Experience the Best of the Golden State at Assets 2018

Headed to Pasadena for Assets 2018? Here’s a list of cultural spots, entertainment, restaurants, and more to help you make the most of your trip.

While you’re in Pasadena, you’ll have a golden opportunity to explore the rich history, culture and art of California, as well as shop and dine in a beautiful city with great weather. Located just ten miles north of Downtown L.A., Pasadena is unquestionably the place to be this March.

Pasadena's iconic City Hall

Art and architecture

Known as a regional center of arts and architecture, Pasadena has been home to many well-known artists, including Guy Rose, Alson S. Clark, Marion Wachtel, and Ernest A. Batchelder of the Arts and Crafts Movement. You’ll be able to see examples of architecture from every era of California history in Pasadena as well, from historic estates to residential districts like “Bungalow Heaven,” named for its large number of craftsman-style houses.

Bungalow Heaven. Image credit: Eugene Lee

Aside from the places we’ll visit on our Fine Art and Antiques, Furnishings + Decorative Arts specialty tours, the Huntington, Norton Simon Museum, and Gamble House, there are many other museums located in or near Pasadena that have outstanding collections of works from California and beyond.

Be sure to visit the Pasadena Museum of California Art, dedicated to exploring “the cultural dynamics and influences that are unique to California” through art and design. There will be two special exhibitions there during our conference in Pasadena. The first is Testament of the Spirit: Paintings by Eduardo Carrillo, whose artwork has been described as mystical, realistic, surreal, and visionary. The second is The Feminine Sublime, presenting the art of L.A.-based artists and their interpretation of the sublime in painting.

Virginia Katz, Land – Into the Abyss [detail], 2017

Close to Pasadena, you’ll find the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, featuring 18th century Mexican paintings, 20th century design in California and Mexico, and more. The Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles represents the work of artists from the 20th and 21st centuries. In March, they’ll have a large exhibition from Nigerian-American artist Njideka Akunyili Crosby. And don’t miss The Broad Museum, where you’ll be able to see a retrospective of works by iconic American artist Jasper Johns. The J. Paul Getty Museum spans two campuses, one featuring a villa modeled after a first-century Roman country house.

Villa at the J. Paul Getty Museum

Shopping and entertainment

The historic town center, Old Town Pasadena, spans 21 blocks and has a wide variety of options for shopping, dining, and entertainment, including many restaurants, cafés, galleries, and comedy clubs. On the second Sunday of every month, you can attend the famous and long-running Rose Bowl Flea Market to browse new, used, and antique items from a variety of sellers.

View of Old Town Pasadena

Dining

Vertical Wine Bistro

Did you know that Pasadena has more eateries per capita than New York City? No matter what your taste or budget, you’ll certainly find what you’re looking for here. You’ll benefit from the proximity to California’s wine country and the beautiful farms around the state. For California-style comfort food, try the tucked-away Green Street Restaurant, or the seasonal selection at Vertical Wine Bistro.

If Italian food appeals to you, try Briganti in the Mission area. Of course, you can’t miss all the great Mexican food in the area, especially El Cholo Café with its California influence and green corn tamales, and El Metate. If you’re looking for something laid-back, Pasadena's classic Pie’n Burger has hamburgers, milkshakes and fruit pies.

There’s truly something for everyone in Pasadena, and we can’t wait to see you there for Assets this year!

For more information on Assets 2018 and to register, visit the Assets 2018 section of the ISA website.

The Fine Art Specialty Tour at Assets 2018

Irene Szylinger, ISA AM

With the holidays behind us, I am getting very excited about our annual conference, Assets, coming up March 9-12 in Pasadena, California. Be sure to register if you haven't already! The specialty tours at Assets always provide a wonderful taste of our host city, and on our Fine Art tour in Pasadena on Friday, March 9, we will visit two outstanding institutions. There will be something for everyone when we view the art collections, grounds and libraries at the Huntington and the Norton Simon Museum.

The Huntington, where we will go first, has a long and respected reputation. Established by Henry E. Huntington in 1919, the institution is a non-profit educational and research-based complex comprising a library, art collection, and botanical gardens.

In the Library, the general public can view some of the finest rare books and manuscripts of Anglo-American civilization, including the Ellesmere manuscript of Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales, a Gutenberg Bible on vellum, the double-elephant folio edition of Audubon’s Birds of America, and a world-class collection of the early editions of Shakespeare’s works.

Thomas Lawrence,
Sarah Barrett Moulton: Pinkie (1794)

The Huntington's permanent art collections are displayed in three galleries while a fourth space is dedicated to changing exhibitions. The collections focus on European art from the 15th to the early 20th century and American art from the late 17th to the mid-20th century. The Huntington Art Gallery, originally the Huntington residence, contains one of the most comprehensive collections in the US of 18th and 19th century British and French art. It serves as home to Thomas Gainsborough’s Blue Boy and Thomas Lawrence’s Pinkie.

After an orientation talk about the Huntington, we will be divided into groups. Each of the groups will have two fine art talks based on the vast Huntington collections. Afterwards, we will have some free time to visit parts of the collections on our own before we depart for lunch.

Thanks to ISA member Wendy Gerdau, lunch has been arranged at The Raymond, a charming restaurant in the craftsman architecture style filled with California plein-air art offering 4-star Zagat-rated cuisine. ISA Fine Art and AFDA members will have the exclusive use of the entire restaurant.

After lunch, we'll head to the Norton Simon Museum. The Norton Simon came into existence in 1941 as the Pasadena Art Institute before it merged with the Pasadena Museum of Art. In 1953, the Museum received nearly 500 artworks from the Scheyer estate, including works by German Expressionists Kandinsky, Klee, Jawlensky, Feininger and others. The gift not only included art works but an archive of correspondence with the artists. In the 1960s, the Museum added works by Larry Bell, Richard Diebenkorn, Ellsworth Kelly, Roy Lichtenstein, Claes Oldenburg, Ed Ruscha, Frank Stella and Andy Warhol.

Norton Simon collections featuring
Little Dancer, Aged Fourteen by Edgar Degas

Norton Simon’s activity as a collector spanned more than 30 years and encompassed the purchase of more than 8,000 works of art during his lifetime. Today, the collection is comprised of about 12,000 objects, including the only painting by Raphael on the west coast, three portraits by Rembrandt, six superb paintings by Van Gogh, over one hundred works by Degas, an important collection of Indian and Southeast Asian sculpture that spans over 2500 years, and other superlative works.

At the Norton Simon we have a custom-designed tour of the Degas as Sculptor exhibition. Towards the end of the presentation, the exhibition’s curator, Emily Talbot, will address our whole group. While we are at the Norton Simon, we are free to visit the special Rembrandt exhibition as well as the permanent collections on view.

I can't wait to see all of you at Assets!

Irene Szylinger, ISA AM, is a specialist in American, Canadian and European art from the 19th century to the present. She spent over twenty-five years working in museums and art galleries, and is now principal of an arts management and appraisal business as well as a provider of Public Art Commissions. She has been an accredited member of ISA since 1997.

Constructing Relationships at Assets 2017

Maureen S. Winer, ISA CAPP
Annual Meeting Committee Member

Since I became a member of ISA, I’ve never missed an ISA conference or left one early. Why would I miss learning and relaxing with my friends and colleagues from every part of the appraising world?

From the first day of Assets 2017 to the last, I am planning on taking advantage of everything the conference has to offer, including the outstanding social and networking events we have scheduled. If you haven’t already, register for the conference and special events, and view the full program.

Assets 2017 starts off with two specialty tours taking place all day on Friday, one focused on Fine Arts and the other on Antiques, Furnishings + Decorative Arts. You will have to choose one or the other, but luckily we have blog posts (linked above) from myself and Irene Szylinger with details about each of the tours.

After the tours end, we'll enjoy a opening reception back at the Palmer House Hilton, and directly after that, a New Attendees Reception to welcome everyone experiencing Assets for the first time.

Both specialty tours will visit
the Art Institute of Chicago.

Along with all of the wonderful educational opportunities on Saturday, Sunday and Monday, we have many opportunities during the day and afterward to connect with your fellow appraisers. Sunday offers a Networking Lunch and Learn, which gives us the opportunity to get to know ISA sponsors, Affinity Business Partners, and committee leaders. At the end of the day, we will gather on the sixth floor foyer for a silent auction benefiting the Foundation for Appraisal Education (FAE), which will raise funds for ISA members and increased educational opportunities.

On Monday, the day begins with a CAPP Appreciation Coffee event – I’ve worked hard to achieve my designation, and I will be enjoying refreshments and mingling with others who have done the same.

We have so many extraordinary and dedicated volunteers, from our Board President to those who serve on local and national boards and committees, as instructors, and supporters of ISA, and they deserve our thanks and recognition, so I never miss the Awards luncheon and the chance to thank them.

And don’t forget – Chicago has great shopping, entertainment and sightseeing. See you at Assets!

Maureen S. Winer, ISA CAPP