| Mentor Huebner: One Artist Show | |
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Twelve
Paintings, with Commentary by Louise Huebner Painting #12: California Gold |
Mentor Huebner
California Gold, 1957
Oil on Masonite
30 X 24 inches
© Louise Huebner
There is a six year span between Mentor's paintings Mojave Gold and California Gold. He created a lot of paintings in the interim, so I won't excuse his titles. They are not redundant even though he used "Gold" twice.
In Mojave Gold, he was referring to the golden hues of the mountains and the gold buried beneath them. In California Gold, he addressed the sunflowers that are wildly scattered throughout the California hillsides.
Vincent van Gogh was Mentor's favorite artist. But that isn't why Mentor painted California Gold. Mentor loved sunflowers. And even though our home is located in an area where sunflowers exist in profuse abundance, sadly, we could never grow one.
Sunflowers even grow out of cracks in dried up abandoned parking lots. We'd see them everywhere; along the highways, the side streets, peeking through fences in the barrios ~ but never ever in our own garden.
Mentor would return from painting carrying handfuls of flowers. He particularly made an effort to bring home sunflowers. "Honey, try these. Maybe they’ll work." But they didn't!
"Maybe there's arsenic in the soil." But there wasn't.
Since everything else was blooming, invited or not, we never stopped trying.
Then on Christmas Day, nine months after Mentor had died, way out back, almost to the edge of the property line, I spotted two very tall, very graceful sunflowers swaying in the breeze. They seemed to have sprung up over night. I gaze out over the terrain from my writing room window daily. They weren't there before.
Of course I take it as a sign. It makes me wonder.
I wonder if it means that sunflower seeds can lie dormant for decades, or that Mentor and Vincent have met.
Mentor Huebner's One Artist Show
- Mentor (Self Portrait)
Mojave Gold
Palace of Fun
The Bistro - Paris
Sexi Beach Bar
Saint Mark's in Venice
The Grand Canal in Venice
The Foreigner
Henry Ford Bridge
Mortal Wound
Bourbon Street
California Gold
From Your Guide: Mentor’s widow, Louise Huebner, is a writer, and the author of over 11 books about the Occult. She has the dubious honor of being the only officially appointed Official Witch in the world. She was designated Official Witch of Los Angeles during a Spell Cast at the Hollywood Bowl, where she had been 'booked' to increase the 'sexual vitality' of Los Angeles County's 78 cities. This event took place on "Folklore Day," during a concert in a series of Hollywood Bowl Concerts: "Twelve Summer Sundays at the Bowl." The 'Official Certificate' was inadvertently legal, having been signed by the Chairman of the Board of the Los Angeles County Supervisors and affixed with the County Seal.
Mentor and Louise are the parents of three children (a son, and twins: a son and a daughter) and the grandparents of six (four boys and two girls). Louise is quick to say,
"All the kids are very good looking, intelligent and talented," and adds,
"But then, why not?"
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The Mentor Huebner Art Gallery is located in the Medford International Airport, Medford, Oregon.
The Mentor Huebner Official Website: http://www.MentorHuebnerArt.com
Louise Huebner - Curator: LouiseHuebner@MentorHuebnerArt.com
Sale or Exhibition Information regarding Paintings and Drawings (Originals, Giclées or Prints), Fine Art or Film Production Art can be obtained by emailing Louise Huebner.
