ARTS [Persona] Picturing Our Artistic Past Marcelle Polednik helps Monterey museum of art bring local art history into perspective with the exhibit "Artists at Continent's End," looking at the Monterey peninsula art colony between 1875 and 1907.

Dan Shafer

Why would a young, up-and-coming curator at the Whitney Museum of American Art in Manhattan want to chuck it all and head to one of the westernmost places in America with a quality museum? That's what Marcelle Polednik did just over a year ago when she was offered the position of Director of Collections and Exhibitions at the MMA (Monterey Museum of Art).

It turns out she did it because she wanted the chance to make a serious creative contribution. And she's been able to do just that, already bringing her flair for organizing exhibitions and collections to bear in some interesting new ways.

"When you're a curator at a big museum," she explains, her eyes flashing in delight as she talks about her passion, "you have a pretty narrowly defined set of tasks associated with exhibitions that are assigned to you. I wanted to have more influence over what exhibitions I'd get to work on, and then the chance to make those showings really creative and interesting."

By all accounts, she's already been highly successful doing so.

Before she took the position, the local museum had already agreed to host a showing of the exhibition "Artists at Continent's End: The Monterey Peninsula Art Colony, 1875-1907."

Ms. Polednik calls the exhibition, which runs through April 29, "extremely important and quite engaging." The exhibition was the brainchild of Crocker Art Museum in Sacramento, which actually borrowed a few pieces from the MMA for inclusion in the project.

"That period is not our strong suit, though," says Polednik. "It obviously made great sense for the exhibition to be displayed here in Monterey when its Sacramento run was over."

You might think that bringing an existing exhibition to a new museum would be a fairly straightforward task calling for little if any creativity. If you did think that, you'd be wrong.

"There were about 90 pieces to deal with," she says. "Right away that meant the museum had to find appropriate storage for 90 crates while the exhibition is going on. But that wasn't the creative part. Each museum is arranged differently, so fitting any given collection or exhibition that's been in one museum into another can be quite a challenge."

In the case of the current exhibition, for example, the Crocker had displayed it in a large single room. The MMA consists of a number of smaller galleries and display areas. That meant that Ms. Polednik had to break down the exhibition into thematic groupings.

"Then I had to figure out which paintings within those groupings would look right and make sense together," she explained, warming to her subject. "And of course there were questions of what colors to paint the walls behind the paintings, how to light them, how to arrange them for visitor flow, any number of things."

Finally, the MMA decided to translate all of the text associated with the exhibition - labels on the walls, the exhibition program, and other such content - into Spanish, something that was crucial to public enjoyment of the experience in Monterey.

Monterey's Role in Art History

The current exhibition gives visitors a deep glimpse into the great importance Monterey had in the early history of American 20th Century art. Most people who live here have at least a vague sense that art is important here. Carmel, in particular, is sprinkled liberally with art galleries and salons. Big Sur has long been known as an art colony.

But at the turn of the century, some of the best-known artists in the world were working in the Monterey-based colony. This included such greatly appreciated masters as Raymond Dabb Yelland, Charles Dickman, Arthur and Lucia Matthews, Xavier Martinez, Francis McComas and the celebrated pointillist Evelyn McCormick, whose adobes are among some of the most stunning of the works on display.

"My personal favorite," Polednik said, "is undoubtedly a piece by Gottardo Piazzoni called 'Winter.' It is so starkly abstract and monochromatic that you could easily mistake it for a work done several decades later. It celebrates the local landscape beautifully while evoking a real meditative quality."

In addition to paintings, the Artists at Continent's End exhibition also features scenic photography by Arnold Genthe. In addition, the museum's Entry Gallery is featuring a parallel exhibition entitled "Images of Monterey, 1875-1907." This display includes photographs that capture a glimpse into the lives and times of the artists featured in the main exhibition. Many of these photographs are from the local collection of arts patron Pat Hathaway.

Punishment as Art

Ms. Polednik's interest in art is a life-long experience. "I can't remember a time when I wasn't fascinated by art," she said. "When I was a little girl growing up in Poland, my grandmother often punished me by making me stand in the corner. But her house had these amazing paintings on the walls, so I got enthralled looking at them as I was serving my punishment."

Polednik came to the United States with her family at the age of 10. She went to the University of Southern California, where she earned her BA in Art History, then moved to New York City where she earned her master's degree at the Institute of Fine Arts, one of the nation's premier art schools, which is associated with New York University. She has completed all of the requirements for her Ph.D. in her chosen field except for her thesis, which she is in the process of completing.

At the MMA, she works for Executive Director Michael Whittington. It was Whittington who saw the tremendous opportunity to educate local residents and arts patrons in the early history of the local art colony. He instigated bringing the exhibition to Monterey before he recruited Polednik to join the staff.

She says she particularly enjoys bringing exhibitions to Monterey because the Peninsula is one of the richest historical places in all of California. Our city once served as California's state capitol and features some of the most important and interesting historical buildings and event sites in the state's long and illustrious history.

Polednik also enjoys living in Monterey because one of her favorite pastimes is taking long walks with her husband, teacher David Kammerman. She also loves reading and travel.

"I really love to travel. I get to do a fair amount of it in my job here at the Museum, but I can never get enough of visiting interesting places and learning about them," she says with a warm smile.

What's in the Works

With the opening of the current exhibition behind her - and even as she was preparing for its arrival and display - Polednik continues to juggle several other projects.

"It's kind of like a marathon around here," she laughs. "Some sprints and some really long marathons."

In the near term, she's working on a fascinating exhibition of a work by the famed early-20th Century artist Henri Matisse.

"When I arrived, there hadn't been a comprehensive inventory of the museum's holdings in a long time. As I was in the process of discovering what treasures were hidden away in storage, I ran across a very important work by Matisse called Jazz."

Much to her delight, this late-life work by Matisse blended beautifully with this year's 50th anniversary of the Monterey Jazz Festival. As a result, the museum is planning a special exhibition of the Matisse work alongside a display of all 50 of the famed jazz festival poster artwork.

"We're also planning several jazz concerts at the museum," she said of the planned exhibition, which is scheduled to open in June.

The Matisse work is interesting on a number of levels, says Polednik. It was created when the artist was in his seventies and in poor health. He could no longer draw or paint easily with a pencil or brush, so he took up the use of scissors to cut out simple forms from brightly colored construction paper, which he then arranged on another sheet of that paper. His assistants then took those assemblages and got them ready to print in limited-edition books.

Some of the projects on which any museum works, Polednik points out, take years to develop. Such is the case with a project she hopes to see come to fruition in 2009. This will be the first-ever comprehensive retrospective of the work of Piazzoni, a man many consider to be the dean of California painters.

"Piazzoni is perhaps best known as a muralist," Polednik says, warming to her topic. "He painted the world-famous murals at San Francisco's de Young Museum."

Those murals were originally painted for the San Francisco main library in 1931-32. Two of the largest are called simply "The Sea and The Land."

In 1999, the library was converted to house the Asian Art Museum and the murals were about to be moved to the new de Young facility, which was being rebuilt after the Loma Prieta earthquake. A firestorm of controversy raged for two years through the courts and the media before the murals were finally relocated and restored.

To prepare for the upcoming Piazzoni retrospective, Ms. Polednik has assembled a team of scholars to begin drawing up plans, deciding which of the famed painter's works should be sought out for display, and providing additional historical background. When completed, the retrospective will enjoy a several-months-long appearance in Monterey and then go on to become the local museum's first-ever national traveling exhibition.

Permanent Collections

In addition to managing special exhibitions, Polednik is responsible for the museum's permanent collections. Most of these are housed in the museum's main building at 559 Pacific Street in downtown Monterey. These include collections on early California painting, photography, contemporary art by local and international artists, and a predominantly modern Asian collection.

But for the past 15 or more years, the museum has also maintained collections and shown exhibitions at the La Mirada house location near Monterey Peninsula College.

As with many art museums, education plays a major role in the MMA. In addition to special workshops, classes and tours for adults and families, the museum offers a wide range of educational opportunities for schools. These include a "Museum on Wheels," Folk Art Kits, and a special workshop called "Creative Response."

Annual museum memberships cost from $40-60 and include free admission to the museum's two locations, a subscription to the museum's quarterly newsletter, museum stores, discounts, and other privileges. Admissions are $2.50 for students and military personnel, $5 for adults. Children 12 and under are free. Group tours can be arranged and the museum makes parts of its facilities available for rental as well.

Both museum locations are open 11-5 Wednesday through Saturday and 1-4 on Sunday. For more information, call 831-372-5477.