Ventura College Ceramics & Sculpture

Thursday, June 30, 2011

Picasso Exhibit De Young Museum

I went to see the Picasso exhibition at the De Young Museum in San Francisco. Loved the show but no photographs were allowed. However, the museum garden has a nice collection of outdoor sculptures.

Gustav Kraitz
"Apples"

Andy Goldsworthy at De Young Museum

What an inspirational exhibition!

Sunday, June 12, 2011

Summer Institute for Teaching Excellence

The first annual SITE workshop that was held at Ventura College beginning summer 2011 was a big success. The workshop provided various educational lectures. One of the workshops was the Experiential Learning Workshop. The lecture/studio class was hosted by Gigi Fiumerodo (Anthropology), Jaclyn Walker (English), and Jenchi Wu (Ceramics). This one and a half hour workshop included a brief history of cave paintings as well as early development of music with Gigi, creative writing one's thought process while developing and making the rattle with Jacyln and finally the hands-on experience of making a clay rattle with Jenchi. It was a wonderful and exciting interdisciplinary workshop. I was able to fire all the rattles and present them to each participant at the end of the workshop. Thank you to my colleagues who support the SITE program - Gwen, Judy, and Sharon. Thanks as well as Gigi and Jacyln for taking a leap of faith for the clay rattle collaboration. And finally thanks to all the student volunteers and many other hardworking staff who made this happen. I hope to see you all soon.

Thursday, May 12, 2011

Spring 2011 Sculpture Installation - Collaborative Projects

This project required that students work together in groups of four to create a site-specific installation that deals with the space, the environment and the location around the Ventura College campus. Topic suggestions were open to students interpretation. Here are the students work for Spring 2011.

Artists: Austin Enoch, Katya Castro - "Web Of Lies"
Did you ever tell a lie? If you have, you should come by and unload your lies on the web that Austin and Katya had created. The web is located at Eastern Region of Campus walk way that channels to Art Building. This web has enjoyed an overwhelming response. Congratulations to both of you. Here are some of lies the viewers shared.

Detail - "Web of Lies"

Artist: Robert Whiteside
Robert's installation wants to create an awareness and remembrance for all victims that died during war, natural disaster, or murder. The artist created the black image cut out so the viewer can stand behind the sculpture and become a part of it.

Artists: Rita McBride, April Mathewson, Norton Hatfield - "Progress"
The title "Progress" reflects how nature fights for survival with humans. The markings on the tree hints at it being prepared for removal. The red lines symbolizes bleeding and protests over construction, housing, and diminishing green spaces. Students picked the largest tree on the campus to install their concept. During the installation, students encountered anger, confusion, and concern from pedestrians passing by.

Artists: Noel Adams, Sky Khom
In this installation, students address the overuse of pesticides. The insect depicted has mutated and in response the pesticide has to become even larger and stronger. The oversize bug and spray effectively creates a phycological space between the object and viewers.

Detail

Artists: Justine Jannone, Kaley Drury, John McCarter, Nicholas Tapia
This group of students created the pyramid with graphics that show children holding up the world. This symbolizes the that children of all races and genders are the foundation of our future.

Sunday, May 8, 2011

Project 643 Gallery Space - Million Pieces and Million Dreams

Some photos from Friday night's opening at the 643 Project Space Gallery in Ventura. It is an interactive installation that invites viewers to write their wishes and hopes on a ceramic bowl, turn to a video camera and state their wish, and then heave the bowl at a painted Chinese symbol on the wall, shattering the bowl into a million pieces and thereby gaining a million wishes. The saying came from the artist's Grandfather who used to own a shop in Taiwan that sold ceramic bowls. If the artist accidentally broke a bowl her Grandpa would smile and lovingly tell her "million pieces and million wishes." 100+ bowls were thrown during the opening, which comes to 100 million wishes.