Hilbert Museum celebrates anniversary with art talks, lectures

Pete the Panther, Chapman University’s official mascot, prowled the halls of the Hilbert Museum of California Art at Chapman University in Orange, making a special appearance for the museum’s anniversary. Art lovers posed for pictures with the big cat who sported a jersey in Chapman red and Panther black.

Pete’s visit was among the activities that took place at Hilbert Museum’s anniversary event on Feb. 22, marking nine years since the museum officially opened and its first year in an expanded 22,000-square-foot, two-building exhibition and educational complex. Guests enjoyed talks and cupcakes with other art lovers and artists at Saturday’s all-day event.

Official Chapman University mascot Pete the Panther appears at the Hilbert Museum of California Art at Chapman University.

(Courtesy of the Hilbert Museum)

Founded by art collectors and philanthropists Mark and Janet Hilbert, the Hilbert Museum opened in 2016 and is home to one of the world’s largest collections of California narrative art. The museum was made possible by a major gift the Hilbert’s gave to Chapman University in 2014. In February 2024, the museum reopened after undergoing a three-year expansion that tripled its size.

“We hope to continue to foster art and artists in this community, and we would like to see this area become an arts district,” Mark Hilbert told TimesOC in October 2023, when the museum was still under construction for the expansion.

Since opening nine years ago, the Hilbert Museum has hosted 250,000 visitors and shown 70 separate shows.

“We are beyond grateful to our old and new fans in Orange County and beyond who have made us one of the fastest-growing art museums in Southern California,” Hilbert Museum director Mary Platt said in a statement. “But, as impressive as our first nine years have been, 2024’s expansion accelerated visits by locals and visitors wanting to experience works by California artists or that capture the essence of the Golden State.”

The Hilbert Museum of California Art at Chapman University celebrates its ninth anniversary in Orange.

(Eric Staudenmaier)

The museum complex houses the Hilbert’s collection of more than 5,000 pieces that chronicle California history from the 1900s to today through the work of California scene artists, Hollywood studio artists and animators.

Besides the Hilbert collection, the space has dedicated galleries to rotating exhibitions that feature local artists, like “Going Places,” a solo exhibition of modern master painter Timothy J. Clark. Additionally, the building’s facade displays the restored Millard Sheets mosaic, “Pleasures Along the Beach,” relocated from a flagship Home Savings & Loan building in Santa Monica.

During the afternoon, the Citrus Labels Society, a California-based club that connects collectors of vintage citrus labels, gathered in the Burra Community Room to discuss “Picturing Paradise: California Orange Box Labels,” a current exhibition at the museum curated by orange crate-label expert Gordon McClelland.

The group shared its passion for orange-crate label collecting. The labels were used to illustrated Southern California’s bounty and sell oranges, but they also created an image of California orange groves that persists today. In the evening, renowned Southern California portrait artist Bradford Salamon led a talk on the nuances of portrait painting.

Mark Hilbert, who often refers to the complex as a storytelling museum, was on hand on throughout the day to walk visitors through the museum. Hilbert leading tours is a common sight, and the museum estimates that Hilbert, along with Platt, have led nearly 350 personal tours, some scheduled but many impromptu, since the museum opened.

The Hilbert Museum’s expanded two-building exhibition and educational complex opened on the original Chapman University site in February 2024.

(Eric Staudenmaier)

On Feb. 27, Hilbert will host a talk titled: “My Collecting Life” in the Burra Community Room at 6 p.m. The informal talk will include personal stories on how he began collecting California scene paintings, original movie art and antique radios.

While the museum is proud of what it has accomplished over the past nine years, Platt assures local art lovers the museum has even more surprises in store, as it looks ahead to its 10-year anniversary.

“We expect an even brighter future as we get ready to celebrate our first decade,” said Platt.