The Fresno Bee from Fresno, California • H1

KPhysical Page THE FRESNO BEE FRI PRERUN 1 Time Printed 16:02 Composite Logical Page THE FRESNO BY DAVID HALE I a newcomer asks what makes the San Joaquin Valley the richest agricultural center, no need to draw a picture. The evidence is everywhere in luxuriant orchards, vineyards and fields of row crops. a horse of a different color, as they say, should the stranger in town be an art lover a new settler, perhaps inquiring about local resources for contemporary art. Tell him or her about an increasingly popular enterprise, the Fresno ArtHop. a citywide open house among museums, galleries and artist studios, free to the public the first Thursday of each month.

At latest count, the excursion involves 48 venues. also Wave II: Fresno Artists of the New an invitational show represent- ing 35 artists that continues through July 21 in the Fresno Art Museum. For ArtHop regulars accustomed to enduring the problems of traffic and parking to sample the latest in local art, Wave is rather like one-stop viewing. Well-established artists such as painters Trude McDermott, Michael Garcia, Linda Koch and Sharon Alexander, fiber artist Patti Handley, sculptor Nancy Youdelman and photographer Michael Karibian exhibit side by side with talented, not so well-known names such as painters Stephanie Ryan and Nancie Holliday and photographers David Ashcraft, Terrance Reimer and Michelle Ricci-Koch. Painters Frank Arnold and Jane White- hurst, co-founders of ArtHop, make a rare appearance away from their downtown studio, and there are some comfortably familiar names to gallery hoppers: Pickford, Bickford, Dolarian and Bertoldi.

Except here, they represent the New Guard second-generation artists such as photographer Joel Pickford, painters Shannon Bickford and Robin Dolarian and turned collagist Nathan Bertoldi. Curator Jacquelin Pilar organized Wave as an overview of out there, focusing on emerging and veteran area artists. an intelligent, ambitious and handsome installation, wrested from a wild conglomeration of styles and media. No question, the show has been a satisfying experience for curator Pilar. makes me very, very she says, standing in a gallery surrounded by a diverse array of multimedia works.

showcases our local artists, people who have become very important to my life for their ideas and their dedication. an important show for the museum, the community and the Indeed, the season has been a gratifying one all around for the museum, considering the staff and board of directors have been operating without a full-time or interim director for the fifth time in eight years. For Pilar, it also has been a particularly difficult year, including four major presentations in a calendar of 25 exhibitions. The responsibility for creating those shows is hers, just as it has been since 1994 with the departure of Robert Barrett as director. Pilar, officially the associate curator, doubles as curator and exhibitions designer roles traditionally accorded to the director.

The recently closed on Paper: Drawings, Watercolors and a show three years in preparation that seemed to grow in complexity from day one, left Pilar and the staff with just two months to organize Wave tell you, been hard for every- Please see ART, Page H6 BY MIKI TURNER I I A There was a time in the Dark Ages before VCRs when soap addicts scheduled their lives around daytime dramas. You just had to see Luke and wedding on and God forbid you missed any of Hope and many reconciliations on of Our But in this age of 400 channels, the Internet, two-income families, Soapnet and VCRs, the 10 remaining soaps find themselves nearly washed up. Ratings are down, and audiences are shrinking, particularly in the coveted 18-49 demographic. Daytime serials are in desperate need of a guiding light. are a dying art form, and they have to find ways to revitalize the genre and appeal to young said Tom Emmy historian.

still the impression that soaps Please see SOAPS, Page H6 DARRELL WONG THE FRESNO BEE Jacquelin Pilar, curator of the Fresno Art Museum, says Wave is important show for the Paintings by Jane Whitehurst are included in the show. EXHIBITS FRESNO ART MUSEUM Linda paintings are infused with offerings from the forest floor and undersea realms. and the space it occupies is my FRESNO ART MUSEUM Sharon Alexander, a well-established painter, produced TELEVISION Soap opera ratings are in a lather Once again, asking Fresno Bee readers to share their views of this great area we call home. Just send in color photos of people partaking of all our area has to offer. Working, playing, relaxing.

Going to school, taking a hike, watching a Grizzlies game. Remind us of the beauty all around and that includes the people who live here. publish the best later this summer in Valley Life, The annual guide to the Valley. Here are submission guidelines: Photos must have been taken in Fresno, Tulare, Kings, Madera, Mariposa or Merced counties. Send only color prints.

When people are photo- graphed, identify them. Photos will not be re- turned. We cannot individually notify you as to whether your photos will be used. Attach the above form to the back of each photo. Mail photos by July 19 to Images of Valley Life, The Fresno Bee, Features, P.O.

Box 12504, Fresno, CA 93778-2504. Or e-mail images in JPEG format with a resolution of at least 200 DPI to READER PARTICIPATION Send us shots of Valley life The Fresno Art Museum offers a glimpse of some of the most vital works. FRESNO ART MUSEUM Joel Pickford captured the feel of this Southern staircase in 1995. goal in every photograph is to find the emotional center of the FRESNO ART MUSEUM Nancy Youdelman uses clothing as a metaphor. spotlight Books Mags H3 WANT LIFE ONLINE? SECTION SUNDAY TOP ALBUMS 2 CROSSWORD 6 CALENDAR 7The Arts H5 THE FRESNO BEE SUNDAY, JULY 7, 2002.