Bay Area painter Terry St. John, has often been credited with reintroducing the dynamism and spirit of the Society of Six to Northern California landscape painting. In 1972, while a curator at the Oakland Museum, he organized the milestone "Society of Six" Exhibit. Their paintings had not been shown together for over 40 years. At that time, the only surviving members of the group were Louis Siegriest and Maurice Logan who was no longer painting due to a stroke. Siegriest had long since changed his style, turning to abstraction.
In conjunction with the show, St. John expressed an interest in seeing how plein air was done, and Lou once again headed to the hills, this time with a new group of painters. This was the beginning of the re-emergence of the colorist tradition in Northern California. The painters were Lou, his son Lundy, Terry St. John and Peter Brown.
Initially, Lou insisted that only male painters accompany him. The Six had been all male and Siegriest wanted to keep it that way. However, Pam Glover soon broke the gender barrier and joined the men on their painting jaunts. Up to this time, Glover had been doing abstract, mixed media works. She remembers asking Lundy how to sell paintings. He said, "You have enough room in your house for 3,000 paintings. Why worry?" |
