CRUEL SEASON
The Artists
Susan Petty My images are most often taken from the natural and rural world around my family’s lemon ranch where I have lived and worked for nearly forty years. The message is just as often about evolution and inevitable change. I have seen this hill in the driest of seasons, and I have seen it burn. But what I also see is that life continues to restore and renew itself, as does the earth.
Hiroko Yoshimoto is a visual artist residing in Ventura. In the last 10 years her interest has been focused on environmental issues. She hopes to contribute to better health of the environment through her art. She is currently painting new works for a solo show on the theme of “Biodiversity” at Bryant Street Gallery in Palo Alto, CA in October, 2014.
John Nichols It’s a little more complicated than that but you get the idea. Before you can take a picture you have to be able to see it. What being a photographer does for me is let me wander around in my reality in a heightened sense of awareness. I see art everywhere I look. Sometimes I capture a portion of it to pass along. Most of the time I fail.
Richard Amend Born in Brooklyn, raised in art. Attended High School of Art & Design in Manhattan, graduated with BFA from The Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science & Art. Immigrated to the Golden State for the opportunity to continue education at the recently invented beacon, California Institute of the Arts, receiving there a Master of Fine Arts degree in 1973.
Bob Chianese Robert Chianese, Ph. D., was professor of English at Cal State Northridge for forty years, where he taught literature and courses linking the humanities, arts, and the environment. He taught at the Ventura campus of CSUN for twenty years and was a founding faculty of what would become Cal State U Channel Islands. He won the CSUN Outstanding Faculty Achievement Award in 2004. islandviewmedia.com
Myra Toth Raised in the Chicago area, Myra Toth studied at The Art Institute of Chicago during her high school years. She attended Mills College (B.A.) and San Francisco State University (M.A. in Ceramics) and has studied with Antonio Prieto, Robert Arneson, Peter Vandenberge and Ruth Duckworth, among others.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
This exhibit was made possible in part by generous support from
Patagonia and the Bonita McFarland Fund
Curator and Exhibit Design:
Executive Director Myron Freedman
Guest Curators:
Hiroko Yoshimoto and Susan Petty
Exhibit Design Assistance by
Museum Librarian: Charles Johnson
Gallery photos for Cruel Season website by
Hiroko Yoshimoto and Bob Chianese