A behind-the-scenes look at the news of Claremont, CA. We focus on city hall, city staff, and the so-called "Claremont 400" or "Preserve Claremonters" or "Claremonsters", those goofy, too-serious, power types that run most of the town's service organizations, charities, and city commissions. Claremont is indeed a unique place, and we'll try to bring a flavor of that absurd "uniqueness" to the outside world, as well as spotlighting some of the finer things about our city and region.
The Claremont City Council will hold another neighborhood forum Tuesday night in the Claremont Public Library. We're not quite sure which two members will represent the council. Since it's the Village, we'll go out on a limb and guess Linda Elderkin and Sam Pedroza.
Council Members are also hosting a series of Neighborhood Forums. Neighborhood Forums give residents from different neighborhoods the opportunity to talk with City Council Members in a relaxed and informal setting. Neighborhoods can discuss issues that are important to them, air concerns, share ideas, ask questions and get the latest information about topics and projects that are specific to each neighborhood. Although forums are scheduled for specific neighborhoods, you do not have to live in that immediate area to attend.
PARKS RULES CHANGES
The Parks and Facilities Committee of the City's Community Services Commission will meet 6:00pm Wednesday, February 15, for a special meeting at the Community Services Department at 1616 N. Monte Vista Ave.
According to the agenda The committee will discuss a recommendation to the Community Services Commission to amend the City's Municipal Code to allow police to enforce park closures and to allow on-lease dog walking on the Padua Park trail.
Also, don't forget that it's the second Saturday of the month, which means it's time for the Pomona Art Walk from 6:00pm to 9:00pm in the Pomona Arts Colony.
The Claremont Community Foundation Gallery's featured artist for February is Ward McAfee. CCF is holding a reception tonight from 5:30pm to 7:30pm. The CCF Gallery is located at 205 Yale Ave. in the Claremont Village (that's also the Claremont Chamber of Commerce office, if you were wondering).
For more information, call (909) 626-0222.
We were sorry we missed last month's artist, photographer Micki McAulay. There was a reception and lecture by McAulay on January 28. The event was hosted by Foothill Financial Advisors and the Andre Sobel River of Life Foundation, which provides aid to single mothers with children who are stricken by catastrophic illnesses. Realtor Laura Dandoy and Wine Styles also provided support for the event.
CAN YOU GIVE THEM A SECOND?
If you're looking for something to do tonight, head on down to the Claremont Village for the Friday Art Walk. Our friends at Claremont Community College, who sponsor the 5 Second Film Festival, sent us a reminder that they'll be represented at the Art Walk and that they also have an office in the Village Expansion.
The Third Annual 5 Second Festival is currently accepting submissions, if you're so inclined. The festival comes to town Thursday, April 28, at the Claremont 5 Laemmle Theatres. Claremont, home of the long-winded, including yours truly, is woefully lacking in brevity, so we'll take as much as we can get, if that makes any sense.
Here's the note from CCC:
DATE: Thu, February 3, 2011 10:31:27 AM SUBJECT: Friday Night Artwalk FROM: Claremont Community College TO: Claremont Buzz
While in Claremont enjoying this Friday evening, please stop by our center to participate in fun (lots) and food (a little bit!)
We are participating in First Friday ArtWalk along with other happening venues. Stop by anytime starting at 5:30.
Come see the going-ons for the 5 Second Film Festival.
If you're around the central coast on Presidents Day weekend and are feeling a little homesick, go on over to the Cambria Pines Lodge. The Ravelers will play at the Cambria Pines Lodge's lounge on February 20:
Hey Now!
The Ravelers figure you might be wondering what to do for President's Day weekend coming up in a few weeks.
Well now...Cindy is having her 50th birthday party at the Cambria Pines Lodge, and she is having The Ravelers play in the lounge. It just so happens that it is drummer Rob's b-day, too...so he gets to have his "birthday gig" in paradise! The Ravelers have played at the Cambria Pines Lodge a few times over the years, and we absolutely love the central coast of California this time of year.
We highly suggest getting a room with your love interest at one of the really romantic hotels nearby and joining us on Sunday for some fun. Monday is President's Day, so hopefully you can take advantage of a long weekend on the beautiful central coast of California.
Sunday, February 20- Birthday Party in Cambria, come on up!!!
Cambria Pines Lodge 2905 Burton Dr Cambria, CA 93428 (800)445-6868
Happy days in Claremont Graduate University's Art Department. CGU has received gifts totaling $2 million to fund the Roland Reiss Endowed Chair in Art. The money came primarily from CGU alumna Sally Hurt, but several other notables, including Claremont artist Karl Benjamin and his wife Beverly, contributed as well.
Here's CGU's press release:
Claremont Graduate University celebrates creation of Roland Reiss Endowed Chair in Art
CLAREMONT, CA -- Claremont Graduate University has secured $2 million in gifts to establish the Roland Reiss Endowed Chair in Art.
The endowment, named in honor of former CGU Art Department Chair Roland Reiss, will fund a senior level faculty position in the department. The chair holder will be supported by a significant fund to aid in research and teaching activities.
"The establishment of the Roland Reiss Endowed Chair in Art strengthens what is already one of the premiere graduate art programs in the nation," said CGU interim President Joseph C. Hough, Jr. "This generous endowment allows the program to continue to attract and retain a creative and energetic faculty, with students as the ultimate beneficiary. All of us at Claremont Graduate University are grateful to those whose generosity made this chair possible."
The bulk of the funding for the endowment comes from Sally Hurt, a generous alumna and former student of Reiss. She created a $1 million challenge grant to encourage other donors and alumni to support the effort.
Significant gifts also came from Karl and Beverly Benjamin, Peggy Phelps and Robert B. Egelston, a long-time supporter of the arts and former trustee of CGU.
A professor will be appointed to the endowed chair post in the coming months.
“It’s wonderful to have an endowed chair that honors Roland Reiss,” said Janet Farell Brodie, dean of the School of Arts and Humanities. “He is a gifted teacher who was beloved by the students. He was a major force in creating the department that exists today.”
Reiss, a distinguished artist, teacher, and scholar, enjoyed a prolific career at CGU from 1971 to 2001.
Under his leadership, the university's art department emerged as an exceptional, nationally ranked program. CGU’s masters of fine arts (MFA) students are on the leading edge of techniques and theory, and the university’s alumni are artists of global prominence.
CGU’s Art program offers MFA degrees in studio disciplines including drawing, painting, photography, video, performance art, installation, and sculpture. Students in the program have the freedom to design a curriculum that meets their individual, expressive, and conceptual needs.
The university will celebrate the Roland Reis Endowed Chair in Art Sept. 10-12 with a weekend of gallery shows and receptions in Claremont and Pomona.
About Claremont Graduate University
Founded in 1925, Claremont Graduate University is one of the top graduate schools in the United States. Our nine academic schools conduct leading-edge research and award masters and doctoral degrees in 22 disciplines. Because the world’s problems are not simple nor easily defined, diverse faculty and students research and study across the traditional discipline boundaries to create new and practical solutions for the major problems plaguing our world. A Southern California based graduate school devoted entirely to graduate research and study, CGU boasts a low student-to-faculty ratio.
If you're interested in attending this weekend's events commemorating the Roland Reiss Endowed Chair, here's the schedule:
Familiar Grounds: Celebrating Roland Reiss and Art at CGU
FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 10 6 p.m.-8 p.m.: Roland Reiss: Selections from the 1960s Reception for the artist and CGU alumni Andi Campognone Projects 300 W. Second Street, Pomona
8 p.m.-10 p.m.: For Roland Pre-view CGU alumni reception Short program at 8 p.m. Bunny Gunner Gallery 266 W. Second Street, Pomona
6 p.m.- 10 p.m.: Prelude To An Apocalypse: Landscape in an Era of Diminished Expectations Special preview reception. Works by Lisa Adams (MFA 1980), Wendell Gladstone (MFA 1998) and Greg Rose (MFA 1997) Pedersen Projects 396 S. Thomas Street, Pomona
SATURDAY. SEPTEMBER 11
11 a.m.-1:30 p.m.: Art Department Open House
2 p.m.-3:30 p.m.: Panel discussion, “Art at CGU” Art Department faculty and guests; Art Department Chair Michael Brewster, moderator Claremont Graduate University, Burkle Building, Room 16 1021 N. Dartmouth Avenue, Claremont
4 p.m.-5:30 p.m.: “Running off the Edge” Q & A between Roland Reiss and Christopher Miles (chair of the Department of Art at California StateUniversity, Long Beach). Special guests: Dr. Jeanne Willette, former CGU art history professor;John Gordon (MFA 1973); David Wells (MFA 1987). Claremont Graduate University, Burkle Building, Room 16 1021 N. Dartmouth Avenue, Claremont
6 p.m.-9 p.m.: Roland Reiss, Flora: Recent Paintings, A Garden for Sally Reception for the artist and alumni event Claremont Graduate University, East and Peggy Phelps Galleries 251 E. 10th Street, Claremont
SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 12
Noon: Navigating Boulder: Connecting with Roland Reiss Opening reception. Works by University of Colorado graduates, faculty & visiting artists Joe Clower, Merion Estes, Judith Hudson, Connie Jenkins, Tom Jenkins, Joan Moment, Jim Richard, Clark Richert, and William T. Wiley Andi Campognone Projects/OBJCT Gallery 536 W. First Street (in the packing house), Claremont
Now that the Claremont Colleges are back in session and are abuzz with activity. The CC Calendar lists all of the goings on:
POMONA COLLEGE ART AND LECTURES
The Pomona College Museum of Art has a pair of exhibit opening receptions this Saturday. The museum's located at 330 N. College Ave. You can get all the details here, or you can call (909) 621-8283 for more information.
Steve Roden: when words become forms
Now through December 19, 2010 Opening Reception: Saturday, September 11, 4-6 p.m.
A Conversation with Steve Roden and Michael Ned Holte: Thursday, October 7, at 8 p.m. in the Museum, followed by a book signing and reception.
Project Series 41: Ginny Bishton
Now through October 17, 2010
Opening Reception: Saturday, September 11, 4-6 p.m. Artist Lecture: Wednesday, September 22, at 3 p.m. in the Museum
Pomona College is also hosting a landscaping working shop by the Sustainable Claremont Water Action Group. The city of Claremont may want to send some representatives to learn about irrigation.
Landscaping with Beautiful Native Plants and Efficient Irrigation
Saturday, September 11, 2:00-3:30pm Hahn Building, 420 Harvard Ave. Call (909) 607-2768 for information
The event features three landscapers who specialize in native plants.
EVENTS AT SCRIPPS COLLEGE
The Ruth Chandler Williamson Gallery on the Scripps College campus will host an opening reception this Saturday. The gallery is located at 251 E. Eleventh St. Admission and parking are free. For information, call (909) 607-2029.
Luminous Line: Contemporary Drawings in Metal Point
Now through October 17, 2010 Opening Reception: Saturday, September 11, 4-6pm Artist Lecture: Susan Schwalb, Monday, September 13, at 7pm. in the Hampton Room, Mallot Commons
Scripp's Clark Humanities Musueum has two ongoing exhibits. The museum is located at 981 Amherst. For information, call (909) 607-3397:
Rendering the Female Subject
Rendering the Female Subject features works on paper, ceramic pieces, and wood sculptures from the Scripps Permanent Collection. The selection includes Pre Columbian terracotta figures, Satsuma ware, Andy Warhol polaroids, an Alison Saar print, an acrylic painting by Jamini Roy, and much more.
Student curator: Aleedra Price under the supervision of Professor Mary MacNaughton and Kirk Delman.
Now through October 13, 2010 Exhibit reception: Wednesday, September 15th in the Clark Humanities Museum from 4-5pm.
Imaginary Travel to Exotic Lands
Now through October 13, 2010
Paintings and engravings, drawn from the permanent collection of the Ruth Chandler Williamson Gallery.
As part of its Fall 2010 seminar, "Engagement: Mind, Body, and Soul," the Humanities Institute at Scripps offers a couple events tonight and next week:
Flow and the Quality of Life
Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi Professor of Psychology and ManagementClaremont Graduate University
Wednesday, September 8, 2010 - 6:00 p.m. - Boone Recital Hall
Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi is a Distinguished Professor of Psychology in the School of Behavioral and Organizational Sciences at Claremont Graduate University. Professor Csikszentmihalyi is the director of the Quality of Life Research Center (QLRC). The QLRC is a non-profit research institute that studies "positive psychology"; that is, human strengths such as optimism, creativity, intrinsic motivation, and responsibility. His books include the bestselling Flow, Being Adolescent, The Evolving Self, and Creativity. He is a member of the American Academy of Education, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and the National Academy of Leisure Sciences.He is noted for his work in the study of happiness and creativity, but is best known as the architect of the notion of “flow”- a state of concentration or complete absorption with the activity at hand and the situation - and for his years of research and writing on the topic. He is the author of many books and over 120 articles or book chapters. Martin Seligman, former president of the American Psychological Association, described Csikszentmihalyi as the world's leading researcher on positive psychology.
NO IMPACT MAN Laura Gabbert and Justin Schein, Directors USA, 2009, 93 min Co-sponsored by Pomona for Environmental Activism and Responsibility (PEAR)
Tuesday, September 14, 2010 at 5:30 p.m. - Garrison Theater
Laura Gabbert and Justin Schein's film provides an intriguing inside look into the experiment that became a national fascination and media sensation, while examining the familial strains and strengthened bonds that result from one man’s decision to completely eliminate his personal impact on the environment for one year and his wife’s struggle with their radical lifestyle change.
UPCOMING AT THE ATH
M.M.C. Athenaeum 385 E. 8th St. Claremont, CA 91711-6420 (909) 621-8244 Fax: (909) 621-8579 athenaeum@claremontmckenna.edu
Claremont McKenna College's Marian Miner Cook Athenaeum begins its Fall speaker series Thursday with writer David Oliver Relin.
Below we've posted the speakers for September. The programs start at 6:45pm, except where noted.
Thursday, September 9
David Oliver Relin, journalist; co-author, Three Cups of Tea: One Man's Mission to Promote Peace...One School at a Time (2007); "Three Cups of Tea and See How They Shine"
Tuesday, September 14
Haley Scott DeMaria, author, What Though the Odds- Haley Scott's Journey of Faith and Triumph (2008); "Swimming Back from Paralysis"
Wednesday, September 15
Robert Thies, piano; gold medal winner (1995), Second International Sergei Prokofiev Competition, St. Petersburg, Russia; artist on album Live in Recital (2006); Gary Bovyer, clarinet; music faculty, Cal Poly Pomona; Roger Lebow, cello; music faculty, Chapman University, Pomona College, Claremont Graduate University; "Brahms in His Final Years"
Thursday, September 16
Michael Eisner, former CEO, The Walt Disney Company (1984-2005); founder, The Tornante Company; co-author, Working Together: Why Great Partnerships Succeed (2010) and Work in Progress: Risking Failures, Surviving Success (1999); "An Evening with Michael Eisner"
Friday, September 17
James Fuller, professor emeritus of art, Scripps College; "Art Opening and Reception" (3:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m.)
Monday, September 20
Ken Mehlman, partner and head of Global Public Affairs, Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Company (KKR); "Why Would A Global Industry-Leading Leveraged Buyout Firm Suddenly Go Green?"
Tuesday, September 21
Jeffrey Bergner, president and managing financial partner, Bergner Bockorny, Inc.; former staff director, Senate Foreign Relations Committee; Assistant Secretary of State for Legislative Affairs (2005-2008); author, The New Superpower: Germany, Japan and the United States in the New World Order (1991) and co-editor, The Taiwan Relations Act: A Decade of Implimentation (1989); "The Rhetoric and Reality of the Obama Administration"
Wednesday, September 22
Angelika Niemz, Arnold and Mabel Beckman Professor, director of research, Keck Graduate Institute of Applied Life Sciences; co-author, Specific versus Nonspecific Isothermal DNA Amplification through Thermophilic Polymerase and Nicking Enzyme Activities (2008) and Isothermal DNA Amplification with Gold Nanosphere-based Visual Colorimetric Readout for Herpes Simplex Virus Detection (2007); Nina Karnovsky, associate professor of biology, Pomona College; co-author, The Impact and Importance of Production in Polynyas to Top-trophic Predators: Three Case Histories (2007) and Foraging Behavior of Little Auks in a Heterogeneous Environment (2003); Jean Doble, research director, Amgen, Inc.; Stephanie Cropper, M.D.; obstetrician and gynecologist; "Women in Science and Medicine: Can You Achieve Work/Family Satisfaction?" (panel 12:15 p.m.)
Wednesday, September 22
Stephan Haggard, Lawrence and Sallye Krause professor of Korea-Pacific studies, U.C. San Diego Graduate School of International Relations and Pacific Studies; co-author, Development, Democracy, and Welfare States: Latin America, East Asia, and Eastern Europe (2008) and Famine in North Korea: Markets, Aid, and Reform (2007); "Whither North Korea?"
Thursday, September 23
Kirby Daley, senior strategist, Newedge Prime Brokerage, Newedge Group (Hong Kong); "The Economic Outlook for Asia in the "New" Global Economic Environment" (12:00 p.m.)
Thursday, September 23
Claudia McKay '99, microfinance specialist, Consultative Group to Assist the Poor (CGAP); Mike McKay '99, former country director, Baobab Health Malawi, "From the Ath to Africa: Two CMCers Share Their Decade of Experiences Abroad"
Monday, September 27
Matthew Crawford, research fellow, Institute for Advanced Studies in Culture, University of Virginia; contributing editor, The New Atlantic; author, Shop Class as Soulcraft: An Inquiry into the Value of Work (2009)
Tuesday, September 28
William Beezley, professor of history, University of Arizona; co-author, Mexicans in Revolution, 1910-1946: An Introduction (2009) and author, Mexican National Identity: Memory, Innuendo, and Popular Culture (2008); "Mexican Revolutionary Culture: Indians, Anthropologists, Intellectuals, and Calendar Girls"
Wednesday, September 29
Maria Contreras-Sweet, founding chairwoman, Promerica Bank (2006); former California Secretary of Business, Transportation, and Housing (1999-2003)
Update--Sunday, August 22. See end of post in red.
In June, when the Claremont Unified School District was still negotiating with the Claremont Faculty Association, Wes Woods II had an article in the Daily Bulletin about the heated nature of the contract talks.
One interesting point that came out in Woods' article was the amount CUSD spent on the law firm that represents the district:
The school district's Los Angeles-based law firm, O'Melveny & Myers, also has been an issue for the union. Tonan said the firm spent about $149,000 in reduction in force hearings in 2008-09, while the union's firm spent about $28,000.
A union flier was shared with the media, union officials and the school district that indicated Claremont Unified's attorney Framroze M. Virjee (image nearby) was paid $765 an hour for every hour he was at the bargaining table. Virjee's law firm, O'Melveny & Myers, was paid more than $535,000 in 2008- 09 and more than $365,000 in 2009-10 by Claremont Unified.
That's right. CUSD spent $900,000 on legal expenses in the past two years. That's almost 1 percent of the district's November Measure CL bond, and you can bet that some of the money the bond generates will somehow end up compensating the district for their legal expenses.
As we're discovering, there's real profit (or cost to taxpayers) to be found in the education business, at least in consulting and contracting work. In return for those expenses, administrators and teachers alike avoid the level of sacrifice they ask property owners - the ones footing the bill - to make, and the elected school board officials get to continue to play their self-indulgent fiscal games. The trade off is that schools are more expensive to run but are in no substantial way better than they were last year or the year before that.
It's a little like the inverse of Moore's Law. CUSD's costs relative to performance are falling. Or maybe it's just a manifestation of Baumol's cost disease.
* * * * *
A couple quick comments:
Since Woods' article in late-June, CUSD and the CFA have agreed to a contract that calls for the union to accept larger class sizes in the middle and high school grads and to concede $1.58 million in health and welfare benefits over the next two fiscal years. In exchange, the union has agreed to support the November Measure CL bond with the understanding that they will get their former benefits back if the bond passes - an arrangement that allows both parties to circumvent the law requiring such school bonds to not be used for administrative or teacher salaries - at least, that's what CUSD officials have said.
O'Melveny & Myers is a true legal heavyweight. The firm, which is the 19th largest in the world, has for partners such luminaries as former Reagan White House Counsel Arthur B. Culvahouse, Jr., and former Clinton Administration Secretary of State Warren Christopher.
Claremont is more than a little familiar with O'Melveny & Myers. Former CMC trustee Louis Caldera, who served as U.S. Secretary of the Army from 1998 to 2001 and who lost his most recent White House job in 2009 after a PR flap, is an O'Melveny alumnus. And CMC retained O'Melveny to conduct an investigation into the Nazi stolen art controversy involving CMC history professor Jonathan Petropoulos a few years ago.
Update, Sunday:
Saturday's Claremont Courier touched on this issue. On page 5, The Courier describes an offer at last Thursday's School Board meeting by Marcie Gardner, a Chaparral parent, to help look for a cheaper law firm. As an aside, that ought not to be too hard.
Gardner is quoted, "One area that seems out of control within the district is legal fees, and I say that because I'm a lawyer and I have quite a bit of experience with things related to education. The hourly rate that is being paid by the district for an attorney is double and sometimes triple the going rate of what these services would cost in the open market." [emphasis added]
We also received a cryptic email from a reader on this general topic, and we can't help but read it as also casting aspersions on the ol' Insider:
The reader writes:
900,000 is a lot but how much of that 900,000 was tied to defending Tonan's personal lawsuit against the district? How much was tied to the negotiations that were dragged out to ridiculous lengths only to be settled after Tonan's lawsuit was settled? A settlement, mind you, that could have been reached 6 months ago if it were not for Tonan's conflict of interest.
There is more out there that you are ignoring. I'm wondering if it's intentional.
--Outside Claremont We asked for additional info, and the reader was good enough to give us one specific that appeared on page 6 of the 2010-2011 Claremont Courier Almanac, sent with the paper a week or so ago (our reader refers to the personal lawsuit between the Tonan family and the district):
Settled for 75k I heard. Settlement between the union, that Tonan heads, and CUSD came immediately afterwards.
One view is the Tonan dragged this out, at great cost, until the issue with his wife was settled...
--Outside Claremont Notice the walk-back from the main point: "One view is..." Our reader isn't even saying that's what he believes. We hold no brief for Joe Tonan or the merits of his case. The fact is, we never understood nor were given a cogent story on the Cynthia Estep-Tonan dismissal. It seemed both sides were scurrying for cover and obfuscation in that one. (to readers who don't know what we're talking about, we don't blame you. You'll have to look at back numbers of the Claremont Courier from Spring 2010 to see articles on the brouhaha accompanying Ms. Estep-Tonan's dismissal as a school nurse by CUSD.)
Anyway, the reader makes a valid point by inference. Total district legal cost equals average hourly rate times number of billed hours. Ms. Gardner says the average hourly rate is too high; our reader implies that the number of billed hours is higher than necessary.
Both are easily within the control of the School Board: Hilary LaConte, Jeff Stark, Mary Caenepeel, Beth Bingham, and Steven Llanusa. Get a less stratospheric attorney and don't get involved in labor disputes where you are having some one like good old Fram (see above) bill you north of $700 per hour and then have to write a check to your employee for $75K.
Our daddy always told us that the party that had to write the check was the party in the wrong.
The first was former Pomona College president David Alexander, who died on Sunday. Alexander ran the college from 1969 to 1991 and is generally credited with taking Pomona to the top ranks of the nations liberal arts colleges. Pomona College's website has a news release on Alexander's death. It quotes current Pomona president David Oxtoby:
According to David Oxtoby, current president of Pomona College, “David Alexander was a passionate supporter of the liberal arts college in America and served Pomona College with distinction, creativity and compassion. During his tenure as president, Pomona solidified its reputation as one of the nation’s premier liberal arts colleges. In finance, admissions, and national rankings, Pomona grew in excellence during David Alexander’s 22 years of leadership. His dedication, his high aspirations, and his moral integrity were at the core of his extraordinary contribution to making Pomona College what it is today.
“It’s hard to think of David without acknowledging his wife Catharine’s contributions to Pomona,” added Oxtoby. “Theirs was a true partnership, and the College has benefited enormously from her warm, wise and ever-gracious presence.”
During Alexander’s tenure, Pomona’s endowment increased from $24 million to $296 million; faculty grew from 130 to 156; and new construction added 15 major buildings to campus. The geographic and ethnic diversity of the student body increased dramatically as the college made the transition from a primarily regional institution to a national liberal arts college with the majority of its students from outside California. The year after his retirement and in recognition of his leadership and commitment to the campus community, Pomona College named its new administration building the David Alexander Hall of Administration in 1992.
* * * * *
The LA Times also reported that Claremont ceramicist Rupert Deese died July 12. Deese was a graduate of Pomona College and later received an MFA from Claremont Graduate School. The Times noted that Deese at one time shared a studio in Padua Hills with fellow Claremont ceramicist Harrison Macintosh and was part of a circle of local artists that included the late woodworker Sam Maloof, and painters James Hueter and Karl Benjamin:
Deese created such functional yet decorative pieces as ashtrays and martini pitchers as well as bowls, vases and other stoneware for the home. The fired clay forms were usually finished with a soft matte glaze in natural colors. One of his cocktail pitchers with a deep blue sheen is in the permanent collection of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art.
"He made elegant vessel ceramics in functional forms that were very well suited to the modern California home," Bobbye Tigerman, assistant curator of decorative arts and design at the museum, said. "They fulfilled contemporary needs.... He was very much in touch with how Californians lived."
Deese's pieces also are in the collections of the Smithsonian American Art Museum, Boston Museum of Fine Arts, the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis, the Mingei International Folk Art Museum in San Diego and many other museums, and have been exhibited at the Chinati Foundation in Marfa, Texas.
Fans of the Claremont Museum of Art, which closed last December, may want to know the museum lives on. When they closed, the CMA put its collection into storage with the idea of putting on exhibits in different places around the area.
April 2010: The Board of Directors is working to reorganize the Claremont Museum of Art. We have lost our museum space, but there is still much we can do to promote the arts in Claremont. Our permanent collection has been securely stored and we have a dedicated group of volunteers building our “Museum without Walls”.
The website also has an announcement of a fundraiser this Friday evening at the Padua Hills Theatre. Ticket are $35, and it includes a raffle that includes artworks from Karl Benjamin, Millard Sheets, and other Claremont artists.
....the cheese cave poetry window is getting more and more ridiculous. And by ridiculous, I mean awesome. you should really stop by and have a gander. :-)
Poetry loving fromagephiles should take a look. Since the owners posted their original greeting, they've posted a number of responses, from rhymed poetry,
to Hello Kitty haiku,
to prose (or should we say prosaic?) poems.
So, whether you like your verse verbose or sublime, check out the front window at the Cheese Cave.
We await the opening of our new cheesemonger, but, please, let the verse linger a while longer.
The Great Recession doesn't seem to have the jazz club and/or fondue business. The Hip Kitty Jazz Club in the Claremont Packing House appears to be surviving, thriving even. Tonight they've got the group Speed of Sound from 9pm to 1am.
The Ravelers spam keeps coming into our in-box. The latest tells us of the local classic rock band's next appearance:
Friday, April 30- Let's party on the patio! Doubletree Hotel Claremont 555 W. Foothill Blvd Claremont, CA 91711(909)445-1835
(Please call to make reservations if you would like to eat dinner, it helps them to set up the right number of tables on the patio) The Ravelers play from 7:00 pm - 10:00 pm. Meet with friends, food, and fun! On Foothill Blvd between Indian Hill and Mountain Ave.
...afterwards, you can walk across the parking lot to PianoPiano for more fun.
If you are having a birthday, this is a great place to celebrate. If you are looking to wind down after a week of work, this is a great spot to wind down with some cocktails, dinner, and some fun music. If you are wondering where to meet some friends for fun at a nice outdoor setting...well, this is the place!
The weather looks to be perfect for a patio party on a Spring's eve! See the attached photo to view the setting we have arranged for you and your friends.
If you are enjoying Facebook, please go here and "Become a Fan"! Just click on this link...
See you Friday! Hai, Pat, Martie, Rob The Ravelers
FOLKFEST 2010
The Claremont Folk Festival is back this Saturday after a one-year hiatus. This year's festival is a little smaller than the 2008 edition, which ran long after sunset and featured Ben Harper, Jackson Browne, and Taj Mahal. It's also cheaper this year - $15 general admission versus $50 in '08.
The festival runs from 10am to 6pm at Sycamore Elementary School, located at 225 W. 8th St., Claremont. There'll be lots of activities for kids, and children's admission is $5.
For ticket information, call the Claremont Folk Music Center: (909) 624-2928 or (909) 624-8803. You can also pop into the FMC at 220 Yale Ave. in the Claremont Village and pick up tickets there.
GYPSY SISTERS ART SALE
The Claremont Packing House will host the semi-annual Gypsy Sister Art Sale this Friday through Sunday. The event website tells us there will me a massage therapist and a psychic, as well as arts and crafts. Proceeds go the the Prison Library Project, which gets books to prisoners across the U.S.
Gypsy Sisters Art Sale Friday: 4:00 PM - 9:00 PM Saturday: 10:00 AM - 8:00 PM Sunday: 10:00 AM -5:00 PM
CLAREMONT PIANO MUSIC
No, not the dueling pianos of Piano Piano. From our favorite South Asian correspondent Anand Gupta, come word of an appearance by the Claremont Trio at the Cal Tech campus on January 23, 2011. The piano trio's performance is part of the Coleman Chamber Concerts series, now in its 107th season.
Check back in for more news of this and other Claremonts.
Time to take a look at what's going on at the Claremont Museum of Art. The retrospective of Claremont artist James Hueter at the Claremont Museum of Art continues for one more week:
James Hueter, Reflections: Blue Triangle Left, 1992, Oil on wood, glass, 24 x 32 in. Image from Artslant.com
James Hueter: A Retrospective surveys Hueter's art from his early realist and surrealist paintings, through a long period of investigating and refining hybrid forms of painting, sculpture, drawing, photography, and architecture. The exhibition culminates with recent works that meld all of these disciplines, exploring multi-faceted realms of representation and illusion. With more than 75 works on view, new generations will discover an artist of diligent devotion to a vision sustained through decades of experimentation, refinement, and perseverance.
This is the first such exhibition to examine the entire range of James Hueter's unique artistic vision, realizing a core mission of the Claremont Museum of Art to celebrate the region's rich artistic heritage through in-depth exhibitions of its most prominent local heroes.
The next scheduled exhibit, featuring new additions to CMA's permanent collection, opens September 20.
CMA will also hold its Sunday Family Art Day this weekend. The event is open to everyone, young and old:
Sunday, July 19, Noon to 3pm It’s A Puzzle!
Turn your very own artwork into a puzzle. Children and adults will begin with a blank puzzle template and draw or paint a masterpiece, or write a secret message to send to a friend. Very cool. As always, it’s free!
Claremont Museum of Art 536 W. First Street Claremont, CA 91711 (909) 621-3200
Pomona's Bunny Gunner Gallery will be celebrating its 2nd anniversary with the opening reception of its Summertime show tomorrow, July 11th, from 6pm to 11pm. There will be plenty of works of local artists featured, plus snacks and drinks.
Bunny Gunner is located at 266 W. 2nd St. in the Pomona Arts Colony. The Summertime show runs through August 4th. Call (909) 868-2808 for more information.
Tomorrow night is also Pomona's 2nd Saturday Art Walk, so there should be lots going on.
''Le Quai Malaquais et l’Institut'', 1903 Basler Zeitung image
The story of the Camille Pissarro painting we've been following took a strange twist in London yesterday. The painting, stolen from the family of Gisela Bermann-Fischer by the Nazis in 1938, was restituted to her and then placed for auction at Christie's Impressionist/Modern Evening Sale. The work was expected to fetch upwards of $2.46 million.
The Pissarro, which was the only piece in the auction that failed to sell [correction: of 44 lots offered, 30 sold. We regret the earlier error.], was removed from sale shortly before the auction began, according to an article posted on the Times of London's TimesOnline website. Apparently the Pissarro was one of two lots withdrawn prior to the sale.
The Times article states that the sale was halted because a nephew of Bermann-Fischer, one Itai Shoffman, was disputing the painting's restitution and sale. The article said that Shoffman is the grandson of Hildegard Fischer, who was the younger sister of Bermann-Fischer's mother Brigette. Shoffman claims that Hildegard was the black sheep of the family and that her heirs are entitled to half of the proceeds from the sale of the Pissarro:
According to Mr Shoffman, her grandson, Hildegard Fischer was the “black sheep of the family”. She had a disability and by the time she and Hedwig joined the Bermanns in America in 1941, she also had a daughter, Monika, later Mr Shoffman’s mother, born out of wedlock.
According to Christophe Paul, a lawyer in Berlin specialising in inheritance cases, a handwritten will from 1933 proves that her parents wanted their estate to be divided equally between Brigitte and Hildegard. A letter written in 1946 indicates that Hedwig wanted Hildegard to inherit the Pissarro if it was ever found.
Mr Shoffman told The Times that Ms Bermann-Fischer knew the other half of her family well but had excluded them from all matters relating to the Pissarro. He said: “It feels like such a deceitful act. She’s taking away the last remaining legacy of the family and holding it for her own benefit.”
The Times piece reports that the two parties were trying to negotiate a settlement on a split of the money from the sale and that Shoffman said he wanted 50% but was only offered 20%. We can't say at this point what all this means, though we do note that Gisela Bermann-Fischer did spend 500,000 Swiss francs and countless years of searching to recover the painting, so she might quite naturally feel a sense of entitlement to a larger piece of the pie.
We also wonder if the the disputed inheritance might have been a factor in the negotiations Claremont McKenna College history professor Jonathan Petropoulos and German art dealer Peter Griebert had with Gisela Bermann-Fischer, who has accused the two men of threatening her with the loss of her painting forever in their failed attempt to extract a finder's fee from her in January, 2007.
"I always endeavored to return the painting in question by Camille Pissarro to the person whom I believed was the rightful heir," [Petropoulos] said.
Could Petropoulos and Griebert have known about the other heir? The quote certainly seems to imply that Petropoulos may have questioned Bermann-Fischer's claim to the painting. If so, it's certainly possible that Petropoulos or Griebert or someone associated might have tried contacting Itai Shoffman. We hope we hear more about this aspect of the story in the future.
Some time last year, the painting, Le Quai Malaquais, Printemps, found its way back into the hands of its rightful owner, Gisela Bermann-Fischer. You'll recall that the painting had been looted by Nazis in Vienna in 1938 and didn't resurface until 2007, when it was discovered inside a Swiss bank safe controlled by Nazi art looter Bruno Lohse.
CHRISTIE'S TO AUCTION PAINTING
Bloomberg's Catherine Hickley reports that having at last been reunited with the Pissarro, Bermann-Fischer now plans to sell the painting at auction through Christie's International in London. Christie's estimates the painting's worth to be between £900,000 - £1,500,000 (around $1.48 million to $2.46 million).
The Pissarro will be sold next Tuesday, June 23, 2009, in the Impressionist/Modern Evening Sale, which marks the start of the summer art season.
The importance of Pissarro’s letter was not lost on Bruno Lohse and François Daulte, who quoted it in the 1984 Lausanne description of the painting. It’s also quoted in the auction catalogue on Christie's website. Although we are aware of only three surviving paintings in this series — one of them painted in morning sun and currently in a private collection, another in the Hermitage in St. Petersburg — the Fischer Pissarro has the youngest spring growth on the trees and turns out to have been painted first. Pissarro died later in 1903, making these the only Pissarro paintings which show significant portions of Paris’s Left Bank and academic quarter.
You may want to go ahead and spend the $40, plus $7 shipping and tax, for the catalogue. It may be a collectible someday and it holds a good deal of local interest. You can order an auction catalogue from Christie's in New York at 1-800-395-6300, Monday - Friday, 9:00am - 5:00pm local time.
Christie's apparently no longer automatically sends a follow-up letter containing a list of prices realized at the actual auction, but you can request one be sent (free of charge) when ordering a catalog. Auction catalogs are often more collectible if this information is kept with them.
The auction description describes the painting as "property restituted to Gisela Bermann Fisher" and tells us some remarkable details about the painting’s history. In the provenance section, we learn that the painting went to Pissarro's son, Georges Manzana-Pissarro, following the painter’s death in 1903. Within just a few years, Manzana-Pissarro had sold the painting to the Bernheim-Jeune gallery (pointedly not to Durand-Ruel, his father's longtime dealer, with whom Pissarro had broken just before 1903). Bermann-Fischer's grandfather, Samuel Fischer, acquired the painting in 1907 on the advice of the legendary art dealer Paul Cassirer, and it remained in the family until the Nazis confiscated the painting.
After that, the trail gets a little murky. According to the catalogue materials, the work was sold in 1940 by the Dorotheum, the collaborationist Vienna auction house, as a painting by "Paul Emile [sic] Pissarro." Two other notorious Nazi art dealers, Eugen Primavesi of Vienna and Hans W. Lange of Berlin, handled the painting before it was passed on to Bruno Lohse, though no date of sale (or exchange) is listed. The catalogue says that the painting went to storage in Zurich (no date is given) and was then restituted to Bermann-Fischer as part of a settlement agreement with Schönart Anstalt, the trust in Liechtenstein that had been controlled by Lohse.
The literature section lists several references to the painting not typically seen in auction listings:
Elise Viebeck's March 13, 2008, piece in Claremont McKenna College's Claremont Independent didn't make the Christie's catalogue, but perhaps should have. Her article led to Petropoulos' resignation as director of the CMC Center for the Study of the Holocaust, Genocide, and Human Rights, one of CMC's ten endowed research institutes. Last month, CMC Trustees voted to change the name of the institute to The Center for Human Rights Leadership, though according to a press release on the CMC website "its focus on human rights and the Holocaust won't change."
Viebeck won the Eric Breindel Prize, arguably the most prestigious honor in college journalism, for her groundbreaking reporting on the Pissarro affair, and she was the first to illuminate the role of the Art Loss Register in the case. Unlike the previous year's winner of the Breindel prize, also from CMC, Viebeck's award received no mention on the CMC website. Why was that?
The catalogue's exhibition list is certainly brief. There is only one entry, the 1984 exhibit in Lausanne, Switzerland, which we have speculated may have been a trial run by Lohse to see if anyone was watching for the painting. Other than that, the painting has never before been shown in public (though it would have been seen in the Berlin home of Samuel Fischer by many cultural notables of the era, including future Nobel laureates Thomas Mann and Hermann Hesse, both published by S. Fischer Verlag).
Catherine Hickley's Bloomberg article noted that Bermann-Fischer seems to be thinking the same thing we did regarding the Lausanne exhibition:
“I don’t think we’ll ever find out from where to where the painting was transported over the years,” Bermann-Fischer said. “It truly was hidden. I think the exhibition at l’Hermitage Lausanne in 1984 was a test run, to see whether the original owners or any heirs were still on the lookout for the paintings and would make a claim.”
The interview gives some insight into why, after so many years of searching, Bermann-Fischer would now want to sell the Pissarro:
Vincent Landon, WRS: Why are you auctioning it?
Gisela Bermann-Fischer: Why shouldn’t I?
Vincent Landon, WRS: After spending so long, sort of, tracking it down?
Gisela Bermann-Fischer: Well I think looking for it, after it had been looted from my parents’ house in Vienna, certainly it was not the aim of selling it, it was a finding it—that was my aim. It was like looking up my own history, or a heritage. I was quite small when we fled Berlin, and later on we fled Vienna, and then we fled again [to Sweden and then on to the U.S., per the recent Bloomberg article].
So, let’s say, a lot of things I didn’t know… So it was not just a search for this painting, in order to go ahead and then make it [in]to money, it was sort of searching what happened in those times. And they didn’t just loot this painting, they looted everything that was in the house—my rule[??] books, my piano exercise books—everything was gone. And from there on I realized it was a loss altogether for me, too: the friends, and the house, and my bed, and my home. So that kept me going, to see ‘how did the Nazis go about all of this?’
GERMAN PROBE CONTINUES
The Bloomberg article also tells us that the safe in which the Pissarro was stored for so many years was sealed by prosecutors "as part of a continuing three-nation probe into associates of Lohse suspected of extortion and money-laundering." It goes on to say that the two men who approached Gisela Bermann-Fischer in 2007 remain under investigation by German authorities:
The men, an art dealer and an art historian, are under investigation on suspicion of extortion, according to Munich prosecutor Hans-Joachim Lutz. The dealer is also under investigation for money-laundering and breach of trust.
Though the two Lohse associates aren't named in the article, the only two men who had such a meeting with Bermann-Fischer would have been Munich art dealer Peter Griebert and CMC's Jonathan Petropoulos, who strictly speaking is a professor of history, not an academically-trained art historian. You may recall they were initially acting on behalf of the Art Loss Register, of which Christie's is, ironically, a part-owner.*
The ALR was set up to allow victims of Nazi looting to register their art works pro-bono in order to aid in their restitution. According to a March, 2008, Jewish Chronicle article, Griebert and Petropoulos had been hired by ALR in the hopes that his connections to Lohse could help them land a commission for helping recover the Pissarro.
At some point between the time Gisela Bermann-Fischer registered the Pissarro with ALR and the meeting that she had with Griebert and Petropoulos in Zurich in January, 2007, ALR changed its policies on providing information regarding WWII-era looted art. ALR was now requiring a substantial finder's fee. Bermann-Fischer maintains that when she balked at the paying that fee, Griebert and Petropoulos tried to cut their own deal with the implied threat that if Bermann-Fischer did not pay up, the painting might disappear forever.
Although an internal investigation by CMC cleared Professor Petropoulos of any apparent wrongdoing, Elise Viebeck at CMC's Claremont Independent obtained emails from Petropoulos to Griebert that seem to support Bermann-Fischer's account. Viebeck quoted parts of the emails in her own article:
"If Frau Fischer and Dr. Kueckelmann choose not to engage us, then we cannot say what will happen to the painting," Petropoulos wrote on February 6, 2007. "It would be difficult to give her the names and locations without any compensation. That just won't happen."
"[H]er response is so irrational, it is hard to make sense of it all," he added in an email the next day. "She simply cannot recover the painting without us. At least, I don't know if she would discover on her own the identity of the holders and their current location. We need to keep that in mind. She needs us."
Petropoulos insisted, further, on their original demand for 18 percent. "As we have stressed, we had a deal with Frau Fischer for this amount (and we also hold all the cards right now)," he wrote on February 15, [2007].
Despite CMC's efforts to exonerate Petropoulos, if the information in the most recent Bloomberg article is accurate, it would appear the German investigation into Griebert's and Petropoulos' dealings with Bermann-Fischer is ongoing. Whatever the case, one thing is clear: the legacy of the Holocaust remains with us, even today, sixty-four years after the end of the war in Europe. Catherine Hickley says in her recent Bloomberg article that an almost incomprehensible number of artworks were looted by Nazis from victims like Bermann-Fischer's family - well over half a million pieces. The Art Loss Register has 70,000 missing works still listed. This was the largest art heist in modern history, and it has gone largely unpunished. As Bermann-Fischer put it in the Hickley article:
“There are probably thousands of paintings, still in safes, waiting for the passing away of the last possible claimants,” Bermann-Fischer said.
Bermann-Fischer's quest for the Pissarro may be over, but for many other families, the search goes on. In her World Radio Switzerland interview, Bermann-Fischer reminisced about another lost heirloom:
Vincent Landon, WRS: Where did this painting hang when you were a child? Can you remember it hanging in any…
Gisela Bermann-Fischer: Well, it was in a living-dining room of the house, lovely little old house in Vienna. And there were several paintings on the wall in this dining room. At the time people hung paintings very high up on the walls—I don’t know why—and to me of course being quite small, it seemed even higher. The perspective was very weird. So what I remembered about the painting was more or less the bottom of the painting, but it didn’t interest me that much. There was a Corot there, with a tremendous red flower—that I remembered even more vividly.
* * * * *
*In spite of the nearly 70 years searching for her painting, Gisela Bermann-Fischer (we've decided) must be very forgiving - or tolerant - to choose Christie's as her auctioneer. Not only does Christie's (which is privately-held) have a financial interest in Art Loss Register, which was keen to exploit Petropoulos' relationship to Bruno Lohse in an effort to obtain a lucrative finder's fee, but the auction house twice put on the block the Corot that had until recently been in Lohse's secret Zurich vault with the stolen Pissarro. Femme assise, tenant une Mandoline, a study painted by Corot early in his career, failed to find a minimum bidder at Christie's London Impressionist and Modern Art Evening Sale on June 20, 2006, where it was offered as the "Property of a European Collector" with an estimate of $375,000 - $560,000 (£200,000 - £300,000). The Corot was offered a second time by Christie's on April 12, 2007, this time in New York in an auction of 19th Century European Paintings and Orientalist Art, but despite the Corot's significantly-reduced estimate of $200,000-$300,000 it once again failed to find a minimum bidder. So who is the mysterious "European Collector" trying to sell a painting from Lohse's secret safe? We're sure there's an explanation, and can't help but think the auction house has been as cooperative with European investigators as it has been with Gisela Bermann-Fischer in preparing next Tuesday's sale of her Pissarro.
Femme assise, tenant une Mandoline (1826-1828), Jean-Baptiste Camille Corot
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