PSST! - The Best Of The Coachella Valley and Beyond

Art on the Side, Big on Miniatures and "Shoosh!"

Diners at Miro’s Restaurant in Palm Springs can enjoy artwork by Robert R. Bradshaw. Shown here is Three Centuries of Achievement — 18th Century: Architecture; 19th Century: Turkish Weaving; 20th Century: Viennese Couture. Models: Stephanie Wallace and Chris Bonomo

Taylor Sherrill

Art On The Side

Last month, Miro Terzic hosted a reception in his restaurant for Palm Springs artist Robert R. Bradshaw. The event celebrated a recently installed one-man show comprising 26 of Bradshaw’s works in the Miro’s Restaurant dining room.

“I appreciate art, and I want to help out local artists,” says Terzic, who has been exhibiting such works for 14 years. Before Bradshaw’s exhibition, he showed watercolors by Palm Springs artist Bonnie Ruttan. “We sold six pieces within six or seven months,” Terzic says. “That’s pretty good for a restaurant.”

Lantana at The Hyatt Grand Champions Resort in Indian Wells partners with the Coachella Valley Watercolor Society in periodic competitions and guests vote for a People’s Choice winner. Diane Morgan’s Indian Wells Lantana has been shown in front of the restaurant since its opening this year. Next month, the resort will conduct another watercolor show and select paintings to be displayed in 2009.

Rattlesnake at the Classic Club in Palm Desert even shows photographs hanging in the restaurant in the “Gallery” section of its Web site and sells boxed cards with black-and-white images by Dennis Greaney of Michigan.

The Falls Prime Steakhouse in Palm Springs and La Quinta shows and sells the work of Michael Godard, famous for his amusing drink-inspired paintings (particularly martinis and playful olive figures).

In Palm Springs, Look has paintings by High Desert artist Wini Brewer and Michael Taha exhibits and sells his paintings under the name Ruffino at his eatery, Magie’s Restaurant & Wine Bar. Other area restaurants that exhibit and sell original art include Le St. Germain in Indian Wells, Café des Beaux-Arts and Firecliff Restaurant in Palm Desert, and Café Amusé in Palm Springs.

So the next time you dine at a restaurant, check out the walls. You may want to leave with more than a doggie bag.

J. Willott: Big on Miniatures

An annual exhibition usually mounted in a museum instead arrives next month at J. Willott Gallery in Palm Desert. The Western Artists of America Miniature Show will be displayed Jan. 12-19, with an artists reception and silent auction on Jan. 17.

The gallery represents three WAA members. “They were in town for a group show in March,” says Josh Otten, an owner of the gallery with Josh Paquette. “They were taken aback by the space and started thinking they could hold their miniature show here. They have a lot of support from the local community.” The artists also were applying their creative minds to business.

“They thought on a street like El Paseo they would get people who are compelled to buy,” Otten explains. The gallery expects more than three-quarters of the full WAA membership (about 30 artists) in attendance on Jan. 17. Each artist is creating four pieces for the show, one of which will be auctioned that night.

The word “miniature” does not necessarily mean artwork that will fit in your 40-foot sailboat. Paintings may be up to 16x20 inches, and sculptures are typically 16 to 24 inches tall.

The gallery’s next two exhibitions feature Theodore Waddell, Andrzej Skorut, and Vala Ola in February and Dave McGary, W. Scott Jennings, and Sue Krzyston in March.

Information: (760) 568-3180

Shoosh!

Palm Springs artist Jude Bischoff sat under a palm tree painting a father and his children playing at a stream in a canyon wash. As they were leaving, one of the boys, about 5 years old, wandered over to see Bischoff’s work and exclaimed, “Wow, your paintings have shoosh!”

Bischoff was amazed that someone so young could grasp what he was trying to convey in one word. He laughs, noting that there’s Cubism, Post Impressionism, and, now, Shoosh. Within the next year, Bischoff expects to have 50 of his Dancing Landscapes paintings, which he executes in this Shoosh style.

Meanwhile, Bischoff has been painting the town. “I started downtown in the little nooks and crannies and then started calling on the Viceroy,” he says. He also painted on-site at Korakia Pensione and even in the Palm Springs Art Museum’s sculpture garden. “The whole thing was about capturing Palm Springs and the dancing — to get that vibe into the buildings,” he says.

Dancing Landscapes works are on exhibition at IncredibleArtist.com, 333 N. Palm Canyon Drive, and at Hyatt Regency Suites, 285 N. Palm Canyon Drive. IncredibleArtist.com will host artist receptions on Jan. 14 from 6 to 9 p.m. and Jan. 17 from 4 to 7 p.m. Information: 325-5917.