Ventura College Getty Villa Field Trip

Getty Villa Field Trip with Getty Docent Dr. Brown

Our first field trip on Sept 6th, Spring 2013. I took my class to the Getty Villa in Malibu to see some beautiful Greek pottery. With Dr. Brown, Getty archeologist, as our tour guide, Ventura College students received an amazing, firsthand look at Greek pottery.

Ventura College Beginning Sculpture - Self Portrait

The Spring 2012 Beginning Sculpture Class is having a great start. Students are assigned to use wire, paper mache, plaster cloth, paint and other mixed media to create a representational self-portrait. What  wonderful result! Student portraits were influenced by film makers, comic heroes, chefs and artists. Some students portrayed their self portrait through an abstract or dream like expression. In the end, the outcome is dynamic and thought provoking.

Spring 12 Beginning Sculpture Class

Detail Group works

Martin Delgado - Super Hero

Valerie Stack
(This pillow sculpture express the artist connection with friends and family using photography. The detail of gold string and butterfly adds an accent to the sculpture. )

Abra Dumond
(What a wonderful portrait! Student is using colored yarn to represent her features.)

Justin Martinez - Super Hero

Stephanie Gonzalez
(she used materials collected from her past in her  portrait.)

Alejandro G. Paz
( a self explanatory sculpture)

Ermelinda Bendy
(This is based on the painting she did before. Work in progress.)

Sean Chieze
(Ugly outside but beautiful inside. The student's statement is to never judge based on one's appearence. Inside of the sculpture is a beautiful white bird that lights up.)

William Wellington
(This student loves to cook, his specialty being a mean chicken pesto pizza. He used black and white to give the piece and old time feel.)

Isabella Morones
(She used dried out paint that she collected over the years as the surface treatment.  The open-top represents her openness to accepting and receiving changes.)

Braeden Ayub
(He is a film maker, as you can tell.  Keep an eye out on You Tube. You might see his work.)

Stephanie Gonzalez

Billie-Jean Varela
( Beautiful red head girl - she decorates the sculpture with yarn and feathers.)

Ryan Perl
(The student expresses his love of  nature by depicting a forest and the deep sea with a submarine on his sculpture. Lots of great surface detail! )

Patricia Kuhn
(She photo copied her painting and used it as surface decoration. Upper half of the sculpture has 3 sets of eyes representing her constant observation of her surroundings.)

Alejandro G. Paz

Justin Martinez

Birgit Gros
(This biodegrable sculpture is made from  tree bark and beans. The organic materials gives this sculpture a tribal looking effect. The concept of her sculpture is that  everything has to go back to nature. Be sure to take photos to watch  the project decompose over time.)

Ermelinda Bendy

Jory Russell
(This Lego sculpture represents his passion and love for Legos.)

Sean Chieze 

Samuel Dutter
( To understand this interactive sculpture, one has to put it on  their head.  The concept of this self-portrait is to encourage others to look inside the artist. )

Isabella Morones

William Wellington

Art Beat at Oxnard Garala Gallery - Ventura College Art Show

These four office spaces provided by Oxnard Art Beat will be experimental gallery spaces for Ventura College art faculty and their students this November. The exhibition "Addiction in Art" begins Nov 11 - Nov 30. The reception is on Nov 11 from 6 - 9 p.m. Mark your calendars for what promises to be a thought-provoking show.  The gallery is open by appointment only after the reception.  

Ventura College 3D - Self Portrait With Historical Reference

Ventura College 3D - Beginning Ceramics 

The students' first assignment: create a self-portrait. But not just your regular self-portrait.  Students were asked to create a self portrait (at least 14" tall) using a historical vase as inspiration and reference.  The assignment utilized various clay skills while requiring the students to think conceptually.  Everyone is familiar with the traditional painted or photographic self-portrait... but a self-portrait vase?  They did a GREAT job.

First day of school

After an amazing summer I'm ready to start my new job as a full-time faculty member at Ventura College. I teach four classes this semester - two multi-levels ceramic classes, one glaze calculation class, and one sculpture class. I created this blog to allow my students to see each others' work process, share their ideas, give comments and post announcements for projects, field trips and gallery shows.