Holiday Claremont Art Walk for December
The Claremont Art Walk is around the corner yet again, returning this Saturday, December 4 from 6 to 9 p.m. Business owners throughout the city will be showcasing theirs and others artwork as Saturday’s walk will conclude 2021’s year of illustrious installations and mileage of colorful footsteps. Below is our monthly featured artist index, courtesy of Elizabeth Carr.

Bunny Gunner Art Gallery,
230 W. Bonita Ave.
Bunny Gunner Art Gallery will be showing new blown glass pieces by Paul Brayton that are perfect for gift giving. In addition, the Button Box Museum is located on the west wall outside the Bunny Gunner Gallery. Currently, there is a display of antique and vintage buckles. These clothing fasteners were sometimes merely practical closures, but were often exquisite fashion statements!

Studio C,
260 W. Bonita Ave.
Katrin Wiese is a mixed media artist who uses mythical creatures in her work, and Lisabeth Mertins is a ceramic artist who makes whimsical creatures. The two styles will meet for the holidays. Studio C is currently hosting a holiday boutique with the work of about 15 other artists including Dual Whimsy. Come in and shop for unique gifts.

Dell Anno California,
323 W. Bonita Ave.
Come out to support five amazing women artists at Dell Anno California, who will be hosting artists Jennyfer Hsui Fen Godfrey, Robin A. Driscoll, Kat Hopkins, Babs Fine art, and Quincey Grace on the evening of December 4.

Claremont Chamber of Commerce,
205 Yale Ave.
For the past two years, Zach Taliesin has been documenting (photography and painting) and discovering some of the greatest modern buildings in the Foothills. Originally from Downey, Taliesin has an affinity for Googie and Organic Architecture. This exhibit, “Foothill Modern Modernism from LA to Palm Springs,” features Taliesin ‘s 35mm film photography from the past few months and watercolors from the past two years. Taliesin has lived in several Foothill cities including Claremont to Upland, San Dimas, Glendora, and back to Claremont. He is mostly interested in discovering everyday buildings in the Foothills such as fire stations and restaurants that define the landscape of his home. Some of these common buildings were designed by great and underrated (Claremont) mid-century architects like Foster Rhodes Jackson and Everett Tozier.

Square I,
110 Harvard Ave.
Square I will be having their annual 11 x 11 show including many local artists.

Sonja Stump Photography,
135 W. First St.
The work of nature photographer Don Perez will be featured between 6 and 9 p.m.

Claremont Museum of Art,
200 W. First St., in the Depot
The Claremont Museum of Art offers the exhibition “Mephistopheles and the Swan Girl,” presents work by widely known artist John Frame based on his production designs for the 2018 staging of Gounod’s Faust by The Lyric Opera of Chicago and The Portland Opera. The exhibition will also include Frame’s work on the Academy Award-winning short film “The Swan Girl,” 2016. Both projects relate to the Faust story and have continued to exert a strong influence on Frame’s work. CMA will also have its Art Book sale during December’s Art Walk.

Neon Moon Art Supplies,
317 W. First St.
Virgenes Y Oteros features the work of renown photographer and artist Karin Lindberg Freda. Karin has photographed Sade, The National, U2, St. Vincent, Elvis Costello, Questlove, Patti Smith and many others. She has shown at the Museum of Latin America Art and has been featured in the Huffington Post, Music Mind Zone, Google Cultural Institute, Bass magazine and other publications. She was a speaker at “Platforms and Paint” via the Los Angeles Times. She is currently working on a conceptual art portrait project and building a new exhibit with a very special focus on the street.

Claremont Forum Bookshop and Gallery,
586 W. First St., inside the Packing House
The Claremont Forum Bookshop and gallery will showcase the exhibit, “The Magical Land of California,” by artist J. Spanos.

Cinema has played a major role in the shaping of J. Spanos’s artistic style. When Spanos was a child, the artist would sit in front of the television and watch “The Wizard of Oz” on repeat. Spanos was always drawn into the magic of transporting from the world of the mundane to the extraordinary. Being a California native, Hollywood has been a fundamental source of socialization and understanding of how Spanos fit into the world, and how the world can be visualized glamorously.

As a queer artist, Spanos seizes the opportunity to make the mundane into something fantastical, or better yet, celebrate the extraordinary in the everyday. This work is highly inspired by low riders and the cityscapes, in conjunction with old film and advertising imagery. This body of work is imagining California through a cinematic lens, with the use of appropriated imagery from magazine advertisements from 1940s to 1970s.