2009 VOL.7 MAGAZINE OF ART AND DESIGN OTIS COLLEGE

Non-Profit Org Otis College of Art and Design U.S. Postage 9045 Lincoln Boulevard, Los Angeles, California 90045 PAID Los Angeles, CA Permit No. 427

Otis College of Art and Design Magazine 2009 Vol.7 Loyola + Otis = Lotis • Fall Public Events Calendar Graduate Programs • Alumni in London IN THIS ISSUE: www.otis.edu (310) 665 6800 04 20 25 33

Otis prepares diverse students of art and design to enrich our world through their creativity, their skill, and their vision.

Intergenerational & Collaborative Learning Founded in 1918, Otis is L.A.’s first independent professional school of visual arts. Otis’ 1200 students pursue BFA degrees in advertising design, architecture/landscape/interiors, digital media, “ Every time someone leaves Otis, art evolves The collaboration of generations is fashion design, graphic design, illustration, interactive product design, painting, photography, and design gets better. And that’s really your manifested most visibly at Otis in the sculpture/new genres, and toy design. MFA degrees are offered in fine arts, graphic design, public job when you leave here…to move things graduate programs, where established practice, and writing. Otis has trained generations of artists who have been in the vanguard of along.” This was the stirring message from practitioners serve more as guides the cultural and entrepreneurial life of the city. Nurtured by Los Angeles’ forward-thinking spirit, 2009 Commencement Keynote Speaker than teachers to emerging artists, designers these artists and designers explore the landscape of popular culture and the significant impact Mark Parker, Nike CEO/artist and designer, and writers. I invite you to read the stories of identity, politics, and social policy at the intersection of art and society. who received an honorary doctorate degree of two of the College’s graduate programs from Otis. During his acceptance remarks, marking milestone anniversaries this he imparted sage words of guidance to year (see pages 02–21). The Graduate Fine the Class of 2009 (see page 24). It was an Arts program celebrates its 20th year, and 2009 Vol.7 In This Issue: inspirational occasion that epitomized the the Graduate Writing program marks its interaction and exchange between experi- 10th anniversary. Together with the President Hoi with honorary degree recipient Mark Parker, Nike CEO 02 Graduate Education 22 College News enced professionals and young talented Graduate Public Practice program and the Meg Cranston, Fine Arts Chair students, and defines daily teaching and low-residency Graduate Graphic Design Appearance and Essence learning at Otis. program, they form an innovative quartet 04 Graduate Fine Arts Loyola + Otis = Lotis Otis students benefit from a multi- of Master of Fine Arts offerings. Commencement 2009 generational educational environment that At Otis, we believe that the richness of Fall Public Events Calendar encourages intergenerational learning. Not ideas that emerge from a confluence of fresh Editor: Margi Reeve, 10 Graduate Writing only do they study with a faculty of artists, impulses and experiences will shape a Communications Director Class of 2009 Co-editor: Sarah Russin, 28 designers and scholars of different genera- new future that is solidly grounded yet daring; Alumni Director tions, they also learn from their very diverse embodying (or a future that embodies the Photography: Candida Ayala (MFA, '09), 16 Graduate Public Practice peers through a college-wide pedagogy creative impact of Otis graduates as described Kristy Campbell, Enrico Limcaco, Lee Salem, 30 Alumni Around the World Raul Vega, John Wilson White Sherman Sam in London that promotes exchange and collaboration. above by Dr. Parker. Staff Writer: George Wolfe Nicole Raffy in London As a result, students gain from a vigorous Creative/Design: Mark Caneso (‘04) 20 Graduate Graphic Design mix of seasoned and youthful perspectives. Samuel Hoi, President Typeface: Ratio Alternate, by Mark Caneso (‘04) 32 Class Notes Front cover: Otis’ Ahmanson Hall, with interactive video installation by Alessandro Marianatoni, created by Graduate Writing to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the Futurist Manifesto, February 20, 2009 © Otis College of Art and Design Back cover: Evelia Garcia at her farm Publication of material does not necessarily FPO in Laton, CA, site of Graduate Public indicate endorsement of the author’s viewpoint Practice project by Otis College of Art and Design Otis College of Art and Design FEATURE

JOHN S. GORDON PROVOST

Graduate Education at Otis The Promise of Immense Possibility

Alumni and friends of Otis know and love the College for its unique role in the growth and development of Los Angeles – an internationally celebrated creative capital.

Otis has long been appreciated as one of the cornerstones of Los Angeles’ past, present and future. Born as a public institution, Otis has always served the complex artistic demands of an ever-diversifying community. In the late 1970s, when Proposition 13 made continued public support impossible, Otis charted a new course aimed at academic excellence when it transitioned to an independent institution. Graduate Programs have become a hallmark of this College-wide effort. Although Otis began offering graduate studies in fine arts in the 1950s, it wasn’t until 1989 that artist Roy Dowell was hired to build a separate graduate program with its own identity and character. The Graduate Writing Program, led by Paul Vangelisti, followed in 2000. Then in 2007, the acclaimed writer and artist Suzanne Lacy created the Graduate Program in Public Practice, followed a year later with the inauguration of the nation’s first-ever limited residency MFA in Graphic Design, conceived and led by nationally-noted designer, Kali Nikitas. While each of Otis’ graduate programs is distinct, they share one important resource: the 21st century cultural capital of Los Angeles, which acts as a living laboratory. L.A.’s major exports have always been imagination and innovation. It has more museums and theaters than any other U.S. city. Its residents come from more than 140 countries, and speak 224 different languages. Los Angeles offers graduate students the promise of immense possibility, where the future unfolds daily. Cultural resources abound, including art galleries and the major film and design studios of Venice, Santa Monica, and Culver City, which are minutes away. The four remarkable chairs who lead our MFA programs —Roy Dowell in Fine Arts, Paul Vangelisti in Writing, Suzanne Lacy in Public Practice and Kali Nikitas in Graphic Design—form a creative partnership, which makes graduate study at Otis distinct from other schools. Together they have created a community where artists, writers, designers, and community activists get to know and interact with each other – often on a daily basis. This interaction produces a creative synergy that is unique in my experience of graduate schools. The program profiles that follow reveal both what makes each graduate program unique, and what, collectively, makes this particular assembly of graduate programs one of the most challenging and fulfilling creative learning communities of our times.

OMAG 2 Nina Laurinolli (’09, MFA), Untitled 1, 2008, acrylic and sumi ink on paper, 80 x 107” 3 OMAG FEATURE FEATURE

ROY DOWELL CHAIR, GRADUATE FINE ARTS Dem ystifying

Chair Roy Dowell (center), Assistant Chair Annetta Kapon (‘85) the Art World at front left, with MFA students The Story of O: Graduate Fine Arts Graduate The MFA Fine Arts program encourages each student to acquire 1989-2009 at the the necessary technical and theoretical resources to develop Ben Maltz Gallery Fine Art an understanding of the demands of a professional practice. April 10 - June 5, 2010 The ability to converse in the language of art is an essential aspect of our graduate program. We do not encourage a hermetic education; instead, we promote a strong The exhibition features new work by alumni interaction and critical dialogue among all members of the program. who attended Otis’ distinguished Graduate Fine Arts program between 1989 and 2009, and Students and faculty alike help determine the direction of the program. The studied under the leadership of artist and Chair optimum outcome is a “personal vision” that has been filtered through history, Roy Dowell. Alumni will be selected in gender, sexuality, culture and politics. The work produced in our program reflects December by a panel of five jurors: Sarah C. each individual’s ideas, needs and ambitions, as well as the challenges of the Bancroft, Curator, Orange County Museum of Art; Dr. Nizan Shaked (’00), Assistant Professor artistic environment and contemporary issues and concerns. of Contemporary Art History, Museum and The Graduate Fine Arts curriculum places great emphasis on academic, studio, Curatorial Studies at California State University and workshop development, and demands strong standards in these areas. Required Long Beach; Meg Linton, Director of Galleries and Exhibitions, Otis Ben Maltz Gallery; courses develop a high degree of specialization in a student’s major area, while Roy Dowell, Artist and Chair, Otis Graduate electives develop particular skills and broader critical awareness. During the two-year Fine Arts; and Annetta Kapon (’85), Artist and residency, the student formulates an individual artistic statement based on a Assistant Chair, Otis Graduate Fine Arts. thorough understanding of myriad issues, in response to challenges from the faculty. Otis began offering graduate degrees in 1957, and many of the students in the early Core courses are studio and critique. In studio courses, methodology and art making days attended the College on the GI Bill. skills are emphasized. Students investigate the scope as well as specifics of their The first class produced Tom Van Sant, creator major area of interest under the counsel of nationally and internationally recognized of the GeoSphere Project who launched the artists and theorists. Graduate seminars, which include group critiques, guest first satellite map of Earth as it appears from space (1990). His classmates included Billy Al lectures, research projects, and studio visits, foster interaction among all members Bengston, Ken Price, John Mason, and others of the program. This environment mirrors the larger art community in which who were attracted to Otis by legendary participants share insights and mutual concerns. Students understand that creative faculty member Peter Voulkos. The 1970s and ’80s MFA program graduated such notable problems are shared by all disciplines. The liberal studies and critical theory artists as Kent Twitchell, Kerry James Marshall, curriculum develops the student’s ability to analyze and articulate personal and Carlos Almaraz, Alison Saar, Jeffrey Vallance, theoretical responses to society and the artist’s role. This study encourages students Bruce Yonemoto, and Jim Rygiel (three-time to make thoughtful choices about their lives and the social repercussions of their Academy-Award winner for the Lord of the Rings trilogy.) Roy Dowell took over the conduct. The multi-faceted courses investigate current issues in society, intellectual program during the academic year 1989/1990, life, contemporary arts, philosophy, literature, and the professional context of art and has nurtured such talents as Alex Donis, production. The ultimate goal is to demystify the student’s perception of the larger Kim Fisher, Ed Gomez, Patrick Hill, Carrie professional world of fine arts and literature. By building an intimate community Whitney, Joe Sola, Carmine Iannaccone, Luis Hernandez, and Tami Demaree. Recent within the College that accurately reflects the real working of the multi-layered and graduates exhibit nationally and abroad, and diverse art and literary worlds, we remove the walls between faculty and student. ● work as artists in many fields. ●

Ana Rodriguez (’09, MFA), untitled, 2009, acrylic and oil on panel, 24 x 20”

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RENEE PETROPOULOS ADJUNCT ASSISTANT PROFESSOR ANNIE BUCKLEY (’03, MFA)

In Context: Connecting Lineages, Institutions and Thoughts

For several years, we in Graduate Fine Arts have staged a unique lecture series, under the title “In Context.” As lectures within the academic world became more commodified and “ It was a way to continue what sensationalized, we wanted to introduce students not only to had started in the MFA program the information imparted by lectures but also to the form of the Station Collective: outside the program so we lecture itself. Thinking about the structure and the very nature of public presentations of highly individual artistic practices A Post-School Production wouldn’t be out on our own and and thoughts about art practice allowed us to consider the recent interest in the presence of the artist as commodity. Students isolated but could continue to could then see the artists’ work—and their presentation of it— work together.” in a new light. The “lecture series” expanded into a class that could and would consider these issues and others as they unfolded each week within the ‘context’ of the presentation. Through these themed consecutive lectures, students have observed and understood the nature of “style” and perfor- mance as actualized specific and deliberate manifestations of an artist’s work. The thematic presentations not only resided in common areas of interest, such as sound or photography, but also demonstrated multigenerational attitudes toward a partic- ular discipline. This aspect of the series became highly interesting as it illuminated distinct characteristics in attitudes toward the medium and manifestation of artwork. Consecutive presentations of words and perspectives of artists such as William Leavitt, Liz Larner and Jason Meadows created an entirely different understanding of sculpture, both as it has developed here in Los Angeles and on a more global plane.

As lectures within the academic world became more commodified and sensationalized, we wanted to introduce students not only to the information imparted by lectures but also to the form of the lecture itself.

Students have understood the varied practices of artists, Though anxious to graduate and make their way The group’s members share studio space in downtown Los Angeles— Segovia, “This discourse has been really helpful because oftentimes, opening up thoughts about their own work and how it might be save Tucker Neel, who drops by often—where they meet regularly when artists graduate from school, there is a loss of incentive to continue realized and expanded. The “Sound” series allowed artists in the world, some art students struggle with how to discuss each other’s work, brainstorm ideas and opportunities, and producing, and the intense community relationship that happens in Stephen Prina, Marnie Weber, and Steve Roden (’86) to speak to continue making and exhibiting work outside collaborate on works and exhibitions. The past two years have been school is lost. We get a lot of attention during those years and all of a exclusively about their interest in sound and the development of the close-knit circle of friends and community productive, and Station’s work has been included in shows at El Nopal sudden, after graduating, we don’t have that anymore.” In forming the sound within their art practice. Other series paired The Guerilla Press, Phantom Gallery, and, most recently, at the downtown art store, collective and working together, he says, “We avoided those pitfalls.” Girls, Daniel Martinez and the art historian Ann Rorimer members they met in school. Lorenzo Hurtado Art Resources. Here they erected a neon-tinged installation in the Although participation is open, and membership fluid—other artists speaking on Daniel Buren, to allow for an expansion of attitudes Segovia (MFA, ’07) and four fellow graduates store’s windows that spread out into the street, with offerings including that have taken part in Station’s projects include Chorroth Garcia (MFA, regarding art in the public sphere. A particularly enlightening t-shirts and free give-aways alongside their multi-media work. ’07) and Michele Wiener (MFA, ’08)—the core group of five remains series centered around the “gallerist.” As gallerists spoke about (Michelle Andrade, Adam Mars, Tucker Neel, While artist collaboratives, such as Guerilla Girls and ACT UP, steady. Segovia, who came to Los Angeles from Juarez, Mexico in 2001 their selection process, highly specific and revealing conceptions and John Weston) opted not to abandon this group historically relinquish individual identities to the predominant political, to attend school at UCLA and then Otis, now calls the city home. He sums of art and its role in society became illuminated. International social, and aesthetic platform of the group, Station is part of what is up Station this way, “It was a way to continue what had started in the gallerists, such as Cornelia Grassi of London, Tim Neugerer context at all, but to recreate the best of their arising as a new iteration of the artist collective—the Portland-based MFA program outside the program so we wouldn’t be out on our own of Berlin, and Irving Blum of New York spoke at length about (or graduate school experience on their own in a joint Nowhere Arts Collective comes to mind. A small group of artists work and isolated but could continue to work together.”● shared their ideas about) the function of the gallery and of art both individually and collaboratively, and are as likely to focus on Readers can keep up with Station’s latest news in English or Spanish on objects within the art community. venture called the Station Collective. promoting their work as their ideals. More co-op than traditional art Segovia’s blog: http://lorenzoehurtado.blogspot.com The relationship between the various participants within the collaborative, the members of Station are devoted to sharing space, Annie Buckley is a writer, editor, and artist based in Los Angeles. art world emerges through this organized and specifically curated ideas, and resources—pursuing careers as individual artists simultaneous In addition to OMAG, her writing has been published in magazines series of presentations. For a young artist, the series offers a rich with Station’s collaborative work. including Artforum, Art in America, and MAKE Magazine. Annie’s work is and substantial view into the connection among various lineages, While making art, networking, and collaborating to produce exhibi- represented by Jancar Gallery, where she will have a solo exhibition in institutions and thoughts. They begin to view artists’ practice and tions are a big part of Station’s working process, communication and November 2009. www.anniebuckley.com production in terms of the most individual of pursuits in relation fellowship are just as important. When a member feels it’s time to get Lorenzo Hurtado is a full-time faculty member in Otis’ Communication to a larger system of interactions. ● another opinion on a body of work, or is in need of some motivation or Arts Department. inspiration, he or she calls a meeting to talk with the group. Explains

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NADINE HOTTENROT

Amsterdam to L.A. Sandberg Institute Exchange

In March 2008, I started my two-month residency at Otis. I was the first student in the newly founded exchange program with the Sandberg Institute in Amsterdam, and didn’t know what to expect. I had never visited Los Angeles or the U.S. With my work, I investigate national identity and how people connect and identify with places and surroundings. Having this in mind, coming to America was for me the perfect work-boost. I arrived at a moment when the first possible female president was word-battling with the first African American president-to- be. I was stoked. I had not formulated a concrete plan, as I knew I would get “10-11h Lincoln and Maxella,” inspired just by being in America at that specific time. And so it film still happened. Thanks to the freedom Chair Roy Dowell and Angela, 2008, embroidery Assistant Chair Annetta Kapon gave me, I was able to examine the American post-graduate system and the L.A. artworld, and also take the time I needed to process my work. I finished a cross-stitching portrait of the German president Angela Merkel (at left) which will be shown at the Pitzer Galleries in Claremont in the fall. For the Amsterdam-based One Minute Foundation, I made some one-minute city portraits of L.A. that will be shown at the world exhibition in Shanghai 2010. I shot the movie “10-11h Lincoln and Maxella” on my way to the Graduate Fine Arts Studios. It was selected for CineDans, a film festival about film and dance, and will be travelling with this festival. All in all, my time in L.A. was exciting, interesting and productive. ●

GRADUATE

CLASS 09

FINE ARTS

Matt Warren, mixed media installation

Jennifer Wolf, Cherry Blossom on Wall, 2009, hand made paint on canvas with pins, 39”x 48”

Kristin Foster; mylar, plaster, brass, orange,metallic thread and tape; Amanda Konya Keller, “Offbeat Sophisticated Allure” 29 x 25 x 25” from Hip, Beach Town Vibe, 2009,. light jet print, 28" x 70"

9 OMAG FEATURE

An Eclectic and Vibrant Literary Scene

PAUL VANGELISTI CHAIR, GRADUATE WRITING Graduate Writing Celebrating Otis’ Distinctive Graduate Writing Program

As we enter our tenth year, several things seem evident in the continued growth of the Graduate Writing program at Otis. First and foremost, our international focus uniquely positions us in a city whose writing remains obscured by more well-known literary centers such as New York and San Francisco.

Second, our emphasis on the practice of writing, in its In addition to our writing workshops, literary seminars, many and various elements (e.g. translation, criticism, small Visiting Writers series, and publication projects (Otis Books press publishing, editing, etc.), has allowed growth beyond /Seismicity Editions and the innovative literary tabloid, Or), the boundaries of trends and coteries that all too often larger-scale public and community events, such as the 2002 categorize literary production. And finally, it is our good festival and publication “Place as Purpose: Poetry from the fortune to be situated within Otis, with its long-standing Western States” (in conjunction with the Autry Museum tradition of innovative arts education, enabling students to of the American West); the 2003 “Review of Two Worlds: develop their own values outside of the stifling academic French and American Poetry in Translation” conference, taxonomies that all too often plague our culture. co-sponsored by the University of Southern; California; In a city with a cultural life notorious for its forgetful- and the 2006 symposium Seeing Los Angeles: a Different ness, there is a relentless, massive force—more disturbing Look at a Different City, at the Bibliothèque National in perhaps than the city’s size and sprawl—that is the Paris, have consolidated our program’s reputation in a multitude of unknown men and women who have been relatively short period of time. In Spring 2010, we will offer slipping in and out of Los Angeles for more than a century. a seminar, “L.A. Noir,” open to students in all four of Otis’ One productive way to describe this relatively unstable graduate programs, that highlights the legacy of Southern environment is in the context of an international literature, California “noir.” not bound to the essentially Puritanical and nationalistic In its ten years of existence, Otis’ Graduate Writing pro- paradigms of the Anglo-American tradition. By emphasizing gram has been remarkably free to develop its own values, the “practical criticism” of writing, the faculty helps the both as an educational program and as a distinct artistic young writer build up a particular, detailed view of place, as community that continues to expand its influence within a sustaining antidote to Hollywood’s “dream factory,” that the eclectic and vibrant literary scene here in the Southland. seemingly endless watershed of cliché with which all Los We trust that the next ten years will be as exciting—at times Angeles writers must in one way or another come to terms. astonishing—and ever fruitful for students of writing. ●

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Full-grown Oracles and Inspired 01 Language-Users

GUY BENNETT, PROFESSOR

Though it may come as a surprise to some, for most of this decade Graduate A Futurist Writing has had a lively, flourishing publishing program. Otis’ was one of the first MFA writing programs in the country (if not the first) to create one. Serata

It all started with The New Review of Literature, DENNIS PHILLIPS AND POLLY GELLER (’09, MFA) 02 a semi-annual literary journal which began publica- tion in 2003. Edited by Chair Paul Vangelisti and a Otis’ Ahmanson Hall with interactive video cohort of contributing editors, the NRL featured a installation by Alessandro Marianatoni combination of fiction and poetry, essays, inter- On the front page of Le Figaro, on February 20, 1909, Filippo Tommaso Marinetti views, and reviews, and ran for ten issues before published the “Founding Manifesto” of the Italian avant-garde movement known folding in 2008. It was succeeded by A Literary Or, as Futurism. Marinetti managed to capture the world’s attention, turning artists Tabloid, which published its first issue that same year. The tabloid format recalls Invisible City, the like Boccioni, Balla and Carrà into household names, and proceeded to reshape critically-acclaimed magazine Vangelisti published the totality of human creativity—from poetry to painting—from theater to food. from 1970–1980. Like its predecessor, Or features visual art and literary texts, as well as a creative Graduate Writing alumna Polly Geller sat down PG: Not to mention an unprecedented dress code projected onto the Ahmanson (originally built for typographic treatment by Communication Arts with poet and professor Dennis Phillips to of red, white, and black—the Futurist colors. IBM) building. faculty member Rebecca Chamlee (’85), who reminisce about Otis’ celebration of the 100th DP: Only to be complimented by the PG: Perhaps next year we’ll see a celebration of designs all of the program’s publications. The new anniversary of the Manifesto last February. stunningly deep red of the Futurist “polibibita” the 100th year anniversaries of the births of both magazine has been well received, and its third PG: I had never heard you read poetry other than Negronis served. Charles Olson and Jean Genet? issue is currently in preparation. your own, and other than Robert Crosson’s—at the PG: After taking Vangelisti’s and MacAdams’ DP: Possibilmente. In addition to Or, we are also publishing books book release event for Crosson’s Daybooks classes on poetry and politics, Bennett’s transla- under the imprint Otis Books/Seismicity Editions, (published by Otis’ own Seismicity Editions). tion class, and feeling so far removed from What was lacking was the promised Futurist which was founded in 2004. Co-edited by Your performance, alternating with Paul Vangelisti’s, my hometown of Rome, Italy, I found the evening edible treat. Under Marinetti’s Futurist culinary Vangelisti, Peter Gadol, Béatrice Mousli, and me, of the sound poem “The Sick Fountain” by Aldo refreshing on many levels. The visual poetic edicts, pasta was for the lazy. And so, dear Reader, the press has published sixteen titles to date, Palazzeschi, brought down the Bolsky Gallery. reproductions, thanks to visiting professor I offer you the following dessert: including works of fiction, non-fiction, and poetry, DP: (Laughs) What was great was seeing Gianluca Rizzo, and interactive video installation Pesche per Marinetti (Peaches for Marinetti) both in the English original and in translation. not only virtually all of the Grad Writing students by Alessandro Marianantoni were dominoes Balsamic vinegar These include titles by world-renowned authors as and faculty, but also a tremendous turnout from under the sky. Peaches, quartered well as writers publishing their first book. Some of the public. DP: It was also gratifying to continue our ongoing Goat cheese, crumbled the highlights from our catalogue include Beach PG: And, dare I say, thanks to the not-so-Futurist collaboration with UCLA, most especially through Reduce enough balsamic vinegar to cover Birds (translation by Suzanne Jill Levine and Carol Movement e-vites on Facebook. the participation of Luigi Ballerini, a great friend of peaches. The reduction should reach the consis- Maier), the last novel by the provocative and DP: Whatever. One of our great pleasures the Graduate Writing Program. tency of molasses. If too tart, add brown sugar to prolific Cuban writer/critic Severo Sarduy who died in the Grad Writing program is to connect current PG: Gianluca Rizzo had him on speakerphone from the reduction. Serve into bowls. Add goat cheese. of AIDS in 1993; Norman Klein’s Freud on Coney practice with historical moments of resonance. Milano, and put a mic to his salutations. Drizzle with reduction. ● Island and Other Tales, a collection of disarmingly The Futurists, with their sense of iconoclasm, play, DP: I was too busy stepping on the carpet, which odd short fictions by the noted L.A. cultural critic and subversion, allow us all to celebrate one triggered the “parolibere”—words in freedom— and urban historian; and SIGNS/ & SIGNALS: – The vital historical moment. Daybooks of Robert Crosson, a facsimile edition of

ALUMNI PROFILE

Destinations 04

In The Beginning Was The Word… PAUL VANGELISTI, CHAIR, GRADUATE WRITING GEORGE WOLFE

Paul Vangelisti returns from Brunnenburg, the castle 03 perched on a hill in the Italian Tyrol, home to Mary de Rachelwitz, daughter of Ezra Pound and Olga Rudge.

I was on a well-equipped, air-conditioned and high-speed afternoon train from Rome to Verona, aware that my destination was arguably one of Ezra Pound’s favorite Italian cities which he visited on many occasions, passing through after the first time in 1908, on his way to Venice to begin his life To hear Gilad Elbom (MFA, Elbom didn’t come to Otis to learn a as an expatriate poet. There was an important 1922 ‘03) speak about the profession or make himself valuable for poten- meeting there with T.S. Eliot, and, later in that decade, pages from the late L.A. poet’s working notebooks. Graduate Writing program, tial employers, nor was he even thinking about he frequented the Biblioteca Capitolare where This fall we will release Common Place. The you could likely think that graduate school in terms of the beginning of a he worked on his Guido Cavalcanti translations. American Motel, a phenomenological study of the there is something career. He came because he sought stimula- Verona is mentioned repeatedly in his motel (and, by extension, of American car culture distinctly… uncommon, tion: literary, artistic, and intellectual. It turned poems, beginning with the early “Personae” (1909), and mobility) by French writer and philosopher unaffected, nearly — if it dare out to have been a very good choice: The recounting that first meeting a year earlier, in Bruce Bégout. be uttered — un-American program provided the opportunity to improve which the city is called the ‘svelte Verona,’ In tandem with our publishing activities, we about it. This isn’t an insult his writing, complete his first novel, and feminine, lovely and welcoming, continuing run a “Publishing Praxis” course, which I have any more than saying that prepare it for publication. through successive stages of the Cantos, up to the taught since its inception in fall 2007. It functions New Orleans has something Such a program might not be everyone’s catalog of Veronese landmarks in “Canto 91,” written like a collective independent study: students work similar in its collective consciousness: an obsessive cup of tea, but it fit well with Elbom on many some thirty years after the above. It is also the as editorial assistants on our various publications, passion for an art form (music) and a premium levels. He grew up in Israel in the 1970s and home of several quintessential icons anchoring doing everything from corresponding with authors, put upon the less-tangible essence of life. This isn’t ‘80s, with no commercial television. “Next to Pound’s life-long poem: the nobleman Can Grande soliciting bids from printers, proofing manuscripts an insult any more than noting the Japanese soccer,” he recalls, “reading was my favorite della Scala, who welcomed the exiled Dante to and galleys, packing books and magazines for cultural value that puts teachers on par with pastime. There was simply nothing else. Verona, and to whom Dante, in a famous letter, shipping, maintaining the publishing pages on doctors, lawyers and business executives. This isn’t My parents valued education and encouraged dedicated his final canticle, the “Paradiso.” Pound our website, and so forth. The class has proven an insult any more than believing that proper me to read, write, study languages, do my could not forget the statue of the young smiling to be rather popular, as many students find it healthcare for a country’s citizens isn’t heresy so homework, go to the Hebrew University, go to Can Grande on horseback, adorning his sepulcher important to better understand what goes on much as common sense. Otis. The standard gift at our house was in the Arche Scaligere. “behind the scenes” in a publishing house. Having Learning for the love of learning? Writing always a book, for any occasion: birthday, bar And the church of San Zeno Maggiore, the gained practical experience in the praxis course, as an art? How revolutionary. How audacious. mitzvah, graduation.” 12th-13th century exemplar of Romanesque style, some of our grads have gone on to pursue careers How dangerous. Even though he was the only foreign remains paradigmatic throughout the Cantos for in publishing. “In a world where anything that doesn’t help student in the fledgling writing program what is well-made and worth preserving. In his With each passing year, our books and you make money is considered not real,” says (Elbom’s class was its first year), he believes early study, Spirit of Romance (1910), Pound states: magazines find their way into the hands of more Elbom, “the program was a rare place that empha- the students were similar in that they all “The Twelfth Century, or, more exactly, the century and more readers, which draws attention to sized quality, thought, education, literary creation, “wrote a lot, read a lot, were extremely excited the program and to the College. Among those who artistic vision — and not necessarily commercial about the program, and religiously attended all whose center is the year 1200, has left us two have commented favorably on the quality of our success. Not that I’m against commercial success. classes, readings, meetings, tutorials, and perfect gifts: the church of San Zeno in Verona and publications is writer, critic, and NPR commentator I did sell my Otis MFA thesis to a New York extracurricular events. The only real difference the canzoni of Arnaut Daniel.” In the “Pisan Cantos” André Codrescu: “I don’t know what they put in publisher, and was very happy to see it come out in was that everything outside the program (74), he recalls visiting San Zeno in 1910 with Edgar the water at Otis, but all their publications are hardcover, reprinted in paperback, and translated was new to me: the city, the people, life Williams, William Carlos Williams’ architect first-rate work; the names of the writers are oddly into several languages. But ultimately, I think that in America, life in English. I spent a lot of time brother, and marveling over its “columns signed by unknown to us, but they impress us as full-grown my greatest achievement is that I wrote what I really exploring Los Angeles — and a lot of time their maker.” In “Canto 91,” Pound uses the elegance oracles and inspired language-users.” At the risk wanted to write, formulated my own ideas about at home, writing, reconstructing my former of the columns “with the stone loop,” next to the of sounding self-congratulatory, I’d like to add: writing and storytelling, and developed my own life in Jerusalem.” we agree. ● style. And Otis helped me tremendously with that.” main altar of San Zeno, to highlight his chastisement curious lore, and sooner than I expected we were ten 05 “ … it’s America that he was trying to represent and save. of contemporary architecture: “ ‘buy columns now by or so kilometers from the little town of Tirolo, just I mean Walt Whitman, wonderful, okay: “we are one sap the gross.’ ” outside of which was perched Brunnenburg, on an Excerpt from and one root.” But Walt Whitman didn’t have the Imprisoned at St. Elizabeth Hospital, Pound starts adjacent hill, rather solemnly above a narrow valley, Paul Vangelisti’s culture that America needs. And that’s what Pound came looking much like the photos in the various Pound the page-long reverie with the elegiac: to Europe to get and to take back there. But America “and damn all I wd/ like to see Verona again.” biographies. Interview with has rejected it, continues to reject it. I honestly don’t know I tried to read and take some notes about all of As we came down the gravel drive leading to the what it is. But then, they exiled Dante.” -Mary de Rachelwitz this but the new seats were too comfortable and I castle’s entryway, I concentrated on clearing my head Mary De Rachelwitz ended up mostly napping on the train. We pulled into of the some forty years of questions and impressions Verona on time, 3:59 from Rome. attending this moment. We were early, and Laura The next morning I met Laura Zannetti, from the reminded me that I would be alone with Mary and the PV: You’ve called yourself the femme M de R: I think he wrote with his whole Archivio Conz and, after breakfast in Piazza delle Erbe, camera woman. In the terraced garden before the conservatrice des traditions and you’ve body and, when I say people must read the headed for the Archivio on the other side of the Adige. main gate was the evanescent head of Pound, sculpted written a great deal about the responsi- Cantos through “Drafts and Fragments,” We made a quick detour to the Piazza Dante and the by Henri Gaudier-Breszka in London, first making its bility that we have to pay homage to it’s because I start to understand him and statue of the exiled poet, and then to the Piazza della way to Rapallo in the 1930s and then here. “Hieractic your father and Eliot, for example. For your his way of working and his poetry only Ragione where I couldn’t help but notice the truly Head of Ezra Pound,” Gaudier-Breska titled it in 1914, work, looking toward the future, what now that I have reached his age. And when splendid Scala della Ragione [“Stairway of Reason”], and in graduate school I’d stared many times at responsibilities would you expect people he was here and very often, in fact, I mean added to the stunning 14th century palazzo in 1500, by photos of this impressive marble. With a disposable to have? in so many articles and interviews they are one of Can Grande’s descendants. camera I’d bought that morning, I snapped a picture M de R: I would expect them to read all talking about him almost as though he By 10:30 we were crossing the Adige at Ponte before going into the castle. Pound. That’s really the only responsibility were a poseur. You see these chairs? These Nuovo, and soon were in sight of the modest four- About my meeting with Mary de Rachewiltz, I I feel they should take on. And I don’t mean chairs are the ones he made, and he didn’t story residence on Vicolo Quadrelli, housing Conz’ would only make two brief observations: how that they should stop with “A Lume really use them very much. You notice that Spento,” but they should stop with “Drafts they all have a headrest? At table when he noted collection of international avant-garde art and passionate and attractive she was in her task of trans- and Fragments” [“Cantos CX-CXVII”]. first came here, we were all young, my visual poetry, his Museo Nascosto [“Hidden Museum”], lating, in the largest sense, the work of her father; and They won’t understand them, but Pound children and my husband and I, and he as he calls it. Francesco Conz—a grand amateur, in the how much she has come to resemble him. As I sat said to me: “I don’t want you to under- would occasionally even at table, get up most rigorous French sense of the term—was visibly chatting with her in the castle’s large study/Pound stand, I want you to learn the damn thing!” and throw himself in a chair like this. Now I excited and glad to see us on schedule. Immediately, museum, looking at two wooden chairs made by the So, first of all they have to use a little realize that he was exhausted! And, since he began orchestrating our departure for poet (later painted a bright red by his grandchildren), I bit of elbow grease, put in some effort. you also write poetry, you wait until you Brunnenburg, where I would interview Mary de couldn’t help but notice her energy and liveliness that And not expect to understand it. I mean, get a bit older… The fact is that writing Rachewiltz, and complete Conz’ homage to Pound, reminded of photos of Pound in the 1920s, at his most Pound didn’t understand it himself. poetry is so exhausting. Particularly at the many years in the making, with the publication of the expansive and swashbuckling. After the interview, He did it. He worked. voltage that he was writing. ● grand volume “Le Livre.” I met Conz’ assistant Esther which ran longer than expected, we joined the others Widmer, who has worked with him for some twenty to sit on the terrace for tea and cake. I sat at the oppo- years, and Christof Grosslercher, her husband, a site end of a long outdoor table and watched as Mary retired neurosurgeon and ethnologist, who would exchanged comments with Chris and Esther in drive us into the Sudtirol (the Southern Tyrol). The German, then switched to Italian for the two Lauras, only person missing was the video operator, Laura and poured the tea. For her it seemed to be an easy Callian, and she, too, soon arrived. We were ceremoni- transformation from the ardent and savvy proponent ously waved off by another Conz stalwart, Agostino of the Cantos to the perfect hostess of Brunnenburg. Botturi (aka “San Agostino,” long-time factotum and Five days later I was at the airport in Bologna, the living memory of the archive), on his way to the waiting for a connecting flight to Frankfurt, which post office with the morning’s packages. would be cancelled. Before the next flight out, I And so we set out, the five of us, in Chris and noticed two older gents approaching, with that Esther’s Land Rover, following the Adige, on elegant, easy step of jazz musicians. They sat immedi- the road leading to the Brenner Pass and Austria. ately to my right, one of them carrying an alto case. Merano, where we would leave the autostrada, Both looked familiar, from my days reviewing around was where Chris had grown up in that German- town in the early ’70s, after leaving graduate school. speaking Italian frontier. We said hello, and damn if it wasn’t James Moody and All the way up, the Adige was in run-off mode, Slide Hampton, heading for a concert in Wiesbaden. swollen with a wet April and the spring thaw. Chris Los Angeles, July 2009 ● (left to right) Books by Otis faculty members Peter Gadol, pointed out various castles along the way and their Benjamin Weissman and Paul Vangelisti FALL 2009

ALUMNI PROFILE (CONTINUED) Visiting Writers Series 06 sense of maturity and motivation that the program tives as well as different backgrounds and PETER GADOL, ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR encouraged — not from homework assignments languages. There was no uniformity, and nobody or in-class exercises.” was trying to teach from a formula. The emphasis Alongside writing workshops, literary seminars, Was this something unique to the writing was on diversity and possibilities. and courses in translation and publishing practices, program, or was it a broader Otis value? Was it “Everything about the program,” Elbom the Graduate Writing Program curriculum includes a simply indicative of a new program also in search continues, “was geared toward the formulation of vibrant Visiting Writers Series of fifteen readings of itself? a personal literary vision: the weekly fiction work- during the academic year. “I don’t know if the other grad programs at shop, our meetings with visiting writers, our Some readers vary the format, but in most cases Otis enjoyed the same attitude. Maybe they did. I classes on literary criticism and theory, our indi- they present their material (usually as yet unpub- know that one of the things I really appreciated vidual tutorials with Paul. He always insisted that I lished works-in-progress), and then take questions about the program was the fact that it was make a commitment to a literary idea, not to from the audience. The rather lively discussions range designed for working adults. Classes met in the seeing my book in print. It was up to me to define from the key issues with which the authors are grap- evening, sometimes late at night, and the assump- that idea, search for the meaning behind the story, pling in the work they just shared (more than one tion was that your mornings and afternoons find the focus and premise of my book, etc. Every reader has noted a passage he or she will now go back would be devoted to work and writing. That partic- minute I spent with Paul and the rest of the and edit), to reflections on the writing life (good ular setup injected the whole program with a faculty, both in class and outside of Otis, was habits, bad habits), to broader contemplation about unique atmosphere: both serious and relaxed, devoted to that search. the role of the writer in society (most guests advocate mature yet stress-free. It was a lot of fun.” “It was a small, intimate, highly supportive that writers become active citizens of the world). Paul Vangelisti was and still is the program setting, a place where talent and hard work Some writers are members of the rich artistic commu- chair, and it’s evident that he and Elbom have were appreciated. It was a beautiful combination nity in Los Angeles, but more often than not the common aspects in their respective backgrounds. of practice and theory, hard work and intellectual guests are out-of-towners who bring news from other “We were his first recruits — and the general contemplation, rigorous workshops and academic college campuses, from other regions and cities. The feeling was that we were pioneers, creating some- discussions. The term intellectual did not conflict Visiting Writers Series exposes students to a greater with practical. On the contrary: it enhanced it, array of literary practices to broaden their under- augmented it, enriched it. The point was to take standing of the field. your talent, that natural disposition for writing, the Visiting writers reflect the Graduate Writing I love learning, which is why I tend to reject the initial burst of artistic energy — and contextualize curriculum—half are poets, half prose writers (both it, crystallize it, sharpen it. We took classes on “ distinction between ‘school’ and ‘the real world.’ ” fiction and literary nonfiction), and when possible, criticism, translation, beat poetry, medieval poetry, translators are invited to speak. Many visiting writers form and theory, thematic problems — and ulti- have also worked as editors, and offer insight into mately learned how to better control our own That exploration and reconstruction became fod- thing out of nothingness and void, making it up as texts, our own creations. publishing. Some Wednesday nights become launch der for his first novel, Screen Queens of the Dead we went along, working in an atmosphere of “Upon graduating from Otis I moved to North parties for Otis Books/Seismicity Editions, and the Sea, in which one of the major themes is the idea freedom and experimentation, helping shape the Dakota to pursue a Ph.D. in English. I love invited Otis Books authors celebrate with the of writing in a foreign language. program. Paul was a big influence and inspiration. learning, which is why I tend to reject the distinc- students who worked on their books. As Elbom recalls, nobody in the program talk- He is a generous, committed, enthusiastic, charis- tion between ‘school’ and ‘the real world.’ I just Recent visitors have included Peter Cameron, Ann ed about the business side of literature. “None of matic teacher. One of the most important things I finished my second novel, for which I’m now Lauterbach, Ron Carlson, Brenda Hillman, Christine our teachers ever mentioned the publishing learned from him is the ability to place my work trying to find a new publisher. I’ve also completed Schutt, Andrew Sean Greer, C.D. Wright, Forrest industry, agents, editors, sales, publicity, all that within a broader context: artistic, social, political, my doctoral program and started working on a Gander, Adam Haslett, Leslie Scalapino, D.J. Waldie, tedious stuff. They wrote because they wanted to geographical, thematic, etc.” third novel, which has a lot to do with biblical Joanna Scott, Sam Lipsyte, and Frederic Tuten. make literary art — they all made a living doing Vangelisti was born in San Francisco but commentary. And I’m moving back to the West In the fall, visitors will include poets Bill Berkson, something else, like teaching or translating. I think spoke only Italian until the age of five. His parents Coast — to Oregon — where my wife will Bhanu Kapil, Jack Hirschman, Joanne Kyger, and Ray they’ve managed to instill in us the notion that allegedly sent him to kindergarten with a card- be working on an MFA in creative writing.” di Palma, as well as fiction writers Samina Ali and you write because you want to write, not because board sign across his chest: DOES NOT SPEAK International in flavor, contrarian in spirit, Michelle Huneven. Joseph O’Neill, whose bestselling you want to be a writer. It was a pleasure to ENGLISH. His fluency in Italian and close famil- liberal in artistic license, the writing program novel Netherland won the 2009 PEN/Faulkner Award belong to an academic program that viewed itself iarity with Italian literature added a cross-cultural has stayed true to its founding principles while for Fiction (also cited by Obama as his bedtime as an art colony rather than a trade school. dimension to the program: making it cosmopol- honing its craft of teaching and inspiring different reading), will read on October 21. One guest already “One of the most special things was that the itan, international and multilingual. Faculty generations of writers to bring forth that which is scheduled for spring 2010 is the Pulitzer Prize-winning students were treated as adults. The responsibility member Guy Bennett, another Otis legend, intro- within them. ● author Jane Smiley. ● to do our job — read, write, explore, revise — was duced the students to French literature. Other solely ours. It came from within, from an inner teachers brought fresh approaches and perspec- For dates and more information, please visit: www.otis.edu/academics/graduate_writing/ visiting_writers.html OMAG 15 FEATURE FEATURE SUZANNE LACY CHAIR, GRADUATE PUBLIC PRACTICE Three projects by members of the first graduating class evince new strategies for public art.

JULES ROCHIELLE SIEVERT (’09, MFA) 01 Graduate Portable City: Public Ending the Silence Between Us Practice

Jules Rochelle Sievert at left; Suzanne Lacy and Program Manager Consuelo Velasco in front, with members of the class of ‘09 and visitors to p.i.e. (public interventionist New education) at Santa Monica College’s Pete & Susan Barrett Art Gallery

“I believe that a desirable future depends on our deliberately choosing a life of action over a life of consumption, on our engendering a lifestyle which will enable us to be spontaneous, independent, yet related to each other, rather than maintaining Strategies for a lifestyle which only allows to make and unmake, produce and consume—a style of life which is merely a way station on the road to the depletion and pollution of the environment. The future depends more upon our choice of institutions which support a life of action than on our developing new ideologies and technologies.” —Ivan Illich Automatic. Everyday, at hyper-speed, whether I want to or not, Public Art I am performing a gender, a race, a specific time in history, a class, and sexuality. I am performing the institution of the city, a body, the pedestrian, the transit user, or the city dweller. Unwittingly, The program, under the leadership of Suzanne Lacy, the renowned my body, my mind and spirit have institutionalized this process, artist, educator, and author of the influential Mapping the Terrain: reflecting how the body and spirit embody the historical memory of all things that came before. New Genre Public Art, enriches Los Angeles’ remarkable mix of art My primary artistic concern rests with HOPE and the collective and, how we as artists, crafts people, cultural workers and creative schools and distinguished history of artistic innovation. thinkers and dialogue builders begin to collectively and collabora- tively visualize a present and future based on knowledge we have regarding our history and past. Do we use broken models from the past or do we choose how to think about things deeply? This past year, students developed a project in California’s The program is housed at the 18th Street Art Center in Santa In my awareness of time-space compression, I am choosing a San Joaquin Valley, in the small farming town of Laton. With a Monica, a nonprofit residential arts institution for artists and discursive art form as a means to become more civically engaged planning grant from the Ford Foundation, the project focused organizations dedicated to issues of community and diversity in as a mechanism for problem solving and design. “The Portable on an environment informed by ecological problems, poverty, contemporary society. The College offers outstanding facilities in City” is about creating a social space through which to engage economics of food production, school dropout rates, and the loss sculpture, painting, graphic arts, illustration, video, photography, people in conversation and exchange, using an arts-based of farmland. In spite of this regional picture, Laton offered an computer-generated model-making and digital technology approach to building human connection while ending the silence opportunity for students to engage with the benefits of a small where students can explore skills specific to their project needs. After several months of field work and research in the Central Valley, that exists between us; it is a study on creating dialogue amongst town culture—rich with mutual support, strong families, and a An intimate class size supports mentorship, case-study learning, students created projects on Main St. such as storefront painting, those who experience urban alienation and isolation: The sense of civic responsibility. and production skills in installation, performance, process art, projections of images of the region’s daily life, and a new sign/gate conversations held in real time act as a platform for the idea of In the Public Practice Program, graduate students explore guerilla art and interdisciplinary projects. All students create for the town’s entry. “Laton Live!,” an event celebrating the connection and dialogue. new artistic strategies based on observation, research, social a written thesis integrating theory and practice in art, urbanism, town’s rich heritage, took place on March 21. In “The Little CA Town The “Portable City” project asserts that the ‘I” and “thou” commentary and activism. Students work in individual studios civic life, or other subjects supporting a critical discourse on that Served as a Muse,” L.A. Times writer Susan Emerling wrote become meaningfully engaged through communicating about a on a single significant project in collaboration with each other, their work. Participants also do field internships with professional “The residents of Laton got to see themselves through the eyes shared experience, and thoughts about a shared relationship to community members, interdisciplinary scholars, and an interna- artists, and teach as assistants in Otis’ groundbreaking under- of a dedicated group of (Otis) outsiders, and those outsiders got to the landscape, geography and public space, day-to-day life, and tionally known faculty. Graduating students present a variety of graduate Integrated Learning curriculum. This year, Nimoy see the effect of their work on their adopted town.” our sense of memory and belonging. It has been deeply inspired visual and performance arts productions in the public realm at Resident Artist Rick Lowe, creator of Project Row Houses, will See more at www.youtube.com/otiscollege by the work and writings of Guy Debord and The Situationist the end of their tenure at Otis. work with the graduate students. ● International, the notion of the Soapbox and the Speakers Corner, Allan Kaprow, Relational Aesthetics, and my own dérives. ●

OMAG 16 17 OMAG FEATURE FEATURE

ANDY MANOUSHAGIAN (’09,MFA) OFUNNE OBIAMIWE (’09, MFA) 02 Another Day at the Office

I’m thinking of a moment from Mike Nichol’s 1967 film, The Graduate. Not when Anne Bancroft seduces Dustin Hoffman, or when Hoffman breaks off Katharine Ross’ wedding and they run out to the bus to go somewhere, wherever that may be. Not even at the party, where our protagonist receives the classic piece of one-word advice, “Plastics.” Close to that though. There’s a brief scene before his father forces Hoffman to head down to the party where Hoffman sits, his back to a lively aquarium, focused on a thought he can’t shake, “I’m just a little worried about my future.” That, right there, is me, including a fish tank (except my fish, a reincarnation of Bas Jan Ader (’65), died awhile back). My thesis project centered on what I ended up calling FREeCOLOGY, a study of individual, collective, and ecological consciousness for the ironic generation (of which I am a member in good standing). Being more or less addicted to the news, I am surrounded by an apparently infinitely-ringed circus that compounds all the usual existential woes that accompany such a moment as graduation. The only thing left to do is find a way out in the only way I know how, the FREeCOLOGICAL way, devoid of logic because if you’ve tried to pay attention to any kind of current events lately, you know that logic went out the window a long time ago. Examples of this include reincarnating a dried river by planting “water seeds” from the kitchen faucet. Then, when the river comes back, impart your parental love by sailing down that river on a boat made of an old closet door floating on several dozen water bottles. If that doesn’t work, then I don’t know. But for the love of all that is holy, don’t give up. How has my MFA work morphed my professional practice? I would say that it reinforced my resolve, and confronted me with both information and occur- rences that I did not expect or just wanted to avoid. Each time, I came out smarter and stronger. Now, I hope to continue fighting fire with fire and satiating my concerns over the enormous blob-like mass of sociopolitical ridiculousness by poking productive holes in it in a similar kind of farce, as it no doubt deserves. Just another day at the office. ●

Oil Change in the Niger Delta: The Artist as Witness

03 “ … in the midst of putative peace, you could, like Even as companies like Shell and Chevron rake in billions of dollars, Utilizing specific repurposed materials, “Oil Change” invites the me, be unfortunate enough to stumble on a silent the farmers and fishermen of the Niger Delta can barely eke out a living viewer to question, to reflect, to empathize, to engage and continue to from their own land. Enabled by corrupt governments, these multinational bear witness. Sculptural elements include a wall-mounted Shell light war. The trouble is that once you see it, you can’t corporations have continued to profit while the people remain marginal- box, red-stained wood gas pumps, videos, aquariums filled with oil, water unsee it. And once you’ve seen it, keeping quiet, ized and exploited. Oil spills and gas flaring have led to unimaginable and gari (a staple Nigerian flour-like meal made from cassava). The saying nothing, becomes as political an act as environmental degradation. On November 10, 1995, writer/activist Ken “Hanging Ogonis” installation consists of nine polished black plastic-and- Saro-Wiwa and eight members of the Ogoni tribe were hung—despite steel gas nozzles suspended from the ceiling by nine black 3/4" x 10" speaking out. There’s no innocence.” —Arundhati Roy worldwide protests—for having peacefully challenged oil companies. long rubber hoses. Beneath each nozzle—atop mounds of earth—are piles The “Oil Change” project is a multimedia installation and practice of rice, feathers, black- eyed beans, cassava, cocoyams, a bowl of red that aims to illuminate these state-sanctioned killings and the deleterious palm oil, kolanuts, a pile of my shaved dreadlocks, and a pile of bones. effect of decades of oil production. Through an intimate analysis This simultaneously symbolizes the Ogoni activists and the oil companies of sociopolitical issues within the Niger Delta, “Oil Change” seeks to that have ruined the land. reconcile a colonial past, and to show that systemically (moving beyond “Oil Change” invites viewers to become witnesses through under- body/self to land/environment), art can be a powerful tool for awareness, standing the facts, raising consciousness, writing letters, signing petitions activism and catharsis. and having discussions about this and other human rights violations. ● As witness, I expose the rape of the Niger Delta’s ecosystems and communities. In attempts to reconcile my place in the often-confusing www.oilactivism.com interstice between being Nigerian and a citizen of the United States, I recognize its story as mine.

OMAG 18 19 OMAG FEATURE

Installation by Chris Oatey (‘07, MFA) and Maya Schindler for the symposium “ By its nature, an advanced degree program challenges that which already exists, and seeks to find new meaning and new forms to the problems set before us. Through lectures, exhibitions, and dialogue with like-minded people, these international symposia will rejuvenate practitioners seeking inspiration as well as establish connections on an international level between practitioners and students committed

to shaping the future of graphic design.” Graduate Graphic Design Chair Kali Nikitas

Graduate Graphic Design

“ Designing your life “ W e live in a low-rez “ Let your personal life become a part of design so that design can with collaborators” version of ourselves” become a powerful agent of social change. When design is opened up Aaron Rose Carolina Trigo to the personal, a rupture can happen. No more business as usual.” curator and writer, Portland OR designer, Los Angeles CA Marlene McCarty artist and designer, New York NY poster designed by Kali Nikitas and faculty member Juliette Bellocq

Untitled: Variations in Design Practice, an inter- After two days of presentations, conversations, meals, chocolate breaks, and long national design symposium produced by Chair Kali discussions, they found overlaps between their practices, and shared ideas about creativity, inspiration, intuition, and interactions with clients. “Good ideas live in dark places” Nikitas with MFA faculty members, brought together resonated, as participants urged each other to walk into their fears, and enter into speakers from London, San Francisco, New York, experiences for what might be discovered. Keetra Dixon opened the symposium by speaking Portland and Los Angeles to answer the question about encouraging the unexpected. Zak Kyes’ suggestion that inquiry is more important of how to find purpose in their work. Participants than research, that questioning without any notion of predetermined outcomes leads to creating work that matters, inspired the audience. The politics of the personal, included åbäke design collective, Mark Allen, Machine which Marlene McCarty described, resonated with all attendees, who agreed that there Project; Keetra Dixon; Zak Kyes; Marlene McCarty; are many different ways to be an activist, to make a difference. View excerpts from Leigh Okies; Aaron Rose; Carolina Trigo; and keynote the presentations on Otis’ YouTube Channel www.youtube.com/otiscollege speaker, Jeffrey Vallance (MFA, ‘81). Maki Suzuki, of London-based åbäke, leads symposium participants

DESIGNERS MAKING MAKING STUFF 5 HAVE A RIGHT GOOD DESIGN IS THE ONLY REAL TO PLAY HAS VERY LITTLE WAY OF KNOWING DESIGN LESSONS IN THE BUSINESS TO DO WITH HOW SOMETHING REMEMBER SECTOR. GOOD DESIGN. INTUITION WILL GO. TO FILL IS IMPORTANT BY THE WELL. TO DESIGN. LEIGH OKIES | DESIGNER SAN FRANCISCO

STUDENT WORK

OMAG 22 left to right: Jung Dae Kim (screen shot and book); Sarmishta Pantham, Maya Shin COLLEGE NEWS COLLEGE NEWS

Art makes abstract concepts tangible. It makes My favorite of John Baldessari’s sayings is Lia Halloran, Elliott Hundley, and Catherine and the California Finish Fetish tradition on the problems, love or death or power or whatever it is, “Anything worth doing is worth doing badly.” That Sullivan, on the other hand, have a more baroque other. The oddity of these formal decisions is it makes those issues visible. The best art makes has helped me through a lot of things because so sensibility, trading in profusion, embellishment, amplified by the fact that this childlike beast is New Fine Arts Chair complex ideas obvious. That’s the pleasure of art. often in life you think, “I can’t do this perfectly and I Appearance and the steady accretion of surface details to neither fully buck nor doe: the full rack obviously When I started grad school in art, I had studied can’t do that perfectly and I don’t have enough produce meaning. Hundley’s Landslide comprises denotes a male, but the animal’s coyly crossed Meg Cranston: anthropology and I didn’t know what to make. money and I don’t have enough this or that,” so and Essence five vertical panels that reference the planks hindquarters reveal engorged female genitalia. This Giving Joyful Expression to Life in Someone suggested I use my own experience, you don’t do it. indelibly associated with the work of John camp-celestial, hermaphroditic deer embodies a By Christopher Bedford All its Tragic and Preposterous Forms so I did. My students accuse me of analyzing things to McCracken. However, where McCracken erased all quiet but insistent investment in sexual difference, Why does my work look playful or childlike? death. I say I do the opposite: I analyze things to 2 signs of human facture from his work by building the glossy surface elevating Pulitzer’s statement to Part of it comes from making crudely and quickly. I life. I love to teach philosophy, which I teach as part In paintings by Amy Adler, Marcelino Gonçalves, up layer upon layer of paint to create dense, the level of elusory, countercultural icon. Each of 1 am impatient, so if I get an idea, I want to make it of art theory. I get so much energy from giving Salomon Huerta, Kurt Kauper and Rebecca impenetrable surfaces that reflect the presence of the artists in Superficiality and Superexcrescence Meg Cranston, a member of the Fine Arts faculty fast, right away. So I think my work has that quality those lectures. Campbell, thin, slick membranes predominate, the viewer but deny the hand of the maker, focuses on what is latent over what is manifest; on for more than twenty years, has been appointed and I like it in other artists’ work – things thrown The paradox of great art is that good and sealing off the interior world of their subjects and Hundley works in the opposite direction, inscrib- implication over demonstration, on faint whispers Chair of the Fine Arts Department. She has been together, kind of ramshackle. I like that a lot about evil are portrayed with equal verve. Scandal and the opaque narrative environments they occupy, ing his planks with the unmistakable subjectivity over loud, declarative statements, not with the aim creating sculpture, performance and mixed media L.A. – the whole city seems like it might have been virtue are confounded and made equally yet also disclosing just enough detail to make them of the artist. Mindful of the persistent association of privileging appearance over essence, rather to installations for twenty-two years (1987- 2009). thrown up in an afternoon. compelling. Where artists fail as priest, politician legible and ignite the imagination. Kauper’s between the flat, high-key, monochrome aesthetic suggest that appearance and essence commingle in She has shown her work and performed interna- Every artist has to figure out the balance of or sage, they succeed as perilous enthusiasts, Roderique, for example, is a precious, devotional of West Coast Minimalism and the machismo of the surfaces that surround us to generate day-to- tionally since 1990 at NAK (Neuer Aachener what works. For me, teaching keeps me right. I like giving joyful expression to life in all its tragic and painting of a hockey star, rendered in glistening oil surfing and car culture, Hundley introduces to his day cultural meaning. ● Kunstverein), Aachen, Germany; Artspace and the art at that level. I like to have to break down art into preposterous forms. Artists liberate to the degree that seems to sit atop the birch panel that is the planks a far broader material vocabulary. Replacing Dunedin Public Gallery, New Zealand; the Museum its elemental level, its fundamental constituent that they are optimists, to the degree that they painting’s support. Three-quarter bust portraits of layers of paint with messy webs of pins, fabric, From June 27 to September 12, the Ben Maltz of Contemporary Art, Seigen, Germany; Witte elements, and always rethinking my assumptions. say yes to everything. ● athletes are standard cultural fare even in 2009, polystyrene and photographic fragments, he Gallery hosted Superficiality and Superexcrescence, de With Center for Contemporary Art, Rotterdam; I like to talk about art. When artists get “People for a Better Tomorrow” curatorial statement appearing with monotonous regularity on emphasizes the capacity of materials and surface to curated by Christopher Bedford, Kristina Newhouse, Kunstmuseum Düsseldorf, Düsseldorf; Haus der together, they usually talk about money! Schools television and in print, and this painting hews in mark non-normative identity. and Jennifer Wulffson. The exhibition featured Kunst, Munich; P.S.1, New York; Henry Art Gallery, are places where you can talk about art. I enjoy At Otis, Cranston has taught not only in Fine Arts many respects to those conventions. Roderique is Finally, Elad Lassry, Blue McRight, Joel Morrison, thirteen L.A.-based artists, and was sponsored by Seattle; Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, teaching theory, probably because I have a but also in Foundation and in the new Graduate stolid and impassive, very obviously posed, and Tia Pulitzer, and Kori Newkirk expose a range of the Fellows of Contemporary Art. This is an excerpt and Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh, among philosophical cast of mind. Teaching gives me an Graphic Design program. During spring 2009, discloses nothing to the viewer; as his uniform and unexpected subjects to the lustrous, shimmering from Christopher Bedford’s essay for the exhibition others. She has been awarded a John Simon opportunity to play around with that. So teaching she and Kali Nikitas, Communication Arts Chair, countenance denote, he is a hockey player and no surfaces of the West Coast Minimalist tradition, catalogue. Contact [email protected] Guggenheim Memorial Foundation Fellowship, sustains me as an artist. collaborated on the design and production of more. But Kauper’s scrupulously rendered radically expanding the viewer’s field of possible or (310) 665-6909 to purchase the catalogue. J. Paul Getty Community Foundation Artist Grant, I like titles, and for a lot of my work, I create Variety Show, a catalogue for the fine arts class of portrait—his careful attention to Roderique’s associations. Pulitzer’s arresting and disquieting Architectural Foundation of American Art in the title first, as with “100 Artists See God,” 2009 exhibition. Designed by faculty members porcelain-like skin, manicured hair, rosebud work in clay, It’s Not Me, It’s You, shows a lithe, Public Places Award, and a COLA Artist Grant. In an exhibition I curated with John Baldessari. I also Davey Whitcraft and Yasmin Kahn, the publica- mouth, and soft eyes—invites a reverence for this young deer sprawled on a glossy white pedestal. 2008, the monograph on her work, Hot Pants in like cataloguing, indexing, putting together tion includes statements and work by each senior. hockey player that exceeds the normative limits of The animal is strangely diminutive—roughly half a Cold Cold World was published. She received an everything of one type in an encyclopedic form, as Above are excerpts from recent interviews, one sports fandom, a possibility opened up subtly yet life-size—and extremely delicate, giving it the MFA from California Institute of the Arts, and with a series I did in Canada called “Every Dog in with visiting critic Nico Israel, and one with decisively by Kauper’s technique. The artist’s loving appearance of vulnerability, innocence and naivety. a BA from Kenyon College. She served as Artist in the Pound.” faculty member Richard treatment of surface, in tandem with the ovular Finished with a high-luster automotive lacquer and Residence at Elam School of Fine Arts (Elam), Writing has always been important for me Shelton. (view the entire format of this portrait, gives the work an intimate, nail polish, the sculpture also has a fetishistic National Institute of Creative Arts and Industries and I have always written fiction. A lot of my interview at Otis’ YouTube even erotic, quality, made less for the trained eye quality rooted in a historical association with Loyola + Otis = Lotis at The University of Auckland in 2007. work begins with language, with a phrase. I also channel, www.youtube.com/ of the hockey enthusiast than for a rather more Meissen porcelain collectibles, on the one hand, do performances that are language-based. otiscollege desiring one. 3 “I wanted students to understand a different point of view, to gain a well-rounded and realistic experience. We could not have come up with these innovative businesses without the creativity that only comes from diverse talents working together.” 1 2 -David Choi, Assistant Professor, Loyola Marymount College of Business Administration

1 left: Meg Cranston at Rock For six weeks, Loyola business students learned Bottom, 2005 installation at Michael Janssen, Cologne about product design while Otis designers studied paper, gelatin silver prints business and finance. For the next six weeks, they and varnish worked together to create a business plan and develop right: My Eyes Smell Onions, prototypes of marketable, working products. These 2006, paper vinyl decals, included a new mobility scooter, touchless filtered gouache, plastic, 132 x 192” water system, sustainable city biking system, voice-activated GPS for motorcycle helmets, hand-held personal shopping device, specialty solar panels for yards, and a configurable board game. The Lotis Energy Management System, one such product, 2 left to right: Rebecca Campbell, Salt Palace, 2005, tackled consumer energy use head-on. oil on canvas, 96 x 144”; Problem: Other than the monthly electrical Blue McRight, Swarm, 2007, enamel on resin; Tia Pulitzer, bill, consumers have no practical method to inform On a Mission, 2008, ceramic, themselves about their power consumption. This automotive finish, MDF and lacquer, 31 1/2 x 45 x 56” has resulted in over-consumption of energy, leading to oil spills that pollute the oceans, kill sea and wildlife, and damage fragile ecosystems. In

OMAG 22 23 OMAG COLLEGE NEWS COLLEGE NEWS

addition, the construction of dams impacts the region’s ecological balance, and the “green house “ Every time someone leaves effect” caused by carbon fuel sources influences Otis, art evolves and design For more information on these events, please visit www.otis.edu/calendar the climate. Commencement Public Events Fall 2009 gets better” or call the weekly events line for updates (310) 846-2593 Mission and Vision: Create a simple and innovative system to allow consumers to monitor 2009 their energy usage, creating awareness of the 4 Mark Parker, President and Chief Executive 5 Fine Arts lectures importance of preserving energy for practical and Architecture/Landscape/Interiors Lectures (11, Otis Forum) ecological reasons. By managing their use, Officer, Nike Inc, received an honorary degree and humans have an infinite capacity for the status consumers can make smart decisions that will save delivered the commencement address to members quo. We’ll do whatever it takes to make sure there’s money and energy. of the class of 2009, families, friends, and members nothing to do. That’s where you all come in . . . to Graduate Writing: Visiting Writers Graduate Fine Arts Lectures (7:30, Otis Forum) (11:15, 1550 E. Franklin Ave, El Segundo) Background: The consulting firm McKinsey & of the Otis community. As President Hoi said, change and challenge the people and the world Co. predicts that the energy management market “Nike’s long-time support of Otis, and Mark’s ongo- around you . . . to move things along. will grow from the current $500,000 to $15 billion ing advocacy of young art and design talent, make by 2012. Existing competitive products lack him the perfect choice to inspire our graduates and Among the maxims he offered as guidance to the September 8 September 9 Sept 10th September 24 7 pm September 29 device-specific information, are only available in their families on this important occasion. I speak graduates were: Piero Golia Bill Berkson Annie Buckley MOCA Auditorium, 250 S Grand St., L.A. Michael Smith on behalf of the entire Otis College community 2009 Donghia Designers in Residence: the U.K, are badly designed, require manual • Embrace Humility and Bhanu Kapil (MFA, ’03) interaction, use unfriendly digital interfaces, or are when I say that Mark Parker—an artist, designer There’s nothing more inspiring than humility, and Lewis Tsurumaki too expensive. and collector in his own right—truly honored us nothing more poisonous than arrogance. Lewis Solution: The Lotis outlet adaptor is designed with his presence at Commencement. He shares • Be a Sponge September 15 Sept 17th September 22 September 30 to educate the consumer about energy consump- our conviction that art and design matters socially, Engage every culture you encounter. Soak it all Charles Gaines George Baker Emilie Halpern Samina Ali tion by measuring the input of individual outlets culturally and economically.” In November, Nike up. Look for ways to connect the dots and cross- such as computer, toaster, and TV. Using a router and Hurley announced a joint five-year, $1 million pollinate ideas and influences. The best thing you and a gradient display, the system presents an fashion design scholarship endowment. can be is curious. analysis of energy consumption per outlet and Excerpts from Parker’s address: • Expect Rejection location. The Web interface shows real-time All I can offer you today is envy. It’s a gift to If you don’t, you’re not trying hard enough. Ben Maltz Gallery Events October 1 October 6 October 7 information in 3-D graph form. With this informa- be creative. And it’s great to be young. Exploit But failure is temporary. Giving up is permanent. Lauri Firstenberg John Divola Jack Hirschman tion, users can devise plans to save energy, project them both. It’s not about money and it’s not about Never give up. October 3 - December 12 October 7, 11:15 and Joanne Kyger power. Those things are not enough to sustain a • Let it Fly their electrical bills, and create a plan to reduce Conversation with usage. The very simple two-part product is easy to worthy life. It’s about exploration and adventure – All you have to do is work harder than everybody Travis Somerville: manufacture, package, and ship. Distribution plans taking risks. I rarely regret something I’ve done, but else. Squeeze that potential for all it’s worth. Dedicated to Travis Somerville October 13 October 20 October 21 include Target, Walmart, Brookstone, and Costco, I often regret the things I don’t do. • Stand Your Ground the proposition... & Dr. Carol Branch Anthony Pearson Marilyn Minter Joseph O’Neill Director of Otis Student Resources over five years, and then expansion to Europe, Every time someone leaves Otis, art evolves There will be plenty of times when you’ll be asked Opening reception and gallery tour with the artist, 3:15 – 6:00 Center and faculty member Japan and China. A partnership with Edison in L.A. and design gets better. And that’s really your job to change or obey or conform or compromise in introduces the product to 5.2 million households.● when you leave here . . . to move things along. We some way. If you deal with those moments by stay- ing true to your principles and your knowledge, October 22 October 27 you are a genuine rebel. October 22, 7 pm • Buy an Eraser Otis Forum Catherine Lord Kerry Tribe Love and learn from your mistakes. There is great Leo Marmol humanity in the eraser—to see the smudge of Managing Principal, Team members: Bryson Ishii, Marmol Radziner indecision, the evidence of the thought process, Michael Ponce and Fu Paulluda “Between Design and Construction” November 4 November 10 3 4 the moments of clarity and insight, all living together in the same sketch. Roy DiPalma Sabine Hornig Otis Books/Seismicity reading • Ask Questions “Is this the best you can do?” That’s the best question I ever heard, and the one I ask myself every day. November 10 November 12 November 17 • Respect Your History Otis Report on the Steven Hull Minouk Lim Glowing Ring (Back) The best artists, the best designers, the best ath- letes I know are all students of their craft. They Creative Economy: study and build on ideas that came before them. Unleashing L.A.’s Creative Potential Omni Hotel, L.A. They plug into the stream of consciousness rather November 18 November 24 Solo installation of new paintings, drawings, and Embossed Logo Brass Outlet Plug-in than dismiss it. contact (310) 665 6858 Michelle Huneven Ricky Swallow • Dreams are Good, but Options are Better sculpture that explores the complex challenge of www.otis.edu/cecon09 Establish forward momentum . . . and nurture that. a nation trying to live up to Lincoln’s “dedicated It will take you places you never imagined . . . to the proposition that all men are created equal.” or better yet, take you places that didn’t exist until The Show Must Go On, 2009 November 7, 11 am December 8 December 9 you created them. Oil and collage on canvas Cut & Post • Stay Connected 90 x 105" Exhibition tour & Paul Sietsema Tiresias: The Community is important. You have that here at Courtesy of Catharine Clark conversation with Collected Poems of Gallery, San Francisco Otis. But it’s easy to lose that sense of community, Travis Somerville; Leland Hickman and once you lose it, it’s very hard to get back. ● Soft Touch Coated Mark Greenfield, Artist and Director of Otis Books/Seismicity reading Don’t forget that all these Outer Surface the L.A. Municipal Art Gallery; and events are free, and there Meg Linton, Ben Maltz Gallery Director Glowing Ring (Front) is no charge for parking!

OMAG 24 25 OMAG ALUMNI AROUND THE WORLD ALUMNI AROUND THE WORLD LONDON LONDON

Land of The Queen, High Tea,

Sherman Sam in his London studio and Marmite

Nicole Raffy (’03) Coming of Age with the YBAs I left my hometown of Los Angeles to move thousands of miles away for Love. I have a fascination with England — the people, their capital, and you meet as many people as possible on each project. My next gig the British fashion industry. I have always been obsessed with the was assistant designer to Sydney Florence at The Tricycle Theatre Sherman Sam (’90) intensity and humor in British fashion. Big name designers like on the play, The Great Game. This series of plays, performed McQueen, Westwood and Galliano have been my inspiration, and sequentially on weekends, was a sketch on Afghanistan. For the I hoped to be closer to all the action. shows, I would organize fittings with the actors, go shopping all When I left Otis, I thought that training to be an artist would be enough to sustain me. I graduated from Otis with a degree in fashion in 2003, and around London, and do the pulling of costume pieces at costume remember my times at school so fondly. The education I received houses, such as Cosprop, and theatres, including The Young Vic. What I didn’t understand was that art school just provides a foundation for everything was invaluable. After graduating, I worked as a freelancer on film, At the beginning of this summer, I took a part-time invigilator else. And that “everything else” we get from the world, be it the real one or the art one. television, and commercial projects (pre-production for Superman, position at an art gallery in the heart of London’s financial district, a commercial for Boeing, multiple theater shows for Reprise! also known as The City. Directed by Meryl Doney, Wallspace I landed in England, and later, London, by chance. Here I’ve create the other. I like to think what I make sits uneasily between Broadway’s Best, cabaret shows, and even The Pussycat Dolls. is set in a historical church. I met contemporary artists, sat with “stumbled” into work at a commercial gallery, as well as at a object and image, with a constant questioning between one and In May 2005, I received my Master’s Degree in Costume Design their work and asked specific questions. Next on my freelance museum, become an art writer and curated exhibitions—not the other. It’s not easy to describe a non-word-based practice. It from Carnegie Mellon University. I costumed plays, ballets, checklist was working as wardrobe supervisor for The English necessarily in that order. It feels as if the days of an artist being a is a relational aesthetic, though not as Bourriaud conceives it. film and television. Contacts from CMU led me eventually to National Ballet School on their end-of-the-year performances singular entity—flinging pots of yellow paint at a canvas in a loft Rather it is about relations between shapes, between form and take that next step overseas. Many guest professors and directors at The Peacock Theatre, for which I coordinated their various —are long gone, though I have to confess that the smell of that gesture-creating-form, between color and structure, between came to Pittsburgh to teach throughout those three years. ballet costumes. old linseed oil is still a daily enchantment. I’ve been lucky in that object and image, between object and object, between object I traveled to Prague for the theatrical showcase at The Prague Last, but not least, I have found myself working at Miss Lala’s London has matured at the same time as I’ve come of age as and viewer. Why do this? See ‘em and tell me. ● Quadrennial, and even got a chance to exhibit a class project Boudoir, the cutest lingerie shop in Covent Garden. The owners of an artist. The Brit Pop bandwagon that emerged in the ‘60s has in their great Imperial Palace. the shop also design the Miss Lala Presents lingerie line. Fine Rees maintained its steam. With the international ascent of the YBAs This combination of events led me to the Land of The Queen, bases her designs on Golden Age screen starlets. Many of her (Young British Artists), Tate Modern, Frieze Art Fair and Tate Sam, an artist and writer based in London, exhibited recent high tea, and marmite. Once I arrived in London, I contacted all the designs are 1950s retro. I love working with Miss Lala’s because it Triennial, London is firmly a center for contemporary art. paintings and drawings in “Let’s stay together” at the Rubicon connections I had researched, and found work with Academy inspires me to create my own label. I am learning little by little how I make abstractions, not non-representation, that is in a Gallery in Dublin last May, a curatorial fellow at the Hayward Costumes on the Ridley Scott film Robin Hood (2010), starring England runs its fashion business, and hope to have my lingerie “language” that is evocative of the world rather than one of Gallery in London last year, and is a regular contributor to Russell Crowe with costumes designed by Janty Yates. Working in label up and selling by fall 2010. absolutes or nothingness. I also like to say I paint “blobs”: blobs www.kultureflash.com and The Brooklyn Rail. the costume room, we did many fittings with the life-size cast mold The networking events here are numerous and very highly that rub up against each other, jostle for space, or try to breathe. of Mr. Crowe propped up in the corner. Our job at Academy was to effective, with a crowd of twenty-somethings blessed with In reality they ceased to look like blobs long ago, instead some prepare the costumes for Janty to take to Australia, where she encouraging ideas and amazing creativity. They have their hand in sort of geometry, gesture, pattern and mark-making has replaced would fit Mr. Crowe in person. All the costumes were hand-stitched multiple projects and collaborative works, and are a never-ending the blob, or at least strives very hard to form blobs. Physically and carefully detailed before being dyed and distressed. resource of creative inspiration. Twitter has become a phenomenon they are drawings and paintings; two parallel but related As a freelancer, I have had a range of jobs. Freelancing keeps here in London, so come say “hi” at: twitter.com/noelleraffy ● activities that inform each other but one does not directly help life interesting, and is a great launching point in a new city, where noelleraffy.wordpress.com

left: costume designs for Eumenides at Carnegie Mellon University right: Nicole Raffy, second from left

OMAG 30 31 OMAG ALUMNAEALUMNUSALUMNIALUMNA CLASS NOTES

This is a small sampling of recent alumni accomplishments. To keep up with Otis’ ever-active alumni, and to see the fully illustrated digital newsletter, click on ONEWS at www.otis.edu/alumni. You can also click on the Facebook Group link at www.otis.edu/alumni to share news and connect with friends. To submit news and images, contact Sarah Russin, Director of Alumni Relations, at [email protected] or call her at (310) 665-6937.

Chad Robertson (’91 Communication Arts) Ashkahn Shahparnia (’06 Fine Arts) John White (’69 MFA Fine Arts ) Terrance Zdunich (’98 Communication Arts)

Soloists, Entrepreneurs, Entertainers, James Thegerstrom Timothy Tompkins Dara Siegel Danh Tran ’91 Fine Arts ’03 Fine Arts ’01 Fine Arts ’06 Fashion Design “Some Kind of Exile,” Women’s DCKT Contemporary, New York, Owner of IHEARTREPS, Head Designer, Hause of Howe, Cool Designers, Award-Winners, In Print Club of Hollywood NY; “Temporal Arcadia - When representing photographers wardrobe for “American Idol” the Past Becomes Present,” contestant Adam Lambert Nena Amsler Studio La Citta, Verona, Italy; Kristen English and ’92 Fine Arts “Timothy Tompkins and Kelli Manthei Cool Designers Soloists Alonzo Davis Coleen Sterritt Darren Waterston “N. Mutt 2009,” Morandi: After Still Life,” Maria ’05 Fine Arts Brad Wilson and Pamela Robert Quijada ’73 MFA Fine Arts ’79 MFA Fine Arts ’88 Communication Arts Kristi Engle Gallery, L.A. Livia Brunelli Gallery, Ferrara, Co-owners, Gallery 1927, L.A. Holmes ’56 Fine Arts “Pattern Paintings & Bamboo “Between,” California State “Recent Paintings and Works Italy; “You Want What You Can ’83 Fine Arts “Icons,” Metro Gallery, L.A. Constructions,” Montpelier Arts University, Turlock on Paper,” Haines Gallery, Tetsuji Aono Not Have,” Art Brussels, Studio Aaron Kupferman Furniture collaborations since Center, Laurel, MD; “Series of San Francisco ’96 Fine Arts La Citta, Verona, Italy; Heather ’05 Digital Media 1995, sold throughout the coun- Suzanne Bravender Seven & Power Poles,” Sande Peter Zokosky “Aonopoly,” James Fine Art, Palm Desert Digital Visual Effects artist, try and on the web ’57 MFA Fine Arts Webster Gallery, Philadelphia, ’81 MFA Fine Arts Sandow Birk L2kontemporary, L.A. started “Motorsport Lens” “Mostly Animals,” Ebell Art PA; “Between East and West,” “Artist in Residence,” ’89 Fine Arts Mia Araujo Tony Limuaco Salon, Wilshire Ebell Club, L.A. Millennium Arts Salon, Masterworks Museum, Bermuda; “Sandow Birk,” Museum of Ruben Ochoa ’07 Communication Arts Entertainers ’85 Fine Arts Washington, DC “Kingdom Animalia: Episodes Contemporary Art San Diego; ’97 Fine Arts “Riddles in the Dark,” Corey John Kilduff Specialty knits projects at James C. Muhs from Natural History,” Koplin “The Depravities of War,” “Collapsed,” Peter Blum, New Helford Gallery, Culver City ’87 Fine Arts theyarnmonkey.blogspot.com ’66 MFA Fine Arts Mark Bryan Del Rio, owned by Eleana Del traveling to First Street Gallery, York, N.Y.; Solo Show, SITE Host of Cable Access TV show “A Father/Daughter Art Show: ’74 MFA Fine Arts Rio (’89), Culver City Humboldt St Univ, Eureka; Santa Fe Marilyn Lowey “Let’s Paint TV” Rowan Moore-Seifred James C.Muhs and Johannah “Monkey in My Head,” La Luz Heidelberg Kunstverein, ’08 Fine Arts ’86 Communication Arts Muhs Bradley,” Claremont Forum de Jesus Gallery, L.A. Annetta Kapon Heidelberg, Germany; Simon Eduardo Sarabia “Beyond Geometry”, Mint April Eckfeld Principal and Creative Director Gallery, Claremont ’85 Fine Arts Fraser University Gallery. ’99 Fine Arts Gallery, California Institute of ’99 Fine Arts of “Doublemranch” since 1986 Sharon Falk “Laundry,” Numismatic Museum Burnaby, British Columbia; “There will be Better Days,” the Arts, L.A. Associate Producer, “Becoming Cecily Willis ’75 Fine Arts of Athens, Greece Pacific Northwest College of Galerie Ane de Villepoix, Paris Bert Stern,” Magic Film Kristin Arndt ’68 MFA Fine Arts “Paintings and Works on Paper,” Art, Feldman Gallery + Project Entrepreneurs Productions; Director of play, ’93 Fashion Design “New Paintings,” Canyon Arts Alliance of Haverstraw, N.Y. Doug Kinsey Space, Portland, OR; “American Tofer Chin Margot Anderson “Private,” Studio City Head Designer for “G By Guess” Theatre Guild Art Gallery, ’85 Fine Arts Qur’an,” Koplin Del Rio Gallery, ’02 Fine Arts ’85 MFA Fine Arts YC division Old Town Newhall Clark Walding F.U.E.L. Collection, Culver City “Double Dip,” Cerasoli Gallery, Founder and President, Camp Raymond Sanchez ’75 MFA Fine Arts Philadelphia, PA Culver City, “Cornish Acid,” Laurel Foundation for children ’99 Communication Arts Trevor Wilson John White “Rift Series,” Charlotte Jackson Warren Keating Tyler Spencer Studio, L.A. with AIDS, since 1992 Creative Director, Weston ’94 Fine Arts ’69 MFA Fine Arts Fine Art, Santa Fe, NM Elisabeth Condon ’89 Communication Arts Mason, and Creative Lead, “Beat Fabricator, Architectural Glass, “Artifishial Hatches,” Museum of ’86 Fine Arts “Martial Arts: Keating’s Overview Sabine Dehnel Brett Shwery the Quake” game for Great New Jersey Transit Ventura County, Ventura Michael Farber “This Land Was Made for You Painting,” JoAnne Artman ’03 MFA Fine Arts ’86 Environmental Design (A/L/I) Southern California Shake Out ’77 Fine Arts and Me,” Grantpirrie, Syndney, Gallery, Laguna Beach “Portraits,” Esther Woerdehoff Senior Vice President, Hellmuth, Jacki Puzik Pat Barrett Orlando Gallery, Tarzana, CA Australia; Solo Exhibition: Da Gallery, Paris; Art Amsterdam, Obata Kassabaum (HOK) Jeremy Page (’99 Communication Arts) ’71 MFA Fine Arts Feng Gallery, Beijing Joe Shlichta booth 2x2projects Architects ’01 Digital Media Art Director, Dermalogica. Gallery 114, Portland, OR Bonita Helmer ’89 Communication Arts Environment artist on Works with Branda Na (’06), ’79 Fine Arts Tim Biskup “New Work,” Fetherston Gallery, Ed Gomez Eric Stevens “Guitar Hero: Metallica” Natalie Trevino (’07) Sean Spriggs Stanley C. Wilson “Without Beginning - Without ’88 Fine Arts Seattle, WA ’03 MFA Fine Arts ’97 Communication Arts (’09), and Sam Srey (’06) ’71 MFA Fine Arts End,” Dortort Center for “The Mystic Chords of Memory,” “Dissuading Passage,” Owner, Vintage Wine Tours Hao Cui “Altars, Icons & Drawings,” Creativity in the Arts, UCLA Iguapop Gallery, Barcelona Chad Robertson Open Gallery, L.A. of Sonoma ’06 Digital Media Robert Dobbie (aka Bob Dob) Joyce Gordon Gallery, Oakland ’91 Communication Arts Collaboration: Playstation ’01 Communication Arts Ulysses Jenkins “Come Together: New Paintings,” game “Flower” along with Artist Bob Dob Artist Series T-shirts ’79 MFA Fine Arts Western Project, Culver City Thomas Yamaoka (’08) and Art and board shorts, released Writer/Director, “Quiet as Kept: (Co-owned by Erin Kermanikian, Director Matt Nava (’08) through Hurley Change” performance, California ’01 MFA) African American Museum, L.A.

OMAG 32 33 OMAG CLASS NOTES CLASS NOTES

Remembering Trustee Dick Baker

The Warnaco/Dick Baker Memorial Scholarship, established in May, honors the Board of Trustees member who passed away on April 14. The fund awards $2,500 to an Otis student with great financial need who studies Product Design, Toy Design, or Fashion Design. Baker was an inspiring force at Otis as a Trustee, as a mentor, and as a role model. Dick loved and lived life fully, Fluid City Rising energizing everyone lucky enough to be Ricardo Mendoza (‘87, Fine Arts) Dedication ceremony on March 26 of mural installed at the in his path. Dick did so much for Otis that it is impossible to list all “Hoover Walk” located in the Los Feliz/Franklin Hills junction his contributions. Among his most important achievements as a Mia Araujo (’07 Communication Arts) Annetta Kapon (’85 Fine Arts) Board leader were his efforts to bring Otis and the Orange County surfwear industry together, and his tireless and extraordinary work as chair of the Trustees¹ Benefit Honorees Recruitment Committee. Henry Escoto David Alonso Edgar Pasten Terrance Zdunich He remained a most dedicated Otis Trustee to the end. ’02 Communication Arts ’08 Communication Arts ’04 Toy Design ’98 Communication Arts www.otis.edu/giving/dbs.html Design Director of User Men’s Design, Team graphics, Award and Patent: Gazillion’s Writer and artist for The Molting, Inaugural Exhibition Experience, Fox Digital Media Guess Inc. 2009 “Bubble Rocket,” a graphic novel with contribu- Project Room G3 at Angels Gate I-Parenting Media Award tors Brian Johnson (’98) and Cultural Center Curated by Sojung Chad Petersen Award-Winners Oceano (Yano) Ransford (’98); Kwon (’08 MFA). Featuring work ’02 Fine Arts Michael Schrier In Print Co-creator/Actor for Repo! The by Anthony Carfello (’09 MFA) Furniture Designer and ’66 MFA Fine Arts Edward Meyers Genetic Opera live show and (at left), Brian Marrier (’09 MFA), Fabrication, todosomething Outstanding Teacher of the ’71 Fine Arts film (Lionsgate) New Board Member Trustee Michael S. Smith to and Bree Yenalavitch (’06 MFA) Year Award, Otis/LAX Coastal Hollywood Taxi: True Confessions Thomas R. Miller Design Obama White House Linda Wong Chamber of Commerce of a Kiss and Tell Driver Nick Nugent of City National Bank ’02 Fashion Design ’05 Digital Media Owner/Designer, “The Battalion” Hunter Reynolds Susan Moss The Knight Rider Companion, In February, Another member clothing line, L.A. ’84 Fine Arts ’71 Fine Arts design of guidebook to the Thomas R. Miller, of Otis’ “family,” December 2008, Pollock Krasner Survive Cancer, Source original TV series; book signing: executive vice Trustee and alumnus Maya Yogev Grant; Bill Olander Visual Publications; Black Forest series “Knight Rider Festival 2009,” president of Michael S. Smith (’86), ’03 Fashion Design AIDS Vanguard Award. Solo in a ten-volume Posen Library of Las Vegas, NV Marketing at will shape the style Owner/Designer, “Grai” clothing Exhibition: “Real Love: Hurricane Jewish Culture and Civilization, City National of the new White line, L.A. Wilma, Hurricane Hunter,” Yale University Press 2010 Jeanie Chong Corporation, House. Smith, who Momenta Art, NY ’07 Communication Arts joined the Otis studied interior Melissa Bumstead Lucas Reiner Graphic Designer, featured in Board of Trustees. During his more design at Otis, is known for designing ’04 Communication Arts Sandeep Mukerjee ’85 Fine Arts No Plastic Sleeves: A than 30 years in marketing and comfortable yet sophisticated, classic Designer included in ’96 Fine Arts Exhibition and Book Launch: Comprehensive Portfolio Guide advertising, he has helped position yet modern spaces that are livable and “75 Best Wedding Websites,” California Community “Lucas Reiner: Los Angeles Trees: for Designers and Photographers some of the world’s premier brands family-friendly. Like Michelle Obama, Bride’s Magazine Foundation Fellowship Paintings, Drawings, Filmstills,” by Danielle Currier for companies like Ford Motor he enjoys mixing high and low. As for Mid-Career Artists Dinter Fine Art, New York. Company, Proctor & Gamble, Mattel, he states, “One of the secrets of good Candy Lu Signing: MOCA at Pacific Design Tucker Neel RJR Nabisco, The Pillsbury Company, decorating is not to be afraid to be ’04 Communication Arts Juan Capistran Center, L.A. ’07 MFA Fine Arts Sunkist, and Universal Studios. simple.” Working with clients such as Creative Director, TAC ’99 Fine Arts “Wake-Up Call Machine Project’s Miller has held executive positions at Steven Spielberg, Dustin Hoffman and International Fashion, Shanghai California Community Jo Lauria Field Guide to LACMA,” Foote, Cone & Belding and Ketchum Cindy Crawford, Smith has achieved a Foundation Fellowship for ’90 MFA Fine Arts Artillery Magazine Communications. He also served as reputation for balancing the glamor- Megan George and Emerging Artists Producer: “Art is What I Do: The chairman of the New York Council ous and the functional, the modern Michelle Wenke Life of Ralph Bacerra,” available Penny Weinraub of the American Association of and the classic. ’04 Fashion Design Susannah Leam to educational institutions. Co- ’07 MFA Writing Advertising Agencies. Miller earned “I am delighted to work with Owners/Designers, “Monrow,” ’01 Communication Arts Curator: “Masters of Mid-Century Author: Lefthanded, 2009 degrees from Michigan State the Obamas as they bring their own clothing line, L.A. American Advertising California Modernism: The Work University. He is president of the energy and style to the residence at Federation’s L.A. Competition of Evelyn and Jerome Ackerman,” Los Angeles Conservancy board of The White House,” said Santa Monica- Ashkahn Shahparnia (ADDY): Bronze award “For Mingei International Museum, directors, and also serves on the based Smith. “The family’s casual style, ’06 Fine Arts Excellence in Creativity and Balboa Park, San Diego, through boards of the United Way of Greater their interest in bringing 20th Century Featured artist for Paper Execution in the Arts,” Mixed January 2010. Los Angeles and the Los Angeles American artists to the forefront Thriller: The King of Pop Meets the King of Cool magazine, summer issue table Media category for “Bold Parks Foundation. Miller is also and utilizing affordable brands and (Exploring the Lost Works of Kent Twitchell) of contents Caballeros y Noble Bandidas” Pamela Hayes chairman emeritus of the Los Angeles products will serve as our guiding Curated by Peter Frank and on view in April 2009, this exhibition campaign, Gene Autry Museum ’91 Fine Arts Library Foundation. principles as we make the residence at Look Gallery at the LA Mart included a special installation Labin Novakov Goodbye to Pumpkin, children’s feel like their home.” by Kent Twitchell (’77 MFA) featuring a never-before-seen ’07 Fashion Design book by an art therapist monumental portrait of Michael Jackson. Local alumni attended Designer Mens Graphic T-shirts, the opening reception. Abercrombie Mens, New Albany, OH

OMAG 34 35 OMAG Kerry James Marshall (’78, Fine Arts)

Marshall, born in Birmingham, Alabama, during the civil rights movement, draws left: Visible Means of Support: Monticello, 2009 from African American history, popular culture, and identity politics in his work. These commissioned murals depict American icons: George Washington’s Mount right: Visible Means of Support: Mount Vernon, 2009 Vernon and Thomas Jefferson’s Monticello. The lives of slaves who supported Acrylic latex on canvas. San Francisco Museum of plantation life ordinarily remain unrepresented but Marshall created optical tricks to Modern Art, Haas Atrium reveal the invisible. At first glance, viewers recognize a colorful abstracted land- Photograph by Henrik Kam scape but upon closer inspection, they identify the silhouettes of the slave laborers. For this project, commissioned by the San Francisco Museum of Modern art for its Haas Atrium, Marshall worked together with artists from the Precita Eyes Mural Arts Center, a community-based organization that has produced murals in S.F. and around the world.

On view until 2010. www.sfmoma.org/multimedia/interactive_features/79

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