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!

Graduate Open Studios, Round Two!

Our Graduate Open Studios day is right around the corner, which means I have to keep making art at full speed, but I also have to get some business cards and make a website and look presentable!  It seems like a nice Sunday to have some visitors, but the truth is most of us are freaking out a little.  See last year's coverage on Artists and Astronauts

Get Ready !

April 10 12-5 pm

Be there or be [ ]

CCA:  1111 Eighth Street, San Francisco, CA 

Artists I Love: Nick Cave

Nick Cave:  "Meet Me at the Center of the Earth" at the Seattle Art Museum through June 5

When I first heard that my favorite musician alive, the Australian Nick Cave, was showing something called "Soundsuits" at San Francisco's Yerba Buena Center for the Arts in 2009, I was surprised but ecstatic.  "Of course he's an artist now", I thought, since Cave the musician is also know as a novelist, soundtrack composer, and screenwriter of the best western of this decade, "The Proposition".

However, upon a little more research I discovered this was not the same Nick Cave, but a visual artist from Missouri who currently directs the graduate fashion program at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. My disappointment did not last long, however, when I headed over to the YBCA to check out his exhibition.  The show was made up of several Soundsuits on mannequins as well as video of the performance aspect of the suits.  These suits are constructed from almost everything- afghan blankets, sticks, sequins, etc to create objects which can be worn, and in turn used with dance and sound elements from the rustling they create.  The creations are beautiful and absurd, and appeal to my fun sensibilities, something I find missing from most art exhibitions.

Cave's show is, of course, over now at the YBCA but the same exhibition, "Meet Me at the Center of the Earth" is now open at the Seattle Art Museum and runs through June 5.
Soundsuit shop

images sourced from google

I passed my final review!

I just passed the last of my grad school reviews, which consists of a panel of judges and a lot of art discussion, and then a deliberation period quite like a reality show.  Thankfully, no one thought I needed a re-review before I graduate, which means now I am free to focus on my MFA exhibition!   Maybe it was because I fed them treats.  Regardless, yay for being done!

My New Favorite Cafe: Tell Tale

Around the corner from CCA I found a cafe inside a great antiques store with a little sandwich board on the sidewalk as it's only signage, called Tell Tale Preserve Co.  Inside, it's rustic and cozy just like its larger home, Big Daddy Antiques, and they brew super premium coffee one cup at a time and keep primo gourmet goodies like sesame ginger scones on hand.  Ok, so the one drawback is that it's a little pricey, but it's nice to have a treat to reward yourself after those particularly brutal days at school.

Tell Tale Preserve Company

17th at Wisconsin, SF

Screen Printing!

My friend, Rachel, and I did some screen-printing the other day, and against all odds, we did OK!  Rachel is actually a pretty skilled printmaker, but I have the experience of one who stayed in the painting room all the time: zero.  I have been trying to figure out some new techniques to make some elaborate headdress paintings faster, so I enlisted Rachel to help me figure some stuff out in the screen printing room.  What I wanted to do ended up being complicated- though it looks so simple- so we kinda just winged it with some tape and a prayer.  I think we made a good start to a new piece thanks to some pretty sweet teamwork.  The two-color, quadruple print is the beginning of a new drawing, and I can't help but think of two major influences that it reminds me of:  punk rock and Andy Warhol.

Rachel knows her stuff

Me, so proud of ourselves

Sex Pistols:  "God Save the Queen"

One of  Warhol's "Marilyn" series

(The bottom two images from google)