JUL. 9-AUG. 28

You Are What You Eat Recent

work by Dylan Tellesen

Aug. 28 Closing Reception 5-7pm

Dylan Tellesen writes that he “is an artist, adoring husband, father of two little crazies, skinny dipper, Butte College teacher, organic matter eater, sexy dancer, and walker of the earth, who knows he is going to die. He also studied artmaking at L’Accademia di Belli Arte in Florence, Italy, and San Francisco State University. He currently exhibits his art in Los Angeles, San Francisco, Sacramento, and his hometown of Chico, where he recently completed an enormous exterior mural at the local Boys and Girls Club. In this show, Tellesen creates a parallel universe where the effects of human waste on the natural world have unexpectedly beautiful and often terrifying results.  Evolution gone awry, e-waste habitat, and misconstrued adages combine to reinterpret our future and give us pause to reflect on our own. Check out dtellesen.blogspot.com/ and www.dtellesen.com/.

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SEP. 4-OCT. 9
Apropos Appropriation Marion Bronson, Richard Whitehead, Elizabeth Newman Kuiper, Darice McGuire and David Sutherland

PHOTOS (untitled) Peter Hogue

Small Collections Jason Tannen

Sep. 12 Reception 5-7pm

Bronson: “…we call ourselves appropriationists, and the art form appropriationism. We coined the last two words to avoid the financial connotation of the dictionary word ‘appropriators.’ We have written rules, the most flexible and generous we could design. We are free to adapt each other’s art and ideas. Each of us owns all the work he or she produces as an individual, signs it with her or his own name, and is free not to share credit or pay royalties. The exhibit itself will include the originals and the adaptations, showing the unique patterns of appropriationism as the artists derived new works from each other’s products….As the opening date nears, none of us has a clear idea of what will be on the gallery walls. Instead we stay open to all the creative ideas of the members. Whitehead has decided to paint some of my close-up photos of his own work. McGuire chose to paint a photograph I had taken in Denver of an artist's studio floor. Sutherland used Photoshop to alter several of my photos, and digitally combine them with his own digital images. Kuiper has been using a photo of the Denver studio floor to paint, and then photograph her painting as a background for tabletop photography."

Hogue: “Most of these pictures presented themselves to me during various wanderings, usually while walking around Chico, Portland, Seattle, Ellensburg (WA), San Miguel de Allende, etc. I shoot quickly, more or less on the run, with either a Canon ELPH or a disposable Fuji, sometimes both. My methods are casual, but these places have special meaning for me, and I seem to get the best results when looking mostly for ordinary stuff that can be seen, through the camera, in not-so-ordinary—or at least interesting—ways. All these pictures have been developed initially by local stores, and subsequently blown up to their current size at downtown copy shops.”

Tannen: “Since 1978, my photography has explored the urban landscape. I have used the camera to find order in the random—a convergence of gesture, pattern, and implied human presence. I am fascinated by the signs and icons of commerce, politics, and faith. I am particularly interested in how these artifacts can be simultaneously archetypal, fetishistic, and peculiar. This project documents strange, eccentric, or visually interesting collections represented in private keeping and public display.”

OCT. 2
Michael Adams Guest Lecturer for Nature & Spirit: The Landscape Photographs of Ansel Adams (University Art Gallery, Oct. 2-30) “Ansel Adams, A Son’s Perspective” 5 pm*

Michael Adams traveled extensively with his father and was present when he photographed many of his most famous images, including Moonrise, Hernandez, N.M., and Mt. McKinley, Wonder Lake, Alaska. Adams, who was born in Yosemite, is a retired medical doctor and Korean War veteran. In the 1970s, he and his wife purchased his family’s century-old Yosemite photo shop, Best’s Studio Inc., which today is run by their children as The Ansel Adams Gallery in California.

OCT. 9
Byron Wolfe Guest Lecturer “Yosemite and Beyond: Revisiting Ansel Adams’ Singular Vision” 5 pm*

Byron Wolfe is a professor of photography in the Department of Communication Design. He recently published Everyday: A Yearlong Photo Diary. He co-authored The Third View: A Rephotographic Survey of the American West and Yosemite in Time: Ice Ages, Tree Clocks, Ghost Rivers.

OCT. 14-NOV. 20
Manga Power! The World Through a Child’s Eyes Curated by Masami Toku, Art and Art History

World premiere of an international art education exhibit featuring comic book art as a communicative tool for children to discuss the issues and problems facing our world. Children and comic book artists from Japan, North America, and South America will display “manga” frames to express visually their feelings and to bridge social gaps that surround issues such as age, gender, economy, politics, and religion.

OCT. 16
Michael Bitz Lecture and Reception for Manga Power! The World Through a Child’s Eyes
5-8 pm (lecture at 5)

Michael Bitz is a faculty of Teachers College, Columbia University. An internationally recognized innovator in education, Bitz has worked to establish creativity at the core of academic learning. In 2001, he founded the Comic Book Project, an art-based literacy initiative that has partnered with hundreds of schools and youth development organizations across the U.S. to develop practical solutions to tough educational problems. The Project have been featured by The Washington Post, National Public Radio, USA Today, and many other media. See http://www.comicbookproject.org/

OCT. 17

Far East Fusion! Art of Food and Fashion Part I (Tea Ceremony & Kimono Auction) 5:30–7:30 pm, Humanities Center Gallery

(Advance tickets: $10/Students $5, Art Dept., Ayres 107)

Fine Japanese traditional kimono and accessories will also be auctioned, all as a benefit for Japan Chico Women’s Club and Art Education at Chico State.

NOV. 13

Koichi Watanabe Lecture “A Child’s Eye: The Meaning of Bodies as Seen Through the Pictorial World of Children”, 5-6 pm

Koichi Watanabe, Department of Education, Fukushima University, Japan. http://www.wa-art.com/  Watanabe is recognized internationally as an artist, educator, and scholar. His works have been shown world wide, including a current performance art show entitled “Life Casting” that features 102-year-old Butoh Dancer, Kazuo Ohno.

NOV. 14

Far East Fusion! Art of Food and Fashion II: Sushi Demo & Contest of Sushi as Art 5:30-7:30 pm.

Advance tickets: General $10/Students $5 (Art Dept., Ayres 107). Sushi demonstrations and sushi tastings, and a sushi as art exhibit and competition. All proceeds will benefit Japan Chico Women’s Club and Art Education, Art & Art History, Chico State. More information and Sushi as Art entry forms are available through the CSU, Chico Art Department or by emailing Dr. Masami Toku at mtoku@csuchico.edu

DEC. 2-17
David Johnson@Eighty: A Retrospective (1947-2008) Humanities Center Gallery, Trinity 100 and Hallway, M-F 8-5. Dec. 4

Reception 5-7 (artist’s talk at 6)

A photographer with over half a century of experience, David Johnson has the distinction of being Ansel Adam’s first African American student at the California School of Fine Arts (CSFA), now known as the San Francisco Art Institute (SFAI). After graduating from CSFA, Johnson went on to establish his own studio on Fillmore Street diligently documenting the development of the neighborhood during the ‘40s, ‘50s, and ‘60s. He combined his professional training as a photographer and personal interest in music to record visually the heydays of the Fillmore’s clubs, dance halls, and way of life. His work appears in books such as Harlem of the West as well as in the KQED documentary The Fillmore. Another significant component of his work is his documentation of the Civil Rights movement in San Francisco and the NAACP registration drives, including the March on Washington. His most published works are his images of ordinary African Americans, children and adults, going about the mundane routines, rites and rituals. He is likewise noted for photographing important African Americans. He has captured Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshal, A. Philip Randolph, ball player Jackie Robinson, poet Langston Hughes and musical icons Nat “King” Cole, Eartha Kitt, and “T. Bone” Walker. In addition to the influence of his teacher Ansel Adams, he cites his mentors Minor White and Ruth Bernhard. His work draws upon iconic photographers of the 20th century, Imogene Cunningham, Dorothea Lange, Gordon Parks, Edward Weston, and Homer Page.

*The Humanities Center’s theme for this year—“Regarding Beauty”—is being partially underwritten by a grant from New Urban Builders, which enables the Center to bring a wide range of outside speakers to campus as well as to host a number of community events.

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