Blog on Pause

The end of the semester is just around the corner and shortly after is the beginning of the holiday break.  Therefore, the blog will be taking a brief pause until students and faculty return to campus. But don't panic! You won't miss out on a thing because The Department of Art will be posting on the blog once again on January 3rd, 2012. 


Hope everyone enjoys the break
Happy Holidays
Happy New Year


Sincerely,


The Department of Art

Faculty Getting Involved in Project X

The National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) Chairman Rocco Landesman has announced that the agency will award 863 grants to organizations and individual writers across the country. Project X, co-founded by Art Professor Stephen Berens, is one of the grantees and will receive funding to publish four issues of the art journal X-TRA in 2012. The 863 grant awards total $22.543 million, encompass 15 artistic disciplines and fields, and support projects in 47 states, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico.


X-TRA is the longest running art journal in Southern California and the grant will enable the commissioning of new articles, artist projects and reviews of contemporary art. X-TRA was one of only four journals nationwide and one of only 2 organizations in Southern California to receive support in the “Access to Artistic Excellence: Visual Arts” category for 2011.


“Art Works is the guiding principle at the NEA,” said agency Chairman Rocco Landesman. “And I’m pleased to see that principle represented through the 823 Art Works-funded projects included in this announcement. These projects demonstrate the imaginative and innovative capacities of artists and arts organizations to enhance the quality of life in their communities.”


“The NEA’s support is crucial to X-TRA because the grant not only provides direct funding but helps us attract other funders since the NEA has such a long history of supporting quality organizations,” remarked Stephen Berens in regards to the significance of receiving the grant.


In March 2011, the NEA received 1,686 eligible applications for Art Works requesting more than $84 million in funding. The resulting funding rate of 49 percent of eligible applications reflects both the significant demand for support and the ongoing vitality of the not-for-profit arts community despite current financial challenges. Art Works grants are awarded based on the applications received by the NEA and how those applications are assessed by the review panels.

Immaterial and Proposals

Faculty members, Stephen Berens and Micol Hebron, are participating in "Immaterial and Proposals" which is a reading of artworks that exist in description only and is Inspired by the Artist’s Project in the new winter issue, the editors of X-TRA. The evening's readings will be a mix of historical and contemporary works: outlined ideas and proposals for imagined objects, images, events, or exhibitions that remain text only – scripts, descriptions or proposals that could never be or intentionally have never been realized in other forms. The event will be Thursday, Dec. 8 at 8pm at Human Resources in Los Angeles. 


Some of the readings:
Edward Kienholz’s Concept Tableau, Ant Farm’s Dolphin Embassy, Leslie Dick’s RULES FOR DREAMING, Chris Burden’s The Moon Piece, Tom Marioni's Predictions '78, Harold Gregor’s Everyman’s Infinite Art.

About the Artist's Project:
The new issue of X-TRA features a reproduction of Harold Gregor's 1966 project, Everyman's Infinite Art.

Everyman's Infinite Art contained thirteen works that were meant to minimize the functions of the gallery, artist, and critic while challenging the prevailing assumptions of what works of art entailed. The gallery, in fact, was closed for the two weeks that the exhibition took place, thus making its catalog with its written descriptions of the art the art itself. In this issue of X-TRA, we present a reprint of the catalog along with an interview with Gregor by Damon WIllick and an essay by Lane Relyea.

For more information about the project: http://x-traonline.org/artproj.php

Graphic Design Club Sweet Exchange

Graphic Design Club's annual Sweet Exchange is an event where members of the club and art faculty bring and share baked goods that have a special meaning to them. Last night was the Sweet Exchange for Winter 2011 and not only did people enjoy delicious treats brought by their peers, but there was a white elephant gift exchange and a bag of gag gifts brought as well. Some of the lucky participants received recurring gifts from last year, pasta sauce, a cat calendar, bunny ears, and statistics for dummies. Everyone also enjoyed the classic Grinch movie and passed around a santa hat through tears of laughter.

Ancient Tomb Rubbings Donated to the Department

Shown above  is a detail of one of his tomb rubbings 

Mr. William Geismar generously donated 73 tomb rubbings that he has personally made and collected over the last 40 years. Also included in his donation were books and files containing rubbing information as well as five boxes of rubbing charcoal. His donation will join the library's collection and will also be studied by Art and Art History students.

IT IS ALMOST THAT: A Collection of Image+Text Work by Women Artists & Writers

Adjunct art faculty member, Helen Kim, has some of her work featured in the book IT IS ALMOST THAT. The book is a collective piece of various women artists and writers and is published by Siglio Press, which is a new, independent press in Los Angeles dedicated to publishing uncommon books that live at the intersections of art and literature.

For more information and imagery regarding the book go to http://www.sigliopress.com/books/it-is.htm