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Palm Court Arts Complex

Palm Court Arts Complex

The Palm Court Arts Complex is home to the Great Park Gallery and the Great Park Artists Studios, housing a publicly-accessible artists-in-residence program. This new civic space also features Hangar 244, a 10,000 square foot event center; a shaded outdoor performance plaza enhanced by 54 Canary Islands date palms; and the Great Park’s first site-specific permanent public art installation.

Visitors will discover that the Marine Corps Air Station El Toro’s World War II-era atmosphere and architecture have been preserved by means of adaptive reuse of existing buildings, a strategy that aligns with the Park’s ecological values. The Palm Court’s re-purposed military structures now form a cultural campus supporting the development of a fresh approach to establishing an interdisciplinary, public arts program.


You can see the following exhibits by visiting the Great Park Gallery during open hours:
Thursday-Friday: 12:00-4:00 p.m.
Saturday-Sunday: 10:00 a.m.-4:00 p.m.


The Great Picture
On exhibit now – February 26, 2012

The exhibition documents the creation of the world’s largest photograph by members of The Legacy Project in a hangar at the closed El Toro Marine Base in 2006. The photograph, which is three stories tall and eleven stories wide, is on display in its shipping crate in the Great Park Gallery.

The Great Picture exhibition was organized by the Sweeney Art Gallery and Culver Center of the Arts, University of California, Riverside, and curated by Tyler Stallings.

Circle Paintings by Hiep Nguyen
On Exhibit now – February 26, 2012

Devoted to creating large-scale community art projects that foster creativity and encourage imagination, visual artist and teacher Hiep Nguyen explores the circle theme during his “Circle Painting” technique as a means of creating and connecting with others.

On October 29, 2011, Hiep Nguyen visited the Orange County Great Park to lead the “Community Circle Painting Arts Workshop.” The four 63″ x 108″ paintings on display here in the Artist Studios were created by families during the event and each canvas depicts the collaborative work of more than 30 individuals.

The 35′ canvas was created in 2005 by nearly 100 underprivileged youth in Cambodia through CSU Long Beach’s “Art and Social Action Program.” By traveling the world to lead Circle Painting workshops and train future Circle Painting facilitators, Hiep has engaged more than 30,000 participants across 10 countries in less than 5 years. Hiep’s motto: “Art for All, All for Art.”

The paintings are on display in the Artists Studios.


Portrait Project: In Case You Get Lost

The final installation of the Portrait Project: In Case You Get Lost


Find out more by visiting our upcoming events page, signing up for email updates (on the right), or by following us on Facebook and Twitter.

The Artists Studios Hours:
Saturday-Sunday: 10:00am-4:00pm


Amy Caterina
Amy Caterina taking a photographRegular Gallery Hours: Every Saturday from 10am-6pm.

Amy Caterina integrates fiber art, photography and video in her work. Her unique style of free-range knitting includes objects and environments that comment on the real and the artificial. Caterina also works as a freelance curator and is an avid yarn bomber. Amy resides in Santa Ana and holds a master’s degree in photography with an emphasis in video from California State University Fullerton.

For a list of Amy’s upcoming events, click here.


Kevin Kwan Loucks

Open Studio Information:
Kevin will hold Open Rehearsals from 2pm – 5pm on Wednesday-Friday, January 25-27, February 22-24 and March 28-30. We encourage you to visit, ask questions, and observe the creative process in action.

Kevin will hold Cafe Conversations at 5pm on January 27, February 24, March 30. Feel free to stop in and have a chat with Kevin over some freshly brewed coffee.

Korean-American pianist Kevin Kwan Loucks has been hailed as “a shining talent” (Völser Zeitung, Italy), “impeccable” (La Presse, Montréal), and an artist “with exhilarating polish, unity, and engagement” (The Orange County Register, California). He has performed in Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall, Prösels Castle in Italy, the Kennedy Center, Lincoln Center’s Alice Tully Hall, Lichtenstein Palace in Prague, and Aspen’s Harris Concert Hall where he was featured on National Public Radio’s Performance Today. A graduate of the Juilliard School in New York, Mr. Loucks is currently completing his Doctor of Musical Arts degree at Stony Brook University where he served as Head of Piano for the Pre-College Division, and Teaching Assistant for both the Emerson String Quartet and the Graduate Chamber Music Program. Yamaha piano provided for Kevin courtesy of Yamaha Corporation of America.

Kevin Kwan Loucks will continue through April 2012.

For a full list of Kevin’s upcoming events, click here.


Deborah Aschheim
Deborah working on Earworm Node

Deborah Aschheim makes installations, drawings and sculptures based on invisible networks of perception and thought. Her recent work exploring the subject of memory has led her to collaborate with musicians and neuroscientists. Her project for the Orange County Great Park is based on her life long fascination with Richard Nixon.

For a full list of Deborah’s upcoming events, click here.


The Legacy Project
The Legacy Project
The Legacy Project is dedicated to documenting and interpreting the former Marine Corps Air Station at El Toro, simultaneously honoring the history of the site and celebrating its transformation into the Orange County Great Park. This group of six photographers, assisted by legions of students and friends, have created over 200,000 images of El Toro in addition to shooting several videos. Their most notable work is the world’s largest photograph, The Great Picture, a 32-by-111-foot image of El Toro created in a former F-18 hangar.
Photo: Detail from Nature Prevails ©Mark Chamberlain

Arts Happenings at the Great Park bring the community together to experience — and participate in — art in the Park. Programs are developed to cover a wide variety of media and interests, and include events developed in collaboration with Arts Orange County and our Artists-in-Residence.


Songwriting with Kerry Getz
Saturday, February 25, 2012
11:00am-1:00pm

The popular Orange County singer and songwriter performs and leads the audience through an exercise in writing a song together.


Artist-in-Residence Kevin Kwan Loucks: Four-Hand Extravaganza
Saturday, February 25, 2012
Performances at 2:00 pm and 5:00 pm

The Lee-Loucks Piano Duo make their professional debut at the Orange County Great Park with this fascinating program juxtaposing two musical forces: Mozart and Dvořák. Mozart was the first composer to employ two pianists at the same piano; a genre that is one of the most popular forms of music-making among amateurs and professionals today. The two C Major Sonatas – which are both injected with Mozart’s usual musical humor, exceptional brilliance, and lively interplay between partners – represent his first attempt from the early age of 9, and his final contribution to the genre over two decades later. The lively, overtly nationalistic Slavonic Dances of Dvořák were largely inspired by Brahms’s Hungarian Dances, which immediately earned him international recognition as a result of the infectious Slavic rhythms and alluring melodies found throughout the set.

For a full list of Kevin’s upcoming events, click here.


Artist-in-Residence Kevin Kwan Loucks: Notes of Nationalism
Saturday, March 31, 2012
Performances at 2:00 pm and 5:00 pm

This folk-infused program features three chamber music masterpieces from three composers of widely differing origins and musical traditions. The Krechkovsky-Loucks Duo along with guest artist Ross Gasworth – Principal Cellist of the YouTube Symphony Orchestra – present this diverse program of virtuosic fireworks and chamber music favorites. The program opens with Johan Halvorsen’s famous version of Handel’s Passacaglia for Violin and Cello; a highly Romanticized Baroque transcription based on material from one of Handel’s Keyboard Suites dating back to 1705. The Dumky, often described as an uninhibited Bohemian lament, is arguably Dvořák’s most popular composition – it explores the intricate Slavic world through it’s deeply brooding, introspective character. Paul Schoenfield’s virtuosic Café Music was intended to be “a kind of high-class dinner music that might also (just barely) find its way into a concert hall.” Combining ingredients of classical, jazz, klezmer, and whimsy, Café Music is instantly accessible despite its rich complexities; irresistible and full of energy, this is caffeine-fueled music at its most entertaining!

For a full list of Kevin’s upcoming events, click here.

Need more info? Contact the Visitors Center at (866) 829-3829 (toll-free) or send an email.