Monthly Archives: October 2009

Finding Priya Ramrakha

The late photographer Priya Ramrakha was a Kenyan photojournalist for Time and Life magazines. In 1960, he came to the United States to study photography at Art Center. While here, Ramrakha photographed the civil rights movement, which inspired him to return to Kenya and document the fight for independence in Africa. He was killed in 1968 while covering the Nigerian Civil War for Time-Life.

Read more about Ramrakha, his lost photographs, and the documentary being made about him in The New York Times: Showcase: Finding Priya Ramrakha

Meet Priscilla Jimenez

The Graphic Design student shares with us her thoughts on Art Center, the creative process and being Latina in this great interview.“I have learned about the power that designers can have,” Priscilla says of her time here. “We can change the world with the click of a mouse or a tap of a Wacom pen—it’s rather extraordinary and quite beautiful.”

Read more of Priscilla’s interview here.

Big Picture Lecture Series: Naomi Lamoreaux

Don’t miss Naomi Lamoreaux speak on campus Monday as part of the Big Picture Lecture Series.

Lamoreaux is professor of economics, history and law at UCLA; a research associate at the National Bureau of Economic Research; and a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Her current research interests include patenting and the market for technology in the late 19th and 20th century U.S., business organizational forms and contractual freedom in Europe and the U.S. in the 19th and 20th centuries, the public/private distinction in U.S. history, and the origins of the rust belt.

Big Picture Lecture Series: Naomi Lamoreaux
Monday, October 19, 1 pm
Ahmanson Auditorium

New Exhibit Opens at Pacific Asia Museum

Today is the opening of The (Dis)Embodied Filipina: Fashioning Domesticity, Weaving Desire, a new exhibit at the Pacific Asia Museum. Guest curated by Pearlie Rose Baluyut and Agnes Bertiz, the exhibit runs through February 2010. The curators will be welcoming viewers today between 4 and 6 pm.

The (Dis)Embodied Filipina: Fashioning Domesticity, Weaving Desire explores the images of the early- to mid-20th century Filipina as civilized and wild. Through the juxtaposition of mannequins wearing the terno with ethnographic portraits appropriated from memoirs, travelogues, anthropological surveys and postcards, the exhibition addresses the material and spectral appearance and absence of women in the Philippines.

Acclaimed Cinematographer to Speak on Campus

Art Center is honored to welcome to campus world-renowned cinematographer Caleb Deschanel to discuss his craft and much more tomorrow, Oct. 15. Film Department instructor Allen Daviau will host the discussion with the five-time Academy Award-nominated cinematographer and director. Deschanel’s credits as cinematographer include The Black Stallion, The Right Stuff, The Natural, The Patriot and The Passion of the Christ. Film and television that he has directed include Crusoe, Twin Peaks, Law and Order and Bones.

The event starts at 1 pm at Hillside Campus’ Ahmanson Auditorium. For more information, call 626.396.2373.

Muñoz Participates in Art Exchange

The exhibit LA Artcore Artists, including work by alumnus and faculty member Ramone Muñoz, opens this week in Bakersfield. Part of an “art exchange,” the first show, featuring L.A. artists, will hold an opening reception Oct. 15 at Bakersfield College’s Wylie and May Louise Jones Gallery. Next year, Bakersfield artists will exhibit at the Artcore Brewery Annex in downtown Los Angeles.

Bakersfield Express has a nice write-up previewing the show as well as an interview with Muñoz.

 (Pictured: “Towers of Vik” series of paintings by Ramone Muñoz)

Art Center Opens its Doors for ArtNight

What are you doing this weekend? Celebrate the arts as part of Pasadena’s annual Art Weekend.

Enjoy a free evening of art, music and entertainment as Pasadena’s most prominent arts and cultural institutions swing open their doors for ArtNight Pasadena. During this much-loved annual event, Pasadena’s cultural institutions are free and open to the public, offering a rich sampling of fine art, artifacts and music along with free shuttle service. In addition to Art Center’s Williamson Gallery and student galleries, participants include the Norton Simon Museum of Art, Pasadena Museum of History, the Armory Center for the Arts, and many more.

Last fall, 14,000 people experienced the excitement of ArtNight. Don’t miss the fun this Friday! For more information, call the ArtNight Pasadena Hotline at 626.744.7887.

Exploring Sound with Doug Aitken

Artinfo (in an article from the October 2009 Modern Painters issue) visits Art Center alumnus Doug Aitken ILLU ’91 to explore the audio experiments of the renowned video artist.

This month his “sound pavilion” will debut at Brazil’s Instituto Inhotim. For this piece, Aitken drilled a hole deep into the ground to broadcast the earth’s “primal, geologic sounds.”

“As if putting a stethoscope to the planet’s heart, he has used a system of ultrasensitive amplifiers and geomicrophones (like the ones geologists use to record the breaking up of glaciers in Antarctica) to transform these guttural registers into audible sounds that fill a ground-level glass pavilion above. He expects the visitors in the pavilion both to have intensely private experiences and to become part of a larger community—the audience created by sound.”

Read the article here. For more on Aitken, read Art Center’s interview with him here.

“Young Talent” David Smith Participates in 2010 French Cultural Exchange Program

Now in its fourth year, the innovative and educational art project “Jeunes Talents” (“Young Talents”) has selected eight young art and photography students from five major U.S. colleges and universities to document their experience of modern French life. As part of the Jeunes Talents program, Art Center Photography and Imaging student David Smith will be traveling to Arles, Provence from October 9-19, 2009.

To broaden the scope and impact of the project, eminent photography curator Tim Wride will supervise the students and their work. He will also curate three exhibitions of the students’ work, starting with a Los Angeles show that will take place March 31 to April 14, 2010.

Art Center is proud to have participated in the exchange program since its inception. To view the results of previous editions of Jeunes Talents visit franceguide.com/jeunestalents or the Jeunes Talents page on Facebook.

(Pictured: Image taken for Jeunes Talents 2009 in Montpellier, France by Art Center student Justine Maccario.)