Press Releases

While the opening of the California Museum of Art-Thousand Oaks is still years away, supporters are pursuing a more immediate goal: They’re setting up an interim location that will offer art exhibits and programs.

The temporary gallery and operations office will be at 1948 E. Thousand Oaks Blvd., on Dallas Drive at the entrance to the Civic Arts Plaza. The permanent museum is planned for the same site.

As a nonprofit, the museum group will rent the 1,800-square-foot building—formerly The Wineyard and before that a Taco Bell—from the city for $1 a year.

The illustrated lecture will focus on array of art movements and craft traditions, most notably the contemporary craft movement that took place over the last half of the 20th century. “Humans have an innate love of wood, having evolved alongside trees”, says Mr. Wallace. “Wood is a material of spiritual importance, found at the very heart of our search for meaning. As a material of such power and workability, humans have utilized wood in ceremony and worship. Indigenous cultures carved deities, masks, and staves, as well as the bowls and containers that bridged the sacred and everyday life. Wood also provided the material for the development of music, from the drums and percussive instruments of tribal cultures, to flutes and stringed instruments of the Western world. Our appreciation of the material itself – the look of grain, the feel of a wood surface, even the smell of wood – led to a natural revolution in the arts.”

The work of metal sculptor Betty Gold will be presented in the inaugural exhibition of the newly renovated California Museum of Art Thousand Oaks Operations Center from Sat., Sept. 19 through Sun., Nov. 2.

The exhibition is free and open to the public beginning Sat. and Sun., Sept. 19 and 20 during the Thousand Oaks Arts Festival on the lawn of the Civic Arts Plaza.

Afterward, regular hours will be from noon to 4 p.m. at the Operations Center, west of the Civic Arts Plaza at Thousand Oaks Boulevard and Dallas Drive.

The California Museum of Art Thousand Oaks (CMATO) opens its fall Speaker Series with Dr. Bruce Robertson presenting an illustrated talk on “Georgia O’Keefe: Place, Nature, Art”. Dr. Robertson is a professor and Director of the Museum of Art, Design and Architecture at the University of California, Santa Barbara. He contributed an essay to the exhibition catalogue, “Georgia O’Keeffe: Abstraction” published by the Whitney Museum of American Art and was part of the curatorial team for the 2009-2010 exhibit at the Whitney. Georgia O’Keeffe (1887–1986) was one of the most influential artists of the twentieth century and one of the first American abstract artists, but her representational art has received most of the attention from critics. Dr. Robertson will provide an insight into the paintings of Georgia O’Keeffe and how the natural environment provided her with profound inspiration.