He has been hailed as a pioneer of Conceptual art; she has been honored as Woman of the Year by the California State Legislature for her community activism. California College of the Arts (CCA) will recognize two extraordinary octogenarians—John Baldessari and Betty Reid Soskin—with honorary doctorate degrees at its 104th commencement exercises on Saturday, May 14, 2011, at the Concourse Exhibition Center in San Francisco. Soskin will deliver the commencement address to more than 450 CCA graduates and their families. Baldessari and Soskin will also be honored at a private dinner and participate in the post-commencement reception at CCA’s San Francisco campus.

About John Baldessari

“His work amuses, unsettles, questions, and makes you look twice and think thrice; laugh out loud; and in general gain a sharpened awareness of the overlapping processes of art making, art viewing and art thinking,” stated New York Times art critic Roberta Smith in a recent review of the work of Baldessari. Synthesizing photomontage, painting, and language for the past 50 years, Baldessari has made important contributions to the art world, most notably for his role in raising the status of photography and helping language and the written word gain acceptance as art forms.

Baldessari was born in National City, California, in 1931. He received a bachelor’s degree (1953) and a master’s degree (1957) from San Diego State College, then continued his studies at Otis Art Institute (1957–59) and Chouinard Art Institute. He has participated in Documenta (1982, 1978); the Venice Biennale (2003, 1997); and seven Whitney Biennials, most recently in 2008. His work has been shown in more than 120 solo exhibitions and 300 group exhibitions. A major retrospective traveled in 2009–10 to the Tate Modern, London; the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; and the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. His 40-year teaching career includes positions at UC San Diego; UCLA; and California Institute of the Arts. He has received honorary doctorates from the Otis Art Institute, San Diego State University, and the National University of Ireland, Burren College of Art. In 2007 he was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Letters. He lives and works in Santa Monica, California.

About Betty Reid Soskin

At age 89 Betty Reid Soskin is the country’s oldest National Park ranger. She is based at Rosie the Riveter World War II / Home Front National Historic Park in Richmond, California, where she works on civic engagement and community outreach. She grew up in New Orleans in a Cajun Creole African American family; after the 1927 hurricane and flood destroyed their home and business, they moved to the East Bay. She attended local schools, graduating from Castlemont High School in Oakland. During World War II she worked as a file clerk at a segregated union hall for African American shipyard workers in Richmond.

In 1945 she and her husband, Mel Reid, founded Reid’s Records in Berkeley, a store specializing in gospel music (managed today by their son, David Allen Reid). The family moved to Walnut Creek in the 1950s, where they were one of few African American families and encountered considerable racism. Betty Reid Soskin became active in the local Unitarian Universalist congregation, which she acknowledges as a guiding and sustaining force during that difficult time. During the 1960s she wrote and performed songs, many dealing with civil rights and peace, and became an active force in her community.

She has worked as a field representative serving West Contra Costa County for two members of the California State Assembly, Dion Aroner and Loni Hancock. She was named Woman of the Year by the California State Legislature in 1995. In 2005 she was named one of 10 outstanding women, “Builders of Communities and Dreams,” by the National Women’s History Project in a ceremony in Washington DC. In 2008 she was invited again to Washington DC to witness the inauguration of President Barack Obama.

About California College of the Arts

Founded in 1907, California College of the Arts (CCA) is noted for the interdisciplinarity and breadth of its programs. It offers studies in 21 undergraduate and seven graduate majors in the areas of fine arts, architecture, design, and writing. The college offers bachelor of architecture, bachelor of arts, bachelor of fine arts, master of architecture, master of arts, master of fine arts, and master of business administration degrees. With campuses in San Francisco and Oakland, CCA currently enrolls 1,850 full-time students. Noted alumni include the painters Nathan Oliveira and Raymond Saunders; the ceramicists Robert Arneson, Viola Frey, and Peter Voulkos; the filmmaker Wayne Wang; the conceptual artists David Ireland and Dennis Oppenheim; and the designers Lucille Tenazas and Michael Vanderbyl. For more information about CCA, visit www.cca.edu.

For more information about CCA’s 2011 commencement exercises, please call the college’s Student Affairs Office at 510.594.3666.