CCA is no stranger to branching out in various genres when it comes to the arts. The college's undergraduate Writing and Literature curriculum is no exception. In spring, the ENGAGE: Queer Comics Project course provided graphic novel enthusiasts the unique opportunity to not only study writing and graphic design but also to do so within a queer perspective!
Read the restPosted on Monday, January 23, 2012 by Jim Norrena
Posted on Thursday, January 19, 2012 by Jim Norrena
Source4Style, an online marketplace for trendsetting designers who seek cutting-edge materials for their design needs, called out CCA's Fashion Design Program as an innovative leader in the sustainability movement, ranking the college's design program fourth in its "Top 10 Sustainable Design Universities" December post!
Read the restPosted on Wednesday, January 18, 2012 by Allison Byers
On any given day we encounter dozens, even hundreds, of people who are different from us: a different race, a different gender, a different class, a different age . . . We intellectually understand that our own identity is multifaceted, yet sometimes we cannot help grouping people into stereotypes, even within what others would consider a diverse demographic.
A team of four artists—CCA Photography faculty Chris Johnson, two CCA alumni, Hank Willis Thomas (MFA and MA Visual Criticism 2004) and Bayeté Ross Smith (MFA 2004), and Kamal Sinclair—have begun a far-reaching conversation on this topic, engaging a diverse group of African American males in a question-and-answer exchange. Their innovative trans-media project is entitled Question Bridge: Black Males, and it seeks to represent and redefine black male identity in America.
Read the restPosted on Tuesday, January 17, 2012 by Allison Byers
Yves Behar wants his children to be able to skateboard -- not outside, but inside the house -- so when his home in Cow Hollow is remodeled, floors will be made of polished concrete.
Read the restPosted on Tuesday, January 10, 2012 by Jim Norrena
In the landmark exhibition Landscape Futures: Instruments, Devices, and Architectural Interventions new work by Architecture associate professor David Gissen and Architecture visiting faculty members Mason White and Lola Sheppard (333: Architecture Summer Studio) is currently on display through February 18 at the Center for Art and Environment at the Nevada Museum of Art in Reno.
Read the restPosted on Thursday, December 22, 2011 by Jim Norrena
Architecture student Vonnie Bower was recently featured in a San Francisco Chronicle article (“Welder gets her chance of a lifetime on Bay Bridge,” by Edward Guthman) that highlighted the experienced welder and pile driver for her work in the rebuilding of the eastern span of the Bay Bridge, a dream-come-true opportunity for countless persons -- male and female alike – in and out of the construction industry.
Read the restPosted on Thursday, December 15, 2011 by Samantha Braman
What do Delphi Optics (special wilderness goggles that use satellite info to provide specific information about your surroundings), Jungle Walkers (100 percent sustainable cardboard puzzle animals), and the Snowkite (a kite that pulls you across snowy slopes) all have in common? They're all the brainchildren of alumnus Lucas Ainsworth (Industrial Design 2010), and they're all in one way or another expressions of Ainsworth's passion for the outdoors.
Before he came to CCA's Industrial Design Program, Ainsworth studied environmental science at UC Davis. "I always intrinsically loved design, but I was never exposed to it growing up. I thought products were designed by mechanical engineers. Then, during my time at UC Davis I was a whitewater guide in their outdoor program on weekends. The guy who runs the program was a designer at Black Diamond, and he used to tell stories about designing and testing outdoor gear. After graduating and working for a few years, I called him up and asked what it takes to be a designer at Black Diamond. He introduced me to the field of industrial design and said, basically, 'Your only chance is to get into a top-notch design school and rock it.'"
While at CCA, Ainsworth developed and marketed all kinds of products, from toys to high-end electronic devices. It was in Jay Baldwin's Industrial Design 1 class that he conceived the Jungle Walker, an environmentally conscious toy elephant made of cardboard that, when assembled, walks and moves its head with surprising realism.
Read the restPosted on Thursday, December 15, 2011 by Allison Byers
The number of international students at California College of the Arts has significantly increased in the past few years. For the fall 2011 semester alone, the college welcomed 123 new degree-seeking international students, and seven exchange students.
For some of these students, English is not their first language, they have never set foot in San Francisco, and are completely foreign to the culture typically found at an American art college. These students come to CCA to learn English as a second language (ESL), engage, and create, but often must overcome quite a few daunting challenges.
Read the restPosted on Thursday, December 15, 2011 by Heather Lohmann
Heather Lohmann graduated from CCA in spring 2011 from the MFA Program in Writing. She currently lives in the Haight-Ashbury neighborhood of San Francisco, where she's dreaming up her next big adventure.
Aries
March 21-April 19
It’s time to get rid of all that clutter, Aries. And I’m not just talking about all the junk that’s been piling up in your studio over the past few months. Take a deeper look into the aspects of your life that may be hindering your creative nature. If your career hasn’t been moving in the direction you may have been hoping for, maybe it’s time to change paths. It might take a little while to see how this change will affect you positively, and we all know you’re not the most patient of signs, but if you can wait, you’ll definitely be pleased with the results. You may come across a few difficulties at first, but if you can stick to what you’ve started (and I know what you’re thinking: There are just too many ideas to work with! How can I stay focused on just one piece or project when it doesn’t pay off right away?!), you’ll reap the rewards. Remain optimistic and the world will be your oyster.
Taurus
April 20-May 20
Brace yourself, Taurus, because all that creative hard work is about to get recognized. Fame? Make sure you’ve got your sunglasses and anti-paparazzi hand-to-the-face ready! Fortune? Get ready to see some serious activity in your bank account. You’ll have to work hard to get to where you’re going, but you’ve got the stubborn, practical nature to help make sure you don’t give up. Whether it’s a publishing contract for your first novel, a gallery opening for your latest and greatest, or the debut of your clothing line, there are very big things waiting in your very near future. A quick tip, though: Make sure to play the role of diplomat when dealing with others who hold positions of power -- you might need these allies a little later down the road after your 15+ minutes hit!
Posted on Thursday, December 15, 2011 by Simon Hodgson
When Ceramics professor Arthur Gonzalez was told about his upcoming retrospective at the CU Art Museum at the University of Colorado, Boulder, his first reaction was, "Wow, that's exciting!"
Then, his second thought: "Oh boy, am I really old enough for a retrospective?"
The exhibition will take place in 2015. "By the time the show opens, I'll be 60. We're planning it so far out because we have to locate a lot of the work. My pieces are spread across collections in the United States, Taiwan, Japan, Italy, Canada, Belgium, and Australia. It'll be a kind of detective-investigation situation. Each piece has its own history -- its provenance -- and some have changed hands two or three times. And then when I find out who owns an artwork, I have to ask them if they'd be willing to part with it for a while. A retrospective tells a story; you've got to have a beginning, a middle, and an end . . . although hopefully I've got a couple more decades to go before it's really The End!"
Gonzalez grew up in a rural neighborhood outside Sacramento. His mother was a seamstress, and his father was a carpenter. Both came from large families; his mother was one of seven, and his father was one of 23 (!) children born to a Nebraska sharecropper. "Since they both worked, I had to find ways as a child to keep myself occupied. I always loved to draw -- I can't remember a time when I didn't draw. My father was literally a Sunday painter. He would do an oil painting at the kitchen table on the weekends. One day, my mom enrolled herself and my dad in a night class in oil painting. He liked to paint, but only having a third-grade education, he was intimidated by the idea of doing it in a school-type situation. So I went with my mother in his place. I was seven years old. I still have a painting that I made in that class. Also, my uncle worked for the state printing plant and would bring home books that were stitched together, with no images, and they'd be my sketchbooks. I'd go through them like water, filling every corner with drawings and cartoons."
Read the rest