Learn How to Create Mosaic Murals with José Antonio Aguirre
This is very cool. Pasadena’s Armory Center for the Arts is sponsoring an opportunity for volunteers to learn how to create mosaic murals by working with Jose’ Antonio Aguirre, who is creating a new public mural at a middle school in the city. Below is the release from Armory.
Learn the Ancient Art of Mosaic Murals with Master Artist José Antonio Aguirre
Weekdays (11am-6pm), Saturdays (10am-4pm) through June 1st
Washington Middle School, 1505 N Marengo Avenue, Pasadena 91103 | MAP
Volunteer Contact: Johanna Campos (jcampos@armoryarts.org or (626) 792-5101 x143)
Learn by doing… and do something positive for kids in the community, too! Between now and June 1st, the Armory Center for the Arts invites aspiring mosaic artists of all ages to learn the timeless art of mosaic mural making — for free!Master artist José Antonio Aguirre is seeking volunteer apprentices to help realize a new public mural at Washington Middle School — designed in collaboration with students participating in the Armory’s on-going art programs at the school.IMPORTANT: Volunteers must sign up with Johanna Campos (jcampos@armoryarts.org or (626) 792-5101 x143). Absolutely no walk-ins, please.About the ArtistJosé Antonio Aguirre earned an MFA from the California Institute of the Arts and a BFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. As a studio artist, he has participated in numerous solo and group exhibitions. As a public artist, he has executed nearly 30 works in California, Illinois, Texas, and Mexico City. Throughout his art career, he has been active as an installation artist, visual arts educator and cultural journalist for Spanish publications in Chicago, Los Angeles, Texas, and Mexico. Above: Detail of Our Legacy: Forever Presente… by José Antonio Aguirre (2004) — an enormous mosaic mural at East Los Angeles Public Library. Image courtesy of Los Angeles County Arts Commission.
Ornithology Premieres: this nest, swift passerine
I often work with field recordings, but i don’t often work with chamber orchestras. I make recordings of rivers, trains, farms, cows, trees, wind, fog horns, church bells, traffic noise, and coffee shops. These mundane things yield the most rigorous and beautiful sounds that I use in installations, and compositions.
When asked to work on a piece for wild Up, I jumped at the chance to use this recording of birds that i took last year in northern California. I was at a dairy farm, and found was this giant oak filled with tiny birds all chirping. Baby cows were waking up and rattling around their pen, interrupting the recording with huffs and such. I created a speaker system embedded in bird houses to play these sounds and install them in the space as an environmental installation. The ensemble, playing within the soundscape of birds, acts to put a frame around the everyday or mundane sounds. They help us listen in a more critical and musical way. The instrumental material comes from harmonium improvisations made for the piece. Here is an early one made last May:
The title of the work comes from Dan Beachy-Quick’s poem of the same name: this nest, swift passerine. Beachy-Quick’s work is beautiful, and I like the sounds of the words together. Also, the birds in that oak tree were probably of the passerine genus of birds. Nests imply inhabiting, and it is with our habitation that we share a time in a space listening in humble contemplation. Hope to see you on saturday!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Passerine
Chris Kallmyer is a performer, composer, and sound artist living in Los Angeles, CA who works in sound installation, composition, trumpet, and electronic music. He has presented work at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA), the Walker Art Center, the Museum of Contemporary Art Denver, the Hammer Museum, the Getty Center REDCAT, Machine Project, the Goldwell Open Air Museum, and other spaces in America and Europe. His work is influenced by a sense of place, architecture, field recordings, and outdoor listening.
Chris is the Curator of Sound Programming for Machine Project, is a member of wild Up, and earned his MFA in music from the California Institute of the Arts where he studied with Thomas Stevens, Vinny Golia, Wadada Leo Smith, and Edward Carroll. He holds a BA in trumpet performance from St. Mary’s College of Maryland.
Connie Samara Exhibition: Tales of Tomorrow
Connie Samaras’ statement entering her exhibition explains her intentions to correlate images of urbanization and construction of foreign cities with the American dream. As well as make comment on the psychological connection with these surreal environments. I did not read her statement till after viewing her images. I found her concept intriguing however it did not transfer over into her images without reading the statement. Her photographs were large color prints of industrial buildings and elements focusing the process of urbanization.
There were two images of 9/11 ground-zero in her display. I personally do not think they worked well in her series because of the emotional and historical background of the photo. Even though the content is urban and visually flows with the rest of series; emotionally it has too much recognition and impact. Unless she was experimenting with American culture and commenting on American perseverance.
She also displayed a twenty-minute video of the expansion and growth of a foreign city. When I first saw the video I watched 30 seconds and left from boredom. However, after reading her statement the video gained more conceptual interest even though aesthetically I was not attracted to it. I returned to the video and watched it and thought about her intention to parallel the American dream with other foreign growing city. Has the ‘American Dream’ become an international dream? With mass media and new technologies messages of culture become better dispersed and create new interest and ideals among cultures. People are now trading and sharing cultural beliefs and traditions making it harder and harder to distinct draw the line between cultures.
Repair Cafe
Recently, I have become involved with my local Time Bank (Arroyo S.E.C.O.) If you have never heard of the Time Bank, it’s a pretty awesome organization. Here is a little bit about it (this is from their website http://www.timebanks.org ):
“The mission of TimeBanks is to nurture and expand a movement that promotes equality and builds caring community economies through inclusive exchange of time and talent. We are working with TimeBanks leaders across the US and internationally to strengthen and rebuild community, and use TimeBanks to achieve wide-ranging goals such as social justice, bridges between diverse communities, and local ecological sustainability.”
Basically, if I teach you Japanese for 1 hour, I earn 1 dollar in my time bank. I can use that 1 dollar for any other service that is listed in the time bank. If I want a massage I can use 1 dollar towards that, or have someone paint my room, etc. Time is the currency and skill sharing builds community and a sustainable economy. Our newest project is called Repair Cafe! We have a new Repair Cafe even coming up and you should come if you are in the area. If not, join the timebank and start your own in your area!
In the spirit of moving toward zero waste and stewardship of our planet’s resources, the Repair Cafe/ Pasadena links local handy people to folks in need of repairs of all kinds: clothing, appliances, bikes, furniture, electronics…and more. The Repair Cafe is inspired by the philosophy of a Sharing Economy. We share our time, skills and talents to build a more vibrant local community, one repair at a time. This month’s event focuses on clothing repair and repurposing as well as jewelry repair and knife sharpening and a special feature, a Really Really Free Table. Bring items you no longer want/need that are in decent condition, and take what you may need from this table…free, really really free. Items not taken by 4 pm will be taken to the Goodwill. Repairs can be paid with Time Dollars if you are a member of the Arroyo Time Bank, an alternate economy and online tracking of services exchanged. ATB and NELA Transition have the goal of creating local community.
Bring your Tattered Threads to REPAIR CAFE
1pm-4pm
Armory Center For The Arts
145 North Raymond Avenue
Pasadena, California 91103
626.792.5101
presented by NELA Transition and Arroyo Time Bank
