Many of you might have noticed while driving by the museum at night that it is lighted from bottom to top with LED spotlights, giving it the appearance of an art deco arrow building. If you have not seen it, come by and take a look. You’ll marvel at the museum’s new appearance.
We plan to add lights around the corner of the building and to the gallery itself, lighting the entire facility. This is Rob Vanderstaay’s project and he took it on with great zeal. He also assisted me in removing what had become an eyesore on the north side of the building, a mound that was originally put there as part of a teaching facility for our young students in Exeter. However, we were never able to adequately develop the site in the manner that I had designed it. Rob was able to find the resources to come in and remove the berm. We will next be landscaping the entire area.
It’s been quite an interesting ten months here since we were last able to get a newsletter out to you. I do hope you’ll forgive us for not being able to do that but circumstances were just a little bit odd.
We had a great show for Stephen Ball, who brought in the bulk of his artwork before he left the area for Colorado. We still have a number of his art pieces hanging in the outer gallery. In an absolutely stunning act of kindness and generosity, Stephen donated framed artwork – thousands of dollars worth! – to the gallery to sell as a funding source. His art is currently on display in the outer gallery to view and purchaseThe Exeter Gallery currently has a new show of George Tanimoto’s artwork. Virtually everything that is part of his portfolio is now at the gallery on display. By the time you read this, we will also have his unframed artwork on display.
The show will run through February. Gallery and museum hours have been cut back to 1 to 4 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday. The shortened hours are due to the limited availability of volunteers to run the facility.
If you are interested in coming in on the weekend and serving as what we have been calling a docent, please get in touch with me or Laura Vanderstaay.
Another major donation to the Courthouse Gallery and Museum Association came when George Tanimoto generously agreed to send us all of his framed paintings for display and sale.
Linda and Leonard Lemons of Burford’s Frame in Porterville, who were given custody of the artwork, generously gave us the privilege of selling all of George’s art, which they carefully cleaned and repaired as necessary, and then delivered to the gallery for hanging and display. Burford’s framed all of George’s art and it is through their special relationship that we have been able to display and sell it. They decided to give us a better opportunity to move the artwork by lowering the original prices as set by George.
Chris Brewer, President
Exeter Courthouse Gallery and Museum Association
