Santa Monica College Pete & Susan Barrett Art Gallery

EDITH BAUMANN ~ COLLECTIVE PATTERN

Opening Reception for Edith Baumann: Saturday, January 30, 6 to 8pm

Exhibition: January 30 to March 6, 2010

Gallery Talk: Thursday, February 18 at 1:30 pm

The Barrett Art Gallery is located in the Santa Monica College Performing Arts Center

at 1310 11th Street & Santa Monica Blvd., Room 101

Parking is free please enter parking lot from Santa Monica Blvd. between 10th & 11th Streets

• Photo: Courtesy of John Eden
Marian Winsryg, Gallery DirectorPete and Susan Barrett Art Gallery

Bookmark:

Gallery Contact: (310) 434-3434 / Director, Marian Winsryg

Bookmark:

Pete & Susan Barrett Art Gallery

Santa Monica College

The Barrett Art Gallery offers a look into the beginning of the career of Los Angeles sculptor Gwynn Murrill

-

Gwynn Murrill: Early Wood Sculpture

Dates: September 1 ~ October 24, 2009

Reception for the Artist: September 12, 6 ~ 8 pm

Gallery Walk-through with the Artist: September 26, 2 ~ 3 pm

Gallery Hours: Tuesday to Friday 12 ~ 5 pm, Saturday 11 ~ 4 pm

Gallery Contact: (310) 434-3434 / Director, Marian Winsryg

Gwynn Murrill began her exploration of form through sculpture in 1967 as a student at UCLA. Her first endeavor centered on carving a rocking horse from laminated blocks of two-by-fours she cajoled from workers at construction sites around Los Angeles. As she refined her technique, Murrill abandoned construction lumber and began carving life size cougars, coyotes, hawks, and other animals from laminated planks of Hawaiian Koa wood. In the mid 1980s, after receiving several prominent grants, she began casting her earlier forms in bronze. That first rocking horse fueled what became a remarkable sculpture career, punctuated by numerous public commissions, both here in Los Angeles and internationally.

Murrill states, “My interest lies in the fact that I use the subject as a means to create a form that is abstract and figurative at the same time. It is a challenge to try and take the form that nature makes so well and to derive my own interpretation of it.”

Highlighting works from the artist’s own collection, this exhibition will give the public a rare glimpse into the artist’s formative years during the 1970s and 80s, and her fascination with the animal forms, for which she is so well known.

Bookmark:

The majority of the work in this exhibition was made in the early 1970s. The earliest pieces were completed as I finished my BA and MFA degrees at UCLA.

As a BA student, I primarily studied painting. However, I was required to take a sculpture class to graduate. At that time, I never thought that I would become a sculptor. I took that first sculpture class from abstract sculptor, John McCracken. He was very loose about what the students made, so I suggested that I make a rocking horse out of laminated wood blocks. He went on to ask if I knew how, and I said, no. He said that he didn’t know how either, but to go ahead and try. After 3 classes over a total of 9 months, I was so intrigued by the material and the process, that I continued to make sculpture during the rest of my time at UCLA.

Although I eventually received my MFA in painting, I graduated with a refined body of sculpture large enough to have my first exhibition at Rico Mizuno Gallery in 1972.

My second rocking horse from 1971 will be in this SMC show, and I will also be showing several pieces that were completed for my second solo exhibition, which was at Nick Wilder Gallery in 1977. The SMC exhibition plan goes on to include pieces from the mid-1980s when I was working with Koa wood, while in Hawaii.

2. How did you bring together the pieces in the exhibition?

Most of the work is from my own collection, while several pieces are on loan from private collectors, LA Louver gallery, and LACMA.

3. Is there a distinct relationship between your material (wood) and your forms?

During my days at UCLA there was a lot of construction going on around L.A. All of the wood left over from the buildings was strewn about the construction sites. Seeing this, I had the idea of using two-by-fours, and other leftover wood, to make my sculpture. The wood was free; all I needed was glue. The material was either going to be thrown away or burned in someone’s fireplace. In other words, I was making art out of other people’s trash. This process came about naturally; long before the ecology movement became popularized.

The wood blocks related well to organic forms, it was a very natural material to use. While usually enhancing the form, the way the wood was assembled could cause conflict with it as well. I became aware of incorporating the grain. I began to use the direction of the wood grain to help form the sculpture. More importantly, however, using wood blocks made it possible for me to make radical changes in the sculpture when I found it necessary. This gave me the freedom I needed to tackle the sculptural problems I set up for myself.

4. How were these pieces received when you first showed them?

The 1972 exhibition at Riko Mizuno’s was fairly well received critically, and my friends liked it. My work was quite different for what my artist friends in L.A. were doing at the time. During the 70s, I had other exhibitions with wood sculpture, but rarely sold any. Nick Wilder was the only dealer/gallerist able to sell a few; the locations of these pieces are now sadly unknown. In 1978, LACMA did purchase Impala, with their ‘New Talent Purchase Award’.

5. Do you have any favorite pieces in this exhibition?

The Mexican Dog is my favorite piece in the exhibition. The Cheetah is a close second.

6. Your group of Coyotes in this exhibition was completed 10 years after the earliest pieces. Is there any significance to this group?

My interest in figurative sculpture is more about the life and movement of the form as it is held by the surrounding space, rather than it is about the specific details of a certain individual. Though I use photographs while working, I try to stay away from portraiture and pay more attention to the abstract qualities of the form of the animal. When I portray animals in the wild, it is difficult to use one specific animal; I try to sculpt the essence of what I feel about the specific type of animal.

For example, while in Hawaii, where there are no coyotes, working on this group for 2 years, I drew upon recent memories of the animal to retain the spirit, but abstracted the form. I made up their personalities through the depiction of their individual perceived movements and activated the space through the relationship between the sculptures. With this group I became increasingly interested in the relationship of the sculptures to each other, to their negative space, and the space surrounding them. The idea of negative space is important in all my sculpture, and perhaps this is best illustrated in this group.

7. What similarities/connections do you see between the work in the exhibition and your current work?

The sculptures shown in this exhibition are the initial steps in an evolving process. After my beginnings in wood, I became interested in trying other materials. In 1979, I traveled to Italy, as part of the American Academy in Rome, where I carved in marble. During this time, I was also beginning to think about working in bronze.

Around 1984, I received a Guggenheim Fellowship. This grant enabled me to be able to have molds made of the Koa wood coyotes seen in this exhibition. The following year, I received a National Endowment Grant, so I had the 4 coyotes, a hawk, bobcat, and snake cast in bronze. The ability to cast my work in bronze led to greater exposure and increased sales. It also led to my first commission for the Ronald Reagan State Building in 1990.

I continue to sculpt in wood, stone, and ceramic; I have made many of my preparatory sketches or ‘maquettes’ in ceramic throughout the years. At present, I actually do most of my larger work in polyurethane foam, from which I have molds made, and bronzes cast. Therefore, my method, pasting together blocks and carving away material, has not changed a great deal since my first rocking horse.

Gwynn Murrill

July 2009

Gwynn Murrill Bio

Gwynn Murrill’s first solo show was at Rico Mizuno’s Los Angeles gallery in 1972. Since that first exhibition, her process has continually evolved. Gwynn’s initial pieces, sculpted from found wood, which she had laminated into large blocks, gave way to stone and marble carvings in the early 1980s. By 1990, Gwynn was casting most of her pieces in bronze. She has presented over 36 solo shows and has been involved in more than 50 group exhibitions. Much of her more recent work has centered on public art projects and has increasingly incorporated architectural elements.

Gwynn is drawn to animal forms due to their complex beauty. She says:

“My interest lies in the fact that I use the subject as a means to create a form that is abstract and figurative at the same time. It is a challenge to try and take the form that nature makes so well and to derive my own interpretation of it.

I spend many hours perfecting a piece with the goal to utilize all of the negative space surrounding the form as a vehicle for the abstract part of the sculpture. The negative space is as important to my sculpture as the positive space, evoking somewhat of a Yin and Yang relationship.

Many of the animals I work with are also a part of our life here in the American west, and I truly enjoy expressing my appreciation of their existence.”

Over her career, Gwynn has received many accolades: the Guggenheim Fellowship, a Prix di Roma Fellowship from the American Academy in Rome, and a purchase award from the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. This past June 2009, her latest public commission, for The Montana, in Pasadena, received this year’s Public Art Network Year in Review Award.

Gwynn’s work is held by many private collections and can been seen in number of public commissions throughout the U.S. and across the globe. The American Embassy in Singapore displays one of her Eagles, as does the Target Corporation Headquarters in Minneapolis. The City of Obihiro, Japan installed seven of Gwynn’s Deer along its main thoroughfares in 2003, and Los Angeles’ Grand Hope Park is home to a collection of three coyotes, a hawk, and one snake.

©Gwynn Murrill 2009

Bookmark:

Pete & Susan Barrett Art Gallery, in the Performing Arts Center

Hours: Tuesday – Friday, 12 to 5pm & Saturday, 11am to 4pm

(Closed for legal Holidays)

Tel: 310 • 434 • 3434

Www. smcbarrettgallery.com

Fall 2009

Gwynn Murrill – Early Wood Sculpture – Known for her sleek & minimalist portraits of animals this exhibit features her early works sculpted from found wood. Gwynn is drawn to animal forms due to their complex beauty. She says: “My interest lies in the fact that I use the subject as a means to create form that is abstract and figurative at the same time. It is a challenge to try and take the form that nature makes so well and to derive my own interpretation of it.” Click here for details.

September 1 – October 24, 2009
Reception for artist

September 12, 6 – 8 pm
Gallery walk-through with artist

September 26, 2 – 3 pm
Art Department Faculty Exhibit – Exhibit of Painting, Prints, Ceramics, Sculpture and Multi-media artwork by Santa Monica College Art department.

Tuesday, November 10 – Saturday, December 5, 2009
Opening Reception: Saturday, November 7, 6 – 9pm

Closed: November 13, 14 & November 26, 27, & 28, 2009

December (Tues)15 & (Wed)16
Annual Student Christmas Sale – Art Gallery

Winter Session (no planned exhibits in the art gallery)

Bookmark:

SMC ART MENTOR SHOW “117″ JUNE 16-JULY 1

SMC Mentor

The work of gifted students in the highly selective Santa Monica College Art Mentor Program will be exhibited June 16-July 1 at the SMC Pete & Susan Barrett Art Gallery. The gallery is at the SMC Performing Arts Center & Music Academy on Santa Monica Boulevard at 11th Street. The opening reception for the show – called “117″ – will be from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. Saturday, June 13.

The exhibit is curated by Pilar Thompkins, curator of the Claremont Museum of Art and director of the Latin American branch of the Artist Pension Trust.

The Art Mentor Program is a unique yearlong program for gifted visual art students, selected by SMC art department faculty.

The program – in many ways similar to a graduate school program – was created to provide an innovative, experimental and interdisciplinary environment for students to explore a variety of art forms, professional practices and critical theory. Students work in small groups with a professional artist or art historian, visit artists’ studios and art institutions, and participate in group discussions and critiques.

The title of this year’s show comes from the location of the cavernous studio – Room 117 at SMC’s Airport Campus – where students have worked intensively with three art professors over the last year: Ichiro Irie, Kavin Buck and Ronn Davis, program director and Art Department chair.

Art mentor alumni have gone on to prestigious schools throughout the nation – including the Rhode Island School of Design, California Institute of the Arts, UCLA and Claremont Graduate School – and to successful careers.

The student artists this year are Ana Baranda, Melanie Berry, Brittany Boyd, Holly Brobst, Ching Wah Chu, Jodi Clark, Zoma Crum-Tesfa, Elena Egorenko, Damaris Garcia, Helen Geisler, Jay Grant, Nikki Hillman, Brian Jones, Lucas Kazansky, Faina Kumpan, Veronica LeBlanc, Ka Man Lee, Kylie Michel, Cedar Miller, Gustavo Munoz, Tess Murdock, Elyse Reardon-Jung, Jeanne Roderick, Susan Scarangello, Gina Speers, Sara Theden, Elizabeth Weber and Kathleen Zadikian.

Gallery hours are noon to 5 p.m. Tuesday through Friday and 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday. For more information, call (310) 434-3434.
# # #

Bookmark:

In an effort to broaden cultural awareness in the greater Los Angeles area, students in instructor John Zarcone’s painting class at Santa Monica College were asked to communicate the identity of a very specific neighborhood, L.A.’s Chinatown, by creating several representational oil paintings. The results will be on view at the Chinatown Heritage Center from June 6th-July 18th 2009.

There will be an opening reception for the artists on Saturday June 6th from 6 to 9 P.M. Students and faculty are invited to attend. Students and faculty are also encouraged to attend Chinatown Art-night, July 11th 6-9PM, when most of Chinatown’s art galleries will be open to the public for night time viewing.

Chinatown Heritage Center: 411 Bernard St., Los Angeles, CA 90012.

Hours: Wednesday-Friday 11 AM – 3 PM, Sunday 12 – 4:30 PM.

Bookmark:

Friday May 1, 2009
5:00p- 10:00p

3041 North Coolidge Ave, Elysian Valley, Los Angeles 90039

F.reecycled
R.esident
O.perated
G.arden
S.ystems

F.R.O.G.S., out of the LA River and back into the community! Shopping carts, wheelbarrows, anything with wheels, can be salvaged and repurposed as a mobile garden. We can clean up the neighborhoo, recycle junk and grow a garden all at once! For the project opening we are looking for residents of Elysian Valley or neighboring communities to claim an existing F.R.O.G.S. to take home and cultivate for a season, after which we will reassemble to feast on the fruits of our labor, take on new F.R.O.G.S. and enjoy the start of a new growing season. Together we can build and cultivate our F.R.O.G.S. to reclaim the streets with an ever evolving mobile garden network.

- Organized by Tory Tepp as part of the Otis College of Art and Design Public Practice MFA Degree Exhibition 2009 – p.i.e

Bookmark:

p.i.e

Artists: Candida Ayala : Andy Manoushagian : Ofunne Obiamiwe : Jules Rochielle Sievert : Tory Tepp

Presented at Santa Monica College Pete & Susan Barrett Art Gallery

Exhibition: May 9 – June 6
Reception: May 9, 4:00-8:00pm

Gallery Hours: Tuesday to Friday 12-5pm & Saturday 11am-4pm

Santa Monica College Performing Arts Center
1310 11th Street, Santa Monica 90401 (enter parking lot from Santa Monica Blvd)
p.i.e. (public interventionist education)
www.otis.edu/calendar

Louise Jaffe, Chair; Judge David B. Finkel (Ret.), Vice Chair; Dr. Susan Aminoff;
Dr. Nancy Greenstein; Dr. Margaret Quinones-Perez; Rob Rader; Dr. Andrew Walzer;
Cameron Henton, Student Trustee; Dr. Chui L. Tsang, Superintendent/President

Bookmark:

Join us for an exhibit of remarkable travel journals and images of war and peace photographed by journalist Dan Eldon, who celebrated his life and death at age 22 as a creative activist, and whose art became a means of positive social change. Opening reception on Friday, February 27, from 6 pm to 9 pm. A film festival and panel discussion with producers, directors, actors, and journalists on creative activism will also be held. Please see the SMC Student Creative Activist Film Festival listing in Special Events for details.

The exhibition, featuring one of Dan’s journals, will be opened by Producer/Director Tom Shadyac, Dan’s mother Kathy Eldon and sister, Amy Eldon Turteltaub.

The traveling exhibit of Dan Eldon’s work, JOURNEY: Images of War/Celebrations of Peace, is a powerful, affecting tribute to a young artist and his rich, brief life. Containing photographs from Dan’s work in Somalia with the Reuters News Agency, large reproductions of his collages, and a variety of art supplies and personal belongings, the exhibit has inspired audiences in six countries.

Dan Eldon was the son of a British father and American mother, who grew up in Kenya, and attended four colleges in England and the US, including the Pasadena Community College and UCLA. At the age of 21, he was among a small cadre of journalists who alerted the world to a major famine in Somalia. As many as 1,000 people a day were starving to death when Newsweek, Time, and many international daily newspapers began to pick up Dan’s images in 1992, triggering an international mission to deliver aid to Somalia. One year later, Dan and three colleagues were killed by an angry mob in the aftermath of a tragic bombing raid by UN troops that killed or wounded more than 100 Somalis.

Although more than a decade has passed since his death, Eldon’s images remain fresh and relevant, as do Eldon’s collages—sometimes meditative, sometimes joyful, often humorous—created in journals which he began keeping at age 15 and maintained until his death. Together with his compelling photographs, they are an inspiring record of what it means to grow up in a complex world with one’s eyes and ears wide open.

www.DanEldon.org

Bookmark: