Curator: 'OMA Regional 4' reflects growing art talent in North County

By: SANDRA KRAISIRIDEJA - For the North County Times | Wednesday, November 23, 2005 7:23 AM PST ∞

When patrons view the 41 original works of art that make up the Oceanside Museum of Art's "OMA Regional 4" exhibit, its jurors say they will see a spectrum of the best paintings, sculpture, graphics and mixed-media pieces by regional artists completed in the past two years.

Mary Livingstone Beebe of the Stuart Collection at UC San Diego, Derrick R. Cartwright of the San Diego Museum of Art, and Arthur Ollman of the San Diego Museum of Photographic Arts served as jurors and reviewed more than 160 entries.

Not much thought is given to how an exhibit comes together or how a museum goes from having bare walls to being covered with artwork, but Irv Simpson has spent a great deal of time these past few weeks thinking about it.

As project curator for "OMA Regional 4," Simpson is in charge of developing and distributing the exhibit prospectus; choosing, contacting and communicating with the exhibit jury; collecting and organizing the entries and slides from the artists; presenting the slides to the jury for their consideration; reporting the results of the selection process to the artists; receiving the artwork at the museum for display; and making sure the artwork is returned at the end of the exhibit.

"All along the way, I received assistance from the members of the exhibition committee and staff of the museum. It is a team effort," said Simpson, who lives in Oceanside and is also an artist himself.

"I work in several media," Simpson said. "I paint in acrylic, mostly abstract, and create silver jewelry and other small metal objects. I also experiment with sculpture and printmaking."

Simpson is building a new studio for himself in Oceanside that he hopes to work in for many years to come, he said.

Simpson was project curator for "OMA Regional 3," which took place in 2003, and is in a unique position to reflect on the progress of art in North County and the Oceanside Museum of Art's role in nurturing that development.

This year, about 15 of the 31 artists whose work was selected for the show are from North County, which Simpson believes is up from last year's ratio.

"I see North County becoming more and more sophisticated in many ways over the years. A good quality of life always seems to attract artists. Although it is hard to compare the quality of OMA regional exhibits over the years, each year seems better the last," he said.

"Oceanside Museum of Art absolutely adds to the sophistication and attractiveness of North County," added Simpson, who is a member of the museum exhibition committee.

"From its inception, OMA's mission has focused on fostering the art and artists of San Diego County. In fact, over the past 10 years, 75 percent of the artists presented at OMA have been from San Diego.

"OMA is also committed to building a collection of art by San Diego artists and will continue to add to the collection, as space is available. I believe that OMA has a bright future and regional and North County artists have a place of great support," Simpson said.

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