Currents Magazine Spring 2019

SPRING 2019

SECTION EDITOR

ASSISTANT EDITOR

ASSISTANT EDITOR

PHOTO EDITOR

ADVISER Journalism and Religion Professor

COPY & SECTION EDITOR

LEAD DESIGNER

2

THERAPY BY DESIGN

6

MODERN ART

8

ARTISTIC THEFT

12

TO SEE IT IN THE STARS

14

POETRY CLUB

15

MAKEUP TRANSFORMS LIVES

18

CENSORSHIP AND ART

23

ARTISTS FACE THEIR FEARS

26

SENIOR ARTIST: JOSHUA EDWARDS

27

ART AS ACTIVISM

31

NIGHT OWL PLAYERS

32

GRAFFITI IN LA

37

SENIOR ARTIST: CHRISTINE GALYEAN

38

ART INTERSECTS CULTURE

43

SUCCESS IN ART

50

ART AND EDUCATION

53

SENIOR ARTIST: HANNA STURWOLD

54

ARTISTIC PRIVILEGE

ELISE BRODIE ARACELI CRESCENCIO KILEY DISTELRATH ELLA GONZALEZ ANASTASSIA KOSTIN GABRIELLE MATHYS KAELIN MENDEZ OMAR MURPHY CAITLIN ROARKE JORDAN SMITH NICOLE SPAFFORD CHANNA STEINMETZ SOFIA TELCH SAVANNAH WELCH BETHANY WILSON KARL WINTER KAYIU WONG PIPER WRIGHT KRYSTAL YU ZHANG

N

ikolai Rimsky-Korsakov’s “Scheherazade” is my favorite orchestral piece ever written. The 45-minute suite is split into four movements, each based on a specific story told in “One Thousand and One Nights,” the Middle Eastern collection of folk tales.

Ships caught in a storm, princes saving princesses and the ever-present Scheherazade entering the scene to tell these stories to the wrathful sultan who enslaves her — all depicted in sweeping violin passages and lyrical oboe solos.

It is a piece I come back to often. The technical prowess of orchestras who attempt to master the piece, matched with the rich storytelling and emotion coming from the musicians ignite a passion in me time and time again — a passion that is hard not to share with others.

I have been a musician since I was 5 years old. I have spent years getting lost in the emotive nature of classical, romantic piano and orchestral music. For me, music is a way to escape my reality and create an experience that links me, the artist, to the audience in an extremely intimate way.

Art enriches life.

Whether it’s a song finally mastered on the guitar, lines perfectly memorized for opening night, or eyeliner expertly applied on a face, art is the most personal avenue of self-expression.

In this magazine, we feature musicians, actors, dancers, painters, designers, singers, drag queens, filmmakers, poets, writers, composers, calligraphers, martial artists, makeup artists and photographers.

These artists teach us through their personal experiences what art means to them and how it can alter lives.

Art transforms us. An arts education can change the trajectory of a student’s life, and practicing art can heal. Drag queens can find their identity through the artistry of makeup.

Art challenges us to face our fears. It forces us to deal with realities at home and the idea that success might never come as we might have imagined it.

Art shapes our experiences. We write stories inspired by close friends, paint the streets we walk on with vibrant colors and create sets to live in on stage.

The power of art and the passion of the artist is unmatched in my experience, and we’ve attempted to capture some of that passion in these pages.

Photos by Channa Steinmetz, makeup by Elise Brodie

EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

THE VETERAN COMMUNITY

Photo by Milan Loiacono, modeled by Harper Godburn.

VARIOUS COMMUNITIES FIND REMEDY THROUGH ART

BY CHANNA STEINMETZ

D

an Hain is a veteran who has struggled with substance abuse and homelessness.

Art helps him cope.

“I started with those adult coloring books and thought, ‘What a stress reliever,’” Hain said. “Art has kept me busy but it has also been very helpful. It has calmed down my anxiety.”

Art therapy is on the rise as a creative, remedial technique used in clinics, schools and institutions all across the United States. The practice is based on the belief that the creative process helps people develop interpersonal skills, manage behavior, reduce stress, increase self-esteem and achieve insight, according to the American Art Therapy Association.

Traditional art instructors may not have the goal of therapy in mind when teaching but several find that art’s therapeutic abilities benefit their students.

Cerebral palsy (CP) is a developmental disorder of movement or posture caused by damage that occurs in the deA sense of normalcy may be lost for veterans returning veloping brain, according to the Mayo Clinic. CP’s effect from duty. Combat, loss and stress are all factors during varies but can be both cognitive and physical. Pownall wartime that can lead to post-traumatic stress disorder said he treated all of the clients as artists, regardless of (PTSD), which affects approximately 11 to 20 percent of their CP. soldiers in a given year, according to the U.S. Depart“My goal was always to not think of it as therapy,” Pownall ment of Veterans Affairs (VA). Trauma can lead to a said. “I wanted to really treat them as independent, profesnumber of other obstacles, such as anxiety, depression, sional artists, and that was the way I found benefited them drug abuse and homelessness. the most.”

For the past two years, artist David “MY GOAL WAS ALWAYS TO For some of Pownall’s clients, art was McDonald has volunteered to teach art not only a creative outlet but also a way at the VA in Los Angeles for two groups NOT THINK OF IT AS THERAPY. to communicate. Pownall said there of veterans: those recovering from I WANTED TO REALLY TREAT were a lot of cases in which nonverbal substance abuse and those 55 years THEM AS INDEPENDENT, clients were able to use art to express or older who have previously been they were feeling.

PROFESSIONAL ARTISTS, what homeless with mental and/or physical On the other end, those whose CP afdisabilities. McDonald said therapy is a AND THAT WAS THE WAY fected their physical abilities were also byproduct, rather than a goal, of his art I FOUND BENEFITED THEM able to express themselves through art. classes. He focuses more on providing “I worked with a client — really THE MOST. ~Ty Pownall bright, funny guy — but he could pretthe veterans with a peaceful space where they feel comfortable. ty much only control his foot,” Pownall “It’s been really interesting to watch how art can open said. “He painted this landscape that had a fully developed up barriers,” McDonald said. “You sit down and you’re foreground, middle ground and mountains in the back. He drawing, just sitting with somebody. It’s a very quiet and painted the whole thing with just his foot. He seemed so intimate situation. Art is something the veterans can happy and proud.” bond over and form a little community.”

The clients also have the opportunity to submit their work There are no boundaries to McDonald’s art class. He to the Washington Reid Gallery in Culver City. Pownall said quickly discovered the veterans were not interested in while he was working at UCP, he would do a lot of two-perhis teaching, so he created the class to be a workshop son shows consisting of one of the UCP clients and a prowhere they have access to a variety of materials such as fessional artist in the LA area. It was a way to connect the paints, drawing tools and clay. art community with the CP community.

“I think they like the freedom,” McDonald said. “As one During Pownall’s time at UCP, he said he saw an improveguy once said to me, ‘Our entire career in the military, ment in the overall mood and energy of some of the clients. we are told what to do — we’re under orders all the “They seemed happier and more excited to be there,” time. I come here and you don’t tell me what to do, and I Pownall said. “I don’t know what that was all attributed to really appreciate that. You respect me enough to let me but art is fun and it’s powerful. I think if you can set up a figure it out.’” situation for anyone to feel creative, to feel like they have With this creative freedom, McDonald has seen the the power to make what they want, to feel like they can fail veterans create art for a range of purposes. and it’s OK, then there is a benefit that is going to come “There are people who just want to make something from that — no matter who it is for.” pretty to have in their room,” McDonald said. “Meanwhile, I’ve had a lot of them who are not allowed to see their children, and they’ll oftentimes do drawings or The Counseling Center created an expressive arts group paintings for them. They can then mail those art pieces in Spring 2018. The goal of the group was to give students over to their children.” a space to be creative through self-discovery and connecHain attends McDonald’s class along with art classes at tion with others, Counselor Sparkle Greenhaw said. the Brentwood Art Center. He said both the art teachers “I felt this would be a fun and creative way to do some counand the community of veterans have been very welcoming. seling in a different sort of manner,” Greenhaw said. “There “They all are very friendly,” Hain said. “For the veterans are so many other counseling centers across the country that who haven’t tried art yet, I tell them, ‘Do art. You’ll love it.’” do this type of work and I wanted to bring that here.”

The group meets weekly and encourages new students to attend whenever they please. In general, Greenhaw said the main reason a majority of students seek counseling is Everyone is able to pursue art. Ty Pownall, Pepperdine because of stress and anxiety. fine arts professor and artist, worked with United Cerebral “[Anxiety is] the number one reason,” Greenhaw said.

Palsy (UCP) between 2008 and 2012, teaching art to clients “But people can come in for an unlimited list of other things with unique cognitive and physical abilities.

THE PEPPERDINE COMMUNITY

THE CEREBRAL PALSY COMMUNITY

such as depression, eating disorders, grief, relationships, addiction, homesickness, career questions. The Counseling Center is able to provide support and that’s also true with any of the groups we do.”

The group session starts with a general topic which changes from week to week. Topics have ranged from mindfulness to boundaries to courage. With directional freedom, students are given various mediums such as watercolor, collage and colored pencils to create their art.

“It’s not an art class,” Greenhaw said. “Unlike an art class where you might be looking at the final product, we really are looking at the process. It also forms connections. …

Anyone who returns to a group over and over is going to find that they can take more risks, go deeper, be more vulnerable and even be able to reflect back on where they were when they first started the group.”

MARIPOSA ELEMENTARY SCHOOL Art is an element of the everyday curriculum for students and teachers at Mariposa Elementary School. Sixth grade teacher Gina Armfield started implementing art in the classroom in Fall 2018 and is currently leading the Arts Integration Institute for the Las Virgenes School District.

Armfield said bringing art into the classroom is fundamental to overall improvement.

“The truth is we teach to test,” Armfield said. “With that, we’ve lost creativity. I think it’s important to have balance and be able to express yourself. I think our educational

Art courtesy of Juliane Mangold

Art courtesy of Isaac Starko

system has become very myopic in its thinking, and we need to have a balance.”

Armfield uses exercises such as sketching, watercolor and stream of consciousness writing to get the students thinking creatively. Although the projects are not intended to be therapy, Armfield said students with trauma can benefit from releasing emotion through these projects.

“Kids are really struggling, and they’re having a hard time with their emotions,” Armfield said. “The whole idea of using art is to express the things they’re holding in.”

Sixth-grader Juliane Mangold said her favorite part about art in Armfield’s class is the ability it gives her to express herself.

“It helps me with my emotions,” Juliane said. “When I am going through something, art helps to let it out and pay attention to something else.”

Within the past school year, Armfield said she has seen a shift in attitude toward school among her students.

“With my sixth graders, they say to me, ‘I never really wanted to go to school before, and now I look forward to school,’” Armfield said. “They come to school early because they want to paint or draw.”

Isaac Starko, a sixth-grader at Mariposa, said he used to be shy about showing his face. But school made him feel more safe and comfortable, so he used the metaphor of “covering his face” in his artwork.

“When I make art, it makes me feel happy inside,” Issac said. “I have always been an artist.”

Photo by Kaelin Mendez

THE MALIBU SENIOR CENTER The Malibu Senior Center offers a full calendar of artistic opportunities for the community members. These activities range from dance classes to creative writing to art classes. Once a month, a teacher from Art Trek — a nonprofit art program — comes to the center to teach an art project.

Art Trek instructor Lorelle Patterson led an acrylic painting project this past February. Seniors had a choice of various images of animals in nature to mimic onto their own canvases. Unlike the other art groups, Patterson’s class is more structured, teaching her students how to improve their artistic skills.

“It may be therapy on some levels,” Patterson said. “But it really teaches people how to grow as humans and grow in their community. Art serves a big purpose.”

After a warm-up to practice the shapes of their example image, the seniors dove into their paintings. Malibu resident and artist Shelley Kramer is a regular at the monthly Art Trek event. She said art has played an important role in her life.

“It has helped me during stressful situations,” Kramer said. “Art has made me more patient.”

First-time attendee Joan Lesser-Beda shared how she fell out of art until recently.

“I stopped painting in the 1980s,” Lesser-Beda said.

“Then a month before we had the fires, something came over me, and I got a bunch of canvases. I painted about six or seven canvases of the landscape around me. I had this fear it would be gone.”

Lesser-Beda said she and her husband Henry only grabbed some clothes and her paintings when they evacuated. When they returned home after the fire, Joan and Henry Lesser-Beda continued to paint.

“Painting is definitely therapeutic; it’s an escape,” Joan Lesser-Beda said. “Everyone should get into it. It doesn’t matter at what age they start. My husband is over 80 with no previous experience and here he is painting.”

Henry Lesser-Beda painted a detailed sloth during his first Art Trek class. He said he always wanted to paint but was afraid to start. After support from his wife, he picked up the brush.

“Just go for it,” Henry Lesser-Beda said. “You will be glad you did. I am glad I did.”

Photo by Milan Loiacono

OPINION BY ELLA GONZALEZ

Y

ou are faced with an image, a painting, a sculpture perhaps. Maybe you are in a gallery or museum or have a Twitter, Facebook or Instagram feed so refined that the images flitter across your screen. Regardless of the medium, you cock your head to the right, to the left and perhaps utter the words, “Well, I could have done that.” And with that simple utterance, you think you have this whole modern art thing figured out. You dub yourself an artist and take to your easel to make some haphazard scribbles before framing your creation.

Cue your pressing of the metaphorical “that was easy” button.

Modern art gets a bad rap. In its stereotypical form, it can be viewed as impenetrable and pretentious or, if at a loss for other adjectives, a simple Google search of “modern art is” will fill it in for you: trash, garbage, bad, a sham, a money laundering scheme and other pejorative descriptions ad

infinitum that suggest modern art is not real art. These statements, however, fail to take into account the historical context of what appears to be a simple blob on a canvas. It also fails to take into account the element that transforms a work like Marcel Duchamp’s “Fountain” into something far more profound and meaningful: its context.

When discussing modern art, it is important to lay bare its historical context. Art historians date modern art as early as the 1860s and place its end in the 1970s.

Some cite its origins as beginning with Edouard Manet’s “Le déjeuner sur l’herbe” (“The Luncheon on the Grass”). The Salon of 1863 rejected this painting that sparked outrage; a nude woman looks directly at the viewer, sitting with two male college students while a woman in the distance crouches in a stream. They reject the food beside them — ­ the bread, the fruit. The bold application of paint and slightly distorted

perspective of the crouching woman in the background introduces modernist elements that draw attention to the artificiality of painting. Art and the act of painting were not merely focused on recreating reality but on partially eschewing the tools of realism, showing the constraints of the artistic medium and its inability to perfectly capture all the nuances of the natural world.

The modern art movement contains myriad submovements — the seemingly anti-art Dada movement from which Duchamp’s “Fountain” comes, abstract expressionism and surrealism and many others. Modern art also has a global reach despite its traditional focus on the Western art historical canon.

It is also essential to note that modern art should not be conflated with contemporary art — art that is produced from the 1980s to the present. So, the infamous Jeff Koons’ inflatable balloon dog sculpture you’ve seen and selfied with at The

Top: “The 1/4 Mile,” Robert Rauschenberg, (1981–98). Photo by Milan Loiacono. Many people confuse contemporary art like this piece with modern art, which phased out in the 1970s.

Broad or the strange performance art piece you possibly came across at Venice Beach — file those under contemporary.

Beyond the arbitrariness of dates that can separate one artistic style or movement from another, there is another aspect that must be considered when looking at art, which must factor into our snide comments of, “Well, I could have done that.” When one looks at a work of art, regardless of whether it is an ancient sherd of Greek pottery or a color-blocked canvas of Mark Rothko, the sense of beauty or repulsion or fascination derives not merely from what is depicted in the artwork, but from the work’s context — the historical and social milieu that gave rise to the piece.

Indeed, when you look at the formal qualities of a work of art — the line, shape, color — you are only seeing half of the story. The meaning behind the work, which must be explored beyond the confines of a museum label, has the capacity to transform a seemingly mundane piece into something fascinating and a beautiful work into one that, when

“Fountain,” Marcel Duchamp, (1917).

Photo by Kim Traynor

the context is fully realized, can be horrifying.

In her Netflix special “Nanette,” comedian Hannah Gadsby discusses the “modern” artist Picasso’s affair with the 17-year-old Marie-Thérèse Walter. Biographical details like this

make it complicated and tricky to divorce the artist from the artwork.

Perhaps, their work no longer seems as alluring as it once was. Conversely, the abstracted and swirling shapes of Wassily Kandinsky may seem devoid of meaning upon first glance but when one considers his treatise “On the Spiritual In Art,” the geometric forms can take on a spiritual dimension.

It might seem silly that 100 plus years after the birth of modern art, people are still questioning what it is and patting themselves on the back for the feeling of pride and perhaps frustration they get when they see a piece of modern art and think they could have easily done it themselves.

But, as a familiar quote that you may have seen emblazoned on mugs and keychains goes, “Modern Art = I could do that + Yeah, but you didn’t.”

Art is more than technical skill, and modern art and art itself is diverse, with the visual component telling a larger story about the world and the people that inhabit it. That is what makes art fascinating and art, art .

“Yellow-Red-Blue,” Wassily Kandinsky, (1925). Photo by Guillaume Piolle.

THE LINE BETWEEN INSPIRATION AND IMITATION

BY NICOLE SPAFFORD

I

n a 1994 interview, Steve Jobs said, “Picasso had a saying, ‘Good artists copy, great artists steal.’”

Actually, Russian-born composer Igor Stravinsky said it first. Or maybe it was renowned poet T.S. Eliot.

After years of manipulation and modification, the true origin of the saying remains unclear, rendering it emblematic of the discipline it concerns. Indeed, few things in the world of art are truly original.

“I’ve seen people rip off my work,” alumna and photographer Claire Fagin said. “I’ve seen people rip off my boss’ work. I’ve seen my boss rip off other people’s work. I’ve ripped off other people’s work. It’s so hard to be in the art world and not see that happen on a daily basis.”

INSPIRATION OR IMITATION? Throughout history, artists have drawn inspiration from other artists.

Andy Warhol did it. Quentin Tarantino did it. But what came from those alterations were some of the 21st century’s most notable masterpieces.

Let’s be honest, most people don’t care that Led Zeppelin ripped off their predecessors because its renditions of songs were objectively superior. This is not up for debate.

There are only two tragedies in life: one is not getting what one wants, the other is denying the fact that Led Zeppelin is the greatest band of all time.

Oscar Wilde is famous for saying that. A variation of it, that is.

It poses a critical question: where is the line between admiration-fueled imitation and shameless stealing?

“It’s such a fine line,” Fagin said. “It’s so hard to draw inspiration from someone else without ripping them off whenever you try to execute it yourself.”

That’s because imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, Oscar Wilde once said. Or Charles Caleb Colton. The Gist Remains the Same.

“If you’re ripping someone else off, it’s because you liked their stuff so much,” Fagin said. “If someone else is ripping you off, it’s because they liked your stuff so much. So I think behind any rip-off there is some kind of compliment there, because if they didn’t like it, they wouldn’t think twice about it.”

As thin as that line might be, senior media production major Ifeanyi Ezieme said it is a line artists should not cross.

“I am all about being inspired by other people’s work but if there are things that are flat out being copied, that’s when I can’t really give respect to the artist,” Ezieme said.

SOCIAL MEDIA & THIEVERY While music used to be the primary art form subject to artistic theft, Jon Pfeiffer, Pepperdine media law professor and entertainment attorney, said the rise in social media use likely makes photography the most susceptible of any art form.

“Before, people couldn’t really share [photos] that easily,” Pfeiffer said. “Now where there’s social media apps just devoted to the images, it’s very hard to police.”

Senior Veronica Sams, a beauty and fashion photographer, said when she posts to Instagram, she knows there is no protection when it comes to her images.

“I do own all the copyrights to all of my images but I can’t stop someone from screenshotting my image and Instagram can’t protect me from that either,” Sams said.

“Instagram does offer a form if a user feels their copyright has been infringed but when you post something up to the Gram, there is a chance that your image can be stolen.”

Ezieme said he only posts videos to social media that he views as expendable but Fagin said the benefits of social media outweigh the risks.

“The platform it gives for artists does more good than bad,” Fagin said. “As a photographer, I don’t know where the heck I would be putting my photos if it wasn’t for Instagram — even though I’m shooting for brands and musicians and people like that — because it’s not like print is very big anymore.”

But the idea of someone else taking your work is still quite daunting, Fagin said.

“Sometimes I think, ‘Wow, I’m putting this on there and obviously my name is on it, people are seeing it on my profile, but if someone else was to post it or use it or whatever, there’s no guarantee that my name would be on it,’” Fagin said. “So there’s nothing really that I do or feel like I can do.”

Yet Sams said while concepts are taken from artists all the time, she would not necessarily call it stealing.

Art by Jordan Smith

COPYRIGHT LAW AND FAIR USE “I call it ‘getting inspired’ and just using it to create something of my own,” Sams said. “No one is going to copy something exactly, and if they do, it will be obvious and people will know their work is not original. I follow quite a few other photographers and get inspiration from them all the time but never do I try to recreate one of their images exactly. That is a waste of time.”

There are preventative measures artists can take to mitigate the risk of their work being stolen. Pfeiffer said the most efficient legal way to prevent someone from stealing photos is to copyright them.

Although Ezieme said he does not copyright the footage he posts on social media, he does copyright his short films.

“When it comes to my short films, there’s usually a copyright

at the very end,” Ezieme said. “All rights reserved usually goes “There’s proposed legislation and it goes nowhere betoward me and whoever helped me produce the film.” cause one group wants there to be more protection for the The copyrighting process can be pricy. creators but the other doesn’t want it because they want “If you are famous, then you are probably copywriting evthe freedom to use that information,” Pfeiffer said. “So you ery photo because it’s $35, maybe it’s $40,” Pfeiffer said. have all these lobbying arms in Congress kind of butting “But if you’re an amateur photographer and you’re taking heads on that issue.” hundreds of thousands of photos, you’re not going to spend That’s why up until now, it’s been easier to maintain the stathat kind of money.” tus quo. Pfeiffer said the increasing emphasis on privacy may Going through the process of suing someone for copyright be swaying the debate. infringement is also not particularly efficient, Pfeiffer said. “[Mark] Zuckerberg just announced the reshaping of Face“The Supreme Court actually just ruled that you have to book — they’re going to focus on privacy,” Pfeiffer said. “I have a registered copyright before you can sue somebody predict there’ll be more sites that make you pay a fee, so for copyright infringement,” Pfeiffer said. “So you have to suddenly you can separate what is public and what is private. file the paperwork with the copyright office, wait that six or Because right now, you can make it private, but to my knowlnine months or whatever it takes for them to get back to you edge, the only way you can completely keep it segregated is and have a certificate of registration and then you can sue. to have two separate accounts.”

The average person isn’t going to wait.”

With that privacy will come a better ability for artists to Pfeiffer said a second option is to create a watermark, protect their work, Pfeiffer said. which is a faint logo superimposed on an image to identify the photographer.

“If somebody rips them off, it is going to have the name of Until the law changes, for many artists the propensity to the company in it and it’s going to be virtually useless for take someone else’s work becomes less of a legal issue and anything,” Pfeiffer said. more of a moral one.

For many artists, this is not a viable option. Fagain said Fagin said that while she often draws inspiration from other preserving artistic quality is of the utmost importance and artists, she takes an approach to ensure that she is not flat watermarking may detract from it. out copying them.

“I never want to use a watermark,” Fagin said. “It just “I’ll look at a photo and be like, ‘Wow, OK, I really like this seems like it takes away so much of the photo to have a wabut why do I really like this?’” Fagin said. “Is it the color? Betermark on the bottom of it.” cause then I can pull that color and put it in my own photo Without a copyright or a watermark, artists are liable to have without feeling like I’ve ripped that person off. Or is it the way their work taken. Even if a work does have a copyright, the fair that the model is posing? Because I can have a model pose use doctrine may allow people to circumvent legal action. similar to that without ripping off the artist.” “[Fair use] is where you use a copy-written photo, or coSams, reiterating Fagin’s sentiment, said py-written piece of music, or a copy-written piece of art and you use it for a noncommer- “I AM ALL ABOUT BEING there is nothing wrong with drawing inspifrom the work of another artist so cial purpose,” Pfeiffer said.

INSPIRED BY OTHER ration long as the artist drawing the inspiration The fair use doctrine may also allow PEOPLE’S WORK BUT IF makes it a reflection of himself or herself. individuals to take a copy-written object and transform it into their own work, THERE ARE THINGS THAT “When wanting to create a work of art based off of past inspiration, think to Pfeiffer said.

ARE FLAT OUT BEING yourself, ‘What about that piece inspired “Someone can take your work and change it enough that it’s not copyrighting,” Fagin COPIED, THAT’S WHEN me?’” Sams said. “‘Was it the lighting? The colors? The angle?’ Start there. Use the said. “If someone saw my photo and was I CAN’T REALLY GIVE elements that make you excited to create.” like, ‘Wow, I really liked the model in this photo,’ they could cut them out and put her RESPECT TO THE ARTIST.” Ezieme said he sometimes draws inspi~Ifeanyi Ezieme ration from directors he likes but puts his in a totally different collage.” own tastes and flair to it so that what he produces is not an The line where work is adapted by an artist to become his or exact iteration of the other work. her own is subjective. That’s why litigation exists, Pfeiffer said.

“If you do incorporate elements of your own style, and say “If you’re going to share on Instagram or you’re going to maybe for one particular scene it is shot in a way that’s inshare on Flicker or Facebook, there’s not really a way to stop fluenced by another artist, then that’s more respectable,” people from taking it,” Pfeiffer said.

Ezieme said. “It’s kind of like paying homage and respect toward the craft that you admire.”

MORAL IMPLICATIONS

IT’S ALL HERE

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THE FUTURE OF COPYRIGHT LAW

Experts are speculating that within the next five years, there will be a shift in the current copyright law. But whether it will become more stringent or more lenient is a contentious debate, Pfeiffer said.

*Terms and conditions apply

STORY BY GABRIELLE MATHYS

“W

hat are you doing after this?” Nila looked at her friend sitting beside her. Astrid’s eyes were still focused on the deep night sky and the pinpricks of light piercing the darkness above the park. “What do you mean?”

“Like, after graduation and all that.”

Astrid leaned back on the grass as she spoke, spilling the words out in a single exhale. “Real life. Stuff like that.”

Nila collapsed next to her, heaving a long sigh, her lips forming a smirking smile. “Ha, yeah, well, who knows? I certainly don’t.”

“Why not?” Astrid’s voice was calm but Nila knew from experience that excitement was bubbling under its surface.

“Same reasons why most anyone on campus says so. There’s too much I don’t know about the future and what I want to do.”

“Uncertainty?” Astrid’s eyebrows squeezed together as she spoke.

“Yeah.”

“Huh.” “What?”

Astrid tugged absently at a few blades of grass. “I thought it was different. What everyone was thinking, I mean.”

Nila sat up on her elbows and stared at Astrid. “What’d you think they mean when they say that?” she asked, puzzled.

“Like, there are so many options out there, I have no idea what to do. Grad school? Companies in any field can use com majors. I can try to go anywhere in the world like that.” Astrid glanced at Nila for a brief second before staring back up at the sky, spreading her hands out, framing the stars.

“Yeah, communication majors are like that.”

“So are psych! You have a lot of

options too,” Astrid shot back, optimistic as ever.

“Theoretically.”

Astrid sighed, not saying anything, eyes still focused upward. Nila followed her gaze up into the blackness above them.

Back when she was in Chicago, Nila used to stare out of the tiny apartment window at the night sky as she was going to sleep. In her head, she called it the Void, partly because she was an extra angsty teen but also because it was an endless expanse of nothing that the world dangled in.

Sometimes she felt like it would suck her out of her room and into that infinite oblivion.

Astrid told her that was nihilism. Nila had just shrugged. The information didn’t mean much to her.

“You see those stars up there?”

Nila snapped out of her thoughts and glanced in the direction Astrid was pointing, only to be met with dozens of lights in the sky.

“Which ones? There’s a lot of them.”

“See those three big ones that almost form a sort of line?”

Nila squinted at the beacons floating in the Void. It still took her a few minutes to pinpoint the crooked line Astrid was talking about. “There?”

She pointed vaguely in that direction.

“Yeah!” Astrid lowered her hand, placing it behind her head — a layer of protection between her and the ground. “You know, my family used to go camping in Yosemite every summer, and we made a game of finding as many constellations as we could.

That one was always my favorite. It was the easiest to find, ‘cause honestly, anything can be a dipper if you try hard enough.”

“What’s it called?” Nila hadn’t seen much of the stars growing up. The lights of the big city competed to be seen, so when she looked up at night, she just

saw that empty Void. She hadn’t really seen a point in remembering the names of pictures made with objects she could never see.

“Orion,” Astrid pointed again, pushing herself up with her elbows to a more solid stance. “That’s just his belt. There’s stars that form the rest of his body and his bow. See?” Her hand moved as she spoke, gesturing to the glowing orbs, outlining their image with her finger.

Slowly, Nila saw the image form in her mind. “That’s pretty cool,” she admitted.

Astrid beamed, her smile letting off a radiance that was brighter than Orion. “I think so too!” She leaned back on the grass, exhaling softly. “Honestly, stargazing is the coolest thing.”

Nila’s lips quirked up at the edges.

“Why do you say that?”

“I mean, just think about it. When you get out to a place like this with not a lot of light pollution, they’re just so vibrant and real. Back in the day, people used to see these stars so easy that they used to use them to keep track of where they were going.

Isn’t that crazy?”

“A little.” Nila paused, looking back over the outline of Orion. “Life’s gotten so complicated since then, don’t you think?”

“Has it? I’m not sure.”

Nila rolled over on her side, furrowing her eyebrows together as she took in Astrid’s peaceful expression.“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“Life is what you make of it,” Astrid stated matter-of-factly.

Her words hung in the air for a brief moment in time before Nila snorted, rolling her eyes. “You’re weird,” she told her with the shadow of a smile on her face.

Astrid’s eyes twinkled. “I know.”

The two girls stayed there, staring at their universe.

Art by Bethany Wilson

A COMMUNITY FOR CREATIVITY

BY MAKENA HUEY

W

hen senior creative writing major Jacob Wolfe founded Pepperdine’s Poetry Society in 2015, he simply wanted to improve his writing. Poetry enabled Wolfe to find his voice, and now the Poetry Society enables others to find theirs.

“We really welcome everybody to just jump in, whatever their level be ...” Wolfe said. “This community is for people that just want to write better.”

The Society, which works closely with Expressionists magazine, hosts poetry readings with visiting authors throughout the year. Around twice a month, there are two-hour workshops in which members read each other’s poems and offer feedback without the pressure of grades or the presence of faculty, said John Struloeff, associate professor of creative writing and English and faculty adviser for the Society.

“My favorite thing about poetry is writing a poem, being unsure about it, reading it to an audience and then feeling the reaction,” Struloeff said.

“You have spoken to them in a way that is meaningful.”

Wolfe, now the Society’s president, begins workshops by reading published poems and then analyzing them with the members, which he believes helps them develop their own voices. Wolfe said reading published poetry helped developed his voice, too. As a child, he said he was very introverted and did not know how to express himself.

“The passion comes from the challenge and the passion comes from who I was as a kid,” Wolfe said.

“Poetry gave me the words that I needed to help me find myself and the world around me.”

Struloeff, who used to solely write fiction, said he started writing poetry out of practicality. He wrote one poem every day for a year to prepare himself for working with poetry students. “[I became] completely lost in the world of poems,” Struloeff said. “By the end of that year, I was equally a fiction writer [and] a poet. I have been ever since.”

Both Struloeff and Wolfe agree that poetry is art. Wolfe said that like painting, writing is a therapeutic process with a subjective and evocative final product.

“I see art as something that when we look at it, we recognize something deeply human within it. …” Struloeff said. “Poetry is the same way.

It’s just being done with words, and there’s often kind of a musical nature to those words.”

Struloeff said he appreciates how poetry offers a new glimpse of the world. Wolfe said he loves that poetry challenges him to perceive the ordinary in an unordinary way by creating a different world.

Wolfe and Struloeff encourage students who are interested in poetry to join the Poetry Society.

“We welcome everyone, even if they feel like they don’t have some kind of rigorous background in poetry,” Struloeff said. “Maybe they’ll end up having the same transformative experience that I did when I took the leap into writing poetry.”

BY MAKENA HUEY

P

owerful. Confident. Beautiful. Free.

These are the words drag queen Jazmyn Simone used to encapsulate how she feels when wearing makeup.

Simone, a Los Angeles resident who grew up in Pomona, California, said she discovered makeup and drag simultaneously. She instantly fell in love with their transformative powers when she went to her first gay night club at 19 years old.

“I just thought the art of makeup was beautiful, and I could use that to make myself more beautiful,” Simone said.

In addition to being a multibillion dollar industry, makeup is also a form of art — one that transcends all boundaries and empowers those who wear it long after it is wiped away at the end of the day. For Simone and countless others, makeup has the power to transform faces and lives with just one brush stroke.

ARTICULATING THE ART

that men are also exploring makeup as a playful form of self-expression. I think it is a great thing to see because I don’t think art should be related to gender.”

In recent years, the number of male makeup artists, especially those in the spotlight, has increased dramatically.

Beauty YouTubers such as James Charles, Jeffree Star and Manny MUA have their own cosmetic lines along with millions of subscribers, while Mario Dedivanovic continues to transform the industry as Kim Kardashian’s makeup artist.

Although Pereda said she is aware that drag queens introduced a variety of makeup techniques to the industry, she agreed that the majority of people are probably uninformed.

She thinks that drag makeup appears to be a very dramatic transformation when in reality the individual steps in their beauty routines are extremely similar to the ones she uses.

Simone said both drag and drag makeup are forms of entertainment that have existed for many years.

“I’m just glad that it’s all coming to the forefront and the drag community is getting looked at closer and is more appreciated,” Simone said.

in,” Simone said. “I wanted to learn every aspect of it, and makeup was the most important one because that’s how you portray a look. That’s how you portray a character.”

MASTERING THE MAKEUP Watnick said the way she teaches her makeup class is very similar to how one would teach an art class. In order to apply personal aesthetics, students must first learn the techniques, which include everything from the pressure of the brush to the correct amount of product on the palette.

Simone, who taught herself makeup and drew inspiration from the more experienced drag queens she encountered, emphasized that makeup is easier than it looks. However, she agreed with both Pereda and Watnick that mastering makeup, like any form of art, requires extensive time and practice.

“If you really want to perfect it and make it the art form that you want, you have to be patient with yourself,” Simone said. “I’ve been doing drag for 13 years, and I can say that I barely perfected my face maybe about five or six years ago when I found the face that I wanted.”

Simone’s favorite part of her routine is doing her signature eye makeup look, which incorporates white eyeliner in her waterline and black eyeliner around the edges.

Pereda, who finds inspiration in YouTube tutorials and fashion, said she learned to appreciate her technical mistakes and views makeup as a learning process in which she is constantly improving.

“You’re always going to have to learn something new …”

Pereda said. “It takes years, it takes time and wherever you’re at now in the process of doing your makeup, that’s OK, and you should be happy with that.”

Senior Monica Pereda, who has been practicing makeup with her sisters since she was young, considers cosmetics her inspiration.

“I would definitely consider [makeup] an art just because it is a type of expression,” Pereda said. “It’s definitely like making a portrait on your face every single day. ... It can make you look so different. Even the simplest things like adding eyeliner can totally just change your look.”

Pereda emphasized that there are no rules in makeup and that everyone’s look is unique with different styles and techniques. She said her favorite part of her routine is applying foundation because it creates “a blank canvas for you to do all of your artwork.” Her passion for makeup derives from the creativity behind it.

Theatre Professor Melanie Watnick, who teaches a stage makeup class, said that because she defines art as an outlet for creativity, she considers makeup an art form.

Many people don’t know that several widely-used make“Art is a version of self-expression, and self-expression, up techniques originated in the drag community. when crafted, is something anybody can do,” Watnick said.

“The culture of drag, which has been around for quite a “Therefore, makeup is self-expression and can be considwhile, has actually really influenced mainstream makeup ered a form of art.” and pop culture more and more without people even realizSimone, who impersonates celebrities such as Janet Jacking it — like baking and contouring,” Watnick said. son, Beyoncé and Whitney Houston at Toucans Tiki Lounge Watnick explained that in Palm Springs, VIP Nightclub “IF YOU REALLY WANT TO PERFECT IT because contouring makes in Riverside and Hamburger Mary’s in Ontario, California, AND MAKE IT THE ART FORM THAT YOU features recede while highlighting makes features said makeup is the most artistic and creative outlet for WANT, YOU HAVE TO BE PATIENT WITH advance, many drag queens use these methods to create drag queens. It enables them YOURSELF.” ~JAZMYN SIMONE the illusion of different fato transform into a desired cial structures. Stage actors later adopted the technique persona and she considers her face a canvas on which she to avoid looking washed-out from harsh lighting. Today, can paint any look she wants. countless individuals contour and bake their faces on a Makeup is art because “art is creating something from day-to-day basis. nothing,” Simone said.

“I’m thrilled to be alive at a time where more and more we Simone said makeup gives her countless career opportuare able to wear things makeup-wise as a form of self-exnities; the shows’ different themes require her to learn new pression,” Watnick said. “That it’s safer — not safe, but techniques and styles, changing the way she views herself. safer — to go outside in a glamorous face full of makeup “Drag was something that I wasn’t necessarily interestas a man or a woman. That you could choose to do that, ed in at first but once I fell into it, I literally fell all the way

CREATING THE CONFIDENCE

INFLUENCING THE INDUSTRY

Jazmyn Simone poses in her dressing room at VIP Nightclub in Riverside. Photos by Milan Loiacono.

Just as viewers critique a painting in a museum, Pereda said by wearing makeup, she is exposing herself to the opinions of others. She thinks people who do not understand the power of makeup often view it as a mask as opposed to a form of self-expression. Rather than concealing features she doesn’t like about herself, makeup involves being confident enough to accentuate the features she loves.

“I’m confident more when I am wearing it,” Pereda said.

“And it’s not because I feel less adequate or anything like that when I’m not wearing it. I just know that I act more like myself and I feel more like myself when I do wear makeup.”

Simone said she also feels more like herself when she wears makeup and aims for others to understand how freeing it is for her to wear it on stage. When she first started wearing makeup, she assumed people only liked her because of her appearance but she eventually realized that they liked her for who she is.

“Makeup actually helps me be more confident in myself, as does drag, because growing up where I grew up, being gay and being into makeup wasn’t anything that was OK,” Simone said.

Pereda said the most meaningful aspect of makeup is the relationships that it fosters. The shared experiences of doing or even simply admiring someone else’s makeup have created an instant sense of community with her sisters, her friends and even strangers. She believes that makeup is what enables each person to go into character each day and believes that makeup should not be limited to only certain people.

“If you want to wear makeup, wear it,” Pereda said. “No matter if you’re a boy, if you’re a girl, anything. If that makes you happier with yourself, there’s no reason why you shouldn’t wear it.”

DEFINING CENSORSHIP Seaver Dean Michael Feltner defines censorship as limiting self-expression.

“I think censorship is when one entity limits or in some way minimizes the ability of another individual or party to fully express themselves in a manner that they see as appropriate,” Feltner said. “I think that last clause is critical.”

Pownall said the word “censorship” is emotionally charged.

“The word itself is used as a negative word,” Pownall said.

“So if work is removed, people who were removing it would not want to call it censorship because that word historically is a negative word.”

Feltner said censorship’s definition varies depending on who one asks.

“Anytime you have two people engaged in a conversation, they’re going to have unique and different perspectives,” Feltner said. “And so what one group views as censorship may be a very rational view of another group or party based on their individual perspectives.”

RESTRICTING WORDS When it comes to restrictions, Ramos speaks from personal experience.

“Censorship does have a purpose, and when it’s used

BY HAIDYN HARVEY

L

ike many artists, alumna Angelica Ramos expresses her “innermost raw, visceral emotions” through her art. When Ramos prepared her final collegiate piece for the walls of the Weisman Museum, she didn’t anticipate covering it up.

When administrators removed alumnus David Limon’s LGBTQ+ dance from Dance in Flight, company member Michael Mossucco heard the message loud and clear, deciding to keep his sexuality to himself.

For those like Ramos, Limon and Mossucco who reach within to share their souls with others, regulation is their biggest fear. Censorship and art share a rich and complex relationship that spans across history.

Fine Arts Professor Ty Pownall said artists see censorship as almost universally negative.

“I think at its core, it’s just the suppression of a creative endeavor on the basis of it being problematic for any number of reasons,” Pownall said.

“Censoring something is just quieting something you don’t like.”

Art typically strives for impact, making it frequently provocative in nature. Artists break the boundaries of the present to make way for the future. Sometimes it’s reflective. Often it’s pretty. Other times it’s bold, maybe even obscene.

The Pepperdine community faces its own unique struggle in determining the balance between celebrating creative expression and upholding religious community values.

Alumna Angelica Ramos displayed her artwork in the Weisman Museum on campus in 2018. Photo by Channa Steinmetz.

correctly, it’s protecting people from certain things,” Rainstitution strongly affirm our responsibility to have dismos said. “I just think that it crosses a boundary, and that played in public spaces works that are aligned with our boundary is so fine when it comes to art.” mission and that generally conform to those values and Last year, Ramos illustrated a piece that was a “dissection of truths that we hold dear and sincere of the mission.” the ‘80s punk movement” for her senior Ramos said she considers the art exhibit featured in the Weisman. “THE TAKEAWAY FROM THAT incident to be “100 percent” The illustration included hand-graffitWAS THAT I COULDN’T EQUALLY censorship. ied words and phrases that Ramos had She said it was never her intent read in bathroom stalls. to provoke people with the piece BE GAY AND BE CHRISTIAN “It’s very real stuff that people say but she doesn’t think that would’ve OUR INSTITUTION been a bad thing. and exists in this world — it’s not just AT made up,” Ramos said.

BECAUSE THERE WAS SOME “Provocation is not necessarily a Soon before the exhibit was schednegative thing in my mind either,” THAT I WAS Ramos said. “It’s to spark ideas uled to open, Pepperdine adminis- INDICATION tration suggested Ramos remove NATURALLY UNEQUIPPED TO and to show people that this is some of the explicit wording from the something that does exist.” graffitied text in her piece, . Ramos SHOW MY PERSPECTIVE FOR Feltner said there are responsicomplied with the school’s request. bilities that come with upholding a SOME REASON AND THAT Christian mission.

Some of the phrases included in Ramos’ piece were, “I’m a bad bitch,” PERSPECTIVE WAS OFFENSIVE “I want students and faculty that “Punk ass trash” and “You have a will relentlessly pursue the truth, cute butt.” These phrases remained. TO WHATEVER FAITH THAT that will relentlessly explore and Only the statements including WE’RE FOLLOWING HERE.” investigate,” Feltner said. “I want “f**k” were covered. them to push boundaries, if you ~ Michael Mossucco Although Ramos complied, she diswill, to further our understanding, agreed with the university’s religious reasoning. to evoke deep and serious consideration on matters of “I think that the whole point of religion is community, and substance. But there are standards and lines where it’s you’re blocking yourself off from entire communities when appropriate to display some of that publicly. And so I think you say, ‘Hey, [you] can’t show that here’ or ‘You can’t disthat’s the challenge we face, is where’s that line?” cuss those topics,’” Ramos said.

Feltner said Ramos was the final decision maker when covering the words in her piece.

“I never asked her to consider covering any words,” FeltIn 2016, Student Activities told Limon that a dance ner said. “We explained that we didn’t think the work was he was choreographing, which focused on LGBTQ+ reflective of institutional values, [and] in that, asked her to relationships, would be removed from Dance in Flight. reconsider the work. ... So I asked the faculty adviser to The show’s theme that year was social movements of communicate to Angelica reconsideration of the work if the 1960s. she wished to have it remain in the Weisman. If she was not “They basically just told me that the pieces were not gowilling to do that, then she was willing to relocate the work.” ing to be able to be put on stage that year,” Limon said.

Pownall said Pepperdine’s community presents a rare “And that actually, that whole experience was rather nice opportunity for artists and institutions to work together. and very much filled with love because I think all three of “It’s my feeling that artists should have the ability to them individually are very tolerant and loving people. … make whatever they want,” Pownall said. “That’s the auActually, all three of them kind of cried when they told me tonomy that makes art important, is that they get to make that, which was really nice and really affirming, but the whatever they want and institutions have the autonomy news, of course, sucked in itself.” to decide what they show. This is a very unique situation Limon said Student Activities offered to help him come because those lines are blurred. We have to work as a up with something more “Pepperdine appropriate” if he community to find solutions, which, when you’re out in wanted to continue with having pieces in the show. the world, you’re not necessarily bound by the same lim“I just have told this story so many times that I believe it’s its that community can provide.” a direct quote but I believe they said that ‘Two members of Feltner said students are able to produce whatever they the same gender would not be able to do a romantic dance would like for their classes or outside work without fear of on Smothers stage, ever,’” Limon said. “And so it was kind restrictions. The university is only involved when it conof like the donor situation.” cerns public spaces.

Pepperdine is a private, nonprofit institution. The univer“We have never censored a work,” Feltner said. “So, I sity asks alumni, parents, students, faculty and staff to think that’s important. We have never told a student, or consider donating to The Pepperdine Fund, which provides a faculty member for that matter, what they can or canresources for financial aid, new academic initiatives and not produce specifically in the area of art. We do as an faculty, according to Pepperdine’s website.

RESTRICTING MOVEMENT

Alumnus David Limon (left) performs in the 2017 DIF show. Graphic file photo.

Feltner said donors do not play any part in deciding which artwork will be hosted in university spaces.

“Donors do not have any bearing on this conversation,” Feltner said. “This is a leadership conversation from senior leadership through this office to faculty and students. Donors are not engaged in that discussion.”

Dean of Students Mark Davis said miscommunication plays a major role in the restrictions put on student performances.

“From my experience, most of the controversies at Pepperdine over censorship in the arts have resulted from a breakdown in communication,” Davis wrote in an email.

“Unfortunately, sometimes students are caught in the middle. I encourage those who are responsible for Pepperdine-sponsored events … to have early conversations with students about what content is considered consistent with Pepperdine’s Christian mission.”

Doug Hurley, dean of Student Activities and Campus Recreation, wrote in an email that all student organization events must be pre-approved with Student Activities. Any club that wants to hold an on- or off-campus event, advertise or use university space must first gain approval.

The Student Organization Handbook states that all events must be “suitable for family audiences.”

Hurley said university-sponsored events such as DIF and Songfest are ongoing collaborations between student leaders and staff. While these university-sponsored

events are student-led, they receive funding from the university. Staff members specifically designated to work on these productions collaborate with student leaders from the beginning stages.

“There would not be a case were student leaders present a piece all done and say to staff, ‘What do you think?’” Hurley wrote in an email. “We all have been working together since the beginning. Sometimes there is give and take along the way but overall we’ve worked really well with the student leaders over the years.”

DIF’s directors and producers initially approved Limon’s dance before Student Activities informed him that it would not be included in the show.

“I think there is a discrepancy because ... if we did have communication the whole time, it wouldn’t be a surprise,” Limon said. “I think the surprise is what hurts the most.”

Limon turned his omitted piece into an opportunity to choreograph a new dance, a duet between a boy and an angel.

For Limon, the piece was about the high suicide rates of LGBTQ+ youth and faith.

“I think ultimately I’m grateful for the censorship in that I was allowed to tell the story, the duet story,” Limon said.

“It’s called the ‘Heaven Piece’ because I actually had a lot of positive feedback from that piece.”

Mossucco, a senior theatre major, said the censoring of Limon’s dance discouraged him from being open about his own sexuality.

“The takeaway from that was that I couldn’t equally be gay and be Christian at our institution because there was some indication that I was naturally unequipped to show my perspective for some reason and that perspective was offensive to whatever faith that we’re following here,” Mossucco said. “So that was a really hard blow for me.”

Feltner said the administration wants the best for students.

“We want them to be fully themselves,” Feltner said. “We want them to explore big questions and big ideas and to wrestle with challenge and to evoke deep reflection and thought from those viewing their work. But a component of a Seaver College education is the integration of faith and learning. And we want to push those student artists to engage that relationship with their faith, that relationship with God in a way that is also evident in their work.”

Pownall said he believes that art will always play an important role in challenging tradition.

“It’s important that people not just react based on their conventions,” Pownall said. “It’s important that people really, really think about how they think about art. It will help them change for the better.”

A BALANCING ACT Rick Marrs, provost and chief academic officer, stands

by Pepperdine’s affirmation statement: “That truth, having nothing to fear from investigation, should be pursued relentlessly in every discipline.”

“We really are a place where we’re about education, we’re about the free expression of ideas [with an] openness to [and] a willingness to be challenged,” Marrs said.

“To have to grapple with things that not only are different from the way we see things or think [about] things but [that are] highly problematic, my sense would be it’s better to engage it than it is to try to eliminate it.”

Davis emphasized the importance of creative expression.

“The arts can help us explore truth, and we can work together to find the most appropriate forum to explore any content,” Davis wrote. “I’m thankful for the way Pepperdine promotes freedom of expression in ways that support our Christian mission to prepare students for lives of purpose, service and leadership.”

Mossucco said he believes that restrictions lead to meaningless art.

“Art loses a great deal of its significance when it’s censored because it is not honest and it is not truthful,” Mossucco said. “One of my biggest takeaways to being an artist here is that art cannot be limited if it wishes to be impactful.”

Mossucco thinks limitations on art and performance should be done away with completely.

“Art can be controversial,” Mossucco said. “Art doesn’t have to be clean-cut.”

Media Production Professor Jacob Michael said he believes that sometimes art requires controversy.

“One of the things I think you have to talk about is the purpose that art serves because on some level, I think art is meant to create conversation and sometimes the right purpose of art is to offend people, to cause them to discuss

topics or to discuss issues that otherwise they wouldn’t discuss,” Michael said.

The Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE) works to defend the rights of students and faculty at universities across the country. FIRE produces annual reports detailing cases of censorship across U.S. schools while considering the differences between public and private institutions. FIRE’s ranking of Pepperdine is a warning light, meaning the university hasn’t actively prohibited speech but doesn’t promise it either — placing its religious values over freedom of expression.

However, DePaul University, a private Roman Catholic school, earned a Lifetime Censorship Award from FIRE for various reports of free speech violations.

Davis wrote that religious schools should be clear about their policies.

“While supporting the right of religious schools to uphold their distinctive missions, FIRE encourages these schools to be upfront about its policies and then to honor them,” Davis wrote. “I believe this is good advice for Pepperdine.”

In any community, Pownall believes art plays an essential role in growth.

“At Pepperdine, we’re trying at least to be a community that grows together, and art has a really important role of pushing boundaries,” Pownall said. “And so it’s going to end up being on sort of the front lines of some tough conversations at times.”

Photo taken by Milan Loiacono at LACMA.

BY CAROLINE EDWARDS

R

professors looking for jobs and just didn’t really see any ejection, creative differences and the looming fear help from them,” Mosley said. “Working for Postmates and of ultimate failure.

Instacart is totally flexible with my time, which is the best These are the challenges fine arts majors face way to do it. I can do two hours, four hours or eight hours — upon graduating from Pepperdine. anytime that I want or need to. It just works out a lot better There’s the cliché of English majors working as baristas but than doing some other kind of minimum wage job because I what happens to students who choose to study the arts? couldn’t find anything in my industry.”

Alumnus Reed Williams, class of 2018, said he talked to Bradley Griffin, divisional dean of Fine Arts and professor of the Pepperdine admissions team when he was trying to theatre, said it can be hard for fine arts majors to find their voice decide on the best school to hone his craft. as an artist and make it in the industry.

“They told me, ‘Hey, we love having people audition in Los “I do think in certain cases it can be hardAngeles and we’re near [the city]; just “IF YOU WANT TO REALLY er for a visual artist to break into the procome out here,’” Williams said. “I was like, ‘That sounds like a pretty good gig, MAKE STUFF YOU WANT fession because unlike a theatre designer, who would be hired to work on a producbeing in Malibu and being close to LA.’ TO MAKE, YOU HAVE TO BE tion, an art student is creating their work, You come out here and you get the realTHE ONE TO MAKE IT.” either for personal, artistic satisfaction or ity of things.” ~Carissa Mosley to maybe sell,” Griffin said.

Despite training at Pepperdine and reMosley said creating art she’s passionate about is difficeiving bachelor’s degrees, many alumni struggle to make cult when she needs to make ends meet. She said she has it as full-time artists. CNN reported that just shy of 8 perto find the time and money to produce it. cent of fine arts graduates are unemployed and roughly “If you want to really make stuff you want to make, you 62 percent of graduates took lower paying jobs that didn’t have to be the one to make it,” Mosley said. “You can’t get require college degrees, even if it wasn’t art-related. other people to hire you. That means you have to produce Business Insider found that 5.2 percent of theatre majors it yourself. That means finding people you want to make art are unemployed — a worry for new actors. with and getting together and making it happen.”

The starving artist trope, the idea that an artist, musician While Mosley is pursuing art by taking up part-time jobs, alumor actor will sacrifice material well-being in order to focus nus Peau Porotesano, class of 2018, majored in fine arts but on his or her craft, adds to many artists’ fear of not being decided to develop a career in entrepreneurship and business. able to pay rent, buy groceries or be successful.

Porotesano said he originally studied art to hone his craft but realized he wanted to switch to business after it was too late. Porotesano said he was afraid of failure, which is Alumna Carissa Mosley, class of 2018, graduated with a why he found a different career. degree in fine arts focused on dancing, acting and photog“I was intimidated because of my view of the artist liferaphy but also took many film classes. Mosley currently style,” Porotesano said. “It wasn’t that appealing, and a lot works for Postmates, Instacart and Uber Eats. of people are struggling and a lot of people devote hours “I reached out to some film professors I had and art and hours and hundreds of thousands of dollars on supplies

THE STARVING VISUAL ARTIST

Photos by Milan Loiacono, modeled by Aubrey Stanchak.

and rental space. It seemed like kind of a hassle. There’s not even a guarantee when you put the hours and money toward it that you’re going to find success. Once I became aware of this, I was kind of scared off.”

Porotesano said he does sales and account management for Shift Ventures, a global consumer products company.

“Occasionally I do wish I was doing something more art-focused but I still do very much enjoy what I’m doing now, just in terms of making a living and finding a way to fund a lot of things,” Porotesano said.

THE STARVING ACTOR After graduating, theatre majors struggle to find a fulltime job, as the acting world runs on a gig-by-gig basis.

“It always feels like about a third of our acting students will apply and will be admitted into graduate MFA acting programs,” Griffin said. “So then two thirds are saying, ‘I’m going to go out there to pound the pavement. I’m going to audition.’”

Griffin said the 493 thesis class prepares acting majors for the real world by bringing guest artists from Los Angeles to give students 10 to 15 minutes of professional feedback on their craft. Griffin said acting students shouldn’t take auditions or rejection personally.

“There’s definitely a resilience factor that artists have to have,” Griffin said. “When it comes to theatrical auditions, we tell our students, ‘You don’t go to the audition and let whether or not you get the job determine your self-worth as an artist. You go to the audition because you are excited “I feel like success in the acting world is largely based to share your best work.’” on being OK with wherever you’re at, no matter what your Williams agreed and said he developed a short-term skill level is and just being OK with failure,” Ilarde said. “[It] memory so that he doesn’t focus on failed auditions. Wilsounds contradictory but I think so much of acting is getliams studied theatre and has been in used to getting rejected and being “YOU CAN BE THE RIPEST ting the business since he was 3, doing print OK with that.” modeling and later commercials, which ORANGE IN THE BASKET, Ilarde recently finished a commercial he said helped him build a thick skin as AND THERE’S ALWAYS in Mexico City where she was paid an actor. well but said she “can’t count on that “You can be the ripest orange in the GOING TO BE SOMEONE happening all the time.” She said she DOESN’T LIKE will likely do something outside the arts basket, and there’s always going to be WHO someone who doesn’t like oranges,” ORANGES.” along with acting.

Williams said. “Once you get that into Meanwhile, Williams said he is relying ~Reed Wlliams your head, that ‘OK, don’t take it peron his connections and repertoire to sonally,’ you stop getting into your head about failing at land a role on a network TV show. auditions. I never really see it as a failure because [by] just “Getting jobs wasn’t my main concern,” Williams said. “It getting into the room, you’re doing something that so many was mainly just staying busy. ... You can go into your head people on this Earth would give an arm and a leg for. It’s a a lot because you don’t have auditions all the time. There’s blessing in itself just to get in the room, so I think just doing some days you won’t have any. There’s some weeks that that is an accomplishment in itself.” will go by where you don’t have anything.”

Alumna Jasmine Ilarde, class of 2018, chose to study meAlthough Ilarde struggles to find confidence for her fudia production for more of a focus on film and television. ture, she remains positive.

Ilarde said she wanted to be able to crossover between “I think it’s just a natural human thing for everybody to acting and producing and wanted to “have a vocabulary for be afraid of failure to some extent,” Ilarde said. “I think the behind-the-scenes stuff.” the important thing is that it’s just not letting it consume Despite majoring in media production, Ilarde is currently you because there’s always the possibility to fail in life. No auditioning full-time and did so throughout her time at Pepmatter what you do, that shouldn’t stop you from continuperdine with the help of her agent. ing to fight the good fight.”

BY PIPER WRIGHT

J

oshua Edwards, as he is professionally known, always saw music as the best kind of challenge.

The senior plays the guitar, the french horn and the drums, sings and composes music. His pieces have been accepted into three major music conferences: The International Computer Music Conference and New York City Electroacoustic Music Festival, Electronic Music Midwest and SEAMUS. Yet Edwards, who is a double major in music and religion, said he almost didn’t pursue music professionally, considering worship ministry instead. His composition teacher, Music Professor N. Lincoln Hanks, had a different idea for him.

Edwards said Hanks would email him information about different music programs and although he usually wouldn’t read them, one email for a master’s program in composing struck a chord.

“There was this one day he sent me this email and I read the description of this program and something inside of me that just said, ‘This is what you’re made to do,’” Edwards said.

Edwards said that while praying, he had a vision of an angel visiting people on Earth and asking them why they do what they do. When the angel got to a group of musicians, they didn’t even stop to answer, they just kept making music. Edwards said that was the turning point for him.

“I have the opportunity to engage in something that has so much inherent value that I didn’t even feel like I had to defend it for being valuable,” Edwards said. “That was the moment when I decided I wanted to do music professionally.”

Since the fifth grade, Edwards has

exceeded his own expectations as to how far music can take him.

“I just started taking lessons and just loved it so much,” Edwards said.

“Something about music, it made my brain work in ways that were challenging and interesting. Up to that point, I hadn’t been super challenged in school, so this was something that was harder [that] I could really work on.”

Edwards began playing guitar at 10 and immediately fell in love. The next year he started the french horn. He learned to lead worship and began singing in a church program in sixth grade. Edwards became drum major in the marching band his sophomore year of high school.

It was two years into his time at Pepperdine that he decided to pursue music professionally. He considered being a worship leader because he didn’t know which career paths he could take with classical music.

“Both of my parents are ministers for this mission’s organization called Let’s Start Talking, which is a really cool group that I’ve actually partnered with the University Church here at Pepperdine,” Edwards said.

“I grew up going on trips with my parents and doing ministry with them and I knew that was a possibility. I knew my faith was always a huge part of my life, and I knew I wanted to go to college somewhere where I could study music and the Bible.”

After his vision changed his mind, he started submitting his compositions to conferences.

“I got into one in New York City, so this past summer, I went up to New York City and got to perform one of my pieces,” Edwards said. “And I just got into this huge conference that I’m super excited about that’s happening in Boston in March.”

Photo by Milan Loiacono

Photo by Kaelin Mendez

Edwards is traveling to Boston with his piece titled “Sublimity.” The piece is a live project in which “the performers run all of their sounds through live audio effects in order to create a unified sonic landscape,” according to Edward’s website.

Edwards has been applying to graduate schools to further pursue a career in music and hopes to keep composing. He is also interested in university teaching and conducting.

Edwards said he wouldn’t have made it this far as a musician without the support he found at Pepperdine.

“The music program here is amazing and has been a really inviting place,” Edwards said. “The composing program here is really small; I’ve just had so much individual attention since I’ve been here. I did not get here alone by any means, and I’m so thankful for the opportunities I’ve been given here.”

ART DRIVES SOCIAL CHANGE

BY KAYIU WONG

A

rt is a living part of history. When one thinks back to landmark social movements, art has always played a driving force in portraying the upheavals and shifts of society.

Because artistic mediums like film, poetry and paintings have the power to send impactful messages that resonate with audiences, artists use their work to express their truth, wrestle with social norms and bring about change.

RACIAL STRUGGLES IN POETRY Senior Sharra Hardy uses poetry as an outlet to shine light on overlooked experiences.

Hardy said the stereotypes and prejudices she faces as an African-American female inspire many of her poems.

“Being a Black woman is really hard in America, specifically a dark Black woman,” Hardy said. “I can’t hide my Blackness. Once [people] see that I’m Black, there’s just a whole lot of people who just attach stereotypes and things that they think that I should be or that they were taught that I should be.”

Hardy said she has experienced cultural ignorance and misunderstanding since her childhood, growing up in a predominantly White suburb near Philadelphia and attending predominantly White schools.

“A lot of the things I write are based on having that consistent feeling,” Hardy said. “There’s nothing else I can do besides write about it. I just feel like if I can try to make other people understand, then maybe it could be a way to communicate how detrimental it is for people to make assumptions based off stereotypes for things that they don’t understand.”

In an excerpt of her poem “The African (in America) Female,” Hardy calls out contemporary society for judging and restricting Black women:

The way we suffer is like no other Discriminated against for the color of our skin And looked at as deplorable by all including our own kin.

It’s amusing because guess which group has the most degrees?

In this country, they’ll never really see who we be.

They stripped us of our heritage and made us obligated to blend into theirs.

We have to speak like them and dress like them they even try to make us ashamed of our hair.

Braids twists locs and Bantu knots are banned in schools in some states, And I wonder why when it’s their ancestors who made this country our fate?

For Hardy, poetry serves as a vehicle for her voice.

“I want to talk about my experience because some people really don’t understand it,” Hardy said. “A lot of the Black experience that I have is that people don’t like different.

That just goes back to the issue of people not caring to understand others. That’s the whole entirety of every issue that ever happens in the world.”

PAINTING WRESTLES WITH NORMS Junior Carolina French said she believes that art provides a medium for artists to stand firm in their beliefs.

“Good art comes out of things that you’re passionate about,” French said. “Showcasing your passion behind your art adds a lot of depth to it.”

French is majoring in art and psychology at Pepperdine

and focuses on gender roles and gender fluidity in her paintings.

French said her passion for these topics sparked out of realizing how much she disagreed with the restrictive and patriarchal ways she saw her Church of Christ congregation treat women in her hometown of Rogers, Arkansas.

“I went to a church where because I’m a woman, and no other reason, I wasn’t allowed to serve Communion,” French said. “I wasn’t allowed to read a Scripture at all at church.”

French said painting pieces that explore the social constructs of gender allows her to reflect on her past experiences with gender roles and wrestle with her current views.

“Whenever you create art, you end up exposing more of your experiences than you expect to,” French said.

One of French’s pieces features two people dancing with each other. French said she painted the figures ambiguously to spread the idea that people should not be defined by what they can’t control. “[The figures] are relatively the same height, same shape, same haircuts,” French said. “I was intending them to look very similar because to me it doesn’t matter whether it’s a man or woman dancing. They’re just two people dancing.

It’s about equality among all genders and preferences.”

REPRESENTATION IN FILM For junior Gabrielle Norte, growing up on the Los Coyotes Reservation in Warner Springs, California meant being in a community centered around culture.

“You go to powwows, you do cultural gatherings, you do dances, you learn your tribal language,” Norte said. “It’s unique how culturally-focused [reservations] are.”

Behind the vibrant scenes of Native American traditions, Norte said life on reservations also means struggling to survive, as these secluded areas are often rife with poverty, substance abuse, suicide and violence.

“A lot of the issues that are happening on reservations are because of the way history has progressed and the way society has systematically shut Native people out,” Norte said.

As a member of The Los Coyotes Band of Cahuilla and Cupeño Indians, Norte’s experiences push her to make films that shed light on the concentrated disadvantages prevalent in Native communities.

For Norte, filmmaking combines art and activism into the perfect platform to advocate for Native American people.

“Film has the power to bring people together in ways that [other mediums] cannot,” Norte said. “That’s been really important to me because when you come from a marginalized community, you tell stories for the art but also the survival.”

Norte’s most recent film, “People Watching,” centers around the alarming number of indigenous women and girls who disappear or are murdered.

Art by Carolina French

“It’s an epidemic in our communities,” Norte said. “’People Watching’ deals with that problem through the eyes of having a Native female lead who has a sister that goes missing.”

Norte said law enforcement agencies and news outlets often overlook deaths and disappearances of Native American women because of the harmful way indigenous groups have been portrayed and violently treated throughout history.

“If you look back on movies like Disney’s ‘Pocahontas,’ she’s a very sexualized character as a female, and it is a very vastly incorrect rendition of the story of Pocahontas,” Norte said. “It’s portrayals like that and portrayals throughout history of cowboys coming in and having their way with the Native women

that ingrain these ideas that people can treat indigenous women how they want to.”

Norte is shooting a documentary that explores the lack of Native American representation in film history. She features Native filmmakers and actors who are working to change the depictions of indigenous groups in today’s industry.

For Norte, the road to social justice for indigenous groups begins with providing accurate and adequate media representation. In all projects she works on, she makes sure to cast Native actors in lead roles.

“Change starts in representation on screen and then trickles down into presence in society,” Norte said.

POSTERS REFLECT THE TIMES The Women’s March, which started in 2017 as a resistance movement to Donald Trump’s presidency, garnered global coverage because of the number of demonstrators and the creativity of the signs people carried.

Through witty slogans and powerful images, protest signs are becoming a prominent tool for visualizing attitudes.

Los Angeles resident Caroline Levin, 17, attended the 2019 Women’s March in Downtown Los Angeles and painted a sign depicting a female body with the words “intersectional feminism” literally intersecting.

“There’s been a huge debate within the movement itself about when feminism becomes white supremacy or when women of color or trans women are not getting enough recognition,” Levin said. “Since it’s pretty important terminology right now, I was inspired to show that feminist women should cover all demographics that connect with the cause.”

Levin painted the woman on her sign with vibrant colors and one breast to emphasize that there is not just one type of feminist.

“I think female bodies are the most beautiful thing we can possibly create in art, so I wanted to integrate that into the sign,” Levin said. “I added all the colors on the body to make a statement about [feminism] touching all races and the one breast for all genders associated within the movement.”

Junior Mackenzie Mazen also attended the Women’s March in Los Angeles and painted a sign with the slogans “They tried to bury us, they didn’t know we were seeds” and “Can’t believe we still have to protest.”

“The back of my sign says, ‘Can’t believe we have to protest’ because I think it’s ridiculous that it’s 2019 and women

Demonstrators march with their signs. Photo by Milan Loiacono.

BY CAROLINE EDWARDS

C Caroline Levin at the Women’s March in Los Angeles. Photo by Kayiu Wong.

still don’t have equal rights and there’s still no Equal Rights Amendment in the United States,” Mazen said.

Mazen said she believes that protest signs are a powerful way for people to showcase their beliefs.

“No one’s signs look exactly alike,” Mazen said. “I think that’s the same with your life experiences and your voice.

Everything that you say is based on your personal truth, so when you put that out there, it looks different than someone else’s. Artistically expressing that through signs is a very important thing, to take your truth and put it out in the world.”

Mackenzie Mazen’s poster at the Women’s March, photo courtesy of Mazen.

omprised of painters, musicians, poets and occasionally dancers, the Night Owl Players are a collaborative group of artists who work on their respective crafts together.

Since 2015, the Night Owl Players have been performing around Los Angeles, most often at the Mar Vista Art Walk. While Venice has gained a reputation for fostering an artist community, with the LA Louver, Mosaic Tile House and street art, the Players have made Mar Vista their home.

“Night Owl Players is a multi-genre performance group of musicians who are singer-songwriters, poets who are also percussionists and live painters who start with a blank canvas and paint throughout,” said Mitchelito Orquiola, co founder of the group. “It’s really based on music, poetry and painting.”

Orquiola said there are currently nine Players, including two singer-songwriters, two poets, four live painters and a social media manager. He said there have been dancers in the past, ranging from tap to belly dancing.

Orquiola founded the group with Chalavie Vanhaeck because they wanted to paint to live music. The name was taken from Orquiola’s college theatre group.

“It started with painting [and] me doing the typewriter and music,” Player and poet Erika Lane Enggren said. “We’ve kind of taken different forms [of art] and had different members and people have left. The first time we all had really performed together was at one of the Mar Vista Art Walks.”

The Players perform once per week at different locations on the west side of LA. “You have to witness it live;w that’s where the magic happens,” Orquiola said.

At any given event, attendees can expect to see Orquiola paint, Enggren doing typewriter percussion on her 1960s Royal and someone singing the blues.

“I remember thinking that my typewriter is so loud and so when [Runson Willis III] was playing, I didn’t want to interrupt the song by distracting with my typewriter,” Enggren said. “So I started going on beat and it kind of just happened organically like that, and then we started rehearsing together and I would learn the songs.”

Enggren’s poetry is a stream of consciousness and she never repeats poems, which when completed are put in a box with a sign that reads “take one” as a gift to the audience for coming to the performance.

“There’s something for everyone,” Enggren said. “If you’re really into music, you’re going to fall in love with the music. If you’re really into poetry or music, you’ll love the typewriter percussion. There is something that anyone can kind of relate to and the whole collaborative part of it can uplift people.”

The Night Owl Players can be found all over Venice and Mar Vista, constantly creating new and innovative shows.

BY MILAN LOIACONO

Modeled by Maya McDowell

T

he beauty of graffiti is in its ever-changing nature. The artistry featured in this spread is from Venice Beach, Pacific Avenue, Abbot Kinney Boulevard and Murphy's Ranch, though much of it will likely have changed by the time you read this.

Murphy's Ranch, on the first spread, is a heavily graffitied abandoned house located deep in the Santa Monica Mountains. In the past it was known to possess anti-Semitic graffiti but Artists 4 Israel recently took it over. The group is working to prevent the spread of anti-Israel bigotry through art, aiming to help communities that are affected by terrorism and hate.

BY KILEY DISTELRATH

C

hristine Galyean started acting when she was 11, but not because she wanted to; her parents wanted to break her out of her shyness.

“My parents forced me to take an acting class because I was a really shy child and I didn’t talk to people and they were like, ‘Theatre will help you,’” Galyean said. “I don’t think in their wildest dreams they would’ve ever thought I was actually going to pursue this.”

Now a senior theatre major, Galyean has transformed into many roles during her four years at Pepperdine.

She played Hope, Ginette and Sandrine in “Almost Maine”; a member of the Dead Chorus in “The Good Prisoner”; Theresa in “Circle Mirror Transformation”; Hedda in “Hedda Gabler”; Jessica Cranshaw in “Curtains”; Joy, Dottie and herself in “Well”; and the Aryan Princess in “The Abode,” which Pepperdine theatre students premiered at the Summer 2018 Edinburgh Festival Fringe in Scotland.

Galyean just finished playing the lead role in the spring production of “The Taming of the Shrew,” a Shakespearean “misogynist comedy.” She played Petruchio — a male role.

Galyean said the director chose to flip the script — it’s “rare” for women to play an “in-depth” role in Shakespeare’s plays. She said the theatre department is embracing modern times by having a dominant female character and a submissive male character.

“By flipping the genders, doing this gender reversal, we’re able to explore what that play is in today’s society and culture and especially in the #MeToo Movement,” Galyean said. “Just seeing what it’s like if we put a man’s [demeaning] speech in a

woman’s mouth and she tames the man [as Petruchio does to his wife] and see where that leads us and what kind of conversation will come out of that.”

Galyean said one reason she fell in love with theatre was for its sensitivity toward others’ stories.

“I think something that really stuck with me was just watching a play and seeing people who were not at all like me and people who maybe I wouldn’t give the time of day ... and just having more appreciation for them and understanding,” Galyean said. “I want to be able to give that to everyone.”

Galyean was raised in Grand Prairie, Texas, where she attended musicals and plays with her parents in Dallas.

She moved to Los Angeles during her high school years to pursue film acting. She took online classes but after two and a half years, she eventually missed the “camaraderie” of an actual classroom and moved back home to attend the new Grand Prairie Fine Arts Academy, a school dedicated to theatre training.

Even though theatre acting was completely different from Galyean’s film realm, she chose the academy and found her true passion in theatre.

While she loves “glitz and glamour” and Shakespeare — the stereotypical highlights of the art — Galyean said she finds her love for theatre in plays that portray classic, simple life.

“What I think resonates with me is a show that unpacks everyday life,” Galyean said. “A playwright that really sticks out with me is Annie Baker. ... She just writes people in ordinary situations, living ordinary lives, and there’s just something so beautiful about seeing the beauty in the mundane.”

Photo by Milan Loiacono

Galyean was able to experience an Annie Baker play when she portrayed Theresa in “Circle Mirror Transformation.”

Galyean said an important element of theatre for her is its ability to raise awareness on social issues. She said she believes that there is no better way to create change than by listening to people’s stories portrayed on stage and looking at how it’s affecting the audience members’ lives.

Galyean said she plans to attend graduate school to further her education in theatre. Meanwhile, she will travel to Moscow, Russia, this summer to train with the Moscow Art Theatre for six weeks.

A

rt is found in the characters of different languages, imbalances in nature, music that drives revolutions and intricate beadwork. Beyond these forms of art are cultures waiting to be explored.

One doesn’t have to travel far to find art from all around the world, as many forms are explored in classes, practiced in spiritual life and worn around campus.

TAI CHI University Associate Chaplain Eric Wilson was introduced to tai chi in Summer 1998.

“This is art,” Wilson said. “It’s more than just a meditation form, it’s more than martial arts, a way of hurting people. It rises to this bodily exploration of wisdom.”

Wilson was an acting coach at a UCLA acting academy where students started every morning with tai chi — half as a meditative component and half as a martial art.

Wilson continued tai chi when he moved to Missouri, attending class three times per week as a way to exercise while also having fun. His tai chi instructor specialized in the philosophy behind the art.

Two months into the class, Wilson arrived late. As he was apologizing for being late and expressing his efforts to “get it right,” his instructor asked him, “What’s with all this achieving and trying to figure out how to get it right?”

He went on to say Wilson was beating himself up for something that takes two lifetimes to learn and perfect.

Wilson carried this philosophy into his spiritual life as a Christian.

“Am I trying to achieve it or am I trying to live in it?”

Wilson asked. “What if it was about your being and your doing?”

As a follower of Jesus, Wilson tunes his ear and heart into who Jesus is and what Jesus teaches.

“If I’m studying ancient culture and I learn something that sounds just like the good shepherd’s voice, I’m tuning my ear because that sounds like my Jesus,” Wilson said. “If I’m learning about Jesus through other cultural experiences, it’s only strengthening my relationship with Jesus and my ability to love other people too.”

Wilson explains the philosophy of tai chi to be regaining the world’s initial state of balance that was disrupted. Tai chi, like other meditative arts, brings people back to balance in a way that accepts rather than opposes the force.

“My job is to help [my opponent] reestablish balance,” Wilson said. “The point they are swinging, I am not going to brace and push; that just causes more imbalance.

I receive the punch, I grab that arm and I’m carrying it to its natural conclusion and they fall to the ground, thus reestablishing balance.”

Wilson said his time in this meditative art allows him to have an expanded consciousness. When others trigger his emotions, he acknowledges the choice to continue disruption or to restore balance. Tai chi fosters a mental space to choose his response.

CHINESE CALLIGRAPHY When Great Books Professor Jane Kelley Rodeheffer’s son was growing up, he became interested in the characters on their Chinese ceramics around the house. Rodeheffer took him to Chinese school in Rochester, Minnesota,

Photo by Milan Loiacono, modeled by Tinashe Nyamupingidza and Soni Rusagara.

BY ALLISON LEE

Photo courtesy of Cecily Breeding Eric Wilson leads a session of tai chi at the Unplugged retreat, teaching the art of finding balance as another “lens of which [he] can dig deep into what God is doing in the world.”

and accompanied him to a calligraphy class.

“I was taking the class with the kids because I wanted to learn Chinese and I figured starting with 5 and 6 year olds was the best way,” Rodeheffer said.

The calligraphy teacher, Aloysius Chu, had been on the last boat leaving China when Mao Zedong was coming down from Shanghai. When Mao became chairman of the People’s Republic of China and communists took control, socialist reforms resulting in violence and death caused many citizens to flee the country.

Rodeheffer asked Chu if he’d be willing to teach her calligraphy during her sabbatical.

“He took me on and my first compliment was, ‘Oh, that character looks like a 5-year-old Chinese girl made it,’” Rodeheffer said. “Mr. Chu came with me, for two years, to my university and taught me how to teach my students.”

While practicing calligraphy for the past 20 years, Rodeheffer studied the rituals of the art: how to hold the brush, how to grind the ink, how to write the Chinese characters.

These particular steps allow the artist to slow down, creating the characters in a “dance to the meaning of the word.”

Rodeheffer said she enjoys the meditative part of calligraphy — letting go of “outer worldly preoccupations.”

“Seeing my calligraphy get better over the years and feeling like I have developed as a human being over the years are hand in hand,” Rodeheffer said. “And that’s a wonderful process.”

Great Books Professor Don Thompson was introduced to the art when Rodeheffer came to Pepperdine 20 years ago to teach other professors calligraphy.

“I was fascinated by the idea that calligraphy is not so much about producing some artistic work but the process and how it changes it,” Thompson said. “This is for anybody, not just for people who have been trained in calligraphy.”

Thompson sets aside a day in his Asian Great Books class for students to create their own scroll and try the ancient art. He teaches his students brush meditation, introducing calligraphy as a more sacred and respected art.

“It always takes the class and slows it down,” Thompson said. “It’s always a crazy semester, and we take this one day to breathe in a bit more deeply and get a glimpse of an ancient art form.”

Rodeheffer made a scroll that says, “sit down, drink tea,” a saying that comes from values found in zen calligraphy.

Rodeheffer said the artistic elements from nature reveal what it means to be human.

“It means sit down, stop, rest, pay attention to the person who is in the room with you and drink tea,” Rodeheffer said. “Tea is the cup of humanity because there’s a whole ritual involved in it.”

Philosophies tied to tea rituals and values instilled in calligraphy reveal the complexity of the culture Rodeheffer explores in her Asian Great Books classes.

“The reason I bring calligraphy is for Western students encountering philosophical texts from the East,” Rodeheffer said. “To encounter those texts without a sense of the culture that gave rise to them is to really read them in a desert.”

world, things aren’t perfectly symmetrical for the most part. The aesthetic is not symmetrical, but like me, more broken and non-symmetrical — rough around the edges.”

Rodeheffer compares the fire that creates the ceramics to the fire of life that has made its mark in different ways.

Rather than going through a factory or assembly line, this cup is put through flames.

“It’s a kind of beauty that is much more expressive of our humanity,” Rodeheffer said. “There’s also a sense of loneliness — that it needs to be picked up and held. It draws to you because it’s solitary and rough.”

She explained how the tea ceremony is tied to the idea of “ichi-go ichi-e,” which means “one opportunity, one chance.”

“This is the only time we will be in this room together with this tea and this conversation,” Rodeheffer said. “It’s this beautiful phrase that every moment is precious — to be fully present because never again will you have the chance to be with this person at this moment.”

Photos by Milan Loiacono

Thompson learned and experienced the disciplined process of calligraphy, holding the brush as well as preparing the ink, in a particular way. The art provides a connection with his students who grew up practicing calligraphy in school.

“They’re thrilled that you’re interested in something from their culture — something they learned how to do as a child,” Thompson said. “For them, it’s a memory experience.

It gives them a nostalgia too of their past and their families.”

JAPANESE CERAMICS Rodeheffer continued to further her understanding of Asian culture in ceramics.

In the Japanese tradition, “wabi-sabi” is a term used for something that is natural in the rough sense, Rodeheffer said. Looking at Japanese tea bowls, they are not perfectly rounded at the top. This is an important part of the aesthetic, as every object should be unique.

“In the West, we like things that are perfectly symmetrical,” Rodeheffer said. “But that’s not natural. In the natural

Art by Caitlin Roark

IKEBANA Thompson’s wife, Nancy Shellady, used ikebana, Japanese flower arrangements to teach her students how to measure angles in her mathematics class at Oaks Christian School. Thompson used this form of art to connect his students to nature and Japanese culture.

“There you got a practice where you’re trying to arrange flowers and the goal is not to create something you would buy at a florist but more to create something that has character [that] visually represents something like solitude or being a little bit old, showing age,” Thompson said.

Based on the concept of “wabi-sabi,” Thompson encourages his students to find beauty in making their own variation of flowers in a vase.

“It’s therapeutic and very individual,” Thompson said.

“It’s not [follow] the teacher’s model and make a copy but do your own thing.” These flower arrangements create a sense of imbalance with few flowers in an anti-symmetrical design — yet another way to make the art one’s own. This interactive art educates students about the values of another culture.

“I don’t think you can be introduced to a culture very well unless you incorporate art,” Thompson said.

CHILEAN ART Chilean Literature and Latin Texts Professor Lila McDowell Carlsen’s eyes lit up as she discussed the Chilean artists she has studied and shared with her students.

To understand the effects of the social dictatorship and cultural blackout in Chilean history, Carlsen focuses on the artists who were silenced and the society that these artists sought to portray.

Carlsen pointed out Violeta Parra and Victor Jara, two Chilean musicians who contributed to the folk art revolution in Latin America during the ‘60s.

Parra put a poem called “Gracias a la Vida” to music, sharing the stories of the working indigenous people of Chile. Jara’s song “Te Recuerdo Amanda” was about two factory workers who were in love.

“Who writes a song about factory workers? People who think that these songs are important,” Carlsen said. “The folk explosion was very popular and widespread music for the people, by the people that really had a following.”

Music became dangerous in Chile because of the free expression of ideas.

“During the dictatorship, the folk movement was illegal, completely banned, because its music was in favor of people protesting poverty and oppression and in favor of the right to have a happy life,” Carlsen said.

This “cultural blackout,” with heavy state censorship, forced the arts to go underground or to go into exile and publish from abroad, Carlsen said. A renaissance broke out in 1990, bringing back artists and novelists.

Isabel Allende was the first contemporary Latin American female novelist published, with her work translated in 30 languages. Carlsen found that her students enjoy Allende’s overt romance and page-turning storytelling style.

“When they really respond to a piece of text like that, there’s something to be said for that,” Carlsen said. “It opens a door for publishers to sell women’s stories.”

Another Chilean artist with a global presence is Roberto Matta, a post-expressionist with abstract style. Carlsen highlights his piece “Burn Baby Burn,” a mural he painted in the ‘60s to protest the Vietnam War and the Watts Riots.

Although Chile is a small country, Carlsen said Chilean artists intersect with many other cultures.

Alfredo Jaar, known for installation art, put up a light display in Times Square called Logo for America. As the cut out of the United States faded away revealing, “This is not America,” North and South America appear as continents.

His aim was to showcase the American continent as more than the United States.

AFRICAN CLOTHING Born and raised in Kenya, Resident Director Sharon Wakio has seen African clothing evolve.

“Now I feel like everybody wears it just because it’s edgy,” Wakio said. “Honestly, I wear African clothing because it’s edgy. It takes a lot of boldness and it’s a conversation starter.”

Although Africa consists of over 50 different countries, Wakio said there is some consistency in the color, brightness and fabric used. There are specific patterns, ways clothing is worn and manner in which beadwork is designed.

“There is something about picking the fabric, choosing a pattern or design, finding a tailor, so when you put that on, there’s a sense of pride that comes with it and originality,” Wakio said.

Art is also affected by the intersection of cultures. Living in Kenya, a country with many traces of British culture, Wakio has seen the direct influences of European colonization on African clothing.

“Kenya is very British so we tailor-make everything,” Wakio said. “It is a culture where you go buy the fabric and you tell the tailor what you would like. Here it’s more of a luxury but back home it’s a necessity.”

Wakio calls it a “second-hand thrift culture,” making shopping much more of a task in a market of clothes that have been designed for someone else.

Wakio sees the pride and originality tied to African clothing as an opportunity to educate others on her culture.

“Not only is it a conversation starter about what I’m wearing or why I’m wearing it, but [it’s] also an opportunity to educate people who want to know more about what culture looks like and remove [the] stereotype of Africa as a place where people are hungry and have flies in their eyes and they don’t have a development of any kind,” Wakio said.

Wakio’s home church partnered with women from the Maasai culture by buying beadwork to sell at conferences in an effort to support their families. She describes this time-consuming, handmade work as art.

“I wear it in support of those women who are trying to feed their families in creating or making this beadwork,” Wakio said. “It’s more about me displaying the hard work of the Maasai women that have put the effort in creating these beautiful pieces.”

that is flexible across many languages.

“We are able to sing most songs in different languages,” Wakio said. “Switching back and forth between languages makes it powerful. God’s spirit transcends language.”

KENYAN WORSHIP MUSIC

Junior Soni Rusagara chose to bring these pieces of Kenyan clothing to the U.S., representing her roots and showcasing her culture. “I need to bring this with me because it connects me to home and I can connect to people,” she said. “It’s a connecting piece.”

Another form of art is music, specifically worship. Unlike the contemporary worship music from Bethel and Hillsong, Wakio describes the worship she grew up with to be “a lot of noise” accompanied with dancing and movement.

Wakio said it is not uncommon for women to remove their heels during worship and sweat off all of their makeup after dancing.

“You would have put at least an hour into your makeup knowing well that after praise and worship, you’d probably be wiping it all off,” Wakio said.

When people are unable to give financially, Wakio said they are able to give by praising and worshipping through music.

“Music is huge for us,” Wakio said. “African beats are very different. Ours is a lot of [drums] and very dancingand movement-friendly.”

With over 48 tribes in Kenya, many of which have different dialects, Wakio said there is a simplicity to their worship

BY ANASTASSIA KOSTIN & KARL WINTER

Photos by Milan Loiacono, modeled by Soni Rusagara.

Modeled by Tinashe Nyamupingidza.

W

hat does success mean to you?

There is no exact answer. One might define it as financial stability, happiness or an opportunity for intellectual challenge. Others might equate it to their children’s happiness. When it comes to the art world, success may be more difficult to define.

“Art, broadly construed, is the creative spark that is within each person that desires to communicate with others,” said Bradley Griffin, divisional dean of Fine Arts. “The artist is someone who has a particular gift for communicating that spark.”

The unpredictable nature of the art world means sometimes artists fall short of their goals, are denied artistic freedom or lose exhibition space. Perhaps this is what makes the journey of the artist more interesting to watch.

“I find many artists like myself feel grateful when they make a living working as a professional artist,” said Shannon Celia, an award-winning fine artist and 1998 Pepperdine alumna. “Some may create for a particular show or museum tours, while others prefer to make their living teaching or participating in plein air events for example. Some feel more free maintaining another career and creating art for the pure joy of it. Many do all of these things at different stages of their art journey.”

The reality is that most artists will not sell a million records or win a major award. Success in art is more personal than quantifiable.

“Part of the joy and part of the struggle of being an artist is that you continually go back to yourself,” Griffin said. “You are your own source of inspiration and your own measure of success.”

Ultimately, art is just as much about understanding oneself and the surrounding world as it is about storytelling.

“The drive that you have to keep going and to keep pursuing what it is that you’re passionate about ultimately is going to become your measure of success,” Griffin said. “‘Have I been able to tell the story that I want to tell?’”

SUCCESS IN SCENIC DESIGN

SUCCESS IN OPERA

Alumna Madison Leonard sings “Ilia” in “Idomeneo” with the Wolf Trap Opera. Photo courtesy of Kim Witman.

Madison Leonard is a professional singer who recently won the Metropolitan Opera Competition.

Her journey began with finding her love for music when she decided to major in vocal performance at Pepperdine.

“I had an amazing voice teacher — Dr. Henry Price,” Leonard said. “He really inspired me to start to listen to classical music, and I had never been interested in it, really. He told me he heard potential in my voice to sing that kind of music and encouraged me to look into it and see live performances.”

A well-rounded student, she was also involved with the Pepperdine Graphic, participated in the Pepperdine Improv Troupe (PIT), studied in Buenos Aires and attended the Heidelberg summer music program.

Leonard graduated in 2014 and went on to pursue a master’s degree in voice and opera from Northwestern University.

Afterward, she spent a year auditioning and freelancing all over the country. She received many rejection letters until one day she was offered a place in a young artist program at the Washington National Opera, an apprenticeship program in D.C. for opera singers.

“There were so many moments where I just tried to keep my head down and focus on the next task ahead of me in the skill I wanted to develop,” Leonard said. “I had no idea if things were going to pan out but things start to thread together. Little opportunities became bigger opportunities, and things have grown in ways I really could not have imagined.”

Today, Leonard is doing professional contracts as she works to support herself as a singer.

“You have to trust the voice inside you that says you have something to share with the rest of the world,” Leonard said. “Regardless of what kind of artist you are, it’s about

creating something. You have to see value in the thing that you’re creating in order to share it with other people.”

For Leonard, part of being an artist is having other people critique her craft.

“You have to learn what kind of criticism is going to be helpful in growing your art and what criticism is totally unhelpful and can go in one ear and out the other,” Leonard said.

She calls her path “more of a squiggle of a journey than a linear line,” and success for Leonard looks like growth and contentment.

“The thing about music and art in general is perfection doesn’t really exist, which can be kind of maddening,” Leonard said. “It means there’s never an end point for your work, so success therefore can’t be some kind of ending place. Success means you continue to grow and look back and see what you’ve accomplished and be content with that.”

While the popularity of opera is a concern with the abundance of streaming entertainment options, Leonard challenges people to just see one opera or one show instead of dismissing it as stuffy and boring.

“I have to believe there’s something so exciting about live music that people will still be drawn to it,” Leonard said.

Ultimately, Leonard views music and art as one and the same.

“Art is such a gift given to us humans,” Leonard said.

“We’re the only animals that we know of that create just for fun, to express ourselves. Whether that’s painting, dance, theatre, music, gosh, there’s so many ways to express human feelings.”

Leonard is looking forward to debuting new roles and taking on more music and acting challenges. Currently, she is in Seattle practicing for “Rigoletto,” the Seattle Opera’s summer performance.

Diggle, as he is professionally known, is a young scenic designer who has taken his talents from his hometown of Puyallup, Washington, across the country to the Big Apple.

A scenic designer is an artist who creates the sets for a theatre production, combining the visions of the playwright and director into an idea on paper or on a computer that is then rendered into a 3D model before the actual construction of the set.

Since receiving a bachelor’s degree in theatre arts from Pepperdine in 2013 and a stage design master of fine arts degree from Southern Methodist University (SMU) in Dallas, Diggle has worked with Tony Award-winning designers and directors on many Off-Broadway productions.

“Pepperdine gave me my voice, [and] SMU definitely gave me those real-world skills that I would actually need in order to do scenic design,” Diggle said.

In the three short years since he moved to New York City, Diggle has worked with the likes of David Korins (Broadway designer of “Hamilton” and set designer for Lady Gaga), Anna Louizos (Broadway designer of “School of Rock”) and Clint Ramos (Broadway set and costume designer).

Diggle is currently an associate designer for Ramos — an experience he calls “amazing.” The pair recently closed their ninth show together.

“Ramos is a gay designer of color and I am a very proud gay designer of color,” Diggle said. “He’s paving the way as a designer. … That’s a legacy that I want to continue forward.”

Working as an associate for Ramos provides Diggle with valuable experience as he simultaneously works on his own designs, including five shows that he recently completed for the Drama League’s DirectorFest at the New Ohio Theatre in New York City. Diggle cites taking advantage of opportunities and networking as essential in the field.

“Those are people who I’m going to end up working with

as I climb the ladder,” he said. “Networking is all about keeping up the relationships.”

Beyond networking and marketing oneself on social media, scenic design requires a distinct set of skills with computer programs, such as Vectorworks, Photoshop, model-making, rendering and 3D printing. Diggle said the process is what initially sparked his passion.

“It was just taking an idea and then putting it on paper and then taking that idea that was on paper and turning it into a physical form,” Diggle said. “It’s like this constant high that you get in every production that you do.”

After initially expressing no interest in theatre, Diggle’s mother forced him to attend the local community theatre in order to bond with his brother, an aspiring actor. Diggle attempted various backstage roles throughout high school before he had a chance to design his first set at the community theatre at 17.

From then on, Diggle realized scenic design was what he “had to do for the rest of [his] life” and chose Pepperdine specifically for its theatre program.

“Theatre became my life, especially because most of the design students are on scholarship,” Diggle said. “It takes a lot of your life to do that because you’re working on every show, on every production.”

Now, he works on designs for as many as 10 shows at once in the central hub of the United States’ theatre scene: New York.

“I am successful because I’m fully employed doing what I love,” Diggle said. “Scenic design is my full-time job.”

Diggle acknowledges that scenic design is not for the faint of heart, and he advises aspiring artists to recognize whether their craft is their true passion.

“You have to really love theatre,” Diggle said. “It’s not a nineto-five job and you don’t have the weekends off. I never stop thinking about what I’m doing.”

Diggle examines his set for the show “Wild Goose Dreams” at The Public Theater in Lower Manhattan, New York City. Photo courtesy of Andrew Kluger.

SUCCESS IN VISUAL ART

Photo by Kaelin Mendez

SUCCESS IN ACTING Brittany O’Grady is a rising star in the acting industry, shining on the show “Star” on FOX and previously on “The Messengers” on The CW Network.

A former live theatre actress, O’Grady attended Pepperdine for three semesters between 2015 and 2016 but only finished two, eventually dropping out to pursue what has already been a highly fruitful career.

“I got a call that I booked a show on The CW, so instead of going to NSO, I was in Albuquerque for the whole first semester of college,” O’Grady said. “I came [to Pepperdine] in the spring. … Then I booked ‘Star,’ and I haven’t really looked back.”

While growing up in Virginia, O’Grady worked on commercials and ad campaigns in addition to live theatre. She even had the chance to perform a musical version of “A Christmas Carol” at The White House for President George W. Bush and military families. However, she graduated high school early and moved to Los Angeles to pursue film rather than stage performance.

“Theatre is definitely my first and major love but I was really inspired by the movies I started watching in high school,” O’Grady said. “I loved the finished product, and I loved the stories that were told.”

The 2000 comedic drama “Malèna” with Monica Bellucci, the 1999 drama “Girl, Interrupted” with Winona Ryder and Angelina Jolie and even the 2012 action film “The Hunger Games” were some of the movies that inspired her change in focus, O’Grady said.

After studying abroad in Shanghai and briefly working

on Pepperdine theatre’s production of “South Pacific,” O’Grady was officially cast as Simone Davis on the musical drama series “Star,” which recently completed its third season. Simone, the youngest of the show’s musical group, spends much of the first season in rehab before joining the group in the second season.

“I love playing characters drastically different from me,” O’Grady said. “One of the best things about being an actor is telling a story and being able to be convincing and pushing yourself out of a comfort zone.”

Despite the steady role that “Star” provides, O’Grady said the auditions never stop.

“It’s too exhausting to do it if you don’t love it,” she said.

“If you’re trying to look for fame, I wouldn’t do it.”

Actors can face criticism, exhausting hours, delayed or cancelled projects, stereotyping and even constant recognition, O’Grady said. However, she loves her work and the opportunities it provides.

“I think there’s little successes in everything,” O’Grady said. “Learning a new skill … winning an award … having a really great professional performance … If it moves an audience, that is success to me.”

The film and television industry in the Los Angeles area is often ridiculed as a place where people hide their true colors but O’Grady sees it differently.

“You’re able to artistically express yourself, have a purpose and hopefully be able to change people’s mind [with acting], ” O’Grady said. “I think that’s really cool. Everyone appreciates the art.”

Shannon Celia, who works in oil painting, was not sure what she was going to do when she graduated from Pepperdine with a journalism major and an art minor.

But she was excited.

“When I was at Pepperdine, it was some of the most amazing years of my life because it was such an incredible environment to discover painting and looking out at the beautiful Santa Monica mountains and ocean,” Celia said. “I love painting coastal [scenes] and it was such an inspiration.”

Her journey to discover her passion for art took many turns. She grew up in New England and moved to California at 17 by herself on a singing scholarship. She said it was at Pepperdine where she found art.

When she graduated — married and eight months pregnant with her daughter — she was around 30.

“Something amazing happens to a lot of people when they have their first child, and I was so inspired,” Celia said. “I am also a children’s book author. I finished a book after she was born. When you’re a parent, you can’t be really focused because your time isn’t 100 percent your own.”

Celia mainly does watercolor commissions for people’s homes, which she calls “home portraits,” at her studio in Thousand Oaks. She always viewed art as a career.

“I’m a creative person and I created my whole life and I guess after all these years of painting, I feel so blessed to wake up and paint,” Celia said. “I don’t take that for granted.”

The trickiest part for a self-employed artist, Celia said, is wearing two different hats — creating art but also focusing on marketing, sales and social media.

“I think if you’re self-employed in any capacity you have to be very deliberate,” Celia said. “I enjoy my work very much and I don’t take for granted the fact that if you want to have the career I wanted to, you have to show up for work every day.”

Celia also experiments with artwork outside of her comfort zone.

“When you stretch yourself as an artist, I think it affects everything you do,” Celia said. “l’ll paint a 6-foot bunny like the Conejo cottontail, the first public art project in the

(Left to right) Alumna Shannon Celia painted a scenic view of campus on commission for Pepperdine. Celia shares her artistic talent by painting utility boxes in Conejo Valley.

Photos courtesy of Shannon Celia.

Conejo Valley, and utility boxes downtown. I thought it was so meaningful because I lived there for decades.”

This year, Celia was awarded her first museum solo show. To prepare for it, she is working on 30 to 40 pieces for the Santa Paula Art Museum, which will showcase her work June 2020.

“I have a year and a half to work on that,” Celia said. “I paint the gritty with the pretty, and that’s exactly what I’m working on. It’s called the ‘Santa Paula Sojourn.’”

For students interested in pursuing art as a career, Celia said there’s value in having a strong work ethic and keeping regular hours.

“Some people romanticize an art career but creatives kind of have to work even harder sometimes because you have to do all aspects of the business, and that’s the challenging part for some of us,” Celia said. “You have to compartmentalize the different aspects so you reach your goals. Some days, I just work on the business side. In my dreams, I’d rather just paint.”

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BY ARACELI CRESCENCIO

“T

he arts and the humanities belong to all the people of the United States.”

President Lyndon B. Johnson gave this sentence power by signing the National Foundation on the Arts and Humanities Act of 1965.

However, as states continue to cut school funding and money toward public education declines, investment in the arts is hit especially hard. The arts can be transformative in the lives of children but they are often under the threat of budget cuts and demanding academic testing. In response, nonprofits, students and teachers have mobilized to advocate for the importance of an arts education.

The National Assembly of State Arts Agencies (NASAA) is a professional association that represents the nation’s state and jurisdictional arts agencies. This nonprofit advocates for public support of the arts in the United States.

Since the 1960s, it has surveyed state arts agencies twice per year for updated revenue information.

Their most recent report for the 2019 fiscal year shows that after adjusting for inflation, art funding throughout the years has decreased 43.4 percent.

This year, Los Angeles teachers went on strike for the first time in 30 years, many of them fighting for better resources, including for the arts.

“It’s all for the students, and I would do anything for my students,” elementary school teacher Alex Williams said.

“The fight is for them, for better resources in their classroom and for public education.”

Williams, 32, teaches at Woodlake Avenue Elementary Charter School in Woodland Hills and is one of the many teachers around LA who marched for better school funding and higher pay.

Williams grew up attending public schools. She worries about the future of education if students don’t receive all of the resources they deserve.

ART IS ABOUT TOMORROW It is challenging to prove that an arts education is needed, as there aren’t standardized tests that can quantify its value, said Carrie Birmingham, associate professor of teacher education at Pepperdine.

“Art funding gets cut because standardized testing doesn’t test it,” Birmingham said. “In high stakes testing, if the kids don’t do well in math and English, then all kinds of bad things happen.”

Contradictory research about whether or not an arts education improves academic performance results in tradeoffs when schools don’t perform well academically. “[Schools] can’t give them an hour a week for arts education because their test scores are low,” Birmingham said.

Birmingham said regardless of whether or not practicing art raises test scores, the arts are valuable on their own.

“There’s just so much human value in the arts. ... We enjoy arts every single day,” Birmingham said. “We go into buildings that have been designed to be beautiful and we read things and we even like the more commercial arts that people work hard to make beautiful and functional.”

FUNDING THE ARTS

Art by Jordan Smith

Funding for the arts is complex. In the U.S., the art industry is not controlled by a single person or agency. Instead, a combination of federal, state, regional and local agencies provides financing for the arts.

The National Endowment of the Arts is the largest single funder of the arts in the U.S. However, the money it awards is meant to complement arts funding, not replace it. This requires recipient organizations to also receive funding from non-federal contributions.

One organization that receives funding from the NEA is I thought I was going to go down a very different career the local nonprofit California Art Education Association. path, and as soon I was exposed to that experience, it “Creativity isn’t optional; students who are not visually litchanged my life — literally.” erate and culturally literate can’t thrive in a global world,” said Robin Gore, president of CAEA. “We’re at a severe disadvantage without funding.”

For thousands of art educators in California, CAEA proPepperdine senior Tammy Hong said her family’s apprevides a network for them to communicate and champion ciation of visual design helped shape her passion for art. the importance of visual arts. Since 1965, CAEA has helped “My mom is a huge influence in my life,” Hong said. “She support pre-kindergarten through university educators always tells me, ‘You need to be a creative person out there working in all areas of visual arts. because that’s what the world is craving.’”

“We hold conferences, we have networking, we have When Hong was 4, her mother and aunt opened a small area connections where people can get together and netinterior design business named JS Interior Design. work, collaborate, work together,” Gore said. “Because “I remember sitting around in the living room and my aunt typically most arts educators in any area are very isolated would be drawing designs,” Hong said. “I would try to copy and siloed and they don’t have the chance to collaborate.” her and draw with her. I found a lot of enjoyment in that.”

Gore said a growing source of funding Despite going to private school her enfor nonprofits comes from patrons of the “IT’S VERY VITAL THAT tire life, Hong was aware of the cuts in arts. While foundation and government arts funding happening in public schools. funding have become increasingly STUDENTS HAVE ACCESS “I always saw it happening around me,” difficult to receive, individual gifts have TO AN ARTS EDUCATION Hong said. “Luckily for me, in my private become a significant source of support AND THAT THEY HAVE high school there was also an art class for nonprofit arts organizations. The and I had the option to be an AP art student growth in revenue shows how more ACCESS TO IT EARLY.” and to continue to pursue my passion.” people are beginning to fill the hole left ~ Robin Gore Santa Monica Community College by decreased government funding. freshman Lily Larsen said she personally experienced the Arts for LA is a nonprofit that promotes access to the arts disparity in arts funding from higher income to lower infor every student in Los Angeles County. The organization come school districts. campaigns to maintain public funding for the arts, works “I remember comparing Pali [Palisades Charter High to increase access to arts education for public school stuSchool] to Dorsey [Susan Miller Dorsey Senior High dents and builds public support for the arts.

School], which is in my neighborhood, and seeing Pali have “Arts for LA was really funded by a group of art leaders all these arts programs while Dorsey was struggling to get because at that time in 2006, the LA City Department of an art teacher,” Larsen said.

Cultural Affairs budget was on the chopping block,” said Larsen said she grew up participating in a theatre group Jennifer Fukutomi-Jones, director of programs for Arts and saw the positive effects of the arts in communities for LA. “The nexus of this organization started out of a reand on people. quired need. We had to take action immediately.”

Witnessing a lack of arts education for those in her community, Larsen was inspired to join the Student Center Theatre Group, a program that aims to educate youth about arts advocacy.

Gore said a decline in arts funding has a lasting impact on “Me and a few of the high schoolers organized an arts students. advocacy summit and we got almost 500 kids from LAUSD “It’s very vital that students have access to an arts educato participate in workshops emphasizing the importance of tion and that they have access to it early, because waiting arts in our schools,” Larsen said. until they’re [in] high school to develop and find these skills Seeing the work and outreach that local nonprofits have is too late for them to be competitive,” Gore said. in communities like hers made Larsen want to advocate for For Fukutomi-Jones, not having access to an arts eduher community at greater levels. cation while in school meant discovering her career path “I’m running for a seat in City Council District 10 to be later than most. a councilwoman,” Larsen said. “I think that number one, “I was actually a very late bloomer in my art career,” Fuour schools need to provide more opportunity and more kutomi-Jones said. “I went to LAUSD [Los Angeles Unified resources when it comes to the arts.”

School District], and throughout my education, I actually An arts education, Fukutomi-Jones said, is incredibly imdid not have any access to arts education.” portant in providing opportunities to foster creativity.

In high school, Fukutomi-Jones attended her first play by “The arts is not just for our people — it’s for everyone,” chance. When her teacher had an extra ticket to “Othello,” Fukutomi-Jones said. “It makes our community stronger she decided to take it. and more vital if each person and every student has that “It was the first play I went to, and I never looked back,” critical part of their education.”

Fukutomi-Jones said. “I thought I was going to be a lawyer,

ART HELPS CAREERS

FUNDS ARE LACKING

BY SOFIA TELCH

W

hen thinking about the arts, film and video editing is not usually the first thing that comes to mind. But it requires skill, time and undivided attention.

It’s an art, and senior Hanna Sturwold is already working in the industry editing feature films, documentaries and commercials.

“I love editing because it can enhance [a] story and bring it to another level [by] searching for the perfect moments in everyone’s work,” Sturwold said. “Without editing there’s only clips and takes but with editing there’s a story.”

The 22-year-old is now editing content for companies such as Gucci, Google, Kodak and Converse.

“For Gucci, I edited a short fashion film for a new line premiering in Dubai,” Sturwold said. “It was trickier to edit because it was shot during a photo shoot, so there were flashes on screen that I had to cut away from [and] find small moments to hold onto to create emotion. It was so fun.”

Sturwold grew up in Chicago and moved to Los Angeles, hoping to start a career in the film industry.

“I knew there’s way more opportunities for me here,” she said. “Chicago has a much smaller film world.”

Sturwold started working with cameras when she was 8. She realized she wanted to be an editor in high school when she became the manager of her school’s broadcasting club and started teaching film classes at a nearby grade school.

After high school, Sturwold attended a summer film program at Chapman University, which further convinced her to move to California.

When Sturwold came to Pepperdine as a freshman, she knew the path she wanted to take.

“I took advanced editing my freshman year since I knew I wanted to be an editor,” Sturwold said. “I also took scoring, which helped me massively to create good rhythm in images, and screenwriting [to learn] how to hold on emotional beats.”

Sturwold chose Pepperdine to build her own major focused on post-production. Today, she majors in cinematic arts: film production with a post-production emphasis.

The summer after her first year at Pepperdine, Sturwold interned for Angry Productions and Citizen Skull Productions where she “went on runs to get salads” until they eventually gave her the chance to do the “real job.”

“I got a lot of experience of how production offices are run,” she said.

“Some internship roles turned into small jobs [where] I saved all the money I made to buy equipment to create my own editing bay.”

Sturwold’s first feature film as a head editor is “32 Weeks.” The film tells the story of a girl who wakes up after a car accident and is unable to remember the preceding weeks, leaving her to recreate the missing pieces.

“I was the only editor on the team,” Sturwold said. “[It was] different than editing commercials because [I had] to focus on how to lengthen out the scenes and build emotion.”

Sturwold’s favorite project she has edited is “The German King,” a short film based on a true story that takes place before World War I. “Working on this has helped me become more in touch with my German roots,” she said. “It’s also a story about German history I had never learned about while in school.”

Sturwold is also passionate about gender equality in the film industry,

Photo courtesy of Hanna Sturworld

especially in light of the #MeToo Movement. USA Today recently interviewed Sturwold. In the interview, she said employers should be more gender neutral.

“It’s not about hiring only female professionals or about hiring fewer men,” Sturwold said. “It’s about giving everyone equal opportunity.”

In fact, Sturwold’s favorite editor is a woman: Thelma Schoonmaker, who edited Martin Scorsese’s film “Raging Bull.”

“She saved the story,” she said.

“She is one of the top, strongest female editors out there, and she is all about trying to make the story better through editing. She’s my inspiration.”

Today, Sturwold has her own post-production studio in Santa Monica, and she said students with the same dream shouldn’t be afraid.

“Even if you are not completely sure you could pull something off, say yes,” she said. “Commit and you can figure it out while on the job. Always be willing to take risks and say yes to new opportunities.”

THE POWER OF PARENTING

Music Professor N. Lincoln Hanks contends that parents shouldn’t be pressured to provide the necessary training to become a virtuoso musician.

“Any music training is good for a child but it doesn’t have to be on a $20,000 Steinway piano,” Hanks said.

“It can be on a recorder and with their voice or percussion. It could be a boombox in the corner and rapping.

The [career] trajectory could still be there if the child has the gift.”

Achieving greatness is often attributed to an individual’s raw talent. What is frequently forgotten are the parents who support their children to meet their potential.

Alumnus Wesley Park, class of 2018, began playing the piano at 5 years old. His mother made him practice everyday for an hour — a chore Park didn’t appreciate until he was in high school.

“It felt like prison almost,” Park said. “She would set a kitchen timer. … I would wait until she went to the bathroom and I would run over to the timer and Underrepresentation in film and theatre does not stop at shave off a few minutes. If I shaved off too much time, the Oscars. she would notice, but if I took off three minutes, then “The theatre department is a tricky place to be in as womthere was three precious minutes that I got to cut off en of color,” junior Peace Ikediuba said. “And I’m the only of my practice time.”

Black person in my year.”

Park played the piano and eventually the classical Ikediuba, born in Nigeria and raised in the United States guitar in high school, practicing and attending lessons since the age of 3, has overcome outstanding obstacles in in Culver City, where he grew up. He credits much of order to participate in Pepperdine’s theatre department. his success to the time and dedication his mom put into She wanted to be a doctor until she was a sophomore in being his “coach.” high school, when she said she had a dream in which God Park studied guitar through the renowned Christopher showed her the career path that would make her the most Parkening guitar program at Pepperdine. He is now happy: acting. signed to a record deal with his brother, Alex, performShortly after that, Ikediuba said her mother moved the ing as a guitar duo called the Park Brothers. family from Dallas, Texas, to Los Angeles after much “I strongly believe that anybody who wants to get good thought and prayer. at anything, whether it’s basketball, skateboarding, mu“We did not have a plan,” Ikediuba said. “[My mom] had sic, you need to have an enforcer in your life,” Park said. recently got fired from a job. She couldn’t pay rent or “That was my mom.” pay for certain things. I was like, ‘How would [moving] Not only did Park ’s mother put in time, she also put change or be anywhere close to better than what we’re in money. On top of the cost of lessons from childhood in right now?’’’ to adulthood, Park ’s parents paid for one of the best classical guitars “ART IS A LUXURY. IF LIFE IS After bouncing between three different high schools, Ikediuba said she on the market.

TWO JOBS AND POVERTY, wrestled with her plan to follow her “They’re called José Ramírez instruments ... built in the mid ‘60s, and TRYING TO GET FROM DAY dream of becoming an actress, which those instruments can be upward of ONE TO DAY TWO, THE ARTS possibly meant not attending college.

“I was like, ‘OK, we want to go to about $15,000,” Park said. “I needed SEEM FAIRLY FRIVOLOUS.” school but can we do it?’” Ikediuba a good instrument, and my teacher at ~ Robin Perrin said. “It’s not that I didn’t have the Pepperdine, Professor Christopher grades for it, it’s not that I didn’t have the ambition and it’s Parkening, he was such an advocate for buying these not that I didn’t need and want to. I wanted to. I saw the Ramírez guitars because they were so beautiful and benefits and the experience that I would get if I did go to that’s the guitar that [Andrés] Segovia played. I had to college but for a moment I just stopped thinking about colget one and my parents bought that for me. I’m so gratelege because we can’t afford it. So I was like, ‘OK, we don’t ful to this day that I still have this instrument that I still even need school. We could do without it.’’’ play, and it’s still my main concert instrument.”

Sociology Professor Rebecca Kim said following Parents are among the biggest motivators in shaping dreams is not always a reality for one in a lower sociotheir children’s career goals, Sociology Professor Robeconomic class. in Perrin said. But for families in lower socioeconomic “I hear a lot of people say, ‘Pursue your passions, seek classes, a parent or guardian’s ability to dedicate this your vocation,’” Kim said. “From a certain social class kind of time and money to extracurriculars for their chilbackground, you don’t have the luxury to pursue what realdren is limited. ly moves you, including art, because you’re so bounded by, “Art is a luxury,” Perrin said. “If life is two jobs and ‘OK, I got to get a job and got to be able to support myself.’” poverty, trying to get from day one to day two, the arts Ikediuba said one of the only reasons she was able to seem fairly frivolous.” attend Pepperdine was because of Posse, an organization Perrin said whether or not someone is exposed to the that recruits and funds college tuition for students of diarts depends primarily on that person’s cultural capital: verse backgrounds. their notion of what their society values.

THE POWER OF TRAINING

Photos by Milan Loiacono, modeled by Kana Oyama.

HOW SOCIOECONOMIC CLASS AFFECTS ARTISTS

BY MARIA VALENTE

P

unk singer Iggy Pop once noted that money matters little to an artist’s work but it’s a huge factor in their prosperity.

Whether it’s lessons, instruments, ballet slippers or oil paint, art costs money.

Artists are among some of the most passionate and determined people, often associated with images of starvation, recklessness and an undying love for their work. Art unapologetically waits for no one, and certainly does not stop to pick up those who have less or who start from farther behind.

“I think there’s a difference between being an artist and having a professional career in the arts that supports you,” said Anuradha Vikram, artistic director of the 18th Street Art Center and lecturer at Otis College of Art and Design in Los Angeles. “And in that difference is where all of the pain of class discrimination is felt.”

Musicians, actors and dancers all experience — on one side of the spectrum or the other — how class affects the road to the top.

from certain backgrounds,” Ford said. “[But] if you give a young kid an opportunity to do [art], you hand them a trumpet, you hand them a harmonica, you hand them a pair of dance shoes, they’ll go off. They will go off and they will shine.”

Ford said that while racial minorities are statistically shown to be in lower socioeconomic classes, there are kids in his hometown of Chicago, Illinois, who are taking advantage of any opportunity to create.

“The arts provide an opportunity for expression and some students, some young kids, are in some very, very dark places,” Ford said. “[But] you see a lot of minorities coming on the rise. ... I’d see just walking down the street in Chicago, there are kids banging with drumsticks or just wooden sticks with buckets. They’re creating music and it’s incredible. Sometimes it’s hard to find a space where they can do that because they don’t have the sort of resources and finances to do it.”

THE POWER OF EXPOSURE

was in my toolbox to use, I would have.”

However, even though Ikediuba seemingly beat the odds Theatre Professor Scott A. Smith said the nature of and made it to a top 50 university, the theatre department was not the inviting community she imagined. the acting world is ruthless and it takes guts and luck to “I feel like I always put myself in a place where I’m like, withstand.

“If you don’t have that strong desire, you will be easily ‘Peace, you have to perform at the level that they are exknocked out of this business because it takes such resilpecting,’” Ikediuba said. “I know that’s not fair for me. So when I do mess up, I think it weighs heavier on me because ience and such drive,” Smith said. “[You need to have] a I’m like, ‘Peace, now they’re all looking at you. Now your gambler’s mentality. People say, ‘Do you go to Vegas?’ No, professors are talking about you to othmy job is Vegas. My career as an actor er professors.’ And I’ve heard [about it]. “SOMETIMES WHEN YOU is stepping up into a room hoping that It’s made being part of that community a DON’T HAVE, YOU HAVE TO I roll the dice and come up a winner.” lot harder.”

Smith maintained that while socioVikram said it’s important to question MAKE DO WITH WHAT YOU economic class can have significant effects on a young actor’s ambition, these unrealistic expectations artists DO HAVE.” ~ Shanelle Wilkins are put under by their superiors. it does not mean his or her dream will “What often happens and causes all of us great pain is never be realized.

“Artists always find a way, no matter where they come that our expectations are set by people who have a lot more privilege than we do,” Vikram said. “They give you from economically,” Smith said. “My parents were blue-collar working class. There was no acting, there was the impression that you should have it easier than you do.

And then you don’t, and you feel like it was your fault. And no art. There was nothing to point to me doing this as a I think that’s the conversation we really need to change career but they were supportive. There’s a lot of actors who have a similar story. Hilary Swank is one of those stobecause if you are a person who, whether by choice or by ries. Steve McQueen was in an orphanage. James Cagney lack of access, has not been through those channels, that is not going to be a world that’s open to you.” came from nothing who just managed to ... pull it together Ikediuba said part of why she feels shunned by the theatre and go all the way and do it.”

Senior Corbin Ford, a member of the Pepperdine Improv program is because she lacks formal training in theatre Troupe, said there are instances where assumptions based compared to her wealthier peers.

“If I had the opportunity, resources, time, money … I on demographics can seriously harm an artist’s ability to would’ve did ballet. I would’ve took tap. I would’ve took show his or her worth. jazz, all of that,” Ikediuba said. “If that was something that “It’s so easy to stereotype individuals because they come

Ballet, arguably one of the hardest technical styles of dance, is the craft senior Kana Oyama spent 12 years perfecting.

“My mom put me in [ballet] because my mom always wanted to do ballet but because of her financial reasons, her family couldn’t afford to put her in dance classes,” Oyama said. “That was the one thing she wanted for me to do, was to be a dancer.”

Oyama said that after considering the costs of leotards, tights, shoes, pointe shoes, classes and private lessons, the price of training to be a competitive ballerina was high.

Pointe shoes alone are, on average, $80 per pair and need to be replaced every couple months depending on how often a dancer practices. The more one dances, the more often one needs to purchase pointe shoes.

“Obviously, being able to dance continuously like that comes with a privilege,” Oyama said. “I do believe that if you want to make it dance wise, your family has to come from a certain socioeconomic [class] because they put you through so much training. On average, it’s costly and it sucks. I don’t like unfair advantages. It just makes me mad.”

Vikram said the way society is structured isn’t supportive of artists, especially those in lower classes.

“If we had a society where being poor wasn’t so punitive — where you could get healthcare, where you could have a place to live or you could have childcare, you could get to work even as a poor person and it wouldn’t be a nightmare and a hassle and always one step away from total destruction — life for artists would be easier,” Vikram said.

Shanelle Wilkins, junior and captain of the Pepperdine Step Team, can trace her tradition of dance back to slavery.

“It was a way of self-expression,” Wilkins said. “I guess it was a way to also protest. It was a way of probably keeping occupied ... and then individuals went on to do it in college as well and create their own fraternities and sororities and Greek organizations. And it became a defining part of those particular organizations.”

Modeled by Shanelle Wilkins

Wilkins has been stepping for nine years. Since her first lessons after school in South LA, knowing the history of the dance was just as important as knowing the steps.

“I had an after school program director who was a member of Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity,” Wilkins said. “He knew how to step and he decided to just kind of teach us a couple of steps, just to keep us busy after school. After that we kind of formed our own little team, and it eventually grew, and we ended up competing all over California and actually doing well in competitions. It kind of became a lifestyle for us.”

Howard University brought step to the U.S. It became a collegiate tradition with the National Pan-Hellenic Council,

which is made up of historically African American fraternities and sororities known as the Divine Nine.

Wilkins said growing up in South LA, she never saw the negative things many people associate with the area.

Instead, she experienced a community of culture and creativity. “[I] went to some schools that didn’t have as much resources or maybe didn’t have as much as other people grew up with,” Wilkins said. “But I feel like that only made us more creative. Sometimes when you don’t have, you have to make do with what you do have.”