Solano Collects at Vacaville Museum

I found a recent article referencing Ruth Dicker paintings appearing at the Vacaville Museum for a show titled Solano Collects.  I couldn't seem to find any pictures on the museum website.  Then, I found another article that does show six paintings together on a wall together.  I might need to pay a visit.  Article excerpt below:

Since October 5, the Vacaville Museum at 213 Buck Avenue has been featuring an amazing exhibit of 30 collections belonging to Solano County residents.

A jury panel of three judges — a gallery owner, a museum exhibitor and an artist — selected the 30 from 45 submissions to comprise the Solano Collects exhibit. Each collection is a treat.

...

Dicker is known for her California landscapes in her hallmark style of intentional paint splatters, vibrant acrylic colors as well as strips of wood covered in rice-paper to give dimensionality and texture. Her large paintings depicting the four seasons were in the dining room of The Nut Tree in Vacaville before it closed in 1996.

Update: According to the museum, the paintings are titled "Summer Plains", "Shadows", "Pine Forest", "Spring Oak with Lupine", "Annadel", and "Moon with Fog."   Some of the smaller paintings look like they are prints of other paintings, which means the artist did something like a block print of one painting and then filled in the rest with different color paints.

Garden Terrace Room at Yosemite Lodge

OK, after a quick panic, the Yosemite Mural has been found safely at the Yosemite Lodge.  It is in the Garden Terrace room and based on these pictures, it might actually be a better location because more people will see it and enjoy it for meetings and festive occasions.

Where is this Ruth Dicker Yosemite Mural?!

This 8x24 foot Ruth Dicker painting used to exist in Yosemite Village.  It started as a Wells Fargo Bank, but then turned into the Yosemite Art Center:



A few recent visits by friends couldn't locate the painting.  Some searching online came across the Merced Wild and Scenic River Comprehensive Management Plan with this blurb and an important section bolded:

Yosemite Village Day-use Parking
Under the Selected Action, the NPS will redesign the existing Yosemite Village Day-use Parking area and restrict all development to at least 150 feet away from the river’s ordinary high-water mark (Figure 1).The redesigned parking area will provide 750 parking spaces and a new comfort station. Northside Drive will be realigned to the south edge of the parking area where it will connect with Sentinel Drive and continue west. A new three-way intersection will be constructed connecting Sentinel Drive with the re-routed Northside Drive and the shuttle bus road into the Village. A roundabout will be constructed at the Village Drive/Northside Drive intersection to improve traffic flow. The Concessioner General Office, Valley Garage, and Art Activity Center will be removed. 

Construction activities at the Yosemite Village Day-use Parking area will result in direct, temporary and permanent losses of about 1.6 acres of federally protected wetlands. There will be an estimated 1.22 acres of direct impact to palustrine emergent wetlands adjacent to the Northside Drive and Sentinel Crossover intersection with new road and parking alignment. There will be an estimated 0.38 acres of direct impact to riverine intermittent wetlands flowing through the area.

Was this building mentioned the one that housed the painting?  Where is the painting now?  Is it elsewhere in Yosemite?  Is it in a private collection?  Was it destroyed?

Update: This San Jose Mercury News article seems to confirm:

In the name of restoring the park’s natural setting, a new proposal by the National Park Service would ban bicycle and horse rentals in Yosemite Valley and remove the ice rink at Curry Village. Swimming pools at the Yosemite Lodge and Ahwahnee Hotel would be torn out. Rafting rentals on the Merced River would end. The longest stone bridge in Yosemite Valley would be demolished. Even the Yosemite Art Activity Center, where families learn water colors, would go.

Update2: The painting has been found at the Yosemite Lodge, Garden Terrace conference room.  More later.

Les Arbres dans L'Hiver

It looks like there was an action in February of this year that I missed.  The painting is named Les Arbres dans L'Hiver and is from 1977.  Who was the lucky buyer?

Two New Ebay Paintings

It looks like the same seller just found two Ruth Dicker paintings in the Santa Cruz area, both from the 1960's.  One is more of a mid-century modern style, while the other shows early signs of Dicker's later tree works.

Untiled: https://www.ebay.com/itm/MID-CENTURY-MODERN-LISTED-ARTIST-RUTH-DICKER-18-X-36-OIL-PAINTING-ON-BOARD/333302258703?hash=item4d9a5cdc0f:g:BA0AAOSwO5JdXIgv

Summer Hill: https://www.ebay.com/itm/MID-CENTURY-MODERN-LISTED-ARTIST-RUTH-DICKER-OIL-ON-BOARD-1964-SUMMER-HILL/233318404662?hash=item3652dc5236:g:01QAAOSwTUpdXIlp

Happy Bidding.

Ruth Dicker in Artforum - December 1963

It looks like Artforum has been doing some more indexing of their magazine.  From December 1963:

Ruth Dicker, Group Show
ART UN­LIMITED

Mixed media landscapes, and sculptures and prints by West Coast artists are shown in this little down­stairs gallery which has recently ex­panded to include a penthouse sculp­ture garden.
Miss Dicker is an expert craftsman and a diligent researcher, more inter­ested at the moment in textural effects than in subject matter. Using landscape as a point of departure, she abstracts such popular themes as forest glades and lonely waterfronts, shrouding them in luminous pearly grays and eerie night purples. In open light and full color, her works become decorative and harsh. Her strongest point at the

This is likely the flyer from that show or perhaps another show at the same gallery.

Possible sighting in North Bay

Sometimes, when looking at open house photos, I see pictures that look like Ruth Dicker paintings.  I've reached out in the past and they weren't matches.  This one just popped up on the market and I am pretty confident that it is a Ruth Dicker painting because of the frame, the tree structure, the orange sun, and the slight shading around the branches, that is probably where the rice paper is.  I need to try to figure out how to reach out to the owner to confirm.

Mid Century Modern

A fan sent along a picture of his Mid Century Ruth Dicker painting, nicely situated with some ceramics and a nice dark credenza.  Here it is:

He inspired me to post some other Mid Century examples from the slide archive.  There's a lot more, also.  I don't know where most of these are so if you have one, drop us a line.

Aspen from 1960

An oldie, but a goodie!  These pictures were shared with the blog a while back, but got lost in the shuffle.  This is a nice piece, all the way back from 1960, which is when Ruth really began painting and showing in galleries.  As with many of Ruth's paintings now, it has moved onto the next generation to enjoy.

I just love it when people go looking for more information, find the blog, and share their pieces!  Keep it up!

Almond Blossoms and Mustard on Ebay

Here's a really nice piece available for sale on Ebay, currently:

It is titled Almond Blossoms and Mustard and it was painted in 1981.  It appears to be for sale in Arizona now, but was originally located in Carmel for many years.  A few more paintings came up for sale in Carmel recently, so I wonder if this one is related.