Volcan Mountain Foundation

Exciting backcountry and Volcan Mountain art connections abound!  Local artist and Volcan Mountain Foundation supporter, Coko Brown’s award-winning watercolor, First Snow on Volcan, (see image below) is being exhibited in the upcoming San Diego Museum of Art Artist’s Guild’s presentation, En Plein-Air, A Charles Reiffel Tribute 2013.

The International Art Exhibition of 42 Plein-Air paintings by 34 artists is being presented in conjunction with the recent collaborative Charles Reiffel exhibition at the San Diego Museum of Art and the San Diego History Center.  The SDMA portion of the exhibit has closed, but the SDHC portion (which happens to include the majority of the San Diego backcountry works) is still running until March 31st.

Running from February 19th through April 6th, the tribute exhibit is being presented at the L Street Gallery downtown across from the Omni Hotel (628 L Street).

All are invited and encouraged to join and support Coko, and her husband Tim Taschler, at the opening artists' reception on Sunday, February 24th from 6-9pm.
 
COKO BROWN
First Snow on Volcan was also awarded Outstanding Watercolor in the International online BoldBrush Painting Competition for December 2012.  Coko Brown is a fourth generation native San Diegan.  As a child she was fortunate to visit the Julian area regularly with her family.  Her love of the environment, nature and the community brought her to Julian to live and pursue her art aspirations.  She now lives in Wynola with her husband, Tim, (they were married on Volcan Mountain by VMF founding President, Peter Bergstrom!) and two dogs, Lana Turner and Ellie Mae, and devotes her time to both art and music.  Coko has participated in many group shows and one person exhibitions in San Diego and Los Angeles over the years.  She is currently exhibiting locally at the beautiful Orchard Hill Country Inn in Julian and at Jeremy’s On the Hill in Wynola where, on Monday nights, she also plays guitar and sings.

Eclectic in both her media as well as subject matter, Coko paints in oil, acrylic, watercolor and pastel. She paints on canvas, paper, walls and guitars – as a musician she enjoys blending the two creative forms.  Her subject matter includes landscapes, portraits and still lifes, and ranges from realism to impressionism and to the abstract.

CHARLES REIFFEL
Residing in San Diego from 1925 until his death in 1942, many of Charles Reiffel’s works drew on the beauty of the San Diego backcountry, including the area of Volcan Mountain (see In The San Felipe Valley image below).  The recent collaborative exhibition between the San Diego Museum of Art and the San Diego History Center was co-curated by another Volcan Mountain Foundation supporter, retired professor and art historian, Bram Dijkstra.  Avid local art collectors, Bram and his wife, prominent West Coast literary agent, Sandra Dijkstra, also personally contributed several Reiffel works to the exhibition.  Longtime environmental and VMF supporters, in 2012 the couple graciously presented an evening of art and wine at their Pine Hills Volcan view home as part of VMF’s Fab Feast fundraisers which also featured some of Reiffel’s works.

The Volcan Mountain community is so fortunate to have such talented and generous supporters in our midst.  We are grateful for their contributions and proud to showcase their talents!