deyermond art + books - Santa Monica

Books and fine art go together so naturally.  Both, the product of someone's creativity, take us to places that we might not otherwise ever experience.  So it seems only appropriate to combine art + books in a retail setting and that is part of the mission of dreyermond art + books on Main Street in Santa Monica.

Michael Dreyermond is the proprietor and if his name is familiar, it might be because he was the owner of the very eclectic Equator Books & Gallery on Abbot Kinney in Venice.  That store was in business for five years before its run came to a close.  I had the pleasure of attending several functions there.  Continuing the tradition, Dreyermond says "I thought it more important to keep the book dream alive.  It was not time to leave the book business, it was time to renew it."

dreyermond art + books focuses on lierature, art monographs, photography, architecture and design.  Michael Dreyermond personally oversees the selection of first and second editions, out of print and classics.

The store also features events and art exhibitions.  Currently on exhibit is a series of abstract photographs from recently deceased, celebrity photographer Dennis Hopper: a perennial favorite in Venice and Santa Monica art circles.

Dennis Hopper
Fractured Girl
Silkscreen (silver) based on photo taken c. 1961-65

dreyermond art + books
2801 Main Street
Santa Monica, CA  90405
(310) 450-4400
http://www.deyermondbooks.com

That is it for this post and as always, if I can be of any assistance to you or any of your friends, family or colleagues with any of your real estate needs (residential, commercial or otherwise) or if I can help find a real estate professional for you to work with in your local community, please let me know.  It would be my pleasure to help.

Jim Rea
Keller Willliams Palisades

California Art Club

I just received the latest copy of the California Art Club's newsletter with a wonderful cover article about Franz A. Bischoff by Jean Stern, California art expert extraordinaire and Executive Director of the Irvine Museum.  The scholarship of the articles in the CAC newsletter are always outstanding, and Jean's writing is always excellent as well, but this article is particularly notable for a couple of reasons. First, Bischoff was one of the founders of the California Art Club back in 1909 along with fellow artists William Wendt, Hanson D. Puthoff, Carl Oscar Borg and Jack Wilkinson Smith and this article speaks to many of the early activities of the CAC.  Also notable is the fact that Bischoff will be the subject of a new exhibition at the Pasadena Museum of California art (home of the California Art Club's annual Gold Medal Exhibition) entitled "Gardens and Grandeur: Porcelains and Paintings by Franz A. Bischoff" scheduled to open in December of this year.

If you love California art and its rich history, you should know about the California Art Club.  As previously mentioned, it was founded in 1909 by some of the most famous and well established artists of the day.  It was a successor organization to the Painters' Club of Los Angeles  and was formed, among other reasons to allow women artists as members who were excluded from the Painters' Club membership.  Today, the CAC has grown into one of the largest and most highly respected professional artists associations in the country.  Its membership includes professional and non-professional artists along with a large community of collectors, gallery and museum staff, educators, historians and others who love and support California representational fine art.

The CAC hosts a number of exhibitions throughout the year, but its most famous is the Gold Medal Exhibition, held annually at the Pasadena Museum of California Art on Union Street in Pasadena.  The CAC will be hosting its 100th anniversary of the exhibition from April 3rd through the 24th in 2011.  At the same time, Rizzoli International will be releasing their publication of a major historical retrospective book about the California Art Club.  It ought to be something to behold.  In addition to the exhibitions held by the CAC, they also host artists' workshops, critique sessions, lectures, dinners, artists' studio visits and paintouts at locations around the state of California.  If you love California art, I recommend you show your support by joining the Califoria Art Club.

I mentioned the quarterly newsletter published by the CAC.  This is a wonderful color publication filled with scholarly articles about the history of California art along with articles and news regarding current members of the club and about exhibitions around the country.  Elaine Adams, Excutive Director of the CAC is the driving force behind the newsletter (and everything else the CAC does) and she always does an outstanding job on the publication. I am including a copy of the front page of the newsletter in this post to give you a taste of the quality of their work.  If you like it, join the club and they will send it to you regularly!

CAC Newsletter
Click for larger view

For more information:

California Art Club
75 South Grand Avenue
Pasadena, CA  91105
(626) 583-9009
website: http://www.californiaartclub.org

That is it for this post and as always, if I can be of any assistance to you or any of your friends, family or colleagues with any of your real estate needs (residential, commercial or otherwise) or if I can help find a real estate professional for you to work with in your local community, please let me know.  It would be my pleasure to help.

Jim Rea
Keller Willliams Palisades 

Brunello Wine Dinner With Friends

Friday night we had a wonderful wine dinner up in the cul-de-sac here in Pacific Palisades with our neighbors Ken and Ritchie and friends Jim, Ruth, Richard and Carolyn.  All four couples contributed wines from their collections and we simultaneously celebrated October birthdays for Carolyn, Ritchie and Ken.  The major theme of the dinner were some '85 and '90 Brunellos but we enjoyed a number of other wines as well.

We started with a magnum of Mumm Napa Brut Prestige, which at about five or six years old (it was non-vintage) was delicious.  Jim brought in a 20 year old Chilean Sauvignon Blanc which we thought had a chance of coming out intact, but alas, too many years had passed for this one.  When the Sauvignon Blanc failed to meet our expectations, we moved on to a very nice 2001 Dehlinger Chardonnay.

Ritchie, Richard and Carolyn

Ruth and Jodie

Jim enjoying the chardonnay

After the introductory wines, we moved to the dining room for the main course.  The three Brunello di Montalcino stars of the evening were a 1985 Lisini, a 1985 Canalicchio di Sopra and a 1990 Mastroianni.  The marvelous food preparations include tenderloin, a souffle of carrots and spinach along with a wild rice and mushroom dish.  All were delicious, that is excepted for the Lisini which turned out to be mildly corked - what a drag as we were all looking forward to that one.  Ken quickly brought out a replacement Brunello in the form of a 1990 San Filippo and all drank very well.

Ruth, Ken and Jodie getting ready for the dinner

Starting line up

Dinner is served

Here we are

Substituting for the Lisini

After dinner, Ken opened up a 1977 Grahams Vintage Porto which was served with Stilton cheese and water crackers.  Upon completing the round of port and Stilton, we moved the entire party across the street to our house for the dessert portion of the evening.

For dessert Jodie presented three different cheeses for our enjoyment: Roquefort Le Papillon AOC, Le Marcaire and Manchego along with blanched almonds, Halloween cookies and flourless chocolate cake.  These cheeses were selected to accompany two excellent Sauternes contributed by Ken and Richard, a 1961 Château Coutet à Barsac and a 1988 Château Rieussec but the opinion of the group was that the Roquefort was a bit overpowering for the Sauternes.

All in all it was a wonderful evening with some world class wines, delicious food and memorable fellowship.  Thanks to everyone who tapped into their cellars to make this evening a great success.  We'll do it again sometime soon.

Mumm Napa
N.V. Brut Prestige
Napa Valley

Cousino-Macul
1990 Sauvignon Blanc

Santiago, Chile

Dehlinger
2001 Chardonnay
Russian River Valley

Lisini
1985 Brunello di Montalcino
Montalcino Siena

Canalicchio di Sopra
1985 Brunello di Montalcino
Montalcino Italia

Mastroianni
1990 Brunello di Montalcino
Montalcino Italia

San Filippo
1990 Brunello di Montalcin
Montalcino Italia

Grahams
1977 Vintage Porto
Portugal

Château Rieussec
1988 Sauternes Premier Grand Gru Classe
Sauternes

Château Coutet à Barsac
1961 Sauternes Premier Grand Gru Classe
Sauternes Barsac

That is it for this post and as always, if I can be of any assistance to you or any of your friends, family or colleagues with any of your real estate needs (residential, commercial or otherwise) or if I can help find a real estate professional for you to work with in your local community, please let me know.  It would be my pleasure to help.

Jim Rea
Keller Willliams Palisades