Still making art after all these years

Torus Tammer

“We have been around for 38 years now, and we’re still the best-kept

secret in Huntington Beach,” said Mildred Freeman, a 15-year member of

the Huntington Beach Art League.

Freeman, member Diana LoSchiavo and current league president Don Riscol

reminisced about the history of the 200-member club during a private tour

of a section of the Huntington Beach Library that houses an exhibit of

its members’ work.

The league meets monthly at the Rodgers Seniors’ Center, where they

congregate to conduct official business or just to socialize. It’s not

the first place they’ve been.

“Aw, we’ve met in several places over the years,” Riscol said.

“We had the Murdy Park club house,” LoSchiavo added.

“Well, we’ve been at Rodgers Seniors’ Center for 10 years,” nudged

Freeman

“Yep, that’s right -- we had Murdy Park...” Riscol continued.

The trio has been brought together by the art league. Riscol has been a

member for eight years and paints churches around the world in oil.

Freeman paints watercolors, focusing on organic matters -- flowers and

plants. LoSchiavo, a past president and 10-year member, paints beachfront

watercolors, capturing the shoreline.

They, like all the members of the league, thrive for art -- whether it be

as creators, supporters, enthusiasts or just as facilitators. The real

heart of this club beats to promote the magnificence of art, as well as

the splendor of its founders’ vision.

In 1962, Rheta Gillette led a handful of fellow artists to the fertile

grounds of the previously sparse artistic community of Huntington Beach.

From its inception, the Huntington Beach Art League had an ideal, Freeman

said.

Gillette and the group wanted not only to create and promote art -- they

wanted to be proactive within the community.

From modest beginnings, a burgeoning community of art lovers spawned. The

league that started with a handful of members now has 200, ranging in age

from from 10 to 90.

The sprouting membership has a lot to do with the fact that in 1995 the

Huntington Beach Central Library allocated space to the league as a

gallery area, Riscol said.

The art league is not set up as a moneymaking venture. In fact, any money

that comes in is put toward the seven high school scholarships the league

hands out each year.

The group has survived, not only because of its tenacity, but because of

the kindness of strangers and friends.

Among those who were once strangers is Ron Hayden, Huntington Beach’s

director of library services. Hayden has worked with the club for several

years.

He believes that Riscol, LoSchiavo and Freeman have kept the league going

and thriving, though he doesn’t think they take enough credit for it.

“These three are the driving force behind the league,” Hayden said. “They

were instrumental in communicating at times of conflict and have been

able to focus on what needed to be accomplished, even in the face of

adversity.”

Many of the events for the league are free -- particularly the monthly

members’ meetings, where an artist is selected to demonstrate his or her

work in front of an audience.

The league is deliberate about its selection process.

“Our members look forward to the new and interesting things they can

observe and learn during league meeting displays,” Freeman said. “We

always carefully select the artist to get the best people we can.”

This past week, the league hosted local sculptress Rhonda Jones.