New Work: CCA 2011 Thesis Exhibition

Graduate school is drawing to a close, which means many things for me, like freedom and change and a weekend off once in awhile, but it also means before all that our MFA exhibition will open soon!  The show will open May 12 and will feature all forty-two CCA Masters of Fine Arts graduating students.   As one of them, I have been working pretty tirelessly to pull out some large, laborious, and creepy headdress paintings.  These works are about tropes within fashion images I have been culling and reinterpreting into narratives of metaphorical headdresses, worn by figures who embody the tropes.  Here are the two I have finished so far, which I am pretty excited about.

(* Don't forget you can double-click on the images for larger views)

"The Seduction of Destruction Headdress",
watercolor, colored pencil, gouache, photo transfer, dye, and gold leaf on paper, 50" x 39", 2011 

"The Glamorization of Death Headdress",
watercolor, colored pencil, gouache, and photo transfer on paper, 46" x 36", 2011 

Reception:  Thursday, May 12, 6-10 pm  CCA 1111 Eighth Street, San Francisco, CA

More info on the CCA website

Like me, everyone is scurrying around and slaving away over our final thesis artworks; a culmination of all we have accomplished over the last two years as well as a visual song and dance to the art world.  No one wants to put the wrong encapsulation of their work out there.  We all look terrible.  Next time you see a graduating MFA student, had them a bagel, vitamins, and some juice.  And a hug would be nice.

Open Studios 2011 Part III

Like I said in Open Studios Parts I and II below, there were lots of studios to peruse during the CCA Open Studios on April 10.  Here is my final lot of pictures from all the talented and versatile mix of grads I am happy to go to school with, and these are only about half of them! (And again, please note there may be some studios in states of storage as we had to move everything from the storage room before I could take some of the pictures).

Rachel Foster's selection of screenprints in her flat file.

Sita Bhaumik's studio with powdered sugar welcome mat.

Sita's smell concoctions, designed to invoke nostalgia. 

Kate Nichols's studio as lab: she is currently making mirror, color nanoparticles, and other experiments/art with the help of UC Berkeley.

Jillian Clark uses her studio as a giant installation made simply from blue chalk and string.

Rebecca Goldstein's painting on painting.

A James Coquia sculpture/apple core holder.

C. Wright Daniel's photogram of folded paper, creating a tromp l'oeil of folds in the photo. 

Johanna Friedman's textile works, complete with woven TVs.

Mark Taylor's personal screen printing studio lair.

Mark Taylor screenprints of wear patterns on records.

Angus Haller screenprint installation of visual noise.

Sarah Thibault's classy red wall and paintings, (and unfortunately storage).

Jonathan Wallraven's studio installation of high school-era social critiques.

Jonathan's wall detail. 

A nice Liam Everett painting. 

Madiha Siraj's paint swatch installation insanity.

After it was all over we had a BBQ.

Open Studios 2011 Part II

As I mentioned below, CCA recently opened all of its graduate doors for Open Studios this weekend.  I got the chance to snap some photos of many of my awesome friends and their work in between manning my own post.  Here is round two of my quick photos from the day.  

* Please note that we stored most of our furniture and old projects in a classroom prior to the event and were told by the powers that be that we had to move everything back as soon as the Open Studios were over before we could partake in any BBQ celebrations afterward.  This means that in some cases I didn't have a chance to document studios before we moved our things back, and there is a possibility that some studios are not presented in their intended state.

Natasha Wheat outside her studio with curious onlooker inside.  There was a neon palette sculpture, fabricated commodities, and framed prints on silk of Panamanian laborers spraying chemicals to grow the exported agriculture South American countries supply to the United States.

Natasha used an extra atrium space to expand her vision into this installation as well, featuring similar objects and concept, complete with cans of dulche de leche and these palette lounging chairs and Cabana boys, Jim and Sam.

Noah Krell's multi-channel video room of several projects with performance aspects.  I thought the way they were displayed was great, even though it is hard to see the images in photos.

Jake Ziemann is a painter who surprised me with this home on the frontier installation.

Jonathan Runcio's geometric sculptures.

Jonathan Runcio collage and spray paint wall pieces.

Victoria DeBlassie's stitched orange peel architectural structure.

Elizabeth Dorbad's ongoing installation project of a disaster-swept carnival.

There was a curiosity entrapment down the hall from me as people walked up a ladder to peer over Mark Benson's studio wall to discover...

Puppies!  (image taken from Mark's website)

Also a quick reenactment of last year's darling photo of the engaged couple, Mark and Michelle, during Open Studios in my studio.  Here they are one year later, and married.

And this is them before they knew any better.

Here is what my studio looked like.

Maysha Mohamedi and Sarah Hotchkiss created a VIP lounge area in an extra space of their studio building.

Stuff on Manyee Lam's shelf- I love that feather headdress thing!

Manyee's hard-to-photograph string installation.

Stay tuned for Open Studios Part III!

Open Studios 2011 Part I

CCA's Graduate Open Studios just took place yesterday, and with so much to share, I will be posting it in sections.  All in all, the artwork looked great with so many talented grads and the turnout was so plentiful that I had to walk around and take some pics after the official hours of Open Studios had ended.  Here are some quick and dirty images shot from my iPhone as I whipped around the 100 or so studios.  Thanks to all who came out to support and make for big success! 

Allison Rowe (left, and Chrissie Bradley on right) had a camper tricked out with little installations and a lot of info about oil drilling in her native Canada.

Here's a little model of the oil drilling from the camper/art house.

A Courtney Johnson inspiration wall with lots of Tina Turner.

Sarah Hotchkiss made her studio into a space-themed installation about her dreams of space exploration and golfing on the moon.

Space-painted walls and lots of banners from Sarah Hotchkiss.

Jennine Scarboro made use of her time sitting by her paintings by drawing Barbies.

Mik Gaspay's framed image inside what looks like a fridge with a lightbox...

An upside-down fake tree in Mik Gaspay's studio.

Toyin Odutola's labored ink drawings.

A little model for Marissa Botelho's choose-your-adventure-style photography sets.


Open Studios Part II coming soon!