News
Fall 2024
Chelsea Stewart Awarded the Murphy & Cadogan Scholarship
Chelsea Stewart, Graduate Teaching Associate, will be awarded the Murphy & Cadogan Scholarship on Friday, November 1st.
The Jack K. and Gertrude Murphy Award and the Edwin Anthony and Adalaine Boudreaux Cadogan Scholarship help fuel the forward-thinking visual arts movement that makes the Bay Area unique. Established in 1986, these awards further the development of Bay Area MFA students and foster the exploration of their artisitic potenial. The winners of the Murphy Award and Cadogan Scholarships receive financial awards (awards amounts to be determined when applications reopen) and display thier work in a professionally curated group exhibition at SOMArts Cultural Center.
Exhibition: Timna Naim, Spatial Art MFA, included in Introductions at Root Division, SF
Exhibition Dates: August 14 - September 21, 2024
Second Saturday Reception: September 14th | 7-9PM
Established in 2007, Introductions is one of the Root Division's signature exhibition, showcasing the talents of twelve emerging Bay Area artists without gallery representation. Artists are selected through a rigorous review process by a panel of threee prominent arts professionals based on the conceptual and formal strength of their work. The resulting exhibition provides a snapshot of the Bay Area's artistic landscape featuring a diverse range of media and subject matter.
Binh Danh Awarded the William Collins Smith Auburn Award for Advancing American Art
Binh Danh, Associate Professor of Photography, is the inaugural recipient of the William Collins Smith Auburn Award for Advancing American Art. The $25,000 annual award, presented by the The Jule Collins Smith Museum of Fine Art at Auburn University, honors an American artist or scholar-practitioner who has significantly impacted the American art scene in the spirit of the university's modernist collection strength, grounded in creativity, innovation and experimentation
Artist-in-Residence: Carla Schwartz at Stove Works
For the month of July, Carla Fisher Schwartz (Assistant Professor, Pictorial Arts) was an Artist-in-Residence at Stove Works in Chatanooga, TN. Along with working on a new series of print-based installations and sculptures, she led a community workshop "Artifacts of the Everyday", introducing strategies for working with found objects, including 3D scanning and wax rubbing.
Public Art: Polis by David Bayus
"Polis", an animated short film commissioned by the San Fransisco Arts Commission, is now installed at the 49 South Van Ness Municipal building.
Group Exhibition: In the Manner of Paul Kos featuring Rhonda Holberton
Rhonda Holberton's (Associate Professor, Digital Media Art) animation, Siphon, will be included in a group exhibition at Anglim Trimble (San Fransisco) honoring the conceptual artist Paul Kos.
Sonic Reflections of Deep Space
Built on the research of ESA's VLT, the James Webb Space Telescope, and the Hubble Space Telescope, composers Andrew Blanton (Associate Proffesor, Digital Media Arts) and Matthew Monaco presented an evening of electro-acoustic spatialized audio. Hybridizing the world's of contemporary classical music with data science and astronomy, the composers also weave in poetic interpretation, sonification, and artistic realization of datasets from James Webb Space Telescope at the Leonardo House in Paris.
FLP 2024, Exploring Japan through Art
The goal of this course is to provide opportunities to develop ideas and understandings of society, culture, and history through on-site interactions with traditional Japanese artists and guided analysis of Japanese art.
Farenheit 2024: Featured Work by Adam Shiverdecker
Adam Shiverdecker (Associate Professor, Spatial Art) had work featured at the National Juried Exhibition at the American Museum of Ceramic Art (AMOCA).
Biennial Conference of the European Architectural History Network, Athens, Greece
In June, Anthony Raynsford (Associate Professor, Art History) presented his research on the history of radical community design in a paper entitled, "From Youth Conservation Corps to Urban Street Theatre Karl Linn and the Design of Teenage Public Space" at the Biennial Conference of the European Architectural History Network.
Valerie Mendoza's PAMLA Presentation: "Promoting Social Change through a Text/Image Art Practice"
Valerie Mendoza (Associate Proffesor, Photography) will be presenting her ongoing work on the affordable housing crisis at the PAMLA (Pacific, Ancient and Modern Language Association - a West Coast branch of the MLA) in Palm Springs on the 7th and 11th of November. Mendoza will be showcasing her presentation "Promoting Social Changes through a Text/Image Art Practice". She will also be reading selections from "The Cost of Living" and "We Value Your Business" at the annual poetry reading at a public venue which is part of the conference programming. This is a very large, competitive, annual gathering held in different West Coast city each year with attendance that sometimes exceeds 1000.
James Morgan's Paper / Demo: Fortunetelling as Co-Creative Model Paper
James Morgan (Lecturer) presented demo and art performances at the International Conference on Computational Creativity. Positing the position that fortune telling presents an interesting co-creative model.
Spring 2024
DMA BFA Graduate Marisa Diaz: Designing Spider-Man 2 Suits
Digital Media Arts BFA Marisa Diaz designed two new suits for the Spider-Man 2 game with help from connections with Gameheads. Check out the podcast where Marisa talks about her work, the trailer that feature her suits, her concept art, and her Gameheads interview linked below!
Cartophantasms Between The Screens Forescene
Shaun O’Dell (Assistant Professor, Pictorial Arts) has work included in the release Cartophantasms Between The Screens Forescene, a Print series with ISLAND PRESS at the Sam Fox School of Art and Design, Washington University of ST.Louis.
HALSEY/MCKAY Gallery NADA Art Fair NYC, May 2-5 2024
Shaun O’Dell (Assistant Professor, PIctorial Arts) has been invited by the HALSEY/MCKAY Gallery to exhibit work in their booth for this year's NADA Art Fair.
In my work I am drawn to locating moments in history - my own, American, the west and human - when things shifted from the mythos to the logos, the miraculous to the end of enchantment, the infinite to the reductionism of the quantifiable. In this current body of work I wanted to see that smoking iron-laden meteorite I saw fall from the Pleiades superimposed in the sky above Henry Behrman’s mercantile as it crashed amongst the wrought iron commodities of colonial Kentucky.
Contested Landscapes
Shaun O’Dell (Assistant Professor, PIctorial Arts) work is included in the exhibition Contested Landscapes which brings together works of art that reexamine the traditional genre of landscape through an ecological lens. By using diverse materials and innovative techniques, the artists reshape representations of geography, topography, and the environment to examine human interaction with the natural world.
Unveiling of Norman Minetta Sculpture at SJ Airport
Steve Davis, Lecturer in Spatial and Foundry Tech, was commissioned to sculpt a 6 foot bronze statue unveiled in January at the San Jose Mineta International Airport to honor its namesake: Norman Mineta. Mineta was the mayor of San Jose in the 1970s before serving in Congress for 20 years. He later became the U.S. transportation secretary during the George W. Bush administration.
SFMoMA SECA Finalists
Since 1967, the SECA Art Award has honored more than seventy Bay Area artists with an exhibition at SFMOMA and an accompanying publication. The 2024 SECA Art Award Exhibition will open in December 2024.
Completed Certificate in Museum Studies
Gretchen Simms completed her studies with a certificate in museum studies at Harvard Extension with new ideas on Sustainability and DEIA in museums including SJ Museum of Art and Oakland Museum of California.
What is your sTile?
A social practice collaborative mural created from 195 mono print/screen printed tiles. 195 alluding to the number of nations around the world. The public is invited to choose from several designs created by Irene Carvajal, inspired by traditional patterns from 21 nations around the world. This subset of countries were chosen to symbolically unite the world and consider how we can all participate individually and collectively in supporting each other and sharing knowledge and wealth. The countries selected are some of the richest, some of the poorest, as well as the nationalities most represented here in the Bay Area.
Butterfly Effect, Athens Greece
Curated by Kostas Prapoglou 2023
The Weight of Dreams
An installation of mirrors and porcelain bells laser cut/molded out of the same shape – a small heavy cylindrical object that was used as a doorstop in Irene Carvajal's grandparents home in Costa Rica. This object, was made by her grandfather when he worked as a mechanic in the National Distillery Factory in the 1940’s. It was used as a counterweight when measuring ingredients that would go into the creation of distilled spirits. This object becomes the focus of Carvajal's exploration of her past. A past that is splintered due to her families’ immigration from Costa Rica to the United States.
Her work was part of the Butterfly Effect exhibition organized by artefact athens.
Ecologies Of Photography: Materials, Industries, and Environment in the American West
Binh Danh (Associate Professor, Photography) will present his work at the Ecologies Of Photography: Materials, Industries, and Environment in the American West conference at the Huntington Library.
A Question of Balance: Selected Works from Pacific Rim Sculptors
January 27- May 26, 2024, Museum of Sonoma County: This exhibition showcases artists who have produced exciting and unique works exploring the varied and multiple meanings and interpretations of “balance." The exhibition will display works by Lynn Dau (lecturer, Spatial Arts).
She/They
Lynn Dau (lecturer, Spatial Arts) will be included in a showcase of a wide range of art by 27 contemporary sculptors from across California at the Santa Cruz Art League in Santa Cruz, CA. "She/They" focuses on celebrating women, non-binary, and transgender artists, this exhibition unveils stunning masterpieces crafted in various sculpting mediums. On view 1/19-2/24
Through the Dreamhouse
Brea Art Gallery (city of Brea) 1/27-3/22: "Through the Dreamhouse" is a group exhibition which delves into the symbolism and power of domestic spaces, using both traditional and unconventional mediums to examine intimate and introspective aspects of a household. This exhibition includes 5 of Lynn Dau's works (Lecturer, spatial arts).
6 Exhibitions
1.ICA San José and Montalvo Arts Center, March 23 - August 11. P L A C E: Reckonings by Asian American Artists Robin Lasser and Adrienne Pao
2.TNOC (The Nature of Cities) Festival June 4-7 (Berlin) Ice Ships Weep Film Trilogy, Berlin, Germany.
3.Big Basin Redwood State Park Public Art Commission, Art About, June 15-Opening Reception. Permanent Collections.
4.Plattsburgh Museum of Art, solo exhibition, August 27-December 15. Ice Ships Weep and the Theatre of Water Reclamation. Room - size immersive video projections and sculptures, series of large-scale photographs, and sound works.
New article in the January issue of the Journal of Planning History
Just published in print: "The Limits of Counterculture Urbanism: Utopian Planning and Practical Politics in Berkeley, 1969–73. Journal of Planning History".
"Salon Après Tetris (Five Seconds of Fame)"
Professor Shannon Wright was in the DeYoung Open and is slowly building the installation version of the piece. She created the digital drawing, "Salon Après Tetris (5 Seconds of Fame)" in response to the DeYoung Open call for entries. She built the scene (minus the figure) in Rhinoceros, painstakingly redrawing all the parts as well as the person in Adobe Illustrator. The piece is a vector drawing of an installation piece that she's been building on her sabbatical in addition to another project. The installation was accepted into Untitled Miami Beach but she has to change the plan given the time it will take to build all 25 tetris frames.
In a Grove
Anglim/Trimble is pleased to present In a grove, a gathering of artists utilizing abstraction to create rapturous states of vision marked by the qualities of the sensorial and perceptual. Curated by Dean Smith, the exhibition includes work by Thomas Akawie, Brad Brown, Mason Dowling, Donald Feasél, Renée Gertler, Robin McDonnell, and Nancy White.
Benefit Exhibit
Benefit Exhibit Bakewell Hall Exterior Restoration - Through the sale of 10 donated paintings, Mark P. Fisher successfully raised $3200.00 for wood and paint upgrade at St. Augustine's Episcopal Church, Oakland, CA, 12/30/23 through 01/01/2024.
Libros, Arte, Oficios, Memoria, Communidad
In April 2024, Michelle Wilson will be part of a two person exhibition at Ex Convento Tiripetio Gallery in Morelia, Michoacan, Mexico, titled, "Libros, Arte, Oficios, Memoria, Comunidad (Books, Art, Trades, Memory, Community).
Roundtable Discussion in Grey Room 94, Winter 2024, pp. 20–49, "Roundtable on Warhol v. Goldsmith"
Liz Linden contributed to a roundtable on Fair Use and Copyright just published in Grey Room, with Amy Adler, NYU School of Law, and Noam M. Elcott, Columbia University, Lionel Bently, Professor of Intellectual Property Law, University of Cambridge, Susan Bielstein, University of Chicago Press, Johanna Burton, Director, MOCA, Los Angeles, Martha Buskirk, professor, Montserrat College of Art, Jane Ginsburg, Professor of Literary and Artistic Property Law, Columbia, Branden W. Joseph, Professor of Modern and Contemporary Art, Columbia University, Joan Kee, professor of the history of art, University of Michigan, Liz Linden, artist, Rebecca Tushnet, Professor of the First Amendment, Harvard, Graeme Williams, photographer, Winnie Wong, professor of rhetoric, UCBerkeley.
Vienna Study Abroad success!
Dr Gretchen Simms led the Architecture, Art, and Design Study Abroad program in Vienna took place for the first time in January.
Fall 2023
SJSU Faculty Irene Carvajal participates in the The Butterfly Effect, an art exhibition inside a textile factory in Mouzakis Greece.
According to chaos theory, the Butterfly Effect is when a small change in one part of a complex system can lead to significant consequences elsewhere. The Butterfly Effect exhibition adds yet another layer of meaning to the term, since it takes place inside the fully operating textile factory “Butterfly Threads - Mouzakis.”What makes this location even more remarkable is its historical significance, given its position along the ancient procession route of the Eleusinian Mysteries. Its history and location inspired 41 artists each working across diverse artistic mediums. Their installations, pottery, and sculptures are integrated into the daily operations of the factory in a fusion of art and industry. Curated by Kostas Prapoglou & organised by artefact athens.
James Jenkins (MFA, SPATIAL '22) and his recent project, Cruz Cool, named one of the
Best Inventions of 2023 by Time Magazine
Styrofoam takes over 500 years to decompose—and yet we still use it for insulation. The Cruz Cool cooler, which can insulate frozen goods for 48 hours, is made out of chitin, a polymer that’s found in fungi, insects, and shrimp. But the real difference is how it’s produced. Typically, eco-friendly alternatives to styrofoam come in odd shapes and sizes that flummox supply chains. Parent company Cruz Foam compounds the chitin with other ingredients into large flat pellets that feed into a partner’s current processing plant. That’s how Cruz Foam is already partnering with Atlantic Packaging, an industry leader.’
Marisa Avila & Megan Huddlestun (BFA Pictorial Art) discuss the role spirituality
plays in their art with SJSU News Reporter Melany Gutierrez.
Marisa Avila (BFA Pictorial Art) says she believes this is important when she is using her art to embody her spiritual beliefs in relation to the natural world, “I have a tattoo of an eye on the back of my neck and I kind of feel like I'm being protected by it,” Avila said. “It’s like all these eyes in my art are protective entities in a way.”
Megan Huddlestun (BFA Pictorial Art) said she tends to extract fictional characters
from classic western folklore and fairy tales, aspects of natural history and living
organisms in nature as inspiration. Huddlestun said these parts of her inspiration
intricately fit together like webs to make what she likes to call a functioning and
living document of her art.
Published an essay on Anni Albers and Modern Weaving for Smarthistory; Presented a talk at Cleveland Institute of the Art on digital weaving.
Dr. Mills' essay for Smarthistory traced Anni Albers' pioneering work in American modern design, focusing particularly on her collaboration with Philip Johnson for the design of the Rockefeller Guest House.
At the Cleveland Institute of the Art, Mills presented a talk on structural expressionism in digital weaving, featuring contemporary artists who use Thread Controller looms.
Sarah Mills
she/her
Assistant Professor of Art History
Work on view at SFMOMA: Sea Change: Photographs from the Collection
September 2, 2023–February 19, 2024
Binh Danh's piece will be displayed in SFMOMA from September 2, 2023–February 19, 2024
Binh Danh
He/him
Associate Professor, Photography
Professor Anthony Raynsford will be published this Fall in the Journal of Planning History.
My article, “The Limits of Counterculture Urbanism: Utopia Planning and Practical Politics in Berkeley, 1969-73” will be published this fall in the Journal of Planning History.
Anthony Raynsford
He/Him/His
Associate Professor of Art History
Metropolitan Museum of Art Acquisition
Michelle Wilson's artist book ""Vueles"" was recently acquired by the artist book collection at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Michelle Wilson
she/her
Lecturer, Interdisciplinary Arts
Awarded Montolvo’s Lucas Arts Fellowship
Rhonda Holberton, Associate Professor of Digital Media Art, was selected for Montalvo Arts Center’s Sally and Don Lucas Artists Program (LAP) fellowship.
Fellows will receive three months of residency time which can be used at their discretion over a three-year period, beginning in October of this year and extending through 2026.
Located within Montalvo’s 175-acre public park and historic property in the heart
of the Silicon Valley, the LAP is dedicated to providing artists with a self-directed
flexible and expansive space in which to take risks, incubate, collaborate, investigate
and create.
Rhonda Holberton
(Her/hers/they/their)
Associate Professor, Digital Media Art
Political Printmaking at San Jose Museum of Art
Inspired by the political posters of Yolanda López, Irene Carvajal along with SJSU print making students will lead participants through the process of making their own prints and building their own iconic messages.
Irene Carvajal
She/her
Printmaking faculty
Content Magazine: Interview with Rhonda Holberton
In our conversation, Holberton talks about her interest in engineering and its influence on her work, what it means to be a steward of creation and the digital world, and her moral obligation to ""leave this place better than it was when she arrived."" Catch Holberton’s show at ICA San Jose until August 13th, and prepare to ponder the modern world and your role in it.
(Her/hers/they/their)
Associate Professor, Digital Media Art
Renny Pritikin reviews Rhonda Holberton’s exhibition at the San José Institute of Art in Square Cylinder & CULT Aimee Friberg Exhibitions
Rhonda Holberton doesn’t swoon with pantheistic ecstasy like the monks Penny refers to above. But the title of her ICA San José show, A Knotted World, comprised of works from four prior series, suggests how our lives are made of interdependent aspects: our bodies, nature, and the digital world. A concurrent show of new work, Two Handfuls of Silver Dust, at CULT Aimee Friberg in San Francisco, focuses on collaborations between the artist and various AI systems.
(Her/hers/they/their)
Associate Professor, Digital Media Art
Me in a(me)rica
ME in a(ME)rica, an exhibition at Root Division (July 8 - August 1st) is an exploration of the cultural myths and truths of collective and individual migration journeys. The exhibition aims to deconstruct the oversimplified categories and labels imposed upon those who make such journeys, creating radical new narratives that center empowerment.
Irene Carvajal
She/her
Printmaking faculty
FLP: Exploring Japan Through Art
A Faculty-Led Program that offers the opportunity to experience making art with traditional artists in Japan; learning first hand how art helps us understand the dynamic complexities of culture. It includes home stay with host families who provide a deeper understanding of Japanese culture.
Susan Trimingham
she, her, hers
Lecturer, Program Coordinator Art Education
Establishing connection with NCUE in Taiwan
Susan trimingham visited the National Changhua University of Education's Art Department and met with the International Studies Department this summer to discuss future collaborations and to gather more information in order to establish a connection between SJSU and NCUE.
Susan Trimingham
she, her, hers
Lecturer, Program Coordinator Art Education
Fulbright Visiting Scholar: Sarah Essam
Sarah will collaborate closely with faculty and students at the Arts Department to curate and install an informational, intercultural exhibit comparing diverse artists’ work through similar themes.
To develop this exhibit, she will work with SJSU faculty, students, local scholars
and artists to learn about multicultural art education. This project will benefit
SJSU and the local San Jose community by providing opportunities for discourse around
multicultural art education and building goodwill among the community.
Sarah's exhibit, and participation in Art Department courses and other SJSU activities
will help promote cultural and intellectual diversity on campus and in the wider
community.
Sarah Essam
she, her, hers
Fulbright Visiting Scholar
MFA alumni ‘21 receives Creative Work Fund Grant
Oscar Lopez, SJSU MFA '21, receives a grant from Creative Work Fund to paint a mural in San Francisco honoring migrant farmworkers.
Oscar Lopez
he/him
MFA Alumni 2021
Faculty Led Program to Venice, Italy
This Summer Session 2023 marks the fourth year Elizabeth Carroll has directed a Faculty Led Program in Art History located in Venice, Italy. This year she had a program assistant, graduate student in Art History Jillian Proa, who made a measurable difference.
Never in the time I have led this FLP have I had local Venetian local experts with whom we work, express such praise and acknowledgement for student participation. This year the insight and expressiveness of our SJSU students was noted and definitely inspiring.
Elizabeth Carroll
she/her
Lecturer in Art History & Visual Culture
Island Press Print Release
In September 2022 Shaun O'Dell was the Island Press Prensky Visiting Artist at the Sam Fox School of Art and Design at Washington University in St. Louis. He worked with faculty and students there to produce a new series of prints scheduled to be released in the Fall of 2023.
Shaun O' Dell
He/Him
Assistant Professor, Pictorial Arts
Solo Show at Halsey/McKay Gallery Brooklyn/East Hampton
In May of 2024 Pictorial Coordinator Shaun O'Dell will be presenting a new series of paintings in a solo exhibition at the Halsey/McKay Gallery in Brooklyn and East Hampton.
Shaun O'Dell
He/Him
Assistant Professor, Pictorial Arts
