2nd floor landing
Shuffle Shows are curated by the community. Guest curators select artworks from the museum’s collection to create temporary exhibitions.
About the work
“To be true to nature one must abstract. Nature does not waste her forms. If you would know the clouds, then study the rocks.” Henrietta Shore (1880-1963)
Henrietta Shore, Women of Oaxaca, 1910, Lithograph
Gift of Ruth Frary
The natural beauty of the Central Coast inspired artist Henrietta Shore. The land and its inhabitants became her muse and the subject of many of her works. She built a collaborative friendship with photographer Edward Weston, who shared her love of nature. Together, they captured the contours of objects and landscapes in their own styles.
Henrietta Shore created a series of murals about local industries with support from the Works Progress Administration (WPA). You can still see the most famous of these murals in the Santa Cruz Main Branch US Post Office just up the street.
About the curator
Thecla Campbell is an artist and aspiring curator, with a deep love for local history. She holds degrees in Studio Arts, Liberal Arts and Museum Studies and Education.
“It wasn’t until College that I learned about Henrietta Shore. Growing up in Santa Cruz, as crazed about art as I was, I found it baffling that this amazing artist escaped any of the lectures and local exhibits I attended. Ideally I would love to see a bronze statue of her outside of the Post Office so that we may claim her as one of our great local artists and more people would know about her life and work. For now, it is a pleasure to bring her work out from the MAH’s permanent collection and into our communal awareness. This artist truly deserves a renaissance as her work is anything but stunning and her life is an anthem for anyone who has been ridiculed or persecuted for who they are or are perceived to be.” – Thecla Campbell
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