July 2008

Santa Monica Museum of Art 1988-2008
Celebrating Twenty Years of Creative Accomplishment

Event Change

Rescheduled Fall Date for Fleet of Foot:

Lynne Cooke, Curator, Dia Art Foundation & Chief Curator, Centro Reina Sofia,
Madrid, and Ivo Mesquita, Curator, 2008 São Paulo Bienal

Please note that Monday, September 22, 7 p.m., 2008, is the new date and time for Fleet of Foot, the third and final talk in A Collection of Ideas. series, SMMoA’s acclaimed three-part exploration of unique models for the presentation of contemporary art. Since the closing of Dia’s space in Chelsea, Lynne Cooke has begun to program Dia exhibitions at the Hispanic Society of America on West 155th Street. Ivo Mesquita has organized his 2008 São Paulo Bienal without art. This discussion examines the radical and unexpected gestures that add new perspectives on exhibition content and context. Free admission; seating is limited; RSVP required.

RSVP to Rachel Monas by Monday, September 15; rachel.monas@smmoa.org; 310 586-6488 x 119.

You can now listen to the podcast of the first talk in the series, Whales and Minnows: Filling all the Niches in Art’s Ecosystem, with Michael Govan, Director and Chief Executive Officer, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, and Blake Gopnik, Chief Art Critic, The Washington Post.

This series has been funded by David Teiger and The Annenberg Foundation.

Upcoming Events

Emerging Artists Family Workshop: Look a Book!
A Bookmaking Workshop

Saturday, July 12, 10 a.m. to noon

Learn how to make a one-of-a-kind book with artist Karen Chu of zushibooks.com using extraordinary papers and clever binding techniques.

The cost per participant is $10 for SMMoA members; $15 for non-members. Ages 6 and up are welcome. RSVP required

RSVP to Asuka Hisa, SMMoA’s Director of Education; asuka.hisa@smmoa.org; 310 586-6488 x 118.

Dante’s Inferno

Saturday, July 19, 7 p.m.

SMMoA is pleased to screen an extraordinary film of hand-drawn puppets brought to life with hand-made special effects. This literary classic is retold as an apocalyptic graphic novel meets Victorian-era toy theater. Voices are by Dermot Mulroney and James Cromwell. A Q&A follows with artist Sandow Birk, director Sean Meredith, and puppet designer Elyse Pignolet. Free admission. To learn more about Dante’s Inferno, visit www.dantefilm.com.

The screening is one of the many special events offered from dusk to dawn in Santa Monica as a part of the new Glow arts festival

After the screening, hop on a bike courtesy of Perry’s Café and Rentals and pedal down to the Santa Monica Pier to explore more Glow happenings. The special rate for the dusk to dawn rental is $20 for SMMoA members and $25 for non-members. Bikes must be returned to SMMoA by 9 a.m. Sunday, July 20. Bike reservations are required by Thursday, July 17.

RSVP for bikes to Elizabeth Pezza, Visitor Services Manager; elizabeth.pezza@smmoa.org;
310 586-6488 x 112.

The Puppet Shows: Part I and Part II

Los Angeles is home to an extraordinary community of artists at the forefront of avant-garde puppetry. SMMoA offers you the rare opportunity to see two evenings of cutting-edge live performances exploring a wide range of vibrant stories. Each evening features three acts.

The cost per person for each evening is $10 for SMMoA members; $15 for non-members. Seating is limited; first come, first seated. Please note that some performances contain adult content; please use your discretion if bringing children to the event.

The Puppet Shows: Part I
Introduced by playwright Erik Ehn
Saturday, July 26, 6 to 8 p.m.

• Concrete Folk Variations, Chapter 1.75
  Created by Susan Simpson
  A serial noir story set in the lesbian bars, cop shops, and streetcars of McCarthy-era Los Angeles.
• Cold Morning Light
  Created by Kyle McBain Leeser; Music by Jack Berglund
  This first chapter of a puppet epic tells the story of an airship company’s apprenticeships and one man who breaks the cycle.
• His Hands Make an Army, His Hands Make a Hospital
  Created by Eric Lindley and Katie Shook
  Puppetry, performance, text, and live music tell the story of siblings from a New Mexican farm encountering rapid industrialization and foreign conflict

The Puppet Shows: Part II
Saturday, August 2, 6 to 8 p.m.

• The Reptile Under the Flowers
  Created by Janie Geiser; Music by Valerie Opielski
  A multimedia peepshow/diorama/performance with miniature puppetry and live video.
• The Matchbox Shows
  Created by Laura Heit
  Raconteur and sometimes pyromaniac Laura Heit performs miniature puppet shows within matchboxes.
• Le Petit Macabre
  Created by Caitlin Lainoff; Music by Daniel Corral
  A surreal puppet opera using shadow, light, animation, and live kazoo to reveal the imminent threat of a comet wrecking-ball hurtling through space to make way for a brighter century.

Concrete Folk Variations, Chapter 1.75	The Matchbox Shows

Emerging Artists Family Workshop: Plastic Hunks and Chunks

Saturday, August 9, 10 a.m. to noon

Plastic is ubiquitous, colorful, practical, and way too disposable. Work with artist Alison Joy Goldberg to construct unique shapes and forms entirely out of recycled plastic.

The cost per participant is $10 for SMMoA members; $15 for non-members. Ages 6 and up are welcome. RSVP required.

RSVP to Asuka Hisa, SMMoA’s Director of Education; asuka.hisa@smmoa.org; 310 586-6488 x 118.

Save the Date!

Third Drawer Down^® Pop Up Store

Monday, August 18 through Saturday, August 23, 11 a.m. to 6 p.m.

One week only! Australia-based Third Drawer Down^® is well-known for creating fanciful, limited edition items that explore the intersection of contemporary art/design and everyday life. Their diverse products feature designs by a wide range of noted international artists. GRACIE, SMMoA’s museum store, is pleased to premiere the first American Third Drawer Down^® Pop Up Store.

This exclusive week-long event will feature an eclectic offering of gifts, textiles, and novelties; a free family-friendly workshop; the U.S. debut of the Art as Art and Decalart Mania projects; the introduction of the IDEA line of merchandise; and the exhibition opening of the Third Drawer Down^® Tea Towel Archive.

Stay tuned for further details about the Third Drawer Down^® Pop Up Store Closing Party on Saturday, August 23.

GRACIE First Annual End of Summer Blowout Sale

During the Pop Up Store week, GRACIE will be showcasing select merchandise at sizzling hot discounts!

For more information about the Third Drawer Down^® Pop Up Store or Blowout Sale, please contact Amy Coane, GRACIE Retail Curator,amy.coane@smmoa.org; 310.586.6488 x 114.

On View Now

The Puppet Show
Project Room 1: Bruce Busby: Super Faulty Reconfiguration
Park Studio: Shadows and Gags

Through Saturday, August 9, 2008

SMMoA begins the summer of its Twentieth Anniversary year with innovative exhibitions that have strong Los Angeles connections. The Puppet Show is a provocative, multimedia group exhibition of the work of 27 acclaimed artists that explores puppet imagery in contemporary art. The exhibition includes works by Southern California-based artists Mike Kelley, Paul McCarthy, and Charlie White. The three months of special programs associated with The Puppet Show highlights the incredible rich array of local artists working in experimental and avant-garde puppetry. Learn more about The Puppet Show.

Bruce Busby, an Oakland-based artist, explores the ways in which people can protect themselves from contamination rising from the fault lines in the San Francisco Bay and Los Angeles areas. Bruce Busby: Super Faulty Reconfiguration features two of the artist’s hand-sewn nylon multicolor Creativity Enhancement Shelters, structures that function as safe-havens from the impurities in the environment. Also on view are large-scale drawings Creativity Amplification Quakes (CRAQUE), that depict the atmospheric “inhibitants.” Learn more about Bruce Busby.

Park Studio: Shadows and Gags features three shadow puppet shows, prints, and animations by 17 students mentored by artists Lynn Jeffries, Artemio Rodriguez, and Paul Zaloom. Park Studio is a free outreach program offered to neighborhood middle and high school students during spring break. The program is developed and organized by Asuka Hisa, SMMoA’s Director of Education.

Programs for The Puppet Show are funded, in part, by the City of Santa Monica’s Community Arts Grant Program.

The Puppet Show is organized by the Institute of Contemporary Art, University of Pennsylvania. It is co-curated by Ingrid Schaffner, ICA Senior curator, and Carin Kuoni, Director, The Vera List Center for Art and Politics at The New School. ICA thanks the following funders: Barbara B. & Theodore R. Aronson; Etant donnes: The French-American Fund for Contemporary Art; Susquehanna Foundation; The Toby Fund; The Bandier Family Foundation; Goldberg Foundation; Sotheby’s; Greater Philadelphia Tourism Marketing Corporation; The Chodorow Exhibition Initiative Fund; and the Philadelphia Exhibitions Initiative, a program of the Philadelphia Center for Arts and Heritage, funded by The Pew Charitable Trusts, and administered by University of the Arts.

The Puppet Show, Puppet Storage detail, 2008, Santa Monica Museum of Art. Photo: Bruce Morr.	Project Room 1: Bruce Busby: Super Faulty Reconfiguration, installation view, 2008, SMMoA. Photo: Bruce Morr	Park Studio: Shadows and Gags, detail of linocuts, 2008, Santa Monica Museum of Art. Photo: Bruce Morr.

Outreach

Wall Works: blik and me

On View through July 25 in Bergamot Station’s G Gallery Hallway

In the latest Wall Works project, Los Angeles-based wall graphics company blik collaborated with students from all over Southern California to create a site-specific installation made with color vinyl adhesives. All the adhesive images were made from drawings that answered the question: What would you be if you were not human?

Wall Works is an ongoing, free program that involves hundreds of Southern California schoolchildren, artists, and community partners in the creation of large-scale public artworks.

To participate in a future Wall Works project, please contact Asuka Hisa, SMMoA’s Director of Education,
310 586-6488 x118, asuka.hisa@smmoa.org.

Wall Works is funded, in part, by the The Annenberg Foundation and The Ralph M. Parsons Foundation.

blik and Me Opening Reception. Photos: Asuka Hisa.

New for SMMoA Members!

Starting July 1, all SMMoA supporters will enjoy an expanded range of special benefits at every level of membership. For further information about how you can support SMMoA, a vibrant gem of a museum that fosters diversity, innovation, and discovery in contemporary art, please contact Anna Nic