From Sea to Shining Sea: A Reflection of America

The Haggin Museum was proud to present an exhibition of contemporary American art entitled, FROM SEA TO SHINING SEA: A Reflection of America. Forty-seven of America's finest realist and impressionist painters have collaborated for two years to create ninety-four paintings inspired by the nation's grand mountains and rugged coast, its subtler rural countryside, and its industrial and urban sites. Many of the works resulted from group-painting sessions that literally stretched from sea to shining sea: the Hudson River Valley in New York, the St. Louis area in Missouri, and the rugged Big Sur coastline in California. The exhibition is co-curated by artists Gil Dellinger of Stockton, California, who is a trustee of The Haggin Museum, and John Cosby of Laguna Beach, California, a trustee of the Laguna Art Museum. The Haggin Museum has published a beautifully-designed, hard-cover catalogue that provides an enduring remembrance of this remarkable exhibition. It features full-color reproductions of all the works in the show and biographies of each artist. In addition, brief essays by curators John Cosby and Gil Dellinger provide their perspectives on the exhibition. A longer essay by art historian Jean Stern places the works featured in this show in the wider context of the history of American art.