Maija Peeples-Bright
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Maija Peeples-Bright at Transmission Gallery,
click the links below: Part 1: Maija talks about William T. Wiley and UC Davis. 7:23min Part 2: Maija talks about Roy De Forest, 2:33 min Part 3: Maija talks about The Candy Story Gallery, 3;36 min Part 4: Maija talks about being an artist, 5:36 min Part 5: Heart Kisses and Mountains, magnificent, tremendous and lovely, 4:15 min More on YouTube: Sandra Shannonhouse on Adeliza and the Candy Store Gallery Candy Store Update: Peter Selz |
Maija Peeples-Bright was born in Latvia, enduring a childhood of hardship in refugee camps during the war. When she was eight her family managed to make their way to California and as a young student at UC Davis she embarked on a degree in mathematics. In a surprising turn of events during her third year of study at Davis, she discovered a new passion while taking an elective class in the art department. Smitten, she switched majors to study with noted artists Wayne Thiebaud, William T. Wiley and Robert Arneson, earning her masters in 1964.
Built in 1888, Maija’s rainbow painted San Francisco Victorian house at 908 Steiner Street was at the epicenter of an American art movement in the ‘60’s. Maija used every color made by Dutch Boy Paints on the exterior of the house. At the height of its glory, it was written up in numerous publications, including the Saturday Evening Post and San Francisco Chronicle in 1968 and art and artists and Progressive Architecture in 1969. Maija Peeples-Bright not only enhanced the walls and ceilings of the house, she embellished furnishings and window coverings as well. Variously called the Psychedelic House, the Iverson House and the Rainbow House, the crocodile-decked house was a meeting place for artists, poets and writers who sparked the Nut art and Funk Art movements. The house was eventually sold and repainted. Custom made furnishings toured in World of Wooftraveling exhibition, sponsored by Arizona Arts in the 1970’s.
Not far away in Folsom, Adeliza McHugh embarked on an unlikely career making candy and selling art at the Candy Store Gallery. She focused on a new and wildly irreverent style of wacky and faux-naïve work. Showing artists such as Arneson, Roy De Forest, David Gilhooly, Maija Peeples-Bright and Peter VandenBerge, the Candy Store Gallery became legendary in the history of Funk Art. Peeples-Bright became an integral part of the movement, as memorialized years later by Gilhooly who placed her front and center of his ceramic piece, the Candy Store Memorial Ark, which was featured on the cover of the catalog for the 1981 Crocker Museum of Art exhibition, Welcome to the Candy Store. Peeples-Bright showed routinely at the Candy Store Gallery for two decades until its close.
In the decades since, Maija has maintained a dedicated studio practice that continues to this day. Her work has shown in numerous galleries and art centers, with pieces placed in both public, museum and private collections.
Built in 1888, Maija’s rainbow painted San Francisco Victorian house at 908 Steiner Street was at the epicenter of an American art movement in the ‘60’s. Maija used every color made by Dutch Boy Paints on the exterior of the house. At the height of its glory, it was written up in numerous publications, including the Saturday Evening Post and San Francisco Chronicle in 1968 and art and artists and Progressive Architecture in 1969. Maija Peeples-Bright not only enhanced the walls and ceilings of the house, she embellished furnishings and window coverings as well. Variously called the Psychedelic House, the Iverson House and the Rainbow House, the crocodile-decked house was a meeting place for artists, poets and writers who sparked the Nut art and Funk Art movements. The house was eventually sold and repainted. Custom made furnishings toured in World of Wooftraveling exhibition, sponsored by Arizona Arts in the 1970’s.
Not far away in Folsom, Adeliza McHugh embarked on an unlikely career making candy and selling art at the Candy Store Gallery. She focused on a new and wildly irreverent style of wacky and faux-naïve work. Showing artists such as Arneson, Roy De Forest, David Gilhooly, Maija Peeples-Bright and Peter VandenBerge, the Candy Store Gallery became legendary in the history of Funk Art. Peeples-Bright became an integral part of the movement, as memorialized years later by Gilhooly who placed her front and center of his ceramic piece, the Candy Store Memorial Ark, which was featured on the cover of the catalog for the 1981 Crocker Museum of Art exhibition, Welcome to the Candy Store. Peeples-Bright showed routinely at the Candy Store Gallery for two decades until its close.
In the decades since, Maija has maintained a dedicated studio practice that continues to this day. Her work has shown in numerous galleries and art centers, with pieces placed in both public, museum and private collections.
Front: Maija Peeples-Bright, Adeliza McHugh, Peter VanderBerge, Back: Roy De Forest, Robert Arneson, David Gilhooly. 1981
