CCA News

G. Dan Covert and Andre Andreev Lecture and Book Signing

Wed, 01 Apr 2009 00:00:00 PDT

G. Dan Covert and Andre Andreev—CCA alumni, principals of the New York design firm dress code, and authors of the new book Never Sleep: Graduating to Graphic Design—will speak at CCA's San Francisco campus as part of the college's Graphic Design Lecture Series on Thursday, April 16, at 6:30 p.m. (in the Drawing Center, off the courtyard in the Graduate Center). The event is free and open to the public and will include a book signing.

"There is a major disconnect between the life of a design student and the transition to being a design professional," say Covert (Graphic Design 2004) and Andreev (Graphic Design 2005). To demystify this transition, they will share various successes, failures, and surprises from their undergraduate years at CCA to their jobs in MTV's on-air design department to starting their own firm.

They will also discuss what they've learned about self-promotion, interviews, internships, money problems, personal relationships, prison time, first jobs, and the all-around hustle of making it happen. Their book includes examples of their work, from their first undergrad design course through the present day, and side stories and interviews from their mentors, teachers, and peers.

About Andre Andreev and G. Dan Covert
G. Dan Covert is from Ohio. Andre Andreev is from Bulgaria. Their firm is called dress code. Their combined age is 51. Their work has been recognized by shiny awards, and it has appeared in coffee table books, three museums, and lots of magazines. They met as students at CCA, then moved to New York and got jobs at MTV working in motion and print before stupidly leaving their dream jobs to start a studio of their own. They also teach design, typography, and new media courses at Pratt Institute in Brooklyn.

Andreev eats meat and drinks that purple stuff. Covert dislikes puppies and is something of an amateur magician. Read more at www.dresscodeny.com and www.neversleepbook.com.

CCA's Graduate Program in Curatorial Practice Reveals The Secret of the Ninth Planet

Thu, 26 Mar 2009 00:00:00 PDT

The Graduate Program in Curatorial Practice at California College of the Arts will reveal The Secret of the Ninth Planet from April 24–May 24, 2009, at two San Francisco venues simultaneously: Queen's Nails Projects (3191 Mission Street) and Photo Epicenter (26 Lilac Street).

An opening reception is planned Friday, April 24, from 7–11 p.m. at each location with a shuttle running between. Additional programming at Galeria de la Raza (2857 24th Street, San Francisco) will include a lecture by the astronomer Andrew Fraknoi on April 26 and a live performance by Lucky Dragons and Avocet on May 22. These programs and presentations are free and open to the public.

The Secret of the Ninth Planet takes its title from a 1959 Donald A. Wollheim novel of the same name. In the book, evil colonialist curators display in vitrines captured members of various intergalactic cultures. Operating counter to this model of the curator as authoritarian cultural anthropologist, CCA's nine graduate student curators instead focus on works that deal in one way or another with ideas of time, space, and travel. They are in a variety of media—from video and sound installation to (in the artist Suzanne Treister's words) "delusional, time-traveling watercolors." The galleries are illuminated not by overhead lighting, but by light emitted from (the majority of) the pieces.

The metaphor of liberation extends as well to the show's organizational premise. As opposed to the traditional concept of an exhibition as a zone of stable definition and order, The Secret of the Ninth Planet is united, somewhat paradoxically, by a disavowal of order. The dual-venue installation is also a deliberate attempt to offer expanded possibilities for interpretation of the works' layered content.

Artists in the exhibition: Raymond Boisjoly, Chu Yun, Jasmina Cibic, Maryam Jafri, Yael Kanarek, Kitty Kraus, Gabriel Lester, Euan Macdonald, Gianni Motti, Kamau Patton, Dario Robleto, Sham Saenz, Tokihiro Sato, Suzanne Treister, Matt Volla, and Hillary Wiedemann.

The exhibition will be accompanied by a fully illustrated catalog with an essay by the renowned theorist and curator Lars Bang Larsen.

CALENDAR EDITORS PLEASE NOTE:

April 24, 2009

CCA's Graduate Program in Curatorial Practice announces the free, public opening reception of the exhibition The Secret of the Ninth Planet at two venues simultaneously (7–11 p.m.):

Queen's Nails Projects, 3191 Mission Street, San Francisco, 415.314.6785
Photo Epicenter, 26 Lilac Street, San Francisco, 415.550.0701

April 24–May 24, 2009

CCA's Graduate Program in Curatorial Practice presents the exhibition The Secret of the Ninth Planet at two venues:

Queen's Nails Projects, 3191 Mission Street, San Francisco, 415.314.6785
Photo Epicenter, 26 Lilac Street, San Francisco, 415.550.0701

Additional programming:

Galeria de la Raza, 2857 24th Street, San Francisco, 415.826.8009
Hours: Thurs.–Fri., 3–7 p.m.; Sat.–Sun., noon–6 p.m.

Provost Mark Breitenberg Expands CCA's Global Outreach

Wed, 25 Mar 2009 00:00:00 PDT

Dr. Mark Breitenberg, newly appointed provost of California College of the Arts, comes to the college as the president-elect of Icsid (International Council of Societies of Industrial Design), the largest design organization in the world (representing 160,000 international designers). The not-for-profit organization supports a global network of design institutions and provides an international platform from which members share a powerful voice.

Dr. Breitenberg has served on the executive board since 2003, including acting as education chair from 2003–05. His presidency will begin in November to coincide with the 2009 Icsid World Design Congress (November 22–27 at the Suntec Singapore International Convention & Exhibition Centre), whose theme is "Design Difference."

The Icsid is composed of member organizations from all aspects of design: professionals, companies, design agencies, design colleges and universities, as well as promotional organizations, and is a partner with the International Design Alliance (IDA), a strategic venture between international organizations to promote better design throughout the world.

Taking Breitenberg's lead, CCA joined Icsid in February 2009 as an educational member to further promote the college's ongoing commitment to greater global outreach.

Members in the IDA form a network that "shares similar objectives: establishing a collaborative platform that provides education members with the opportunity to access various resources, develop ideas and skills, and experience a cultural exchange through discussion and project showcasing."

Other IDA partners include the International Council of Graphic Design Associations (ICGDA) and the International Federation of Interior Designers/Architects (IFI).

Related Links

Read CCA's announcement of Dr. Mark Breitenberg as provost.
Read Icsid's official statement highlighting IFI as partner.

Curatorial Practice Faculty Julian Myers Awarded Creative Capital | Warhol Foundation Arts Writers Grant

Mon, 23 Mar 2009 00:00:00 PDT

Scholar, critic, and curator Julian Myers, PhD, associate professor in the Curatorial Practice Program, has been selected as a grantee for the Creative Capital | Warhol Foundation Arts Writers Grant Program, a first-of-its-kind program "aimed to honor and encourage writing about art." Julian's proposed book project, Mirror-Travel in the Motor City, is one of 27 projects awarded a portion of the $635,000 total grant.

Myers also is the author of numerous articles, including "Notes Within Capitalism [On Tariq Alvi]" in Art on Paper (winter 2008) and "Edgar Arceneaux's Uncertainty Principle" in the California Biennial catalogue (2008). Other articles have appeared in such publications as Documents, October, Afterall, and frieze.

Edgar Arceneaux, a Los Angeles–based artist who in 2005 also received the Creative Capital Grant, will coauthor the forthcoming Mirror-Travel in the Motor City. The book will investigate subterranean Detroit with discussions of historical and fictional sites alike, such as Michael Heizer's earthwork Dragged Mass Geometric (1971), Rosa Parks Boulevard (the starting point of Detroit's 1967 racial riot), and Drexciya, a fictional underwater city located in Lake Michigan imagined by two techno musicians and two artists in the early 1990s.

Myers and Arceneaux will also explore contemporary art practice in Detroit, including the surrounding discourse, focusing on works by Stan Douglas, the Shrinking Cities project, architect Kyong Park, and Mitch Cope.

Myers' works focus on earthworks, American spatial politics, the social and political dynamics of consumer society, and sociohistorical frameworks for contemporary art. He also teaches at the San Francisco Art Institute. He has been working with Arceneaux on Mirror-Travel in the Motor City since traveling together to Detroit in 2006 and again in 2007.

"Spurred on by these visits, the project came to think about a large constellation of subjects, linked by the ideas of drawing, dragging, burial, guerrilla monuments, and history," Julian explains. "These [subjects] included urbanism, the patterns of African and African American migration, forms of labor and urban divestment, and the powerful forms of Afro-futurism that have emerged from Detroit's particular vision of modernism—in particular from the techno scene: Underground Resistance, Submerge, Drexciya, and a song by Etta James and Sugar Pie DeSanto, called 'In the Basement.'"

Myers has been interested in Detroit since his doctoral research at UC Berkeley in 2005–06, which was as a book-length study on earthworks, called No-places. Myers and Arceneaux have twice publicly presented on Mirror-Travel in the Motor City, in San Francisco and New York.

The Creative Capital | Warhol Foundation Arts Writers Grant Program is in its third year of a pilot phase. After the success of this initial phase the organization has announced the renewal of the grant program for another five-year period. Grants range from $7,000 to $50,000 and are categorized by type: articles, books, short-form writing, and blogs / new and alternative media. Grants are intended to support projects that address both general and specialized art audiences.

All 27 grant recipients were selected based on their dual commitment to the craft of writing and the advancement of critical discourse on contemporary visual art.

For more information about Mirror-Travel in the Motor City, visit the Arts Writers Grant Program website.

CCA Presents the 2009 MFA Exhibition

Mon, 16 Mar 2009 00:00:00 PDT

California College of the Arts will present its 2009 MFA Exhibition from Thursday, May 7, through Saturday, May 16 (10 am–7:30 p.m. daily), with an opening reception on May 7 from 6–9 p.m. The exhibition features projects by nearly 50 artists graduating this spring from the college's master of fine arts program. The presentation unfolds throughout CCA's San Francisco campus, giving visitors an opportunity to tour most of the college. The exhibition and opening reception are free and open to the public.

Bay Area art schools have become increasingly visible in recent years as more and more nationally and internationally renowned artists emerge from their ranks. This exhibition is a unique opportunity for the public to see new and compelling student work that is expanding the boundaries of photography, painting, printmaking, sculpture, textiles, video, installation, animation, digital media, and various combinations thereof. It is organized by faculty member and critic Glen Helfand, who says, "The presentation allows the rich range of work to be in conversation. The show will really express the dynamic qualities of CCA's artistic community."

The featured works address a wide range of subjects and issues that stem from a world in transition. One artist considers the 1970s-era ecology movement and contemporary green imperatives, creating works that utilize packaging, both plastic and biodegradable. Another is creating a large mural depicting climate change and honoring lost figures such as Amelia Earhart. Yet another has created a shop with an affordable line of goods that alludes to both outsourced manufacturing in China and contemporary craft. An artist-made audio tour featuring original songs will offer insights into the works and the people who made them. All of the artists show a deft handling of materials, from the industrial and machine made to the obsessively hand crafted.

Images and interviews with the artists are available upon request.

About California College of the Arts
Founded in 1907, California College of the Arts is noted for the interdisciplinarity and breadth of its programs. It offers studies in 20 undergraduate and seven graduate majors in the areas of fine arts, architecture, design, and writing. The college offers bachelor of architecture, bachelor of arts, bachelor of fine arts, master of architecture, master of arts, master of fine arts, and master of business administration degrees. With campuses in Oakland and San Francisco, CCA currently enrolls more than 1,600 full-time students. Noted alumni include the painters Nathan Oliveira and Raymond Saunders; the ceramicists Robert Arneson, Viola Frey, and Peter Voulkos; the filmmaker Wayne Wang; the conceptual artists David Ireland and Dennis Oppenheim; and the designers Lucille Tenazas and Michael Vanderbyl.

CCA Students Give Oakland Landmark a Facelift

Fri, 13 Mar 2009 00:00:00 PDT

CCA students Camille Hoffman (Community Arts) and Vanessa Ayala (Animation) received an enthusiastic reception from City of Oakland residents and business owners, as well as officials from PG&E (Pacific Gas and Electric Company), for four new murals that have brightened the staid facade of the substation in the Temescal and Telegraph Avenue Business District.

With bold colors and lively subjects, the murals celebrate the culture of the neighborhood, which is growing and revitalizing. Hoffman and Ayala each painted two murals on large-scale wood panels that are now affixed to the PG&E building, which is located at Shattuck Avenue and 52nd Street. They are the first in a series of 49 panels planned for the landmark building's two-block span of exterior, as part of the Temescal Mural Project.

The murals convey a sense of welcoming, depicting images that focus on the diversity and history of the Temescal area. In one of her works Ayala juxtaposes figures of Native Americans surrounded by open land with a steam locomotive and what appears to be an early municipal building, creating a visual past-to-present narrative.

In one of Hoffman's murals, four figures—representing African, Asian, Hispanic, and European descent—stand with their hands interlocked. It is an homage to noted muralist William Walker's All of Mankind, a high-profile mural painted during the 1970s on a church in Chicago's Cabrini Green housing project. The building is currently under threat of demolition due to the ongoing redevelopment of the area (see related links below).

Hoffman and Ayala created the murals as part of CCA Community Arts faculty member and artist Ray Patlan's mural class. As his students continue to design and paint the additional panels, he will oversee the project to completion.

The Temescal Mural Project is a collaborative effort among CCA's Center for Art and Public Life, the Temescal Telegraph Business Improvement District (Temescal Telegraph BID), and PG&E. The BID approached the Center for Art and Public Life in 2005 with the idea to beautify a building that stands at the gateway to the fast-developing neighborhood. It's location is prominently visible from Highway 24.

The project endured a three-year bureaucratic approval process alone, but according to the organizers the successful outcome has inspired PG&E to pursue similar community art projects in other California locations.

Related Articles

Ray Patlan teaches Public Art Collaboration in the Community
(Center for Art in Public Life news)
Save the All of Mankind Mural
(Chicago Public Art Group)

CCA and Stanford University Present Rising Tide Conference: The Arts and Ecological Ethics

Thu, 12 Mar 2009 00:00:00 PDT

CCA and Stanford University's Department of Art & Art History will jointly host Rising Tide Conference: The Arts and Ecological Ethics on April 17–19, 2009. The conference takes place at CCA's Timken Lecture Hall and Stanford's Annenberg Auditorium. Various satellite events, including screenings, exhibitions, performances, and lectures, will take place April 6–30 at both campuses. The full schedule and details are available at www.risingtideconference.org.

This groundbreaking three-day conference is the first-ever interdisciplinary gathering to look closely at the relationship between aesthetics and the green revolution. Participants include artists, business and nonprofit professionals, activists, community organizers, scholars, faculty, and students. They are coming from the Bay Area and around the world to present new projects, books, and theories about creative work and climate change. Public policy is shaped by cultural habit, and the aim of the conference is to blaze new trails—to help push the green revolution to a tipping point.

Topics of the panels, seminars, and roundtables will include: a macro look at world politics and its relationship to art and design in a changing climate; sustainable, experimental materials that are newly available to artists, designers, and architects; the impact of green capitalism on society; an investigation of the future of culture in an environmentally challenged world; African American youth and urban aesthetics in the green era; remaking and rethinking cities, art objects, transportation, and human behaviors to encourage sustainable development; and an overview of the art and design projects that are most dramatically affected by environmental collapse.

Keynote speakers include the artist David Buckland, who in 2001 founded Cape Farewell, a charitable organization that pioneers the cultural response to climate change by bringing artists, scientists, and communicators together to stimulate the production of art based on scientific research; and Sheila Kennedy, professor of architecture at MIT and a founding principal of KVA MATx, an interdisciplinary design practice that explores relationships among architecture, technology, and emerging public needs.

The conference takes place at CCA's San Francisco campus on Friday, April 17; at Stanford's Annenberg Auditorium on Saturday, April 18; and at CCA's San Francisco campus on Sunday, April 19. All events are free and open to the public, and no tickets are required. For more information and to sign up for the email list, please visit www.risingtideconference.org.

The Rising Tide Conference is sponsored, in part, by the Stanford Institute for Creativity and the Arts.

Visitor Information
CCA San Francisco campus
1111 Eighth Street (at 16th and Wisconsin)
Street parking around campus is free
415.703.9500

Stanford University Department of Art & Art History
Nathan Cummings Art Building, 435 Lasuen Mall, Stanford
Parking is free after 4 p.m. on weekdays and all day on weekends
650.723.3404

About Stanford University Department of Art & Art History
An integral part of the School of Humanities and Sciences, the Departments comprises 22 distinguished faculty and 13 professional staff members who serve approximately 70 graduate students and 110 undergraduate majors and minors each year. It offers course of study in the history of art, the practice of art, and film and media studies, leading to the following degrees: BA in Art History; BA in Studio Art; BA in Film and Media Studies; MFA in Design; Painting; Photography; Sculpture; New Genres; MFA in Documentary Film and Video; PhD in Art History; and Joint PhD in Art History and Humanities. These courses offer special opportunities for the students to increase their understanding of the meaning and purpose of the arts, their historical development, their role in society, and their relationship to other humanistic disciplines such as literature, music and philosophy. Work in the classroom and studio is intended to intensify visual perception of the formal and expressive means of art, and to encourage insight into a variety of technical processes. For more information, visit http://art.stanford.edu.

About California College of the Arts

Founded in 1907, California College of the Arts (CCA) is noted for the interdisciplinarity and breadth of its programs. It offers studies in 20 undergraduate and seven graduate majors in the areas of fine arts, architecture, design, and writing. The college offers bachelor of architecture, bachelor of arts, bachelor of fine arts, master of architecture, master of arts, master of fine arts, and master of business administration degrees. With campuses in San Francisco and Oakland, CCA currently enrolls 1,740 full-time students. Noted alumni include the painters Nathan Oliveira and Raymond Saunders; the ceramicists Robert Arneson, Viola Frey, and Peter Voulkos; the filmmaker Wayne Wang; the conceptual artists David Ireland and Dennis Oppenheim; and the designers Lucille Tenazas and Michael Vanderbyl. For more information about CCA, visit www.cca.edu.

California College of the Arts Participates in the 2009 Solar Decathlon

Mon, 09 Mar 2009 00:00:00 PDT

CCA architecture and design students are participating for the first time ever (partnering with Santa Clara University) in the Solar Decathlon, a high-profile competition sponsored by the United States Department of Energy. The competition focuses on a crucial global problem—the ever-increasing need for energy—and offers real solutions, including renewable energy sources and ways to use energy more efficiently.

Twenty teams have each received $100,000 and are now competing to design, build, and operate the most energy-efficient, attractive, and comfortable solar-powered house. In October 2009 they will display their finished projects in a "solar village" on the National Mall in Washington DC. In 2007 Santa Clara University placed third in the competition; they would have been first if not for their low grade in the architecture component. CCA's students will bring to the team their expertise and sophistication in design and architecture solutions.

The spirit of the competition reflects both institutions' penchant for innovation and commitment to creating a more sustainable world. The CCA / Santa Clara University team is passionate about solar technology and its integration into a beautifully functional and livable home. The Solar Decathlon offers these students an opportunity to showcase innovative problem solving in a highly public arena, and to exert real influence on the future of the building industry. Most of the products and materials that they are using in their prototype house, including appliances, flooring, heating systems, and countertops, are available commercially.

About California College of the Arts

Founded in 1907, California College of the Arts is noted for the interdisciplinarity and breadth of its programs. It offers studies in 20 undergraduate and seven graduate majors in the areas of fine arts, architecture, design, and writing. The college offers bachelor of architecture, bachelor of arts, bachelor of fine arts, master of architecture, master of arts, master of fine arts, and master of business administration degrees. With campuses in San Francisco and Oakland, CCA currently enrolls 1,740 full-time students. Noted alumni include the painters Nathan Oliveira and Raymond Saunders; the ceramicists Robert Arneson, Viola Frey, and Peter Voulkos; the filmmaker Wayne Wang; the conceptual artists David Ireland and Dennis Oppenheim; and the designers Lucille Tenazas and Michael Vanderbyl. For more information about CCA, visit www.cca.edu.

Design MFA / Interior Design Faculty Member Awarded Fulbright Grant

Fri, 06 Mar 2009 00:00:00 PST

Bruce Levin, adjunct professor in the Graduate Program in Design and the Interior Design Program, has earned a Fulbright Scholar grant to teach and do research in Japan during the 2009–10 academic year. The grant is issued to U.S. scholars as part of the traditional Fulbright Scholar Program.

The Fulbright Program, proposed to the U.S. Congress in 1945 by Senator J. William Fulbright, awards approximately 6,000 grants annually to promote "mutual understanding between the people of the United States and people of other countries."

Levin's project, "Japanese Small Urban Dwellings: A Model for the American Context", will engage Japanese design and architecture students in researching the use of space in small urban dwellings in Japan. He will share the findings with American students who will examine and translate the results. Levin proposes such findings "can inform the design of future American housing design."

Levin's project developed from his interest in "our ability to live the way we choose in a more flexible manner… . As urban spaces become more compact and ubiquitous," he predicts, "smaller spaces will be a likely byproduct." Smaller spaces would create a need to have multiuse rooms: "Spaces that are less specifically named—such as living room, dining room—and yet more precisely considered given the full range of human activity that must be compressed."

Levin, in association with architect and professor Yoko Kinoshita, will conduct the research and teaching at Kogakuin University in Tokyo. Levin specifically based his research project in Tokyo:

"My primary focus is on Japan, as the Japanese currently have the largest city (Tokyo's population stands at 35 million) and have had a major city in the top-ten largest city populations during the last 1,000 years. It is this ongoing tradition of urban density and its responses that I am interested in. This is manifested in traditional dwelling design and current microhouses. For this reason Tokyo is the most appropriate laboratory, although I will look at other major cities in Japan and Asia."

This is Levin's first major award, although he has been invited to participate in numerous exhibitions in the United States and Japan.

To view Levin's work, visit www.studiolevin.com.

Media Arts Student Hanh Nguyen Taps into Cutting-Edge Film Festivals

Mon, 02 Mar 2009 00:00:00 PST

Note: Zero Film Festival is currently offering a West Coast tour in which The Bush Man will screen locally Wednesday, March 4 at 8 p.m. at The Dark Room in San Francisco ($6 admission).

* * * * *

With two-time Academy Award–winning director Rob Epstein as Media Arts cochair, it's not surprising CCA student and filmmaker Hanh Nguyen's short documentary, The Bush Man, was programmed into several local and national independent film festivals, such as The San Francisco Independent Film Festival, Zero Film Festival (Los Angeles), and Big Sky Documentary Film Festival (Missoula, Montana).

Hanh's six-minute high-definition video, The Bush Man (see film clip below), was shot using a Sony HDV camera and edited using Final Cut Pro. She directed, produced, and worked as cinematographer and video operator on the film, which features Gregory Jacobs, San Francisco's infamous busker, the "bushman of Fisherman's Wharf". Since 1980 Jacobs has entertained countless tourists as he conceals himself with handheld eucalyptus branches and suddenly jumps out and scares unsuspecting passers-by.

An All College Honors scholarship recipient in 2008, Hanh's short documentary was screened at the inaugural Zero Film Festival in Los Angeles, a festival dedicated to U.S. and international screenings of self-financed, zero-budget films. The film festival was established to showcase DIY filmmakers' work that, unlike more and more indie and underground films that receive outside corporate financing, represents "authenticity, integrity, and innovation."

The Zero Film Festival received almost 750 film submissions from almost every continent. Upward of 100 films were screened December 1 through 6, 2008, in warehouses, underground venues, and other zero-budget locations within downtown Los Angeles. More than 50 filmmakers attended from as far away as the United Kingdom, Bangkok, and Singapore.

The Bush Man also screened February 14 at The Roxie in San Francisco's Mission district as part of the 11th annual San Francisco Independent Film Festival, which ran February 5–22, 2009.

More recently, The Bush Man was showcased at the Big Sky Documentary Film Festival in Missoula, Montana, on Sunday, February 22.

Watch a clip from The Bush Man below.

Can't view the video? Use the direct link.

CCA Senior Fashion Show Date Set for May 8, 2009

Wed, 25 Feb 2009 00:00:00 PST

The Fashion Design Program at California College of the Arts is pleased to announce the 2009 Senior Fashion Show, to be held at 8:30 p.m. on Friday, May 8, on the college's San Francisco campus, located at 1111 Eighth Street. This runway show, juried by an industry panel, features original designs worn by professional models. General-admission tickets are $25; VIP tickets are $100 and include reserved seating at the event plus admission to the Friends of Fashion cocktail preparty.

Some of these up-and-coming fashion design graduates have already attracted industry attention for the quality and creativity of their work. One student's placement as runner-up in the "Chuck It or Keep It" global student competition at the Fashioning the Future summit in London even garnered coverage in Vogue magazine ("Sustaining Fashion" October 28, 2008).

Surface magazine is the media sponsor for the Senior Fashion Show. CCA's relationship with Surface—now in its seventh year—gives students the opportunity to have their work evaluated by the magazine's editors in consideration for the Surface Emerging Talent Award. The winner of this award receives a profile of his or her work in the magazine's annual Avant Guardian issue and is flown to New York to attend the photo shoot.

For additional information and event details visit Senior Fashion Show.

About CCA's Fashion Design Program
Established in 1996, CCA's Fashion Design Program is an idea-driven, craft-based course of study that emphasizes design concepts and skill development. The goal is to produce designers of daring originality who are willing to explore across disciplines and contribute to fashion as an aspect of modern art and culture.

Students gain technical expertise in pattern making, sewing, draping, and fashion illustration. They develop creative solutions to the challenges of sustainability by designing fashions that respect the environment and preserve native cultures.

Fashion Design alumni work in all aspects of the industry for companies such as Abercrombie & Fitch, Gap Inc., Gymboree, Jones of NYC, Levi Strauss & Co., TIBI, Ralph Lauren, Narciso Rodriguez, Athleta, Elie Tahari, and Thom Browne. Many have developed their own firms in the United States and abroad.

About Surface
For 15 years readers have turned to Surface for creative inspiration, coverage of the burgeoning design world, and profiles of the emerging talents and provocative projects that are reshaping the creative landscape. This ability to identify and collaborate with undiscovered design stars—from furniture makers to photographers—has made the magazine a cultural barometer of global style in all its forms. Visit the Surface website.

About California College of the Arts
Founded in 1907, California College of the Arts is noted for the interdisciplinarity and breadth of its programs. It offers studies in 20 undergraduate and seven graduate majors in the areas of fine arts, architecture, design, and writing. The college offers bachelor of architecture, bachelor of arts, bachelor of fine arts, master of architecture, master of arts, master of fine arts, and master of business administration degrees. With campuses in San Francisco and Oakland, CCA currently enrolls 1,740 full-time students. Noted alumni include the painters Nathan Oliveira and Raymond Saunders; the ceramicists Robert Arneson, Viola Frey, and Peter Voulkos; the filmmaker Wayne Wang; the conceptual artists David Ireland and Dennis Oppenheim; and the designers Lucille Tenazas and Michael Vanderbyl. For more information about CCA, visit www.cca.edu.

CCA Centennial Campaign Raises Record-Breaking $27.5 Million

Fri, 20 Feb 2009 00:00:00 PST

California College of the Arts (CCA) is pleased to announce the successful completion of its Centennial Campaign, raising just over $27.5 million. Thanks to the tremendous generosity of 1,000 campaign donors, the college significantly exceeded its original $25 million goal. The campaign has been the most ambitious fundraising effort in the college's history, providing vital revenue for student scholarships, academic programs, and facility improvements.

The campaign effort began in 2004 when CCA's Board of Trustees recognized the need to enhance student aid, classrooms, studios, and curricular offerings to sustain CCA's ranking as one of the best art schools in the country. Despite steady enrollment growth, the college determined more than tuition revenue alone would be necessary to meet these needs. A multiyear capital campaign was launched in 2007 to run concurrently with CCA's centennial celebration.

Alumni, parents, faculty, staff, and friends joined forces with the trustees to ensure a successful campaign; together they raised an unprecedented amount of money. In the process they established the largest donor community in the college's history, with donations ranging from $50 to $5 million.

Judy Timken, Centennial Campaign chair, reflected on the achievement: "I want to extend our warmest thanks to every donor who made a gift. This campaign represents a generous expression of support for CCA's future and the vitality of its mission. It transformed the college, not just with new studios and scholarships, but also with the emergence of a broad group of new donors."

CCA President Stephen Beal commented, "We are grateful to Judy for devoting herself to four years of nonstop campaigning and cheerleading on behalf of our college. We never could have reached our goal without her generosity and encouragement. She and Board Chair Ann Hatch were remarkable in their dedication to the cause. We also want to thank all the donors to the campaign for their investment in future generations of creative leaders and in an educational institution that enriches creative practice worldwide."

Matching Gifts
Two important campaign milestones emerged in the form of matching grants. In June 2007 trustee Barclay Simpson offered a challenge gift: a promise to contribute an additional $1.85 million to the campaign if CCA raised $3.7 million in new gifts. CCA met his challenge in full by April 2008. (Simpson also gave a major leadership gift to launch the campaign.)

The other important challenge is credited to philanthropist Gene Savin, who pledged a $500,000 grant on behalf of the Savin Foundation to create an endowed Community Arts Program scholarship provided the college procured 500 new donors (minimum $50 pledge each). After six months of reaching out to first-time donors—alumni, parents, faculty, staff, and friends—the 500th matching donor was secured in January 2008. The 500 Savin Foundation matching donors contributed more than $630,000 to the campaign.

Scholarships
Campaign gifts of more than $2.8 million have been added to existing scholarship funds, and an additional $2 million has been allocated to create 24 new endowed scholarships—representing a 50-percent increase in available scholarship funds.

New Programs
The Centennial Campaign also provided critical support for the launch of three new degree programs that strategically enhance academic resources for all students:

MBA in Design Strategy: In fall 2008 CCA welcomed the first class of 26 students to the groundbreaking MBA in Design Strategy program, chaired by Nathan Shedroff, who is one of the pioneers of experience-based design. The program unites the studies of design, finance, and organizational management, offering tools and strategies to address today's complex, interconnected market.

Animation Program: In fall 2007 CCA launched the undergraduate Animation Program, chaired by Andrew Lyndon of Pixar Animation Studios. Students work in traditional and digital media to acquire conceptual and technical skills in cinema-based character and experimental animation, film production, interactive media, motion graphics, narrative storytelling, and video.

Graduate Program in Design: In 2006 the renowned designer, researcher, and author Brenda Laurel was appointed chair of the Graduate Program in Design. Laurel introduced a new curriculum that includes discipline-based "tracks" in graphic design, industrial design, and interactive design.

Facilities
With the Centennial Campaign funding, the college's San Francisco campus undertook a series of facility-improvement projects:

Completion of the new Graduate Center—a facility designed specifically for the needs of MFA, Visual Studies, and Curatorial Practice students
Construction of the Carmen M. Christensen Production Stage and editing studios to accommodate an expanded undergraduate Media Arts Program
Renovation of studios for the growing Master of Architecture Program and construction of Graduate Design studios
Purchase and renovation of a new Student and Faculty Service Center, where support services have been centralized

For more information about CCA's Centennial Campaign, please contact the college's Advancement Office at 510.594.3779.

About California College of the Arts

Creative Quarterly Awards Illustration Student and Faculty with Silver Honors

Mon, 16 Feb 2009 00:00:00 PST

The CCA Illustration Program began 2009 with two silver-lined nods from Creative Quarterly: The Journal of Art and Design. Illustration student Kevin Wada and faculty member Owen Smith were each honored with silver medals in the student and professional categories, respectively.

Entries were ranked on a scale of zero to 4 with Creative Quarterly editors comprising the voting team. Each medal winner will be featured in the magazine's March issue.

Kevin Wada is a fourth-year Illustration student who describes his win as a "complete surprise." His awarded illustration originated as a class project for which he was challenged with creating a movie poster. Wada chose the science-fiction thriller Dark City as his inspiration.

One of Wada's current projects is for "Sequential Imagery," a course for which he is crafting a story and illustrating it as a graphic novel. Visit his blog to see additional recent work.

Illustration faculty member Owen Smith has been teaching at CCA since 2006. He has illustrated for such renowned magazines as Sports Illustrated, Time, Rolling Stone, and the New Yorker, collectively producing 15 cover illustrations.

View Smith's online portfolio to see more of his work, and read more about the San Francisco Arts Commission's "Art on Market Street" program for which his winning work was originally created.

CCA Faculty/Alumna Receive SECA Awards from SFMOMA

Fri, 30 Jan 2009 00:00:00 PST

The San Francisco Museum of Modern Art recently announced the recipients of the 2008 SECA Art Award, administered by the Society for the Encouragement of Contemporary Art. Two of the four winners are CCA faculty members: Jordan Kantor (associate professor, Painting/Drawing Program) and Desirée Holman (lecturer, First Year Program, Media Arts, and Interdisciplinary Studies). Tauba Auerbach and Trevor Paglen are the other recipients.

The biennial award honors local artists of exceptional promise with an exhibition at SFMOMA and an accompanying catalog. The 2008 SECA Art Award exhibition, featuring the work of all four artists, will be on view at SFMOMA from February 12 through May 10, 2009. For more information visit SFMOMA.

About the Award

Administered by SECA, an SFMOMA art interest group, this biennial award honors local artists of exceptional promise. This year the museum considered more than 200 artists working in a broad range of media who were nominated by Bay Area art professionals, including museum and alternative space curators, art school instructors, gallery owners, critics, SECA members, and former recipients of the SECA award. After visiting the studios of 31 finalists, the winners were selected by SFMOMA Assistant Curators of Painting and Sculpture Apsara DiQuinzio and Alison Gass.

Since 1967 SECA has honored more than 50 Bay Area artists with its award program. Among these are several CCA-affiliated artists, including Rebecca Bollinger, Kota Ezawa, Chris Finley, Amy Franceschini, Shaun O'Dell, Mitzi Pederson, Maria Porges, Laurie Reid, Leslie Shows, and Mary Snowden.

About the Award Recipients

Jordan Kantor joined the CCA faculty in fall 2005. He teaches in the undergraduate Painting/Drawing Program and the Graduate Program in Fine Arts. In addition to teaching artistic practice and theory Kantor writes extensively on contemporary art subjects and is a frequent contributor to Artforum magazine. His paintings have been shown both in the United States and internationally.

Desirée Holman received her BFA in Sculpture from CCA in 1999. Following graduation, she was accepted into the residency program of the Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture. She is an interdisciplinary artist who lives and works in Oakland, California. Her work has been exhibited throughout the United States, as well as internationally. She is currently represented by San Francisco's Silverman Gallery. To see additional work, visit the artist's website.

CCA Basks in the Sun at Art Basel Miami Beach 2008

Fri, 23 Jan 2009 00:00:00 PST

California College of the Arts delivered a strong presence at Art Basel Miami Beach 2008 with alums, faculty, and staff both in attendance and showing their work throughout the city.

Art Basel Miami Beach, the sister event to Switzerland's Art Basel, is one of the most important international art fairs. For one week each December over 40,000 attendees, including more than 250 leading galleries from around the world (presenting work by more than 2,000 artists) descend on Miami.

Jens Hoffmann, director of the CCA Wattis Institute, is the ringleader of Miami Basel's Art Perform series. Seasoned collectors and curious passersby gathered around his beachside stage to watch the diverse cast of characters/artists. The highlight of 2008 was Yoshua Okon's Art Wrestling, in which "aesthetes" did battle for "spectacular prizes": "Transform your muscle power into acquisitions power!" Hoffmann was described in Art Newspaper's special art fair edition as a "wiry supercurator," and by Art Basel Miami Beach magazine as a "veritable rock star."

For Surface magazine's closing party, Yves Béhar (Industrial Design chair) created an amphibious, floating pool installation for Plunge, a rooftop club located at South Beach's Gansevoort South luxury hotel.

John McCracken's (Painting 1962) sculptural contribution to the art fair was highlighted in the New York Times (Ken Johnson, December 5).

Libby Black's (MFA 2001) Workout Room installation, presented as part of PULSE Miami with her gallery, Marx & Zavattero, created quite a buzz. Mixed-media art works on display: Hermes Punching Bag, Chanel Lifting Belt, Gucci Boxing Gloves, Louis Vuitton Gym Bag, and a dozen other faux high-end workout items.

Many of the thousands of artists were shown at satellite art fairs that speckled the Miami landscape, with names like Pulse, Nada, Aqua, Scope, and art miami. Walking between the fairs and boutique hotels that housed galleries and installations for that week, you could see a barrage of street art vying for the public's attention.

Patrick Dintino (MFA Painting/Drawing 2001), Kota Ezawa (Media Arts faculty), David Huffman (Painting/Drawing faculty, MFA 1998), Jordan Kantor (Painting/Drawing faculty), Don Porcella (Painting/Drawing 2001), and Michele Pred (Interdisciplinary Fine Arts 1990), and Marci Washington (Painting/Drawing MFA 2008) were among the many other CCA faculty and alumni who showed work at Miami Basel 2008.

The Radical Jewelry Makeover: Ethical Metalsmithing at CCA

Thu, 15 Jan 2009 00:00:00 PST

"Garbage in, garbage out," or so they say. But CCA's students this past fall turned out some impressive exceptions to the rule.

San Francisco was the third city to host the Radical Jewelry Makeover, coordinated by Ethical Metalsmiths in conjunction with multiple Bay Area art schools, galleries, and metalsmithing groups.

First came a Bay Area–wide call for donations of unwanted jewelry. "We filled a table with it," says Curtis Arima, a faculty member in the Jewelry / Metal Arts Program, "not just gold and silver but lots of junk jewelry, earrings without mates, et cetera. The students had a great time picking through everything and selecting parts for their projects."

Every student currently enrolled in a Jewelry / Metal Arts course spent 10 intense days remaking the jewelry into new creations—either collaging existing elements together, or completely melting them down and re-forming them. Their finished pieces were exhibited and sold at Velvet da Vinci in San Francisco, a highly regarded jewelry and metal sculpture gallery. Donors received a discount in proportion to their contributions. Everything that hadn't been appropriated was sent on to the next stop on the project's tour.

Switching up the script

The Radical Jewelry Makeover was a great way to start the semester, as one student put it, by "switching up the script." CCA's program usually emphasizes a balance between concept and craft; weeks might be spent articulating what a new piece will communicate before any physical work begins. The Makeover's 10-day time frame demanded a dramatic shift in both aesthetics and modus operandi.

Many reported feeling a sense of collaboration with unknown jewelers of the past, and with the pieces' anonymous former owners. Sophomore Jean Saung observes, "I wanted people to recognize some of the parts taken from the old jewelry, and to appreciate the recombination of their past and history to create new meanings. I made a necklace from pieces of an old watch by prying apart the metal wrist links and re-forming them into cubes, which I slipped onto a neck wire. I wonder if people will recognize the 'beads' for what they truly are.

"Certain parts, which used to belong to completely different pieces, actually seemed like they were meant to be together. I was also surprised to find myself gravitating toward the costume jewelry and the non-precious materials. I liked the idea of making something that was not very valuable into something someone would want to keep."

Senior student Victoria Montgomery agrees, "Metalsmiths, just like any other artists, sometimes get stuck in their own ways of creating. That week was a way of breaking free from the rut. It felt like a week dedicated to play. The studio came alive with a constant buzz of artists sharing materials and ideas.

"Some of the donated items were over-the-top costume jewelry. They were visually daunting, but once I started simplifying, that's when my pieces started to take form. For example, the donation box contained endless costume earrings from the 1980s, most missing a mate. I started collecting all the clip-on mechanisms and studs and treated them as links in a large chain. I liked the surprise of something so forgettable as the back of an earring suddenly taking the stage."

Mining the drawers

Ethical Metalsmiths views this project as a way to get young jewelers thinking early about their materials—first and foremost mined metals such as gold and silver, but also the stuff at the back of people's drawers that would otherwise become landfill. The organization is working on several aspects of mining reform, including the establishment of standards for certified recycled metal, which can be advertised to consumers who want to buy responsibly.

A trip to Malakoff Diggins up in California's gold county is a reminder of how destructive mining is. According to Ethical Metalsmiths, to mine the gold for one new ring creates a staggering 20 tons of waste rock. Mining is a core industry in many countries, and the arsenic, lead, and other chemicals required to process ore cause serious health problems and pollute the land and the water supply. Not to mention the terrible child labor practices and other human rights violations that often plague mining economies. In the United States, hard-rock mining produces more toxic waste than any other industry, and 80 percent of all mined gold is used to produce jewelry.

Senior student Russell Larman found great inspiration not only in the project, but also in the organization behind it. "It's important to remember that the history of our new pieces did not begin with the people who made the donations," he says. "They were only temporary custodians in a larger life cycle. Objects have an inherent history that often becomes separated from them when they are packaged as consumer products. As consumers of gold, silver, platinum, and gemstones, we have a responsibility to make sure we're not supporting unethical labor conditions in the communities that make these materials available to us."

Sustainability in metalsmithing

Surprisingly, even though gold and silver seem expensive, many jewelers do not recycle their metals. The Radical Jewelry Makeover was an occasion for an open dialogue about issues of sourcing, and for Arima to give demonstrations to the students showing how easy it is to melt down gold and silver and reuse them.

MFA student Anna Adair remarks, "The project's focus on sustainability and our ethics as practicing jewelers was, for me, the most important component. It's not something we can afford to ignore, on either a commercial or a conceptual level. A couple of years ago I wasn't thinking about my studio practice in these terms, aside from basic recycling and proper disposal of chemicals. Scrutinizing my studio habits was an eye-opener."

Saung echoes, "I had thought about sustainability and reuse for some of my smaller crafts and hobbies, but I never really had the motivation or courage to incorporate the concept into my studio work. My jewelry metal was always just processed metal I could easily buy. Now I am changing that, and I think it was my experience with this project that gave me the courage."

Soil to Studio: Rediscovering the Oakland Campus with Sasha Duerr

Thu, 15 Jan 2009 00:00:00 PST

Fast food generally isn't healthy. But it is easy, quick, and cheap.

You could say the same about the synthetic chemical dyes that are used to color our clothes. And just as the "slow food" movement first took hold in the Bay Area—where the population is more socially sensitive, health conscious, and willing to experiment—the Bay Area is also home to the "slow textiles" movement, promoting sustainable, whole-systems thinking in the realms of textiles and fashion.

Sasha Duerr has emerged as a key player in this. She is a lecturer in CCA's Textiles Program, and a widely known textile artist and designer whose work has been exhibited across the country. She is passionately dedicated to education, specifically the promotion of ecoliteracy—an understanding of the natural world that is grounded in direct experience, an enhanced sense of place.

If there's anything Duerr doesn't lack, it's a sense of place. For her wedding last summer she hand-dyed all of her bridesmaids' dresses using fennel that she gathered around her neighborhood in the Mission District.

She also has gained a new appreciation recently for CCA's Oakland campus. Despite all the hundreds of days she spent there while earning her MFA in 2001–3, she says she never really saw the campus until she began working on the Fiber and Dye Map, now available at the campus and online.

"I've gotten to know that fig tree, for instance, and how it's been coming back just in the last couple of weeks. I care for this campus now in a way that I didn't before. There are some crazy plants here, like the monkey puzzle tree. We're pretty sure that many of the specimens here today were intentionally planted in this configuration back in the 1920s by the school's founder, Frederick Meyer."

The Fiber and Dye Map project involved combing the campus with CCA facilities staff and staff from the University of California Botanical Garden in Berkeley, identifying plants that produce fibers and dyes. The map details the plant names, their various uses and properties, and the colors and textures that their leaves, fruit, and bark are capable of producing.

Did you know that aloe, that standard ingredient in skin lotion, is also a dye producer? "Ivy and juniper are dye producers, too, and all over the campus. The tannin in native oak can be used as a dye, but it's also a binder, which means it helps other dyes bind to natural fibers. We even have a maple tree of the type that can be tapped to make maple syrup!"

Digging in the dirt

The Fiber and Dye Map was just one part of Duerr's fall 2008 Textiles course, titled Soil to Studio. Another major component was the creation of a brand-new plot dedicated to edible fiber and dye plants at the Berkeley botanical garden. The "edible" aspect was important, to give the students experience specifically with nontoxic species that can be safely grown at home, around pets and children. For many it was their very first exposure to gardening, and a powerful encounter with the raw materials that eventually become their studio materials.

The botanical garden has long-standing relationships with Mills College, San Francisco State University, the American College of Traditional Chinese Medicine, and other Bay Area educational institutions, but those courses are all of the "introduction to botany" or "landscape design" sort. To tie in textiles and fashion is an exciting and important next step, and a natural one for the botanical garden to take with CCA.

Emma Fowler, a Ceramics student, says it wasn't at all a stretch for her to enroll in the Soil to Studio course. "I transferred here from Baltimore specifically because I wanted to learn about sustainability and the things this environment has to offer. There's not a lot of discussion about sustainability in ceramics. I'm experimenting with using natural clay and fibers in my work, and staining and dyeing porcelain with natural dyes."

One natural dye producer that our grandmothers' generation used all the time was onion skins. Onion skins were once essential for Easter egg dyeing, but of course these days it's all about the little synthetic chemical tablets. "All it takes is one or two generations for our culture literally to forget," observes Duerr. "I love rediscovering and experimenting with 'lost' recipes. Recovering knowledge can be a creative process. I've been going to a lot of old bookstores and library sales, finding books from the 1800s called, say, Plants and Wildflowers Every Child Should Know. We've become so disconnected from our environment—even places we're in every day—which makes it really hard to care for it."

The slow textiles revolution

"Food is leading the way in the sustainability revolution," Duerr continues. "Clothing and architecture are coming next. They occupy a different time frame. Food is immediate; you're actually putting it in your body."

We don't consume clothing quite so literally, but the production of textiles uses the same resources that are required to make food: land, water, air, soil. Questions of biodiversity and whole-systems thinking apply equally to both. Both use (literally) tons of toxic fertilizers and chemicals. And also like food, Duerr points out, clothing is not just a basic need, but a mode of personal and cultural expression.

"We have to raise awareness of how rich our world is, of how many possibilities there are. You go to the store and there are only three or four different kinds of apples to choose from. With fiber and dye plants it's the same way. There is so much more out there for us to explore!

"I like to pose the question of how we move forward from organic to actually regenerative. How can we use things that are byproducts or waste products? What systems are already in place that we can tap into, become participants in? You can glean onion skins at the grocery store, for instance. They don't cost anything, don't weigh anything, and would get thrown away otherwise. Similarly, we're working with the gardeners on CCA's Oakland campus to collect their clippings to dye fabrics in Textiles courses. And I've started an educational nonprofit, the Permacouture Institute, to further spread the word."

Lydia West, a Textiles student, is excited about the possibilities and processes shes explored in Soil to Studio, even if they are, by definition, slow. "I really wanted some exposure to making my own dyes in an ecofriendly way," she says. "We do a lot of our own dyeing as part of the program, but not much with natural dyes, I think largely because it's harder to make them last and you don't get such a large range of colors. And obviously it takes a lot longer, so it's harder to fit into a semester. Sasha is the only one teaching this. It involves a lot of experimentation, and it's fascinating."

The fall 2008 Soil to Studio course also included local foraging and visits to urban gardens; meetings with pioneers in ecological and regenerative design; hands-on practice with dyeing and felting; upcycling T-shirts with Alabama Chanin; field trips to the Innovative Fashion Council and Ocelot Clothing Company in San Francisco; and a final exhibition at the University of California Botanical Garden in Berkeley that featured student work from all aspects of the course.

Many thanks to Deepa Natarajan and Jeff Vadney of the University of California Botanical Garden in Berkeley and Roland Pitschel, CCA's Oakland facilities supervisor, for their help in identifying plants on the Oakland campus for the Fiber and Dye Map project. Thanks also to Sputnik graphic designer Jamie Lee for her beautiful work on the map. Many thanks to Christine Manoux, the botanical garden's education program coordinator, for her help in the creation of the new fiber and dye plot there.

CCA Fashion Design Student to Compete in "Project Outdoor Retailer"

Wed, 14 Jan 2009 00:00:00 PST

California College of the Arts Fashion Design undergraduate Stephanie Sandstrom will compete in Project Outdoor Retailer, a 48-hour "concept-to-prototype" student design competition that takes place in conjunction with the Outdoor Retailer Winter Market in Salt Lake City January 22–25, 2009. This is the leading outdoor-industry trade show, bringing together manufacturers, retailers, industry advocates, media, and other professionals. CCA's Fashion Design Program is one of only five in the United States sending a student competitor. Project Outdoor Retailer debuted in 2008 at the Outdoor Retailer Summer Market.

Sandstrom and the four other hand-picked students will have just 48 hours to produce garment prototypes that are original, make innovative use of performance and eco-friendly materials, and have a practical application in the outdoor market. Once they complete their initial garment designs, they will turn their drawings into products using the latest fabrics, zippers, and other components provided by participating exhibitors. They will then spend the remainder of the 48-hour timeframe at their workstations (equipped with sewing machines, cutting tables, and other tools), building their final prototypes.

Project Outdoor Retailer's panel of judges, comprised of professional designers and industry trendsetters, will review each contestant's final prototype and presentation on January 25, the last day of the trade show. The winning student will receive an all-expenses-paid trip to the 2009 Outdoor Retailer Summer Market and a profile in Textiles Intelligence.

The participants will be filmed in a reality-competition-style format that begins with an initial design brief and then follows them through conception, sourcing, production, and the final presentations. Attendees and others will be able to follow their progress in designated areas throughout the show, and also via streaming video at www.outdoorretailer.com.

Sandstrom recently garnered international attention at the Fashioning the Future summit in London, when she was a runner-up in the "Chuck It or Keep it" global student competition.

About CCA's Fashion Design Program

Established in 1996, CCA's Fashion Design Program is an idea-driven, craft-based course of study that emphasizes design concepts and skill development. The goal is to produce designers of daring originality who are willing to explore across disciplines and contribute to fashion as an aspect of modern art and culture. Students gain technical expertise in pattern making, sewing, draping, and fashion illustration. They develop creative solutions to the challenges of sustainability by designing fashions that respect the environment and preserve native cultures. Alumni of the program work in all aspects of the industry for companies such as Abercrombie and Fitch, Gap Inc., Gymboree, Jones of NYC, Levi Strauss & Co., TIBI, Ralph Lauren, Narciso Rodriguez, Athleta, Elie Tahari, and Thom Browne. Many have developed their own firms in the United States and abroad.

About California College of the Arts

Founded in 1907, California College of the Arts (CCA) is noted for the interdisciplinarity and breadth of its programs. It offers studies in 20 undergraduate and seven graduate majors in the areas of fine arts, architecture, design, and writing. The college offers bachelor of architecture, bachelor of arts, bachelor of fine arts, master of architecture, master of arts, master of fine arts, and master of business administration degrees. With campuses in San Francisco and Oakland, CCA currently enrolls 1,740 full-time students. Noted alumni include the painters Nathan Oliveira and Raymond Saunders; the ceramicists Robert Arneson, Viola Frey, and Peter Voulkos; the filmmaker Wayne Wang; the conceptual artists David Ireland and Dennis Oppenheim; and the designers Lucille Tenazas and Michael Vanderbyl. For more information about CCA, visit www.cca.edu.

Associate Professor Guillermo Galindo Receives 2008 ASCAPlus Award

Wed, 14 Jan 2009 00:00:00 PST

Associate professor Guillermo Galindo (Diversity Studies and Graduate Program in Design) was awarded the ASCAPlus Award (the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers) late in 2008, part of the approximately $2.7 million in cash awards dispensed by the Society's ASCAPlus Awards Panels.

ASCAP is a 330,000+ membership association of U.S. composers, songwriters, lyricists, and music publishers. The ASCAPlus Awards Panels are composed of impartial music experts.

The reputable award is bestowed upon ASCAP members whose music falls into an open-ended array of musical genres. Also, awarded musicians are typically at the early or midlevel range of their careers, and their unique contributions to the music industry typically have generated more prestige value, as opposed to monetary compensation. Many of the award candidates have yet to showcase their work or have it reviewed in mainstream broadcast media.

ASCAP President Marilyn Bergman commented on the awards: "Since 1960, the unique ASCAPLUS Awards program has provided deserving music creators with something meaningful and tangible in the form of recognition and money." Award amounts are determined by the judging panel and each award amount is specific to each recipient.

Galindo's work spans a wide spectrum of artistic expression: symphonic composition, musical computer interaction, electro-acoustic music, opera, film scores, instrument building, multimedia installation, and sound design. His music and work has been performed and shown at major festivals and art exhibitions throughout the United States, Latin America, Europe, and Asia.

Galindo's most recent work focuses on music as ritual, live audience interaction, the creation of cyber-totemic/interactive sound objects, symbolism, and site-specific sound environments.

Additionally, Galindo has written two operas: Califas 2000, with text and performance art by MacArthur Fellow Guillermo Gómez-Peña; and Decreation: Fight Cherries, which includes text by MacArthur Fellow Anne Carson (and premiered at CCA in 2001).

For more information visit www.ascap.com/ascapplus.

Also visit Guillermo Galindo's website: www.galindog.com.

CCA Wattis Institute Presents Paul McCarthy's Low Life Slow Life: Part 2

Mon, 15 Dec 2008 00:00:00 PST

The CCA Wattis Institute for Contemporary Arts will present the exhibition Paul McCarthy's Low Life Slow Life: Part 2 from January 27 through May 30, 2009, in the lower-level Logan Galleries on the San Francisco campus of California College of the Arts. The exhibition is free and open to the public, with an opening reception on Tuesday, January 27, from 6–8 p.m.

Low Life Slow Life is an autobiographical exhibition that presents a diverse range of artists and artworks related to Paul McCarthy's memories of his career. The second part of this two-part show centers on his years in Los Angeles from 1970 to the present and emphasizes the emergence of alternative performance practices, Conceptual art, installation art, and video art.

McCarthy's curatorial selections are eclectic and unconventional, deriving more from his personal recollections than from any historical, objective measure of artistic influence. Low Life Slow Life: Part 2 features works by Walt Disney, Howard Fried, Rachel Khedoori, Dennis Oppenheim, and Lil Picard. It also includes an extensive film program, tentatively scheduled to include pieces by Tony Conrad, Guy Debord, Kurt Kren, Les Levine, Peter Kubelka, Otto Muehl, Jack Smith, and Michael Snow.

Although McCarthy did not achieve international recognition until the 1990s, he has been an influential figure on California's art scene for more than 30 years. His early performance work of the 1970s explored the body and sexuality. The intensity of these performances, which often included graphic depictions of taboo subjects, eventually led him into further explorations and exploitations of video and film, special effects, and large-scale installation as he continually strove to heighten the effect of his work. Today McCarthy is considered one of the most influential living American artists.

The exhibition catalog is conceived as an extension of the show. It will include an introduction by Wattis Institute Director Jens Hoffmann, an interview with McCarthy, a biographical timeline, an extensive array of images from McCarthy's archive, and installation images from the exhibition.

About Paul McCarthy
Paul McCarthy was born in Salt Lake City in 1945 and currently lives and works in Los Angeles. He studied as an undergraduate at the University of Utah and the San Francisco Art Institute, and he holds an MFA from the University of Southern California. His artwork has been featured in museums around the world; he has had recent solo exhibitions at the Moderna Museet in Stockholm, Tate Modern in London, and the New Museum of Contemporary Art in New York, and he has been included in recent group exhibitions at the Centre Pompidou in Paris, the Institute of Contemporary Arts in London, and the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York.

About the CCA Wattis Institute
The CCA Wattis Institute for Contemporary Arts was established in 1998 in San Francisco at California College of the Arts. It serves as a forum for the presentation and discussion of international contemporary art and curatorial practice. Through groundbreaking exhibitions, the Capp Street Project residency program, lectures, symposia, and publications, the Wattis Institute has become one of the leading art institutions in the United States and an active site for contemporary culture in the Bay Area. For more information about the Wattis Institute, visit www.wattis org.

About California College of the Arts
Founded in 1907, California College of the Arts (CCA) is noted for the interdisciplinarity and breadth of its programs. It offers studies in 20 undergraduate and seven graduate majors in the areas of fine arts, architecture, design, and writing. The college offers bachelor of architecture, bachelor of arts, bachelor of fine arts, master of architecture, master of arts, master of fine arts, and master of business administration degrees. With campuses in San Francisco and Oakland, CCA currently enrolls 1,740 full-time students. Noted alumni include the painters Nathan Oliveira and Raymond Saunders; the ceramicists Robert Arneson, Viola Frey, and Peter Voulkos; the filmmaker Wayne Wang; the conceptual artists David Ireland and Dennis Oppenheim; and the designers Lucille Tenazas and Michael Vanderbyl. For more information about CCA, visit www.cca.edu.