Bowers Two Summer Exhibitions Will Showcase the Talent of Artists from Around the World

Bowers Museum is excited to announce two upcoming exhibitions for summer 2023, Ubuhle Women: Beadwork and the Art of Independence, whose presentation at Bowers is made possible with generous support from PNC Bank and California Art Club’s 112th Annual Gold Medal Exhibition.
Ubuhle Women Open July 1 – Aug. 27, Ubuhle Women: Beadwork and the Art of Independence is a spectacular overview of a new form of bead art, the ndwango (“cloth”), developed by a community of women living and working together in rural KwaZuluNatal, South Africa. The plain black fabric that serves as a foundation for the Ubuhle Women artists’ exquisite beadwork is reminiscent of the Xhosa headscarves and skirts that many of them wore growing up. By stretching this textile like a canvas, the artists use colored Czech glass beads to transform the flat cloth into a contemporary art form of remarkable visual depth. Using skills handed down through generations and working in their own unique style “directly from the soul” (in the words of artist Ntombephi Ntobela), the women create abstract as well as figurative subjects for their ndwangos.
Ubuhle means “beauty” in the Xhosa and Zulu languages and well describes the shimmering quality of light on glass that for the Xhosa people has a special spiritual significance. A single panel can take more than 10 months to complete.
112th Annual Gold Medal Exhibition
A week after the opening of Ubuhle Women: Beadwork and the Art of Independence, Bowers Museum will also host the California Art Club’s 112th Annual Gold Medal Exhibition, open July 9 – Sept.
10, 2023. The much-anticipated annual showcase of Contemporary-Traditional artwork will spotlight 170 paintings and sculptures, selected by an esteemed panel of art scholars and artists, who reviewed nearly 600 submissions from nationally renowned representational artists as well as rising stars. To create the works for this unthemed exhibition, the 168 featured artists employed and modified the time-honored art techniques used by the founders of the California Art Club, who, at the beginning of the 20th century, inspired California Impressionism – the first artistic movement to be defined as uniquely Californian.
The artwork that will be unveiled at the Bowers Museum will feature picturesque landscapes that defined early Gold Medal Exhibitions, as well as grittier urban scenes and figurative works that represent the diversity of the Golden State and its fine artists, many of whom have immigrated from their native countries.
Both exhibitions will be free with General Admission and accompanied by a full array of educational and family programs. Bowers Museum is located in the historic heart of Orange County For more information, visit bowers.org.