Claremont and Pomona Day Trip

 

This excursion by bus was sponsored by the Mingei museum. The first stop was at the American Museum of Ceramic Art in Pomona.   The museum was opened in 2004 in a former bank building and is one of few museums devoted exclusively to ceramics and is the only one of its kind on the West Coast.  An impressive mural by Millard Sheets titled Panorama of Pomona Valley dominates an entire wall of the main gallery.

                                            

Our group enjoyed  a docent-led tour of Common Ground: Ceramics in Southern California 1945 -1975, featuring more than forty artists who had a common ground with Millard Sheets, an artist and educator and designer in Southern California during that time. There is also a studio for artists and students to create their own pieces with pottery wheels, kilns and work tables.

                                                                                           

Lunch was on our own in the pleasant Claremont Village. Ed and I enjoyed an  excellent Thai lunch at Bua Thai Cuisine.

The group then went on to Claremont Colleges, which is a complex of 5 colleges that include Pomona College for liberal arts, Claremont McKenna for liberal arts that specializes in economics and political science, Harvey Mudd for sciences and math,  Pitzer College for liberal arts and Scripps College for liberal arts for women.

The group focus was the Ruth Chandler Williamson Gallery in Scripps College to view “Clay’s Tectonic Shift” with pieces by John Mason, Ken Price and Peter Voulkos from 1956-1968 .The exhibit was dominated by massive, abstract ceramic sculptures.  

 

We also got to explore a basement storage area to see an extensive ceramic collection in many drawers and open crates.  This was unique in that we could handle the pieces if we wished.

Our next stop was at the Garrison Theater portico to see a large mosaic mural on red granite panels by Millard Sheets which depicts characters from three Shakespeare plays: Antony and Cleopatra, Romeo and Juliet, and King Lear.

     

Inside of the lobby are three large tapestries by Jean and Arthur Arnes titled The Dance of Destiny”.

                                                 

We continued on to Pomona college to see the James Turrell Skyspace known as Dividing the Light. It is in an open courtyard with granite seating around a shallow pool under a thin metal canopy with a section framing the sky. Light is reflected off the underside of the canopy and changes in hue and intensity to represent different times of the day. In the evening the colors slowly change during an hour from lavender to sunset colors. It was rather cool to stay the whole time for this outdoor experience.

Wine and a box dinner was served on the bus on our way back to San Diego.

San Pasqual Winery

On Feb. 18^th,  I volunteered to help at San Pasqual winery in Pacific Beach which is basically a warehouse where the wine is stored in barrels and vats for fermenting.  They have a tasting room in  La Mesa.  I helped with wine bottling. 

After a lot of cleaning of equipment with disinfectant, the wine was pumped from 4 barrels through a filter system and then into a huge plastic vat almost ceiling high.  The wine was then pumped to the dispenser apparatus that had a large tank over 6 spigots.  Argon gas was squirted into the empty bottles before being filled.  After being filled the bottles were moved to a person operating the corking machine.   The bottles were then packed into cases to be labeled later.  We took a lunch break with wine tasting.   All the helpers were given some bottles of wine. I will be using 2 for the Altrusa Fashion show raffle coming up in  April and saving the other 2 for special occasions.
Below the photo shows the cork machine
 and the filling machine on the right

The photo on the right shows three  of
San Pasqual's award winning wines with their summer vine passion fruit wine,
Nebbiolo and the Cabbiolo which was the one we bottled on the 18th. It won a silver medal at the San Diego International Wine
Competition in 2012.

Some new barrels at the warehouse

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GUADALUPE VALLEY WINE TASTING

We took this excursion to a region in Baja California northeast of Ensenada known as Guadalupe Valley with DayTripper.

 A stop was made along the coastal highway after passing by Tijuana at the Rosarito Beach Hotel that was established in 1925 which became a popular resort for royalty and Hollywood stars.  By 1950 land sales soared in Rosarito Beach and the town began to take shape with the addition of shops and restaurants.  Since the 1990s there has been appreciable construction of hotels, condominiums and shopping centers. 

Hotel murals

 The fishing village of Puerto Nuevo is 15 miles south of Rosarito and is famous for its fresh lobster that is fried and served with rice and beans at the local restaurants. Before approaching Ensenada is Puerto Escondido Bay where there are large circular pens that are used for farming Blue Fin Tuna.

  The bus trip continued inland just north of Ensenada through a rather dry area before reaching the lush vineyards of Guadalupe Valley.  The region has a perfect wine growing climate with warm weather, cool nights, a consistant marine layer and sandy soil. The first grapes were planted at a Franciscan mission established in  l834.  In 1904 a group of Russian immigrants came to Guadalupe Valley to avoid the Czarist army draft and  they acquired land to plant grape vines.

Our first stop in Guadalupe Valley was at L.A. Cetto which was founded by an Italian, Angelo Cetto, in 1980 and is the largest wine producer in  Mexico.  Since it was a rainy day we were served lunch in a private dining room rather than outdoors on the terrace. We enjoyed a 3 course meal with a green salad, an entrée with carne asada, pigeon, rice, beans and tortillas followed by watermelon and papaya.  Red and white wines  were at the tables to accompany the meal.    

    After tasting some of their wines we had time to check out the main tasting and sales room.  

 

We also stopped at La Casa de Dona Lupe which is a boutique winery that specializes in organic wines, olive oil and jams.  A shelter was set up outside for our group for wine tasting. They also had samples of their special pizzas and gourmet breads that we dipped in flavored olive oil.  We also sampled some of their specialty products and more wines inside the sales room .  On a nice day one can enjoy sitting at tables in the patio.

 On the return trip back along the coast the rain finally let up to end the day with a  double rainbow and a beautiful sunset.

 

A final stop was made in Tijuana at a liquor shop with some sampling of Tequila and other spritis.

After ending the tour in  San Diego we topped off  the day with a Mexican dinner at Su Casa in La Jolla

WARRIORS, TOMBS & TEMPLES at the BOWERS MUSEUM- SANTA ANA

 

Ed and I were part of a DayTripper group that  enjoyed a Chinese lunch in Irvine before visiting the Bowers museum. 

                                                                                                                                                                              This exhibition focused on the underworld empires of three dynasties in China: the Qin, the Han and the Tang. The highlight featured several life-size terra cotta warriors that were to protect Qin Shihuangdi ,the first emperor of China.  They are examples of more than a 1,000 clay warriors that have been excavated in Xian since they were discovered in 1974 of an estimated 8,000 that were buried.   Originally they had painted garments. Chariots and hundreds of terra cotta horses were also buried to accompany the emperor in the afterlife.  Miniature statues and earthenware animals accompanied Han emperors.  Many treasures of gold, silver and glass  that accompanied the Tang  rulers and elite were also on display.

 

The museum also has a large collection of Native American Art and exhibits of Orange County history.

 

THE HUNTINGTON BOTANICAL GARDENS

THE HUNTINGTON BOTANICAL GARDENS

Members of the the La Jolla Village Garden Club enjoyed a day trip in October by bus to the Huntington Library, Art Collections and Botanical Gardens in San Marino.  The focus was garden tours led by docents with some time left to see some of the art collection and library.

The Botanical Gardens cover over 120 acres with more than a dozen gardens. 

                                                                                         

The hightlight was the Chinese garden, known as The Garden of Flowing Fragrance, which features a lake, a complex of pavilions, a teahouse and five stone bridges. The design was inspired by private gardens in Suzhou, China.  Chinese architecture and rocks surround a lake with layers of meaning and symbolism. Water symbolizes the ever changing and the rocks are the eternal.   Intricately  crafted lattice windows in some of the pavilions frame an object or scene.  Carvings adorn some of the walls. Certain plants represent various seasons with flowering trees in the spring and bamboo and pines in the winter.

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Other important botanical attractions that were visited included the Subtropical, Jungle, Palm, Rose and Desert gardens.

Our garden group also enjoyed lunch at the Rose Garden Tea House that featured scones, an assortment of tea sandwiches, salads and assorted little dessert treats.

A brief look at the art collection in the Huntington residence included the large portrait gallery that features Blue Boy and Pinkie.

An example of the Sevres porcelain used for potpourri is shown.                                                              
                            One of the highlights in the Library is the Gutenberg Bible                                                                 

 

                                                                                                                    

A last look at the terrace of the Huntington residence to complete the day visiting the gardens and art galleries.