Time Lapse

Edge of Taos Desert: An Escape to Reality published in 1937 by New York socialite Mabel Dodge Luhan exemplifies a late modernist disillusionment with "civilized" culture and class. Luhan, who had set up salons of notable writers, artists and authors in Florence, Greenwich Village, and later Taos New Mexico, gave up her prior fictions to re-claim life on the edge.While the image of desert can mean many things to many people, it has been said that easterners in particular conjure primativist notions of an exotic nature and its rural inhabitants.

Such was the case with Mabel Luhan. Yet, her utopian vision did lure D.H. Lawrence and Georgia O'Keeffe to the desert and win her the respect of photographer friend Ansel Adams. The video project "Escape to Reality: 24hrs @ 24fps" borrows narrative elements from Mabel Dodge Luhan's memoirs combining them with the poetry of Palm Desert resident Ruth Nolan, images from Eadweard Muybridge's 1870s Palo Alto motion studies, post-modern music, tourist travelogues taken in New York, California, and Pearl Harbor in 1930s, along with the images of photographers who roamed Joshua Tree National Park for a 24-hour period in May 2008.

Escape to Reality montages time periods and styles marking the transition between East and West, day and night, sophisticated urbanity and isolated desert, class comfort and new realities, war to peace, still camera to cinematic, from analog film to digital device. Join us for a reception and screening, November 6th, 6:00pm www.artsblock.ucr.edu digitalstudioinfo@ucr.edu rsvp at: 951.827-4796

Riverside Here and Now

As part of A Sense of Place: Remembering Riverside's Chinatowns Sweeney Art Gallery hosted an incredible dance performance and presentation at Bre Dance Studios. The space is located on 9th Street & Orange in downtown Riverside, the former site of the 1880s Chinese Quarter. The audience was treated to choreographed hip-hop dance and Chinese traditional dance put together by Clifford Breland and Szu-Ching Chang respectively. Storyteller and singer Karen Wilson followed with a moving narrative tying together the diasporic journeys in America of both Chinese and African immigrants. Afterward, there was a buffet Chinese dinner and street music. On the political front, a Riverside City Council meeting on 10/07/08 will determine the fate of Riverside's second Chinatown site on Tequesquite and Brockton Avenues. Grassroots activists hope to have the land saved for further excavation and a memorial park.


The co-chair of the Riverside Chinatown Cultural Preservation Committee (RCCPC), Dr. Deborah Wong professor of music at UCR talked with Ching-In Chen about the history of Chinese immigrants in Riverside and the on-going controversy surrounding development on the Chinatown site. Check out the podcast interview on KCET.org as part of ARTSblock Live! available throughout the month of October. KCET, also Asian American Riverside.


The next ARTSblock Live! podcast slated for November will feature "desert noir" author Ruth Nolan who is currently leading a series of workshops for the Inlandia Institute focusing on desert region writers. Ruth is also developing narration for an upcoming experimental video on Joshua Tree National Park with images taken as part of the annual Photographic Excursions project sponsored by UCR/CMP. The video is scheduled to premiere during 1st Thursday ARTSwalk on 11/06/08 at 7:00pm. Check out Inlandia!

Auf Wiedersehen

Riversiders took part in “Project Runway" (IE style) through a portrait studio set up by local photographer Michael J. Elderman at UCR California Museum of Photography on 10/05/08. Elderman dug out his old Hasselblad 2 1/4 camera along with a digital SLR to capture the runway action. This 1st Sunday arts event aimed to highlight the 10/25 opening of Leicas and Hasselblads curated by Jonathan Green at UCR/CMP, featuring cameras from the David J. Hearst Foundation Collection. Over 100 fashion backward folks showed for the mod 60s and 70s theme shoot, styled by upcoming designer Michele Woolery. Participants received a free CD of their shoot afterwards. Michael J. Elderman has been a freelance commercial photographer and a photographic artist since the mid-1970’s exhibiting his work throughout the United States and Canada. His assistant during the shoot was Michael Papavero of Redlands.


The next 1st Sunday event will take place on 11/02/08. Day of the Dead (El Dia de Los Muertos) is a Mexican celebration that pays homage to loved ones who have died, yet are still remembered. The celebration is sponsored by the Riverside Cultural Consortium and organized by Division 9 director Cosme Cordova. As a run up to the event, local photographer Carlos Puma will hold a digi-photo workshop at UCR/CMP on Thursday evening 10/23 for those interested in working the Museum's Dead Portrait studio located among the festivities on Mission Inn Avenue. Selected images from the Day of the Dead photo shoots will be featured in the Digital Studio Gallery during 1st Thursday ARTSwalk 11/6 between 6-9pm. For more info, contact the UCR ARTSblock Ed office at: digitalstudioinfo@ucr.edu or call (951) 827-4796. www.artsblock.ucr.edu

Forest 4 the Trees

Winners of the recent Micro Macro photo contest sponsored by UC Riverside California Museum of Photography hail from beaches of SoCal to the mountains of New Zealand. Curators were impressed by the diversity of images that met the theme's premise of a world seemingly both near and far. Works include conceptual scenes, fictional renderings, loving snapshots, and microscopic discoveries -- uniquely capturing the irony and intimacy of daily life.

Photographers: Catherine Pinal, Cheryl Orndorf, Corrine Cardenas, Dalton Tarver, Diane Bush, Domenico Foschi, Heather Sten, Jami Hofstee, Kenny James, Mike O'Brien, Otana Jakpor, Sakiko Tsukamoto, Sandy Flores Winston, Sasha Venola, Ted Norton, Twila Stofer, and Ralph Ansel. Click here > to preview exhibit<

An opening reception for Micro Macro will take place at UCR/CMP on Thursday September 4th from 6:00 - 8:00pm. The show will run from September 3rd - November 5th in the Digital Studio Gallery, 3rd Floor. UCR ARTSblock, 3800 Main Street and University, downtown Riverside (951) 827-4796 Check out the website at: www.artsblock.ucr.edu

72hrs @ 24fps in LA

Selected images from "24hrs @ 24fps Over Joshua Tree" photo shoot will be featured at the Spring Arts Collective Gallery as part of DigitalArt.LA, sponsored by Los Angeles Center for Digital Art taking place August 14-16 in downtown LA.

Among the amateur and professional photographers featured are Ami Flori, Carlos Puma, miKenzie Denholtz, Maxene Denholtz, Mike Denholtz, Brenda Denholtz, Darrin Dikes, Myles Denholtz, Jose Beruvides, Laura Araujo-Salinas, Paul Gachot, Sarah Bay Williams, Alma Lopez, Rex Bruce, Reggie Woolery, Douglas Buckley, Julia Buckley, Carlos Garcia, Corrine Cardenas, Sergio Pina, Melanie Berry, Elda Carraco, Yareli Figueroa, Andy Chi, Brian Leatart, Jim Belsley, Grace Bagwell, Geoff Shaw, Vicki Williams, Joanne Lehmer, Jacalyn Garcia Lopez, Geno Lopez, Pat May, Rita Medina, Breeane Diaz, Margaret Burnett, C.R. Stecyk, Eva Soltes, Brad Shyba, Jason Marquez, Barbara May, and Ethan Turpin. For info, see: digitalart.la

YO!

YO > Youth Media Showcase celebrates the stories, images, and graphic design work of talented teens within the IE who use their digital media art to make their communities come alive.


Event I: ARTSWalk Thursday, August 7th 6:00 - 8:00pm @ UCR/CMP, Main St at University Ave, downtown Riverside.
Event II: How I See It Saturday, August 16th, 1:00 - 3:00pm @ Riverside Public Library, Mission Inn Ave at Orange St, Riverside.

These projects, produced during the 2007-08 year, were sponsored by California State Library, Project BRIDGE, Califa, Eyebeam, Adobe Systems, O1SJ Festival, Human Rights Watch Film Festival, California Council for the Humanities, Gluck Foundation, Poly HS, JW North HS, Summit HS, and UCR CHASS. Download the invite > here< . For more info, check out the UCR ARTSblock website: www.artsblock.ucr.edu

Home & the World

Micro-Macro a new photo contest sponsored by the UCR ARTSblock Digital Studio Gallery has been announced.

"In this time of ours, things at once seem paradoxically out of control and out of reach, yet equally knowable, touchable, and observable. For this contest, we are hoping that the unique vision provided by the camera lens can bring specific meaning to this metaphor. We are seeking works by photographers who use the camera to capture what is near or far, documenting reality or constructing fictions, at the point of extreme. It is expected that some artists will achieve this outcome using a camera lens and someone else by using computer technique."

Deadline for entries is Friday August 15th, with winners announced on August 22nd. An exhibition of the 24 selected finalists will open on Thursday September 4th, @ 6pm at UCR California Museum of Photography. For more information, email: digitalstudioinfo@ucr.edu or call the ARTSblock Ed office at: 951.827.4796.

Riverside's History

Located just behind UCR Sweeney Art Gallery and California Museum of Photography is Riverside's original Chinatown established in the early 1880s. When the thriving bachelor community was forced out of downtown due to anti-immigrant sentiment, they eventually migrated west to a site on Brockton and Tequesquite Avenues. This location was excavated in 1985, providing remarkable artifacts as well as opening a window to a key period in Riverside's development. A third, smaller Chinese community was formed away from these sites at Magnolia and Adams. See Asian American Riverside.

Last month, The Grier Pavilion was inaugurated atop the Mayor's Office in downtown Riverside featuring short historical videos on prior residents of Riverside, including Chinatown's George Wong. To learn more, check out the exhibit: A Sense of Place - Remembering Riverside's Chinatowns at Sweeney Art Gallery running in conjunction with Absurb Recreation: New Art from China, July 26 - October 4. Also, on YouTube there are profiles of other important Riverside civil rights luminaries such as Johnny Sotelo, Oscar Medina, Dr. Barnett and Eleanor Jean Grier, Rupert and Jeannette Costo, among others.

0101 Youth 0101 Media 0101

FIELD TRIP!!! UCR Digital Studio mural crew took a trip to San Jose, June 5-7 to take part in the 01SJ Festival at The Tech Museum and surrounding arts sites, featuring new media works by established artists and emerging teens, sponsored by a micro-grant from Eyebeam and Adobe Systems. Students took in street festivals, art galleries, and special digital works by their peers. San Jose was a blast and the drive home down the scenic Hwy1 was also the ticket. Check out our pix on Flickr.

Outland Empyre

A listserve that rocks with guest artists, critical dialogue, international collegiality, and very rare instances of scholarly bullying. Empypre, online.

Long Hot Summer!

May
Latin American Film Fest @ UCR, 5/20 - 5/27
This year's program features award-winning films looking at socio-political developments in Peru, Mexico, Argentina, Spain, and Venezuela. Films include: Against the Grain - An Artist's Survival Guide to Peru; Cartoneros; Los Ultimos zapatistas; State of Fear; Machuca; ¿Puedo Hablar? May I Speak?; Social Genocide. Contact: Daniel Polk (daniel.polk@ucr.edu)

Frances Negron-Muntaner, The Young Lords, 5/28
3:00-5:00pm Latin American Studies Department, UC Riverside
Contact: Marta Hernandez Salvan (mhernandezsalvan@yahoo.com)

June
Photo-Graphic 0.8, 6/5-7/2 Featuring graphic design, photo-based illustration and other works from students of the newly established Art Institute of California of the Inland Empire based in San Bernardino. Reception, 6/5/08 from 6:00-9:00pm. UCR/CMP Digital Studio Gallery.


How I See It, 6/16-8/5 The Riverside Public Library and UCR ARTSblock Digital Studio team up to present this unique photography-based summer session funded in-part by a grant from the California Council for the Humanities California Stories Fund. 1:00-3:00pm daily, RSPL & UCR/CMP. Contact: Alicia Doktor (adoktor@riversideca.gov)

July
MyGlobalVillage, 7/9-8/17
Our 2nd annual high school summer program presented with support from Human Rights Watch International Film Festival. Students screen award-winning social issues films and respond with media messages of their own. 9:00am-1:00pm daily, UCR/CMP. Contact: UCR ARTSblock Ed (digitalstudioinfo@ucr.edu)

August
Sense of Place, 7/26-10/4
A series of workshops and historical reflections on Riverside's Chinatowns of the late 1800's run alongside the Sweeney Art Gallery exhibition, Absurd Recreation: Contemporary Art from China featuring artists Chen Chieh-jen, Hong Hao, Zhao Liang, Xu Ruotao, Chen Wei, Wang Wei, Ai Weiwei, Xiaoze Xie, and Xu Zhen. Contact: UCR ARTSblock Ed (digitalstudioinfo@ucr.edu)

Podcast Rat

ARTblock Live! podcast series features the work of three Riverside art center directors in May and June, starting with Jonathan Green, executive director of UCR/ARTSblock. Also featured are Tyler Stallings of UCR Sweeney Art Gallery and Cosme Cordova of Division 9 Gallery. In addition to el tres hombres, there is an interview with UCR professor of English Laila Lalami of Morocco, talking to host Gabriela Jauregui about her lastest book, Hope and Other Dangerous Pursuits.