Carmel-by-the-Sea Carmel Artists - Joaquin Turner

Joaquin Turner

Joaquin Turner Gallery

Walking into the Joaquin Turner Gallery feels like stepping back in time. The intimate, key-shaped gallery is decorated with landscape paintings that evoke the work of early California artists. The works are showcased in ornate, sometimes gold-leaf gilded frames. For Turner, the artistic process begins with the frames. "I seek out early-20th-century frames," he says. "They are usually hand carved and museum quality. I'll do the painting for the frame."

Location: Dolores between 5th and 6th View Map

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Turner's work stars the Carmel region's landscape in a light that recalls the paintings of area artists from the late 1800s and early 1900s, including Charles Rollo Peters, Charles Dickman, and William Ritschel. The gallery also carries paintings by David Siebert and some of the works of early California artists.

Like the early California painters, Turner's main subject is the state's striking scenery. "The local landscape here is so unique and so varied," Turner says. "It's always been close to my heart."

The painter says he is specifically inspired by the plants that populate this region. "Tall Monterey pines and cypress trees are my favorite subjects right now," Turner says.

The Monterey County native is well aware of Carmel's original Bohemian artists colony and sees Carmel-by-the-Sea as a great town to be a working artist. "It is one of the few places in the U.S. where an artist can make a living selling their paintings," Turner says.

As a way of celebrating Carmel's artistic heritage and as a method for connecting local artists, Turner started the Carmel Art Walk in September 2016. "We are meeting and having these parties," he says. "It is re-sparking that unity that was once here."