Monday, December 15, 2014

Support SPARC with a Year-End Gift BECOME A SPARC-PLUG!

Arts Supporters, Members & Friends of SPARC,

In the spirit of #Giving Tuesday, a global day dedicated to giving back, SPARC is very grateful to our community of supporters. Thanks to your support we are able to expand the arts in our city.

We strive to enrich South Pasadena through a program of compelling cultural events to help create a vibrant, creative city and build appreciation and understanding of the value of the arts within our community.

This past year, 2014 has been a growth year for us. We offered more opportunities for artists with our visual and performing arts programs and SPARC Lab, and have continued our strong arts programming and arts education advocacy in SPUSD that benefits all students.

With your support we can continue to provide exciting, innovative cultural experiences for South Pasadena. Please join us and make a gift today!!

Choose your Level: Patron $2,500/Supporter $1,000/Advocate $500/Friend $250/Fan $100
Enthusiast $50/Ally $25

                   
                                                     DONATE NOW

Your contribution is tax-deductible to the full extent of the law.

Make a one-time donation or consider signing up for a recurring gift. Your tax-deductible contribution will enable SPARC to be the creative voice for everyone who believes that arts, culture, and arts education will build a better future for South Pasadena. Every gift is meaningful. Every dollar you contribute is an investment in the arts for our community.

If you don't want to pay online, please send a check payable to: Pasadena Arts Council.
Write SPARC in the memo line, and mail to:
South Pasadena Arts Council
P.O. Box 3272, South Pasadena, CA 91031

On behalf of SPARC thank you for supporting our work. We appreciate your commitment for SPARC's success.

Best Wishes and Happy Holidays!!
Sincerely,

 Howard Spector, Director

SPARC is a project of the Pasadena Arts Council's EMERGE Fiscal Sponsorship Program.

Wednesday, November 12, 2014

The SPARC 3rd Annual Juried Exhibition Ends November 15th

Featured photographers
Cheng-Chung-Ping, Janet Milhomme, Kim Ziel, Joan Dooley, Mark Woods, and Linda Queally. 
Curated by Claudia Bohn-Spector.

SoPas Gallery, 1121 Mission Street, So. Pasadena, CA
Open Tuesday-Friday 10am-5pm.

Looking Forward to 2015

Dear Members & Community Artists,

SPARC will be taking over the So Pas Gallery next year in the spring! We plan on organizing a yearly program of SPARC Exhibitions, so look for a call to artists in January to submit work for consideration for the FY 2015-16 program.

Also keep an eye out for new and exciting SPARC Labs in the new year! 

Sunday, October 26, 2014

Monday October 27, 2014 @ 7pm - FREE Workshop Every Artist Insured: Finding Affordable Health Insurance


Please join us at LA STAGE Space for a free workshop on health care for artists. This workshop will:

1.) Walk you through your Covered California options and requirements
2.) Provide important information relevant to freelancers and the self-employed
3.) Help you find affordable health insurance with the help of tax credits and federal subsidies
4.) Answer all your burning questions!

The event is free and open to everyone in the visual and performing arts. Guests are welcome. RSVP is appreciated as space is limited.

LA STAGE Space is located at 4200 Chevy Chase Drive, Los Angeles, CA, 90039. Questions? Email Crystal at cdiaz@lastagealliance.com

LA STAGE Alliance, a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization empowering artists and engaging audiences since 1975, is dedicated to building awareness, appreciation and support for the performing arts in Greater Los Angeles strengthening the sector through audience engagement, community building, collaborative marketing, professional development and advocacy.

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SPARC is distributing this announcement as a service to our members and the and artists in the community. We believe it is important that people be informed of these opportunities and be able to participate if they want to.

Monday, October 6, 2014




        

Third Annual SPARC Juried Exhibition



Photography

South Pasadena Arts Council (SPARC) announces its third annual juried exhibition, October 15 – November 15, 2014 at the So Pas Gallery, 1121 Mission St, South Pasadena CA 91030. The Opening Reception will take place on Saturday, October 18, from 5-9 pm in conjunction with the Fall Arts Crawl, South Pasadena’s Neighborhood Night on the Town. 
This year’s juror, Claudia Bohn-Spector, selected the works of six artists.  Included in the exhibition are: Cheng-Chung-Ping, Janet Milhomme, Kim Ziel, Joan Dooley, Mark Woods, and Linda Queally.


“I was pleased to be able to jury and curate the Third Annual SPARC Exhibition. My approach was to organize a coherent group of images that worked well together in the gallery around the central theme of landscape”, said Curator Claudia Bohn-Spector.


SPARC’s mission is to 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.


The Annual Juried Exhibition is one of the ways we provide opportunities for local artists to present their work to the public.


Come out for the Crawl, stop by the So Pas Gallery and support these artists and SPARC. Enjoy refreshments, wine and good friendships and conversations.

 


SPARC is a project of the Pasadena Arts Council’s EMERGE Fiscal Sponsorship Program.
P.O. Box 3272 South Pasadena California 91031
http://www.SoPasArtsCouncil.com                                    mailto:info@SoPasArtsCouncil.com

Wednesday, September 17, 2014

4th Annual “End of Summer Concert Celebration”

THE NEXT SPARC CONCERT EVENT !

BE THERE AT LIBRARY PARK IN FRONT OF THE COMMUNITY ROOM

The South Pasadena Arts Council (SPARC) in partnership with the South Pasadena Public Library and Friends of the South Pasadena Public Library is presenting its 4th Annual “End of Summer Concert Celebration” on Thursday, September 25th, from 5:00 to 6:30 pm at 1115 El Centro Street outside of the Library Community Room, adjacent to the Farmers’ Market.

The free concert will feature the Mark “Pocket” Goldberg Trio. The MPG Trio includes Debra Dobkin On Drums & Vocals and Nick Kirgo on Guitar & Vocals.

For decades now, Mark “Pocket” Goldberg has been a respected “Roots” Bass player (upright & electric) who has had the honor of making music with some of the most talented artists of his day including: Mick Fleetwood’s Blue Whale (with Joe Walsh & John Mayall), Willie Dixon, Buddy Guy & Junior Wells, Canned Heat, Screamin’ Jay Hawkins, and Joe Bonamassa. 



Special Opportunity for SPARC Members

SPARC MEMBERS CAN ATTEND FOR THE SPECIAL STUDENT/SENIOR REGISTRATION OF $110.
Presented by the Los Angeles Art Association

UPCOMING LAAA WORKSHOP - SIGN UP TODAY!

Today's Artist: 21st Century Communications, Strategies and Opportunities.
Strengthen your professional development with an immersive 1 day artist-centric program focused on the practical needs of artists from LAAA, the organization committed to the needs of artists.

When:
Saturday, September 27, 2014, 9 am - 5 pm

Where:
Burke Triolo Studio
538 Mission street
South Pasadena, 91030

Cost:
$100 LAAA Members
$110 Students and Seniors and SPARC members
$180 Non-Members


For more information and to register visit  http://laaa.org/workshop_todays_artist/index.html

Saturday, August 16, 2014

Third Annual SPARC Juried Exhibition


Third Annual SPARC Juried Exhibition

Call for Entries - Photography
Opportunity for Visual Artists
South Pasadena Arts Council (SPARC) announces its third annual juried exhibition, October 15 – November 30, 2014 at the So Pas Gallery Pasadena, 1121 Mission St, South Pasadena CA 91030. The Opening Reception will take place on Saturday, October 18, from 5-9 pm.
Eligibility: The exhibition is open to all current paid SPARC member artists, or visual artists that join SPARC at the time of submission, are at least 18 years of age, and living and/or working in California. Membership for artists is $30/yr.

Artists are invited to submit up to 10 digital images of two or three-dimensional work completed within the last three years. This exhibition will only accept works in photographic media.

Juror:   Claudia-Bohn-Spector
Claudia Bohn-Spector, an independent scholar and curator in Los Angeles, received her PhD in art history from the University of Munich, Germany.  A specialist in American art and culture, she has organized numerous fine art exhibitions, most recently Objects Are Closer Than They Appear at the Los Angeles Municipal Art Gallery, with works by German artist Manfred Müller; and Speaking in Tongues: Wallace Berman and Robert Heinecken, 1961-1976 at the Armory Center for the Arts in Pasadena, CA.  She also co-curated a critically acclaimed survey of Los Angeles photography at the Huntington Library in San Marino, CA, entitled This Side of Paradise:  Body and Landscape in L.A. Photographs.  

Also at the Huntington, she presented Envisioning Eden: Water and the Selling of L.A. (1997) and The Great Wide Open: Panoramic Photographs of the American West (2001), which received the top exhibition catalog award from the American Library Association in 2002.  

At the Getty Research Institute, she helped direct the international research and exhibition project Imaging the City: The Formation and Display of Urban Identities in the Americas and authored August Sander: Photographs from the J. Paul Getty Museum (2000). 

She is currently preparing two photography exhibitions:  Burning Down the House: Ellen Brooks, JoAnn Callis, Eileen Cowin, opening at the Pasadena Museum of California Art on September 13, 2014 and a major exhibition of works by Ansel Adams for the Huntington Library and Art Galleries in San Marino, CA, scheduled to open in early 2017.

Submissions
Prepare your digital images in jpeg format at 72 ppi. Image files must be no longer than 800 pixels wide. Each jpeg should have a file name of your initials, an underscore and the title. If, for example, your title were “blue landscape”, you would name your file as follows: hs_bluelandscape.jpg. Titles must correspond with the titles provided on your entry form.


Fees
$25 for the first five images, for current SPARC members.  Up to five additional images can be submitted for $10 per image.

$55 for the first five images for non-SPARC members, (includes a one-year membership in SPARC). Up to five additional images can be submitted for $10 per image.

The juror will consider the first five images for exhibit. These five must be available.  If you are submitting additional images, please indicate if the work is available for the show.

Payment shall be made by check payable to the Pasadena Arts Council. In the memo line add SPARC and mail together with the CD or DVD submission and entry form.


Submission Deadline:  All entries must be submitted no later than midnight, Friday, September 19, 2014.

How to submit: Artists will mail a CD or DVD with jpeg images, a check, and the entry form to:

SPARC Juried Exhibition
P.O. Box 3272
South Pasadena, California 91031

If you want your CD or DVD returned to you, please include a SASE.

Artist Notification: Artists will be notified of acceptance status by email on or before:
Friday, October 3, 2014.

Accepted Work must be received at the So Pas Gallery (Chamber of Commerce), 1121 Mission Street South Pasadena CA 91030 by no later than 3:00 p.m. on Friday, October 10, 2014 to be included in the exhibition.

Art works selected for exhibition must be ready to hang or be installed.

Liability: SPARC will take all due precautions to protect the premises and art. Artists agree to release SPARC from all liability with respect to loss due to damage, theft, vandalism or accident. Artist is responsible for his/her own insurance.

SPARC
has the right to reject any unsuitable work. Artwork that arrives damaged, cannot be hung properly, or are deemed by the juror having poor quality will not be exhibited.

SPARC will handle any sales for the exhibition, and will retain a 40% commission, plus sales tax, on sold works.

Upon entering work into this exhibition, and signing the form, the artist agrees to these terms of sale, and all terms discussed within this prospectus.

We’ll provide attribution for the artist on the walls of the exhibition, the gallery checklist, and all press materials. Your registration will be our only source of information so it must be accurate.

Reproduction of Artwork: Accepted artwork may be used for print or Internet publicity for the exhibition.

For additional information email Howard Spector, Director of SPARC at info@sopasartscouncil.com or by phone: 310-741-7650.



SPARC JURIED EXHIBITION ENTRY FORM

Please fill out this form, include it with your CD or DVD submission and check.

Artist's name:
Address: city/state/zip:
Email address:
Phone number:
Total number of pieces submitted:___

Payment with: check #___

Artist signature: _____________________________________

By signing your name and sending in your submission, you hereby agree to all of the stated conditions in the prospectus.

Image 1 Title:
Jpeg file name:
Framed size of work:
Medium:
Price:

Image 2 Title:
Jpeg file name:
Framed size of work:
Medium:
Price:

Image 3 Title:
Jpeg file name:
Framed size of work:
Medium:
Price:

Image 4 Title:
Jpeg file name:
Framed size of work:
Medium:
Price:

Image 5 Title:
Jpeg file name:
Framed size of work:
Medium:
Price:

Image 6 Title:
Jpeg file name:
Framed size of work:
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Price:

Image 7 Title:
Jpeg file name:
Framed size of work:
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Image 8 Title:
Jpeg file name:
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Image 9 Title:
Jpeg file name:
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Image 10 Title:
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SPARC Juried Exhibition

Tuesday, May 6, 2014

Photos from the SPARC/SOPA Stage @Eclectic Music Festival and Art Walk






Here are a few images for our great night of music featuring:
Thanks to SOPA Studios for co-hosting our event.
AND thanks to the fabulous musicians who performed.




                                                   Lisa Finnie,
                                                  Shadowlands
                                                  Anny Celsi
                                                  Jonah Smith



Friday, April 25, 2014

Member Announcement from Michael Childs

SPARC Member Michael Childs, furniture designer and maker, will bedoing a show in Saratoga, CA on Sunday May 4, 2014. I
Also, he joined the Board of Directors for the Baulines Craft Guild, of which he is a member at the master level. 

He will be sharing a booth at the upcoming Contemporary Crafts Market to be held at the Pasadena Convention Center on June 20 - 22. 

Roy Helms donated the booth to the Baulines Craft Guild, which he holds in high esteem and which will display Michael Childs' work as well as fellow member, Mickey Singer, another master woodworker. 
www.michaelchilds.com

Thursday, April 24, 2014

JT Burke @ Photo Independent



 Jeff Burke
SPARC member and supporter Jeff Burke will be showing more wonderfully wiggly images this weekend at the Photo Independent Fair at Raleigh Studios in Hollywood.
Gala opening Friday night, then continues all day Saturday and Sunday. He will be in Stage 7, booth 201.

Not coincidentally, the very popular Paris Photo is appearing right across the street at Paramont Studios. Dedicated photo fans can put their feet and eyeballs into high gear and see both shows.
Untitled mural.

There will be a large preview of a mural work-in-progress, as well as his first images printed on canvas.  Please stop by and support Jeff.

Can't make it?  See his work online at the website  JTBurke.com












                                                      



 



Sunday, April 20, 2014

ARTISTS AND HEALTHCARE PROFESSIONALS ADDRESS PUBLIC HEALTH CRISIS








ARTISTS AND HEALTHCARE PROFESSIONALS ADDRESS PUBLIC HEALTH CRISIS AT “LONG LIVE LA” VIDEO EVENT


The South Pasadena Arts Council (SPARC) in partnership with Freewaves, a Los Angeles-based media organization, presents a free screening of artists’ videos, LONG LIVE LA and a panel discussion about art and health/care issues, Wednesday, April 30th, 7:30 – 9:30 pm, at the Laurie Hendricks Gallery/Burgess Collection, 1504 Mission Street, South Pasadena as part of its SPARC LAB Series.

SPARC LAB is a series of presentations, discussions, and workshops designed to bring together community members who share a common interest in the arts for inspiration, information, professional development and networking.

Along with several videos, the event will feature a discussion about art and healthcare and ways that the arts can influence, bring attention to, and contribute to community dialogue.

“ I have always believed that art and artists are one of several solutions to community issues, and must be at the table during these community conversations”, says Howard Spector, Director of SPARC.


“Our country’s public health crisis has received a lot of attention in the traditional media, yet the problem continues to get worse,” says Anne Bray, executive director of Freewaves. “We thought that artists could bring a fresh perspective to these issues and reach people in a way that conventional PSAs and news stories do not.”

 The event will feature a panel of artists and healthcare professionals discussing a variety of issues related to health and ways the arts and artists can inspire people to embrace healthier lifestyles.

The panel includes:
Cissy Brady-Rogers is a Duke University Integrative Medicine trained health coach. She brings 20 years of experience as a licensed marital and family therapist specializing in eating disorders, spirituality and women’s health to her coaching. In addition to her coaching and clinical work, she blogs on health related topics (www.cissybradyrogers.com/blog) and speaks on mental, physical and spiritual health for professional and community groups. Cissy is a clinical member of the California Association of Marital & Family Therapists and the International Association of Eating Disorders Professionals. She is also a certified yoga teacher, spiritual director, and full of gratitude to be enjoying her twenty-second year of life following breast cancer treatment at age 30!

Dr. Marina Khubesrian, M.D. was elected to the South Pasadena City Council in November, 2011. She currently serves as Mayor for the 2013 term. Mayor Khubesrian values teamwork and works closely with her talented and dedicated colleagues on the City Council, Staff, Commissions and members of the community to preserve and enhance the quality of life for South Pasadena families and plan for a healthy and sustainable future for the City. Dr. Marina supports the work of Physicians for Social Responsibility and Doctors Without Borders globally, National Women's Political Caucus (NWPC), Women in South Pasadena Political Action (WISPPA), and many other "wonderfully active and dedicated" non-profit community groups in South Pasadena.  She is excited to support community efforts to increase healthy food and active lifestyle choices through programs like cooking classes for at-risk youth, health fares for seniors, and health, wellness, and media literacy promoting documentary screenings.  She recently worked with newly formed Healthy South Pasadena Community Coalition to organize a screening and discussion of the documentary, Miss Representation and is currently working with the group to organize a screening of the documentary, Hungry for Change.

Anne Bray has been working at the intersection of public space and media art as a hybrid artist and director of the nonprofit media arts organization, Freewaves.  She is a visual instigator and context provider who teaches new genre art at USC and Claremont. Her specialty is finding platforms where artists and viewers exchange ideas.  Freewaves, a grassroots yet global arts organization dedicated to collecting and connecting innovative and culturally relevant independent new media from around the world (www.freewaves.org).  Eleven biennial festivals presenting more than 3000 artists with the partnership of 125 curators and 100+ organizations have been held at Los Angeles’ Museum of Contemporary Art, Getty Center, Hammer Museum, on Hollywood and Chinatown streets, and have been supported by National Endowment for the Arts, MacArthur, Rockefeller, and Warhol Foundations.  Her own 2013 work involves micro projections of 2 word poems (e.g. sacred and scared) on crowds, ground, sides of moving buses during a public art event at Pasadena City Hall.

Ann Kaneko
Independent filmmaker Ann Kaneko is known for her personal essayistic videos that confer documentary subjects with personal insights. She weaves her intimate aesthetic with the complex intricacies of political reality.  The visible and invisible are entwined. Often involving subjects in other parts of the world, Kaneko poetically treats her home, Los Angeles in close relationship.  In this series inspired by Qigong, the Chinese practice of energy cultivation, she worked with Qigong practitioners and Peter Bill, a respected digital painter and regular collaborator. Kaneko's films have screened internationally at numerous festivals, and she has been a Fulbright and Japan Foundation Artist fellow.

Mark Dreskin, M.D. is a Family Physician with Kaiser Permanente since 1996. He leads numerous teams including Urgent Care Departments at the Los Angeles and Pasadena centers, Southern CA Kaiser Depression Management Protocols and regional clinical research teams.  Dr. Dreskin is an engaging speaker and participates on many national and regional teaching panels. He served on an advisory team to the Presidents' Affordable Care Act.  Dr. Dreskin is a native Angeleno who lives in South Pasadena with his wife and 2 kids. He is an avid musician and writer of skits, screenplays, and a popular twitter tweeter of humorous zingers.