Palm Desert Verbena by plein-air landscape painter Terry Masters, who recently closed his Palm Springs studio/gallery and is now represented by Jones and Terwilliger Galleries in Palm Desert.
As the fall season begins, the visual and performing arts are coming back to life in the Coachella Valley, albeit with new requirements for proof of vaccination and face coverings, among other COVID-19 safety protocols. For the first time in 19 months, we lead off “This Month in the Arts” with events. Actual, in-person events happening in October.
Here we go:
Modernism Week Fall Preview (Oct. 14–17) celebrates midcentury modern architecture and design with a program of tours, talks, and shopping opportunities. The Desert Sun recommends 10 must-see events that still have tickets available.
The Modern Chair exhibition (through April 3, 2022) at the Palm Springs Art Museum Architecture and Design Center showcases designs from the early 20th century through today, with examples by Richard Neutra, Frank Lloyd Wright, and Eero Saarinen, as well as under-represented women such as Charlotte Perriand and Eileen Gray. One section of the show focuses on California designers, including Charles and Ray Eames. Read stories in The Desert Sun and Palm Springs Life.
NEXUS Exhibition and Sale (Oct. 16–Nov. 21), the Artists Council’s inaugural exhibition and sale at the Artists Center at the Galen in Palm Desert, features the work of 111 of its members. Artworks in a variety of media are available for purchase Wednesdays through Sundays from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Admission is free with suggested donation. Visit artistscouncil.com.
CREATE Center Open House (Oct. 13) offers an opportunity to see the massive space that founder Debra Mumm calls “a collaborative and creative environment built for the community.” As the CREATE Center for the Arts celebrates its fifth anniversary, its offerings — from art classes and exhibitions to theatrical performances — are dramatically expanding. In addition to studios for painting, textiles, printmaking and photography (including an old-school darkroom), there are spaces for digital design, broadcast studio, virtual reality, and 3-D printing. Visit createcentercv.org.
Highway 62 Open Studio Art Tours (Oct. 9–10, 16–17, 23–24) invites art lovers to a self-guided tour of the creative space of artists across the High Desert, including Snake Jagger’s Morongo Valley studio. CV Independent previews the action.
IN OTHER NEWS
Palm Springs Art Museum will honor artist Phillip K. Smith III at its Art Party 2022 on Jan. 29, 2022. In the September edition of Palm Springs Life, Smith, whose all-consuming, otherworldly installations encourage people to slow down, look, and linger in the desert, discusses his seminal work, Lucid Stead — “an ephemeral monument to the desert’s light” — and the successive bodies of work it inspired. The museum has begun planning a retrospective exhibition for the artist but has not announced an opening date.
Goldenvoice and Splash House have introduced a new EDM festival, Desert Air, set for Dec. 10–11 at Palm Springs Air Museum. The lineup includes Peggy Gou, DJ Koze, Dixon, The Martinez Brothers, Moodymann, Channel Tres (live), Jayda G, TSHA, Mason Collective, Chris Stussy, Patrick Holland, and Chloe Caillet, according to The Desert Sun.
High Desert Test Sites is set for April 16–May 29, 2022. The exhibition of site-specific art, themed around human intervention in the desert region, features installations in Pioneertown, Yucca Valley, Joshua Tree, and Wonder Valley. Artists include Dineo Seshee Bopape, Alice Channer, Gerald Clarke, Erkan Ozgen, Jack Pierson, Dana Sherwood, Kate Lee Short, Paloma Varga Weisz, and Rachel Whiteread. highdeserttestsites.com
The Palm Springs Public Arts Commission has allocated $5,000 to study whether the wall where a mural is painted can support the weight of at least 1,100 five-pound tiles needed to re-create the artwork. During the summer of 1997, about a dozen teenagers helped artist Richard Wyatt Jr. stencil the beginnings of a mural on the south side of the James O. Jesse Desert Highland Unity Center in Palm Springs. It remains a source of pride for the community. The restoration cost would be at least $150,000, reports thepalmspringspost.com.
Landscape painter Terry Masters is now showing at Jones and Terwilliger Galleries in Palm Desert, reports CV Independent. The artist, who recently closed his studio/gallery on Palm Canyon Drive in Palm Springs, paints familiar desert locations such as Pinto Basin, Andreas Canyon, and Murray Canyon.
Palm Springs Young Playwrights Festival is accepting submissions for the Fourth Annual Palm Springs Young Playwrights Festival, according to Uken Report. Students must be enrolled the Riverside County school system to participate. Winning plays will be announced by March 31, 2022. The 4th Annual Palm Springs Young Playwrights Festival will be held in June 2022 at the Palm Springs Cultural Center.
