A nationally recognized authority on California Impressionism, Mr. Jean Stern has extensive experience as an author, curator, lecturer, and teacher.  He is Senior Curator of California Impressionism at the Institute and Museum of California Art, University of California, Irvine.  He is also Director Emeritus of The Irvine Museum.  In over twenty-eight years, first at The Irvine Museum, and now at the Institute and Museum of California Art, he worked to established a national presence for California Impressionism through a noteworthy series of books, exhibitions, lectures, articles and video documentaries.  In his career, he has presented over 250 lectures and judged and juried more than 100 local, national and international art competitions.

Mr. Stern has presented tours and lectures on California Art in numerous museum including the International Cultural Center, Krakow, Poland; Mona Bismarck Foundation in Paris, France; National Academy Museum in New York; Terra Museum in Chicago; San Diego Museum of Art; Gilcrease Museum in Tulsa, Oklahoma; Gibbes Museum in Charleston; Brigham Young University Museum; Autry National Western Heritage Center; The National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum and many others.  He was a consultant to and appears in IMPRESSIONS OF CALIFORNIA, a PBS documentary video series on art in California, and on PLEIN AIR: PAINTING THE AMERICAN LANDSCAPE, (PBS 2007).

In 2017, Mr. Stern received the prestigious CHEVALIER OF THE ORDER OF ARTS AND LETTERS from the French Ministry of Culture.  He has also been presented with three LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARDS: by the Laguna Plein Air Painters Association in 2013; by the Plein Air Painters of America in 2014; and by PLEIN AIR MAGAZINE in 2014.

Links for 2019:
Gala Tickets | Schedule of Events | Workshops | Invited Artists | Sponsors

2019 Laguna Plein Air Invitational “Best in Show” Panel Judge Tim Newton

Born and raised in the Rocky Mountain West, Tim Newton is widely known in the art community and is respected by artists, collectors, and art professionals alike.

Among many other endeavors, Tim volunteers at the famed Salmagundi Club in New York City where he recently completed his fourth term as Chairman of the Board and CEO. During his tenure of leadership, Tim led Salmagundi through eight years of unprecedented growth.

He is the Founder and Curator of American Masters, an annual exhibition and sale at the Salmagundi. Since its inception in 2008, the show has become one of the premier events for representational art. With American Masters, Tim proposed and began the fundraising for the 1.7 million dollar renovation of Salmagundi’s main gallery, which was completed in 2014. The next American Masters opens in September, 2020.

An art collector for almost 30 years, Tim (along with his wife Cathi) has amassed a collection of more than 350 artworks. Theirs is a collection of great diversity which includes pieces by many of the top artists working today. The collection has been featured in several magazine articles.

Widely acknowledged for his discerning eye, Tim is a frequent judge of national and international shows and competitions. He has judged, among others, the Oil Painters of America Virtuosos (Master and Signature Members Show), the Mystic International Maritime Exhibition at Mystic Seaport as well as Plein Air Easton (Easton, Maryland) in 2012 and again in 2016. In 2018 he was a jurist for the prestigious Art Renewal Center Competition and in 2019 has judged both Door County Plein Air and The Buffalo Bill Cody Show and Sale.

He is a sought-after commentator on the subject of art and collecting. In May of 2017 he was invited to China to speak at the prestigious China Central Academy of Art in Beijing and the Tianjin Academy of Fine Arts in Tianjin. He is often a featured speaker at museums and events.

Tim serves on the Board of Trustees of the Stobart Foundation, the Board of Advisors for the Clark Hulings Foundation and the Couse Foundation in Taos, New Mexico.

In July of this year, Tim assumed the role of Publisher at Western Art and Architecture magazine, one of the premier art publications in America.

He and his wife Cathi live in Santa Fe, New Mexico. They have two daughters.

LPAPA’s 2019 Laguna Plein Air Invitational “Best in Show” Panel of Judges includes Janet Blake of the Laguna Art Museum, Kim Kanatani of UCI Institute & Museum for California Art, & Tim Newton, Publisher of Western Art & Architecture Magazine.

Links for 2019:
Gala Tickets | Schedule of Events | Workshops | Invited Artists | Sponsors

2019 Laguna Plein Air Invitational “Best in Show” Panel Judge Kim Kanatani

Nationally renowned museum educator, scholar and collaborative arts producer Kim Kanatani joined the University of California, Irvine in August 2019 as the first museum director of the UCI Institute and Museum for California Art (IMCA). Established through foundational gifts of art made in 2016 and 2017, UCI IMCA is poised to become a comprehensive center for the study, research and exhibition of the distinctive work made by California’s artists from the early 19th century to the present.

“UCI has been a leader in the arts since the day our students and faculty first walked onto campus, and with the establishment of UCI IMCA we are positioned for an extraordinary new level of achievement,” said Chancellor Howard Gillman. “Our goal is to make the arts an essential element of being at UCI. We welcome Kim Kanatani with enthusiasm and look forward to great things to come.”

Kanatani comes to the UCI IMCA from the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York, where she has served as deputy director and the Gail Engelberg Director of Education. In this role, she has overseen all education programs at the Guggenheim, including public programs for adults, youth and families. She has coordinated with the international museums of the Guggenheim Foundation and has been actively involved in the planning and development of the Foundation’s future museum in Abu Dhabi. Her work has encompassed numerous cross-cultural and museological exchange projects with other venues worldwide.

At the heart of her professional practice is collaborative program development with artists. Most recently, Kanatani spearheaded Guggenheim Social Practice, an initiative that commissions artists to develop new forms of public engagement that address important social values. The inaugural projects featured work by Marc Bamuthi Joseph, Lenka Clayton and Jon Rubin, and Shaun Leonardo. She has also co-produced multimedia productions, interpretive installations and exhibitions, and other public offerings with artists, including Matthew Barney, John Baldessari, Cai Guo-Qiang, Paul McCarthy, Catherine Opie, Gabriel Orozco and James Rosenquist.

A native of Southern California, Kanatani was the director of education at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles before joining the Guggenheim in 2001.

“I am absolutely thrilled to have the opportunity to develop a world-class art museum that will showcase and celebrate the most significant collections and exhibitions of California art and give this work the recognition it deserves,” Kanatani said. “Shaping the cultural and interdisciplinary discourse around the ever-changing perspectives of artists who create work in response to the unique culture of California and its global contexts will be key. I envision the museum serving as a state-of-the-art teaching and learning institution, which will offer unparalleled arts and cross-curricular experiences for the campus and the wider community.”

UCI Provost and Executive Vice Chancellor Enrique Lavernia added, “With her inspiring energy, talent for creative collaboration, scholarly rigor and deep commitment to civic engagement, Kim Kanatani is the ideal leader for UCI IMCA. She brings an outstanding national reputation that will help UCI make a positive impact through programs and exhibitions that forge meaningful connections at all levels across campus, with our neighbors and supporters, and with our many visitors from around the country and the world. I expect that her leadership and guidance will be invaluable as we move forward with constructing a permanent home for the UCI IMCA on campus.”

About the UCI Institute and Museum for California Art
The UCI Institute and Museum for California Art (UCI IMCA) is home to two of the most comprehensive and expansive collections of California art. The collections are thanks to foundational gifts of The Buck Collection including more than 3,000 works of California modern art and The Irvine Museum Collection including more than 1,300 California Impressionist paintings. The University is planning to construct a permanent museum and research institute on the UC Irvine campus—fulfilling the vision of campus architect William Pereira’s original 1962 campus blueprint—which will be a global magnet for the exhibition and study of California art and its social and cultural framework.

LPAPA’s 2019 Laguna Plein Air Invitational “Best in Show” Panel of Judges includes Janet Blake of the Laguna Art Museum, Kim Kanatani of UCI Institute & Museum for California Art, & Tim Newton, Publisher of Western Art & Architecture Magazine.

Links for 2019:
Gala Tickets | Schedule of Events | Workshops | Invited Artists | Sponsors

2019 Laguna Plein Air Invitational “Best in Show” Panel Judge Janet Blake

Janet Blake is the curator of historical art at Laguna Art Museum in Laguna Beach, California. In addition she has been the curator for the E. Gene Crain Collection since 1981. Her field as a scholar is the history of California art from 1900 to 1950, with a focus on American impressionists in California and the regional or American Scene artists of the 1930s and 1940s. Her exhibition Early Artists in Laguna Beach: The Impressionists was shown at Laguna Art Museum in 1986, and in 1991 she co-edited the book American Scene Painting: California, 1930s and 1940s with Ruth Westphal. In 2007, Blake curated a major retrospective of the work of Millard Sheets at the Millard Sheets Center for the Arts at Fairplex in Pomona. Since joining Laguna Art Museum in 1998, she has worked on several of the museum’s outstanding exhibitions. In 2008 she assisted Will South with the major retrospective on William Wendt, and wrote the chronology of the artist’s life for the accompanying book; in 2009, she was one of the curators of Collecting California: Selections from Laguna Art Museum; and in 2010 she curated E. Roscoe Shrader, accompanied by a book on the artist for which she wrote the main essay. Her major retrospective exhibition on Clarence Hinkle was shown at the museum in 2012, accompanied by a comprehensive book on the artist. Her 2014 Rex Brandt: In Praise of Sunshine, was the culmination of years of study of the artist whom she personally knew from 1981 until his death. Her most recent exhibitions were Miss Hills of Laguna Beach, a comprehensive exhibition on Anna Althea Hills in 2016, Phil Dike: At the Edge of the Sea, a retrospective for that artist in 2017, and Art Colony: The Laguna Beach Art Association, 1918–1935, which she co-curated with Deborah Solon. Janet holds a BA in art and art history from California State University, Long Beach.

Our 2019 Laguna Plein Air Invitational “Best in Show” Panel of Judges includes Janet Blake of the Laguna Art Museum, Kim Kanatani of UCI Institute & Museum for California Art, & Tim Newton, Publisher of Western Art & Architecture Magazine.

Links for 2019:
Gala Tickets | Schedule of Events | Workshops | Invited Artists | Sponsors