SHIFTING GROUND: Rediscovered Treasures of the Monterey Museum of Art, an exhibition that offers a long-awaited first look at some of the treasures found in the Museum’s collection. This exhibition will be on view through February 25, 2007.

Saturday, October 21, from 3-4pm, at La Mirada, Marcelle Polednik, Director of Collections and Exhibitions and Curator of SHIFTING GROUND will present an intriguing in-depth study of an artwork in the exhibition. Free to Museum members and free to non-members with Museum admission. Offering a new eye to the extensive Museum collection of some 14,000 objects, newly appointed Director of Collections and Exhibitions, Marcelle Polednik has spent her first months at the Museum engaged in a thorough examination of the collection’s holdings and conducting an assessment of each individual object in the permanent collection. SHIFTING GROUND is a result of her investigations. Coming to the Monterey Museum of Art from the Whitney Museum of American Art, Polednik has identified art “treasures,” many of which have not been on public view for decades and in some cases are unusual works by artists chosen. The selections offer an unprecedented opportunity to view a rare selection of dynamic, contemporary works on paper, magnificent California Impressionist paintings; modern and contemporary Asian objects and striking twentieth century photographs.

Included in SHIFTING GROUND are works that represent particularly strong sections of the Museum collection. California Impressionism, for example, will be represented by the work of John O’Shea, E. Charlton Fortune, Armin Hansen, Percy Gray, and others. SHIFTING GROUND illuminates the Museum’s remarkable collection of modern and contemporary Asian art, especially in the area of printmaking by Chinese, Japanese, and Asian American artists. Particularly inspiring is the inclusion of several lithographs by Chang Dai-Chien born in 1899 in Szechwan province. Dai-Chien is one of the most important Chinese artists of the 20^th century, the productivity and variety of his works earning him the designation of the “Picasso of China.”

Photography has a long tradition in this region and the Museum collection reflects this tradition with its extensive holdings. On view during SHIFTING GROUND will be the work of master photographers Ansel Adams, Brett Weston, Alexander Rochenko, and Henri Cartier-Bresson, and contemporary photographers Jeffrey Becom Claudette Dibert, and Garry Winogrand, among others.

E. Michael Whittington, Executive Director of the Monterey Museum of Art, states, “Much like an archaeological expedition, SHIFTING GROUND mines the hidden depths of the collection, revealing objects that alter current perceptions of the scope of the Museum’s collection.” As the title suggests, the exhibition aims to shake things up – not only by exhibiting exciting works of art, but also by creating a dynamic, active exhibition space. Bridging the divides of history, genre and medium and emphasizing provocative exchanges between works of art, SHIFTING GROUND reappraises the identity of the Museum’s permanent collection.”

SHIFTING GROUND: Rediscovered Treasures of the Monterey Museum of Art will be on view at Monterey Museum of Art, La Mirada, 720 Via Mirada in the Dart and Klemme Galleries, from September 30, 2006– February, 2007.