FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
DECEMBER 2009

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.

Exhibition Dates:
January 9 to January 30, 2010
Artists Preview Party: Thursday, January 7, 6-9pm
Opening Reception: Saturday, January 9, 6-10pm (2nd Saturday Artwalk)
Closing Reception: Saturday, January 30, 6-8pm
Special Events
Saturday, January 30, 8pm free concert with The Sugar Mountain Mamas
Exhibition Location: The dA Center for the Arts, 252 S Main St., Pomona Arts Colony, CA 91766

It 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. The idea was to choose a group of local artists who would be allowed to spend 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 an after-hours reception for the artists at the Pomona College Museum of Art in October, and will culminate in January with the exhibit, titled - In Front of the Real Thing, at the dA Center for the Arts.

Highlights from the Pomona College Museum of Art collection are:
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 thirteen works range in date from the fourteenth to the eighteenth century.

The Native American Collection- Brought together over the last 70 years, Pomona College's superb collection of almost 5000 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- Francisco de Goya y Lucientes (1746-1828) was one of history's most masterful printmakers and social satirists. Pomona College Museum of Art is proud to own 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.

And a large collection of American and European prints, drawings, and photographs.

Participating Artists
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, Whitney Hanlon

Contact for The dA Center for the Arts

(high resolution images available)
Terry Taylor Castillo
Gallery Director
909-397-9716
http://dacenter.org/

The dA Center for the Arts is a non-profit community organization that has been the heart of the Pomona Arts Colony for 25 years.

Contact for Pomona College Museum of Art
Jessica Wimbley
Museum Coordinator
Montgomery Art Center
333 N. College Way
Claremont, CA 91711-6344
Telephone: 909-607-7543
www.pomona.edu/museum