Local Artists Featured in ‘Night and Day’

Bob Alderette, associate professor of painting and drawing in the Roski School of Art and Design at USC, juries Westmont’s annual exhibition featuring Tri-County artists May 17-June 23 in the Westmont Ridley-Tree Museum. A free, opening reception for “Night and Day: Tri-County Juried Exhibition 2018,” which features works by 41 local artists, is Thursday, May 17, from 4-6 p.m. at the museum.

The museum will announce the winner of the $1,000 Diane Dodds-Reichert and David Reichert First Prize, first honorable mention, second honorable mention, and the Art Council third honorable mention awards.

Alderette reviewed 289 entries, selecting 47 works for the exhibition, including pieces by well-known local artists Tony Askew, Connie Connally, Rosemarie Gebhart, Dug Uyesaka and last year’s first-place winner Joan Rosenberg-Dent.

The artwork ranges from watercolor, photography, oil painting, mixed-media, monoprint, bronze and clay. 

Alderette, born in East Los Angeles to first-generation Mexican Americans, maintains a painting practice and studio in Sunset Beach. As a professor, he teaches all levels of painting and drawing. His philosophical and pedagogical approach and practice is strongly committed to contemporary art imagery and critical thinking in understanding works of art.

He has exhibited his paintings in both national and international venues. He has also studied, exhibited and taught in Italy, Switzerland, Japan and France. His work is in the public collection of the Orange County Art Museum, Laguna Art Museum, Honolulu Contemporary Art Museum as well as pubic and corporate collections in Japan.

He graduated from California State University, Long Beach, and was the first Latino to graduate from Claremont Graduate University with a double master’s degree: a Master of Fine Arts and a Master of Arts.

Diane Dodds-Reichert, David Reichert and the Westmont Art Council sponsor this year’s exhibition.