2007 Tour Preview: Seven Unique Destinations
1. The Gallery at the End of the World
Current epicenter of the art scene in Altadena, this eclectic and splendiferously funky gallery/garden is the creation of arts impresario and antique dealer Ben McGinty (with the help of many friends and colleagues). This salon style gallery will serve as command central for our tour and the Gallery will host a reception for all participants.
2. Elena Kellogg Studio
Publishing magnate F. W. Kellogg erected his mansion, Highlawn, on Millionaires' Row in 1907. In 1913, Kellogg commissioned architect C. W. Buchanan to design a special studio in the garden of the estate for his artistically gifted daughter, Elena. Highlawn was demolished in the 1950s, but the perfect little Craftsman studio remains tucked in a cul-de-sac, practically unchanged. Elena studied in New York with William Merritt Chase, and was a highly accomplished painter, and many of her works will be displayed in the studio where she lived and worked until her death in 1983. Desdy Kellogg Baggott, also a painter, is loving steward to this hidden treasure.
3. Lynne McDaniel/Doolittle Home
In 1912 artist Harold Lukens Doolittle designed a home for George and Susan Howell. Mr. Howell was president of Vroman’s bookstore and a patron of the arts. Although Doolittle is better known for his etchings, photography and furniture, his artistry in creating this jewel of a Craftsman with its intricate woodwork and intriguing floor plan is clear. Today, the home is largely intact, and occupied by painter Lynne McDaniel whose luminous landscapes and still-lifes have received international recognition. We will tour the artist’s home, gardens, and studio, where her paintings and some of Harold Doolittle’s works will be exhibited.
4. The Zorthian Ranch
Jirayr Zorthian, internationally recognized artist moved to a 40-acre parcel of land high in the foothills after WWII. At the end of a winding gravel road at the top of Fair Oaks Avenue, he painted, sculpted, and built extensively from “found materials” until his death in 2004 at age 93. The site of many fabled parties, the ranch has been a nexus of the Los Angeles art scene since the 1950s — it was here where Zorthian taught physicist Richard Feynman art and Feynman tutored Zorthian in theoretical physics. The house and surrounding plazas, walls, and outbuildings abound in marvelous sculpture and oddities by Zorthian and other artists.
5. Richard Davies Home
Richard Davies is the last surviving member of a joyous quartet of Altadena artists and scientists who hung out and partied together from the 50s onward. Jerry Zorthian, Richard Feynman, and Albert Hibbs frequently joined Davies at his bungalow for sessions of intense, exciting intellectual discourse and
many memorable artistic events. Davies, a retired space scientist at JPL, studied painting with John Altoon, a noted avant-garde LA artist. He says that pondering the origin of things propelled him into painting fragments of the cosmos on large, intensely colored canvases. To Davies they are imagined extensions of earth’s landscape.
6. Griffith/Dadd Home and “Folly Bowl” Garden
Artists Sue Dadd and James Griffith bought a mid-50s house of undistinguished pedigree on a steep hillside in Altadena in 1999 and quickly transformed it into a home of remarkable grace and beauty. Both artists’ works — their elegantly realized bead and metal sculptures, James’ botanically inspired paintings, Sue’s drawings — have found the perfect modern setting here. Outdoor space, including the amazing and well-known Folly Bowl amphitheater designed and built by the couple, showcases drought tolerant native, desert, and Mediterranean plantings arranged into one of the loveliest (and most vertical) landscapes in Southern California.
7. Sabine Meyer zu Reckendorf Home and Studio
Tucked behind a wall of greenery and whimsically embellished white gates is the colorful and fantastical world of the artisan Sabine Meyer zu Reckendorf. A designer and fabricator by trade — and colorist by passion — she has created a vibrant environment in tile mosaic covering a startling number of surfaces. The artist’s balancing of colors and patterns defies categorization, but satisfies the senses. Her fixtures, clocks, and furniture further energize this remarkable assembly that begins at the gates, flows through the garden, the house, and seemingly never ends. Our tour is a rare opportunity to experience a thoroughly materialized vision.
