dA Center, Pomona College Museum to open collaborative art project

POMONA - "In Front of the Real Thing," a collaborative project between The dA Center for the Arts in Pomona and the Pomona College Museum of Art in Claremont will begin Jan. 9.
The exhibition will run at the dA Center, 252 S. Main St., through Jan. 30.

The showing started as an idea from Jessica Wimbley and Steve Comba at the Pomona College Museum of Art, as a means to encourage the production of new works of art inspired by the museum's permanent collection.

They chose a group of local artists who spent time in the newly remodeled collection study room, designed to provide unprecedented access to objects not on view in a traditional exhibit. The invited artists would choose an artist or particular artwork from the permanent collection and create a new, original work informed and inspired by their choice.

The project kicked off with a reception for the artists in October, and will culminate next month with the exhibit.

Highlights from the Pomona Museum collection:

The Samuel H. Kress Collection
In 1961, Pomona College was one of a select group of academic institutions that received a gift of works of art from the extensive collection of Samuel H. Kress. Selected by the college on the basis of intrinsic quality and stylistic diversity, the 13 works range in date from the 14th to the 18th centuries.

Native American Collection
Brought together over the last 70 years, Pomona College's collection of almost 5,000 Native American artifacts is particularly rich in Californian and Southwestern basketry, Southwestern ceramics, both Pre-Columbian and historic, and in beadwork of the Plains and Great Lakes. These pieces were integral parts of daily life for the peoples who created them; they include clothing and household items like blankets and cookware, as well as decorative works, weapons and ritual objects.

Etchings of Francisco de Goya
De Goya y Lucientes (1746-1828) was one of history's most masterful printmakers and social satirists. Pomona College Museum of Art owns first edition sets of all four of his etching series, a total of 211 prints: "Los Caprichos, 1799"; "Los Desastres de la Guerra, 1810-20"; "Los Disparates (also known as Los Proverbios), 1815-24" and "La Tauromaquia, 1816."


Jose Clemente Orozco's "Prometheus."
Seventeen preparatory works for the "Prometheus" mural in Frary Hall.

A large collection of American and European prints, drawings, and photographs.
The participating artists are Anne Seltzer, Armando Peralta, Athena Hahn, Cheryl Bookout, Chris Toovey, Dee Marcellus Cole, Fr. Bill Moore, Juan Thorp, Kate Thornton, Marcella Swett, Natalie Valle, Perry Marks, Phillip Graffham, Rick Caughman, Rolo Castillo, Steve Ruiz, Walter Christensen and Whitney Hanlon.

On Jan. 7 there will be an artists preview party from 6 to 9 p.m., with the opening reception on Jan. 9 from 6 to 10 p.m. during the Second Saturday Artwalk.

On Jan. 30 will be the closing reception from 6 to 8 p.m. followed by a free concert at 8 p.m. featuring The Sugar Mountain Mamas.

Information about the dA center: 909-397-9716

Information about the Pomona Museum of Art: 909-607-7543 or www.pomona.edu/museum