Artist-in-Residence – A 12-Month Review @ Grand Central Art Center
Generous funding and in-kind support from The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, KCET, Living Resources, Jeff Van Harte, Alexandra Shabtai, William Gillespie Foundation, Fainbarg-Chase Families and many others, in support of the Grand Central Art Center (GCAC) Artist-in-Residence program, has helped to make it possible for GCAC to continue its forward vision for the institution. Focused on artists working in community-engaged practices, as the following details outlines, the funding /in-kind donations / services have provided support to artists-in-residence for research and the creation of new work through GCAC’s philosophy of listening, assisting and connecting.
The support has assisted in providing our students, faculty, staff and community members direct engagement with seventeen artists- in-residence. As part of policy of extending to artists-in-residence the opportunity to invite additional collaborators to join them in residence, GCAC was able to make it possible for many of the seventeen artists-in-residence to invite additional artists for stays in our community, which included: eleven invited collaborators who stayed on-site; thirty-eight invited collaborators whose housing was arranged off-site by GCAC.
Activities of the artists-in-residence took place within the GCAC’s physical structure, as well as local and regional sites, with estimated direct and broadcast engagement of over 175,000 individuals.
With invitations to present, Director/Chief Curator John D. Spiak gave talks on GCAC’s past year of socially engaged programs at the following conferences/events: Alliance of Artists Communities (Oct. 20-23), Charleston, SC; Coalition of Urban and Metropolitan Universities (CUMU) (Oct. 5-7) Syracuse University; The Price Paid for Freedom of Expression with Anna Deavere Smith, moderated by Carolina Miranda (Apr. 25), sponsored by the Los Angeles Times, The Broad Stage, Santa Monica; LA/LA (Los Angeles/Latin America): Place and Practice (May 2 & 4), San Diego Museum of Art and Getty Museum; and at multiple universities in the region.
In the past year, GCAC’s artists-in-residence projects have received recognition in the press through the following publications and outlets: The NY Times, LA Times, KCRW, OC Register, KCET, Artillery Magazine, Daily Titan, Orange Coast Magazine, OC Weekly, and additional online blogs and outlets.
As Grand Central Art Center moves forward, we are excited for the continued growth of the program, realizing final elements of current residencies through exhibitions and programs, and inviting artists to explore the beginnings of new projects in our community.
We look forward to continuing Grand Central Art Center’s relationship with our current supporters and look forward to meeting new ones!
ARTIST-IN-RESIDENCE PROJECTS
JUNE 2014 – JUNE 2015
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LISA BIELAWA
Vireo: The Spiritual Biography of a Witch’s Accuser
Vireo is an ongoing GCAC residency with Lisa Bialawa that focuses upon the empowerment of the young female voice. Developed as a serial broadcast opera, Vireo focuses on the way in which teenage-girl visionaries’ writings have been manipulated, incorporated, and interpreted by the communities of men surrounding them throughout history. The first two episodes of the opera featured Kronos Quartet, 16-year old Rowen Sabala (a current Orange County School for the Arts student), San Francisco Girls Chorus, the Orange County School of the Arts Middle School Choir, mezzo-soprano Laurie Rubin, mezzo- soprano Maria Lazarova, tenor Ryan Glover, baritone Gregory Purnhagen and drummer Matthias Bossi. The project was filmed in Downtown Santa Ana at The Yost Theater and premiered through broadcast in partnership with KCET. Episode production resumes in July.
Through Bielawa’s invitation, Rubin, Purnhagen, Bossi, librettist Erik Ehn and audio capture supervisor Dan Dryden all spent multiple days living in residence at GCAC during production. GCAC made off-site housing arrangements for the members of Kronos Quartet and their team, and arranged home-stays for the 30-members of the San Francisco Girl Chorus and their chaperones. The production of the first two episodes involved an eighty-member team and took place over a four-day period. Two evenings of the production included an invitation to the public for a live audience viewing of the tapings/performances.
Additional funding support provided by: Jeff Van Harte (CSUF, ’80), Alexandra Shabtai, Fainbarg-Chase Families, and William Gillespie Foundation. In-kind support for Vireo provided by: Boldo Bol, Brite Ideas Lighting, Foothill High School Marching Band, Matt Gush, The Law Offices of Dennis A. Dascanio, Ninjas with Appetite, Orange County School of the Arts, San Francisco Girl Chorus, and The Yost Theater.
Broadcast Numbers: KCET Broadcast on March 31, 2015: 11,000; LINK TV Broadcast (March-June): +100,000 views; KCET.ORG (March-June) – articles: +5,000 views
Vireo Project site:
http://www.operavireo.org/
KCET Vireo site:
http://www.kcet.org/arts/artbound/projects/vireo/
AIDA Ã… EHOVíC with LEONARD CORREA
Unfinished Conversations: Reconstructing the Invisible
Unfinished Conversations: Reconstructing the Invisible is a collaborative project of artist Aida Ã… ehovíc with local forensic investigator Leonard Correa (Santa Ana PD), who also happens to be a photographer. Aida first met Leonard through her fall 2014 GCAC artist-in-residence, where they quickly discovered similarities in their process in dealing with personal memories of sites—hers being a home in Bosnia that her family was forced to abandon to rebels as war began in her homeland; his are locations in Santa Ana he has encountered during the process of his work that continue to haunt him as he drives by them almost daily. The project explores connection to space through traumatic situation, memory and an attempt at a form of therapy in documenting site through artistic practice.
Ã… ehovíc will return as artist-in-residence during the fall of 2015, when she and Correa will install an exhibition of their collaborative process that will be on view from November 7, 2015 through January 10, 2016.
Blog post:
https://www.grandcentralartcenter.com/wp/?p=3425
DANIEL TUCKER
Future Perfect: Time Capsules in Reagan Country
Grand Central Art Center, in collaboration with the Santa Ana Public Library’s History Room and Teen Program, “buried” a 10-year time capsule on July 12, 2014. The ceremony at Grand Central Art Center was association with Daniel Tucker’s artists-in-residence project Future Perfect: Time Capsules in Reagan Country. For the “burial” ceremony, Tucker invited filmmaker/collaborator Emily Forman to join him in residence for one-night at GCAC. The capsule, now suspended in the GCAC education gallery, has three separate locks, with a key to an individual lock held by GCAC, the library and the artist, to come together and open in the year 2024.
Tucker’s overall residency involved site visits to Ronald Reagan associated locations on the west coast, conducting interviews and research that were developed and edited into a feature film. The film is beginning to make the festival circuit and screening at art institutions. GCAC will bring Tucker back in residence in September for a screening and conversation.
Blog post:
https://www.grandcentralartcenter.com/wp/?p=3173
ANGELICA GOMEZ and JOSEPH LINNERT
Warwick Square Community Garden
Warwick Square Community Garden is an ongoing GCAC residency project with artists Angelica Gomez and Joseph Linnert, engaging the resident of the 500-unit affordable housing complex of Warwick Square Apartments in Santa Ana through the development of a sustainable community garden. Through a partnership with Living Resources, the artists were initially provided funding and an apartment to use on-site for a one-year period, that period is now extending to an additional six-months. Gomez and Linnert are using the apartment as a living space to be onsite to engage the community and develop the garden with residents.
Gomez and Linnert have developed programs of the garden with residents, like an Adopt a Seed project – starting the process of planting that would then be transferred into the garden. They held a series of public programs, as well as workshops, on nutrition and planting techniques. They have been collaborating on-site with the Project Access resource center, which has been at Warwick for many years, serving the community as a resource for education, employment and empowerment.
Additional funding support provided by: Living Resources In-kind support for the project has been provided by: Home Depot of Santa Ana.
Blog post:
https://www.grandcentralartcenter.com/wp/?p=4452
ERIN SOTAK
Whispering Pine Engagement
Whispering Pine Engagement is an ongoing GCAC residency project with Phoenix artist Erin Sotak, who is engaging the resident of the 325-unit affordable housing complex of Whispering Pine in Phoenix through the development of creative activities and outreach. Through a partnership with Living Resources, the artists were initially provided funding and an apartment to use on-site for a one-year period, that period is now extending to an additional six-months. Sotak is using the apartment as an activation space for creative community engagement, as well as arranging off-site cultural institution visits for youth of the community.
Additional funding support provided by: Living Resources
Blog post:
https://www.grandcentralartcenter.com/wp/?p=4452
COG•NATE COLLECTIVE (AMY SANCHEZ and MISAEL DIAZ) Cog-nate Collective (Amy Sanchez and Misael Diaz) have been on-site GCAC artists-in- residence working with the community on numerous project for the past two-years. Projects over this past year have included:
THE S.N.A. Project (Social Neighborhood Art)
The S.N.A.* Project (*Social Neighborhood Art) was a GCAC residency with Cog•nate Collective (Amy Sanchez and Misael Diaz) that explored the history and current social + cultural landscape of Downtown Santa Ana, an area struggling with issues of gentrification. The project invited local high school and college students, along side CSUF students from Dr. Karen Stocker’s fall semester class Anthropology 350:1 Culture and Education, to work with contemporary artists to design an artistic intervention in Downtown Santa Ana. Cog•nate Collective invited into residence collaborators to engage in the process through a series of public walk workshops, including: artist Kate Clark facilitated a workshop with participants on “Urban Excavation”, creating a series of rubbings of sites that were identified as intersections of past and present social/political/economic/cultural issues in the city; artist Christina Sanchez facilitated a workshop with participants on “Testimonials + Labor”, focusing on audio research strategies and collective listening models as processes to engage, document and learn about social landscapes; artist Omar Pimienta facilitated a workshop with participants on “Urban Narratives”, analyzing neighborhood subjective exploration/recording strategies using photography and poetry. The project culminated in an exhibition at GCAC and an organized Red Line Trolley Tour of downtown Santa Ana.
COG•NATE COLLECTIVE (AMY SANCHEZ and MISAEL DIAZ) cont.
Manos Unidas Creando Arte
Manos Unidas Creando Arte is being developed by Cog•nate Collective (Amy Sanchez and Misael Diaz) in collaboration with a group of local women, working to give life to new social opportunities + cultural + economic in the community of Santa Ana, through the production of crafts with recycled materials.
Project Facebook Page:
https://www.facebook.com/ManosCreandoArte
VINCENT GOUDREAU with JUAN AQUINO
Recordings of an Immigrant
Recordings of an Immigrant is an ongoing Grand Central Art Center residency and upcoming exhibition project with Vincent Gourdeau, in collaboration with Juan Aquino. The project will be presented as a non-fiction narrative, inspiring a multidisciplinary project including a book, video and full art installation from transcribed audio recordings. The project is a survival story of one man’s journey, struggles and attempts at revenge, as he escapes from the genocide of Guatemala.
Goudreau invited Juan Aquino to join him in residence for one-week at GCAC, as they discovered that the drop house in which Aquino was smuggled to in the early 1980’s, was located in Fullerton, CA. The two decided, as part of the project, to search for the house where Aquino had first entered the US.
Along with Aquino, Goudreau invited filmmaker Randy Mills to join him in residence at GCAC, working with Goudreau on a documentary film element of the project.
Goudreau will return as artist-in-residence during the spring of 2016, when he will install an exhibition of the project that will be on view from May 7 through July 10, 2016
Additional support provided by: Jeffrey S. Van Harte (CSUF ’80)
Recording of an Immigrant Project site:
http://recordingsofanimmigrant.com/
JOSEPH DELAPPE
Research/Development Phase + Liberty Weeping
Joseph Delappe was in residence for a research/development phase of residency, exploring opportunities for projects working within the Santa Ana/OC community. He is best known for hisworks in online gaming performance, sculpture and electromechanical installation. His residency time at GCAC provided an opportunity to create a new work, incollaboration with Yosi Sergantand Charlie Becker for the pop up showManifest Justice in Los Angeles. The work, Liberty Weeping, was built on site with volunteers. Following the presentation in the pop-up exhibition, the work was reinstalled in the lobby of GCAC and will remain on exhibition through August 2015. DeLappe also participated in the May Art Walk, with an activation station in the GCAC lobby engaging patrons in his Rubber Stamp Currency Interventions project.
Manifest Justice website:
http://www.manifestjustice.org/
BILL KELLEY JR.
LA/LA (Los Angeles/Latin America): Place and Practice
Bill Kelley Jr. was a recent GCAC artist-in-residence from April through May of 2015, as he coordinated the (May 2 & 4) LA/LA: Place and Practice two-day symposium dedicated to encouraging scholarly dialogue around the Getty’s Pacific Standard Time: LA/LA initiative. GCAC Director/Chief Curator John D. Spiak presented during the program on Saturday at the San Diego Museum of Art and engaged in the programs at The Getty on Monday. Presenters looked at the local side of the LA/LA equation—Los Angeles and the Southern California region extending into Tijuana—considering the relationships between local Latino arts communities and Latin America.
The symposium was organized by Scripps College, the Getty Foundation, the Getty Research Institute, and The San Diego Museum of Art and is supported by a grant from the Getty Foundation.
During his GCAC residency, Kelley also connected with artists, students and professors from the region and discussed future collaborative projects with GCAC.
Place + Practice details:
JOEL TAUBER
The Sharing Project
In the spirit of sharing, Grand Central Art Center collaborated with the University Art Museum at Cal State University, Long Beach to present the United States debut of The Sharing Project. The Sharing Project, by North Carolina based artist Joel Tauber, poses questions about whether we share enough in our capitalist world. Presented as a 15- channel video installation, the project focuses on the seemingly simple task of Tauber teaching his young son, Zeke, to share. As he and Zeke struggle to understand what sharing means and how much we should share, they turn to the nearly forgotten Socialist Jewish commune of Happyville, hoping that some of the mysteries of sharing are buried in the traces of the utopian community. As part of the exhibition, Tauber invites the public to share their toys and help arrange them in the museum. Then, at the end of the show, people will be invited to take the toys and give them to whomever they think will enjoy them. With the installation complete Tauber, who began his residency in May and continues through July of 2015, is now exploring project with and about the community of Santa Ana.
The Sharing Project press release:
SUSAN ROBB
Wild Times
As GCAC artist-in-residence, Susan Robb embarked on a 5-month off-site adventure from Mexico to Canada on the Pacific Crest Trail. Using the trail as a nomadic studio and her experiences as inspiration and medium, she created digital works—photos, videos, and 3D files—transmitting the files to GCAC. In the gallery at the GCAC, Wild Times unfolded as an exhibition, where the documents sent were printed, projected, and installed, evolving into a cumulative exhibition, a meditation on what it means to be wild today. The elements in the space allowed visitors to track, better understand and, through specific programs, directly engage with Robb along her journey.
For the opening day of the project, Fallen Fruit artist collective developed a public excursion, Rainbow Day Trip, to Deep Creek Hot Springs in the San Bernardino National Forest on the Pacific Crest Trail.
A part of an expansion of Wild Times, GCAC collaborated with Palm Springs Art Museum, 826 Valencia, Tacoma Art Museum, Frye Art Museum and the Henry Art Gallery at University of Washington to present satellite venues.
Additional support provided by: Creative Capital
In-kind support was provided by MakerBot, Microsoft, Projecto, Washington Trails Association, and Whole Foods; in-kind support for public programs at GCAC was provided by REI Tustin.
Blob post:
https://www.grandcentralartcenter.com/wp/?p=3331
Fallen Fruit Rainbow Day Trip:
https://www.grandcentralartcenter.com/wp/?p=2938
Wild Times site:
http://www.wildtimesproject.com/hack3/
HEATHER LAYTON and BRIAN BAILEY
59 Days of Independence
Heather Layton and Brian Bailey were artists-in-residence, here to realize programs through their yearlong project 59 Days of Independence. Through the project they developed, a vast network of artists, musicians, dancers, authors, filmmakers and community members from around the globe celebrated the independence days of 59 countries that once gained freedom from British rule. The most important part of their project was that they celebrate for countries other than their own. For their GCAC residency, they developed a project celebrating Pakistan’s 67th independence day on August 14th, with a “Malala Trilingual Book Reading for Kids”. The celebration included a trilingual reading of three selected picture books. The 1st and 3rd focused on aspects of Pakistani-American culture and the 2nd focused on aspects of Mexican-American culture. The books were read in Spanish, Urdu and English with projections of the illustrations on the wall. The event also included music performance and traditional foods from the culture. The artists collaborated in the development of the event with Irvine Pakistani Parents’ Association and students/recent alum of the Orange County School for the Arts.
In-kind support of the event was provided by Noorani Halal Restaurant.
Blog post: https://www.grandcentralartcenter.com/wp/?p=3361
59 Days of IndependenceFacebook page:
https://www.facebook.com/pages/59-Days-of-Independence/317296465078563
REGINE BASHA
Research/Development Phase
Curator Regine Basha was artist-in-residence working on projects in the region and
discussing possibilities of future collaborations with GCAC through her Basha Projects initiative.
During her residency, Basha connected with individuals visiting GCAC, including: artist-in- residence Lisa Bielawa; Andrea Hanley, Membership and Programs Manager at the Museum of Contemporary Native Art, a center of the Institute of American Indian Arts; artist Kade Twist, who is a member of the collective Postcommodity; students of the CSUF program; among others.
Blog post: https://www.grandcentralartcenter.com/wp/?p=3167
ZACH KLEYN
I’ve Got a Mind of My Own
In preparation for his performance, artist Zach Kleyn was invited for a multi-day residency, taking advantage of living onsite to explore the space and its history, in preparation for his performance I’ve Got a Mind of My Own. Part ventriloquist vaudeville, part Christian story-hour, part musical, and part purification ritual, I’ve Got a Mind of My Own was a performance by Kleyn that returns to a personal religious history in order to better understand (and complicate) the ways in which ideology permeates subjectivity. Sprouting from a previous project involving the creation of a fictitious twin brother, the performance used a life-size doppelgí¤nger ventriloquist puppet as a surrogate for the artist as he unearths the latent residue of growing up in a fundamentalist family.
Blog post:
https://www.grandcentralartcenter.com/wp/?p=3495
PLEASE SUPPORT GCAC TODAY!
In person and online, you view our exhibitions, engage with programs, experience performances, provide feedback and contribute to GCAC’s continued success!
As we plan for upcoming seasons, our continued goal and commitment is to extremely ambitious, creative and engaged artists and projects. Through our strategic initiatives, we will expand our efforts to better serve our communities – locally, nationally and internationally.
To make this happen, we rely on continued generosity of the supportive friends our institution has built. With your commitment, even greater success and impact through artistic exploration will be possible.
We have made it easy for you to contribute your tax deductible pledge to Grand Central Art Center through the secure CSUF Philanthropic Foundation website:
https://www.fullerton.edu/SupportGCAC
We appreciate your support from near and far!
Thank You,
Grand Central Art Center Team