New exhibit at Newport Beach Library showcases local artist's depictions of Route 66 and coastal Orange County
Joan Gladstone showed enough promise as a painter to get accepted into the Boston University College of Fine Arts. It wasn't long after she arrived on campus that she found herself grappling with a question countless other talented 18-year-olds standing on the verge of the rest of their lives have asked themselves.
'In my freshman year I thought, 'How will I ever make a living as an oil painter?'' said Gladstone, who now resides in Laguna Beach. 'And I didn't have the confidence back then to stick with it.'
She switched her major to journalism. That led her to a successful career running her own public relations firm.
Gladstone said she never lost her passion for the visual arts and visited exhibits as often as she could. She tried to keep her skills sharp by taking classes offered by the city of Laguna Beach beginning in 2007.
But she just couldn't afford to make art her priority, given her other responsibilities.
'After dabbling in classes, I'd do a painting and I'd feel a month or two would go by and I'm starting all over again,' Gladstone said. 'I'm kind of going backwards; I'm not progressing because I'm not investing the time in it.'
She described painting as a dormant 'seed.' And it wasn't until she started to step away from her first career that she began finding time to truly nourish and cultivate her latent talents.
'We have to be realistic about not trying to do too much at the same time, and that was my problem,' Gladstone said. 'I was trying to run a business. We had huge, important clients and [I was] taking art classes at the same time. And it just didn't work. I think we need to give ourselves permission to say we may have to do things in stages.'
Looking, back, Gladstone said she's grateful opportunities life offered eventually led her to a point where she could fully dedicate herself to art. Her work, much of which offers a local's perspective of the sights and culture of coastal Orange County, has been displayed at John Wayne Airport as well as art shows in Huntington Beach; she's planning another show for Los Angeles in September.
Earlier this month she debuted the first five of a new series of paintings she has been working on, inspired by trips with her husband across iconic Route 66 in 2009 and 2024. Those, as well as six of her paintings showcasing life and landmarks in Laguna Beach and Newport Beach, are on display at the Newport Beach Central Library through Aug. 31.
Her Route 66-themed series, with a nod to its upcoming 100th year, evokes 20th century Americana with depictions of signage travelers may have spotted along the 2,448-mile 'Mother Road' from Chicago to Santa Monica.
In her pieces Gladstone casts the signs and billboards in the bold, primary colors they would have brandished when they were new, rather than the faded shades they grew into after decades bleaching in the sun. The addition of subtle lighting effects with precisely blended paint adds a layer of depth, instilling a shimmering, lifelike quality to much of her work.
For many travelers, the signs in Gladstone's work served as either beacons offering respite or landmarks guiding their progress. Several library visitors who stopped to chat with the artist as her pieces were installed recounted the first time they saw the exact same scenes she had painted.
Many of those signs had been either destroyed or removed by the time she made her second trip across Route 66. Her latest work is partly an effort to catalog and preserve these artifacts. And 10% of proceeds from sales of prints and originals from the series will benefit the Route 66 Centennial Commission.
Other pieces she has on display at the library celebrate the culture and mood of coastal Orange County. These include depictions of the Main Beach lifeguard tower in Laguna Beach, the Balboa Fun Zone's Ferris wheel, a stack of surfboards on the sand and more.
Prints in a variety of sizes, as well as a limited collection of original paintings, are available through her website. She also invites patrons to stop by her booth and connect at the upcoming Sawdust Art Festival, which runs from June 27 through Aug. 31.
'I meet so many people at the Sawdust who are retired, and they're blossoming because they've gone back to music or art or writing or some creative pursuit that they just did not have time to do when they were working and raising a family,' Gladstone said.
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