Lisa BeebeNow that school is back in session, a plurality of impressive campus art galleries are in full swing as well, offering everything from current students’ works in progress, to sociopolitical exhibitions, to solo shows by emerging artists, to explorations of prominent artists’ cultural impact. We checked in with 16 college-affiliated art galleries to find out about what they have planned for the new semester. As in last year’s Best of Arts Issue campus art roundup, the best part is that everything listed here is free and open to the public.
Alexandra Weisenfeld at Mount Saint Mary University
José Drudis-Biada Art Gallery | Mount Saint Mary University
The university’s student body is primarily made up of women, and that’s taken into consideration when planning exhibits. Jody Baral has been director of the gallery for more than twenty years, and he says, “There’s a real emphasis to show both mature artists and upcoming artists who aren’t as established.” Baral curated the current exhibit, Utterances, which features recent work by painters Norman Schwab and Alexandra Wiesenfeld, and runs through October 5. 12001 Chalon Road, Brentwood; msmu.edu.
Antonius-Tín Bui, installation view of “yêu em dài lâu (me love you long time),” hand-cut paper portraits with acrylic, courtesy of Lawndale Art Center, Houston, TX, 2019. (Courtesy of Laband Art Gallery at LMU)
Laband Art Gallery | Loyola Marymount University
This fall, the gallery presents a solo show of work by Antonius-Tín Bui, an artist based in Houston. Bui’s work includes larger-than-life, hand-cut paper portraits, along with photography, drawing, video and performance. Karen Rapp, the gallery’s director and curator, first encountered Bui’s art on a trip to Houston. She says, “The fact that Antonius is Vietnamese, American, queer, and gender non-binary really speaks to the kind of discourse that goes on at a university right now about intersectional identities.” An opening reception for Bui’s Finding Heart will be held September 28, 2 to 4 p.m., and the show runs through December 14. Burns Fine Arts Center, 1 LMU Drive, Westchester; (310) 338-2880; cfa.lmu.edu.
Ronald H. Silverman Fine Arts Gallery | Cal State LA
On view through September 25 is Traveling Canvas, a collaboration between 10 artists representing seven countries, curated by jill moniz and Cynthia Penna. Dr. Mika M. Cho, gallery director, says “Each work is a byproduct of collaboration of ten artists representing seven countries—Italy, Jamaica, Japan, Senegal, Ethiopia, Mexico, and Switzerland.” October 7 – 30 is the Cal State LA Art Department Faculty Exhibition. Curated by Cho, it highlights more than 25 artists who have taught at the school, either as full-time or adjunct faculty or as visiting artists. Its opening reception is October 10, 4 to 7 p.m. 5151 State University Drive, El Sereno; (323) 343-4040; calstatela.edu.
Outstanding Television Costume Design, installation view (FIDM Museum)
FIDM Museum & Galleries
Visit FIDM Museum before October 26 to see the 13th Art of Television Costume Design exhibit, highlighting shows from the 2018-2019 television season, including Game of Thrones, The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, Black-ish, and Good Omens. Kevin Jones, the museum’s curator, says, “It’s an incredible opportunity to see the very best of costume design kind of freeze-framed in front of you, so that you can really examine all the details. So much gets lost on screen, because the action never stops.” An upcoming exhibit, FANtasy, opens on October 28 at FIDM Museum’s Orange County location (17590 Gillette Avenue, Irvine), exploring the art of fan-making over three centuries. 919 S. Grand Ave., downtown; (213) 623-5821; fidmmuseum.org.
Emotional Labor, installation view (AJU)
Platt and Borstein Galleries | American Jewish University
The current show, Emotional Labor, on view until November 1, takes its name from a phrase coined by sociologist Arlie Hochschild in 1983 to describe the way people in certain professions had to hide their emotions. Over time, the meaning of the words has morphed, and they’re often used to refer to the societal responsibilities placed on women. Rotem Rozental, Ph.D, the galleries’ chief curator, says “Each of the artists participating in the show think about that in different terms.” Also on exhibit is What Do Landscapes Want?, which runs through January 5 and highlights pieces from a newly donated collection of Israeli art. The collection is by Michael Hittleman, who had a gallery dedicated to Israeli art in L.A. that he operated for 40 years. So he has a staggering collection. 15600 Mulholland Drive, Bel Air; (310) 440-1246; arts.aju.edu.
Amir Zaki at Orange Coast College
Frank M. Doyle Arts Pavilion | Orange Coast College
Amir Zaki’s photographs of empty skate parks and broken ceramic vessels will be on display starting September 19. Empty Vessel is curated by Tyler Stallings, the museum’s director and senior curator, who says, “My aim is to focus on solo exhibitions, which may be first-time surveys or present new bodies of substantial work. I tend to focus on artists engaged with the world through their art.” The exhibit is accompanied by the publication of Zaki’s first monograph, California Concrete: A Landscape of Skateparks, which includes essays by skateboarder Tony Hawk and Los Angeles-based architect Peter Zellner. Also opening September 19, Renovation Clay features new work by ceramic artists Brittany Mojo and Jackie Rines. Merrimac Way, Costa Mesa; (714) 432-5738; orangecoastcollege.edu.
But Can You Sit On It?: David Perry, Shaker Chairs, Walnut with Fiber Splint, 38”x34”x20” (Photo: Susan Einstein)
El Camino College Art Gallery
From October 7 to 31, the gallery presents an exhibition of “capricious furniture.” But Can You Sit On It? features four artists: Michael L. Miller, David Perry, Fred Rose, and Norm Tornheim. Susanna Meiers, the gallery’s director and curator, says, “Some of them work in wood, and some of them work in a combination of metal and fiber, and so on.” That show will be followed, starting November 18, with Layer Upon Layer, featuring Terry Braunstein, Jenny Okun, Victor Raphael, Clayton Spada, and Barbara Strasen, , all of whom use layering in their work. Meiers says, “Whether it is layering of digital imagery, or whether it’s painting or printmaking, all of it is two-dimensional work.” 16007 Crenshaw Blvd., Torrance; (310) 660-3010; elcamino.edu.
J. Sergio O’Cadiz Moctezuma, El Artist, installation view at Cypress College Art Gallery
Cypress College Art Gallery
Two new exhibits open at the gallery on September 19. El Artist explores the work of J. Sergio O’Cadiz Moctezuma, whose concrete relief “Library Mural,” is part of the Cypress campus. Janet Owen Driggs, director of the gallery, says, “Once upon a time, he was incredibly well known and very successful as an architectural designer and artist in Orange County. And he fell out of favor, largely as a result of his support for community action and the Chicano movement.” That exhibit is paired with “Hostile Terrain,” an installation by Jason De León in which visitors are asked to complete toe tags for the more than 3,000 people who have died trying to cross into the U.S. through the Sonoran Desert over the past 25 years. 9200 Valley View St., Cypress; (213) 864-1242; cypresscollegeart.com.
Nan Rae Gallery at Woodbury University
Nan Rae Gallery | Woodbury University
The Chronic Conundrum, a group show on display through September 28, features the work of five L.A. artists: Matthew Destefano, Rory Devine, Charlie Engelman, Regina Herod, and Joshua Holzmann. Following that exhibit, iconic ’90s art gallerist Sue Spaid will be curating the two-person show titled, What’s More Real than Flesh? with Victoria Reynolds and Michael Alvarez. That exhibit runs from October 5 – November 9, and gallery director Patrick Nickell describes it as an opportunity to “see Sue resurface in curatorial glory.” In January, the gallery will present a Carolee Toon exhibition curated by L.A. Times critic David Pagel. 7500 N. Glenoaks Blvd., Burbank; (818) 252-5212; woodbury.edu.
WUHO Gallery
WUHO Gallery
WUHO Gallery — the Woodbury University Hollywood Outpost — focuses on experimental architecture. The current exhibition, BAUHAUS.PHOTO, closes September 21. The gallery will host a panel discussion that night at 5 p.m. for local artists to talk about the impact the Bauhaus has had on them. Ingalill Wahlroos-Ritter, the gallery’s director says, “We want to focus on the women of the Bauhaus, because that’s a story that hasn’t gotten a lot of airtime. So we’ve invited five women artists to tell their stories.” On October 2, a show called Imagined Landscape opens. Wahlroos-Ritter says, “It should be pretty exciting. It’s really cutting-edge student work, looking at, envisioning, and representing architecture and the built environment.” 6518 Hollywood Blvd., Hollywood; (818) 252-5185; wuho.architecture.woodbury.edu.
Artemio Rodríguez,
Retrato de Posada y su hijo/Portrait of Posada and His Son (2002) at CSUDH
Cal State Dominguez Hills University Art Gallery
Legend and Legacy: José Guadalupe Posada and Contemporary Latinx Art, a multimedia exhibit co-curated by Rod Hernandez, Ph.D. and Olivia Y. Armas, will run from October 2 through December 13. Gallery director Aandrea Stang says, “The show looks at how Posada popularized the calavera figure and what that’s done culturally, but also what influence that’s had on contemporary Latino and Latina artists, and how they’ve struggled with that calavera/Day of the Dead figure and how it’s been co-opted, and how they’ve tried to reinstate it as part of their cultural history.” The exhibit, made possible by a California Humanities Grant, features work by Posada and artists he has influenced, including Ester Hernandez, Rupert Garcia, Jose Antonio Burciaga, Lalo Alcaraz, Artemio Rodriguez, Alvaro D. Marquez, Kalli Arte, Melanie Cervantes of Dignidad Rebelde, and Olivia Y. Armas. LaCorte Hall, 1000 E. Victoria St., Carson; (310) 243-3334, gallery.csudh.edu.
Moorpark College Art Gallery (Photo: Hilary Brace)
Moorpark College Art Gallery
Their current exhibit, Hilary Brace: Tapestries and Charcoal Drawings, runs through October 4. Gallery director Erika Lizée says, “Hilary Brace creates beautifully detailed landscape drawings through an intuitive process using charcoal powder on a matte polyester surface. This exhibit gives viewers the opportunity to appreciate these small works up close, as well as two of Brace’s large-scale tapestries.” Next, the gallery will have a solo show of work by Jenny Hager, followed by a solo show by Christina Ramos. 7075 Campus Rd., Moorpark; (805) 378-1400, moorparkcollege.edu.
Norco College Art Gallery
Norco College Art Gallery
Playing with Fiber, on display through October 18, is a solo show of Madeline Arnault’s latest wall hangings and 3D fabric sculptures. Quinton Bemiller, the gallery’s director, says, “Madeline has described her practice as kind of like doodling. The way a traditional artist might keep a journal or sketch or doodle, stream of consciousness, to get ideas out — she does that, but she does that she does that with fabric and fabric dye.” The following exhibit, Temporality, runs from October 28 to December 6 and features three painters: Douglas C. Bloom, Phillip Griswold and Louisa Miller. Science & Technology Building, 2001 3rd St., Norco; (951) 372-7000, norcocollege.edu.
Peter Merts, Untitled (2016), Archival pigment prints, 16 x 20 in. Instructor Wilfred Mark of Dance Kaiso, in black, during a drum and dance class at the Salinas Valley State Prison. (Courtesy of the artist / Pitzer Collge)
Pitzer College Art Galleries
Concurrent exhibits at Pitzer College this fall focus on the criminal justice system. Disruption! Art and the Prison Industrial Complex, curated by Annie Buckley, includes artists who have been impacted by incarceration and artists who address it in their work. Ashley Hunt: Degrees of Visibility is a show of landscape photography that depicts prisons. Ciara Ennis, Ph.D., Pitzer galleries’ director and curator, believes the programming around these exhibits is just as important as the exhibits themselves. She offers an example, “With the Annie Buckley exhibition, we’re bringing in groups such as The Actors’ Gang Reentry Project, the Strindberg Laboratory, and the Prison Arts Collective. All of those groups go into local prisons in California, and they work with individuals that are incarcerated.” The groups will lead workshops for Pitzer students, they will be doing the same workshops in prisons around Southern California. 1050 N. Mills Ave., Claremont; (909) 607-8797, pitzer.edu.
Gary Murphy, Eclipsed at Chan Gallery, installation view (Photo: Ian Byers-Gamber)
Bernard Charnwut Chan Gallery | Pomona College
The gallery will feature student work this fall, beginning with Work in Progress, a large group show opening in early October curated by the Artists’ Coalition, a student-led art group on campus. That will be followed in November by the group show, Fiber Studio, curated by Pomona art professors Lisa Anne Auerbach and Mercedes Teixido. Tricia Avant, the gallery manager, says, “It will feature works by the students who are in a fiber studio class, and they will be all fiber-based works.” Studio Art Hall, 370 Columbia Ave., Claremont; (909) 621-8079, pomona.edu.
Secret Garden at University of La Verne, installation view. Sculpture: Rochelle Botello, Whenever, Forever, 2019. Cardboard, wood & tape 4ft x 4ft x 4ft . Painting: Rema Ghuloum, Into the Rainbow, 2019. Oil, acrylic, acryla-gouache on canvas 52 x 66 in.
Courtesy Edward Cella Gallery
Harris Art Gallery | University of La Verne
Secret Garden, a group exhibition of paintings and sculptures, will be on display through October 24. This playful exploration of real and imagined places includes Rochelle Botello’s colorful sculptures, Gary Brewer’s oil paintings, Jason David’s wooden sculptures, and Rema Ghuloum’s layered paintings. Dion Johnson, Director of Art Galleries & Distinguished Artist, University of La Verne, says, “It is a wonderful opportunity for anyone — an art lover, or someone brand new to visiting galleries — to get lost in a vibrant and imaginative space that is really transformative. It merges what we experience every day in terms of our nature and environment and takes it to this hyper level of joy.” 1950 3rd St., La Verne; (909) 448-4383, artsci.laverne.edu.
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