Photos of artwork courtesy of Bakersfield Museum of Art

By Beth Pandol, Bakersfield Museum of Art

Five exhibits opening Dec. 10 at the Bakersfield Museum of Art have a common focus on the isolation and loss often associated with being homeless or displaced in society.

Hobos to Street People: Artists’ Responses to Homelessness from the New Deal to the Present is a traveling exhibit featuring the works of 30 artists working over the last 75 years to document the tragedy of homelessness.  Through painting, printmaking, photography, and mixed media, Depression-era and contemporary artists offer glimpses of life on the street and show many similarities between the eras.

Exhibit curator Art Hazelwood says that “some of the artists in this exhibition personally experienced homelessness and poverty, some worked directly with organizations to combat poverty, but all of them felt that art could be used to focus attention on homelessness. The idea that art can have a function in society by engaging in a struggle for a better world, and that everyone should take an interest in the well-being of less fortunate people are the twin beliefs of the artists in this show.”

Mixed media sculpture by Joe Brubaker

The exhibitions illustrate artistic interpretations of homelessness during a 75 year span from the Dust Bowl migrants of the 1930s to the street people of today with emphasis on California. The art and artists illuminate displacement both in noble and negative images.

No Place to Go: Paintings of the Homeless by Pat Berger is a compilation by the Los Angeles artist who spent over five years in the 1980s on skid row in Los Angeles, making a statement through paintings to bring attention to the issue of homelessness.

Local photographer, Felix Adamo, will show photos taken between 1980 and the present of the homeless in Bakersfield in an exhibit titled Society’s Edge. Adamo said he began photographing the homeless as a news photographer for The Bakersfield Californian and finds it interesting that the issue of homelessness remains a constant in the Bakersfield community. His photographs will be for sale, with all proceeds donated to the Bakersfield Rescue Mission and the Bakersfield Homeless Center.

"Prayer" by Felix Adamo of The Bakersfield Californian

Loss and Redemption: The Art of James McMillan is a portrayal of racial injustice and the resulting desolation.  According to McMillan, his work, especially that of the 1950s and ‘60s, clearly examines the depths of personal loss, of the deep psychological damage caused to individual American blacks by institutional and everyday racial injustice.

Joe Brubaker: Figurative Sculpture and the Exquisite Garden Project features figurative work along with wood and found objects.

In keeping with the exhibits’ theme of homelessness and the issues surrounding it, the museum will host a blanket drive on opening night. Attendees are urged to bring new or gently used blankets to benefit the Bakersfield Homeless Center. Additionally, there will be opportunity at the opening to make a donation to the center to sponsor a child in the center’s “Champ Camp” after-school educational program. Click this link to read more about the homeless center fundraiser.

Sculpture by James McMillan

The opening reception is at 6 p.m. Thursday, Dec. 10. The museum is located at 1930 R St. Admission is $10 for the public and free for museum members. There will be appetizers and a no-host bar. For more information, call 323-7219 or visit www.bmoa.org.

Additionally, artist James C. McMillan will give a talk on “Loss and Redemption,” sharing his personal reflection on art, race, life and loss at 7 p.m. Wednesday, Dec. 9, at the museum. Admission is $5 for the public and free for students and museum members. RSVP to 323-7219.

Beth Pandol is the director of marketing for the Bakersfield Museum of Art.

Related story: Mayor continues effort to end homelessness locally