Art & Galleries

An art town, on purpose

Idyllwild’s arts scene didn’t happen by accident. In 1946 Dr. Max Krone and Beatrice Krone, with a group of benefactors, incorporated a school “for the advancement of instruction in music and the arts.” It opened on June 25, 1950 as ISOMATA, the Idyllwild School of Music and the Arts, a summer destination for workshops and classes.

More than 70 years on, the town has a year-round arts high school, a 25-foot cedar sculpture called Harmony at the heart of the village, an art alliance that has been running for more than 25 years, and galleries within a few minutes’ walk of each other in the village. John Villani’s book on the best small art towns in America counted Idyllwild among them. Much of what hangs in the galleries is local work: painting and pottery, jewelry, glass and photography, made by people who live on the Hill. For a town of about 4,200 people, that’s a lot of art.

Idyllwild Arts

ISOMATA took the name Idyllwild Arts in 1995. In September 1986 it became a year-round school with the founding of the Idyllwild Arts Academy, a boarding arts high school for grades 9 to 12 plus a postgraduate year. The campus covers 205 acres on Temecula Road, about 2 miles from the center of town.

Visitors can get a taste of the campus experience at the Parks Exhibition Center, a 1,400-square-foot professional gallery on campus. It shows the work of students, faculty and guest artists, with 8 to 10 exhibitions across the school year and rotating shows through the summer, and artist receptions that are open to the public. Check the Idyllwild Arts events calendar before you go, because the gallery keeps show hours rather than fixed ones.

The Summer Program still carries the Krones’ idea. It runs classes for kids, teens and adults, including adult workshops in clay, metals and writing, and a Native American Arts Center with its own festival week.

One change worth knowing: Jazz in the Pines, the festival that brought jazz to the campus for 30 years, held its farewell on July 13, 2024. What carries the name now is a student jazz clinic each summer, which ends with a public student performance.

Galleries in the village

Most of the galleries below sit on or just off North Circle Drive, so you can walk between several in an afternoon. Hours vary from one gallery to the next, so check each one’s own site, linked below, before you make a special trip.

Two to plan around:

• Mountain Pottery hosts a free demonstration by a master potter on the second Sunday of each month. Check its site for the time before you plan around it.
• Golden Pine Gallery keeps evening hours, so it fits after dinner rather than before.

Several are studios as much as galleries. Recht Gallery, founded in 2022, is its artist’s studio too, showing contemporary, cubist, Dada and surrealist work. Earth N Fire, upstairs at the Fort, is a paint-your-own pottery studio: paint a piece today and it’s fired and ready tomorrow. For an evening, Middle Ridge Winery hangs art in its tasting gallery. For shops selling other local work, see Where to Shop.

The deer of Idyllwild

For more than 10 years, painted Idyllwild deer have brought art into every corner of the Idyllwild community. Each recycled aluminum deer was painted by a local artist, and each one has a unique story and design. You’ll find them placed throughout the town, most near a local hotel, restaurant or shop, thanks to the local businesses who sponsored the herd. Grab a map at the Idyllwild Area Historical Society, the AAI bulletin board or many of the town’s galleries, and find your favorite among the herd.

When to come for the art

The Art Walk & Wine Tasting is the Art Alliance of Idyllwild’s big day: artists set up across the village and wine is poured along the route. It has run for more than 25 years and falls on a Saturday in October; the events calendar has the date. The Alliance also runs the Eye of the Artist and member shows through the year.

At Idyllwild Arts, the busiest weeks for visitors are the summer, when the Parks Exhibition Center rotates shows and the students perform. The Idyllwild Arts calendar has those dates.