Vanguard: Origins of Tierra del Sol Arts in Claremont featuring Helen Rae

Description

(Due to concerns over the spread of COVID-19, the Claremont Museum of Art is closed through April 30, 2020. Vanguard is temporarily closed until then, but may reopen at a later time.)

Thirty years ago, a group of visionary artists from Tierra del Sol Foundation opened the doors of the First Street Gallery Art Center in Claremont. Since then, Tierra and its hundreds of trailblazing artists have been in the vanguard, forging professional pathways while advancing the cause of inclusivity in the art world.
The Claremont Museum of Art exhibition Vanguard: Origins of Tierra del Sol Arts in Claremont featuring Helen Rae, co-curated by Rebecca Hamm and Paige Wery, represents 15 artists whose remarkable creative expressions have influenced and enriched contemporary art in Southern California and beyond. 
Helen Rae’s drawings will be featured in the Museum’s main gallery, while the atrium will feature works in various media by Anthony Barnes, John Boyer, Jose Del Rio, Mary Lou Dimsdale, Leon Fuller, Michael LeVell, Jackie Marsh, John Maull, Dru McKenzie, John Peterson, Hugo Rocha, Vicente Siso, Isabel Vartanian and Joe Zaldivar, all of whom work or have worked with the Tierra del Sol studios. 
Helen Rae, who is from Claremont, is one of the studio’s founding artists, joining it at the age of 50. Since then, she has become an internationally recognized artist with a prestigious list of accomplishments including national and international exhibitions, numerous publications and reviews, and a place in distinguished private collections. She has been producing art with Tierra del Sol Foundation’s progressive studios for adults with developmental disabilities for the last thirty years. Rae utilizes fashion magazines as a point of departure, elevating the source material to expose a world of momentous, subversive vision. 
Composed using colored pencil and graphite, Rae creates dense, profoundly fractured drawings that are instantly recognizable and inescapably alluring. A bold use of color and sophisticated command of design culminates in a torrent of pattern and texture.
The exhibition will open on Saturday, December 7 with a reception from 6 to 9 p.m. during Art Walk and remain on view through April 11, 2020. The Claremont Museum of Art, located in the historic Claremont Depot at 200 W. First Street, is open Friday, Saturday and Sunday, noon to 4 p.m.