LA Unified takes place at ForYourArt in LA this week.
Michael Ray-Von (Art BFA 12) and fellow CalArts alum Albert Samreth (Art BFA 12) have organized LA Unified, a week-long symposium that explores the concepts and issues of art school and education at ForYourArt’s gallery and activity space in Los Angeles this week.
The project brings together artists and faculty members from several Southern California art institutions, including CalArts, Art Center, UCLA and the University of California Riverside (UCR), for panel discussions and workshops. Participating CalArts faculty members include Jessica Bronson, Ken Ehrlich, Ashley Hunt, Shirley Tse and former faculty member Martin Kersels.
In addition to the workshops, an accompanying art exhibition showcases the work of BFA 2012 graduates from local art schools: Phil Davis (UCLA), Tyler Joe (UCR), Soyoung Kwon (Art Center), Lauren Mariscal (UCR), Carmel Ni (UCLA), Ariana Papademetropoulos (CalArts), Philippe de Sablet (UCLA), Sarah Waldorf (Chapman University) and Ion Yamazaki (Cal State University Long Beach).
Workshops include:
- Today (June 27) at 3 pm: Dancer and artist Simone Forti (who substitute taught for CalArts founding art faculty member Allan Kaprow in the 1970s), presents a lecture on learning, accompanied by a few exercises in movement. The talk is moderated by artist and CalArts alumnus Zachary Sharrin (Art MFA 11).
- Thursday, June 28 at 6 pm: Faculty members Bronson, Kersels, Andrea Fraser (UCLA), Katie Grinnan (Claremont Graduate University) and Mitchell Kane (Art Center) discuss teaching strategies and “the art school as a site of re-productivity, the legacies of their institutions, their most successful or unsuccessful art assignments, and more.”
- Thursday, June 28 at 8 pm: The Admissions & Omissions panel with Ehrlich, Hunt and Tse considers the “current state of the art school, the conditions of its formation, and propose the role of the art school in the immediate future.” Both talks will be moderated by Fiona Connor (Art MFA 11).
- Friday, June 29 at 4 pm: Katie Bachler presents “Teaching School,” a session in which the participants are asked to “create lessons and teach each other, considering the ways we communicate knowledge and ideas with a group. Teaching can be about anything, how to tie sailors’ knots, how to create a secret space in a city; the Bauhaus. When we care about what we teach, that feeling is shared. A lesson is a platform, a base, from which each person can emerge.”
At Friday’s closing reception at 7 pm, the public and participants are welcome to gather and share their reflections on LA Unified with Ray-Von and Samreth.
LA Unified
ForYourArt
6020 Wilshire Blvd., Los Angeles
Through June 29
Sessions and workshops are free and open to the public.