widely acknowledged as one of the outstanding collections of California Impressionism in the country.  What began in 1919 as a lesson in art appreciation for the high school’s graduating senior class matured into an exceptional permanent collection, an art association, and a cherished community tradition.  The collection enriched the lives of an entire community over three decades, leaving a tangible legacy of the community’s ideals.

From 1919 to 1956 each graduating class would purchase a work of art as a parting gift to the Student Body.  “The exercise in collecting and organizing an art exhibition exposed the students and the wider community to lessons in art appreciation, as well as in good citizenship, collaboration, and debate.  The collection still ties generations of students and community members together in Gardena,” said Eiko Kamiya Moriyama, an alumna of the high school and a founding board member of the GHS Art Collection, a nonprofit organization created in 2010 to protect and preserve the collection.  “However, since the mid-1950s, the collection has been in storage and unavailable for viewing by the public in its entirety, with many of the paintings and frames in need of restoration.”

Now all of that is about to change.  Gardena High School is hoping the community of Gardena, art lovers, and alumni will answer the call, ensuring the legacy of the Gardena High School Art Collection continues into the future. 

Moriyama, along with Bruce Dalrymple and other GHS alumni and friends, founded the GHS Art Collection for the protection and preservation of the works of art owned by the Gardena High School Student Body.  Fundraising effort has been ongoing to fund conservation of the paintings and to underwrite a traveling exhibition and publication featuring the collection in anticipation of its 100th Anniversary in 2019.

The 100th Anniversary Project

The goal of the 100th Anniversary project is to document Gardena High School Art Collection’s extraordinary story of community collaboration and to preserve and protect the collection for future generations.  It is a definitive study of the history and importance of the collection within a national context.  The 208-page catalogue, with reproductions of over 70 paintings and illustrations, accompanies the traveling exhibition opened in May 2019 thru April 2021, and beyond.

Gardena High School principal Rosie Martinez believes arts engagement and civic participation promote social tolerance and strengthen the community.  Martinez believes the history and legacy of the Gardena High School Art Collection, which is at the heart of the school’s identity, provides the basis and rationale for an expanded arts program.  She is founding a Creative Arts Academy with video production and graphic art studios that will open next year, and new art classes that will have a teaching component on the school’s own art collection.  Martinez has a dream, saying: “I want to be sure that every student leaves knowing about the collection and takes pride in their school’s rich history.“

A large part of enabling this dream to come true will be making the art collection and its extraordinary story fully available to the students and the public again in the centennial year in 2019.   According to Dalrymple, “The expenses for storage, insurance, and restoration of the paintings, and the publication of the book are daunting.   Although our fundraising shows strong momentum, we are still working hard to raise fund for reaching our goal.”

GIFTED: Collecting the Art of California at Gardena High School, 1919-1956

EXHIBITION SCHEDULE

PREVIOUSLY:

FRESNO ART MUSEUM
January 24 - June 28, 2020

HILBERT MUSEUM OF CALIFORNIA ART
at Chapman University
May 11 - October 19, 2019

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Bruce Dalrymple President (Class of S’1961)

Simon K. Chiu Vice President

Craig K. Ihara Secretary (Class of S’1961)

Bea Walker Treasurer

Keith Colestock

Frank Davies GHS Principal (2020-Present)

Carol Ginder Kofahl (Class of 1970)

Rosemary Martinez Ex-officio, GHS Principal (2016-2020)

Kathy Zimmerer-McKelvie

Susan Negrete (Class of 1965)

Pamela Nokes Rockwell (Class of S’1961)

Janet Halstead-Sinclair (Class of S’1950)

Eiko Moriyama President Emeritus (Class of S’1961)

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