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SAN BERNARDINO ART ASSOCIATION 2016 OPEN EXHIBITION

The San Bernardino Art Association cordially invites you to participate in their 2016 Open Art Exhibition

1st Place $500 – 2nd Place $300 – 3rd Place $200

2 Honorable Mentions ($50 each)

Download the application from the San Bernardino Art Association website

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SMITHSONIAN SYMPOSIUM MARKS SAM MALOOF CENTENNIAL; EXHIBITIONS SPOTLIGHT NEXT GENERATION

With six months to go in The Maloof Foundation’s year-long centennial celebration, several new projects are slated to explore the lasting influence of modernist woodworker Sam Maloof (1916-2009) at venues from Riverside, CA to Washington, DC.

The offerings include a symposium, books, catalogs, podcasts and several exhibitions, which will introduce audiences to a broad range of artists who are carrying forward America’s studio furniture movement into the 21st century.

Smithsonian Symposium: Why We Make, What We Make

“Furniture and the Future,” a day-long symposium presented jointly by the Smithsonian American Art Museum’s Renwick Gallery and the Sam and Alfreda Maloof Foundation for Arts and Crafts, will be held September 16, 2016 in Washington, DC.

The symposium will examine historical and contemporary design and production of furniture and related objects in light of the fundamental changes brought about by the digital age, considering not only how furniture is transforming to meet the needs of contemporary society, but also the broader implications of why we make, what we make, and how it affects our world.

The symposium is made possible with support from the James Renwick Alliance, the Windgate Foundation and Woodcraft Supply.

Cultural historian and curator Michael Prokopow will deliver the keynote address, with additional presentations to be made by architect and author Witold Rybczynski and Paul Sacaridiz, director of the Haystack Mountain School.  Curator and author Glenn Adamson will moderate a panel discussion with contemporary wood artists including Wendell Castle, Wendy Maruyama, Christy Oates, Larry White and Uhuru.

Smithsonian Renwick Gallery

Visitors to the nation’s capital may also view Maloof work on display at the Renwick, showcased as part of the museum’s soon-to-open reinstallation of its permanent collection galleries. The re-imagined galleries, planned by Nora Atkinson, the Renwick’s Lloyd Herman Curator of Craft, feature one of Sam’s most iconic pieces, the Evans arm chair.  An exquisitely sculpted work, the chair is also featured in the Renwick’s permanent collection catalog.

Architect/Author Leads Special Tours

On August 6, The Maloof Foundation in Rancho Cucamonga will host a day of tours led by architect Ann Kovara, who served as project manager during relocation of the Maloof Historic home. The project, undertaken in 2000 to save the woodworker’s National Register-listed home from the path of the 210 Freeway, will be recounted by Kovara in three 90-minute-long tours. Kovara will also autograph copies of her new book, Moving Sam, published by Schiffer. Tour tickets are available for purchase at malooffoundation.org.

Los Angeles International Airport

Beginning August 20, more than two million visitors to Los Angeles International Airport Terminal 2 will have a chance to see Furniture as Art/Art as Furniture, a pop-up exhibit organized by Southern California furniture maker Stephen Courtney in collaboration with the City of Los Angeles and Los Angeles World Airports. The displayed works, including a Maloof musician’s chair, will highlight Maloof’s role as a pioneer in America’s studio furniture movement, noting his influence on a current generation of Southern California designers and makers.

Jurors for the LAX project included LACMA decorative arts curator Bobbye Tigerman, Huntington Library curator of American decorative arts Hal Nelson, and California State University, San Diego educator and artist Wendy Maruyama. The jurors selected more than 20 contemporary furniture artists whose works will be shown alongside the Maloof chair. The LAX display will be on view for six months, through February 15, 2017.

An accompanying catalog, with foreword by Smithsonian Fellow Oscar Fitzgerald, noted author and historian of American decorative arts, will survey additional works, with examples from more than 80 Southern California makers.

Riverside Art Museum Exhibition

Riverside Art Museum in Riverside, CA will consider Maloof’s role in inspiring studio furniture makers in the 21st century. The exhibition, Sit By Me, will feature a selection of Maloof pieces, along with works by makers Mike Johnson, Geoffrey Keating, Laura Kishimoto, Laura Mays, Brandon Morrison, and Reed Hansuld. The exhibition runs October 28 through January 29, 2017.

LAST CHANCE: Maloof Retrospective 

The retrospective exhibition, Sam Maloof Woodworker: Life | Art | Legacy, which has attracted thousands of visitors to The Maloof since February, is entering its final weeks, closing August 27.  Sculpture in the Garden 2016, featuring works by more than 60 California artists, continues its run at the site, through October 29.

Beginning October 2, California Wood Artists: Maloof and Beyond will look to the future, spotlighting sculpture and furniture works by more than 40 contemporary artists, including Gary Knox Bennett, John Cederquist, Barbara Holmes and others. The exhibition will run through February 11, 2017.

Online Coverage

Other Maloof Centennial offerings include the critically acclaimed book Sam Maloof: 36 Views of a Master Woodworker by Fred Setterberg, published by Heyday Books. Since debut of the book, the author has been featured in a wide range of broadcast and print interviews, including a full-page review in the Washington Post. Audio and video podcasts from various outlets explore the author’s experiences interviewing Maloof subjects such as President Jimmy Carter and others. For links to coverage, visit malooffoundation.org. The book is on sale at the Maloof Store, Amazon and bookstores nationwide.

Visiting the Maloof

Admission to the gallery and gardens at The Maloof is free to all. Regular docent-led tours of the Maloof Historic Home are $15 for adults; the one-day-only Moving Sam Maloof Tours on August 6 are $24/person. Regular public hours for gallery and gardens are Thursdays and Saturdays 12 noon to 4 pm. For tour reservations, visit malooffoundation.org.

EDITORIAL NOTE: For additional information, including photos for publication, please email: melanie.swezey@malooffoundation.org

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CREATIVE CALIFORNIA COMMUNITIES

Arts Connection Receives California Arts Council “Creative California Communities” Planning Grant:

State funds will enhance the social and economic livability of
local communities through the arts

 

San Bernardino – The California Arts Council, a state agency, announced that it plans to award $2500 to Arts Connection as part of its Creative California Communities program. Arts Connection is one of only forty-one grantees statewide for this program.

The Creative California Communities program supports collaborative projects that harness arts and culture as vehicles for creative placemaking. Supported projects represent the distinct character and quality of a community and present a vision for enhancing the social or economic livability of that community through the arts. Projects benefit residents and visitors to California’s communities by leveraging the assets of the creative sector (artists, cultural organizations and arts-related businesses) to address community needs or priorities.  All projects are designed and developed by a nonprofit arts organization in collaboration with at least one partnering organization, and centralize California artists and their work in the project design and implementation.

The planning grant will fund Arts Connection to facilitate community engagement and planning for the development of an arts-centric community garden project in the vicinity of The Garcia Center for the Arts in San Bernardino. Partners include The Incredible Edible Community Garden, Community Action Partnership of San Bernardino County, and The San Bernardino Valley Concert Association.

The news of Arts Connection’s grant was featured as part of a larger announcement from the California Arts Council, which can be viewed online at http://arts.ca.gov/news/pressreleases.php.

“California Arts Council grants provide vital support for projects in diverse communities across our state,” said Craig Watson, Director of the California Arts Council. “This was an historic year of state arts support. We are proud to invest more than $8.5 million in funding 712 grant projects that will stimulate local growth and prosperity, and meet the needs of our communities through deep engagement with culture and creative expression.”

The California Arts Council will continue to grow the reach of its programs in the coming year, as the result of a significant one-time state arts funding increase for 2016-17 announced last week.

Other local organizations also received good news in this latest round of funding. Congratulations to our friends and collaborators at San Bernardino Generation Now for their Cultural Pathways grant, and Mil-Tree for their Veterans Initiative in the Arts! We are excited to see increased arts funding come to our county through the support of California Arts Council!

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Arts Connection was created to share knowledge and resources, supporting initiatives that engage, encourage and advocate community building through the arts, and offering funding solutions for progressive projects, art groups and artists. We are dedicated to stimulating creative and economic vitality and enriching lives throughout the communities we serve by providing support, promotion, education, and advocacy for the arts.

The mission of the California Arts Council, a state agency, is to advance California through the arts and creativity. The Council is committed to building public will and resources for the arts; fostering accessible arts initiatives that reflect contributions from all of California’s diverse populations; serving as a thought leader and champion for the arts; and providing effective and relevant programs and services. Learn more at www.arts.ca.gov.