The Shaw-Blanchard-Amberson lineup had been together since the band's beginning. Shaw began playing open mics while she was an undergrad at California College of the Arts. She was soon invited to play a house party and quickly found a backing band, which included Amberson.
Read the restPosted on Tuesday, May 21, 2013 by Rachel Walther
Alumna Mary Meyer (Painting 2001) was born and raised in California, but her affinity for the East Coast eventually drew her to New York, and she's never looked back. Today she owns and operates Mary Meyer Clothing, a storefront shop in the Bushwick neighborhood of Brooklyn and a wholesale business. She produces and sells clothing of her own design, and also represents several other independent designers. Her work is a mixture of organic and angular -- natural fabrics with sharp angles and bold shapes.
Meyer credits the success of her company to the enthusiasm for experimentation and innovation fostered during her years at CCA.
She also works with Step Right Up, a program she cofounded that provides art education in New York schools.
Read the restPosted on Thursday, May 16, 2013 by Allison Byers
A recent graduate of California College of the Arts, Toyin Odutola is already celebrating her second show at Jack Shainman Gallery in NYC. The energetic artist produces ink works on paper from her studio in Alabama, updating friends and fans through an active blog. At 27 years old, Odutola is unabashed of her millennial status, exclaiming of her self-portraits as she walks through the gallery, "There are a lot of selfies—let's just call it out!" But behind the humor, there is a seriousness.
Read the restPosted on Thursday, May 16, 2013 by Rachel Walther
Type design is a bit like the music business: There are a few rock stars whose names everyone knows, but there are also a whole bunch of other people you haven't heard of, out there making a living doing what they love.
And CCA is proud to claim many men and women in both categories. Over the years the college has accumulated a real wealth of faculty, students, and alumni who embrace the label "type designer" and have had their letterforms used in some impressively high-profile venues. The college's emphasis on this subfield of graphic design sets it apart from other schools; the Graphic Design Program has maintained a series of courses exclusively devoted to it for more than 20 years now.
And the Bay Area, largely thanks to CCA and its ripple effects, is today a real hotbed of people who are active in the field.
Read the restPosted on Thursday, May 16, 2013 by Allison Byers
Jenny Parks is a scientific illustrator that also happens to be a shameless nerd, with a penchant for drawing animals, dinosaurs, imaginary creatures… and occasionally, people as cats. Somehow, she found herself with a bit of internet fame with the illustration ‘Doctor Mew’, and has been baffled ever since. With a BFA in illustration from the California College of the Arts, and a graduate degree in Science Illustration from UC Santa Cruz, she now resides in San Francisco as a freelance illustrator, fulfilling her destiny to make a living drawing cute, fuzzy things.
Read the restPosted on Wednesday, May 15, 2013 by Allison Byers
“Words and Places: Etel Adnan,” organized by the graduating class of the Graduate Program in Curatorial Practice at California College of the Arts, is an impeccably timed exhibition, a gift to those of us who wanted to learn more about Adnan after encountering her paintings and tapestry at last summer’s Documenta.
Read the restPosted on Wednesday, May 15, 2013 by Allison Byers
Kelly Jones is the creator of Little Paper Planes, an online platform that currently helps more than 70 emerging artists sell their work and pursue publishing and licensing opportunities. This year Jones, an artist and curator herself, teamed up with public television station KQED on “Working Title,” a new video series that explores how local artist entrepreneurs are re-inventing the American Dream by creating alternative economies.
Read the restPosted on Thursday, May 9, 2013 by Allison Byers
This spring, CCA Fashion Design students addressed questions about garment use while participating in Local Wisdom, an ongoing international fashion research project that examines how we use, share, and engage with our clothes.
Several student projects selected as finalists will be featured in spring 2014 in a participatory symposium and exhibition in London, along with work from six other international design schools.
Read the restPosted on Tuesday, May 7, 2013 by Allison Byers
The first applications, however, are pure art. Lee lead an exhibition at San Francisco’s Intersection for the Arts called By-Product Becomes Product inviting five artists who worked with the new wood material. Their creations range from benches with woven planks to a series of birdhouses and a pickup truck cap. The material was not under much strain (it was neither coated to protect from rain, nor under much load), but Lee says the next step is to start introducing the material as a practical substitute for its conventional but toxic counterparts.
Read the restPosted on Monday, May 6, 2013 by Allison Byers
The recently released episode focuses on Oakland-based ceramicists, Atelier Dion. Owners Jay and Rie Dion are a husband and wife duo who met in 2008 while attending graduate school at California College of the Arts. After graduation, the couple realized that they could use their skills as ceramic artists to create a business focused on custom fabrication. In this episode, they discuss the ins and outs of starting a business and the sacrifices and compromises they have made to get their vision off the ground.
Read the rest