North Wing Galleries

Same Place, Another Time: Views of Orange County

February 23, 2024 – September 7, 2024

Curated by Gordon T. McClelland and Austin D. McClelland

As you travel around Orange County today, you might wonder: what did this county look like 20, 50 or 100 years ago? What type of events were taking place in Orange County during that time, and what types of cultural changes were developing? What did the farmland, downtown sections and beach communities look like then?

This exhibition is the first in a series of planned exhibitions that seek to use paintings, graphics and ephemera to help give you an idea of what it was like “back then.” The paintings were selected not only for their merit as exceptional works of art, but also for their unique ability to capture the look and feel of specific time periods in Orange County history.

The ephemera reflect some cultural movements that began or flourished in OC during the 1960s, ’70s and ’80s, including the development of surf culture, the rock music scene, hippie culture, the Jesus People movement and the punk rock scene.

A few items representing the citrus industry, sailing at Newport Beach and the Laguna art community are included in both the painting and ephemera presentations.