Victory Park
1201 N. Pershing Ave.
Stockton, CA  95203
(209) 940-6300   
info@hagginmuseum.org

The Fox by John Cosby, oil, 16"x12"

The fruits of their labors, more than 60 plein-air paintings created in less than one week's time, are now being displayed in the museum's Lower West Gallery through Sunday, July 2, for the special exhibition Stockton on Canvas: Contemporary Artists Paint the Town.

The artists involved will be familiar to those who attended the 2004 special exhibition From Sea to Shining Sea, as they all participated in that exhibit, which is now touring the nation. 

Those artists include Kenn Backhaus, John Budicin, John Cosby, Lucinda Kasser, Peggi Kroll-Roberts, Clark Mitchell, Joseph Paquet, Ray Roberts, George Strickland, Charles Waldman, Mary Whyte, Marika Wolfe, and museum trustee Gil Dellinger, who organized both exhibitions.

“I chose artists from the ‘Sea’ show who work well together and have fun painting together,” Dellinger said of the artists, most of whom have won awards in national competitions. “They paint from very different styles ... impressionist to highly real, but most seem to focus on mood as their main element.”

But while the artists may be the same, the exhibition will be different.

“This is a much smaller and more personal show, as many of those works were large studio pieces,” Dellinger said. “These will be small intimate views, done wholly on location.”

Those locations began at Stockton’s downtown Waterfront Warehouse on Saturday, April 15, where a group of the artists began their work at a public paintout, giving visitors a chance to interact with the renowned painters and the first opportunity to purchase the work.

Although the paintings’ settings will be limited to the city, that won’t limit the artists’ possibilities.

“Stockton is special because of the large variety of subject matter,” Dellinger notes. “From the port to architecture, farms, barns, waterways, wetlands, delta, and neighborhoods.”

MUSEUM INFORMATION
The Haggin Museum is located in Stockton's Victory Park, 1201 N. Pershing Ave., and is open Wednesday-Sunday, 1:30-5 p.m. Admission is $5 for adults 18 and up; $2.50 for youth ages 10-17, students with a valid I.D., and seniors 65 and over; and free for museum members and children under 10 accompanied by an adult. Admission is free to all visitors on the first Saturday of every month.

Free docent-led tours may be booked in advance by contacting Susan Benedetti at (209) 940-6315 or sbenedetti@hagginmuseum.org. For disabled access, call ahead at (209) 940-6311 or 940-6317.

The Museum Store is open Wednesday-Sunday, 1:30-4:30 p.m.