Art Ball

Art Ball took place on Friday May 12, 2017. All of the galleries at Sac State were open and showing their work including paintings, drawings, sculpture, installations, new media, ceramics, and small metals. I had a blast staying up late and in the morning preparing Art Sculpture Lab for the event and had the even greater honor to be doing demonstrations in the printmaking lab in Kadema Hall with my buddy Nick Kukuruza. I did the inking demos for intaglio and he did small demos for lithography.
The entire event was amazing and really should be extended to be an all day affair. Although I missed most of the festivities, I was able to make my rounds towards the end of the night. From the printmaking room, I ventured next door to the beginning painting class. Their work reminded me of the first time I took a painting class; everyone was of vastly different levels and styles. I flipped back towards the ceramics department before heading towards metals. Their work never disappoints and everyone who came through the print lab raved about how delicious their food was. They showcased very large pots, jars, bowls, cups, and even an amazing sculpture of a man with a bear head. Metals had a variety of projects on display that highlighted techniques learned in the program. It was very similar to their show in the Witt Gallery earlier on campus.
The Seniors had a variety of media shown in the Witt and Else Galleries in Kadema Hall. Since I saw them earlier on in the week, I made my way upstairs to see more paintings from another class that worked with the figure. On my way back down, I was invited to enter a very immersive and powerful new media installation in the room across from the stairs. The narrow room had only a laptop, projector, and a giant beach ball that nearly covered the end wall. The concept of a choosing your story through clicking on images on the screen was interesting and the heavy topics of animal abuse and global warming weighed on my mind after. Unfortunately, I only had fifteen minutes to see the rest of Art Ball so I had to cut my journey short.
I almost ran to see the grad show in the Library Gallery. Being far from Kadema Hall, hardly anyone was in there by the time I walked in. I was amazed at the movement and color used in their pieces. Their work gave a different energy especially Som Sayasone's usage of clothespins that seem to spew out from the chair but also consume it. Fluff from the chair cushions and clothespins trailed behind the piece.
Luckily I was in the Library so the five minutes left was used in Art Sculpture Lab (since I left before the hanging was finished). That party continued after hours since the music was still bumping and the artists chatted with guests and fellow artists about the work. The walls of ASL were mapped out with drawings and paintings from Intermediate Drawing, Life Painting, and Advanced Painting. The collection ranged in a variety of styles and showcased a great number of students in all three classes. Every wall from the bottom floors of 106 and 108 to the loft spaces up above had pieces on the walls.
Art Ball overall was a great experience. Like I mentioned earlier, if Art Ball took place all day, there could have been festivities or booths taking place all the way across campus since the department itself is split between Art Sculpture Lab (ASL) on one side of campus and Kadema Hall on the opposite side. Due to the time constraints, I missed the new media work in Mariposa Hall and could not revisit the senior show. However, the work I did see was wonderful and there is great potential in the art department in all of the different media used. Although majority was painting, drawing, and sculpture, the addition of other forms of art was necessary and representation in the fields of new media, small metals, and printmaking in future years could expand interest in these unique fields.
Unfortunately, this was the day that I forgot my phone at home so I have no pictures to post but if you want to see images, check out @sacstateartdepartment on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sacstateartdept/?hl=en

Badass Printmaker LURAC

Luis Campos-Garcia also known as Lurac, is a badass printmaker and an amazing artist overall who is very involved in his community. He is the curator of Sol Collective and his faith in community has lead him to not only create fabulous relief prints but also promote the importance of art for the people and the affects politics has on everyone.
Lurac started the talk with a deep breath in and a beautiful song played on a turtle shaped wind instrument (that I should have asked what it was called). With a traditional melody and soothing tone, the sounds created a sense of peace and immediately I was focused, excited to hear what he had to say. Immediately when he started speaking, Lurac's passion showed. Smiling throughout the entire talk, he emphasized how art inspires, gives voice, and empowers people.
His goal was to create something meaningful and relatable across cultures even though some of his imagery was culturally specific. When explaining his work with artists that He explained that the day of the dead skeletons symbolize that although we may be different in skin and culture, we are all human. This allows the viewer to see themselves or other people within his work.
Lurac's work is very culturally driven, fusing traditional and contemporary images in unique ways to connect the past and the present. Drawing from images from Mesoamerican culture, Lurac's influences stem from Mexico City where he originally studied graphic design. Mexican muralists and Taller de Grafica Popular (TGP - People's Graphics Workshop) were very influential on his art. Mexico City also had a big student movement which Lurac was a part of. He collaborated with fellow artists to create signs and promote the importance of art utilizing all forms of art.
He talked about Taring Padi, a collective based in Indonesia that work on large scale woodblocks. They make the printing process a ceremony with printing parties with music and dance. Music would be played as the printers ink the plate and after the fabric or paper is placed on top, people would be invited to dance on it.
As a contemporary artist, he loved the idea of taking art out of the gallery and making it accessible to everyone. He created the mobile art tent which displayed some of his work and the work of fellow artists during Crocker Art Museum's Block by Block event. He invited people of all ages to try printmaking techniques. His prints utilize screen printing, relief printing, and digital printing techniques.
In response to a question about the rise in popularity of graphic design as opposed to art, he stated that in recent days there seems to be a resurgence in printmaking, a "Print Renaissance" he called it. He said that the reason why printmaking is still around despite the rise in digital media is that it "gives you a sense of the human hand." As an aspiring printer myself, I might be biased when I say that his statement is 100% true.
He was very helpful when I asked about good carving tools to use, recommending Power Grip as a decent wood carving tool that's easy to find. He even recommended a few places for printmaking supplies as well. After the talk, he showed a few of us who stayed behind a couple of projects by Sol Collective and chatted some more about events the collective hosts. Check out Lurac's workshop at Sol Collective this Saturday morning!

Hidden Treasures

Antony Marshall explaining the space

Hidden Treasures showcased the work of the Sacramento Fine-Metals Guild during April 10-14 this year. Members of the guild are Sac States very own students who have taken the jewelry or metal smithing classes. The show described the different methods used in working with small metals with text on the wall next to the section that the group of projects that utilized that particular technique.
Curated by Sac State Alum Antony Marshall, I was able to ask about how he designed the layout especially since many of the pieces are small and the lighting in the Witt Gallery is very difficult to maneuver. The gallery setup was very minimalistic. Necklaces hung on the back wall (to also prevent stealing). The largest (and hardest things to steal) were masks by the door on top of white blocks and several other repousse works were also on white blocks. The bowls and small boxes were on floating shelves from Ikea. The spoons were on a slanted white shelf. Everything touched a wall, making the room seem very spacious. Marshall added lights to the odd corners of the gallery to help brighten the awkward areas with shadows.

Nikole Ballen's Elvish Headress

One of my favorite pieces was Nikole Ballen's Elvish Headress. I had the pleasure last semester to see Ballen wear the headress when it was near completion. Made of copper, silver, and clay, the headress is the embodiment of feminine power and mysticism. The large stone in the center is like a keystone that supports the daintiness of the droplets hanging from the chains.

The Sacramento Fine-Metals Guild is a student run organization at Sac State that creates wonderful work such as these pieces shown. Their dedication to their craft has been a driving force in what makes the small metals programs great. I highly recommend joining even if you have not taken a small metals class because the members are very friendly and would help teach basic techniques in the lab.

Chilling with Marshall

Variety of styles were exhibited in each section