Stevenson’s Israeli Dancers: A Puzzle
1966 Peace Fair at Mendocino Coast Gallery
The Thursday June 23, 1966 Ukiah Daily Journal announced that a Peace Fair was scheduled at the Mendocino Coast Gallery (corner of Lansing and Main in Mendocino), June 29 through July 4th, 1966, events to include a “premiere art exhibit, an epic drama, and a free-wheeling discussion.” Also on the Peace Fair schedule: Israeli Dancing for Peace. In a photo taken on the day of the event, Sandra Hawthorne accepts donations at the gallery door. Her sign reads: Donations for the Mendocino Citizens’ Committee – Public Affairs Series –
The Dancers
The dancers were Mendocino Coast residents Joan Marler, then about 13 years old, and an equally young Lolli Blydon.
Charles Marchant Stevenson took photos at the performance. Several years later those photos inspired the double portrait that Stevenson called Israeli Dancers.
Color Palettes
For years the Mendocino Heritage Artists’ website had only a black and white file of Israeli Dancers, but recently jpg files were found in two different color palettes.
Israeli Dancers: Lolli Blydon & Joan Marler (01)
Israeli Dancers: Lolli Blydon & Joan Marler (02)
Question
Both images are beautiful, but which color palette is closest to the original?
Please contact us if you remember the painting, or the Israeli Dancing for Peace performance. Accurate digital photos of the painting are especially welcome. It would be a bonus to have information about the performance, the Mendocino Citizens’ Committee, and its Public Affairs Series.
Thanks for helping!
Joan Marler is the Founder and Executive Director of the Institute of Archaeomythology. She is the editor of The Civilization of the Goddess (1991) by Marija Gimbutas and From the Realm of the Ancestors: An Anthology in Honor of Marija Gimbutas (1997). She worked closely with Marija Gimbutas as her personal editor from 1987-1994 and lectures internationally on Prof. Gimbutas’ life and work. Joan Marler initiated courses in Archaeomythology at two graduate schools in San Francisco: New College of California and the California Institute of Integral Studies. She taught modern, folk and ethnic dance for 28 years through Santa Rosa Junior College in northern California. From 1982-1996 she worked as an independent producer and radio journalist for KPFA FM, Berkeley, California. – Joan Marler CV from the Institute of Archaeomythology.
LINKS
Charles Marchant Stevenson: Portraits
Charles Marchant Stevenson: Artwork
Stevenson in His Own Words
About Charles Marchant Stevenson
Mendocino Heritage Artists
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