Our Town
by Joanne A. Calitri
Joanne is a professional international photographer and journalist. Contact her at: jcalitri_internationalphoto@yahoo.com
UCSB Art, Design, And Architectural Museum Exhibits Alumni
T
he UCSB Art, Design and Architectural (ADA) Museum’s current exhibit titled “Starting Here” shows the work of 48 artists who attended UCSB from 1950-2010. Co-curators of the showcase included Elyse Gonazles, curator of ADA Museum exhibitions; Jane Mulfinger, professor and chair UCSB Department of Art; and Kim Yasuda professor, UCSB Department of Art. Running concurrently are the annual Graduate MFA exhibit titled “Alter” and the Undergraduate Art Exhibit. Elyse invited me for a one-on-one tour of the exhibits, followed by the talk and performance art of UCSB alumni artist Miwa Matreyek, titled “Myth and Infrastructure.” Joining us was New York City-based artist David Hochbaum and Nancy Gifford. Hochbaum had arrived the day before in Montecito to go over his installation for the upcoming “Lotus Land” exhibit, “Flock” (planned for 2015), which Gifford is curating. My first impression of “Starting Here” is that UCSB can boast of a definitive range of art genres and influences explored by its faculty and students, from video art reflecting Andy Warhol’s interludes in video to the
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1950s American Clay Revolution, started by Peter Voulkos at what is now known as Otis College of Art and Design in Los Angeles. The first gallery has large-scale works by artists-friends Mary Miss and Richard Serra facing each other on opposing walls and work by Mark di Suvero. The second gallery is upbeat and mixed with the candor-sophomoric humor of video artist Ilene Segalove, who filmed herself confessing about plagiarizing a book report in 1960 and a second video talking to her younger self about what it’s like to be 50. Covering two walls is a social commentary by artist Suzanne Lacy titled, “Prostitution Notes”, an assemblage of found-on-the-street memorabilia about “hooking up.” On the way to the third gallery is a 6x12-foot wall covered with exhibit posters from 1969 to present-day campus life, centered with a digital video frame running a loop of images submitted by artist alumni who were not included in the gallery exhibit. The third gallery has book art, video art, sculpture and two large-scale paintings by artists John Arvanites and Dinh Q. Le, among others. After the tour, we traveled to the McCune Conference Room for Miwa’s
At the UCSB Art, Design and Architectural Museum’s exhibit “Starting Here” are (from left) co-curator Elyse Gonzales, NYC artist David Hochbaum, and UCSB alumni performance artist Miwa Matreyek
live performance art. She combines digital-animation projections and performance art. Miwa talked about her artist path in video interaction as part of a live-performance art piece and fielded questions from the audience. Miwa gave two performances of her works to an engaged audience, showcasing the intricacy of her video art and graphic talents interlaced with her live performance behind the video projection, together becoming one complete dance-like movement. Her works are interpretive, yet playful, commentaries of how she views daily life. Afterward, the curators provided some background on the exhibit in our interview: Q. How did you come up with the concept for the exhibits? A. This was an idea that had been brewing for a while. Both the museum and the Department of Art had been eager to do an exhibition that highlighted the storied history of visual artists on this campus. The College of Creative Studies was another integral part of this narrative given the significant number of talented artists they have also fostered over the years. We wanted this show to be about codifying and claiming this terrific history of the visual arts on our campus, which had heretofore been little known. Another important element of the exhibition was the timing. It was clear that we’d make the strongest statement about the vigor of the visual arts on this campus by doing the exhibition around the student shows (MFA and undergrad). We wanted visitors to (literally) see the artistic excellence of both past and present students. How did the curators decide on the years to be covered by the exhibit? There were no dates set in advance of planning for the exhibition. We as curators solicited names of students who attended UCSB from past and present faculty, other alumni and our own research. We started with a list of over 250 individuals and slowly, painfully, began to winnow the list down. Our main criteria were artists who actively made and exhibited their work now or during their lifetime. Of course there are many, many great artists who are alumni who fit that description but
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with only limited space. Doing a show like this was difficult! Another factor going into our selection was that we wanted to accurately represent the different artistic disciplines that are a part of university either now or over the years. We tried to make sure to seek out individuals who were outstanding examples of ceramicists, painters, sculptors, book artists, video, social practice, etc. While we had to choose a group of artists for the show, we wanted this exhibition to speak to the idea of inclusiveness, rather than exclusivity. In other words, we wanted everyone who attended UCSB to feel a part of this grand tradition. With that in mind, we established a monitor in the gallery that allows any artist who attended UCSB to submit up to three slides of their work. Those images will play on a monitor in the museum and be added throughout the run of the exhibition. What, in the opinion of the curators, is the strongest part of the exhibit? The strongest part... is the fact that we’ve investigated and made obvious the significant history of visual artists which this university has produced. The open and interdisciplinary environment of the arts on this campus, as well as the rich liberal arts education they received, served as an ideal incubator for many student artists. We learned that one of the most important elements of the program for some students was the fact that they were given both time and abundant space to explore new ideas, materials and methods, unfettered by strict curricular parameters or preconceived definitions of art and artistic production. They were also encouraged to consider, formulate, and respond to emerging questions about our society and ourselves. This is a tradition that is ingrained in UCSB’s culture and it continues today. Among some of the important facts that we discovered was that video art was almost immediately taken up and worked with as an artistic medium by our faculty and students. Faculty also played an important role in the arts; in many cases, they were tremendously helpful in challenging students but also in supporting them. Starting Here has been generously supported by Lillian Lovelace. Additional funding has been provided by the Summer Sessions Cultural Enrichment Grant, UCSB; the Department of Art, UCSB; University of California Institute for Research in the Arts (UCIRA) and the Office of the Dean of Humanities and Fine Arts. In-kind support has also been given by the College of Creative Studies; UCIRA; KCSB-FM; Media Arts and Technology (MAT); and the Interdisciplinary Humanities Center (IHC). The AD&A Museum 2014 is supported by the Ceil and Michael E. Pulitzer Foundation. 411: www.museum.ucsb.edu •MJ 5 – 12 June 2014