My new mentor....

I just confirmed my new mentor at LCAD (Laguna College of Art + Design)....Lola del Fresno. Yes, odd - anyone that has seen my large recent piece of art also titled "Lola"!! She is a brand new faculty member this year, lives in L.A. (just my luck) and I am enamored with her art. Lola also is having a gallery opening this Saturday up in L.A. at a place called LAUNCH LA, right across from LACMA.

I am going to get to meet her this coming week when we have our new-grad-student orientation, and I am super excited...about ALL of it, but especially being guided by such an inspiring lady! When I signed up for classes, the dean of the grad school recommended Lola to me, especially since I am the only MFA Drawing person (as of now) and her work is very much about mark making and figure, just like mine. As soon as I saw her pieces, I knew I could learn a LOT from her.

Please check out her site: http://www.loladelfresno.com/

I cannot wait to get to school and get to making art!!!!!!!!!!!!!

A must see....

I told all of my students that they need to go see this, and now there's opportunity #2 for anyone that missed it when it premiered....GO SEE IT!!

Banksy, (http://swindlemagazine.com/issue08/banksy/) world reknown street artist and reclusive personality, turned the tables on a would-be documentary movie about him and made a movie about the guy that was filming it...well, you gotta see it to get it. It's called "Exit Through the Gift Shop".

It's playing at Encinitas' lovely La Paloma theater on the Coast Hwy only thru August 25 - hurry!!
http://www.lapalomatheatre.com/ - click on "show times"

Here is the link to the site with the movie trailer: you have to scroll to the right of the screen to see it.... http://www.banksyfilm.com/

More inspiration...

A few months ago, at Balboa Park's San Diego Museum of Art, there was a new and unique exhibit. An artist by the name of Hugo Crosthwaite had a small room to himself in which to show his large-scale drawings. And the best thing was, throughout the entire duration of the exhibit, he was there working on a piece live. People could stand there and watch him draw and create, and the museum purchased the end product.

I was fascinated by this when I walked in, not only for the museum showing DRAWINGS, which were wonderful, but by the fact that we, as the public, got to see a glimpse of an artist in action and his working process. I could see what utensils he used, HOW he used them, what type of surface he worked on, how be prepped it, how he fixed marks to the surface, etc etc......I had a hard time tearing myself away to go home.

In coming home, I looked him up online, and have recently gone back to his website. His work is a mixture of different drawing media - like charcoal and graphite - and he even can be seen in a time-lapse video of his working at the museum using a sprayed-on substance.......liquid graphite? Spray paint?? I SO want to know!!

I am just really inspired by him, his work, his use of combinations of drawing materials, and the size of his pieces. He has some great, informative links of his website, and I really urge you to at least go check out his work! He is showing at a local group show downtown:

http://murphydesign1.blogspot.com/2010/02/survey-select-exhibition-introduction.html

Hugo's website: http://www.hugocrosthwaite.com/index.html