On Friday I went to the opening of Ray Turner's exhibit "Population" at the Huntington Museum of Art. Ray Turner was there and gave a presentation of his work before we adjourned to a reception with drinks and hors d'oeuvres (they had me at avocado chimichurri).
Population features portraits of people from across the country, including 100 Huntington locals. The portraits are based off of photos Turner took while he was in town. During the presentation, someone asked him how he is able to get the subject's personality into the portraits when he is painting off of a photo. He answered that as he paints the portrait he creates a story and a history of the subject and ends up feeling a deep connection with the person in the photo. I was a bit skeptical, but as I walked through the gallery I could feel the personal relationship Turner had with each portrait. He used bright colors and fluid brush strokes to communicate the character and personality of each subject.
I would absolutely recommend a trip to the Huntington Museum of Art to see if you can find any familiar faces in Ray Turner's exhibit!
And speaking of familiar faces, I went back to the museum yesterday, this time with husband and dog in tow, to explore the hiking paths around the museum. We had fun hunting for the faces carved into rocks by folk artist Earl Gray
We only found three faces but we were occupied by Baron and his desire to go squirrel hunting off the trail.
It was a gorgeous fall day and probably one of the last before it starts to really get cold!
