Our art department faculty spent the weekend at the Thousand Oaks Art Festival, which the University has sponsored for several years as a part of our community outreach. Lynn Creighton showed her extraordinary sculpture and enjoyed assisting people as they learned about her work, while Terry Spehar-Fahey demonstrated her skill painting, with people gathering around her admiring her technical ability. John Storojev made an impressive bust of Barack Obama, which was fascinating for folks that had no experience of what a sculptor does. Terry and John’s demonstrations really drew people in and Terry was quoted in the Ventura County Star story on the event.

Barry Burns hands out brochures at the Art Department booth

Michael Pearce will exhibit his paintings and sculptures from Saturday, Sept. 20, through Friday, Oct. 24, in the Kwan Fong Gallery of Art and Culture.

An opening reception for the free exhibit will be held at 7 p.m.
Saturday, Sept. 20, in the gallery, which is located in Soiland Humanities
Center on Memorial Parkway on the Thousand Oaks campus. The gallery is open
to the public from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday through Saturday.

“The Principle” features works by Michael Pearce that were inspired by
the natural philosophy of renaissance alchemists, whose explorations into
the phenomena of the universe resulted in some remarkable achievements in
early science and were paralleled by their mystical belief in God. Large oil
paintings created over the course of seven years document Pearce’s study of
alchemical philosophy imagery.

Pearce, of Granada Hills, is an accomplished oil painter, installation
designer and award-winning theatrical scenic designer. His paintings are in
many private collections including those of Andrew Getty, Snoop Dogg and the
Carsey Werner Company. Pearce began teaching at CLU in 2001 and became a
full-time faculty member in 2005. As curator of the Kwan Fong Gallery, he
has organized continuous exhibitions by many well-known outside artists as
well as CLU faculty and students. His Web site and blog can be found at
http://gildedraven.com.
 
For more information, contact Pearce at (805) 493-3316 or visit
http://www.callutheran.edu/kwan_fong/.

Steve Aufhauser visited my 270 Painting class Thursday afternoon, to share his expertise on paint and brushes. Steve owns Continental Arts and Graphics store in Reseda CA. Having literally grown up in the store has made him into a true expert on art materials, with an inestimable wealth of knowledge to share with painters and artists of all stripes. I credit him with teaching me how to paint without toxic chemicals, using walnut alkyd medium as a vehicle instead of turpentine.

That huge brush is the real thing, by the way; it’s used for painting scenic backdrops in the theatre. 

Thanks for coming Steve.

Greetings, my name is Erika Pruitt and I’m going to be working along side Michael and Sydney(J ) to help manage the Kwan Fong Art Gallery. I would like to take a moment to introduce myself. I’m a transfer student from northern Santa Barbara county, and I’m a junior communications major. Some of my interests include shopping, fashion, gardening, jogging, and of course my girls, Princess and Precious (my dogs) whom are two of my best girlfriends. I’m excited about the opportunity to work in the gallery and I hope to gain a wealth of experience. Moreover, I’m looking forward to meeting those of you who support, visit, and enjoy the wonderful exhibits that the Kwan Fong Gallery has to offer. I’ll be posting news of gallery events and behind-the-scenes stories on the blog.

Duncan Simcoe explains the imagery and interpretation of The Black Drawings. Photo by Erika Pruitt.

On Thursday September 4th 2008 the Kwan Fong Art Gallery kicked off the start of the new semester by holding a reception for the artist behind the Black Drawings exhibit, Duncan Simcoe. The exhibit is featured in the gallery thru September 14th. Students, faculty, and other visitors had the opportunity to meet and greet with Duncan and to ask about his inspiration and symbolism of his paintings. The reception started at 7 p.m. and guests enjoyed an array of appetizers and refreshments while they viewed the paintings. There was a nice buzz and vibe in the building and I’m sure many of our guests were as moved as I was by the strong concepts that the works portray.

I would like to encourage those of you who are familiar with what is going on in the West Bank to come out before the exhibit closes to view the very poignant and moving works of Duncan Simcoe.
Erika Tainaiya Pruitt

The Kwan Fong Gallery is open for the new academic year at CLU!

This Thursday evening, 4th September, at 7.00 pm, there will be a special reception for artist Duncan Simcoe, whose Black Drawings are now in the Kwan Fong Gallery. Please join us as we celebrate his work and the opening exhibit of this academic year.