CALeidoscope:
Evolving Reflections of California

Lesher Center for the Arts

Bedford Gallery

(Walnut Creek)

Ongoing – September 13

Adams, *Taft Point* (on view at the Bedford!)

Turns out that this Bedford annual juried exhibition is a love letter to our Golden State. From Mexico to Oregon, California stretches nearly 900 miles along the Pacific Ocean and is home to sundrenched beaches, verdant farmlands, majestic mountains, dramatic deserts and monumental redwood forests. With all this natural beauty, is it any wonder that California continues to serve as a source of inspiration and promise for dreamers, makers and visionaries?

This show honors the breathtaking geography of our great state. It reflects our loved-and-mocked position as a cultural leader. It values our status as a hotbed for creativity and innovation. At the same time, it warns of our delicate constitution so easily harmed by fires and ocean pollution (with the most evocative video of the Pacific that I’ve ever seen).

Heartbreaking depictions that remind us of last year’s Palisades Fire include

L2R: Wigon, Flare; Mano-Flank, After the Fire, and Soto, Heated Boundaries.

Screenshot from Krinsky’s video, *Boiling Seas Acid Seas*

This is my third year viewing the Bedford’s annual juried exhibition. Maybe it’s true that the best art is forged in great stress. (After all, who isn’t greatly stressed these day?) One thing is for sure, this is the Bedford’s most impressive annual exhibition during that time.