The World According to Lynn Schuette: A Must-See at PHES Gallery

By Lonnie Burstein Hewitt. Photos by Maurice Hewitt.

 

Always Wear Lipstick #1

The title of the new Lynn Schuette show at Carlsbad’s PHES Gallery is Always Wear Lipstick, but that, as the artist said when we were lucky enough to be there for the hanging, was just for fun, to see how people would respond.

For 45 years she has painted large-scale canvases that express how she feels about society, the environment, and whatever else comes to her mind. In 1980 she founded Sushi Performance and Visual Art in a downtown warehouse, where she lived, did all the necessary work, and featured provocative, cutting-edge artists for 15 years. Then she left to work on her own art, which has been included in museums and private collections around San Diego County and beyond ever since.

This current exhibit includes several of the projects she’s been working on over the years.

“We start with Stagnation, and move into Revival,” she said. 

The front room in the gallery features pieces from her Stagnation Series, the beginning of her Covid-era work.  She’d had a feeling of some calamity coming, and then the pandemic happened, followed by lockdown.

Just When You Thought You Were Safe

 

She started ripping up old paintings to throw out but decided there was something else she could do: use the fragments to create new artworks instead. All the pieces on view here are “cut-ups”, some painted over, some not.

Study for Slipping Beauty and Study for WooHoo.

 

In the next room there’s Essential Décor--eight pieces sold together as one piece. A significant part of this is a portrait of Artemisia Gentileschi, a 17^th century Italian painter who managed to become a celebrated artist despite a violent rape and living in an age when there were virtually no opportunities for female artists.

The artist holding her Artemesia. 

Another part of Essential Décor: an illustrated James Baldwin poem.

 In an adjoining space is the One Dozen Roses Project, started in the late 1960s as a tribute to anti-war protests and created from photos she had made of aging roses. It’s an ongoing project: when a work is sold, she does a new painting to keep the dozen complete.

One of the One Dozen Roses: Je Suis Fatigué de Sang (I Am Tired of Blood.)

In the last room is Schuette’s Revival, a large scale three-panel portrait she made of a photo of dancers from the company of choreographer Pina Bausch, a photo she loved and kept in her home studio.

“I never paint figures, but I decided to do it,” she said. “It was sort of like shedding my skin… a revival.”

Revival. 

As her exhibit was being hung by gallery owners Paul Henry and Ellen Speert, she was not just an observer; she and her assistant, Lauren Nett, found plenty to do.

Lynn Schuette and Lauren Nett at work at the hanging. 

“It’s fun,” she said. “I don’t want to just scribble something down; I do it all. I like the whole process.”

This exhibit can be a full-on experience. Seeing these works in person and taking your time with them you really feel the spirit of the artist coming through.

It’s not about lipstick; it’s about life.  Don’t miss this show.

Lynn Schuette: Always Wear Lipstick
PHES GALLERY
On view through December 14, 2025.
2633 State Street, Carlsbad Village 92008
Gallery Hours: Thursday-Saturday, 2-5 p.m., and by appointment.
info@PHESGallery.com

Lonnie Burstein Hewitt is an award-winning author/lyricist/playwright who has been writing about arts and lifestyles in San Diego County for over a dozen years. You can reach her at hew2@sbcglobal.net

Fiber Art Now: ARTwear and Interpretations 2025 at Vision Museum of Textile Art at Liberty Station

 by Patricia Frischer

Denise Yaghmourian

For those who subscribe to Fiber Art Now, this small selection of artists in the ARTwear exhibition were all  juried into a print exhibition included in the fall 2024 issue of that magazine.  Beth Smith, Managing Editor and Exhibitions Director of Fiber Art Now was a previous director of the Vision Museum of Textile Art (MoTA). MoTA Curatorial and Education Manager Armando Garcia-Orso made the selection for this display which is small but focused. As the title suggested all the works are made to be worn although maybe some for very special occasions.

The selection of just five of the works below are not clothes that would find a way into a closet, perhaps, but seem very at home in a gallery. Denise Yaghmourian gives us a patchwork of  patches. MartyO takes the humble twist tie and Frankensteins it into a blouse. Amy Seeler’s necklace/scarf/albatross would certainly keep you anchored. Omar Antonio gives us a Met worthy Halloween costume.  Jesse Aviv presents 21^st century amour and Gitty Duncan’s shoes would make Fred Astaire’s day. 

MartyO

MartyO, detail

Amy Seeler

Omar Antonio

Jesse Aviv

Gitty Duncan

The museum’s juried biennial, Interpretations 2025, has more than 40 artists included and continues to elevate the textile art form. Jurors include Holly Brackmann, Luisa Gil Fandino and Paula Kovarik. The selection below does not include any of the award winners, so there is plenty more to see in this show which covers an enormous variety of techniques and materials. The choice before was made with criterial of what seemed the most unusual and was photogenic. 

Maggy Rozycki Hiltner

Maggy Rozycki Hiltner - detail

Rebecca Edwards

Meredith Strauss

Meredith Strauss - detail

Diane Melms

Diane Nunez

Hanna Wojdała-Markowska

Fiber Art Now – ARTwear  
Interpretations 2025  
Vision Museum of Textile Arts
Both on view Oct18 to Jan 31, 2026
2825 Dewey Road, Suite 100 | San Diego, 92106
Wed /Thurs. 10 am to 2 pm, Fri/Sat 10 am to 4 pm

Radenko Milak: Four Seasons Interrupted at Madison Gallery

by Patricia Frischer

These black and white watercolors by Bosnian artist, Radenko Milak appear at first glance to be photographs. They are so detailed but a close examination reveals the shorthand the artist uses to suggest figures and structures. In this new series of 16-18 paintings you are not really asked to figure out the seasons…his interest is really in climate change but that is created more by a mood than the obvious portrayal of snowbanks, fallen leaves, spring flowers or summer heat.  The seasons are merged together. These are New York City and urban to the core.

"The mission of my gallery is to bring global contemporary art from artists worldwide to Southern California." Says Lorna York, owner of Madison Gallery in Solana Beach on Cedros. We are grateful to Rebecca Hiller, the principal art dealer for showing us around. What a boon for North County to be able to see such impressive world-wide art works locally.

 

Radenko Milak: Four Seasons Interrupted
Madison Gallery
on view until December 21, 2025
Opening reception Nov 8 from 6-9.
320 S Cedros Ave., suite 200, Solana Beach, 92075
Regular Hours: Monday - Saturday 10am-5pm

Unknown Frontiers at Techne Art Center

 by Patricia Frischer 

Jonathon Schipper 

Crash and bang are the first sounds I heard entering TECHNE Art Center for the Unknown Frontier exhibition. But this was not an accident. It was sound coming from the falling works by sculptor Jonathan Schipper. In Schipper’s world, time isn’t just the ticking of a clock—it’s a sly accomplice. He makes you watch the world fall apart… slowly, artfully, and with impeccable timing. The framed art in the center of his wall, lifts straight out of the wall, a mechanical arm emerges with a life-like finger which then rotates and upsets the other works, one by one. Is that central work of mirror image cathedrals the robot winner of the wall? Maybe or maybe Schipper just has a fondness for reminding people that time will have its way with us all.

The humor of this work, literally knocking the art off the walls, set the tone for this show and I found myself looking for humor and finding some in much of the art on display. Hurrah…beauty and humor are valuable commodities in today’s world and we need as much as we can find. 

Jonathon Schipper 

Jonathon Schipper 

Jen Hitchings creates a meditation on the age-old romance between humankind and nature—a relationship as mystical, mythological, and codependent as any doomed love affair. 

Tim Murdoch art is hand (or foot)-worked, repurposed, and lightly seasoned with humor and exists as aesthetic public mischief.

Tim Murdoch- detail

Tim Murdoch

Will Hutnick is looking through a queer, ecologically tuned lens that refuses to play nicely with binaries.

Will Hutnick

Delilah Strunkel explores imaginative micro-worlds and patterns—those hidden little universes you didn’t know were lurking inside you, like houseguests who never left. 

Frank Webster paints the natural world the way a poet might transcribe an avalanche—delicately, yet with a sense you may not get out alive. 

Kate Stone's works is perfectly timed for Halloween. A simple piece of beige carpet, but look close and it is so creepy and funny at the same time as the teeth are very similar to the pile of the rug.

Kate Stone - detail

Christopher Lin is building the future’s ruins while we’re still tripping over today’s.

Christopher Lin

David Kramer takes the chatter in his head: disclaimers, distractions, and self-deprecating jokes that elbow their way onto the surface of his hooked rugs. 

Briana Miyoko Stanley Lane has given us part memory palace, part obstacle course, and part séance for the things we’ve lost. In short, she has built a world you can walk through—though she might gently suggest you watch your step.

Briana Miyoko Stanley Lane

Hwang (Bo) Kim has dabbled in everything—drawing, assemblage, printmaking, photography—before settling down with oil paint, the way someone might finally surrender to sensible shoes. So comfortable, reliable and and you want them to last forever.

Chuck Thomas, is owner and curator of this show and it is always a thrill to see his studio open and the work on view. I find the motion and the color in his work, just pure joy. 

Unknown Frontier
TECHNE Art Center
Curated by Chuck Thomas
On view until Dec 5
Other artists featured include artists Jeff Feld, Sylvia Fernandez, Nathanael Flink, Jason Clay Lewis.
Thursday, Friday, Saturday 1-6pm
1609 Ord Way, Oceanside, CA 92056

Omni Intelligent at Mandeville Gallery at UCSD

by Patricia Frischer

Lou Cantor’s The Oracle, 2023

Ceci Moss in her last curated exhibition for the Mandeville Gallery before taking up her new position at the Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art is presenting Omni Intelligent. The premise of this show seems to be how we will be communicating with A.I. in the future, but the twist comes as artists are also challenged to think about how A.I. will deem to communicate with us.  Two of the artists brought the sense of smell into their work, but most are visual and although there are textures, we are still in the ‘do not touch” the art world. There is sound, of course, as we are now used to seeing headphones attached to the art works.  

 
Lou Cantor’s The Oracle, 2023 greets you at the door and sets the stage for the rest of the exhibition. The pair of lips is suspended in the air and although you have to put on the headphones to hear the disembodied voice of A.I. you are most intrigued by how this is created. A closer observation reveals that it is LED light mounted on fan blades. You can see this more easily in the photo and film, but in real life the lips are un-interrupted. Humans are definitely the lower order in this dialogue

Rhonda Holberton Other Known Tomorrows, 2025

Rhonda Holberton Other Known Tomorrows, 2025

Rhonda Holberton Other Known Tomorrows, 2025

 
Other Known Tomorrows, 2025 by Rhonda Holberton is a three-part installation, a video of brain-wave activity which records stimulation by a “perfume” essence you are invited to sniff. And a 3-D printed rock that actually holds the bottle.  This was art meets science collaboration with researcher Dr. Ying Choon Wu, who directs UC San Diego’s Insight lab at the Institute for Neural Computation. Watch for the AI-manipulated video on the front of the gallery. 

 
 

agustine zegers vaho arborescente, 2025 

agustine zegers vaho arborescente, 2025 is simply a small sample of scent. When you smell it, you are invited to envision a forest, maybe after an electric storm because she has suggested that future trees are actually able to communicate with A.I. We know that trees communicate with each through their roots and that there are electrical elements with all plant matter so even though this was a minimal visual experience this was conceptually so interesting.

Star Feliz,  in Siren of Oblivion, 2024

Star Feliz,  in Siren of Oblivion, 2024 gives us one of  the most easily interpreted work. The water vessel from an ancient society is hooked up with cables and its middle now is communicating through a digital screen. The vessel reminds us of an earth mother and there is something siren like about the sounds that go with this piece.

 

CROSSLUCID  Red the Ocean Around U, 2024 

CROSSLUCID in their game design Red the Ocean Around U, 2024 instead of writing prompts for A.I. to respond to, the game asks the questions for the gamer to answer. U is the character and Claude is the A.I. and the adventures begins.

Eglė Budvytytė Songs from the compost: mutating bodies, imploding stars, 2020 

Eglė Budvytytė created a film Songs from the compost: mutating bodies, imploding stars, 2020 peopled by alien and human dancers responding to the real setting of a sand dune  shared by Russia and Lithuania.  There is a life cycle aspect but besides aliens, it was unclear how this related to A.I. The rainbow color is not present in the actual film, this was divine intervention by the android phone!
 

Ánima Correa

Ánima Correa - detail

Ánima Correa presents the Repeater sculptures which represent the undersea cable which first started to connect universities via internet and the Espejitxs paintings which are bit a like big brother watching from on high.

 

Amia Yokoyama 

Amia Yokoyama has been working with stop-motion clay animation but for this work those figures have been converted into 3D holograms  in ceramic frames. She explains: “I am exploring what happens when something exists in multiple dimensions simultaneously….”

 
 

Marcus Zúñiga brown archaeoastronomy, 2025 

Marcus Zúñiga named his art work brown archaeoastronomy, 2025 to reference the stars in the sky. The structure  which reaches up, references symbols from New Mexican weavings. There is something reassuring about how the sky does not change through time and might hold mysteries yet to be discovered.  

           
 
Omni Intelligent
Mandeville Gallery
University of California San Diego
On view until Dec 6, 2026
Wed-Sat, 12-8pm