News of the World

Time marches on and I am currently in a show at PCC, where I teach Contemporary Art. The show is called "News of the World: A fraction of the artists who teach at PCC" -- it will be up through September 30 at the Pasadena City College Art Gallery. Here is the front of the card:



The interesting thing about this is that it features a photo of Howard Carter and his team of archaeologists opening the fourth chamber of King Tut's tomb. What this has to do with the show I'm not sure, but in two weeks I will be teaching Egypt in the other class I teach, the art history survey from ancient to modern. . . .

The show itself is a group show that includes a lot of very interesting work by other adjuncts in the Visual and Media Arts Division at PCC. I submitted a small photo/textile piece called "Arroyo rakusu". Rakusus are symbolic, handsewn bib-like wearable patchwork squares that stand in for robes and symbolize Buddhists' refuge in the precepts. I like to think about taking refuge in nature, and the greenery of the Arroyo Seco is refreshing so soon after the fires.

"Bringing the Past to Light" recap

I had a blast curating this show. The artists were great and I was very happy with my own piece, too. To start with, here are some pictures (thanks, Kevin Hass) of my installation, "Dirty Laundry" -- it is a clothesline hung with domestic linens covered with photos of some of the various women in Charles Lummis's life, "acknowledging the experience and points of view of the many women who comprised Lummis's domestic circle, supporting the household with their work and devotion."

Lummis had three wives and was a notorious womanizer. Harvard educated, Lummis is best known as a man of letters in love with the West and a founder of the Southwest Museum in Highland Park. He launched his career during the 1870s by walking from Ohio to Los Angeles in street shoes, on his own, and writing a book about the experience. He also married three times, brought a daughter from another liaison to live with him, and collected dozens of photographs of the women in his life who entertained him and kept him on track. I wanted to bring their contributions to light by including their words and images in my installation.

Little vacation from blog --

So, I confess, Facebook has sucked my attention away from keeping this poor blog current!! I am not really a dedicated "blogger" in the "blogging community" anyway -- but I still like to have a place to post things about art activities and other things. My last post was in April -- even though there is no catching up, here are a few posts that cover what's been going on. . . .