
Frank Lobdell
Kelso No. 76, 2.12.00, 2000
Color etching, edition 29/30
Racine Art Museum, Gift of Frank Lobdell Trust
Photography: Jon Bolton, Racine
California Dreamin’: Mark Adams and Frank Lobdell
February 21 – June 5, 2016
While the work of Mark Adams (1925-2006) and Frank Lobdell (1921-2013) may not be similar in terms of subject matter, the artists share a desire to explore how pattern and color develop a composition. In addition, they both made their way to California where they spent the better part of their artistic careers producing work and teaching.
Born in Fort Plains, New York, Mark Adams formally studied painting, but first worked as a tapestry and stained-glass designer. In the 1950s, he married printmaker Beth Van Hoesen (also featured in RAM’s collection) and they settled in California. Adams eventually shifted to watercolor, printmaking, and acrylic painting as his primary forms of expression. Drawing on his experience building images with large planes of color, Adams created realistic, color-infused compositions. He favored everyday subjects, such as still lives—reflecting on items that could be both personal to him and understandable to others.
Raised in Minnesota, Frank Lobdell served in WWII then made his home in California. He was an exacting and intense figure—known to mutter the phrase, “nothing worth anything is easy.” Although primarily a painter, Lobdell also produced lithographs, etchings, and monoprints. He participated in weekly figure drawing sessions with famous San Francisco Bay area artists, including Elmer Bischoff, Richard Diebenkorn (also featured in RAM’s collection), and Nathan Oliviera. Lobdell was familiar with representing the human form. After his wartime experiences, and as his career developed, he sought to explore humanity in broader terms—utilizing a “vocabulary of archetypal themes and abstract symbols.”
More About the Exhibition
California Dreamin’: Mark Adams and Frank Lobdell
February 21 – June 5, 2016

Frank Lobdell
Kelso No. 76, 2.12.00, 2000
Color etching, edition 29/30
Racine Art Museum, Gift of Frank Lobdell Trust
Photography: Jon Bolton, Racine
While the work of Mark Adams (1925-2006) and Frank Lobdell (1921-2013) may not be similar in terms of subject matter, the artists share a desire to explore how pattern and color develop a composition. In addition, they both made their way to California where they spent the better part of their artistic careers producing work and teaching.
Born in Fort Plains, New York, Mark Adams formally studied painting, but first worked as a tapestry and stained-glass designer. In the 1950s, he married printmaker Beth Van Hoesen (also featured in RAM’s collection) and they settled in California. Adams eventually shifted to watercolor, printmaking, and acrylic painting as his primary forms of expression. Drawing on his experience building images with large planes of color, Adams created realistic, color-infused compositions. He favored everyday subjects, such as still lives—reflecting on items that could be both personal to him and understandable to others.
Raised in Minnesota, Frank Lobdell served in WWII then made his home in California. He was an exacting and intense figure—known to mutter the phrase, “nothing worth anything is easy.” Although primarily a painter, Lobdell also produced lithographs, etchings, and monoprints. He participated in weekly figure drawing sessions with famous San Francisco Bay area artists, including Elmer Bischoff, Richard Diebenkorn (also featured in RAM’s collection), and Nathan Oliviera. Lobdell was familiar with representing the human form. After his wartime experiences, and as his career developed, he sought to explore humanity in broader terms—utilizing a “vocabulary of archetypal themes and abstract symbols.”
More About the Exhibition
Gallery of Work
Exhibitions at RAM are made possible by:
Platinum Sponsors
The Estate of Karen Johnson Boyd
David Charak
Judith and David Flegel Fund
Institute of Museum and Library Services
Ron and Judith Isaacs
Nicholas and Nancy Kurten
Windgate Foundation
Diamond Sponsors
City of Racine’s Grow Racine Grant
Osborne and Scekic Family Foundation
Ruffo Family Foundation
Ruth Arts Foundation
Gold Sponsors
Anonymous
Tom and Irene Creecy
Richard and Patricia Ehlert
Herzfeld Foundation
Reliance Controls
Ruth Foundation for the Arts
Trio Foundation of St. Louis
W.T. Walker Group, Inc.
Wisconsin Arts Board
Silver Sponsors
Anonymous
Art Bridges
Baird
A.C. Buhler Family
Lucy G. Feller
Ben and Dawn Flegel
Jim Harris
Sharon and Tom Harty
Lise Iwon
J. Jeffers & Co.
Johnson Financial Group
Dorothy MacVicar
Jan Serr and John Shannon
Bronze Sponsors
Ellen and Joseph Albrecht
Andis Foundation
Susan Boland
Virginia Buhler
Butcher & Barrel/Amos Los Tacos
Educators Credit Union
Express Employment Professionals
Tony and Andrea Hauser
Bill and Debbie Keland
Susan Manalli
Jean and Alex Mandli, Jr.
The Prairie School
Cathy Stanghellin
Georgiana Treivush
Twin Disc, Inc.