GCAC Artist-in-Residence – Warhol Foundation Report
Grand Central Art Center recently concluded a two-year funding cycle from the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts that helped to support our artist-in-residence initiative. We wanted to share with you information and images from our GCAC report to the Foundation, providing greater insight into the artist-in-residence projects realized during this funding period (June 2014-June 2016).
Here is that report…
GRAND CENTRAL ART CENTER
THE ANDY WARHOL FOUNDATION
FOR THE VISUAL ARTS
Full Two-Year Funding Report
June 2014 – June 2016
ARTIST-IN-RESIDENCE
program support
Funding from The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts in support of the Artist-in-Residence program has helped to make it possible for Grand Central Art Center (GCAC) to continue its growth as an institution. Focused on artists working in community-engaged practices, as the following report outlines, the funding has provided support to artists-in-residence for research and the creation of new, innovative work through GCAC’s philosophy of listening, assisting and connecting. The support has provided the opportunity for us to further develop our engagement, as well to expand scale and quality.
With the prestige of the Warhol funding and what it has allowed us to achieve, GCAC has been able to leverage additional matching support from individuals, corporations and foundations, which has assisted in providing our students, faculty, staff and community members direct engagement with thirty artists-in-residence over the two-year funding cycle. As part of our 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 twenty-nine invited collaborators to stay on-site and forty-six 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 450,000 individuals.
With invitations to present, Director/Chief Curator John D. Spiak gave talks on Warhol funded projects at the following conferences/events: 2014 Alliance of Artists Communities Annual Conference, Charleston, SC; 2014 Coalition of Urban and Metropolitan Universities (CUMU), Syracuse University; The Price Paid for Freedom of Expression with Anna Deavere Smith, moderated by Carolina Miranda, sponsored by the Los Angeles Times, The Broad Stage, Santa Monica; LA/LA (Los Angeles/Latin America): Place and Practice, San Diego Museum of Art and Getty Museum; 11th Annual Conference on The Arts in Society, University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA), Los Angeles, CA; 2015 Alliance of Artists Communities Annual Conference, Providence, RI; 2015 Coalition of Urban and Metropolitan Museums (CUMU), Annual Conference, Omaha, NE; 44th Annual National Council of Arts Administrators Conference, Temple University, Philadelphia, PA; 2016 Open Engagement Conference, Oakland, CA; and multiple universities in the region.
In the past two 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, KQED, LA Weekly, Artillery Magazine, Opera Magazine, KPCC, Daily Titan, Orange Coast Magazine, OC Weekly, Hyperallergic, and additional blogs and outlets.
As Grand Central Art Center concludes the second year of funding, we are excited to continue with our ongoing residency projects whose beginning research and process have been made possible by The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts support. We thank the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts for their generous two-year support and look forward to possibilities of continuing a relationship with the Foundation in the future.
Current Grand Central Art Center Team: John D. Spiak, Director/Chief Curator; Tracey Gayer, Associate Director; Ariana Rizo, Curatorial Associate; Chris Wormald, Chief Preparator; Araceli Figueroa (CSUF Student), Gallery Associate/Campus Engagement; Lainey LaRosa, Gallery Assistant; Rachel Ezell, CSUF Student Intern.
ARTIST-IN-RESIDENCE PROJECTS DURING THE FUNDING CYCLE:
PAUL RAMIREZ JONAS
Public Trust 2016
Public Trust 2016 was a series of interactive performances about promises that took place within the GCAC main gallery from February 6 – April 10, 2016, researched and developed through an artist-in-residence at Grand Central Art Center. The project was presented as a public art project in Boston hosted by Now and There from August 27 – September 17, 2016. These situations continued the artist’s use of speech acts as both the means to engage the public; as well as the end itself – to have the participants perform a speech act in public. The first version of Public Trust 2015, allowed participants to tell the artist a lie that he would then notarize to transform into a legal “truth”. The Grand Central Art Center version of Public Trust moved into the territory of promises. At one end of the spectrum we tell each other lies, outright deceptions, and at the other end we tell each other facts, true regardless of our intentions. Everything in the middle is a sort of promise we make between each other. This version also asks the public to vouch for their promises from a vast array of collaterals: taking oaths over sacred or civic texts, swearing over holy objects or materials, calling on a witness, offering a credit report as proof of one’s trustworthiness, etc. Each interaction provided an opportunity for the artist to learn and adapt from the public’s response. As willing participants utter their promises, and then “give their word” in whatever way they see fit, their promises went up on a display board (anonymously) for all to read. The board displayed other promissory statements culled from that day’s news – political promises, the weather report, scientific predictions, and economic forecasts.
VIP participants in the project at GCAC included: 2017 Whitney Biennial Curators Mia Locks and Christopher Lew; Elissa Auther, Curator, Museum of Arts and Design, NY; Bill Arning, Director, Contemporary Arts Museum, Houston; Adam Lerner, Director, Museum of Contemporary Art, Denver; Santa Ana Mayor Miguel Pulido.
Joining Ramirez in residence during his multiple visits was NY artist Nate Carey, who assisted the artist with his performance. Working with CSUF alum Robert Huskey, GCAC created a video documenting the process of Public Trust 2016 during the opening reception on February 6th. In collaboration with Ramirez, current CSUF Theatre student Casey Bowen performed the work for the April 2nd art walk evening.
Video Documentary: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r4A1ZJ87T5g
AIDA Ã… EHOVíC with LEONARD CORREA
Unfinished Conversations: Reconstructing the Invisible
Unfinished Conversations: Reconstructing the Invisible was a collaborative project of artist Aida Ã… ehovíc with local forensic investigator Leonard Correa (Santa Ana PD), who also happens to be a photographer.
A traumatic event imprints an indelible mark on the human psyche, with the scene of the tragedy becoming the catalyst that forever compels us to recall an event. For those directly affected by violence, what remains is the persistent memory of what once was. For everyone else, life moves on. This is true for regions devastated by war, or neighborhoods inundated by violent crime. For the Bosnian-born artist Aida Šehović and local forensic investigator Leonard Correa, specific places in Bosnia and California respectively have been defined by acts of violence.
Their collaborative project was developed during Ã… ehović’s residency at GCAC during the fall of 2014 and explored the similarities in their process of dealing with personal memories of these sites. For Aida, an apartment her family was persecuted from during the brutal war in her home country in the early 1990’s; for Leonard, locations in Santa Ana he has encountered during the course of his work that continue to impact him as he drives by them almost daily. The experience of trauma is an experience of silence, yet each act of violence imprints an indelible mark that remains distinct despite the passage of time. The project explored connection to space through traumatic situation, memory and an attempt at a form of therapy in documenting site through artistic practice
Ã… ehovíc returned as artist-in-residence during the fall of 2015, when she and Correa installed and presented the exhibition of their collaborative process that was on view from November 7, 2015 through January 10, 2016.
LISA BIELAWA
Partnership with KCET Artbound
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. A 12-episode 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. To date nine episodes have been captured that have included; Kronos Quartet, 16-year old soprano Rowen Sabala, 15-year old soprano Emma MacKenzie, mezzo-soprano Laurie Rubin, mezzo-soprano Maria Lazarova, tenor Ryan Glover, baritone Gregory Purnhagen, contralto Kirsten Sollek, San Francisco Girls Chorus, Alarm Will Sound, PRISM Saxophone Quartet, Partch LA, American Contemporary Music Ensemble (ACME), Shadow Hills Marching Band, Cappella SF, Trinity Youth Chorus, Handbell Ventures, cellist Joshua Roman, harpist Bridget Kibbey, violinist Vijay Gupta, piccolo Lance Suzuki, hurdy-gurdy Randy Matamoros, Vireo Wind Octet (Claire Chenette, oboe; Zach Pulse, English horn; Edgar Lopez, clarinet; Laura Odegaard-Stoutenborough, Bass clarinet; Allen Fogle, horn; Anne Marie Cherry, horn; Anthony Parnther, bassoon; Brittany Seits, contrabassoon), tenor Michael Parker Harley, drummer Matthias Bossi, dancer Catie Cuan, Members of American Boychoir School and Special Music School, and Orange County School of the Arts Middle School Choir. The project has been filmed in Santa Ana, Alcatraz, Garrison Institute in New York, and locations throughout Los Angeles. Full series premieres on KCET and free online streaming in spring of 2017. Vireo won the 47th Annual ASCAP Foundation Deems Taylor/Virgil Thomson Multimedia Award. Press: NY Times, LA Times, KQED, Opera News, OC Register.
Through Bielawa’s invitation, numerous cast members have spent multiple days living in residence at GCAC during rehearsals and productions. GCAC has 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. During their time at GCAC, numerous cast members and featured performers have presented master workshops and performed in collaboration with CSUF New Music Festival, directed by CSUF Professor of Music Pamela Madsen.
Additional support: MAP Fund, New Music USA, NY Foundation for the Arts, Sorel Organization, Black Family Foundation, William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, Barbro Osher Pro Suecia Foundation, Jeff Van Harte (CSUF ’80), Alexandra Shabtai, Doug Simao and Kate Peters (CSUF ’79), Julie Cardia (CSUF ’14) and Mickey Fisher, Fainbarg-Chase Families, and William Gillespie Foundation.
Broadcast Numbers: KCET over +250,000 views to date.
Behind the Scenes at Alcatraz: A Project Update Video: https://youtu.be/lqGgC3VIc_c
Vireo Project Site: http://www.operavireo.org/
KCET Vireo Site: http://www.kcet.org/arts/artbound/projects/vireo/
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. Parts of the project were also included in a group exhibition at Commonwealth and Council, Los Angeles.
On September 24, 2015, GCAC brought the artist back to host a video screening of Future Perfect at the GCAC Theatre. The video has screened at: Veggie Cloud, Los Angeles; Hyde Park Art Center, Chicago; Slought, Philadelphia; Interference Archive, Brooklyn; Spaces, Cleveland; and the Galleries at Moore, Philadelphia. The video has been profiled in The Baffler Magazine by Rick Perlstein and also received coverage from Hyperallergic, Geekadelphia, New Santa Ana, The Humboldt Counry Times Standard, Redwood Times, and The Orange County Register. The film continues its festival circuit and screening at art institutions nationwide.
Future Perfect Feature Video Link: https://vimeo.com/128373870
Blog Post: https://www.grandcentralartcenter.com/wp/?p=3173
VINCENT GOUDREAU with JUAN AQUINO
Recordings of an Immigrant
Recordings of an Immigrant was Grand Central Art Center residency and exhibition project with Vincent Gourdeau, in collaboration with Juan Aquino. The project was presented as a non-fiction narrative, inspiring a multidisciplinary project including a book, video and full art installation exhibition 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 returned as artist-in-residence during the spring of 2016, when he helped install an exhibition of the project that was on view from May 7 through July 10, 2016.
Additional support provided by: Jeff Van Harte (CSUF ’80)
Finding the Drop House: https://vimeo.com/87921835
Recording of an Immigrant Project Site: http://recordingsofanimmigrant.com/
Exhibition Webpage: https://www.grandcentralartcenter.com/wp/recordings-of-an-immigrant-vincent-a-goudreau-and-juan-aquino-may-7-july-10-2016/
SARAH RAFAEL GARĆIA
SanTana’s Fairy Tales
Developed through a one-year onsite artist-in-residence, SanTana’s Fairy Tales is a visual art installation, oral history, storytelling project initiated by artist/author Sarah Rafael García, which integrates community-based narratives to create contemporary fairytales and fables that represent the history and stories of Mexican/Mexican-American residents of Santa Ana (inspired by the Grimms’ Fairy Tales).
The forthcoming exhibition will present a multi-media installation, organized by the artist in collaboration with local visual, musical, and performance artists. The exhibition will present bilingual, single-story zines, a fully illustrated published book, an ebook, a large format classical book, graphic art by Sol Art Radio€˜s Carla Zarate, an “open book” performance, along with composed music by Viento Callejero’s Gloria Estrada, who will collaborate with local singer/songwriter Ruby Castellanos and members of the Pacific Symphony. The entire collection will be translated by poet Julieta Corpus and published in collaboration with Raspa Press. The ebook is being produced by Digitus India Publishers.
The exhibition is set to run at Grand Central Art Center from March 4 through May 14, 2017.
Project Website: https://sarahrafaelgarcia.com/santansfairytales/
ANGELICA GOMEZ and JOSEPH LINNERT
Partnership with Non-Profit Organization Community Engagement
Warwick Square Community Engagement
Warwick Square Community Engagement 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 and creative activities. Through a partnership with the non-profit organization Community Engagement, the artists were initially provided funding and an apartment to use on-site for a one-year period, that period was extending to an additional six-months. Gomez and Linnert used 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 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, ceramic pot making, and printmaking. They’ve been collaborating on-site with Project Access center, serving as a resource for education, employment and empowerment.
The program has also expanded this year to include additional support for the artists-in-residence through a series of organized professional development workshops.
To date the artists-in-residence have been provided two workshops and opportunities to ask in-depth questions of the experts in attendance, which included:
CPA Richard Suarez –providing tax information for independent contractors.
Rigo Rodriguez Ph.D – providing knowledge on community building techniques.
Additional funding support provided by: Living Resources/Community Engagement
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
Partnership with Non-Profit Organization Community Engagement
Whispering Pine Community Engagement
Whispering Pine Community 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 the non-profit organization Community Engagement, 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 year. 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.
The program has also expanded this year to include additional support for the artists-in-residence through a series of organized professional development workshops.
To date the artists-in-residence have been provided two workshops and opportunities to ask in-depth questions of the experts in attendance, which included:
CPA Richard Suarez –providing tax information for independent contractors.
Rigo Rodriguez Ph.D – providing knowledge on community building techniques.
Additional funding support provided by: Living Resources/Community Engagement
Blog Post: https://www.grandcentralartcenter.com/wp/?p=4452
COG•NATE COLLECTIVE (AMY SANCHEZ and MISAEL DIAZ)
THE S.N.A. Project (Social Neighborhood Art)
Cog-nate Collective (Amy Sanchez and Misael Diaz) has been on-site GCAC artists-in-residence working with the community on numerous projects for the past three-years. Projects over this past year have included:
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.
Website: http://snaproject.tumblr.com/info
Redline Tour Link with Audio: http://snaproject.tumblr.com/tour
COG•NATE COLLECTIVE 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.
Webpage: http://manoscreando.tumblr.com/
Project Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/ManosCreandoArte
COG•NATE COLLECTIVE cont.
MAP: LA // The Mobile Agora Project
Developed through the Cog•nate Collective ongoing residency, MAP: LA is an itinerant outpost for cultural + economic + political exchange taking residence in public markets throughout Southern and Baja California.
Through a series of collaborative in-site workshops, performative actions and artistic interventions, the project invites publics to consider the parameters by which citizenship is/can be (re)constructed in a moment when national boundaries like the US/Mexico border are simultaneously erased by economic policies and bolstered through increased militarization.
The first iteration of MAP: LA took place at the Santa Fe Springs Swap Meet in south Los Angeles during June 2016. This pilot version of the project featured collaborations with CSUF students from Dr. Karen Stocker’s spring semester class Anthropology 350:1 Culture and Education; Manos Unidas Creando Arte, an artisan cooperative of women designing economically + environmentally sustainable crafts with material sourced from their communities in Santa Ana, CA; RAIZ, a youth activist group organizing against the criminalization and deportation of immigrant in communities living + working in Orange County and Los Angeles; and the Tijuana-based DIY-editorial Kodama Cartonera.
Web information and documentation of programming: http://map-la.tumblr.com/
JOSEPH DELAPPE
Research/Development Phase + Liberty Weeps
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 his works in online gaming performance, sculpture and electromechanical installation. His residency time at GCAC provided an opportunity to create a new work, in collaboration with Yosi Sergant and Charlie Becker for the pop up show Manifest Justice in Los Angeles. The work, Liberty Weeps, a large-scale sculpture, was built on site with volunteers. Following the presentation in the pop-up exhibition, the work was reinstalled in the lobby of GCAC and and remained 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/
Rubber Stamp Currency Interventions:
http://www.delappe.net/intervene/in-drones-we-trust/
JEN HOFER
AntenaMí³vil
Through a residency, artist Jen Hofer researched, developed and presented programs for her AntenaMí³vil project, a retrofitted Mexican cargo tricycle stocked with books for reading on-site. The selection focuses on small-press and DIY publications from the U.S. and Latin America, and features bilingual and multilingual works, work in translation, and innovative texts by writers of color. These books would not be here without the tremendous labor of love of the many writers, editors, designers, and publishers who make the vast worlds of small- and tiny-press publications exist.
Webpage: https://www.grandcentralartcenter.com/wp/4940-2/
CAROLINE WOOLARD with LEIGH CLAIRE LA BERGE
Research/Development Phase
Artist Caroline Woolard was in with her partner writer Leigh Claire La Berge for a research/development phase of residency, exploring opportunities for a project with GCAC. Woolard co-creates projects and institutions for the solidarity economy. Her feminist, transdisciplinary method connects discrete objects to aligned contexts of circulation. For example, Woolard builds sculptures for barter only as she also co-creates international barter networks; she fabricates model Shaker housing and she also co-convenes organizers of community land trusts; she co-creates card games for the commons as she also directs a study center for group work.
During her visit she connected with individuals, organizations and facilities in the community that may be of value during future visits for projects and possible exhibition. Conversations are currently in place to set a time for an extended return residency with the artist, to further develop projects.
Caroline Wooland Website: http://carolinewoolard.com/
ZACK KLEYN
I’ve Got a Mind of My Own
Artist Zack 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
POSTCOMMODITY
(RAVEN CHACON, CRISTÓBAL MARTíNEZ and KADE L. TWIST)
Performance & Research/Development Phase
Postcommodity is an interdisciplinary arts collective comprised of Raven Chacon, Cristí³bal Martínez, and Kade L. Twist. Working as an improvised music and noise ensemble, with custom acoustic instruments as well as modified analog oscillators, deer antlers, sine tone generators, and hunting calls, Postcommodity performed during their residency a structured nine-song-cycle from their recent LP We Lost Half The Forest, And The Rest Will Burn This Summer.
During their residency, Postcommodity connected with individuals visiting GCAC as well as visited and connected with individuals and institutions in the region. The artists did research and early development toward a future project to be realized at Grand Central Art Center, including a visit to the CSUF Cooper Center, a facility for the Orange County Archaeological and Paleontological collections.
Blob Post: https://www.grandcentralartcenter.com/wp/postcommodity-free-live-performance-tuesday-feb-23-7pm/
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, students/recent alum of the Orange County School for the Arts and Miguel R. Pulido.
In-kind support of the event was provided by Noorani Halal Restaurant.
Blog Post: https://www.grandcentralartcenter.com/wp/?p=3361
59 Days of Independence Facebook 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 discussed 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
ASTRIA SUPARAK with BRETT KASHMERE
Research/Development Phase – Ghosts of Empire
Curator/artist/writer Astria Suparak, along with her partner filmmaker/writer Brett Kashmere, were artists-in-residence working on projects in the region and discussing possibilities of future collaborations with GCAC.
During her residency, the artists connected with individuals visiting GCAC, including: artist-in-residence Postcommodity, Cog•nate Collective (Amy Sanchez and Misael Diaz), and curator Bill Kelley Jr. Suparak was active in developing new curatorial projects and institutional connections in the region. Kashmere worked on research and development of his film project Ghosts of Empire, a “critical elegy” about the decline of popular markers of American power. The project will trace the rising awareness of traumatic brain injury in professional football, the gradual disappearance of celluloid film manufacturing, and the 50-year history of NFL Films, which revolutionized the way America watches football.
Astria’s Website: https://astriasuparak.com/
Brett’s Website: http://www.brettkashmere.com/
MAYA GURANTZ
Research/Development Phase – Deipnophoroi
No one wants to listen to women and mothers. People hate it. They are hostile towards them, mistrustful. But it is also mothers who are left with the task of comforting, of narrating, of bucking up their children in the face of inevitable destruction
Through residency, the artist has begun to pull together hundreds of pages of source texts from—among other sources—how youth suicide bombers are prepared, conversations parents of color have with their children about interactions with police, and tips on talking to children about coming environmental disasters. Gurantz will be using this collected found text to craft the script for this new body of work to investigate ritual of female knowledge transmission (horror/maternal narratives).
Maya’s Website: https://mayagurantz.com/
SARA GUERRERO
Breath of Fire Latina Theater Ensemble
Breath of Fire Latina Theater Ensemble is in a two-year residency toward the efforts to create, develop, and sustain a writers’ community in Orange County through Sara Gurrero’s free playwriting workshops, taking place at GCAC. The residency has worked to build new relationships with organizations that promote the arts in Orange County. Throughout this ongoing residency, public programs, readings and theater performances have been organized in collaboration with visual artists, designers and additional creatives.
Workshops have been arranged with visiting artists Josí© Cruz Gonzí¡lez, Lorna Silva, Diana Burbano, Kristina Leach (CSUF ’99), Richard Soto, Karen Anzoategui, Diana Burbano, Jose Casas, Paul S. Flores, Estela Garcia, Armando Molina, Kimberly Colburn and Bernardo Solano.
Performances have been realized with visiting artists Josí© Cruz Gonzí¡lez and Paul S. Flores.
Breath of Fire Latina Theater Ensemble Website: http://www.breathoffire.org/
REBECCA CHERNOW
Partnership with Non-Profit Organization Community Engagement
Sullivan Manor Community Engagement
Sullivan Manor Community Engagement is an ongoing GCAC residency project with Seattle artist Rebecca Chernow, who is engaging the 162 residents of the 54-unit affordable housing complex of Sullivan Manor in Santa Ana through the development of creative activities and outreach. Through a partnership with the non-profit organization Community Engagement, the artist is being provided funding, a GCAC apartment and studio space for a two-year period. Chernow is using the residency to better connect residents through socially engaged practices, including a glass recycle into mural project, community garden and additional creative endeavors.
This year’s program has also expanded to include additional support for the artists-in-residence through a series of organized professional development workshops.
To date the artists-in-residence have been provided two workshops and opportunities to ask in-depth questions of the experts in attendance, which included:
CPA Richard Suarez –providing tax information for independent contractors.
Rigo Rodriguez Ph.D – providing knowledge on community building techniques.
Additional funding support provided by: Community engagement
GALDINO “DINO” PEREZ
Partnership with Non-Profit Organization Community Engagement
Triada Village and Triada Court Community Engagement
Triada Village and Triada Court Community Engagement is an ongoing GCAC residency project with Santa Ana artist Dino Perez, who is engaging the 467 residents of the 114-unit affordable housing complex of Triada Villiage and Triada Court in Santa Ana through the development of creative activities and outreach. Through a partnership with the non-profit organization Community Engagement, the artist is being provided funding and a GCAC studio space for a two-year period. Perez is using the residency to better connect residents through socially engaged practices, including a series of drawing/coloring with the community programs, film screenings and additional creative endeavors.
This year’s program has also expanded to include additional support for the artists-in-residence through a series of organized professional development workshops.
To date the artists-in-residence have been provided two workshops and opportunities to ask in-depth questions of the experts in attendance, which included:
CPA Richard Suarez –providing tax information for independent contractors.
Rigo Rodriguez Ph.D – providing knowledge on community building techniques.
Additional funding support provided by: Community Engagement
TRINH MAI
Partnership with Non-Profit Organization Community Engagement
Heninger Village Community Engagement
Heninger Village Community Engagement is an ongoing GCAC residency project with San Jose, CA artist Trinh Mai, who is engaging the 73 residents of the gated senior 55+ 58-unit affordable housing complex of Heninger Village in Santa Ana through the development of creative activities and outreach. Through a partnership with the non-profit organization Community Engagement, the artist is being provided funding, a GCAC apartment and studio space for a two-year period. Mai is using the residency to better connect residents through socially engaged practices, including a development of painting workshops, oral history recordings, public exhibitions and additional creative endeavors. Through the process she has engaged the resident with the Bowers Museum, who presented a small exhibition of the seniors work.
This year’s program has also expanded to include additional support for the artists-in-residence through a series of organized professional development workshops.
To date the artists-in-residence have been provided two workshops and opportunities to ask in-depth questions of the experts in attendance, which included:
CPA Richard Suarez –providing tax information for independent contractors.
Rigo Rodriguez Ph.D – providing knowledge on community building techniques.
Additional funding support provided by: Community Engagement
Heninger Blog: http://trinhmai.com/our-village/
BILL KELLEY JR.
LA/LA (Los Angeles/Latin America): Place and Practice and Talking To Action
Bill Kelley Jr. was a 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, including the now confirmed collaborating for the PST: LA/LA exhibition Talking to Action scheduled with OTIS College of Art and Design.
Place + Practice details: http://www.getty.edu/foundation/pdfs/LALAProgramtext_March16.pdf
JOEL TAUBER
Collaboration with University Art Museum, Cal State Long Beach
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 invited 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 continued through July of 2015, then explored projects with and about the community of Santa Ana, which are still in development.
The Sharing Project Press Release: http://web.csulb.edu/org/uam/images/pdfs/Tauber-Sharing-Project-UAM-press-release.pdf
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 (David Burns and Austin Young) 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/