Our first meeting of the year was held at the Art Center College of Design and was full of exciting information. Vivian Rescalvo announced that this year’s benefit will be held at The Pit, a 13,000 square foot contemporary art gallery space, in Atwater Village. Save the date for Art Auction May 2, 2026!

Sigrid Burton arranged for Caroline Huber to share a little bit about “Duchamp in California, Walter Hopps Curates A Retrospective”, a recently published book by Don Quaintance that chronicles the 1963 exhibition of Duchamp’s work, curated by Walter Hopps, Caroline’s late husband. The PAA is an important part of the story, notably Betye Burton and Maybelle Bayly Wolf. Sigrid Burton has been a supporter and partner in the publication of the book. Read more of Caroline’s remarks here.

After the meeting, curator Christina Valentine toured members through Our Abyssal Kin, a new installation by artists Patty Chang and David Kelley on view at the College’s Alyce de Roulet Williamson Gallery. Through video, sound, and sculpture, Chang and Kelley challenge the rigid distinction between humans and nature established by Western Science. The artist’s video Hydrophobia (2024) comes to life in the exhibition space with a sprawling wooden network of ladders and beams variously resembling a sunken wreck, a whale carcass, or the human nervous system. The installation embodies intersecting human and more-than-human structures that make up a deep sea-ecosystem.

The morning finished with a delicious box lunch back in Art Center’s student cafe and a room full of happy chatter.

~ Shelley Sackett