The newly hung show at Ojai City Hall Gallery features the pastel landscape work of renowned Ojai Studio Artist, Tom Hardcastle. The exhibition will run through January 4, 2019, and is available to the public to view at any time during regular City Hall hours.

The City of Ojai Arts Commission and the Ojai Valley Museum have been fostering a fruitful and mutually beneficial relationship this past year and Hardcastle will also have 3 large oil works on display at the museum during this period. Hardcastle is an exhibiting member of the Degas Society, the Pastel Society of the West Coast, SBAA, Oil Painters of America. He is a signature member of the Artists for Conservation and has exhibited at several international pastel shows. He says of his work, “My art has provided me with many journeys over the years and I look forward to the growth and insight that comes with it.”

One of these latest journeys was undertaken with fellow Ojai artist and celebrated landscape painter, Jennifer Moses, and this mentorship and artistic exchange has resulted in the works now on view at City Gallery. They are entitled collectively “The Quiet Places.” Working alongside Moses encouraged Hardcastle to “see Ojai through new eyes” and many of the pastels on display will intrigue viewers with fresh new angles on Ojai and views of the valley with which we might not be so familiar.

Meanwhile, over at the museum, Hardcastle presents three striking paintings which are thematically and stylistically very different to the City Gallery series. “Icons and Archetypes,” comprises three large-scale oil paintings with a strong Pop Art feel that presents the artist’s perspective of select popular cultural icons and exploitive archetypes, especially the exploitation of females in the modern world. Although his first love is pastels and the smudging, tactile nature of that medium, this exploration of oils and iconography represents another new artistic journey for Hardcastle. When asked what drives him to create he says, “because I have to. I cannot not be working. I work at least 6 days a week in my studio outside of my time in the salon.” (Hardcastle also owns and operates the Delilah Salon in downtown Ojai.)

The reception for “The Quiet Places” and “Icons and Archetypes” will be held at the City Gallery at 5:30 p.m. on Friday, November 16th at Ojai City Hall, 401 S Ventura St, Ojai, and the artist will be present to talk about his work and techniques and the very different nature of his work in each venue.

The City of Ojai Art Gallery at City Hall welcomes visitors Monday through Friday, 8:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m., except holidays. The Ojai Valley Museum is located at 130 W. Ojai Avenue, and is open Sundays from noon – 4 p.m., and Tuesday – Saturday, 10 a.m. – 4 p.m. For more information check out www.ojaiarts.org or visit the City of Ojai Arts Commission Facebook page, or contact City Hall at (805) 646-5581.