Will we open our gallery in a new location?

Not yet, while we scope out the possibilities. There is currently no appropriate space nearby. We choose to take this opportunity to dedicate our time and efforts to be more effective agents for our clients.

How will Bodega Bay Heritage Gallery work as an on-line gallery?

Our on-line gallery will continue. As we have done for the past decade, we will post all our paintings online, including biographical sketches of each artist. We will continue to feature our extensive collection of paintings by Walt Disney artist Joshua Meador and the contemporary paintings of Linda Sorensen. As we have done in the past, we will communicate with clients via email and telephone, and we will continue publishing our monthly newsletter with interesting stories of California Art and artists.

Here are 3 new ways we will meet the needs of our clients.
1. You may COME TO BODEGA BAY to consider specific pieces of art on an appointment-only basis. If some of our art interests you, email us or call and we will arrange a mutually agreeable time for you to come to Bodega Bay and view the item or items you are considering for purchase. This is an attractive option for people to visit and at the same time enjoy Sonoma Coast Scenery and our seaside trails, restaurants and shops. And when you return home, you can hang a new painting.

2. You may choose to VIEW PAINTINGS IN YOUR HOME. Yes, we can discuss bringing portions of Bodega Bay Heritage Gallery to you. This service is an attractive option for those who find it difficult to visit us in Bodega Bay, and it provides you an opportunity to "try on" a painting and see how it feels in your home.

3. On occasion, our gallery will hit the road and become a pop-up gallery. We could pop up anywhere throughout the West, in Phoenix, Palm Springs, Santa Barbara or even Bodega Bay. When a suitable short-term location makes itself available and the circumstances fit, we will pop up temporarily. With a targeted marketing effort, social media and a hope and a prayer, we will open, make new friends and close some sales. When its over, we'll un-pop, and retreat to our on-line gallery in Bodega Bay.

Today, after additions and renovations, it stands as one of America's great art museums, and a must-see stop to any art lover visiting the Gateway City. Below is a sampling of paintings from the St. Louis Art Museum's American Collection.

The American collection is deep in works from the early to mid 19th century. St. Louis was the starting point of the Lewis and Clark Expedition in 1904 and the center of Mississippi River commerce celebrated in the writings of Mark Twain. Consequently, the city became a lively locale for American painters.

An early work of Albert Bierstadt is called Nooning on the Platte, a work done before he ever set foot in California. And the works of St. Louis artist George Caleb Bingham certainly show the importance of Mississippi River life and the political life of the emerging Gateway City.

Of timely interest might be George Caleb Bingham's The County Election. When it was painted, slavery still existed. African Americans and women did not vote. There was no voter registration, and the man in red at the top of the stairs has his hand on the Bible, swearing he hasn't yet voted.

The man's vote wasn't secret either, as clerks behind the judge openly record his choice. There are no rules regarding electioneering, as one candidate is handing out cards as citizens prepare to vote. In this painting, Bingham seems to question the integrity of the election. He shows a well dressed man literally dragging a slumping body to the polls as he casts a glance to the candidate dressed in blue. Another man flips a coin as to suggest the contest might be determined by luck. In the foreground, two boys are absorbed in a childhood game, throwing a knife into the ground to determine the winner.

Here are paintings by some of America's most famous painters which are on view at the St. Louis Art Museum.

Produced for Joe Jones: Painter of the American Scene in 2011 at the St. Louis Art Museum.

Among the museum's treats are the paintings of Joe Jones (1909-1963). In 2011, the St. Louis Art Museum held an exhibition, Joe Jones: Painter of the American Scene. This son of St. Louis was certainly worthy of this honor.

Although the exhibition focused on Jones Missouri paintings, it also reflected Jones' drive and commitment to proletarian causes. Joe identified with the working class and was a member of the communist party.

Joe was a native St. Louis artist, muralist and activist. He was self taught and was considered to have painted in an American regionalist style, similar to Thomas Hart Benton. He lived in St. Louis until 1936 when he moved to New York where he remained most of the rest of his life.

Georgia O'Keeffe's "Dark Abstraction" displays sensuous forms and colors, such as the delicate folds of red and green, evoking the intensely magnified shape of a flower. On the other hand, its graceful lines suggest a landscape. Georgia O’Keeffe often selected details of nature as her subjects and enlarged or distilled them until they took on a new appearance.

In a recent publication of her online site, California Desert Art, she writes of a new group of Swinnerton works available for sale. With Ann's permission, here is what she had to say in ... CaliforniaDesert.com about the Swinnerton Stash. We publish it here as an excuse to show some more of Swinnerton's love affair with the desert.

"When Alan and Lois Stoneman built a home at Thunderbird Country Club in 1960, they asked Jimmy Swinnerton to paint them a smoke tree (a favorite of Alan’s). Swinny borrowed the throw pillows from the couple’s sofa to make the painting match the decor. Over the years the Stonemans acquired more work by their friend, Swinnerton."

Now their son, Alan Stoneman, is looking for a home for all seven of his parents’ Swinnerton oil sketches and oil paintings, including a prized scene of Monument Valley. This is a rare opportunity to purchase an entire Swinnerton collection that comes with a direct personal link to the artist.

When Swinnerton first came to Palm Springs in 1903, he said his friends called it a “drab heckhole”; it was no place for an artist. He painted it anyway, and is today the most famous of the California desert painters. For information and images contact Alan Stoneman: alanorps@yahoo.com

Jimmy Swinnerton was recruited out of art school in San Francisco along with his classmate Maynard Dixon to work as illustrators by newspaper publisher

William Randolph Hearst. Jimmy became a renowned founding father of the newspaper comic strip.

A diagnosis of TB required him to move to the California Desert. He arrived in Palm Springs in 1903, long before golf courses and air conditioners. Here are thumbnails of Bodega Bay Heritage Gallery's own "Swinnerton Stash." Click on any of the images to learn more of this San Francisco artist and Bohemian Club member who came to love the Mojave Desert.

We are no longer a "brick and mortar" storefront gallery. We've moved out and now exist as an on-line only gallery. Please keep in touch with us by phone, email, our website, and our newsletters to keep up on where Linda's artist studio lands, and what new ways we may find to show and celebrate historic California art beyond the website itself. If you have been putting off arranging to visit to see particular artworks from our inventory, please make arrangements with Dan.

Soon: a new gallery in our former Highway One space. Pacific Bay Gallery will open soon next door to The Ren Brown Collection, featuring the work of resident artist, Noki Jones. We'll keep you informed about the opening of Pacific Bay Gallery in our newsletter. And we'll also keep you informed about where to acquire the watercolors of Jean Warren and the photographs of Diane Perry.

Bentonville, AR
Crystal Bridges
Museum of American Art