The Jefferson Agrarian just received some pleasant news from Mt. Shasta art scholar William Miesse about the long awaited “The Art of Mount Shasta” exhibition at Turtle Bay in Redding.
The exhibition opening was originally slated to coincide with the release of the beautiful publication “Sudden and Solitary: Mount Shasta and Its Artistic Legacy, 1841-2008,” which we reviewed way back on June 13, 2008. Miesse and art curator/writer Robyn Petersen joined forces to finally put our region’s rich art history into context, but due to economic reasons, Turtle Bay was forced to delay the exhibition.
Well, it appears that good things happen to those of us who wait. According to Miesse, “the U.S. Navy is loaning the original 1841 ink wash drawing of Mount Shasta (the earliest known picture of the mountain, in the original) by Alfred Agate from the overland portion of the four year around-the-world Wilkes Expedition, and we’re shipping (in a dedicated semi) a 6 by 10 foot William Keith (Keith was John Muir’s best friend and a co-founder of the Sierra Club) 1879 painting of Mount Shasta up from Los Angeles men’s club, where it has hung for a century or so. As well there are major Mount Shasta paintings from many museums and private collections around the country…. It is unlikely any similar exhibition of this artwork will occur in the next 100 years or so, so I highly recommend visiting the exhibition some time during the Jan 16 to May 2, 2010 show.”
The Art of Mount Shasta will run from Jan 16, 2010 – May 02, 2010. There is also a three-part series of on-site talks by Mr. Miesse, who is an acknowledged scholar of California history:
The Art of Mt. Shasta talks
- The Navy at Mount Shasta in 1841: Thursday, February 4, 7 p.m.
- San Francisco Art Renaissance (1840 – 1880): Thursday, February 11, 7 p.m.
- Life and Art of California Native Peoples: Thursday, Febrary 18, 7 p.m.
1 response so far ↓
1 Tony D'Souza // Jan 12, 2010 at 7:19 pm
Bill’s book “Sudden and Solitary” is on my nightstand. Seriously. Now that we live in Florida, ugh, flipping through a century and a half’s worth of paintings of the mountain make me feel at home and at ease. The writing and annotations about the works are great, too, give a wondeful history of the area through its artistic record.
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