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High School Annual. Modernist Litho Cover In Orange, Red, Yellow And Violet. Block Cut By Bruce Ariss, Hand Signed At Top; Ariss Was An Artist Whose Best Known Work Was The Famous Murals On Cannery Row In Monterey, California. Zper Wikipedia, Bruce Wallace Ariss, Jr. (1911 ? 1994) Was An American Painter, Muralist, Writer, Illustrator, Editor As Well As Theater And Set Designer, Amateur Playwright And Actor, And Overall Icon On The Monterey Peninsula, California. Bruce, A Painter, And His Spouse Jean, A Writer, Decided To Take An 18-Month "Honeymoon" On The Monterey Peninsula To Pursue Their Creative Efforts.To Augment Their Savings, The Arisses Took Over The Editorship Of The Monterey Beacon, An Experimental Local Literary Magazine, And Published John Steinbeck?S "The Snake" In 1934. William Saroyan Passed Through Monterey And Sold A Short Story For One Dollar To The Arisses For Publication In The Beacon. Years Later Bruce Ariss Created Artwork And Served As Editor For A Local Magazine What?S Doing On The Monterey Peninsula. After Renting A Small Place In Pacific Grove, The Arisses Bought Several Lots On Huckleberry Hill In Monterey And Built A Small Studio-House. This Evolved Over The Next Fifty Years, Mostly With Scrap And Donated Materials, Into A Three-Story 20-Plus Room Dwelling To Meet Their Changing Preferences And The Growing Needs Of Their Five Children. Ariss Claimed That John Steinbeck Referred To The House As A "Triumph Over Architecture". It Burned To The Ground In 1990. At Age 80, Ariss Designed And Rebuilt, With Help From Many Friends, "Triumph Over Architecture Ii,"Bruce And Jean Ariss Accompanied Ricketts And Steinbeck On An Excursion To Mexico To Collect Marine Specimens. His Account Of The Trip, Including Numerous Sketches, Were Published In His 1988 Book Inside Cannery Row: Sketches From The Steinbeck Era (Lexikos) Which Offers A Rare Insight Into The Obstinate But Charming Steinbeck, Who Himself Wrote Of One Such Journey In The Book The Log From The Sea Of Cortez.Ariss' Artwork Was Influenced By Diego Rivera; Ariss Claimed That Rivera Told Him That A Woodblock Carving Of Him By Ariss Was The Best Portrait That Any Artist Had Ever Done Of Him. Unfortunately, Many Of Ariss's Oil Paintings And Sketches Were Destroyed With His House In The 1990 Fire.For Over Six Decades The Arisses Were Central To The Monterey Peninsula's Diverse And Ever-Changing Community Of Artists And Writers Who Often Passed Through Ed Ricketts' Lab On Cannery Row. These Included John Steinbeck, Ed Ricketts, Adelle Davis, August Gay, Joseph Campbell, Robinson Jeffers, Francis Whitaker, Salvador Dalí, Jean Varda, Ellwood Graham And Barbara Graham (Judy Diem), Hank Ketcham, Henry Miller, Ward Moore And Raylyn Moore, John And Ching Smithback, Eldon Dedini, Bob Bradford, Paul Mcreyonlds, Arch Garner, Ephraim Doner, Eric Barker, Gus Arriola, Richard Farina, Les Gorn,[17] And Gordon Newell. Ariss Painted A Number Murals, Many Under The Works Progress Administration (Wpa), A Federal Program Set Up To Create Public Works To Relieve Unemployment. Some Of His Murals Can Still Be Found Throughout Monterey County. Working With August Gay In 1934, They Created A Giant Wpa 150' X 10' Mural For The Pacific Grove High School Library Depicting The Monterey Coastline As It Looked At The Time, From The Point Pinos Lighthouse To The Old Customhouse, With Cannery Row Its Focal Point. Unfortunately, The Mural Was Destroyed By Fire In 1946. Ariss Also Painted A Number Of Storefronts, Many For The 1949 Centennial, Including Those For Monterey Hardware, Poppy Coffee Shop And Monterey Studio On Alvadaro Street In Monterey. Ariss Was A Very Avid Reader, Mostly Of Science Fiction. He Wrote Some Science Fiction Short Stories Before Publishing His Science Fiction Novel, Full Circle (Avalon) In 1963. He Also Illustrated Sci-Fi Works Including Reginald Bretnor's Through Time And Space With Ferdinand Feghoot (1962).
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