Author Archive
Students Create Word Cloud
At All-School on Friday, February 17 every student wrote down the first word that came to mind when they thought “Idyllwild Arts”. Diane Miller, executive assistant to Brian D. Cohen, then entered the words at Wordle.net and generated this word cloud.
Word Cloud created by Idyllwild Arts Academy students
How I Came Back to Gustave Mahler
by Brian D. Cohen, President, Idyllwild Arts
reposted from The Huffington Post
When I was a teenager I got made fun of for, among many other reasons, my taste in music. My choices didn’t seem to make sense taken together (Gustav Mahler and the Doors).
Music was for me a private as opposed to a social pleasure, so I didn’t care too much what people thought of my record collection. But I did seem to put on the record player the kind of music that you’d hate right away if you walk in the room while it’s playing. You just don’t get this stuff right away — it gets into you, and stays inside you.
Despite the genre-bending, I think I liked music that was fearless, outrageous, overwrought, petulant, grandiose, defiant, changeable, ecstatic, desperate, excessive, unapologetic, and impetuous.
These are in some ways quintessentially familiar adolescent qualities, along with the tendency to think a lot about love, sex, and death.
I don’t think about those things so much anymore, probably because I’ve become a responsible adult, and because it’s hard to keep up all that intensity for very many years. It’s also a little unseemly to be so exposed — maybe a little self-indulgent that I let myself be moved again and again in the same ways, or a little shameful that anyone knew about it. I’m sure it’s been 25 years since I’d listened to a Mahler symphony in recording or in person.
I returned to Mahler, just last month. Gustavo Dudamel, the Simón Bolívar Symphony Orchestra of Venezuela, and the Los Angeles Philharmonic have been performing all the Mahler symphonies as part of the Mahler Project. I heard the Symphony No. 5 at Disney Hall. The Simón Bolívar Symphony itself is made up of instrumentalists between the ages of 18 and 28. Dudamel himself was the eldest on stage at 30.
All are products of El Sistema, the Venezuelan state foundation for musical education. 75% of the children who enter El Sistema live below the poverty line. “For the children that we work with, music is practically the only way to a dignified social destiny. Poverty means loneliness, sadness, anonymity. An orchestra means joy, motivation, teamwork, the aspiration to success.” (José Antonio Abreu, founder of El Sistema). Playing an instrument well takes time and discipline, and often a supportive teacher, and playing in an orchestra requires close listening, responsiveness, and collaboration. That alone might be enough to keep kids off the streets.
But the intensity, anguish, and tenderness of music is what touches so many young people, and what draws them to the world of (even classical) music. These qualities are what moved me so much in the Dudamel/Simón Bolívar performance. There are things adolescents know that we forget in middle age; sometimes it takes young people to remind us of them.
Summer Program Alumnus Receives 2012 Honickman Book Prize
Tomás Q. Morín, a past fellow at the 2006 Summer Poetry in Idyllwild Festival, was recently awarded the 2012 Honickman Book Prize for his manuscript A Larger Country.
Tomas Q. Morin, Winner of the 2012 Honickman Book Prize
During the Summer Poetry in Idyllwild Festival Tomás worked with Pulitzer Prize winner and poet Natasha Trethewey and poet Cyrus Cassells, winner of the Lannan Literary Award and a Pushcart Prize. Mr. Morín states, “I had a wonderful time at Idyllwild’s poetry program. It was great spending time with so many talented students in the idyllic mountains of southern California. The faculty was stellar and encouraging of all the students. That kind of early encouragement and validation is priceless.”
He received his MFA from Texas State University, and MA from Johns Hopkins University. He is the recipient of scholarships from the Fine Arts Work Center, Bread Loaf Writer’s Conference and the New York State Summer Writers Institute, and was a fellow at the Idyllwild Summer Arts Program. He is a Senior Lecturer at Texas State University.
His poems have appeared in New England Review, Narrative, Boulevard, Slate,Threepenny Review, Best New Poets, and elsewhere.
Senior Theatre Majors Attend Chicago Unified Auditions
Our Theatre department seniors and faculty just returned from our annual trek to Chicago, Illinois to complete the Unified Auditions for theatre training programs. This year 14 seniors completed 81 auditions from February 5th through the 9th and these students were able to access one of the biggest collections of theatre programs to date. Idyllwild Arts has developed the tradition of attending the Chicago auditions since it brings the most programs together in one small geographical area. This year the students were able to audition for 48 different programs, all within walking distance of the Palmer House hotel downtown. The schools represented range from 2 year certificate training programs to comprehensive university programs offering BA or BFA training, mostly within the US and England. Our students tend to want many different things in their next phase of education so this trip has something for everyone.
Senior Theatre Majors in Chicago for Unified Auditons
While in Chicago we also try to experience a little of the city life and expose students to new and different dining options. For the alums reading this, we still carry out the tradition of “family dinners” in Greek Town and Russian Tea Time. This year we also hosted an alumni brunch on Sunday morning. It was nice to see the alumni mingling and sharing their experiences with the current students. This year, Natalie Bayard Boone ’04, Brooke Hebert ’11, Angie Caravaglia ’11, Juwan Lockett ’11 and Shane Prentice Walz and Jamie Cahill ’10 were able to attend. Larkin Bogin ’05 had just gotten to town while touring with American Idiot however due to rehearsal calls he wasn’t able to meet up with the group. Hopefully we’ll be able to see him when the tour comes to LA this spring.
As hectic and stressful as this week can be, it is wonderful to see the students using their training to pursue their future goals. Each one has such different visions for their future after leaving Idyllwild Arts yet for these few days, they are working together as a team to help each other achieve.
Idyllwild Arts Senior Makes Feature Film Debut
Dylan Arnold in production for Fat Kid Rules the World
Dylan is represented by an agent in Seattle, near his hometown of Bainbridge Island, and goes on auditions whenever he’s home on break. This past summer, he auditioned for the role – never thinking that he would get the part. Dylan said, “A week went by and I hadn’t heard from them. Finally, my Mom called and said that I would have to find someone to take over my summer vacation job as the producer called and wanted me for the role. I dropped the phone in surprise.”
The production began in July, with Dylan on set for three of the five weeks of filming. According, to Dylan, working with first time director Matthew Lillard was a real privilege and tremendous learning experience for him. Matthew has had a distinguished career as an actor, appearing in films such as Scooby-doo, She’s All That and – most recently – The Descendants. Dylan described Matthew as an “actor’s director… he tells you what is going on in the scene, and then asks for input from the actors.”
Dylan also states, “I give my training at Idyllwild Arts full credit for having made it possible to win this first film role. At Idyllwild Arts, I learned how to analyze and develop a character more fully, be more natural on stage and stay in the moment.”
While at Idyllwild Arts, Dylan acted in several student films. In 2011, he appeared in Laura Holliday’s “Rockstars: The Pete Weaver Experience” with Conor O’Farrell. In his first semester, in Spring 2010, he was cast in two films: the award winning “Shortcomings” by Andrew Reisfeld and “On the Bright Side” by Laura Holliday. Dylan says that the “experience of working in front of a camera is completely different than being onstage. I learned the need for subtlety and how to contain myself when the camera is up close. Being in student films at Idyllwild made all the difference in knowing how to behave in front of a camera.”
Next, Dylan is off to the Chicago Unified Auditions and would like to attend either Chapman University, where he could study both Theatre and Film, or Roosevelt University in Chicago to study Theatre. Fat Kid Rules the World is also scheduled to appear at the Seattle International Film Festival.
The Creative Value of Stupidity
by Brian D. Cohen
Reblogged from The Huffington Post
The difference between stupidity and genius is that genius has its limits. – Albert Einstein
If there’s an original thought out there, I sure could use it now… — Bob Dylan
Evolutionary biologist Mark Pagel concluded that wehumans just might be infinitely stupid. That might explain what’s special, even most hopeful about us.
According to theory, a driving force behind evolutionary change is genetic mutation, random changes in genetic codes that alter biological structures and processes, some, but very few, to the selective benefit of the species. Most genetic aberrations are dead-ends, killing their host, but wait long enough and sometimes one will pay off in a big way.
Evolutionary processes take place very slowly; culture evolves much more rapidly. Culture –innovative ideas that are adopted and stick around — plays something of the same role played by evolutionary biology; creating defenses, contrivances, and systems to keep traditional threats (saber-toothed tigers, etc.) at bay and passing on these mechanisms for survival.
But according to Dr. Pagel, we’ve reached the point where culture selects for less innovation. It’s more efficient to borrow someone else’s thinking, and near impossible to think of great things on your own. Thinking is hard work, and not many of us are good at it.
Where can the ordinary unoriginal person find the creative capacity to bring new ideas to our culture? Stupidity. It’s our version of mutation, in our denatured, devolved state; generating and sifting among alternative bad options and landing on one that just might work out. Mutation is to Biology as Stupidity is to Culture. Random and inefficient, generally unintentional, sometimes fatal, but something might come of it, if only because it’s not the same old same old.
Stupidity is infinite. There are limitless possibilities for getting something wrong, and very few for getting it right. From the sheer multiplicity of mistakes, bad ideas and wrong turns, something of unexpected value might result, something heretofore unknown and unthought of. Stupidity is extraordinarily inefficient and wasteful, but it isn’t about getting things done. It’s about exploring the unknown, plumbing a limitless array of possibilities, diving in the pool of untested opportunity. Stupidity belongs to something much larger than itself.
Culture is predominantly and of necessity imitative and repetitive. Look at the cut & paste mashup borrowing, sampling, replicating, recycling, and reoffering of much contemporary art — no real risk, despite appearances. It’s there for the taking and rehashing. True stupidity is something original, something special. Something you haven’t seen before. Something that can’t be taught or learned. Something truly new; we know it when we see it.
“The only excuse for making a useless thing is that one admires it immensely. All art is useless,” Oscar Wilde reminds us. Art is useless, and practical-minded people claim that expending great resources and effort in the service of something useless is stupidity. Take the Eiffel Tower. The great arbiters of French Culture of the time called for protesting “with all our might, with all our outrage, in the name of slighted French taste, in the name of threatened French art and history, against the erection, in the heart of our capital, of the useless and monstrous Eiffel Tower.“
What folly this thing is, they must have thought. This ridiculous, sublime achievement, this jewel in Paris’ crown.
Pure genius.
Past to Present – Alumni Visual Art Show & Opening Reception
Alumni Visual Art Show
In addition to Shepard Fairey, featured artists include Monica Lundy, who is making waves in Northern California with her inmate portraits on linen. Nate Lowman, currently shredding the gallery scene in NYC, will lend one of his bullet holes. Artists Paul Waddell, Arianna Sikorski, Jiwon Yoon, Youree Jin, Laurel Sparks, Kaelen Green and Richelle Gribble will exhibit, while artist books by Alison Yates, Sung Yun Yang and Erin Latimer invite your hand.
In the field of photography, Jovielle Gers will show a few images from her time working at Naropa, including one of the Dalai Lama. Greg Jensen is an Art Director who documented the fall and aftermath at Ground Zero.
Hawkeye Glenn is using his sculptor skills in metal and design to make functional fixtures. Jonathan Taube and Tada Kono are playing with politics and prickly pears, Krista Peters is creating portraits in brass, and Daniel Gray will make a site-specific installation. CJ Dunn has lettered the gallery with his design.
Past to Present: the Idyllwild Arts Alumni Show opens February 10, 2012, running through March 3, in Parks Exhibition Center on the Idyllwild Arts Campus. For more information see the Facebook Page, http://www.facebook.com/pages/Idyllwild-Arts-Parks-Exhibition-Center or call the gallery (951) 659-2171 x2251.
Alumnus Shepard Fairey ‘88 Street Artist, Illustrator & Graphic Designer Gives Guest Artist Lecture
(January 30, 2012) Idyllwild Arts is honored to host artist Shepard Fairey, class of 1988; creator of works such as the iconic Obama HOPE poster and OBEY street art, and a featured subject of the acclaimed 2010 documentary “Exit Through the Gift Shop.” Mr. Fairey has distinguished himself as graphic designer, illustrator and street artist, as well as a savvy guerilla marketer. This is Shepard’s first time to speak to students of the school he attended in its earliest years.
Shepard will give an artist lecture on Friday, February 10 at 3:30 pm in the Idyllwild Arts Foundation Theatre on the campus of Idyllwild Arts. The event is free and open to the public, with limited seating. His artwork will also be included in the Visual Art Alumni Show that opens the same evening in Parks Exhibition Center.
When Shepard graduated from Idyllwild Arts Academy in 1988, he was part of only the second graduating class. Carolyn Lowman, wife of Bill Lowman—the founding head of the academy—describes Shepard as “a breath of fresh air.” He brought his skateboard with him to Idyllwild, inspiring the Lowman’s to build a half-pipe in their front yard for him and their young son, Nate. Upon graduation Shepard enrolled at the Rhode Island School of Design (RISD) where he completed his education.
Bringing alumni back to Idyllwild Arts to share their memories, experiences and perspectives with students is an active part of the academy’s education experience. Idyllwild Arts strives to build a student experience that not only includes a strong arts and academic education, but also gives them tools to excel upon graduation. Sidney Morgan, a senior Visual Art major said “I am excited to see an alumni that is not only making a decent living with his art, but making a life with his art as well. “
Earlier this year, Idyllwild Arts hosted alumnus Liang Wang, principal oboe of the New York Philharmonic. Mr. Wang worked closely with the music students and performed an oboe concerto with the orchestra. More alumni from all areas of the arts will return throughout the Spring Semester to address seniors in their Life Skills class. This program, managed by the Arts Enterprise Laboratory (AEL), recruits alumni to speak about their post-Idyllwild Arts education and careers.
Leave Those Kids Alone
Reposted from The Huffington Post
By Brian D. Cohen
When my daughter was entering fifth grade, we went around visiting all the private and public school options within a 45-minute drive of our home in rural Vermont. Most distinctive, and in many ways the most appealing of the schools, was a Waldorf middle school. I liked what I saw until the art teacher expounded an elaborate unified field theory of child artistic and psychological development that forbade students from using the color black, and I said, c’mon, we’re leaving. I didn’t really care if my daughter used black in her artwork or not, that was her choice, but I thought that keeping black away in the name of an abstruse grown-up theory was too much for a fifth-grader. She went to public school instead, where they didn’t have much art at all, so maybe I was being stubborn and willful to my daughter’s detriment.
When we get too directive or overbearing about play and the arts, we can take more away from kids than we give them. Sometimes we have to leave our kids alone to play, and not obsess, belabor, hover or cajole like tiger mothers of the imagination.
What is the role of play in education? A recent study of 300 children from working-class families found: “The ones that emerged as most creative …used their play as work,” says Stanford professor Shirley Brice Heath. “They were very difficult to disengage from play. To a person, they disliked, avoided, subverted education if it was not related to what they saw as their interests.” ‘Science Looks at How to Inspire Creativity’ by Sarah Sparks in Education Week, December 14, 2011 (Vol. 31, #14, p. 1, 16).
To oversimplify this a bit, kids do best when they want to learn; when what they learn is recognizably in their interests; when learning is fun; and especially when it’s challenging and engages them. In ‘Studio Thinking: How Visual Arts Teaching Can Promote Disciplined Habits of Mind,’ Ellen Winner observes that “focus and develop inner-directedness… (are) taught first and foremost by presenting students with challenging projects that engage them and require sustained work.”
Play as work? The arts involve play, not because the arts are easy, or even fun most of the time (and don’t say frivolous). Play in the arts is the exploration of patterns and relationships; the rehearsal of possibilities; the in-the-moment tactility, movement, sound, light, and awakening of the senses; the puzzle, thrill, and risk of learning a new form of expression, a new language; the excitement of observing and making sense of the world, the interaction of our stories, our feelings, our shared discoveries.
All good. But the outcome is indeterminate; success is uncertain; setbacks are inevitable; making progress is hard work; and the pathway is unfamiliar and not marked out in advance. Play is work.
I heard earlier this year about a woman named Lenore Skenazy who let her nine-year-old take the subway across New York City by himself, earning her the epithet “America’s worst mom.” I sort of admired her. We can’t control every aspect of our kids’ lives. Kids have to learn some things on their own; they learn that the answers they discover themselves have special value, because they don’t come easily.
When my daughter was a little older than nine (OK, a lot older), just for fun she and her best friend asked me to drive them blindfolded (them, not me) to an unknown location a half-hour from our house (this was Vermont, not NYC), and to drop them off so they could find their way back home, on their own (at that point they took off their blindfolds). I had driven them over to New Hampshire to disorient them. They made it back to the house in a little over an hour. I’m not sure how they did it. No doubt it took some ingenuity.
A lesson I learned early on as an art teacher is that the artwork your students make is not your own creation, not in the way the work you yourself create as an artist is. A teacher is more like the bad mom putting her son on the subway or like me driving the girls to someplace unknown; providing the challenge but not the ride home.
