“The greatest misfortune is when theory outstrips performance.”

-Leonardo DaVinci

Last week, Ben Hengst, a graduate of CLU, and more recently the New York Academy of Art, paid a visit to a few classes on campus, encouraging Art Majors to seek further education post graduation. Having just finished the Masters course at one of the only institutions in the country offering classical training in the studio arts, Ben was able to offer fresh advice on the life of an emerging artist.

“At the New York Academy of Art, [they] believe that the world of visual art is built upon the essential cornerstones of figurative drawing, painting, and sculpture. Mastering these disciplines is critical to the development of an artist’s personal vision and, ultimately, to the creation of vital contemporary art.”

To see Ben’s work visit his personal page:

http://www.benhengst.com/

Or, for more information on the New York Academy of Art:

http://nyaa.edu/nyaa/home.html

amit_sood_building_a_museum_of_museums_on_the_web.html

Amit Sood, a Group Marketing Manager for Google, has created and complete to museum of the century. A site where one can virtually walk through a museum in Paris, while sitting in bed in Thousand Oaks California. The most a exciting aspect of GoogleArtProject is its high resolution viewing of any desired piece; said best by  Julian Raby, director, the Freer Gallery, Washington, DC:

“The giga-pixel experience brings us very close to the essence of the artist through detail that simply can’t be seen in the gallery itself. Far from eliminating the necessity of seeing artworks in person, Art Project deepens our desire to go in search of the real thing.”

The Directions to use the site are EASY, simply select a museum from the homepage and then either choose ‘Explore the museum’ or ‘View Artwork’. Once you are in the main site use the drop-down menus or the side info bar to navigate between artworks and museums.

Cited From:

• http://www.ted.com/speakers/amit_sood.html

The Kwan Fong Gallery had an exceptional opening/ student reception this past Saturday Evening, September 10th. With tasty treats and a wonderful meet-and-greet of a hand full of the displayed artists, the event brought a humbling balance of professional execution and student aimed insight into all of the appearing works. Special guest Alexey Steele was able to make personal connections with many of the art students at California Lutheran University, bringing words of inspiration and a great philosophy on how to be successful in any act of passionate work.

This romantic show was a powerful way to kick off the year!

We have a bustling summer school program in the art department with students working til late August. It’s a rigorous schedule – deep immersion into the disciplines of Drawing, Painting, Art in Education, and Ceramics – student Victoria Axworthy described it as “…really intense – if you take a summer art course there are less projects but more time time to work on them”.

“Summer school helps you get ahead” said Doug Drugan, pictured as he measures for a portrait of classmate Ben Bradley, in the mirror.

 There’s a stark simplicity to the materials Duncan Simcoe uses to create his works, yet a depth to his images that is simultaneously challenging and moving. He’s concerned with suburban living and the challenge of searching for the divine in the course of our lives – the distance between us and God. The works are religious, but contemporary, and they work effectively to encourage our individual searches for the mystic Christ, always distant, but always personal.

In addition to his suburban works Duncan has made drawings in paint about the battle between the descendants of Abraham, using unexpected renderings of boxers, oil gushers, pigs and shopping carts as jarring images to bring his observation that the conflict is mythical in proportion. Perhaps surprisingly for such controversial material the works don’t take a side in the contemporary struggle between Palestinians and Jews, they simply observe that this is an epic that has been happening for centuries.

The Kwan Fong Gallery exhibit of Duncan Simcoe’s works is now open! Visit the gallery and see what one of Southern California’s most interesting religious artists can do.

I snapped a couple of pictures of Duncan Simcoe as he sized up the gallery walls in preparation for his exhibit opening at the Kwan Fong on Saturday 23rd.

Please join us next week on Saturday 16th August at 3.00 pm for drinks and snacks as we celebrate the opening of Duncan Simcoe’s exhibit The Black Drawings. These remarkable works will inspire discussion and impress you with their striking symbolism. Entirely painted on black tar paper, the pieces have a stark simplicity that demands attention. I am very pleased to have them at the gallery.

The Black Drawings are the result of a long-running conversation about the way large stories or myths play upon and intervene in contemporary experience. In the past, he has particularly focused on the generative myth of Abraham and Ishmael, while more recent works have responded to the Palestinian Intifada. His first explorations of this controversial subject matter included studying the works of Goya, and making and collecting images of boxers fighting.

Duncan has a wonderful website where you can get a preview of his work at http://www.duncansimcoeart.com/

The show’s in the gallery, almost ready for the opening reception tomorrow. We will have food and drinks, good company, good music and FABULOUS ART. Come and meet our seniors and imagine yourself joining them as a CLU student.

3.oo pm Saturday afternoon 26th April. Kwan Fong Gallery.

Works upstairs by Krista.

Bret Bays loads in his sculpture.

Works line the stairway. 

CLU student Karli Watland has been quietly breaking ground as a successful artist. She told me that she has now sold two of her recent series of paintings. 

Karli and her colleague Bret Bays have begun the run of solo shows by our senior students by installing their excellent exhibit into Overton Hall, so come and see why her work is selling. The two artists have worked hard to make their exhibit a great success and I’m very impressed. Their show includes paintings, photography, prints and drawings. Closes 24th March.

Overton Hall is opposite the Humanities building near the flagpoles on Memorial Drive. 

Michael