After graduating from CCA, Cianna Valley remained in Oakland to take advantage of the many artistic opportunities the Bay Area has to offer. She has found work painting signs, dressing the set of a film and most recently assisting with the printing and binding of fellow CCA alum Casey Gardner's latest artist book.
Read the restPosted on Saturday, January 22, 2011 by Ace Lehner
Posted on Friday, January 21, 2011 by Lindsey Westbrook
The Really Funny Thing About Apathy
Sunnyoutside, 2011
Paperback, 68 pages, $13
Four easily digestible shorts fixate on fleeting incidents in the life of the young and fearful. Says Kevin Sampsell, author of A Common Pornography: "These stories are awesome little jigsaw puzzles that turn into a whole miraculous universe. And in this universe, Chelsea Martin (Individualized Major 2008) is yearning for the answers to life's biggest questions in the most entertaining way possible. This contemplative little book is both funny ha ha and funny peculiar." A knock on the door precipitates the nonaction of "At the End of This Story the Door Will Open and Under Eight Seconds Will Have Passed," in which the narrator mulls over who might be calling. She runs through a series of insignificant scenarios, testing out irony and earnestness, before concluding, "I half believed that the world made sense and I just didn't get it."
Read the restPosted on Friday, January 21, 2011 by Lindsey Westbrook
NONOBJECT
MIT Press, 2010
Hardcover, 240 pages, $29.95
What happens when designers think beyond the object to creative positive, unexpected design experiences? This book offers inventive perspectives on design and engineering that help reframe and reinvent the way we think about traditional (and often mundane) objects. Coauthor Branko Lukic is founder and principal of Nonobject Studio in Palo Alto, which provides design innovation solutions and strategic consulting services to established companies, nonprofit organizations, and startups worldwide. Coauthor Barry Katz helped to articulate the philosophy of the Nonobject; in addition to serving on CCA's faculty he is also a consulting professor at Stanford University and a fellow at IDEO.
Read the restPosted on Friday, January 21, 2011 by Lindsey Westbrook
The Handbook of Natural Plant Dyes
Timber Press, 2011
Paperback, 172 pages, $19.95
Buttery yellow from garden weeds or gorgeous garnet-red dye from flowers -- achieving stunning colors for your fabric, yarn, and other natural materials is almost as easy as boiling water, with ingredients as close as your spice cabinet and as plentiful as fallen leaves on an autumn day. Through step-by-step instructions and color-saturated photographs, textile designer and CCA faculty member and MFA alum Sasha Duerr explains the basics of making and using natural plant dye, from gathering materials and making the dyes to simple ideas for how to use them.
Read the restPosted on Thursday, January 20, 2011 by Jim Norrena
Congratulations to fifth-year Architecture students Bret Walters and Duncan Young, who received an honorable mention in the Urban Design Category of the CoARQ Competition, the top-rated international competition for architecture students, for their Atomized Library project.
Read the restPosted on Wednesday, January 19, 2011 by Jim Norrena
What Is Humble Pie?
Humble Pie is the undergraduate literary journal written and published by students enrolled in the Literature and Writing Program at California College of the Arts, which is part of the college's Humanities and Sciences Division.
Read the restPosted on Wednesday, January 19, 2011 by Samantha Braman
(This is the first of four installments describing highlights of the spring 2010 ENGAGE at CCA courses. You can also download the whole story as it appeared in Glance, CCA's college magazine.)
"Art school can definitely put you in a kind of bubble. But it can also help you break out of the bubble."
So said one of the 140 students (although more of them were thinking it!) coming up for air after one of the most intense and immersive experiences of their college careers thus far: ENGAGE at CCA.
This new group of project-based courses is an outgrowth of several decades of community-centered work by CCA students and faculty. This past spring more than 140 students, enrolled in 10 different courses, did everything from creating ceramic nesting modules for threatened bird species at Ano Nuevo Island to designing new systems for elders at Bethany Center Senior Housing. More than a dozen new courses are happening this academic year, including a Writing course with San Quentin State Prison, a Textiles course with Zen Hospice Project, and a Community Arts course with La Cocina (the San Francisco "incubator kitchen" for women).
Read the restPosted on Tuesday, January 18, 2011 by Jim Norrena
Documentary Exhibition at New York MoMA
CCA Film chair Rob Epstein's 1985 Academy Award–winning documentary The Times of Harvey Milk will screen at the New York Museum of Modern Art as part of the museum's Oscar’s Docs, 1964–85: The Front Lines at Home and Abroad, a film exhibition series inspired by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences that celebrates Oscar-nominated and winning documentaries that have had a major impact over the years.
Read the restPosted on Tuesday, January 18, 2011 by Jim Norrena
Volunteers Needed
CCA's Queer/Straight Alliance (QSA) is seeking volunteers to help run the college's table at tomorrow's (Wednesday, January 18) Chimeratopia Community Fair from approximately 1:30 to 4 p.m. in the atrium in front of the Nave (where A2 Café is located).
Come meet new and returning students while supporting the Queer/Straight Alliance. Visibility is key to ensuring all minority groups at the college have the opportunity to engage in dialogue, share experiences, and build supportive friendships—all of which tear down the walls by demystifying our differences.
Read the restPosted on Tuesday, January 18, 2011 by Clay Walsh
Sally Mann
In Conversation with Steven Jenkins
Wednesday, March 21, 8 p.m.
Venue: Herbst Theatre
401 Van Ness Avenue (at McAllister)
San Francisco
City Arts is pleased to extend a special discounted price of $15 per ticket to all CCA alumni, staff, and friends. To purchase, enter the code CCAMANN online or by phone. For tickets and more information, visit the City Arts & Lectures website.
Read the rest