Parks Exhibition Center’s summer gallery season dazzles
Parks Exhibition Center, a focal point of the Idyllwild Arts campus, will bring the attention of visitors on a startling range of visual artists this summer gallery season from June 10 to Aug. 3. Since a number of the artists will teach in this year’s Idyllwild Arts Summer Program, the gallery shows furnish an opportunity to learn from the artists, even to those unable to take their courses.
With Monday opening receptions scheduled for 8 p.m. June 10, 17 and 24, and July 1, and Tuesday opening receptions scheduled for 7 p.m. July 9 and 23, visitors will also have plenty of chances to talk with the artists about their works. And art lovers seeking a quieter, more contemplative experience can drop into Parks from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday to Saturday, and from noon to 4 p.m. Sunday.
The riches on display this summer can only be hinted at in a limited space. But the exhibits include (starting June 10) metalsmith work and enamels by Kristina Glick as well as award-winning sculptor Kevin Rohde’s figurative works that examine the symbolic relationship between the human form and the environment.
June 17 brings Bill Griffith’s unique sculptural vessels and Italian-born Pietro Accardi’s luscious marbled papers and textiles to Parks.
The following Monday, June 24, kicks off the Native American Arts Festival, this year themed for indigenous theater. The costumes designed by Idyllwild Arts Academy alum Asa Benally (Diné, or Navajo) for the acclaimed drama “Whale Song” by Cathy Tagnak Rexford (Inupiaq) are a highlight, as are the set-design elements and masks by storyteller, dancer and multimedia artist Chuna McIntire (Yup’ik).
And with the opening reception graced by Diné (Navajo) cuisine from the remarkable Freddie Bitsoie, you may want to show up with room left in your stomach.
The following week, starting July 1, Parks will feature Deb Jemmott’s textured metal jewelry, D.J. Hall’s vibrant gouache paintings, and tintype photographs by Nathan Lomas that evoke the middle of the 19th century.
But the Summer Gallery Season runs for another month after this, so don’t forget Parks Exhibition Center after the first week of July. Keep visiting, and keep being astonished by the wealth of creativity that Parks brings to Idyllwild.
The events are free and open to the public.