MALIBU, CALIF.- The Frederick R. Weisman Museum of Art at Pepperdine University announced two exhibitions that explore diverse dimensions of the natural beauty of California: On Location in Malibu 2024 and Rediscovering Constance von Briesen.
On Location in Malibu 2024
A juried exhibition organized by the historic California Art Club (CAC), On Location in Malibu 2024 celebrates the continued vitality of California Impressionism and plein air painting. Inspired by the beauty and scenic diversity of Malibu's canyons and beaches, this exhibition is the ninth in a triennial series organized since 1999. This year’s presentation was juried by CAC executive director and CEO Elaine Adams, President Emeritus Peter Adams, and president Michael Obermeyer, with special guest juror Rick Gibson, senior vice chancellor at Pepperdine University. Occupying the museum’s ground floor galleries, the exhibition features more than 50 new paintings of Malibu created by contemporary members of the CAC. Highlights include seascapes by Peter Adams, Kevin Gleason, and Calvin Liang; bird’s-eye beach views by Ray Roberts and Sharon Pomales Tousey; paintings of flora and fauna by Esther Engelman and P. A. Harris; surveys of the built environment by Beverly Lazor and Michael Obermeyer; nocturnes by Cathey Cadieux, Jeff Sewell, and Renae Wang; a dramatic rendering of the Malibu wildfires by Anna T. Kelly; and an illuminated bronze sculpture by Pepperdine alumna Paige Bradley.
During the run of the exhibition, works of art will be available for acquisition, with a portion of the proceeds benefiting the Frederick R. Weisman Museum of Art and the CAC, the oldest art association in the state.
“This triennial exhibition has continually revealed new layers of Malibu's vibrant tapestry,” said CAC executive director and CEO Elaine Adams. “We anticipate that the 2024 On Location in Malibu will continue to perpetuate the celebration of Malibu’s dynamic and creative community and the enduring inspiration found in its awe-inspiring surroundings.”
Rediscovering Constance von Briesen
A multitalented artist and craftswoman, Constance von Briesen (1915–2000) lived for nearly fifty years in southern California, making her home in Rustic Canyon. In addition to serving as a lead artist and researcher for the needlework team working to realize Judy Chicago’s installation The Dinner Party (1974–79), she was active for many years in the association Women Painters West and frequently exhibited her work in juried shows across the region, with the Pacific Palisades and Los Angeles Art Associations, among others. Her landscape paintings, watercolors, and drawings offer an exquisite close-up view of the California terrain, capturing creeks, root systems, bare trees, and drought-stricken desert.
The artist’s first solo museum exhibition, Rediscovering Constance von Briesen was occasioned by the generous donation of a driftwood sculpture that was once the centerpiece of the von Briesen home before entering the collection of retired Getty Center curator Weston Naef and his wife Mary. Von Briesen found the driftwood—made of conifer from the coast of the Pacific Northwest—on a road trip with friends and brought it home to California, where she transformed it into a monumental work that speaks to the wonder of nature. As with her paintings and works on paper, the sculpture is testament to studied, careful observation, requiring no embellishment or flourish beyond what nature itself has created.
“We are so honored to present the work of Constance von Briesen in what is, rather remarkably, her first solo museum exhibition,” said exhibition curator and Weisman Museum director Andrea Gyorody. “More than 20 years after her passing, her intimate, insider views of southern California still impress, with an admirable subtlety that shows great reverence for the natural environment, from the most modest creek bed to the most incredible water-hewn driftwood.”
