Archive for September, 2010
Parks Exhibition Center of Idyllwild Arts; Faculty Show
Today’s blog is from Parks Exhibition Center Manager Mallory Cremin…
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Currently on display until October 8th at the Parks Gallery is the 2010
Visual Art Faculty Show. The wide variety of materials and subject matter
makes this show one not to miss. On display is new artwork by the current
Visual Art Faculty including Rob Rutherford, Eric Metzler, David Reid-Marr, Paul Waddell, Melissa Wilson, Mallory Cremin, Terry Rothrock, Gerald Clarke, Steve Hudson, Youree Jin, and Erich Bollmann.
Entering the gallery, this first work on the left are three delicate wall
sculptures by Eric Metzler. They are poetic combinations of vulnerable
organic elements like eggshells and flower petals, with industrial waste, a
shredded tire part, or wire numbers. Eric’s aesthetic for line and balance
in 3-D work ties in with the visual quality also evident in his photographic
work.
The next piece is “Shoe Emporium” by Rob Rutherford, which looks like a shoe
graveyard, with the miscellaneous toes and heels pointing out like
tombstones. The base is a shelf with stripes of candy colors, into which the shoes disappear. The surreal effect is a comical cross of shoe store and chainsaw massacre. Rob’s humorous work continues in the other two pieces on display. “Arch” looks like a column of books, which are falling, starting with larger books at its base, continuing with the ten-foot tall stack curving toward the wall to meet a basketball. Are the books pressing the basketball against the wall? Was the effort a slam-dunk? The third piece by Rob Rutherford is “Northern Hemisphere”, where the southern half of a globe is full of dirt, out of which is growing live grass. The grow light suspended above suggests global warming, but the artist talks about how all our lawn seeds are imported from the southern hemisphere.
In the center of the gallery is a large figure of a boar, muscular, moving, with large tusks protruding by its snout like horns, covered with black
thistle seeds. The beast by David Reid-Marr, has six glowing bulbs for teats under the dormant dark mass of seed. The effect is a fantastic contrast of light and dark, large and small.
Another compelling piece by David Reid-Marr is “Jacob Wrestling the Angel”. The convoluted forms are jailed in the inviting strands of a monofilament shower.
A new series of hand-thrown ceramics by Terry Rothrock show his exquisite craftsmanship, and his interest in formal references, first to the shapes of human heads in “Profiles of Tibet”, secondly in sea creatures, with “the squid and the octopus”.
In the center of the gallery a ridge of sand rises from the floor and supports a series of photos on tiles by Melissa Wilson. The images show her daughter, in the early cycles of life.
The show includes a monumental new painting of a storm cloud over mountains by Steve Hudson. The title “All Our Fallen Have Fallen in Rain” is inspired by many loved ones who have passed on recently, specifically Michael Kabotie and the Hopi traditional belief that spirits of our dead come back as rain to nourish the earth.
There are two large expressive paintings by Paul Waddell, “Things Fall Apart, Twice or More”. The works pair mundane objects like a laundry basket or bedside table, with organic abstract elements, which seem to threaten the health of the subject. Three small drawings by Erich Bollman reveal an economy of line but not expression.
A new teacher, and alumna, Youree Jin has two works which show her interest in the careful balance of things.
Two new photographs by Mallory Cremin show a large melting mass of water the shape of Greenland, enticing the viewer with beautiful light refractions and juxtapositions of textures. Finally, the show concludes with two potent modern digital photo ‘Glyphs’ on canvas by Gerald Clark, continuing his
playful theme of juxtaposing historically Native American forms with modern culture.
September 29, 2010 at 1:57 pm Idyllwild Arts Leave a comment
Black History Month
In 2007, Sydney Robertson, the then Director of Residential Life, came up with the idea of marking Black History Month with a series of events in February of every year to coincide with the nationwide celebration.
The first event involved Ben Herson who is the founder and director of Nomadic Wax – a global hip-hop record label and production company dedicated to recording, documenting and presenting hip-hop and underground music from around the world, and Baay Bia a composer, performer and rapper from Dakar, Senegal who came to screen the Nomadic Wax film, Democracy in Dakar, which explores the role of youth hip hop activism during the turbulent 2007 Senegalese elections. The film has won numerous awards at film festivals in both the continental United States and abroad at places as far afield as South Africa, Spain, The Netherlands and Zanzibar off the coast of Africa.
After the screening Baay took to the mic with Ben accompanying him on percussion to a rapturous response from the students and faculty. 
A large number of the students went to MacNeal afterwards to have the drum circle to end all drum circles and greeted Baay like a conquering hero when he made his entrance about halfway through to a throng of screams from his newfound fans.
Later on that month, we invited Eothen Alapatt, label manager of Los Angeles-based Stones Throw Records to come up. Egon is one of the world’s most renowned music aficionados alongside the likes of Madlib, Andy Votel, DJ Shadow etc. and it was wonderful having him share some anecdotes of his time working with the likes of DOOM, the aforementioned Madlib as well as about his love of obscure Turkish psychedelic rock from the 1970’s in his own charming style that had the students hooked on his every word and more importantly bending his ear afterwards way beyond curfew. I couldn’t work out who was more excited, Eothen or the students. Eothen did make one of our former students, Kino Benally’s night by giving him a rare slice of James Brown. It is moments like this that make all the effort well and truly worthwhile.
The following year with Sydney now working for the Humanities Department, I took over the Black History Month celebrations and took it as an opportunity to invite a friend of mine, Carlos Nino, up to talk about music and its correlation with spirituality. Carlos has been producing records since his teens and was at the time a week away from his biggest show, ‘A Suite For Ma Dukes’, an orchestral reinterpretation of the music of the late and dearly missed James Yancey Jr. aka J Dilla at the Luckman Theatre Complex in Los Angeles. As you can imagine it was a major coup to get him to come up to the snowy mountain when he was in the middle of being deeply ensconced in rehearsals along with his musical collaborator Miguel Atwood-Ferguson and a 40-piece orchestra who had never played together playing music that had never been performed before. I would have been a wreck but Carlos as usual was his usual Zen-like self emphasizing to the students the importance of creative exploration as well as encouraging them to record their own music but to never forget their influences. 
Again, a slew of students had a hundred questions for Carlos to answer way beyond curfew and a few Moving Pictures majors took their opportunity to interview him for a documentary that they were making at the time. I am also certain that sales of Harzat Inayat Khan’s ‘The Music of Life’ went through the roof that night after Carlos read various passages to the students over the course of his talk.
To follow Carlos, I asked Tyler Gibney from HVW8 to come up and do a live painting while a few students played music and a large number of others enjoyed the BBQ that we had on offer. Tyler’s work is predominantly political with references to popular culture of the 1970’s and 1980’s interwoven with his unique graphic style that has seen him exhibit his work all over the world as well as at his own gallery on Melrose in Hollywood. After completing his work Tyler gave a brief presentation about his work and showed his collaborations with the likes of adidas, Gravis and Zune. Tyler left with a wave of new fans as well as with a new intern, Axel Lanzenberg, who started working for him over the course of the next summer.
The following year we were blessed to have acclaimed Afrobeat musician and former Kalakuta Republic resident, Najite Agindotan from Nigeria to pay us a visit and to teach the students about the many different drums that have formed the tools to his trade most of which the students and myself had never seen let alone knew how to hold. After giving a performance that enthralled the students and especially the percussionists in the crowd, Najite allowed the students to get their own drums and to use his for an impromptu drum circle that had many of the crowd playing until their fingers quite literally bled. The event was a huge success and one that I hope to repeat in the not too distant future before Najite returns permanently to his homeland.
With the wind firmly in the sails now, I invited Jonny Dub and Illum Sphere from Manchester, England who were on tour in the United States to talk about their night Hoya:Hoya which is at the very forefront of the beat/dubstep movement that is taking the world by storm at the moment as well as encourage the students to collaborate with as many people as possible across the various art forms. Illum Sphere, who is a hugely respected music producer gave a quick lesson in how to make beats and that night as we walked through the dorms a large number of students were hard at work trying their own hands at a bit of sonic manipulation which was very heartening to see and hear.
About a week later Tyler came back up to the school this time bringing his friend Computer Jay before they both went to Europe for a showcase and a tour. 
It is hard to describe what Jay does as his set-up consists of a mixer, a turntable, a Fender Rhodes Electric Piano, a Mood synthesizer and a computer that “talks” back to him as he performs as well as visuals that he can manipulate as he plays. My brain gets sore just thinking about the complexity of what he does but Jay manages to combine all of this in perfect symmetry much to the crowd’s enjoyment. We even had some students break-dancing that night which is always amusing and frightening in equal measures.
Following Ty and Jay I asked Eothen to come back and talk about sampling, Creative Commons licenses and how to get their music signed and distributed as I feel that it is important for the students to know that they can make a living off their creativity. A very healthy and inspiring question and answer session followed and Eothen took this as an opportunity to play some of the new music from his label, some of which hadn’t been heard in public yet much to the excitement of some of the new-music hungry students and to a certain tall South African who tried to, shall we say, borrow all of it indefinitely.
This past year, there were incredibly exciting plans made that unfortunately due to health reasons fell through (but who may make an appearance this year, wink wink) so at the very last minute I made a desperate call to Carlos Nino and asked him if he could get anyone to come up to the school and on a rainy night we were well and truly honored to have the legendary Tribe Records horn player Phil Ranelin come to campus! Phil’s biography is far too long to share here but who has played and collaborated with everyone from Wayne Shorter to Ella Fitzgerald to Art Pepper to Christian McBride to Marcus Belgrave to Carl Craig and many, many more. We were truly amongst music royalty. The jazz students who were itching to ask him questions couldn’t believe their luck when they were asked by Carlos to accompany Phil as he played. Even our Director of Residential Life, Kevin Sullivan, a New England Conservatory alum, couldn’t resist sitting in on the session with the great man. If you ever get to meet Jacob Scesney ask him about that night and I can guarantee that his smile will be as wide as Broadway. My joy, as a ravenous vinyl junkie, came from being allowed to hold Phil’s original Tribe pressings which go for more than I could ever afford.
The final event was an important one in that I wanted to showcase two platforms that have taken electronic music into new and exciting territory, the MPC and the Monome. I invited the absolute masters of the respective instruments Jneiro Jarel aka Dr. Who Dat? and Alfred Darlington aka Daedelus to give a brief demonstration on each. I did get very lucky in that Daedelus had just appeared in a film called ‘Second Hand Sureshots’ along with JRocc, Nobody and Ras G and never being one to miss an opportunity I made a few frantic phone calls and I was given permission to show the film for the first time in a high school anywhere, which was very exciting. 
I will never forget the moment when Daedelus walked in and the kids recognized him from what they had just seen. The level of excitement rose immensely and when Daedelus took to the Monome the place was on the verge of erupting but the night wasn’t quite done yet as Jneiro who collaborates with the likes of Dave Sitek from TV on The Radio, DOOM and many others, showed the students exactly how you can make an MPC sing. I know of at least one student who went out and bought both a Monome and an MPC after the show and I can’t wait to hear what they come up with the months ahead.
The goal of the events is not to educate the students on the Civil Rights Movement, one that I personally don’t feel that I could do justice to, but rather to get the students to meet enthusiastic professionals honing their craft and who I feel could inspire the students at the Idyllwild Arts Academy to pick up a camera, get some paint or sit down in front of a keyboard and make something that is utterly unique that granted may fall outside of their respective majors here at the school but which allows them to express themselves as creatively as possible. 
I also like it that our students are not shy in passing on their information and keeping in touch with the artists that have come up to the school. Everybody that comes up here leaves enthused and well and truly sold on what we do here at IAA and who knows maybe in the future we will see collaborations begin to from that will allow our students to start reaching their goals of making a living out of what they truly love. Something which I truly envy.
What does BHM have in store for this coming year? Well let’s just say that it is going to be a very exciting year to be a student here and leave it at that as I don’t want to jinx it but trust me on this one.
I’d just like to take this opportunity to thank John Newman, the Dean of Students, for helping me fund and get dates for the events, Kevin Michael Sullivan, the Director of Residential Life, who does yeoman’s work in supporting the events and Sydney Robertson whose idea it all was in the first place. Salute!
– Marc Kets, Associate Dean of Students
September 22, 2010 at 6:12 pm Idyllwild Arts Leave a comment
Prefects!
Prefects are an integral part of the leadership structure here at the Idyllwild Arts Academy. The prefects are essentially our best and brightest who we entrust with keeping their fellow students safe and informed, being the communicators between the students and the faculty all while at the same time pushing the school forward by organizing events and coming up with ideas that will make our wonderful school that much better. Not an easy task, I am sure that you will agree.
We are very lucky to have a multi-national group of prefects this year who come from as far afield as Singapore, Taiwan, Germany, South Korea, Mexico as well as the United States who all truly understand what it means to be apart of the culture here at the Academy. We are also very honored to have seven four-year seniors who have enough institutional memory to help the rest navigate the various obstacles that will be presented as the year progresses.
Prefect Orientation always starts off with a cacophony of screams and high-pitched squeals as our young lions are reunited after what they inform me was “forever”, and after a few joyful tears are shed and a couple “you’ve grown”’s are uttered it is time to begin orientation in earnest with introductions to the entire faculty.
This year after the introductions were made I took the group down to the picturesque Holmes Amphitheatre to discuss a few goals for the year and for them to sit on the stage from which they all intend to graduate on June 4th 2011. I gave them a few moments to sit silently to soak in the atmosphere and to contemplate what the school means to them, which we shared afterwards. It is always heartening to hear how much the school means to our students and especially how much respect and gratitude they have for their teachers, mentors, peers and ultimately for the institution as a whole.
Then with a new sense of purpose it was off to our traditional opening barbecue that gives them an opportunity to talk amongst themselves and catch up but which unfortunately this time was somewhat hampered by a barbecue that was not quite playing ball but there weren’t any complaints as the food took a little longer than planned. It must be said that Devon did yeoman’s work flipping the burgers and everyone left relatively full and satisfactorily well-reacquainted before we got down to the knitty-gritty of our opening meeting.
Our first meeting is always a nuts and bolts affair with the expectations and protocol for the year laid out. This year because of the overall quality of the group there will be more expected of them and with new support structures in place such as breakfast check-in and weekly pod reports they all seem more than prepared to face these challenges, which remember go over and above their usual commitments at a school like ours that has a challenging dual-curriculum. For the first night they were allowed to sleep together in Pierson Commons and even though some such as Hoon were very much jetlagged they all seemed to have a great time bonding until the early morning as clearly evidenced by their tired but radiant smiles the next morning when I went to wake them up before our hike.
For the first time Daniel Gray, our PE Coordinator, MacNeal dorm parent and an IAA alum from ’97, along with myself and Matt and Beth Thomas, parents of one of our prefects, Melanie, took the group up South Ridge to take in the scenic views that overlook the idyllic little town in which we reside. This was also their chance to read their prefect pledges, which are promises to both themselves and the community. I was very careful to remind them that these promises should be attainable and all of them complied beautifully with deeply thoughtful pledges that will only serve to benefit the school as they check off their goals one by one.
After the hike the students were allowed some free time to prepare their dorms for the imminent arrival of their new pledges as well as to get themselves and their own rooms ready for the beginning of the year. That night we settled in for a final meeting to go over the game plan for the weekend as they are entrusted with the mammoth task of making registration smooth sailing for the new students and parents. In addition, we went over a few scenarios that may play out in the months ahead by playing a little game that I like to call, ‘Absolutely Right and Criminally Wrong’, and it was hilarious especially as I am sure that you can imagine the theatre students hamming up the wrong way to do things with hysterical results. A brief overview of the Student/Parent handbook was also done and many lessons were learnt and a new understanding of the rules and regulations and why they are in place were forged.
The next day they knuckled down and began their work and so far I can quite honestly say that this is the best group of prefects that I have had the privilege of working with here at the school. They are to a (wo)man exceptionally articulate and mature students who are more than capable of laying the platforms required to make this year at Idyllwild Arts Academy a tremendous success.
Audition day 2010
September 14, 2010 at 6:33 am Idyllwild Arts Leave a comment
Registration weekend.
—–From Bonnie Carpenter, Associate Dean of the Arts
For me, Registration Weekend is one of my two favorite times on campus. Graduation is a wonderful time to celebrate our accomplishments- students and faculty alike. But Registration weekend is a time of possibilities. This weekend at Idyllwild Arts we welcomed approximately 265 new and returning students to our campus from a variety of states and countries. They each will bring with them a passion for the arts and a drive to learn more about the world in which they create their art.
During this weekend, students face many new variables in their lives which can be wonderfully liberating on some levels and incredibly scary on others. No longer are they in the cozy and familiar environments in which they are used to but instead they face new roommates, new foods, new teachers, new performance anxieties… new everything. Even for returning students it might seem new or strange as when they left campus in the spring there were different faces and relationships that might not still exist like friends that graduated or faculty that left Idyllwild Arts.
For me, as a faculty member, I always equate this weekend to the feelings of a new romance. There are so many wonderful, energetic and enthusiastic faces to get to know. Each will influence our school in some way and it is a blank page on this weekend. Some of these students may be our next legendary artists, our nobel prize winners or great philanthropists for the arts. They may be our new lifelong friends or (dare I say) the thorn in our side. But on this weekend, anything is possible and it is a fresh start.
—–Bonnie Carpenter, Associate Dean of the Arts
September 12, 2010 at 5:55 pm Idyllwild Arts Leave a comment
New version of artin3d.
Hello everyone! As we start this new school year, this blog is taking a new format. Instead of being MY blog, it’s now going to be OUR blog here at Idyllwild Arts.
Enjoy and keep reading as we have a rotating schedule of guests!
September 12, 2010 at 5:53 pm Idyllwild Arts Leave a comment
