Mary's Garden: Experience The Resting Place of Mary Moore MacLaren
Experience The Resting Place of Mary Moore MacLaren at BFree Studio
LA JOLLA, CA – The Mary Moore Memorial Art Exhibit featuring the floral watercolor collection of the former La Jolla Shores gallery owner will showcase 50 of her pieces for the first time. The show was originally planned in honor of the artist’s 92nd birthday; she died September 12. Her paintings will be unveiled at the BFree Studio starting at 11 a.m. on Tuesday, September 27,band continue through September 30 at 5 p.m. The community is invited to attend the Grand Opening on Tuesday, September 27, from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m.
Also featured during the exhibit week: Live reading daily Tuesday through Thursday from
3 p.m. to 5 p.m. of the artist’s daughter Pamela’s memoir “The Resting Place - A Graveside
Diary”; Gallery front window art by the artist’s granddaughter, Aislin Henry age 15; Photo album display of the artist’s gallery history in La Jolla.The Mary Moore Gallery opened on April 11, 1971, at 2163 Avenida de la Playa in La Jolla Shores. It operated in the ‘70s and ‘80s.
The late editor Neil Morgan wrote in the San Diego Union about her grand opening that
she was told by a distant gallery owner, “There are almost no serious art collectors in San Diego County, and you must count on Los Angeles and out-of-state buyers.” The Mary Moore Gallery was about to put “serious” on the San Diego map.
She brought artist Francoise Gilot to her first show in the area. The author of “Life with
Picasso” Gilot had married Dr. Jonas Salk in La Jolla by the time of her show. Gilot wrote: “Her
art gallery was a real center for the arts in La Jolla, and attracted interest and attention from
both the local community and New York. Mary animated the gallery with great taste and
integrity, both professionally and artistically.”
She featured artists and sculptors for the first time in this region in addition to Francoise
Gilot: Rufino Tamayo, Channing Peake, Malcolm Alexander, Charles Wells, William Dole,
Howard Warshaw, and Benjamin Serrano – who was described by a critic in his show at the De
Young Museum in San Francisco as “The first major sculptor from Mexico since Cortez knocked Montezuma off his throne.” Many curators bought Serrano’s work. One of her biggest collectors was Bill Hewitt, chairman of the John Deere Company.
Visit www.bfreestudio.net, to learn more about Barbara Freeman’s gallery, located at
7857 Girard Avenue. Gallery hours are 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily and closed Mondays. For more
information about the artist, please contact Mary MacLaren’s daughter Pamela at
forelight1@gmail.com
