Art in the heart of Hermosa
photos by Bondo Wyszpolski Gallery of Hermosa, and Easy Reader hosted art openings on Friday, July 5. Both the gallery and the newspaper are hosting rotating shows on a semi-monthly basis. “I Love L.A.” at Gallery of Hermosa is a group show on view through July 28 at Gallery at 138 Pier Ave, Hermosa Beach. […]
Doing what she loves, Painter-muralist Jules Muck doesn’t give up
by Bondo Wyszpolski I’d have to answer “prolific” if someone said describe Jules Muck. Sitting across from her in her Venice painting studio I have to know: How do you produce so much art? There must be five of you. She laughs. “Well, it’s all I do, compulsively really. But I’ve been doing it for […]
Art That Inspires: “Mother & Daughter Celebration”
Billed as a “Mother & Daughter Celebration,” “Art That Inspires” highlights the colorful work of painters Jeanne Zaske (birds, flowers, still lifes) and her daughter Lynnie Sterba (swirling abstracts). The exhibition, curated by Anthony Schmidt, has been on view in the Malaga Cove Library Art Gallery, and there’s a closing reception from 6 to 8 […]
Cool Art Show “May Flowers” at Gallery of Hermosa
Spotlight on The Class of ’68: Paradise regained Swimming with the Sea Kings
Photos by Bondo Wyszpolski, except where noted Palos Verdes High School classmates met up at the home of Claudia Avakian Krikorian and Jim Hale to celebrate their 55th reunion. That means they came of age in the era of gaslamps, switchboard operators, and big-finned Cadillacs. Once again they tore up lawns, blew up mailboxes, and […]
Spotlight on Asian culture: Japanese days and Chinese nights
Leaving the city: aesthetics and tranquillity On Oct. 21, The Huntington Library, Art Museum, and Botanical Gardens in San Marino unveiled the newly restored 320-year-old Japanese Heritage Shōya House, brought here from a small farming community near Marugame in Kagawa prefecture. On Sept. 29, the Huntington hosted a Mid-Autumn Moon Celebration in its expansive Chinese […]
Spotlight on art: Ron Linden returns with “re.dux” at Gallery 478
Photos by Bondo Wyszpolski Earlier this month, Gallery 478 showcased work by Ron Linden, one of the area’s most respected artists and educators. He was, among other things, the director of the L.A. Harbor College Fine Arts Gallery for over 20 years. Several months ago, Linden was hospitalized with COVID, and, let’s be honest, it […]
Spotlight on art: Construction zone “Assemblagism” at the Loft
Photos by Bondo Wyszpolski It’s a piecemeal word, “Assemblagism,” just like the many works in this nicely curated show of assemblage art, a melding of often unrelated objects, the result being something in most cases highly imaginative. The show is up through Oct. 22 (with a First Thursday Art Walk open house from 6 to […]
“Unframed,” curated by Aimee Mandala, at ShockBoxx
Photos by Bondo Wyszpolski The show came and went, but impressed those who saw it. Curator Aimee Mandala envisioned, in her words, “an exhibition focused on the artist’s process — on works that are sketched out, used up, slipped in a folder, forgotten and left behind. It is a look inside the artist’s mind and […]
Just birding in the park, or, Winging it with Bob Shanman
After three decades serving South Bay birders, Bob Shanman has closed Wild Birds Unlimited. But he’s not retired from birding by Bondo Wyszpolski This is a story about a shop that’s closed and a store owner who’s retired, but of course there’s more to it than that. Both the man and the store had a […]
Swimming with the fishes and the whales
At the California Science Center and the Aquarium of the Pacific by Bondo Wyszpolski There’s little quite as thrilling as a big subject on a big screen, and it doesn’t get any larger than “Blue Whales: Return of the Giants” on an IMAX screen at the California Science Center. This new 3D documentary, narrated by […]
Benoit is back, and hopefully his orchestra too
A newly rejuvenated David Benoit is again writing music, conducting and touring by Bondo Wyszpolski It might have seemed David Benoit was down for the count. His kidney had been failing, taking his strength and stamina with it. After each dialysis session, he says, “I’d come out so beat-up… hungry, tired, angry, all of that.” […]
Nourishing body and soul – Talking food and recipes with Homeira Goldstein
by Bondo Wyszpolski We know we’re in for a culinary journey that is off the beaten path when the opening salvo is, “I don’t cook, I create,” with a foreword penned by a composer-conductor, Erica Muhl. Outwardly, Homeira Goldstein’s new book, “Create: Art, Food, Life,” is a lavishly produced collection of upscale recipes, but inherently […]
Spotlight on Art – Historic Loft Art Studios highlights new art perspectives
Photos by Bondo Wyszpolski The historic Loft Art Studios and Galleries presented Stacking Up, a three-dimensional exhibition featuring 13 Harbor area artists. The show was curated by long-time Loft artists Jim Murray and Jan Govaerts. The exhibit opened on Jan. 5 and runs through. Feb. 4, 2023. Other artists in the exhibit include Phoebe Barnum, […]
Fanning the flames
Kyle Boone isn’t painting roses on a fence by Bondo Wyszpolski Imagine this. You’re at a crowded exhibition of colorful art, most of it depicting familiar scenes, lots of pleasant landscapes, seascapes, a few animals, a portrait or two, some easy-on-the-eye abstracts, but suddenly you’re drawn down a corridor at the end of which is […]
A Monumental Task
How Frank V. Zerunyan brought awareness of the Armenian genocide to Rolling Hills Estates by Bondo Wyszpolski Last year, a bronze memorial plaque and relief sculpture was placed on the grounds of Rolling Hills Estates City Hall. It commemorates the Armenian genocide of 1915. Does the city, or the Peninsula for that matter, have any […]