Our first two SPARC events were wonderful so let's get together and celebrate!
Our Bright Star screening was a big success and raised the funds needed for our interactive arts experience at the Eclectic Music Fest and Art walk on May 1st.
The SPARC Giant easels were the talk of the town! Go to our SPARC web site SoPasArtsCouncil.com and click on our photo gallery for pictures of both events (order your SPARC T-Shirts when you visit the site!)
SPARC Meeting /Mixer Sat June 26 2-4pm 909 El Centro at SPARC Temporary/Contemporary Gallery
SPARC Temporary Contemporary Gallery, at 909 El Centro St., is a must see destination on Saturday. This newly built commercial space will debut as an art gallery featuring the works of local artists Liz Reday and Catherine Ellen Money, Kirk Miller, Nathan Rohlander, Amy Runyen, Alice Simpson, Marie Switzer, Susan Singer, Connie Rohman and many others . Most of the works will be available for acquisition.
And don't forget to check out the article on the event and artists at artsbeatla.com!
Here are just some of the artists on display! Make sure you stop by to see these and the many other amazing works of art.
LIZ REDAY:
A lifelong career artist, Liz Reday holds a Master's Degree from the Royal College of Art in London. Her work has been featured in numerous shows and collections in several countries, including Australia, Great Britain and Japan. Liz Reday spent her childhood in rural Japan before moving to Southern California. She had a solo show at the Kerry Schuh Gallery, Newport Beach. David Hockney at UC Irvine, sent her to London.A recent trip to India & the L.A. River have been recent inspirations for her oils on canvas.
CATHERINE ELLEN MONEY: Photographic artist and poet. Graduate of Brooks Institute of Photography, Santa Barbara, CA. Several images from THE PLANET PARADISE COLLECTION will be on exhibit.
Artist's Statement: PLANET PARADISE speaks to the intimate moments in my life. Vibrant and enigmatic, the imagery pokes at the subconscious, transporting the viewer into a world of energy, color and light. Expressed in mythical proportions, on a metallic substrate, the imagery invites the viewer to linger and consider our emotional response to our natural world.
ALICE SIMPSON:
With a background in fashion illustration, it is by instinct that I search for the line that graces form, hair and fabric; to capture the quality of watercolor washes; to reveal how light and shadows create drama. Coil built, pushed, pulled, carved, and hollowed to one quarter thickness, my works are detailed into expression and each contains a secret. The larger operatic works are inspired by suspended emotional moments of sound and expression.
Portrait of the Artist as Queen Elizabeth 1, with her sideways glance and ironic expression, and Portrait of the Artist As Sarah Palin, including her ubiquitous wink, are intended as satiric representations of their time and place in history.
BARRY WETMORE:
About the artist! 1 year, Carnegie Institute of Technology, Fine Arts Dept./ 4 years, Chouinard Art Institute, Los Angeles/ 24 years, TV and Print advertising Art Director / 23 years Freelance Illustrator, creating art for print ads, TV commercials and book publishers / 12 years fine art painting! My name is Barry Wetmore and I live in, of all places...South Pasadena, California! Tah Dah! wetart@socal.rr.com
CECILIA PAISLEY LEGASPE:
Started drawing since she was 2 years of age. Would make her own story books with folded sheets or paper stapled together like a book to read to her little brother Leo. At age 4-6 she would sketch and design fashion models. Then was fascinated with Japanese anime would make up her own characters using pen, pencil and ink. Cecilia now 18 years has displayed her art work at, The Pomona Arts Colony, exhibition at Bunny Gunner Gallery, SoHo Gallery, and 5ifty Bucks gallery in Pomona.
LEONARDO AMADEO LEGASPE:
Started drawing at the age of 2 immitating his older sister Ceci by watching her and amazingly had the same artistic talent. Since Kindergarten he was chosen to design the schools calendar for the year and every year after that. Leo's medium is also pen, pencil and ink. He is extremely fascinated in Robots and machinary. He draws every piece by thought and imagination. Leonardo now at age 13 has displayed his art work at, 5ifty Bucks Gallery with his sister.
HARRY LIEBERMAN:
Harry Lieberman, who paints representational landscapes, began his art career at High School of Music and Art in New York City and has taken workshops with M. Stephen Doherty, Ross Merrill and Scott Christensen. He has been most influenced by JMW Turner and the artists of the Hudson River School.
KIRK MILLER:
Kirk's education and experience cover a wide spectrum of art and art activity. He has a background in art history, several years experience as a Post-Conceptual artist, twenty three years full-time teaching experience at Cerritos College, and has instructed survey courses as well as courses specifically devoted to painting, electronic imaging, and installation or experimental art.
Kirk received an M.F.A. in painting from Art Center College of Design in Pasadena in 1987, a B.F.A. in illustration in 1979, and in 1973, and received a B.A. in art history from the University of California, Berkeley, CA. He has been a professor of art at Cerritos College since 1988 and has been an adjunct professor at CSU, Long Beach and CSU, Northridge as well.
Description of Artwork
Something About Nothing or No Thing
My works of art are “spacers.” They are the gaps between words, the interval between notes, the expanse between things, the thoughts between thoughts. Put simply, they represent the “space in between.” Some time ago, while pondering the notion of nothing I came upon this quote, which for me succinctly describes what I’m trying to do and say.
“We start, then, with nothing, pure zero. But this is not the nothing of negation. For not means other than, and other is merely a synonym of the ordinal numeral second. As such it implies a first; while the present pure zero is prior to every first. The nothing of negation is the nothing of death, which comes second to, or after, everything. But this pure zero is the nothing of not having been born. There is no individual thing, no compulsion, outward nor inward, no law. It is the germinal nothing, in which the whole universe is involved or foreshadowed. As such, it is absolutely undefined and unlimited possibility --boundless possibility. There is no compulsion and no law. It is boundless freedom.”
Charles S. Peirce, “Logic of Events” (1898)
MARIE SWITZER MILLER:
Marie Switzer-Miller is a local resident of South Pasadena and is currently moving in a new and exciting direction with her art. During the past twenty years Marie has worked as a concept designer and art director for the global leaders of themed entertainment, including BRC Imagination Arts and Walt Disney Imagineering. Marie’s new works of art, which were recently in South Pasadena at SPACE in a show titled “Textiles on the Edge,” offer a fresh and unconventional approach to the use of natural materials and techniques. Marie received a Bachelor of Science degree in Industrial/Environmental Design, with honors, from Art Center College of Design in Pasadena in 1987. In 1995, she returned to Art Center as an instructor and taught “Environments for Entertainment,” and Woodbury University in Burbank. She has taught at SPEF and SPACE in South Pasadena as well.
Description of Artwork:
My current works of art deal with a variety of issues, ranging from those of personal sensory and memory to grief and release, and are made of a variety of natural materials, such as hemp, to fallen pods gathered from the base of wisteria vines. Evidence of my strong formal education in design is clearly present in my artwork. In the work titled “Disentanglement in Crossing the Red Sea,” the composition is reminiscent of an early Malevich, but that is where similarity ends. Process is also an important component to my artwork. Most of my art is very labor intensive. Meticulously tying hundreds of hemp threads can provide a space, a mental opening if you will, for me on the one hand, but can also serve to help facilitate memories on the other and aid in moving the artwork forward in an unanticipated direction helping to give it a life of its own. Some of these new works of art were recently exhibited.
Liz & Catherine, curators in front of SPARC gallery space.
Sparc is taking part in the South Pasadena Eclectic Music Festival & Art Walk This Saturday!
Saturday, May 1, 2010 from 2pm to 10pm Fair Oaks to Grand Ave. on Mission Street
Join us for the second annual
eclectic music festival & art walk
in wonderful, walkable
South Pasadena!
Over two dozen musical groups at six venues. For details, see the entertainment lineup.
David Lindley, The Nervis Brothers, Double Naught Spy Car, Moira Smiley & VOCO and Wahid all for just $20, with live music at five other venues for FREE! Tickets at www.SouthPasadena.net
Purchase tickets online in advance. Enter code: SPARC and10% of your ticket will go to the South Pasadena Arts Council!
Art Galleries & Open Studios:
The SPARC Interactive Arts Event with the Giant Easels on Meridian is FREE- come particiapate and paint with us! We will be painting from 5:30pm - 8pm.
SPARC Temporary Contemporary. (909 El Centro St.) This newly built commercial space will debut as an art gallery featuring the works of local artists Liz Reday and Catherine Ellen Money, Kirk Miller, Nathan Rohlander, Amy Runyen, Alice Simpson, Marie Switzer, Susan Singer, Connie Rohman and others. Most of the works will be available for acquisition.
Michael Hollis (238 Pasadena Avenue) will be having a group show with paintings of early California and contemporary American art
SoPas Gallery (1121 Mission Street) will be showing the recent paintings of South Pasadena artist Leslie Saeta.
SPACE Gallery (1506 Mission Street) presents "Our Shaky Civilization with Animals" featuring the artwork of Abira Ali and Gordon Henderson.
Fremont Gallery (812 Fremont Avenue) will present the works of Kikki Eder, "Real, Unreal, Surreal" oil paintings.
Burke Triolo (538 Mission Street) will host an open studio showing photographic works and montage by J.T. Burke and Loraine Angela Triolo.
SOPA Studios (1025 Hope Street) is an artists' collective and will host an open studio.
Upstairs Artists (1034 Mission Street) lofts above Mission Street will have an open studio.
www.sewjoe.com Catch the cutting edge in design at Sew Joe Stitch Lounge at 634 Mission.
Special Exhibitions will be presented by Zinnia, Kaldi Coffee & Tea, Reimagine Your Home, Mission Street Yoga, and more. Celebrate the grand opening of House of Honey. Get into it - literally - with The South Pasadena Arts Council (SPARC) "Art Experience," an interactive exhibition on Meridian.
Watch for the UpStage kids appearing on the community stage at Meridian during the afternoon! Upstage is a theatre school for kids 6yrs-16 yrs based out of So Pasadena for the last 10 yrs. They do an afterschool program and summer theatre camps. For more details go to upstageschools.com
Contact Tom Field of Thomas R. Field American Antiques with questions about the Art Walk or the Eclectic music festival. Call 626.799.8546
Take the Metro Gold Line to Mission Station! www.metro.net. Or exit the Arroyo Seco Parkway (110) at Orange Grove Ave. or Fair Oaks Ave. in South Pasadena.
Artist rendering of SPARC easels by Marie Miller!
Friday, April 23, 2010
Another Work Gathering For SPARC Interactive Arts Event!
Let us know if you can make it!
Date/Time: Saturday, April 24, 11 - 2 p.m.
Location: Susan Masterman's house
1233 Garfield Avenue
South Pasadena, CA 91030
T [626] 799. 2749
Third house south of intersection of Monterey Road and Garfield Ave., on the west side of the street.
Park on Garfield, use the side gate to the right & walk down the driveway to the garage. Or press the call box in the driveway and Susan can buzz you in to park in the gravel motor court.
Wear clothes that you can paint in, bring gloves to work with wood.
Our work party last week was great- (see photos below) we're in the home stretch if you can help out let us know if you willbe there!
Dan Burr building Giant Easel.
Helpers paint parts of Giant Easels.
Mike Rouse put together more see through canvases!
The Perello family pitches in big time!
Decorating donation box!
*** We still need volunteers for our May 1st Interactive Arts Event. Artists to paint and supervise, people to man info and donation booth, trucks to hep transport giant easels, and strong men to help set up and tear down- let us know ASAP if you can help on Sat May 1st!
***And don't forget to attend the Eclectic Music Festival and Art Walk go to- SoPasArtsCouncil.com for event details, tickets and T-Shirt orders!
Our South Pasadena Arts Council Web site is up and running!
Check it out at: www.SoPasArtsCouncil.com
WE NEED YOU!
Help needed to get ready for our Interactive Arts Event on May 1st
The Arts Council will be creating an "Arts Experience" for the May 1st South Pasadena Eclectic Music Festival and Art Walk. Please join us on April 17th and April 24th from 11-2pm at the Fremont Center Theatre to help build the frames needed for the project. We need your help!
The Eclectic Music Festival and Art Walk on May 1st is just around the corner! We need Arts Council members to help out with our Arts Experience event!
Volunteers are needed to:
Refill paint and water
Hand out and collect aprons given to participants
Talk up the Arts Council
Man the Information table
Help set up and breakdown
Here are the various shifts you can sign up for:
SATURDAY, MAY 1st
2:30-4:30pm
4:30-6:30pm
6:30-8:30pm
Contact Karen Sommers Cooper if you would like to sign up: karencooper@me.com. The more, the merrier!
Indoor gallery space available for one day exhibition during SoPas Music & ArtWalk, right in the middle of the action. Artists WANTED to show new artwork to estimated 5,000 people walking through from 2PM - 10PM, May 1st. Painting, Sculpture, Mixed Media, Photography . Call Liz at 626-441-0323 or e-mail liz@lizreday.com.
This is what we need from you for the Bright Star screening at the library on April 17th at 7:30 PM in the community room at the South Pas Library:
Volunteers to man the donation/information booth
Baked goods and donated soft drinks for the event
Help setting up chairs and table
Your attendance at the event (along with spreading the word of this event to your friends and neighbors!)
Margo Newman is the Chair of this SPARC event, so IF YOU CAN HELP email her at: margo.newman@roadrunner.com or respond on this blog and she will get the message!
The newly formed South Pasadena Arts Council(SPARC), in partnership with the South Pasadena Library and the Friends of the South Pasadena Library, will present a free screening of the critically-acclaimed 2009 film, “Bright Star,” on April 17 at 7:30 p.m. in the Community Room of the South Pasadena Library.
Directed by Academy Award winning Jane Campion, “Bright Star” depicts the secret romance between 19th century poet John Keats and the love of his short life, Fanny Brawne. With its stunning images and evocative score, critics have called this PG-rated film about poetry and love a visual poem in itself.
Following the screening, actor Paul Schneider (NBC’s “Parks and Recreation,” “Lars and the Real Girl”), who received the National Society of Film Critics Award for Best Supporting Actor for his role in “Bright Star,” will give a behind-the-scenes talk about the making of the film and working with director Campion.
The Community Room of the South Pasadena Library is located at 1115 El Centro St. Admission is free, but donations to SPARC are encouraged to fund future events.
Doors open at 7 p.m. Refreshments will be available for purchase.
For more information, contact Margo Newman, South Pasadena Arts Council Co-chair of SPARC Media Events, at 2margo.newman@gmail.com or call the Fremont Centre Theatre at 626.441.5977
For our first event, we will be participating in the Eclectic Music Festival and Art Walk on Saturday, May 1st. The event will take place from 5pm-10pm. We hope to have as many of you participate as possible. Below is a brief description including ways you can be involved. Please come to our next meeting on March 18th to hear more and to sign up.
We also encourage email sign ups prior to the next meeting.
South Pasadena Arts Council's part in the event:
Our footprint will be Meridian street with our focus on the Meridian Iron Works Museum side of the street. Both sides of Meridian will be closed to traffic.
Unless we can get lighting, our interactive activity will most likely be from 5pm - 8pm.
Our event will be an interactive visual arts project which will either be painting the street or painting panels that line the street. (see Artist sketch below). Participants will be encouraged to paint the panels or street.
There will be a common theme and a color pallet chosen.
So Pasadena Arts Council Artists will have specific painting areas or panels to oversee and create.
Margo Newman and Kevin Foxe are spearheading an interactive Media/film project that will air on the screen on the side of the museum.
In addition, the Chamber is offering to So Pasadena Arts Council artists 2 options:
To buy into a gallery space for $100 to sell and display artwork (location is TBD). Artists would be responsible for hanging and framing expenses. One So Pasadena Arts Council volunteer would spearhead this gallery and liaison with the Chamber to help facilitate this space.
To showcase artwork in a space for free (location is TBD). So Pasadena Arts Council volunteers would be responsible for entire setup and breakdown.
May 1st is our preview to what we hope will be our big interactive arts event in the Fall.
Our next South Pasadena Arts Council large group meeting will be Thursday, March 18 at 7pm and we will let you know soon the date and details for our first fundraising event!
The South Pasadena Arts Council will host its first community arts event this spring 2010 tentatively titled, South Pasadena Creative Arts Experience.
At this event, the community will be invited into local visual and performing art venues to participate in demonstrations, performances and interactive activities conducted by South Pasadena visual and performing artists.
Possible dates for this event are April 25, May 1, 2.
The tentative hours of the event are 12:00 p.m. - 5:00 p.m.
We would like to keep the event venues centrally located and within walking distance of each other.
We are inviting performing and visual artists to submit proposals to the South Pasadena Arts Council “Creative Arts Experience” Committee for consideration of participation in this event. The requirements are as follows:
Each artist must be a resident of South Pasadena, or work in South Pasadena or have an interest in working in South Pasadena.
Each artist must commit to a one-hour time slot on the day of the day of the event and the time necessary for preparation.
Each artist will be required to include within their allotted time: a demonstration of their talent, and interactive/audience participation portion, and a Q&A.
Each artist will be responsible for setting up and breaking down your materials, staging, etc.
In submitting a project for this event please describe how you will fill your spot:
DEMO: (or Exhibition) (15 min) to demonstrate your talent: ie- your artwork, performance, dance, music, etc.
INTERACTION: (15 min) Engage participants in the art form. Example: play a theatre game on stage, have the participants paint a watercolor or drawing, pass out instruments to play, etc.
Q&A: Answer questions
Regards,
Hope Perello, hopeperello@sbcglobal.net
Karen Cooper, karencooper@me.com
Co-Chairs, South Pasadena Arts Council “Creative Arts Experience” Committee
Our Oct 17 Arts Council Meeting was held once again at the BurkeTriolo studio and kicked off with a half hour drum circle group led by Munyungo Jackson! Lisa Watson, who moderated a Mission /Vision Statement Arts Council Focus Group, started off our meeting by talking about the process and how the Focus Group arrived at the statement below:
We the South Pasadena Arts Council believe that the Arts enrich and enliven our lives and are vital to the social, educational and economic well-being of South Pasadena.
The Council will advocate for and promote the Arts in order to recognize local artists as a rich resource within our city and build appreciation and understanding of the value of the Arts within the community.
Some comments were to shorten the Mission Statement and not limit recognition to “local artists” and list that as one of our goals instead. If you were not able to give input at the group meeting please do so here on the blog! We will do the final tweaking and list it here in its finished form.
Next, Victoria Arriola gave a short presentation about designing the Arts Council web site and asked the group for ideas. Some of the ideas shared:
Arts calendar of local performing and visual Arts events
Arts Resource guide
Arts links page
Arts advertising page
Arts map of arts organizations, galleries, theatres etc.
Arts networking system like “Social Sam”
Arts on-line way to collect donations or pay for future events
Arts Advocacy page
If you have other ideas please share here on the blog.
Victoria is going to put a plan together and start the process to develop the Arts Council Web site, and come up with a budget to help get it done!
Next, Hope Perillo spoke of organizing our first Arts event in the Spring of next year. It is based on an idea presented on the blog by Karen Cooper for an Interactive Arts Event for both kids and adults. It is conceived of as a way to have a fun, hands-on experience with both the visual and performing arts.
There was a lots of interest in this and people signed up to participate. So if any of you out there in blog land would like to be a part of this event, leave a message here for Hope or Karen, who will be co-chairing this event.
Thanks to Jeff and Lorraine Burke for hosting our end of year group meeting! Thanks once again to Munyngo for leading our Drum Circle group! Thanks to Lisa Watson, our volunteer focus group, Hope Perillo and Victoria Arriola. Thank you Desiree Paterson for the refreshments. And thanks to artist Liz Reday for drawing the sketch of some of us during our group meeting which we include on this blog. Very cool. And thanks to all of you for showing up. Let’s keep moving forward.
On another note, run don’t walk to see the documentary film of the rehearsal of Michael Jackson’s last concert – “This Is It!” It’s amazing to watch an exceptional artist in action behind the scenes.
My husband and I will be doing an Armed Forces Entertainment tour overseas in Dec & Jan visiting with soldiers and their families. We’ll meet as a large group again in Feb. I sign off with this thought:
“On a day no different than the one now dawning, Shakespeare sat down and started Hamlet, Leonardo stepped to an easel and made the first strokes of the Mona Lisa, and Beethoven took out a sketch book and began the Ninth Symphony.”
-adapted from Robert Richardson, Emerson: The Mind on Fire
