20th Anniversary Celebration – March 2nd
GIVEAWAYS, INTERACTIVE PERFORMANCE, OPENING RECEPTION, CAKE + MORE
GRAND CENTRAL ART CENTER CELEBRATES
20TH ANNIVERSARY
SATURDAY, MARCH 2ND from 7-10PM
OPENING RECEPTIONS
Lost Islands of Philadelphia
Jennifer Levonian
To the artist Jennifer Levonian’s surprise, she recently learned there were once two lively islands in the Delaware River right beside Philadelphia. Smith and Windmill Islands were best known for their amusement park and baths, accessible via a quick ferry ride. To make way for shipping traffic, the federal government removed the islands in 1894. Only one year later, a columnist for the Philadelphia Evening Bulletin was already wondering how long before the islands would become a vague memory. “It is curious,” the columnist wrote, “how soon our memories lose their hold on places.” The artist thought it was poignant that two islands could be removed and completely forgotten.
Levonian’s cutout animation Lost Islands of Philadelphia tells the story of the islands, touching on themes of obsolescence and transience. It follows a girl who, after reading about the islands in a library book, but is unaware of their destruction, sets off on her own to find them. Her mother pursues her frantically on rollerblades, her lack of skating skills causing mayhem all the way.
Jennifer Levonian makes animations near Philadelphia. Her work has been exhibited across the United States, including at the Philadelphia Museum of Art, the Telfair Museum in Savannah, GA, the Contemporary Museum in Baltimore and the National Portrait Gallery, Washington, D.C. In 2009, she was awarded a Pew Fellowship in the Arts. She has attended residencies at the Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture, Bemis Center for Contemporary Art, and the Atlantic Center for the Arts. Her animation Xylophone won the Ken Burns Best of the Fest award at the 2017 Ann Arbor Film Festival.
PROJECT MURAL WALL
Jon Haddock
Through an artist-in-residence, artist Jon Haddock will be creating a new mural on the GCAC Project Wall.
Jon Haddock lives, works and teaches in Phoenix, Arizona. His work has been exhibited internationally, in venues that include the Yerba Buena Art Center in San Francisco, ZKM Karlsrue, PaceWildenstein in New York, Witte Zaal in Ghent, Arizona State University Art Museum in Tempe, and The Whitney Museum of American Art in New York. Mr. Haddock’s work is in the collections of several institutions, including the Whitney Museum in New York, and the Henry Gallery in Seattle.
INTERACTIVE PERFORMANCE
Lucas Murgida: None of This is Real – Phase 4
7-10pm
Through an interactive performance that will premiere the evening of March 2nd, GCAC artist-in-residence Lucas Murgida will segment GCAC’s storefront gallery by creating an impasse that spans from the street facing the window and extends to a rear wall. Participants, with engaged instructional guidance from the artist, will work in teams of two to circumvent the impasse, utilizing high-speed grinders and saws to create a portal into the gallery interior. The participants will then be instructed in methods to repair the damage they have caused, allowing the next group of participants to experience the similar installation and engagement. The experience will be free and open to people of all ages and abilities.
GIVEAWAYS
David Greenberger CDs
Every Hour
The first 20 guests entering Grand Central Art Center at the top of each hour will receive a free CD of GCAC artist-in-residence David Greenberger’s latest project It Happened to Me. The CD includes 60-original song recorded with Greenberger’s trio Prime Len, based on actual conversations with senior citizens of the Santa Ana community. Cover design artwork for the CD was created by artist Ed Ruscha.
CAKE WILL BE SERVED
Throughout the Evening
GCAC will be producing 20 special cakes that will commemorate projects realized by artists with the center. Cake will be served throughout the evening to guests.
CONTINUING EXHIBITIONS
7-10PM
A Slow Conflict
Yevgeniya Mikhailik
Layers of the City
Angel Nevarez & Valerie Tevere