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Hey fellow artists and aficionados extraordinaires! 

We decided to move ourselves back home! For content and all the feels our feed gives you- head back to where it all started at www.sfai.edu/blog. See you there you crazy kids. 

XO, 

Kristín María Ingimarsdóttir (Stína Maja) and Jóhannes Eyfjörð (Jói)

When I came back to SFAI in 1986 after a semester on independent study, traveling around Europe with my dear friend Arngunnur Ýr, I ran into a new student from Iceland, Jóhannes Eyfjörð, called Jói. He had started at SFAI in the sculpture department while Arngunnur and I were away. We first met in the hall where the mailboxes and the pay-phones used to be, right in front of Studio 8. I could not resist this handsome guy and a few weeks later, on Valentine’s day party, we started going out. Within a year we got married and lived in San Francisco until 1994 when we moved back to Iceland. We are still married and have three wonderful kids.

In 2012 we spent the summer in San Francisco and of course, we took our kids to SFAI and showed them where we first ran into one another. So that Valentine’s day party was definitely a memorable party and the party is still going on.

Larry Andrews (BFA 1987) and Arngunnur Yr

When we got back to San Francisco we needed a place to live and convinced this nice guy on Green Street to rent to the two of us, although in his ad he had posted that he wanted only one, and emphatically so, ONE tenant and male... we promised that we would be most excellent tenants and besides we would hardly ever be home and he would not even notice that we were there. Well, things were about to change. When I got back to the Art Institute at the beginning of the spring semester of ‘86 my friends kept telling me about this handsome new guy from DC, stating that they are sure that “I am going to get him“. I remember thinking that was quite funny and wondering why, if they thought he was so cute why they didn’t go after him. But it turned out they were right after all. My first encounter with Larry was when we met in the photo lab where he was a monitor and he handed me the photo developing equipment I had requested. He reached out his hand and we realized we had the same golden nail polish on! So we figured this was meant to be. 

On Valentine’s Day, there was a big party at school and we had a pre-party in our new apartment. I had been to a thrift store and was wearing a 60’s nylon pantsuit extravaganza with a fake blonde wig down to my waist. And that’s how I went to the party and met Larry there. We had a wild and fun night, which ended with friends, including Stína and Jói, at the Stud. 34 years later we have two kids, Daria Sól, 26 and Dyami Rafn 23, who are amazing and wonderful, fluent in both languages and equally at home in both countries.

Conrad and Willis Meyers

Willis and I were both class of MFA 2008 in Sculpture. In our second year, we collaborated on a Diego Rivera Gallery exhibition (photo above) and sparks flew in the welding shop and beyond. By the time we graduated, both of us knew that we had found lifelong collaborators. 

San Francisco Bay Area:

Learning in the Grove of Akademus - A talk with Jeff Gunderson: Saturday, February 22, 4–5pm Longtime SFAI librarian and resident historian, Jeff Gunderson, will discuss the founding of the California School of Fine Art’s (SFAI) groundbreaking photography program in the 1940s and the school’s post-war milieu of avant-garde experimentation. Students in the photography program enjoyed close relationships with their teachers, often staying in their homes and working side-by-side in the field, inspiring student Ira Latour to describe his early days in the program as “learning in the Grove of Akademus.” Gunderson will call on several exhibiting artists, some now in their 90s, to share stories and memories of their time at the CSFA. Jeff Gunderson has been the Librarian and Archivist at the San Francisco Art Institute since 1981. He has written on the history of California photography, the San Francisco art scene of the 1940s, and done presentations on artists Joan Brown, Elmer Bischoff, Ed Ruscha, Charles Howard, the history of LGBTQ art in San Francisco, the history of Bay Area conceptual art, and the influence of art libraries on artists.  He also did the introductory essay to Black Power/Flower Power: Photographs by Pirkle Jones and Ruth-Marion Baruch. He is currently working on a collection of essays about open water swimming.

Jeff Gunderson’s talk is in conjunction with The Golden Decade: Photography at the California School of Fine Arts, 1945-1955 on view at the Bolinas Museum through March 22, 2020.

Facing Fire - Joan Wulf (MFA 1993) Please join alumna Joan Wulf this Saturday, February 22 for the opening of the group show Facing Fire at UC Arts California Museum of Photography.  Joan writes, “Fire as omen and elemental force, as metaphor and searing personal experience -- these are the subjects explored by the artists of Facing Fire. California's diverse ecologies are fire-prone, fire-adapted, even fire-dependent. In the past two decades, however, West Coast wildfires have exploded in scale and severity. There is a powerful consensus that we have entered a new era. The artists of Facing Fire bring us incendiary work from active fire lines and psychic burn zones. They face fire, sift its aftermath, and struggle with the implications.”

Folded Venus / Pomaded Sweater - Heidi Hahn (BFA 2002) New York based painter Heidi Hahn is known mostly for her vibrant palette, melting figures, and atmospheric moods. Heidi brings a thoughtful and refreshing perspective to her work often engaging in the female body. Make sure you check out Folded Venus / Pomaded Sweater on view at Nathalie Karg Exhibitions February 19–March 22, 2020.

Image: Robert Xavier Burden working in his studio. © Robert Xavier Burden.

Play—Robert Xavier Burden (MFA 2007) Robert Xavier Burden’s Play opens February 29, 2020 at Heron Arts: “At the heart of this exhibition lies a tension between past and present. Burden’s work indulges a childhood fixation on animals with super-human characteristics found in films and TV, and serves as a reflection on the plastic culture that is killing them, taking into question our toxic relationship with nature. At its core, it is the artist’s chance to idolize these figures once again, as they inch ever closer to extinction in the wild. With a closer look at the work, one absorbs the adoration and glorification of the animals portrayed, while simultaneously feeling the shame and sadness they are surrounded by in the form of cheap mass produced figurines. Figurines which are created for children in the hopes that they will identify with the creatures and create humanized relationships. The innocent love Burden retains for the animals he has always admired is as apparent as his disdain for a culture that kills them.”

Half Court - Full Court - Craig Schwanfelder (BFA 2009) On view through March 6, 2020 at Kahilu Theatre, Craig Schwanfelder series presents the viewer with the experience of standing at center court and looking at both basketball hoops simultaneously. “Basketball hoops can be found everywhere and are accessible to people from all walks of life”, says Schwanfelder. Over the past five years he has photographed all types of courts, including ones at neighborhood parks, community recreation centers, grass courts, and at schools. This ongoing project has resulted in a portfolio of images that highlight the remarkable diversity of settings for a game that unifies people worldwide.

True Colors - Stefan Kürten (MFA 1989) Opening Saturday, February 1, 2020 at SFAI alum Todd Hosfelt’s Hosfelt Gallery: “Stefan Kürten's paintings explore the complexities of our universal yearning for the ideal place to call home. His source material includes appropriated images from architecture and design magazines as well as photographs he has taken during his global travels. These become starting points for carefully constructed scenes whose idyllic environments belie their illusory promise of ultimate happiness.”

Image: Beth Davila Waldman, “La Ocupación No. 1,” 2018, Acrylic Paint and Pigment on Tarp Mounted on Panel, 60 × 86 1/2 × 2. Courtesy of George Lawson Gallery.

Into The Immense Design of Things - Beth Davila Waldman (BFA 2005) In this group exhibition, which is on view at George Lawson Gallery through March 15, 2020, Beth’s artwork challenges the idea of permanency using architecture as a visual language and site as an inspiration. Her contemporary collage approach values the navigation of uncharted grounds, repositioning existing elements to create something more powerful. Beth’s work conceptually promotes the idea of change and transformation breaking ground literally by shattering her  photography into a series of new fragments that are used to create energetic abstract landscapes with material, color and form.

Lost Man Blues: Jon Schueler - Art and War - Jon Scheuler (1951) Join Magda Salvensen (Curator for the Jon Schueler Estate) on March 14 at Turtle Bay Exploration Park for a deeper look at Jon Schueler’s life and work. On view through April 26, Lost Man Blues will, for the first time, feature a collective group of fifteen paintings that reflect Jon Schueler’s war experiences. Adopting a perspective from the skies, these oils, painted in NY from 1979 – 1989, form a powerful and cohesive visual testament to his post-war struggles and the battle for memory and creative expression.

Image: David Park, “Couple,” 1959; Fine Arts Museum of San Francisco, Partial gift of the Morgan Flagg Family Foundation; © Estate of David Park; courtesy Natalie Park Schutz, Helen Park Bigelow, and Hackett Mill, San Francisco.

David Park - A Retrospective - David Park At the age of 38, David Park (1911–1960) abandoned a carload of his abstract expressionist canvases at the city dump and started painting “pictures” — a radical decision that led to the development of Bay Area Figurative Art. Organized by SFMOMA, this exhibition will be the first major museum exhibition of Park’s work in three decades and the first to examine the full arc of his career. David Park - A Retrospective opens April 11 at SFMOMA.

New York City:

Image: Lauren Carly Shaw, “I, Me, Mine,” 2019, installation. Courtesy of Postmasters Gallery.

Vicious Frames - Lauren Carly Shaw (MFA 2016) On view through March 7, at Postmasters Gallery,  Vicious Frames takes a deep dive into media addiction: one that explores, celebrates and denounces the voracious consuming of others; another that examines and stages the notion of the construction of self; and one that reflects upon the isolation produced by our online existence.

Uneasy Terms - Gelah Penn (BFA 1973) Uneasy Terms, on view at Undercurrent Gallery through March 14, 2020, features a 33-foot-long site-responsive installation, as well as monumental constructed drawings and small collages from two of the artist’s ongoing series, Stele and Notes on Clarissa (Volume I).

Boca Raton, Florida:

Mind / Body / Spirit / Land - Suzanne Siminger (MFA 1987) Mind / Body / Spirit / Land is a collection of oils and watercolors inspired by our beautiful land. Suzanne writes about her inspiration, “The importance of preserving the pristine beauty of our Earth is becoming an ever increasing hot issue in our lives. I believe that landscape painting, far from being an old fashioned subject that it is sometimes made out to be, is in the vanguard of artistic social responsibility.”

Pittsburg, PA:

Image: Barbara Weissberger, “A Tat A Snag,” 2019, Archival Inkjet Print. Photo by Barbara Weissberger.

Mother - Barbara Weissberger (MFA 1989) On view at Silver Eye Center Photography through March 21st, Weissberger’s photographs – and related photo-objects – contain familiar things and things that are confounding enough to sow doubt about the nature of those that are most identifiable. She started as a sculptor and is still deeply engaged with materials and making objects. Weissberger crafts many of the objects within her photographs, mingling found objects with the miscellany found in her studio.

—INTERNATIONAL EXHIBITIONS—

London, UK:

Goddess Now and Spacetime - Katya Kahn (BFA 2014) Alum Katya Kahn invites you to two upcoming exhibition openings: Goddess Now opens April 22 at Bermondsey project space, and Spacetime opens March 27 at Topos Projects. Katya’s work work involves construction of temporary landscapes, outdoor installations, collaborative building and design, and public space interventions, as well as tangible objects that encompass sculpture, painting, and collage. Katya uses words, natural materials, and found objects, among other media, and her work is often informed by public participation. Through Katya’s projects she seek to help people interact with their environments, whether natural or artificial, and to create evocative and vibrant public places for themselves.

John Lindsey, once a night manager at Pete’s Cafe—situated on the roof of San Francisco Art Institute (SFAI) on Chestnut Street—now runs The Great Highway art gallery in the Outer Sunset. After eight years of establishing the gallery and himself as a curator, John decided that now is the time to facilitate a reunion-like exhibition and recreate an experience that fostered a community of now globally recognized artists—Pete’s Cafe - SFAI in the 90s.  

Alongside salon-style hung photographs and letters from the 90’s, lives a wall full of memories featuring works by forty artists who either attended and/or worked at SFAI during that time period. On Saturday, January 11, during the opening reception, there was a truly euphoric feeling of reunification in that small, overcrowded room next to some of the most renowned contemporary Bay Area artists who all share a common experience of being a part of the school’s café.

What was it like to buy from or serve food to someone you just slammed in a painting critique? Or, to embody the idea that you can’t please everyone—a contradiction to the ‘customer is always right’ so popular at the time? Read all about the emotion, passion and feelings that were on display at the café, in a conversation I had with John.

Bojana Rankovic: Why Petes’ Cafe, and why now?

John Lindsey: Pete's Cafe was a very influential time in my life. The first time I worked there, I didn’t take any classes, but I fell in love with it there and I was having such a good time, that I never even thought about taking any. Then, the second time I worked there, I wanted to try to change my life, get out of cooking, and go into graphic design. I loved being at SFAI, I loved art, I loved the people, and mostly I just found everyone to be so wonderful and inspiring.

And then there was Pete. He is a guy who created this very unique environment, and I felt like I was a part of that and it was something special. It turned out that a lot of these people who were at the school, at that time, and the people who worked in the cafe, went on to do really amazing work. It was a magical time, a magical place and a wonderful group of people—so that's why Pete's Cafe, this exhibit.

I wanted to do this show now because  I have had my gallery for 8 years, and I felt that it would have been forward of me to ask Alicia (McCarthy) to be in the show the first year I was open, or to ask Barry (McGee), or Eamon (Ore-Giron) or Xylor (Jane) or Colin (Chillag) or Mads (Lynnerup) or any of the other people, Cliff Hengst, Scott Hewicker.. They are all the people that never left the community, and have worked very hard in the arts and have devoted their lives to it. When I got out of school I went off and worked at a tech company, and then that whole ‘.com’ blew up and I just started doing graphic design on my own, so I didn't stay in that community myself.

When I got the gallery it was just gonna be my office, and people were asking me if I wanted to rent it out to them, but I wanted to have my own space. Then I thought of an even better use for it would be to become my studio- a little printing studio, and I could show artwork, too, because I didn't have to invest capital to do that. It's a consignment shop for all intents and purposes, a viewing space, and so it was something I could use to speak to the neighborhood. I've been in this neighborhood, and I’ve been surfing out here for 30 years, and I'm tired of talking about just surfing. I was trying to bring different conversations around the coastal environment than just surfing, so that's what led the programming throughout the years.

I always wanted to do this show, but like I said, I was apprehensive to call in favors, so for eight years I’ve been doing things like, when Alicia had the Orfn show at Luggage Store Gallery- I donated a piece, and stuff like that, slowly becoming a part of the community- in positive ways and working. And now, I think I've got 50 shows under my belt. So now I know how to do it, I'm a better curator, at this stage, because I've been doing it for so long, and I know the window and I know the neighborhood and I know my neighbors and the unique situation out here. 

Then, all of a sudden, Pete comes and shows me the boxes, and I knew it was time to do a show. The timing felt right. When I saw Pete’s timeline installation (by Patricia Kavanaugh and Tanesha Jemison) that was originally on the back wall of the Cafe, I thought that could be the anchor of the show. So, that's why it happened now - because it took that long for me to get there, it took that long for Pete to show me the stuff, and because it took me time to figure out how to anchor the show.

What was it (at SFAI) that made you want to get more involved in the arts, like take classes, and now have your gallery? Were you interested in art even before your job at Pete’s?

I was a chef, and I was always good with computers. When I went to the University of Utah for a couple of years before moving out here and going to cooking school, I had the first Macintosh computer and we were doing very rudimentary things with it, but that was part of the foundation. I was feeding people's stomachs and then I turned into feeding people's eyes and minds. And frankly, I was never going to be a graphic designer, I wanted to take the arts that I was learning at the Art Institute and use that as the foundation of my graphic design practice. I got into it all at the Art Institute, and I was into art before and I was a very creative person, but just in a very different way.

Can you talk about how the strong sense of community, centered around Pete’s, influenced the students in an individual way, and what it felt like to be a part of it?

Part of it is that the school store and the cafe were centers of necessity on that campus. People have to eat and people need art supplies, and so those two places had some value beyond just taking classes at a regular university to people. There was some power in those two places. A friend of mine would come in late at night and I would give him a baked potato or whatever and students would give away food...things like that, and we never busted people...well, actually we did, I have a memo here of one person we had to kick out because he was just straight-up stealing food; but we took people in, and then the administration would come to Pete and bring a student who's not really fitting in, and ask him if he can give them a job and get them assimilated into the school. If you had a job at the school store or the cafe - you met everybody, and you were serving everybody and you were engaging with everybody. If you were not fitting in or you were lost at school and if you work in the cafe, all of a sudden you were front and center, for good or for bad. 

That was one way that we were influencing students and then we just had a lot of fun, and the making of food is a creative practice, the culinary arts, whether you want to call it art or not. And not everybody worked well at the cafe, some people are not very good workers and that's just life but some people really enjoyed what was going on in there and it was good for them, it fed a lot of people, if you work there you got free food so that was a whole other benefit to it.

And then we were good chefs, we are both professionally trained chefs, we worked together at Hayes Street Grill, and then Pete got the job at the Institute first and brought me over. We weren't opening a lot of cans, we were trying to make really wholesome wonderful food that was also cheap. Rice and beans was the whole thing, $2.75 I think is what we charged when we first started selling it. Then, Thanksgiving dinners, stuff like that, it was good healthy food, and it was all in a beautiful setting, working in the cafe—the view all day long.

There were a few complaint letters up on the wall next to all the art. What are the stories about them, and who was it that had issues with Pete?

Well, it is an art school, isn't it? Critique is a huge part of it.

We are offering a service and you can't please everybody. There were students, faculty, staff, administration who were all very happy with it and then there were also people who found it to be too loose. Sometimes, people might get offended, but you know that was it, it was biting, we were able to study everyone that came in through that school and we were the observers to some degree, and there was a slight bit of power and control in the fact that we had the food. I'm sure that our customer service was not perfect, a lot of the time...I mean there's one letter here when Xylor and Ted are complaining about somebody, but it just is what it is. Also, you're there with everybody all the time, so during the summer it would just be me, Peet and Tad and we'd wait on all the staff and administration throughout the summer and then the student workers would come back in the fall or late summer and then all the students would come back and all heck would break loose.

You also have to remember...let's say I'm waiting on you, and we were just in a painting critique and I said something really nasty and horrible about your painting or the other way around. There was that type of stuff that went on all the time, as well. There were also relationships that were going on, that the students had, and all that type of stuff, just like any school, but it was all on display at the cafe...emotion, passion, feelings.

How did the opening reception night go for you? How did it feel to see everyone after all these years?

It was really incredible. 

I've been living with this for almost 3 weeks now, putting it up, looking at the pictures over and over again, reading everything over and over. For me, personally, it's been a constant barrage of old memories coming back, which is really neat at this stage in my life. So, that was just personally a cathartic thing, but then I felt like there was so much love and energy in the room and it was so neat.

When I’m at the openings, I have to work, talk to certain people, help them purchase things, make sure that my daughter is doing a good job behind the bar, that nobody is getting in trouble outside, so I'm not fully engaged out beyond the desk, but seeing everyone just be this happy was really touching and special. 

Someone suggested that I could do this show again, somewhere else, and I could, but there will never be a night like that ever again. That was really what was amazing about it.

Is there someone whose career took an unexpected turn? Anyone who ended up in a field you would never expect them to be? Or ended up applying their practice in a way that radically changed?

Wow...I would say that someone who I think is just super awesome is Colin Chillag, who had a tough time in school. I just love his paintings and what he is doing now, his wicked sense of humor. He's one example but I guess I would say that it applies to everyone because I was so naive when I was working there, I am just blown away by all of them, by Alicia and Ruby and Colin, and Eamon, Xylor, and Cliff who worked at the school store, and Mads, who was the goofiest kid when he was working at the cafe, and what he’s gone on to do is just wonderful and amazing.

And then, surprisingly, some people for whom you thought were the most talented people in the entire world have drifted away, and they took a completely different track, maybe they have gone into administration or they've joined the fire department or something like that, that's a big change.

What is coming up next at The Great Highway? Anything you are particularly excited about?

I have another opening on Saturday, January 18, that is going to be on the other wall across from Pete’s Cafe, and that is the MLK Surf Photography Show. In 2013, on the Martin Luther King Day weekend, there was a really amazing swell at Ocean Beach and all these photographers took photos of it, including myself, so we're going to have a show here and we're in collaboration with Mollusk. There will be artwork and photographs there, and photographs here, there will be a band at Mollusk, and I’m going to show surf videos on my screen. 

So that's the next show is and what's cool and neat about it is that I’ll get a whole new group of people here, and not only will they see the surf show, but they will get to see Pete’s show. It won't be as well attended as Pete’s show, but there will be about 50 to 100 people. All those who normally wouldn’t have seen Pete's will be introduced to the San Francisco Art Institute.

Pete’s Cafe—SFAI in the 90s runs from January 10–February 14, 2020 at The Great Highway in San Francisco. Details here.

SAN FRANCISCO BAY AREA:

Pete’s Café - SFAI In The 90’s In the 90s, many SFAI students worked for and exhibited artwork at Pete’s Café, which was situated on the roof of SFAI’s Chestnut Street Campus. On view January 10 through February 16, The Great Highway Gallery presents a group exhibition featuring several SFAI-affiliated artists, including John Lindsey, Dave Arnn, Daric Cheshire, Colin Chillag, Wren Coe, Diana Coopersmith, Adrienne Eberhardt, Connie Goldman, Jeremy Harper, Gerald Hawk, Cliff Hengst, Scott Hewicker, Johanna Jackson, Xylor Jane, Patricia Kavanaugh, Yasmin Lambie-Simpson, Mario Lemos, Ted Lincoln, Lydia Linker, Linton, Jennifer Locke, Sally Lundburg, Mads Lynnerup, Spencer Mack, J Matt, Alicia McCarthy, Barry McGee, Palmerin Merges, Karla Milosevich, Ruby Neri, Eamon Ore-Giron, Maurizzio Hector Pineda, Will Rogan, Cynthia Rojas, Rocio Santillana, Christian Spruell, Steven Starfas, Keith Tallett, Rafael Vieira, Benji Whalen, Mark Wilson, and more!

Lighting the Council Fire: Paintings of Suiko Betsy McCall (MFA 2009) On view through January 30 at San Francisco’s Zen Center, Suikos writes about Lighting the Council Fire: “Whether with a pencil or paint, these works on paper explore the interaction between a structure set up by an evolving, repeating system and the unpredictable chaos of the spill, smudge, or breath-initiated brushstroke. By engaging the repetitive rhythms of practice, my work also aims to reshape my life as an Artmonk.”

Image: April Martin, cali fantazies. © April Martin

Cali Fantazies – April Martin (MFA 2019) Cali Fantazies is a multimedia art installation on view at the Museum of the African Diaspora (MoAD) through March 3, 2020. On February 13, April Martin is curating a special event, Cali Fantazies: Righteous Ratchet Joy, where performers from the legendary underground black queer party “Cali Fantazies” will be performing at MoAD. Come witness the magic, allure, and stunts of performers in a not to be missed experience. This event will be a space where queer Black folks can enjoy the many talents of BADASS Black Women. We will shout with joy and make it shower with flowers as beautiful black women pole twerk and booty bounce in a celebration of Black Women. We welcome you to immerse yourself in MoAD’s latest exhibition, groove to the electrifying sounds of DJ Lady Ryan and laugh out loud at hilarious host Ms. Bleu Sugar from Coochieliscious Entertainment as she narrates the mesmerizing performances by Cali Fantazie’s dancers.

This event will be honoring the legacy of queer black club life and the closure Bench and Bar and Club 21, the last remaining black and brown queer clubs in Oakland.

Mind / Body / Spirit / Land – Susanne Siminger (MFA 1987) Please join Susanne for the artist reception on Friday, January 17 at the Gail Van Dyke Gallery in the MarinHealth Medical Center in Greenbrae for the opening of Mind / Body / Spirit / Land: Oils and Water Colors inspired by Our Beautiful Land.

Panel Discussion: Re-Imagining Equity in the Art World 2020, with Katherine Vetne (MFA 2015) On January 18, Katherine Vetne joins local artists Erica Deeman and Indira Allegra, as well as curators Heidi Rabben and James Voorhies to discuss their art practices, concerns and challenges, and where the equity movement might lead in the coming years. This panel is organized by ArtTable, which is celebrating 40 years of women's advocacy and professional development. Katherine will also have work on view at the Catherine Clark Gallery booth at Untitled San Francisco, July 17–19, 2020.

Image: Michael Jang, Ramones Free Concert, Civic Center Plaza, San Francisco, 1979, gelatin silver print. Courtesy the artist. © Michael Jang

In Conversation: Michael Jang (MFA 1977), Sandra S. Phillips, and Nion McEvoy For the closing of Michael Jang’s California, photographer Michael Jang and curator Sandra S. Phillips are joined by Nion McEvoy for a wide-ranging conversation about the resonances of place, person, and time in Jang’s work. This first retrospective exhibition presents a rare, immersive journey through Jang’s career, from the 1970s to the present, and is curated by Phillips, SFMOMA curator emerita of photography and Jang’s longtime collaborator.

Fresh Focus – Jordan Holms (MFA 2019) Join Jordan Holms on Wednesday, January 14, at 4pm for a meet and greet for Fresh Focus, an exhibition featuring small-size artworks by recent and current MFA artists of the Bay Area.

Spiders from Mars – Ben Venom (MFA 2007) Please join alum, Ben Venom for the opening reception for Spiders from Mars on January 15 at St. Joseph’s Art Society. On view January 17 – February 15, 2020.

Forbidden Illusions – Whitney Lynn (MFA 2007) Whitney Lynn invites you to "forbidden knowledge", anaglyph collages created while an Artist-in-Residence at LightSource SF. On view through February 1, 2020.

Displaced - Spencer Keeton Cunnigham (BFA 2010) Please join Spencer for the closing reception of Displaced at 6pm on February 9 at The Midway Gallery. He is consistently working on new ideas for art whether that is in the form of paintings, drawings, murals and installations that dive deep into topics relating to his personal relationship on Native American rights, cultural representation, social change and activsm. Spencer’s artwork has been on broadcast television, in motion pictures and exhibited throughout the U.S. and beyond. His art can currently be found on display in the Permanent Collection of the Berkeley Art museum, The Crocker Museum in Sacramento and in print form in the permanent book collection at the Smithsonian Museum of the American Indian in Washington D.C. Cunningham was also recently inducted into the World Congress of Art History in Bejing China by Art Historian Elaine O'Brien.

Video: A preview of Spencer Keeton Cunningham’s solo exhibition, Displaced, The Midway Gallery, San Francisco. Courtesy the artist.

LIAN LADIA (PB 2006) is a San Francisco-based curator and organizer who received a Post Baccalaureate degree in Photography from SFAI in 2006. Ladia completed an MA in Curatorial Studies at Bard College and participated as a curatorial program participant in de Appel Art Centre in Amsterdam. Ladia co-founded Planting Rice, an important cultural and curatorial platform founded in Manila, Philippines that promotes contemporary art discourse of Southeast Asia otherwise unavailable via mainstream media outlets. We sat down with Lian as she prepared for her departure to Asia where she has organized presentation materials and related talks on the work of esteemed SFAI painting professor and alumni, Carlos Villa (BFA, ‘61) (1936-2013) for the 2019 Singapore Biennale.

Could you give an overview of the scope of your project for the Singapore Biennale?

The Singapore Biennale curators initially took notice of Carlos Villa as a result of the Worlds in Collision event at BAMPFA, which I co-organized with Jenifer Wofford (SFAI, BFA) in 2018. In conjunction with that event, I performed research and gave a talk on the exhibition Carlos Villa curated at SFAI called, Other Sources (1976). Carlos is an enigmatic persona because by reflecting on his own place in the canon of art history, he unfolded a larger issue about race and gender in the general historiography of artists and artists works that is not correctly processed by the general status quo due to systemic racism.  He is largely unknown in the Philippines or in the U.S. but he has significantly contributed to San Francisco being the zeitgeist of Asian American and multicultural political consciousness in the arts in the 1970’s.  Not to mention that this led to the many diverse programming, treatments, curriculums that  we have about multiculturalism in the arts in the Bay Area.  He will be having a retrospective of his work at the National Gallery of Singapore which will run throughout the biennale from November 2019 to March 2020.  There will also be an archive room designed by British Artist Céline Condorelli at the museum where SFAI archives of the exhibition “Other Sources” will be presented in various forms (architectural and archival).  I will be presenting two talks on the Opening weekend in relation to Carlos Villa and his work surrounding the concept of “ritual” and its abstract expressionist implications, as well as another talk discussing the importance of early multiculturalist exhibitions such as “Other Sources” and Magicien Dela Terre in terms of curatorial weight and global influence.  In January, Danish Artist Lilibeth Cuenca Rasmussen will have a performance on the concept of “ritual” who has very similar performative work to Villa although they have not met, but are also dealing with Filipino diaspora.  And in February, the National University of Singapore has invited my curatorial collaborative, Planting Rice to lead a conference with a workshop element on an iteration of Worlds in Collision in Singapore.  Titled, The Matter of Difference, a case for intimating a world in pieces, the conference reflects on the ways of world-making by revisiting the global imagination of a connected world. This includes questioning the minor histories, and minor gestures that reimagine notions of region, place, identity, system, and politics. The conference will look at how occasions of practice and larger powers have constructed the world we live in relationally and contextually. This event is run alongside a week-long workshop that activates the archives from Worlds In Collision with educators, scholars, and practitioners in Singapore.

What interests you about the work and practice of Carlos Villa?

I have a personal relationship with Carlos because like many others he was a mentor for me. He supported my early curatorial projects as well as the artist collective that I was a part of as a student.  I first knew him as someone who believed in me and supported what I did within my curatorial projects up to my recent curatorial collaborative, Planting Rice.  Apart from this, I was really inspired by his idea of “rehistoricizing.”  He had a project called “Rehistoricizing Abstract Expressionism” and this gesture he initiated is something that I constantly do for my own research all the time - this idea of questioning HIStory. And finding value in my own image and likeness reflected in a narrative that includes my story.  This is a larger pedagogical inquiry which re-evaluates the many problems of colonial and western museology.  As an educator, Carlos’ inquiry continued on in the curriculums that he co-designed with other students. And the process on how he goes about this is through his artist mind. He has a curriculum which he considered a drawing, precisely because that’s how he sees his work as and educator - it is still artistic work. He once said, “I viewed the construction of a syllabus as relevant visually and thematically as a drawing.”

Villa's work as a community-based artist, activist, and organizer is well documented and regarded, especially in the Bay Area. Would you say that his approach to art education, multiculturalism, and diversity in the arts is still relevant today?

Carlos Villa was a product of his time - due to the many dialogs created by the civil rights, and the third world liberation front, as well as the social justice energy of artists and organizers of the Bay Area in the 70’s, this was a wonderful sociological landscape which enabled Carlos to pursue his own questions about his identity, history and place in California gestural abstraction.  I absolutely do not think that San Francisco would be what it is today, with all it’s pedagogical capacity to articulate identity politics in race and gender without the artistic inquiries and works of Carlos Villa and his peers.  Villa is as American and Californian as can be, with a range of knowledge and articulation that campaign against systemic racism, this issue is as strong as ever.

If you could name one take-away for viewers of your presentation of Villa's work at the Singapore Biennale, what would it be?

I think the fact that there is an artist born and raised in the Bay Area, whose work looks ethnographic, but are actually abstract expressionist, will have paintings and drawings made of blood, semen, hair, feathers, bone - a raw expression and desire to reach out to his identity is finally in Southeast Asia - its the closest to his Malay roots as it can be. Historian Margo Machida mentions that it is not really to recover an atavistic notion of authenticity but rather a necessary act of self assertion by recuperating the indigenous form with an abstract or modernist sensibility.

Any other projects you're working on now that you'd like to share?

In San Francisco, right now I am a YBCA fellow looking to expose YBCA and its audiences to the history or urban renewal and gentrification of the building of YBCA, SFMOMA and Moscone Center has caused with regard to the displacement of immigrants in SOMA and the century-old forgotten history of Asian men who went through exclusion, miscegenation and current continuous displacement (with now, immigrant families) with what we now call as the tech boom. My fellowship is from 2019 to 2020.

In Singapore, I look forward to the next iteration of Worlds in Collision at the National University of Singapore in February 2020.

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The San Francisco Art Institute and the Asian Art Museum will co-present Carlos Villa: A Retrospective of Ritual and Action, in conjunction with SFAI’s 150th anniversary in 2021. This exhibition will mark the first major solo exhibition to examine and highlight the legacy of Filipino American artist Carlos Villa (1936-2013). Over the course of his six-decade career, Villa was significant both in the context of American and Filipino American art history and, internationally, for his contributions to a post-colonial perspective on "Third World" art that is part of a critical discussion today. Organized by a multi-generational, geographically dispersed curatorial and advisory team, Ritual and Action will premiere at SFAI, in partnership with the Asian Art Museum, in the spring of 2021The exhibition will showcase works from the 1960s to the last decade of the artist’s life. The project will include a major catalog published by the University of California Press and a range of public programs.

SAN FRANCISCO BAY AREA:

Kota Ezawa: National Anthem, and Mike Henderson’s At the Edge of Paradise Opening Friday, November 8 at Haines Gallery. On view through December 14, 2019.

National Anthem, the artist’s most recent project is a stirring and timely body of work that offers a powerful meditation on protest, patriotism, solidarity, and hope, depicting professional NFL athletes “taking a knee” during the national anthem to protest police brutality and the oppression of people of color.

Mike Henderson: At the Edge of Paradise, Henderson’s thirteenth solo exhibition at Haines Gallery, features a suite of newly created, large-scale abstract paintings whose complex palettes and carefully worked surfaces explore the tension between gestural and geometric abstraction.

The Qualitative Validation Principle - Marc Horowitz (2001) Ever Gold [Projects] presents The Qualitative Validation Principle, Marc Horowitz’s second solo exhibition with the gallery. On view November 9 – December 21, 2019.

BoundarySpan – a group exhibition featuring Michael Arcega (BFA 1999), Jimin Lee (MFA 1997), Paula Levine (MFA 1988), Sherwin Rio (MA 2019), Desiree Rios (MFA 2017) In a time of increasing divisiveness, separation, polarization, and fortified walls, artists can serve critical roles in building indirect associations, nurturing connections, and reminding us of the importance of considering a multitude of perspectives. BoundarySpan is a group exhibition at the Natalie and James Thompson Art Gallery displaying works by artists Michael Arcega, Jimin Lee, Paula Levine, Sherwin Rio, and Desiree Rios. On view November 12, 2019 - February 21, 2020

Shaw & Co. - Richard Shaw (BFA 1965, Martha Shaw (BFA 1966), Alice Shaw (MFA 1999), Virgil Shaw & Friends Gallery 16’s exhibition “Shaw & Co.” presents a collection of work by members of the Richard and Martha Shaw Family, plus a plethora of SFAI-affiliated artists—faculty and alums—including Richard Shaw, Martha Shaw, Alice Shaw, Rebeca Bollinger, Mike Henderson, Don Ed Hardy, Bob Hudson, Sahar Khoury, Alicia McCarthy, Jim Melchert, Ruby Neri, Cornelia Schulz, Wanxin Zhang, and more!

Völva Saga, Silenced – Monet Clark Join Monet for the opening of Völva Saga, Silenced, a 24 hour projected performance video at AP/SE on November 15. The piece will run 24 hours starting at noon with a request to gather at dusk 4:45, to 6pm

Savor The Moment and Table Testaments - Nancy Willis (MFA 2005) Nancy Willis will feature in two upcoming exhibitions this month. The first is Table Testaments which opens November 16 at Arts Benecia, then Savor The Moment opens November 23 at Chandra Cerrito / Art Advisors in Oakland.

Fresh Focus: Small Works Exhibition of Recent Bay Area MFA Artists - Jordan Taylor Holms (MFA 2019) On December 11, 2019 SFMoMA Artists Gallery opens this exhibition featuring small-size artworks by recent and current MFA artists of the Bay Area, including alumna Jordan Taylor Holms. The show will be on view through February 23, 2020.

NEW YORK

Urbanites and Ur-Beasts – Olive Ayhens (MFA 1969) On view October 30 – December 20, 2019 at Bookstein Projects, Urbanites and Ur-Beasts is Olive Ayhens fourth show with Lori Bookstein and the second at Bookstein Projects.

Umwelt - Christine Davis (BFA 1992), Patricia Olynyk, Meredith Tromble (SFAI faculty) Umwelt exposes the multilayered work of artists who engage with the sciences, while offering visitors a nuanced view of what science both is and can be. Meredith Tromble, Patricia Olynyk, and Christine Davis are artists who approach science as material for art. Through their works in digital media, installation, sculpture, and photography, Tromble, Olynyk, and Davis orient viewers to a playfully provocative and imaginative world of questioning. On view at BioBAT Art Space November 1, 2019 – March 30, 2020

Women in Possession of Good Fortune - Kira Nam Greene (BFA 2002) Women in Possession of Good Fortune, an exhibition by Kira Nam Greene, refers to the opening lines of Jane Austen’s novel, “Pride and Prejudice” and alludes to both the persistence of sexist assumptions and the achievements made by women from different races, ages and sexual orientations. On view at Lyons Wier Gallery November 7th - December 7th, 2019.

Catch and Release - Carolanna Parlato (MFA 1980) Often employing only a few colors and compositional elements, Parlato’s newest paintings are efficient in their drama and demonstrate the sheer power of limits: just this much is just enough. Carolanna Parlata’s solo show, on view at Morgan Lehman November 7 – December 14, 2019.

Liz Atz and Gelah Penn: Splice - Gelah Penn (MFA 1973) Please join us in celebrating alum Gelah Penn during the opening of Splice on November 22 at The Yard: City Hall Park.

Los Angeles, CA

Units by Seth Lower (MFA 2008) On January 9, 2020 Seth Lower will host a book launch and signing for his latest, Units at Book Soup in Los Angeles. “Units contains photographs taken from 1994–2017. The images depict a variety of everyday materials and situations, many seen in sets, parts, or multiples. Within such scenes, Lower seeks out a kind of integrity (or lack thereof): standards of measurement, materiality, vague questions about the boundaries of entities and experience.”

NEW JERSEY AND ONLINE

Show Me Your Neon and Winter Solstice – group exhibitions featuring Holly Wong (MFA 1995) Show Me Your Neon is on view November 18 – December 31, 2019 at Gallery 1202.Holly creates installations, assemblages and works on paper, integrating non-traditional approaches with more traditional sewing techniques associated with the history of women. Her approach is both non-conventional but also deeply rooted in her history and culture. Winter Solstice opens November 16 at MarinMOCA and is on view through December 22, 2019.

Paul Valadez (BFA 1997) Visiones Latinx: Selections from the Permanent Collection and Mucho Caramelo If you are in New Jersey before December 11, 2019 check out Paul Valadez’s group show Visiones Latinx: Selections from the Permanent Collection, and click the link above to view Mucho Caramelo, an online exhibition of Paul’s recent gift to the Latin American Studies program at University of the Pacific in Stockton, California.

Seattle, WA

Boundaries – Claire Brandt (MFA 2005) Boundaries, opening Nov. 14 and on view through December 9, 2019 at The Factory in Seattle, WA is an exhibition of Claire Brandt’s paintings and a performance of States of Being Traced, her interactive drawing project.

Austin, TX

Allochory – Jamie Spinello (MFA 2007) Jamie Spinello’s 7 foot tall sculpture, "Allochory”, will open on Saturday, November 16 as part of an outdoor sculpture group exhibit, "Convergence". “Convergence” is a collection of public art works that were funded by the City of Austin for 2019 as part of the Art In Public Places, Tempo Program. This is an official registered East Austin Studio Tour Event located at #456 on the tour map.

Here’s a look at what SFAI alumni are up to this month!

SAN FRANCISCO BAY AREA:

Interior/Exterior—Curated by Ariel Zaccheo (MA 2013) Check out Ariel Zaccheo’s curatorial work in the group exhibition Interior/Exterior, on view July 27–December 1, 2019 at the Museum of Craft and Design in San Francisco.

BINGO: The Life and Art of Bernice Bing (BFA 1959) San Francisco native, Chinese American artist, and community activist, Bernice Bing was a bridge between many worlds. See the retrospective exhibition BINGO, on view September 21–January 5, 2020 at the Sonoma Valley Museum of Art.

Book Smart: Learning to Break the Rules—Bojana Rankovic (BFA 2018) See Bojana Rankovic’s work in Book Smart, a group exhibition that introduces fresh, new forms in book arts—on view September 14–November 30, 2019 at the American Bookbinders Museum.

Peristyle—Izidora Leber LETHE (MFA 2015) Experience Izidora Leber LETHE’s first solo museum exhibition, Peristyle—on view July 25–January 19, 2020 at The Contemporary Jewish Museum. 

Art+Tech Festival 2019—Haein Kang (MFA 2003) See “Illusion” by Haein Kang at the 2019 CODAME Art+Tech Festival: Space—happening October 25–27 at GitHub in San Francisco.

Future Relations: A Resource for Radical Teaching Presents F.T.P.— Co-curated by Frederick Alvarado (BFA 2002) Part of SOMArts 2019–2020 Curatorial Residency Program, Future Relations centers lesson plans, artworks, and actions from artists, teachers, and activists exploring creative practices that teach towards the eradication of oppressive environments. On view November 16–December 21, 2019 at the SOMArts Cultural Center.

Avant Garde Materials and Methods Workshop—Suzie Buchholz (BFA 2004) Need a kick in the pants? New inspiration? A little artistic stimulation? On October 19+26, come to Suzie Buchholz’s studio in Sausalito and get your hands messy in a sun-filled studio watching demos, experimenting with new tools, and making art!

Kota Ezawa / Sean Raspet—Kota Ezawa (BFA 1995) See Kota Ezawa / Sean Raspet, the last of a year-long series of two-person exhibitions, on view October 11–December 15, 2019 at /slash.

PhotoAlliance Lecture Series: David Maisel and Beth Davila Waldman—Beth Davila Waldman (BFA 2005) On November 1, 2019, stop by our Chestnut Street Campus for artist Beth Davila Waldman’s PhotoAlliance lecture with David Maisel.

Beth Davila Waldman, “La Ocupation”, Acrylic paint and pigment on tarp on panel, 2018

PITTSBURGH, PA:

Emergence: Held Together—Rachel Mica Weiss (MFA 2012) Rachel Mica Weiss explores human relationships and boundaries in Held Together, a sculptural exhibition on view September 10–December 13, 2019 in the Tepper Quad MBA Commons at Carnegie Mellon University.

FRANCE:

The Third Space: All that we have in common—Zach Mitlas (MA/MFA 2013) See works by Zach Mitlas in the traveling group exhibition, The Third Space, at Salle Gilbert Gaillard in Clermont-Ferrand, France—on view May 22–November 19, 2019.

PORTUGAL:

ver o extraordinário no ordinário: Projeto Andorinha (seeing the extraordinary in the ordinary)—Luba Zygarewicz (MFA 1994) If you’re in Messejana, Portugal, experience Luba Zygarewicz’s space intervention in the ruins of São Sebastião Church—on view July 17–October 31, 2019.

SINGAPORE:

Myth & Magic—Yen Chua (BFA 1993) If you’re in Singapore, visit Intersections gallery in Kampong Glam for Yen Chua’s solo exhibition Myth & Magic—on view September 19–January 2020.

Kota Ezawa, Merzbau, 2019

Yari Ostovany (MFA 1995), reflecting on his years as a graduate student writes, "My time at SFAI no doubt was very intense and opened me up towards new directions." During his study he credits faculty Jeremy Morgan, Sam Tchakalian and Carlos Villa as "the best thing that happened to me." He continues, "They have had deep impact not only on my work, but also on my life. They are (were in case of Carlos and Sam, who are unfortunately no longer with us) not only amazing artists but also wonderful human beings and what they taught me goes way beyond the classroom and the studio." When asked about the challenges he says, "There were frictions as well and teachers that I butt heads with which in the end helped my growth as it forced me to look for my own voice in my work. In the end though what needs to settle in one's soul does and what needs to go away goes away. The MFA program at SFAI was amazing and intense time for me."

Continue reading as Yari discusses his creative process, the spirituality in his work, and why he's decided to relocated his studio to the West Coast...

F O N D A T I O N B E H N A M - B A K H T I A R

Studio Visit: Yari Ostovany

10/06/2019

Fondation Behnam-Bakhtiar visits Yari Ostovany at his New York studio to discuss his new works and upcoming projects in the coming year.

Tell us about your artistic career and how long have you been painting for? I have been painting for more than 30 years. I took my first serious art class at the University of Tehran Extension Program while I was a Sophomore in High school. My first love was Modern Iranian Poetry. Later I studied art at the university of Nevada and continued at the San Francisco Art Institute where I received my Master of Art in Painting in 1995. Since then I have been painting non-stop and exhibiting nationally and internationally. My early work was figurative and surrealist, very much influenced by Giorgio de Chirico and to a lesser extent Max Ernst. Over time the figures started to become freer and more expressionistic. Gradually the figures started dissolving and dissipating and my work moved more and more towards non-representational abstraction.

Where is the main source of inspiration behind your work? Where do you categorise your work in general? Living in the space between two cultures, I have always been interested in investigating the nomadic in-between spaces. I have been interested in the mechanics of a symbiotic relationship between Persian and Western art — the former being my innate orientation and the latter the tradition in which I have been trained. I have never been interested in a synthesis of styles but rather in an epistemological approach: to dismantle those visual vocabularies to their most bare and abstract cultural elements and sensibilities and using this as a point of departure, moving more and more towards a terrain that lies in between the musical and the architectural. As far as how I would categorize my work, you can say that the trajectories in contemporary painting in which my work belongs range from Abstract Expressionism in the West to Persian and Taoist/Zen aesthetic sensibilities in the east.

The Oracle VI, oil on canvas, 55 X 75 inches (140 x 191 cm), 2017

Can you talk to us about the spiritual aspect of your paintings? Spirituality has always been a part of my life, the yearning for the source. In its most basic definition for me, it is a poetic and non-linear view of existence; epistemological poetry. The spiritual in my work does not refer to any specific mystical tradition but what I found common in different spiritual traditions; where they overlap. The rest in my opinion is NATIVE dialect.

Talk to us about your practice and process of creating your latest abstract works. Yoshi Oida, the Japanese theatre actor says:“in Japan, when we dig for a well and do not reach water, we keep digging further. In the West, they abandon the well and start digging somewhere else.” My work is very much like that. It does not take major leaps and shifts in style but rather keeps getting deeper and deeper and in my opinion, closer to the source. By source I mean that energy that is there before it becomes a poem, before it becomes a musical composition etc. My aim in my work is to get closer and closer to that energy. And the colors in the more recent works are definitely becoming more and more vibrant.

What is the core message behind your work? Continuing the response to the previous question, the more personal a piece is - the deeper you go within - the more universal its reach. As an artist I am satisfied when I see that a work of mine stops someone in their tracks and touches them deeply in a way that the viewer himself/herself can not put his/her finger on it. What it comes down to is to transcend time. Someone wants told me that looking at my paintings feels like the experience of staring at a flame. That's a moment that time stops. I want my work to stop time and in doing so, point to the timeless.

The Arrival of Shams, oil on canvas, 78 x 74 inches (198 x 188 cm), 2018

We know you have recently moved your studio to New York. How does that help your practice? As it turns out this was a temporary move, I will be heading back to the West Coast. These days everything is decentralized and that goes for the art world as well. New York has not been the center of the art world for some time. I thought that by coming here I would be in the middle of "it" and then I realized that there's no "it" to be in the middle of here.

Tell us about a favorite work of yours and why is it special? That is not an easy question to answer. Mainly because as I work on many pieces at the same time, tempo of each piece varying, some take a couple of years, some a couple of days and because of that I am not focused on a painting but on the act of painting. Thus, what I am working on at any given moment is my most important work to me.

Wanderer's Hymn 3, oil on panel, 16 x 12 inches (41 x 30 cm), 2019

Can you let us know about your new works? A few different series have been continuing to expand; Cantata, Conference of the Birds, Verses, and Fragments of Poetry and Silence.

Any upcoming exhibitions?  At this point I have two group exhibitions planned with a couple of Chelsea galleries in New York and a solo exhibition in New Jersey in 2020. Other shows are in the planning stages but not yet finalized.

In the Garden of the Beloved, oil on panel, 29 x 39 inches (74 X 99 cm), 2018

For more information:

AMY BERK (MFA 1995) CITY STUDIOS

Amy Berk (MFA 1995) took over as Director of City Studio in March 2018. She has been growing the program that offers underserved youth high-quality arts education in their own neighborhoods.

She has also been embarking on several new initiatives directed towards professional development of the City Studio Professional Teaching Artists and Teaching Assistants, City Studio youth, and City Studio community partners, enhancing its successful multi-generational model for mentoring and arts education.

With this initiative, current SFAI students are employed in the program along with recent (and not so recent) SFAI alums. She also teaches SFAI's City as Studio Practicum course that offers real world experience as well as arts education pedagogies to SFAI students.

Last spring, she was interviewed for the podcast "Teaching in the Arts:"

If anyone would like to teach, volunteer or learn more about the program to contact Amy at [email protected].

Images courtesy of Amy Berk

IRENE CHAN (MFA 1997) CH’AN PRESS

Irene Chan is a multidisciplinary artist who works conceptually in print media, papermaking, installation, storytelling performance, and book arts. Her books and works on paper have been exhibited internationally and held in 70 public collections including the Walker Art Center, The Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, Tate Modern, Victoria & Albert Museum, and British Library in London.

Chan established Ch’An (ch’ ahn) Press through which she has self-published prints and 34 limited-edition artist books to date. She is the recipient of grants and awards from the National Endowment for the Arts, New York Arts Council, Maryland State Arts Council, Washington D.C. Commission of the Arts and Humanities, of fellowships to 22 artist residencies, and has exhibited and performed in 62 venues in the last ten years.

Irene Chan holds an M.F.A. with honors from the San Francisco Art Institute and a degree in architecture (BArch) with a Minor in English from California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo. Besides running her own press and studio, she is also an Associate Professor of Visual Arts (Founder and Head of Print Media) and Affiliate Faculty of Asian Studies at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, U.S.A.

To learn more about the artist please click here.

Images courtesy of Irene Chan

JANNEKE VAN DER PUTTEN (BFA 2008)

“On 17 – 28 September 2019 I will give a workshop, open studio exhibition and performance at Salon of Colombian Artists (45SNA), Espacio de Interferencia, Espacio Odeón, CARRERA 5 #12C - 73, Bogotá (CO).”  Curated by Ana Ruiz Valencia. More info about the workshop here.

Janneke van der Putten (Amsterdam, 1985) is a visual artist and performer based in Rotterdam, The Netherlands. Her practice involves experiences of listening, performances, sound and video, documentations in image, text and textile, workshops, music projects, and creating platforms for cultural exchange. Her voice is her main tool, guiding her through physical and sonic explorations in different landscapes. Engaging with specific sites and local contexts, and through her personal experiences, she investigates (human) responses to her surroundings, and their relation to natural phenomena and transitions, such as the sunrise.

For more information about the artist please click here.

Image courtesy of JannekeVan Der putten

PATRICIA ARAUJO (BFA 2005)

Patricia Araujo was born in Miami, Fl, the daughter of Colombian parents. Her father was an architect at Walt Disney and during his last years he assisted with the development of Epcot Center. Patricia grew up in Bogota, Colombia and since childhood, she was enchanted by architecture and form. After completing high school in Bogota, Araujo moved to Northern California to pursue her college education. She studied architecture, painting, and photography. In 2005 she obtained her B.F.A in Painting, from the San Francisco Art Institute.

For over a decade, Patricia Araujo has painted the facades of both iconic city landmarks and downtown buildings. Her paintings depict praiseworthy examples of San Francisco architecture, some utilitarian and others grandly ornamental. She's been bewildered by the architecture of cities she's lived and traveled to and by imaginary places.

From 2008 to 2010, she dedicated a series of works relating to Tomorrowland and as of most recent she's devoted to painting the architectural wonders and forgotten treasures of "GGIE" (the Golden Gate International Exposition of 1939 at Treasure Island) - the last World's Fair of San Francisco Bay. Her interest in researching the urban landscape continues to grow, addressing the evolution and decay within a city.

Araujo continues to deepen her conceptual themes on architecture, place and change in the urban landscape. She has been exhibiting in San Francisco since 1998. Some of the venues exhibited include: Arc Gallery, Arttitud, Bayview Opera House, HANG ART, Roll Up Gallery, STUDIO Gallery, the Old Emporium, Pen Club Gallery in Budapest and most recent at the Old Mint with Treasure Island Museum.

In 2008, she published her first book, entitled ”SOMA SEEN”. Her work has been written about in the San Francisco Chronicle, ARTslant, 7x7 SF, Huffington Post, Examiner, Beyondchron, and the San Francisco Bay Guardian. She lives and works in the San Francisco Bay Area.

To view her complete portfolio and resume online please visit: Here.

Images courtesy of Patricia Araujo 

PHILIP PERKIS (BFA, 1962)

Philip Perkis (BFA, 1962) has published his fifth monograph, Mexico, Anmoc Press, Seoul, 2019, distributed by Photo-eye books, Santa Fe. Link: : Click Here

This Publication accompanied Mexico, Perkis's solo exhibition of gelatin silver prints, at Ryugaheon Gallery, Seoul, in 2019. Most of these works were also shown in a two-person exhibition, Philip Perkis and José Hernandez- Claire, at the Jalisco Government Palace, Guadalajara, Mexico, in 2017.

In 2019, Perkis's photographs were also shown in Watershed: Contemporary Landscape Photography, Westmont Ridley-Tree Museum of Art, Santa Barbara, CA, an exhibition that originated at the Telfair Museum of Art, Savannah, in 2017.

Preceding publications include: In a Box Upon the Sea, 2015; Twenty Days, Twenty Comments, 2014; The Sadness of Men, 2008; Teaching Photography, Notes Assembled, 2001—with additional editions in English, 2005, Korean, 2005, and Italian, 2017; and Warwick Mountain Series, 1978.

Image courtesy of Philip Perkis

SETH LOWER (MFA 2008)

Units contains photographs taken from 1994–2017. The images depict a variety of everyday materials and situations, many seen in sets, parts, or multiples. Within such scenes, Lower seeks out a kind of integrity (or lack thereof): standards of measurement, materiality, vague questions about the boundaries of entities and experience.

A sign swallowed by tree bark, a small collection of funnels, a stove for sale in the sunshine. Where does one unit end and the other begin? It is certainly possible to be part of the whole and at the same time separate, existing with a foot in both worlds, but does this say anything about the units themselves, or only the way we define them?

Graham Harman writes that such pieces are ‘terminal points, closed-off neighborhoods that retain their local identity despite the broader systems into which they are partly absorbed’. 

Click here to learn more about the artist.

Image courtesy of Seth Lower 

TOM LAUGHLIN (MFA 2013) OPENING RECEPTION FOR SIGNAL

You are welcome to join on September 21 for the opening for Signal,a public art piece by Tom Laughlin on Treasure Island.

The event begins with a champagne reception at 4 pm, followed by a dedication ceremony at 5 pm.

Please RSVP through Eventbrite page. Directions are available HERE or at SignalSF.com.

To learn more about the artist please click here.

Images courtesy of Tom Laughlin

MARK TOSCANO REMAINS TO BE SEEN

A mystery program of archival experimental film with Mark Toscano.

Thursday, September 26 | 8 PM Doors 7:30; $5 admission.

Mark Toscano is a filmmaker, curator, and film preservationist based in Los Angeles. Since 2003, he has worked at the Academy Film Archive, where he specializes in the curation, conservation, and preservation of artists' films. He works with the collections of over 100 filmmakers, and has overseen the conservation and preservation of hundreds of films, including work by Stan Brakhage, Barbara Hammer, Chick Strand, Tacita Dean, Penelope Spheeris, the Whitney brothers, Gus Van Sant, Pat O'Neill, Suzan Pitt, and many others.

He has curated and presented programs at numerous venues, including MoMA, Arsenal, Eye Filmmuseum, Tate Modern, and festivals in Rotterdam, London, Oberhausen, Zagreb, Bangalore, and elsewhere.

He is a programmer with Los Angeles Filmforum, and has lectured at various universities on experimental film and archiving, as well as teaching the History of Experimental Animation at CalArts.

Please click here for more information about the artist.

Image courtesy of Marc Toscano 

NINA ELDER (MFA 2009) WHAT ENDURES

Closing September 15. There is one week left to see this exhibit!

It has been a stellar experience to work with the crew at SITE and make this dream a reality! The show is a retrospective of my drawings from the last decade.

Nina Elder is an artist, adventurer, and arts administrator. Her work focuses on changing cultures and ecologies. Through extensive travel and research, resulting in meticulous drawings and interdisciplinary creative projects, Nina promotes curiosity, exploration, and a collective sense of stewardship.

Nina advocates for collaboration, often fostering relationships between institutions, artists, scientists and diverse communities. She is the co-founder of the Wheelhouse Institute, a women's climate leadership initiative. Nina lectures as a visiting artist/scholar at universities, develops publicly engaged programs, and consults with organizations that seek to grow through interdisciplinary programing.

Nina's art work is widely exhibited and collected and has been featured in Art in America, VICE Magazine, and on PBS. Her research has been supported by the Andy Warhol Foundation, the Rauschenburg Foundation award for Arts & Activism, the Pollock Krasner Foundation, and the Mellon Foundation.

She is currently an Art + Environment Research Fellow at the Nevada Museum of Art, a Polar Lab Research Fellow at the Anchorage Museum, and a Researcher in Residence in the Art and Ecology Program at the University of New Mexico.

Please click here for more information about the artist.

Images courtesy of Nina Elder

DICKY BAHTO (BFA 2004)

Dicky Bahto lives in Los Angeles. He has exhibited work utilizing still and motion picture photography, sound, and performance at a variety of museums, galleries, microcinemas, film festivals, conferences, alternative spaces, and scenic locations spanning the Northern Hemisphere, including commissions from Monday Evening Concerts and The Huntington.

As a member of the EPFC Co-op, he is a corecipient of an inaugural Artist Project Grant from the Mike Kelley Foundation for the Arts. His interest in music has led him to both collaborate with and perform works by various composers, including Casey Anderson, Ashley Bellouin, Luciano Chessa, Carmina Escobar, Corey Fogel, Julia Holter, Sepand Shahab, Mark So, Laura Steenberge, and Tashi Wada. In addition to creating album art for some of the above musicians, he has made several music videos for Julia Holter, and his portraits of artists including Ashley Bellouin, Sarah Davachi, Julia Holter, Laida Lertxundi, and Tashi Wada have been printed in The New York Times, Bomb, Vanity Fair España, The Wire, and MOJO, among other publications.

He has curated programs of experimental film and video, performance, and music, including regular programming at the Echo Park Film Center, as well as programs at REDCAT and the wulf. in Los Angeles, Artist’s Television Access and San Francisco Art Institute in San Francisco, Exploded View in Tuscon, and Yale University in New Haven.

He received a BFA from the San Francisco Art Institute in 2004 and an MFA from the University of California, Riverside in 2017, and has himself taught at the Echo Park Film Center, Museum of

Contemporary Art Los Angeles, Otis College of Art and Design, and the University of California,

Riverside.

Please click here to learn more about the artist.

Born in Portland, Oregon, SFAI alumnus Zach Mitlas (MFA/MA Painting and History + Theory of Contemporary Art, 2013) is a painter and multimedia artist based in Clermont-Ferrand, France.

Zach is participating in a traveling group show, The Third Space (All that we have in common), which recently opened in Zagreb, Croatia and will end in Lecce, Italy this December. We decided to chat with Zach to find out more.

SFAI: What projects have you been working on recently? Anything you’re particularly excited about?

Zach Mitlas (ZM): Currently, I am part of a traveling European group exhibition with the CreArt program, a network of 11 cities supported by the European Union. Our show titled The Third Space (All that we have in common) opened in May in Zagreb, Croatia, curated by Jovanka Popova. In September, the exhibition will come to Clermont-Ferrand, France, where I live now, and it will finish in Lecce, Italy in December. Since my return to France five years ago after finishing my Dual Degree at SFAI, I have had a solo exhibition in St. Étienne at La Serre, I have been a temporary resident at a local artist association Les Ateliers, and I have worked to develop a residency exchange between Real Time and Space in Oakland and with our residency program here in Clermont-Ferrand Artistes en Résidence. Last October, I was selected by CreArt to participate in an artist workshop titled "The Use of Photography as a Sculptural Material in Contemporary Art" in Zagreb. This past February, I also attended a one-month residency in Linz, Austria at the Atelierhaus Salzamt with CreArt.

Sous revêtement (Under surfacing), 2017. Acrylic and oil on medium and pigmented plaster; Dimensions variable. Courtesy of Croatian Association of Visual Artists.

SFAI: Where do you find inspiration for your work?

ZM: I'm really interested in the creative potential that comes from the degradation of painted surfaces. It's the fragile nature of paintings that is captivating for me, like the damaging effects of light that blacken a paint film or the changing atmospheric conditions that crack its surface. There is the birth of a new object due to the passage of time, including the new form’s trauma and defects.

On residency this past February in Linz, I worked on a project that began using found photographs from locations of the Solidarnosć movement in Poland. I also used photos I took in Austria, the last European country my father stayed in before getting political exile to escape arrest in Poland, due to his participation in counter-party activities. The photographs were used to make paintings on aluminum foil, which were then worn down and draped over wooden structures and exhibited with sounds made from shaking and hitting metal sheets. While I know the story of my father's journey well, I actually barely know him as a person, and using found material on the Internet has been a way to recreate this reality of my family story from digital information that is not actually an experience of that moment, just a compilation of pixels and waves that then become a new account of history. Overall, it's the fading collective memory of a nation that inspired my project at the Atelierhaus Salzamt, and the transitory and fragile nature of things that informs my work in general.

Zach Mitlas in the studio.

SFAI: What is your process for creating your work?

ZM: My current works are paintings on aluminum foil that are draped over various freestanding armatures. The paintings on delicate sheets are folded, twisted, crinkled and torn, evoking a process of degradation and trauma on the once pristine and smooth industrially created surfaces. Long painted strips are also pressed, while still wet, onto the face of neighbouring paintings, creating a mirroring effect that becomes the starting point for another picture. This process was informed conceptually by a reading of the book by Gilles Deleuze The Fold: Leibniz and the Baroque (1992), most importantly the concept of the world as something that is infinitely developing, never fixed and always becoming.

Path to no end, 2019. Oil and acrylic on aluminum sheets, wood; 23 x 18 x 550 inches (around the room); Open studio, Atelierhaus Salzamt, Linz, Austria, residency supported by the CreArt Network, co-sponsored by the European Union.

My last solo show in St. Étienne, France was at a municipal art space called La Serre. La Serre means “green house” in English, and it was in fact originally a place for plants, which is why the city preserved the vegetation in the space. I say that because the show was conceived mainly as a response to the context. Many of the decisions made in its realization were therefore inspired by the trees that still grow in the space and by the natural characteristics of the environment. The whole show explored the subject of erosion in various ways visually and dimensionally. The first part was painting on supports showing an accumulation of material, followed by a series of degradations, which then gave way to various erasures in following works.

Some pieces played on the context of the exhibition space, using shadows and light patterns to inspire the installation. Other forms included a painted detail of the site, and a wall painting became an experiment with retinal fatigue, where the leaves and trees I was seeing in the space stayed in my vision when looking to a fresh white wall, making it only natural to fix that image in paint. That piece was painted over at the end of the exhibition, forefronting its fleeting nature.

Path to no end, 2019. Oil and acrylic on aluminum sheets, wood; 23 x 18 x 550 inches (around the room); Open studio, Atelierhaus Salzamt, Linz, Austria, residency supported by the CreArt Network, co-sponsored by the European Union.

One wall was dedicated to using elements that referenced different locations in and around the city of the show. A mural painting was made with photographed fragments of the inside of a shower, which was influenced by the shower stalls one can find in the charcoal mine located in St. Étienne, an industry that used to define the economic situation of the city, but today only exists as a vestige of a time past. Another painting, this time on canvas, fused the detail of a brick wall, one found inside the exhibition space, and layered on top a graffiti signature that passersby glance at when walking in the street on the way to the show. Even though in the end this piece was rendered in paint, it was greatly influenced by using several photographs as a process of layering, bringing together elements from different locations into one frame, much like the Dutch still life painters of the 17th century did for their flower paintings which included blooms from different seasons and even from different countries.

Detail of work in progress at the studio.

SFAI: What are you working on now?

ZM: Aside from my own independent work as an artist, I run a window-front exhibition space called Off the Rail in downtown Clermont-Ferrand, where I invite local and internationally based artists to show curtain pieces at the front of my studio. In September, we’ll be presenting our tenth exhibition. So far, each artist that we’ve invited has presented something rather different from previous shows, and so the diversity of the programming is something that has come to define the space. The windowfront has become an association, and we’re in the midst of drafting a group exhibition with the 10 artists who have shown this past year. The exhibition will take place next year in Clermont-Ferrand at one of the local city-run venues. A catalog of the series of windowfront shows is also in the works to promote visibility for the participating artists. In terms of my own work, I’m continuing the paintings on aluminum foil which are either shown sculpturally or glued to a rigid metal surface. I’m also doing an artist book on aluminum foil that is based on images conceived from an account of the Polish revolutions from the 1970s and 80s. Formally, the book will explore the mirrored quality of pages and inverted content. I’m very excited about this project and am looking forward to seeing how some of these ideas can come to fruition.

(Above) Forme et asso, 2017. Acrylic, oil, and spray paint on wood; 93.3 x 48 inches. Collaborative painting with the artist association/collective Les Ateliers, Clermont-Ferrand. (Floor piece) Sous revêtement (Under surfacing), 2017. Acrylic and oil on medium and pigmented plaster; Dimensions variable. Courtesy of Croatian Association of Visual Artists.

Links

Zach Mitlas: http://zachmitlas.blogspot.com/

Off the Rail: https://www.facebook.com/offtherailclermont/

Artistes en Résidence: http://www.artistesenresidence.fr/actus-en.html

Les Ateliers: http://www.lesateliers.eu/

Instagram: @offtherailclermont

Join us in remembering SFAI alumna, painter, and activist Adelie Landis Bischoff. Adelie adored her time as an undergraduate student at SFAI in 1951-52. Her final act of gratitude was to bequeath an endowed scholarship named in her honor for future SFAI painting students.

Adelie in her studio.

A note from SFAI trustee, Jeremy Stone:

Adelie was in the same SFAI classes as Roy de Forest, Sonia Getchoff, James Kelly, and Julius Wasserstein. Adelie’s continued to exhibit through 2016.  A solo retrospective at the Wiegand Gallery, Belmont, CA,was mounted in 2012.  She had her first NYC solo show at 80 at Salander O’Reilly.   Her large portraits of Barack Obama were among my favorite late paintings. She was politically active and once left her own 89th birthday party to attend a Biden event where she managed to get her rolled up painting to Barack!  In her Berkeley bedroom were framed photos of her with Biden and Barack Obama, separately. She was beaming.   

She often said that her year at SFAI was "the best year of my life.”  After studying at The Art Students League, City College and Brooklyn College, NY, Adelie left Brooklyn for San Francisco. She supported herself as a psychiatric nurse before and throughout her college studies while exhibiting in 1953 at SFMOMA Print Annual and King Ubu Gallery, in 1954 at SFMOMA Print Annual and the Richmond Art Center Annual, and in 1955 at Lucien Labaudt Gallery, SF, before completing her degrees.  While she met her future husband, Elmer Bischoff, at SFAI, in 1951, they did not date until quite a bit after she left. “He was married” she said!   He searched for her, and in 1958,  they were married. She kept painting throughout her life.    Adelie was a big fan of the ACLU and Southern Poverty Law.  In her 80s she approached Morris Dees of the Southern Poverty Law Center, an organization to which she was passionately committed, to ask him to hire her as an undercover agent. She wanted to infiltrate neo-Nazi groups in Berkeley’s neighboring counties and report back to Dees. (He turned her down.)  Adelie was inspired equally by Goya, William Kentridge and Anselm Kiefer. Even needing ski poles for balance in her 80s she would thrown them down to run onto the dance floor when she heard Dixieland Jazz band music at Bimbo’s.

Jusun “Jessie” Seo is a Korean born artist who currently lives and works in San Francisco and Mountain View. She is currently pursuing a double major in Printmaking and Painting at SFAI. She mostly works with oil painting and woodcut printing.

Jessie has received the four year California Community College Scholarship from San Francisco Art Institute (SFAI), Clyde & Community Art Awards in 2018 and 2019, and (most recently) the 2019 AXA Art Prize. Her works have been exhibited at Arion Press, Merced Multicultural Arts Center, Diego Rivera Gallery at SFAI, and Clyde & Community building. Her recent works explore the identity by observing nature and people while studying how the way humans see with different perceptions.

Image (above): Yet, 6 x 18 ft, oil on unstretched canvas.

From birth to death, 2019, 15 x 18 inches.

Father at age 53, 2018, woodcut.

Her 2018 woodcut print Father at age 53 (pictured above) will be featured in the upcoming exhibition AXA Traveling Art Prize Exhibition, formerly the XL Catlin Art Prize. SFAI will be the first venue in a series of three to present works from the 40 finalists: 9 young men and 31 young women from 30 different schools.

The AXA Traveling Art Prize Exhibition opens September 6 and will be on view through October 6 in the Main Gallery at SFAI—Fort Mason Campus. It will then travel to Richard Gray Gallery in Chicago and concludes at the New York Academy of Art. To learn more about the exhibition, please visit: sfai.edu/axa-art-prize.

Was There series, 2018, woodcut.

“Art is my visual language. Recreating my perceptions through painting and printmaking, my work becomes an expression of who I am, what I can be, and the time I live in now.”

Momo at her studio, 2019, 24 x 36.

About Jusun Jessie Seo:

1. Program/Year:  BFA Painting and Printmaking, 2020

2. Hometown: Seoul, South Korea

3. IG: @jessie9524

4. Website: jusunseo.com

Faculty + Staff News July 2019

Through September 1 – More Than 700 Years, on view at both SFAI campuses. Listen to the podcast series, with curator Ángel Rafael Vázquez-Concepción ⇢ sfai.edu/faculty-interviews

– Congrats to Zeina Barakeh, SFAI Assistant Dean of Academic Affairs, for winning the 2019 Best Experimental Film award for her animation “Slam Bang Blue.” Read more about the Female Filmmakers Festival Berlin.

Homeland Insecurity, Zeina Barakeh

SAN FRANCISCO BAY AREA:

Rhiannon Alpers — Faculty | Printmaking Through September 2 you can see Rhiannon Alper’s handbound books on view at the SF Public Library’s Skylight Gallery in Hand Bookbinders of California 47.

Zeina Barakeh — Assistant Dean of Academic Affairs See how the work of Palestinian artists reflects a variety of relationships with the land–Preoccupations: Palestinian Landscapes. On view from July 27 through August 24, at Minnesota Street Project / Institute of Advanced Uncertainty.

Matt Borruso / Visible Publications — Senior Lecturer | Painting and MFA Faculty Don’t miss the spectacular weekend of SF Art Book Fair 2019. July 19–21 at Minnesota Street Project.

Clark Buckner – Faculty | Liberal Arts and MA Experience the celebration of life’s flowering in the face of its passing away, through the animation and prints of Sarah Klein. Curated by Clark Buckner, Lost Holidays will be on view through August 10 at the Telematic/ front gallery.

Charles Hobson – Professor Emeritus | Printmaking Small Inventions: The Artist’s Books of Charles Hobson is a celebration of the Legion of Honor Museums’ acquisition of 29 works by Charles. On view through July 14.

Kate Laster – Public Education Summer Assistant If you are in SF, stop by Sweetie’s Art Bar and check out the work of Ben Cornish and Kate Laster, who’ve worked together for five years, encoding their work with transmissions for each other to receive. Anomaly seeking anomaly is curated by Cait Petersen. and will be on view through July 31.

Kerry Laitala – Faculty | Film The recent collaborations in moving image and sound by Kerry Laitala and The Atchleys will leave the viewers draped in a colorful cloak of decay, rebirth and contemplation. Sunday, July 14 at the Shapeshifters Cinema, Oakland.

Kate Rhoades – Faculty | New Genres If you are walking down Market Street between the Embarcadero and 8th Street, through July 31 you can see how Kate Rhoades illustrated the City’s best-known urban legends in an attempt to capture and preserve it’s legendary “weirdness”–Art on Market Street Poster Series.

Lindsey White – Faculty + Photography Department Chair | Photography Curated by Lindsey White and Jordan Stein, Brian Belott’s RHODASCOPE: Scribbles, Smears, and the Universal Language of Children According to Rhoda Kellogg, will be on view at North Light Court + Ground Floor of the City Hall, through March 13, 2020.

Wanxin Zhang – Faculty | Sculpture/Ceramics and MFA Check out a Solo Exhibition of Wanxin Zhang: The Long Journey. On view through July 14 at the Museum of Craft and Design.

SANTA CRUZ, CA:

Constantinos Dafnis Cabrillo Festival of Contemporary Music: “In The Works”—a special free concert featuring new works by three young composers will find you at the very center of contemporary music-making. Tuesday, July 30 at 5:30pm, Santa Cruz Civic Auditorium.

NEW YORK CITY, NY:

Zeina Barakeh — Assistant Dean of Academic Affairs Follow up with all the events around the launch of  Poetry Is Not a Luxury, a book that considers how book arts have contributed to the recording of oppositional subjectivities in the U.S. On view at The Center for Book Arts, NYC, through September 21.

WILMINGTON, DE:

Maria Elena González — Faculty + Sculpture/Ceramics Department Chair | Sculpture/Ceramics/New Genres If you find yourself in Delaware this summer, check out Maria Elena Gonzalez’s work in Relational Undercurrents: Contemporary Art of the Caribbean Archipelago, on view at the Delaware Art Museum, on view through September 8.

CHICAGO, IL:

Maria Elena González — Faculty + Sculpture/Ceramics Department Chair | Sculpture/Ceramics/New Genres If you’re in Chicago, see Maria Elena González’s work in the group exhibition About Face: Stonewall, Revolt, and New Queer Art, on view through July 20 at Wrightwood 659.

MIAMI, FL:

James Claussen — Faculty | Printmaking James Claussen’s Headed for an Accumulated Comfort lithograph will be on view through August 4. Check out the group exhibition Observing Life: Intersections Among Art, medicine, and Health at the Patricia & Phillip Frost Art Museum.

CHINA:

Mia Capodilupo (PB/MFA Sculpture, 2002), is a sculptor and installation artist originally from Boston, MA. She is currently living and running a contemporary art gallery, Ignition Project Space, on the west side of Humboldt Park, in Chicago, IL.

The gallery supports artists by providing a modest stipend and space for solo shows. Ignition encourages non-commercial project-based exhibitions, non-traditional media and general risk-taking. All media, artistic backgrounds and experience levels are welcome, as well as a variety of artists perspectives.

Mia has participated in solo and group shows and residencies in museums, galleries and alternative spaces around the country. She has received several grants from the City of Chicago, was a recipient of an individual arts grant from the City of Urbana, IL and received a grant from the Illinois Arts Council in 2011. In 2014, she completed a large public project for the City of Chicago, and was commissioned to create semi-permanent installations for the Indianapolis Art Center and the city of Atlanta in the Summer of 2015, as well as the City of Bellevue, WA in 2016.

We decided to get in touch and see what Mia has been up to recently.

SFAI: What projects have you been working on recently? Anything you’re particularly excited about?

Mia Capodilupo: I am currently working on a series of collaged works on old broken doors and windows that I found while working remodeling apartments here in Chicago. They incorporate salvaged items from home remodeling, trash and magazine clippings. I am also working on raising the visibility of my gallery space by curating more exhibitions and guest curating in other spaces around Chicago while trying to get into art fairs with the gallery.

SFAI: Where do you find inspiration for your work?

MC: The urban landscape, Chicago neighborhoods and people, cast-off industrial materials and discarded household items.

SFAI: What is your process for creating your work?

MC: I collect a large volume of materials that are both cast off and new, then pull from this stockpile and combine disparate materials to create collages, sculpture and installation. I also fuse materials and found objects together through casting.

SFAI: What are you working on now?

MC: I am working on an installation consisting of a series of large collage pieces. These incorporate old doors, drywall, vinyl flooring, trash including chip bags and drug bags and magazine imagery.

Faculty + Staff News June 2019

This month see the work of 28 faculty members in SFAI’s Faculty Exhibition, More Than 700 Years, on view at both SFAI campuses through September 1. 

SAN FRANCISCO BAY AREA:

Rhiannon Alpers — Faculty | Printmaking 

Through September 2 you can see Rhiannon Alper’s handbound books on view at the SF Public Library’s Skylight Gallery in Hand Bookbinders of California 47.

Clark Buckner — Faculty | Liberal Arts Check out Clark Buckner’s curatorial work in  Lost Holidays, on view June 22–August 10 at Telematic. 

Charles Hobson — Professor Emeritus | Printmaking See Charles Hobson’s work at the Legion of Honor in Small Inventions: The Artist’s Books of Charles Hobson, on view through July 14.

Kate Rhoades — Faculty | New Genres Kate Rhoades’ work is currently on view at bust stops on Market Street between the Embarcadero and 8th St in San Francisco as part of the Art on Market Poster Series. 

Lindsey White — Faculty + Department Chair | Photography Photography Chair Lindsey White’s work in on view at SF City Hall’s North Light Court and Ground Floor through March 13, 2020 as part of Brian Belott’s RHODASCOPE: Scribbles, Smears, and the Universal Language of Children According to Rhoda Kellogg. 

Wanxin Zhang — Faculty | Sculpture/Ceramics See Wanxin Zhang’s work at the Museum of Craft and Design in Wanxin Zhang: The Long Journey through July 14.

WILMINGTON, DE:

Maria Elena González — Faculty + Sculpture/Ceramics Department Chair | Sculpture/Ceramics/New Genres If you find yourself in Delaware this summer, check out Maria Elena Gonzalez’s work in Relational Undercurrents: Contemporary Art of the Caribbean Archipelago, on view at the Delaware Art Museum, on view through September 8.

CHICAGO, IL:

Maria Elena González — Faculty + Sculpture/Ceramics Department Chair | Sculpture/Ceramics/New Genres If you’re in Chicago, see Maria Elena González’s work in the group exhibition About Face: Stonewall, Revolt, and New Queer Art, on view through July 20 at Wrightwood 659.

MIAMI, FL:

James Claussen — Faculty | Printmaking James Claussen’s Headed for an Accumulated Comfort lithograph is on view in the group exhibition Observing Life: Intersections Among Art, medicine, and Health at the Patricia & Phillip Frost Art Museum. 

CHINA:

Zeina Barakeh — Assistant Dean of Academic Affairs See Zeina’s work in Silent Narratives, on view at MOCA Yinchuan through August 17. 

Jeremy Morgan — Faculty | Painting Jeremy Morgan and Ming Ren are showing work in East Wind from the West at the Fanyuan Art Gallery in Beijing through July 2. 

IMAGE CREDITS:

(1) Caitlin Mitchell-Dayton, Stone Awards, 2013/14, Oil on linen, 72 x 96 inches. Image courtesy of the artist.

Don Ed Hardy on The Evolution of Tattooing 

SFAI’s Alumni Exhibition, In A Flash, is opening this month and the illustrious tattoo artist and SFAI Alum Don Ed Hardy (BFA 1967) has agreed to participate! Last week SFAI’s Exhibitions Manager, Kat Trataris, and Librarian, Jeff Gunderson, headed to Hardy’s North Beach studio to talk Flash and select works for the show. (Im)Material tagged along, and we were lucky enough to get a real education in the history of tattooing in the West from one of the original masters of custom tattoo art in the United States. 

After exploring decades of highly organized early flash and custom designs, Hardy settled in among a tidy spread of artwork, books, and CDs to answer a few questions for (Im)Material. Read the interview below, and don’t forget to come see In A Flash at SFAI’s Diego Rivera Gallery, opening at 5pm on July 4! 

SFAI: Thank you so much for agreeing to do this! 

Don Ed Hardy: It’s no problem. How’s this? 

SFAI: This is perfect. Alright, so my first question is, How would you say that tattooing has evolved since you first got started?

DEH: It’s... it’s reached the potential that I think it always had. I got into it because I believed in it and it was my destiny and I just… I was obsessed with it. When I was a little kid I was like ten years old and I started drawing tattoos and I was drawing on people. And when I was getting ready to finish my undergraduate degree and was set to go to graduate school in Printmaking and probably teach and I reconnected with tattooing. And I met a guy that was another, the first—my favorite term—“renegate intellectual” that had been in tattooing. He was a published author, really intelligent guy and good tattooer, and the first day in his shop he showed me a book of Japanese tattoos.

Actually Donald Richie, he was the one who brought Japanese cinema to the west in the late 1940s, he along with a lot of conscientious objectors/pacifist people worked on merchant marine ships so that they had joined the military. He got to Japan and he fell in love with it there. He was a closeted guy and in Japan you could—especially in those days you could function as a gay person I think easier than you could in America. There’s a great tradition of it there, you know a different outlook of gender. So anyway, Donald was one of the people who brought Japanese cinema to the west because he went over there in the occupation forces after Japan lost the war and fell in love with the country and then became obsessed with the cinema, became fluent in Japanese and then he really brought that whole culture to the awareness of Western people. And he was fascinated with the whole tattoo thing and he had written a book about tattooing in Japan with photos of contemporary tattoo artists in the 60s.

So this guy Phil Sparrow that I met who was working in Oakland showed me that book that first day in his shop and when I saw it—because I was teetering and I was supposed to go to Yale and I was going to teach printmaking and you know, do that—and when I saw that I just immediately thought, if you can make tattoos look like that, you can...I can make, you can make them into anything. And I just abruptly decided I was going to take up tattooing. I thought it had great potential as just human expression. And I knew it was way deeper and way beyond people’s perceptions, you know. When I was younger when you had a tattoo it was like, “well were you drunk or were you in the military?”—it was like those two things, otherwise, why would you ever have one of these things? And mark yourself? And I just thought it was better to see if we could develop this as a medium. So that’s what I did. Obviously, you know I had to meet a lot of influential people and a lot of great artists and get their confidence and, you know, just open it up in the West. Mind you I just hated the fact that you couldn’t have a tattoo without it having that reputation, it just didn’t seem right. It was sort of the last thing in the liberation of… being able to live your own life.

Don Ed Hardy answering our questions in his studio.

SFAI: Why do you think tattooing got that reputation? And how do you think it got away from it? 

DEH:  I think it got that reputation basically because of the suffocating judeo-christian power structure that ran everything in the world. You know, shame and this is wrong and you shouldn’t mark this body that God gave you and all this bullshit — I mean I was force-marched through, you know, Christianity as a kid. My mother meant well but I wasn’t meant for it — and I think it was just looked down on. They thought it was like this savage, barbaric thing. But it really flowered in the West, which we’re going to talk about tomorrow—are you coming to that thing at the Asian Museum?

Jeff Gunderson: I’m hoping to, yeah...

DEH: Because it’s gonna be really a really good panel. We’re gonna get there early enough to see the show. It’s a show of ukiyo-e wood block prints on loan from the Boston Museum which is a fantastic collection of asian art from all the cutters and they’ve loaned all these really pristine prints that feature people in the mid-19th century. I think Japan got opened up maybe early 1860s/late 1850s and then people started going in there and seeing it and some of the things they saw were, you know, tattoos on all of these people. And there was no kind of [western] tradition of it then it was just with whalers and just seafaring types and they just had these spot tattoos, but in Japan it was a really highly developed art form. So... that had a big impact and that followed through to the 20th century. Some of the tattooists, the few tattooists who were really interested in and capable of doing unique work and had inherent art talent wanted to expand it and were trying to offer people more than just, you know, the recipe of imagery and sentiments and stuff that existed in American Flash. 

Among them was Sailor Jerry in Honolulu who was one of my primary mentors. He’d been tattooing a long time, since the, probably the 30s, but in the 60s he really got known for doing these large Japanese-inspired designs but with subject matter and more polychromatic treatment and… you know, he opened up the field as far as the kind of things you could do with the machines. But that’s when it started really was the 60s there were a few people that were pretty interested in that. 

I was able to go to Japan and work with a tattoo master and when I came back here I opened up the first private studio and the whole deal was to get—I would only do absolutely unique tattoos. So people would come in with their concepts and I could draw, so I could draw the concept, and that’s what started it more. And I began to get tattooers from all over the world as clients and they saw what I was doing and thought “well maybe I have the interest and the drawing ability to do that myself,” so that just kind of put the ripples right out. 

JG: I’m always interested in that History of Tattooing lecture you gave in Richard Shaw’s class at the Art Institute.

SFAI: On that note, how would you say your experience at SFAI impacted your art career and art practice? 

Drawing on a pizza box spotted in Ed Hardy’s studio. 

DEH: The experience was really good there because of the openness of it but the key thing really was the instructors I got to have which primarily were Joan Brown and Gordon Cook and… some other people I can’t remember some of their names but um… But the openness of it and of course just the setup of the school you know, because I was raised in this totally right-wing Orange County town in Southern California and the first time I came up with a buddy and we flew—I think it was the first time we’d flown as conscious adults—BANG we came up (it was like 11 bucks for a one way ticket) and we came up for the weekend because Richard Shaw and Martha Hall, who became his wife, and another guy had come up, Reggie Daniker. And they’d come up from Orange County. And I just couldn’t believe it, it was like… the city, the whole thing… I was very aware of beat culture and, you know, I was pretty well-steeped in alternative consciousnesses as had been exhibited earlier in the century. Anyway, I was here and I was like, “Oh I’ve found mecca!” And the school, even the setup of it was fantastic. But really, I think the people that affected me the most were really the people who didn’t teach here that long and they were able to just get away with their take on the whatever the current…   I mean, maybe the primary intent of the school is to have different voices and so it was good for that. It was definitely good for that. 

And then I was on a career track and working in the library and it was going well and I figured I was going to go to grad school because I was accepted to Yale. In those days you either figured out the… the question we always posed ourselves was: Would it be better… if we want to keep making our personal art, would it be better to have a job that doesn’t involve art at all and then do your art, or is it okay if you’re connected, teaching or doing something, is that going to leach away your energy that you would otherwise put into your personal work. You know, it’s all a psycho-drama and anyone that’s cursed with like a, you know, an “intention to make art” you’re like, how will I do this and make it fit into your life. Not even as a financial thing, just as a thing that… so you can live with yourself. So… and for me it really worked out well that I chose the tattoo thing. I’m so glad I did… because right then too the primary flavors that were popular in the world not only were the economic thing about art as a big money commodity which was sick enough in the 1960s now it’s through the roof, but the fact that you could be made totally independent of the institution. That’s what I was after. My buddy Mike Malone, who was from here too—he became a tattooer, he was a fine artist—and he basically just summed it up, he said, 

“We joined the pirates. We just decided we’re not going to be part of any kind of groups. We’re just… we’re gonna try this.”  

... Which in those days... it was very transgressive.

But yeah, I’m glad to see that tattooing has gotten popular. I mean, I didn’t try to proselytize it but for people that try to get them now there are all these incredibly talented tattooers with great careers and they’re free agents and they just go around the world and tattoo and they have people… they’re appreciated. It’s really, it’s great to have—it’s beyond anything we could have dreamed of. It’s very cool. I’m stoked that the museum is—or the school gonna do a show there. It’s natural ... it was a nice surprise to hear. There are probably way more people that I know that I didn’t realize existed that became tattoo artists that came out of there, so… it’s good! It’s a good career. It can be a positive career option. I’m glad I didn’t have to get into it today with the competition, I never would have been able to do it.