Anaheim Museum

Herb E. Pruett has resigned as director of the Anaheim Museum, effective Nov. 2, to return to his home in Northern California's Mendocino County. His assistant, Rita Robinson, will manage daily operations until the museum's board finds a new director. Pruett became the museum's second director in September, 1985, when it existed in a small Anaheim office "with two desks," he said.

* Anaheim Museum (241 S. Anaheim Blvd., Anaheim, [714] 778-3301). Wed.-Fri., 10 a.m.-4 p.m.; Sat., noon-4 p.m. A photo of the highest point of the Great Wall in Badaling, China, above, is included in "Hues & Tones of China," a photographic exhibit by H. Montgomery-Drysdale. Through April 27. $2 suggested donation.

Coinciding with the 100th anniversary of the city's electric utility, a new exhibit tracing its history will be unveiled today at the Anaheim Museum. Anaheim was the first city in Southern California to own and operate its own utilities department and is still the only city in Orange County with its own electric utility, museum officials said.

ANAHEIM 6pm Photography The Photographic Society of Orange County and the Huntington Beach Art League partner to present an exhibit featuring the works of 45 local artists, including Karen Topolewski, Gregg Soos, Nancy and Marlene Pala, Jane Longfellow, Lou LaCroix and Art Huhta. Photography exhibit, Anaheim Museum, 241 S. Anaheim Blvd., Anaheim. Artist reception: Saturday, 6-8 p.m. Museum hours: Wednesday-Friday, 10 a.m.-4 p.m.; Saturday, noon-4 p.m.; Sunday-Tuesday and holidays, by appt only.

Mickey Mouse mingled with the 250 guests Saturday night at the opening of the new Wood Bridge Village office complex in Anaheim, where Anaheim Museum Inc. sponsored a special preview of Disneyland's 30th-anniversary photographic exhibit, "All Started by a Mouse." In addition to the exhibit, museum supporters enjoyed hors d'ouevres from 10 local restaurants, wines from 11 wineries and an art deco jewelry display by Hurst Jewelers of Anaheim at the complex. Anaheim Museum Inc.

As part of the city's efforts to redevelop the downtown area, the Anaheim Museum site will get a $85,000 renovation. Work is to begin within a month on the project, which will involve sidewalk and parking lot improvements, tree plantings and other types of landscaping. The contract was awarded by the Anaheim City Council to San Bernardino-based R.K. Allen Landscape Construction, the low bidder on the project. Improvements at the museum site, 241 S. Anaheim Blvd.

Anaheim Museum will offer children an experience they can relate to: a hands-on gallery to explore the world of communication. Over the years, the museum has introduced children to a variety of exhibits. But these exhibits were not interactive, museum Executive Director Joyce Franklin said. "So we decided to devote a gallery to them and make it more of learning and hands-on experience," Franklin said. A public dedication ceremony of the new Children's Gallery will be held today from 4 to 7 p.m.

The Anaheim Museum on Monday received a donation of $50,000 from the Ibaraki-Ken Shinyo Kumiai Bank in Mito, Japan, Anaheim's sister city. And the bank promised an additional $50,000, to be distributed over the next five years. The money will be used to build an endowment fund for the museum, which opened last November. The donation is the largest single gift the museum has ever received.

When Christine Chavez-Espinoza was 5, she stood on the front lines with her grandfather Cesar E. Chavez, picketing, passing out fliers and rallying for the rights of campesinos--the farm workers. That year the pair got arrested in Detroit during a strike and were jailed. Such was family life with the late labor activist whose legacy is viewed through the lenses of six photographers at the Anaheim Museum's latest exhibition, "An American Leader, Cesar E. Chavez."

Marriage is a downright prehistoric tradition. Wedding rings date from ancient Egypt. The kiss as a romantic act developed relatively recently--in medieval times. "I'm not that interested in weddings," said Devin Frick, curator at the Anaheim Museum. "I am interested in why the wedding cake gets stacked. I'm interested in why people started kissing." Hence, Frick's display of nuptial bric-a-brac, "Traditions: Customs on a Wedding Day," at the museum through June 22.

When Christine Chavez-Espinoza was 5, she stood on the front lines with her grandfather Cesar E. Chavez, picketing, passing out fliers and rallying for the rights of campesinos--the farm workers. That year the pair got arrested in Detroit during a strike and were jailed. Such was family life with the late labor activist whose legacy is viewed through the lenses of six photographers at the Anaheim Museum's latest exhibition, "An American Leader, Cesar E. Chavez."

The Anaheim Museum is hosting an exhibit about the life of Cesar Chavez until April 7. On loan from the Latino Museum of History, Art and Culture in downtown Los Angeles, "An American Leader, Cesar E." features photographs of the late labor leader spanning 30 years, plus historical commentary. The exhibit will then go to the Smithsonian Institution in Washington. The Anaheim Museum is at 241 S. Anaheim Blvd. Museum hours are 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Wednesday through Friday and noon to 4 p.m. Saturday.

"The Human Form and Beyond, the Workshop Experience," a new exhibit at the Anaheim Museum, is a study of human emotion. Portraits from 38 local artists stare from the walls of the museum's two galleries. The faces are proud, contemplative, defiant, triumphant, weary, vain or shy. The styles of the drawings and paintings on display are as varied as the personalities they project. Some of the portraits show colorful, fine detail. Others are broad outlines.

Mention Anaheim and many people think: Disneyland. If not the Magic Kingdom, then Edison Field, the Mighty Ducks or the Convention Center might pop to mind. What Anaheim isn't known for is the arts, or for being a mecca of fine culture. The city has no symphony, no indoor playhouse and only one small museum. "There are a lot of things we're missing," said Joyce Franklin, director of the Anaheim Museum.

The Anaheim Museum's current exhibit, "Prisoners of Conscience," features two artists whose work was created and suppressed under oppressive regimes. Combined, the two exhibits are "a comparison of political suppression," Anaheim Museum Director Joyce Franklin said. Czechoslovakian-born Eli Leskley risked his life to document Nazi atrocities at the concentration camp Terezin near Prague during World War II.

Call it bread or bucks, cabbage or cash, the Anaheim Museum has a lobby full of it just waiting to be ogled. It's the Goldome Money Collection, an exhibit of more than 70 pieces of historic American currency on display through Friday.

The Anaheim Museum's current exhibit, "Prisoners of Conscience," features two artists whose work was created and suppressed under oppressive regimes. Combined, the two exhibits are "a comparison of political suppression," Anaheim Museum Director Joyce Franklin said. Czechoslovakian-born Eli Leskley risked his life to document Nazi atrocities at the concentration camp Terezin near Prague during World War II.