I never grow tired of the politically stirring and profoundly beautiful serigraphs created by artist and Nun, Sister Corita Kent. Looking toward a new year filled with immense challenges, a humbled economy and infrastructure, it is a time to search not only for inner inspiration, but the inspiration of the many great minds that came before us. Sister Corita's rules for her art students at Immaculate Heart College in LA took her and anyone lucky enough to be touched by her creative vision on an artistic and spiritual ride. In the turning of a New Year, I encourage us all to feel fully the discomfort of our time and use that energy to energize and transform our future, Sister Corita's art and ideas can help lead the way....

Sister Corita's work will be shown in an upcoming exhibition at
California State University Northridge Art Galleries
Feb 14 through April 4, 2009
A Passion for the Possible: The Work of Sister Corita
Curated by Aaron Rose . Organized by CSUN Art Galleries.



Immaculate Heart College Art Department Rules

1. Find a place you trust and then try trusting it for a while.

2. General duties of a student: pull everything out of your teacher, pull everything out of your fellow students.

3. General duties of a teacher: pull everything out of your students.

4. Consider everything an experiment.

5. Be self-disciplined. This means finding someone wise or smart and choosing to follow them. To be disciplined is to follow in a good way. To be self-disciplined is to follow in a better way.

6. Nothing is a mistake. There is no win and no fail. There is only make.

7. The only rule is work. If you work it will lead to something. It's the people who do all of the work all the time who eventually catch on to things.

8. Don't try to create and analyse at the same time. They're different processes.

9. Be happy whenever you can manage it. Enjoy yourself. It's lighter than you think.

10. "We're breaking all of the rules. Even our own rules. And how do we do that? By leaving plenty of room for X quantities." -John Cage

Helpful hints: Always be around. Come or go to everything always. Go to classes. Read anything you can get your hands on. Look at movies carefully often. Save everything, it might come in handy later.

There should be new rules next week.

The Art of Exchange

My artwork is inspired by a cross-pollination of symbols, nature and precision crafts, such as ikebana and needlepoint. I'm focused on how people assimilate, communicate and work within the limitations of language and social systems. So when it came to considering design, I chose one of the most socially interactive times of year. A love of all things festive, the scent of pine and the sheer nostalgia of trimming the family tree inspired me to make these ornaments. Hang them on your tree or in your life and never be greedy with sharing your holiday love.

Each one is laser cut with a sub-surface color on one side a wood veneer on the other and ultra suede tie. They each come in a hand silkscreened muslin sack with a letter pressed card. The sizes range from 2.5" to 9.5."  I made some as tree ornaments and others for hanging in the home.

Enjoy!!

Ornaments available at:  A&R, August, Gillyflowers, Grain, Fred Segal Couture and Lost and Found

Recovering from a Happiness Hangover.

Life is sweet

 www.kaiscandy.com

I for one have always been stymied by the contemporary design of maps. Sure give me map with the patina of history, but hey what if you really want to go somewhere? The Future Mapping Company has married all the statistical details one would desire in a map while simultaneously transforming the art of map making. The results are maps so refined and stunning you may have to duke it out with your kids to see what room it hangs in.

Some details:
These maps utilize a cylindrical equal area projection (Don't switch off!) This represents countries in their correct proportional size, something that a lot of maps do not do. It achieves this by sacrificing shape, particularly in the areas closest to the poles. The result is an alternative and thought-provoking vision of our planet. Details include country borders, capital and major cities, highest peaks, sea depths, north/south pole projections and a shaded relief layer.

With the swing states becoming more and more critical in the presidential race it was such a satisfying feeling to register voters at Undefeated in Las Vegas during the last day to register in Nevada. It was empowering to all involved, as we all got to see how we all can play a part in building our community.

As an outsider to Vegas, it was my complete honor to watch as the previously unregistered employees and customers of Undefeated and neighboring store Stussy stepped into the democratic process and not only got themselves signed up to vote, but encouraged their friends to do the same. The feel good effect was contagious and by days end the neighboring Starbucks was sending down free smoothie samples and the tanning salon next door, was making sure everyone was wearing sun-block. The trip reminded me that our community is powerful, and that outreach is really a matter of managing ones own belief in their power to make a difference. Together with the ULV student body and many other people who drove in from LA to help register voters, close to a 1000 people in Vegas registered to vote. My only regret is that I didn't do something sooner.

If you have any questions regarding the status of your registration or want to register (the deadline to register in LA is October 20th) check out www.rockthevote.com.

In New York yesterday the editorial press was kept out of Palin's meeting with Afghanistan's President Karzai. Looks like the McCain camp is attempting to contain any unscripted meetings regarding Palin and one can easily see why. Palin's meetings with world leaders is just one big photo opportunity choreographed to try and convince uniformed voters that Palin has a lick of experience regarding foreign affairs.

McCain's political theater was really wearing on my spirits yesterday, so today I was so elated to get this email regarding an Alaskan anti-Palin Rally organized by a small group of women in Alaska. The rally turned out to be the biggest in Alaska's history and although the event went mostly uncovered by major media (surprise, surprise) it has gained unbelievable visibility on the internet.

Please let this event lift your spirits but not weaken your fight.

Here's a very good thought from Deepak Chopra

Obama and the Palin Effect
Sometimes politics has the uncanny effect of mirroring the national psyche even when nobody intended to do that. This is perfectly illustrated by the rousing effect that Gov. Sarah Palin had on the Republican convention in Minneapolis. On the surface, she outdoes former Vice President Dan Quayle as an unlikely choice, given her negligent parochial expertise in the complex affairs of governing. Her state of Alaska has less than 700,000 residents, which reduces the job of governor to the scale of running one-tenth of New York City. By comparison, Rudy Giuliani is a towering international figure. Palin's pluck has been admired, and her forthrightness, but her real appeal goes deeper.

She is the reverse of Barack Obama, in essence his shadow, deriding his idealism and exhorting people to obey their worst impulses. In psychological terms the shadow is that part of the psyche that hides out of sight, countering our aspirations, virtue, and vision with qualities we are ashamed to face: anger, fear, revenge, violence, selfishness, and suspicion of "the other." For millions of Americans, Obama triggers those feelings, but they don't want to express them. He is calling for us to reach for our higher selves, and frankly, that stirs up hidden reactions of an unsavory kind. (Just to be perfectly clear, I am not making a verbal play out of the fact that Sen. Obama is black. The shadow is a metaphor widely in use before his arrival on the scene.) I recognize that psychological analysis of politics is usually not welcome by the public, but I believe such a perspective can be helpful here to understand Palin's message. In her acceptance speech Gov. Palin sent a rousing call to those who want to celebrate their resistance to change and a higher vision.

Look at what she stands for:
Small town values - a denial of America's global role, a return to petty, small-minded parochialism.
Ignorance of world affairs - a repudiation of the need to repairAmerica's image abroad.
Family values -  code for walling out anybody who makes a claim for social justice. Such strangers, being outside the family, don't need to be heeded.
Rigid stands on guns and abortion - a scornful repudiation that these issues can be negotiated with those who disagree.
Patriotism - the usual fallback in a failed war.
Reform - an italicized term, since in addition to cleaning out corruption and excessive spending, one also throws out anyone who doesn't fit your ideology.

Palin reinforces the overall message of the reactionary right, which has been in play since 1980, that social justice is liberal-radical, that minorities and immigrants, being different from "us" pure American types, can be ignored, that progressivism takes too much effort and globalism is a foreign threat. The radical right marches under the banners of "I'm all right, Jack," and "Why change? Everything's OK as it is." The irony, of course, is that Gov. Palin is a woman and a reactionary at the same time. She can add mom to apple pie on her resume, while blithely reversing forty years of feminist progress. The irony is superficial; there are millions of women who stand on the side of conservatism, however obviously they are voting against their own good. The Republicans have won multiple national elections by raising shadow issues based on fear, rejection, hostility to change, and narrow-mindedness.

Obama's call for higher ideals in politics can't be seen in a vacuum. The shadow is real; it was bound to respond. Not just conservatives possess a shadow -- we all do. So what comes next is a contest between the two forces of progress and inertia. Will the shadow win again, or has its furtive appeal become exhausted? No one can predict. The best thing about Gov. Palin is that she brought this conflict to light, which makes the upcoming debate honest. It would be a shame to elect another Reagan, whose smiling persona was a stalking horse for the reactionary forces that have brought us to the demoralized state we are in. We deserve to see what we are getting, without disguise.

Deepak Chopra

NY Based artist Amanda Church has been in the art biz a second and her culled love of abstract biomorphic shapes have a playful sureness to them that one can't help enjoy. Go check out some of the new pieces she brought to town for The Jancar Gallery's inaugural exhibition, in their new digs in Chinatown. When I see her work, I am always surprised she has been living in NY for as long as she has, the humor and vibrance in her pieces speak more like a native Californian.

J A N C A R   G A L L E R  Y
961 CHUNG KING ROAD - NEW  LOCATION                        
LOS ANGELES, CA 90012
TEL  213  625-2522 - NEW PHONE  NUMBER
Hours:  Wednesday - Saturday 12 - 5 PM (and by  appointment) - NEW  HOURS
www.jancargallery.com

JANCAR GALLERY is pleased to announce that the  new gallery location, in Chinatown, will be inagurated by a solo exhibition of new work by:

AMANDA CHURCH  "If Six Were  Mine"
September 13, 2008 - October 4,  2008

Opening reception  for the artist: Saturday, September 13th, from 6 - 9   PM

 

Cream Point 2008




Getaway 2008

Obama settles in...

Starting at the ripe traffic infested hour of 6pm, Southern California for Obama Headquarters' opened its doors at 3619 Motor Avenue on the 2nd Floor, they must have known this is a blue state, right?? People and cars were piled up all along Motor and the crowds quickly overflowed the space into the alleyways and streets. After a week of learning more then I cared to about the simple minded republican VP pick Sarah Palin, I was starved for some good vibes and there was no shortage here. My motivation was in high gear as I asserted my burning need to do anything in my power to insure Obama gets elected into office on November 4th. If you live in LA and want to make a difference please consider this.

One of the best ways you can help build this movement is by making weekend trips to Nevada through the Drive for Change program. You'll work with staff and volunteers to contact voters there and spread Barack's message of change and help the state to swing in our favor.

Learn more and sign up for the first Drive for Change in Nevada 
next weekend, September 12th - 14th.

For more info:
Obama's LA Headquarters
3619 Motor Avenue, 2nd Floor
Los Angeles, CA 90034
http://ca.barackobama.com/CAlosangeles

Get motivated!!!!







 

As my family recovers from the the wild abandon of summer, it hits me what a kick ass line up of artwork will be had come this fall. Such a time to get back into the thick of it, re-immersing yourself into the art bounty that will be paraded around art galleries and museums east to west. Before it all descends, remember to embrace the beauty of all things white, the crisp embrace of an ocean wave and the smell of the salty summer night air. Take a majestic long walk on the beach at dusk or perhaps an extra moment to soak in the dwindling warmth of a poolside day because summer is closing its doors and once the culture drenched atmosphere of the season hits, you might forget that the art of nature is all around you...