The Kids are Alright

It’s only our first couple weeks open with the Patricia Patterson exhibition, but the kids have already invaded the museum space! School tours and Art Smart are in full swing and it has been fun watching these fresh faces come through and feeling their excitement in response to the artwork. Art exposure for school aged children is an awesome thing that the Center provides, especially in an economical climate that includes budget cuts to art programs within the schools themselves. Anyway, the kids LOVE all the colors in Patricia's work, and while Patterson’s potato bed installation looks strikingly similar to a sandbox, it’s been hard convincing these little ones to keep out. ;-)

Banksy in Oceanside?

So, popular celeb gossip website, TMZ, has reported a sighting of graffiti artist Banksy at work here in our own backyard. The photo is of the side of Oceanside's Bull Taco Shop on the corner of Coast Highway and Cassidy St. While an obvious display of Banksy style, we can't help but be skeptical. It seems as though this may be a "fake". (And/or, just a really good marketing ploy by Bull Taco, cashing in on the hype surrounding the artist and his films nomination at the Academy Awards this Sunday.) And with that being said, is there really such thing as authenticity with an artist who no doubt has several people collectively producing his artwork? This recent pop-up has sparked a lot of debate, and I want to hear what you think! What do you think about Banksy as an artist, or is he now a brand? Maybe both? Is he just a rip-off of Blek le Rat, an older graffiti artist who created rats long before Banksy started showing them in his artwork? It's all speculation, I want your opinions!

Check out the coverage here and here. . . and while your at it, go check out the piece and decide for yourself what it's all about.

For Colored Girls is For Everyone.

Since February is Black History Month, and March is Women’s Month, I thought that I would share with you all a movie I watched recently that combines the two.

I had seen little snippets of this movie trailer and wanted to see it in the theater, but with a busy schedule it was hard to make it out. This last weekend I went to Blockbuster on a whim, saw For Colored Girls instantly, grabbed it, and headed to the door. I took it home and after making dinner, my Mom and I decided to sit down and watch it. By the end of the movie I was blown away. My stomach was in knots, no doubt caused by a mix of emotions—anger, sadness, shock, and mostly realization. This movie, adapted to screen, produced, and directed by Tyler Perry, paints a beautiful portrait of 8 women of color in modern times.(It’s actually adapted from its original 1975 stage production by Ntozake Shange, “Colored Girls”.) I was torn up by the fact that these women, though fictional characters, represent a slew of women who have really experienced these issues; namely rape, domestic violence, disease, loss, insecurity, and heartbreak. For Colored Girls stays true to its original stage format, using poetic prose (and dance) instead of mundane dialogue, which adds a dimension to the flick that demands a deeper sense of meaning and understanding. This film is not for the faint of heart. I would, however, recommend it for women with a strong heart. A heart for other women, and the issues that plague them, all around the world and from all walks of life. This film is for women who have a heart to stand with them in some sense of solidarity, if for only the fact that we share the same sex and some of the same struggles. I would recommend this film  for all women and all men who have lived through hardships. It’s time to operate on a human level, people. Go watch it, and feel.

x Carissa

A couple interesting write-ups here and here .J

Watch the trailer here.

St. Paddy'z Day is a Commin

We are less than a month away from my boyfriend's and so many other's favorite holiday,
St. Patrick's Day!  In celebration of the holiday the Center Museum will be throwing a party.  The Irish in me is proud to say that you will be able to hear some Irish Punk/Rock music in our Sculpture Court as you fill up on all kinds of Irish beer and whiskey.

Sláinte
Sunday, March 6, 2011
4:00 p.m. - 7:00 p.m. (This is a 21+ event)

$15 per person/$25 for two

Kick off your Paddy’z Day celebrations with the Leperkhanz.

[We are super excited to have the Leperkhanz play for this event.  They will be giving us an extra long set so save up your vocal cords and stomachs. Visit the Leperkhanz MySpace page to hear a selection of their music.  I recommend the song Black Tanz.]

Ticket includes tastings of a variety of Irish whiskeys and beers. ‘Dirt’ the Whiskey Master will lead you through your whiskey tasting and if whiskey isn't your flavor don't despair there will also be plenty of Irish beer!
Sláinte is generously sponsored by the Holiday Wine Cellar, Bushmills Whiskey and O'hara's beer. 

*Proceeds support arts education at the Center

Here are some images of how people around the world celebrate St. Patrick's Day. 

Chicago - They dye the river green every year.  It is pretty awesome, I lived there for four years during undergrad.  The Chicago river is a little scary year round, you fall in and expect a trip to the hospital and some shots [so I have been told].

San Francisco's St. Patrick's Day parade and celebration is among the largest in the U.S. The parade is the oldest and largest St. Patrick's Day parade west of the Mississippi, stretching from 2nd and Market, up to Civic Center Plaza where it culminates in an all-day festival celebration.

St. Patrick's Day parade in New York.  5th Ave.

California Center for the Arts, Escondido Museum, Art Classes

Here is some info on two classes we have coming up that I am really excited about.  Write in if you have any questions.

Tara

Travel Buggin': Here and There, Back and Forth

If you haven’t already been able to tell, I have a travel bug and I’ve got it BAD. The large-scale, interactive map that went up right next to my desk isn’t helping any. In fact, it’s making it worse; leaving me to stare and daydream and contemplate my next big adventure. My last big trip was Istanbul, Turkey, and now I’m trying to decide on what I’m going to save for next-- I refuse to let my backpack get too dusty. So, being left up here to my own devices, studying this map and the places people have picked out for themselves as places they love to call home or would love to be, it makes me realize that I’m not alone in my scheming. It’s amazing and sometimes overwhelming to consider how many different varieties of life there are as compared to the limited amount of space that we’re sharing on this planet. The inspiration that can come from this is infinite, as seen in Patricia’s work. She grew fond of a place halfway around the world, a place that contains people with a different lifestyle than what we, or even she, is accustomed to, and used these feelings to create beautiful work. I wonder what artworks I would create to represent places I’ve been and are going to go. What would your creations look like if they were influenced by the spot on the map that you find yourself gravitating towards the most? Where is your “here” and where is your “there”? Right now, I have way too many and I’m looking to add to the list. Come add yours to our map here at the museum, and tell me a story about it. I’m always looking for new places to visit and a new face to gab at!

x Carissa

The Art of Protest

With the historical uprising in Egypt these past 18 days, and its liberation on the 11^th, I can’t help but burst with excitement. It’s so amazing to see everyday citizens take action in order to change their government, and ultimately their lifestyles, for a better way to live: freely! It’s inspiring and encouraging to say the least, and I would just like to express my solidarity.

With that being said, having looked through several galleries of photos from Cairo the past few weeks, the imagery has been overwhelmed with posters expressing the sentiments of the people, using art and text. It reminds me that art can be the silent force which unites and strengthens a movement. Political art has served in several movements throughout history and has proven effective. In our own recent political climate, we saw Shepard Fairey create quite a rise-up of young politicos when he created his ubiquitous poster of Obama for the 2009 election. The poster was adopted by the entire nation and has even become the template for other politically charged image campaigns, whether they be serious or satirical. In earlier times, Emory Douglas , from Oakland, CA, was the leading artist of the Black Panther Party in the late 60's and early 70's. It was his images that led the civil rights movement of the time!

The advantage of having great political poster art is that it can be easily spread and interpreted by many. It says a million things, but people understand it in one split second. It provides a face for an entire movement of people and motivates them to take action. The often bold colors, bold lines, and simple text serve to put a spark in people to act accordingly: boldly take simple steps to a better future. Art is a universal language, and it’s best used, I think, when it has something good to say.

Here are some images of recent political art posters. . .  

Iran

Egypt

Egypt (Graffiti)

Artists in New York are organizing an artistic recreation of the Egyption protests here. Check it out.

x Carissa

Patricia Patterson: Here and There, Back and Forth

Well we did it.  The Center Museum's latest exhibition Patricia Patterson:  Here and There, Back and Forth is up and running!  The opening was wonderful and filled with energy.  For all of you who didn't make it here is a little peek at the evening. 

Congratulations to Patricia and the curators of this exhibition, Mary Johnson and Olivia Luther.  [See image below of Mary and Olivia]

Ghost Stories: Creepy Tales from the Front Desk Part Three

Supernatural Sights and Sounds

When polled about the Museums haunting’s, people here all came to the same consensus-- this building has got a case of the creaks. Alex (museum security) in his very matter-of –fact demeanor explained to us that this building settles quite often due to temperature changes. . . Ya, well Alex doesn’t believe in Santa Claus either, let alone the boogie man, so we’ll let him keep his opinions to himself while we indulge in freaking each other out. One night, SUPER late, maybe 1a.m., Tara and Olivia were at the museum getting ready for an opening. Tara was in her back office and Olivia had to run up front to grab something she had left there. If you’ve ever been here at night it gets very dark when the lights aren’t on. Well, all of a sudden Tara, back in her office, heard a piercing scream followed by fast footsteps booking it towards her office. It was Olivia. Tara met her in the hallway thinking something was seriously wrong and asked what was going on. Apparently, Olivia had heard a loud noise while she was up front in the dark museum, all by her lonesome, and was convinced that someone was in there with her. She said the noise sounded like it was created by some sort of creature, alive or dead, and that’s why she went screaming! She and Tara searched the museum for the source of the noise; which to me sounds like a horrible idea. It’s like in scary movies where the victims always go to seek out the source of the suspicious noise and then 99.9% of the time it ends up being a psycho killer and then they’re dead. Alas, they did not find anything. No psycho killers, thank god. Conclusion: it was obviously a ghost. Final Conclusion: This place is haunted.

All in all, some pretty weird stuff goes down here at the old museum. Come check it out and get your supernatural on. I’m pretty sure Beth, Museum Coordinator, is ghost hunting in the back as we speak.

x Carissa

"Psychokiller", Talking Heads.

Patricia Patterson Opening Tomorrow. Join Us!

Cóilín Smoking, Pat Reading, Mary Washing Up, 1982

Casein on canvas, painted wooden frame

34 x 116 inches framed

Collection David and Felicia Mandelbaum

The Board of trustees and the California Center for the Arts, Escondido Museum invite you to join us for the opening reception for Patricia Patterson: Here and There Back and Forth

Saturday, February 12, 2011

Sneak Preview, 6:00 - 7:00 p.m.

Free for Center Members, 10$ for General Public

Includes a meet & greet and lecture with Patricia Patterson, as well as appetizers and complimentary cocktails.

RSVP to (760) 839-4120

PUBLIC RECEPTION

7:00 – 9:00 p.m.

Free Admission

Cash Bar

The California Center for the Arts, Escondido Museum would like to extend profound thanks to:

SDG&E

Stone Brewery

Holiday Wine Cellar

Art Works San Diego

Dunn Edwards Paint

The Samuel I. & John Henry Fox Foundation

The Kenneth T. & Eileen L. Norris Foundation

The Lucille and Ronald Neeley Foundation

Anne Farber

Charles Reilly and Mary Beebe

Come check out the new exhibition, it's beautiful! Hope to see you all there. . .

Google Art Project

Google's newest project if you haven't seen it is the Google Art Project. This amazing site gives anyone with Internet the ability to "Explore museums from around the world, discover and view hundreds of artworks at incredible zoom levels, and even create and share [our] own collection[s] of masterpieces." [Google’s wording] the features of this service are incredible, especially if you're an art lover.

Here's the link to an explanatory video, found on Gizmodo: 

And here's the project itself: Google Art Project.

Ghost Stories: Creepy Tales from the Front Desk Continued

The Spiders are Taking Over.

Olivia, the Museum Director, was telling me that at one point last year everyone was convinced that the place was haunted. At random times the alarm system would get tripped and no one knew what was causing it. They were certain there wasn’t any sort of defect, so someone or something, must’ve been setting it off. It finally came to everyone’s attention, that a spider was the culprit! I’m not sure if that set anyone at ease though . . . after all, ghosts and spiders go hand in hand.

Speaking of spiders, back in Beth’s (bewitched) office, I was sitting at the same desk when a spider descended from I-don’t-even-know-where and crawled right up in front of me! It was a daddy long-leg spider, which I’m not usually afraid of, but this one was huge and totally took me by surprise. I jumped up and ran out of the office. The spider, I’m sure of it, was trying to attack.

x Carissa

An Infinite Almanac

I have a problem—a shopping problem. But, not just any shopping problem, it’s a book shopping problem. It’s a strange thing to have, but books are generally cheaper than clothing and MUCH easier to try on. I’m not sure if an intervention is necessary yet, but it’s no wonder that when I went on vacation to New York a couple weeks ago, the only thing I purchased other than food was books! My buddy told me about a huge bookstore in

Union Square

called Strand that boasts “18 miles of books” and I about flipped my lid. I drooled all the way there, and upon arrival I was not disappointed, but rather met with an overwhelming feast of literature that spanned about half a New York City block and reached about three or four stories. Overall, it is about 55,000 sq ft of pure delight! 

After browsing for what felt like hours, (I swear that place felt like a casino, there was no concept of time and/or place, no windows, just books.) I finally decided upon purchasing three works. One was an art magazine from 1989 with a feature on Andy Warhol that I got for $1, the other was Chelsea Handler’s: My Horizontal Life for $7 because I think she’s hilarious and the price was right, and then the final, more pricey purchase that I will share with you was Rebecca Solnit’s  Infinite City: A San Francisco Atlas. If you know me, you know my heart bleeds for San Francisco, so seeing this book easily sucker punched me in the aorta. It’s a collection of essays and illustrated maps from various writers and artists, that describe the make-up of this amazing city by not just its geographical locations but by the people that live there, the natural landscapes, the histories, the food, and every other odd and end that creates this urban environment.  All the essays are written beautifully by people who, you can tell, have a true heart for the City. The maps are aesthetically intriguing, and accompany each essay in a manner that greatly assists the visual learner. SFMoMA even did a Live Art program with Solnit, inspired by her book! Overall, this book is awesome and you should buy it. If you’ve ever lived in San Francisco, live there now, or want to go—this is worth checking out.  

For a more thorough review of the book, click here.

x Carissa

Critical Mass

From Critical Mass’ FaceBook page:

Critical Mass is a monthly bicycle ride to celebrate cycling and to assert cyclists' right to the road. The idea started in San Francisco in September 1992 and quickly spread to cities all over the world. Critical Mass has no leaders, and no central organization licenses rides.

Critical Mass, San Diego rides the last Friday of every month.  They go on a different hour and a half [or so] ride every outing and are flanked by participating police for safeties sake.   The spot to meet is at the large fountain in Balboa Park.  People start accumulating around 7:00 p.m. and the ride kicks off at 8:00.  Critical Mass San Diego's FaceBook has 1,453 members so I would say people are into it and it has a pretty big following.  This is a ride that celebrates the act of cycling and all the joy and health that comes with it.  With that said it is also seen as a controversial happening due to the fact that many people feel inconvenienced and put out by this once a month ride through San Diego's streets. 

Why am I writing about this?  Because I finally did it!  I have always wanted to check it out and see if it is my kind of fun.  So last Friday my dear friend Chelsea [who is a freelance writer and curator, check out this link to one of her writing projects where she gives out great recipes!]and I drug our bikes out and gave it a go.  This was a big step for me seeing as how I am kind of afraid of riding a bike.  Yes yes I know how to but I am skittish and weary of falling over, getting hit by a car or running into something because I can’t stop.  This was the place to face those fears and I am pretty sure I shook them off for good.  Critical Mass is an engaging and energetic look into San Diego culture that I encourage everyone to try at least once.  I will keep you posted on the next time I go, because I am planning on becoming a regular. 

Tips:

• Wear thin easy to remove layer or dress in less clothing than you think you will need.  It is hard to catch up to take off a clothing item if you stop to do so. [You will want to it gets sweaty.]
• Bring a water bottle or wear one of those ‘O so cute’ camel back packs. [You get winded this is no puttering along Sunday ride.]
• Bring a friend – Chelsea is recommended… if you want to borrow her she would probably oblige. 

Ghost Stories: Creepy Tales from the Front Desk

Okay, so Beth and I were talking the other day and she reminded me about just how creepy it can be here in the Museum either after hours or when you’re by yourself. I’m pretty sure this place has some crazy history that might explain its haunted qualities, but for time’s sake, I’ll just cut right to the chase. Here in the Museum, and I swear this isn’t just due to lack of sleep; I have seen and heard some rather suspicious things. Here are a couple stories that I will break into 3 different posts over the next few weeks. Enjoy!

Haunt Break

One day when I first started working here at the Museum, I was sitting in Beth and I’s office [we share one] working on the computer, when I promise you, out of the corner of my eye I saw a strange man sitting at the conference table in the common area with his hands in his lap. I can still to this day remember what he looked like. He was sitting very rigid and upright in one of the chairs, facing me. It was a white male, maybe mid-30’s, with a really short, military haircut. In a flash, I freaked out! When I get scared I usually tense up and can’t move and my heart starts racing. This was no different. It was an instant panic attack, and when I looked over to make sure whatever it was really was, or was not, there—he disappeared. I called the front desk where Beth and the security guards were and told them I had just been haunted. The boys came back to investigate for me, but found nothing and I’m pretty sure they were just making fun of me. I hope that dude pops out and haunts them one of these days!

x Carissa