Artist Colony

In 1910, the Los Angeles Times ran an article entitled "Hotbed of Soulful Culture, Vortex of Erotic Erudition: Carmel in California, Where Author and Artist Folk are Establishing the Most Amazing Colony on Earth." Today, Carmel continues to attract artists, photographers, writers, art enthusiasts, and visitors who want to be inspired.

The Carmel Art Tour, a fun and informal 90-minute guided walking tour, highlights beautiful Carmel art galleries and explores painting, sculpture, art glass and photography – from historic to contemporary – around downtown Carmel. Or make it a journey of your own through Carmel-by-the-Sea's rich cultural activities, art galleries, and performing arts theaters. In fact, there are many world-class performances to enjoy year round at the Pacific Repertory Theatre and spectacular 700-seat Sunset Center.

Since the turn of the last century, artists have come to the Monterey Peninsula, some as legacies of founding generations, others to cultivate individuality, all in search of the light. They come with their pens and their brushes, their chisels and their lenses, to foster a personal vision of art, yet a shared understanding that art has preceded them in the crashing sea and windswept shores, the sturdy cypress, and the mysterious green flash at the close of a scarlet sunset. It is, as the late landscape painter Francis McComas christened it, "the greatest meeting of land and water in the world."

Although artists and writers, academicians and wealthy vacationers, had been quietly retreating to the Central Coast for years, one of the more dramatic influences on the populace of the Peninsula was the San Francisco earthquake of 1906, which sent artist refugees to find shelter in the cabins and tents erected in Carmel-by-the-Sea.

While the artists and writers brought creative energy to town, the establishment of the Carmel Art Association gave it structure, stature, and sustenance. The second-oldest art cooperative in the country, it has defined the art community for 80 years.

The idea of local artists bound by talent and perspective is the foundation that this community was built on. Carmel was once, and for many still is, a bohemian enclave--a haven for artists and a refuge for writers and intellectuals. It is the setting that inspired Robinson Jeffers to build his tower for writing poetry about the anguish of waves against a rugged shore, whose spectacular sunsets illuminate the secrets of Robert Louis Stevenson's "Treasure Island," and that served as a stage for the lives and times on which Jack London and George Sterling composed their allegories.

This coastal village now has nearly 100 art galleries that celebrate both the heritage and the future of a community whose vision is to advance knowledge of and interest in art, and to create a spirit of cooperation and fellowship between local artists and the public.