Messer Exhibit to Open

An exhibit of longtime Palisadian Chana Messer’s art, ‘Not Digital,’ will open with a reception from 5 to 7:30 p.m. on Sunday, October 2, at Terrell Moore Gallery, 1221 Hope St., in downtown Los Angeles. The show will run through October 16. The opening day coincides with a day of free admission to 25 Los Angeles museums (including MOCA downtown) as part of a preview to the vast offerings of ‘Pacific Standard Time,’ which covers art in the region from 1945-1980. Messer may be better known for her career in digital design and graphics as a designer and consultant, working for Disney, Warner Bros. and Mattel, among others. But that work began with a love of painting and the new exhibit will include works in oil, acrylic and mixed media on canvas and paper. Her fine art is represented by the Art-Pic gallery, which provides art for movies and television, and her work has been shown across the U.S. and overseas. Messer has also put her artistic talent to work helping out many Pacific Palisades organizations, including Little Dolphins, Palisades Elementary, Paul Revere and Palisades High School, the Palisades Art Association, Kehillat Israel Synagogue, Theatre Palisades and others. Growing up in Israel, the daughter of Holocaust survivors during the years just after the founding of the state, Messer served in the Israeli Defense Forces. She has a degree in art, theatre and stage design from Tel Aviv University, did postgraduate work at Pratt Graphics Center in New York and taught fine art at Parsons School of Design before moving the Palisades about 21 years ago. She has since taught at UCLA Extension, Santa Monica College, Cal State Long Beach and Parsons/Otis College of Art. She and her husband Stephen raised two children here. Romi, 17, is a senior at Palisades High and looking at colleges. Gilli, 23, a former Miss Palisades, graduated from Barnard College at Columbia University with the highest academic distinction. Both girls are actors/singers/dancers and have regularly performed locally. Contact: chanamesser.com.