First Friday, May 6
Artist Reception: 6-8 p.m.
“Wheels of Life” includes the work of two artists: June Glenn and Brescia Rose. They will be showcasing contemporary street photography centered on the current cultures of skateboarding and vintage cars in Santa Cruz County.
Monica Calsbeek and Summer Stiegman both grew up in San Diego, California without acquaintance. Serendipitously, they both attended the university in Santa Cruz in the fall of 2012. Since then, they developed an artistic, feminine, and personal relationship in which they influence one another both materially and ideally. Enmesh is a photographic series where the human form and inanimate materials create a dialogue. The subject matter of the photographs are female bodies interacting with textiles. Ranging from natural landscapes to studio lighting, Enmesh explores photographic techniques by means of experimental digital alterations. The layering process suggests that relationships with the self and objects are bound to be multifaceted and tangled.
Attention bands:
If you are not already tuned one of the best local music show in Santa Cruz, check out Local Brew on KZSC (88.1 FM) on Saturdays from 9 a.m. - Noon. If you have new music or upcoming shows to share, contact the show via their Facebook page or by emailing localbrew@kzsc.org.
In the meantime, tune in this Saturday and spread the local music gospel.
Emerson Murray: Shadows on the Wall
Artist Statement: Painting is an emotional endeavor for me. Each piece is a distillation of a story, a theme, or a myth, boiled down to an emotional experience. Whether or not the viewer understands my meaning is irrelevant, as long as the viewer feels something, anything. I paint figures, abstracted into form and color set in abstract landscapes. The figures do not occupy the space volumetrically and light and shadow are generally not part of my tool set. I work in both acrylic and oil paint, the oil paint I mix from raw pigment in order to create my own colors. I generally work with a palette knife and my hands. I oftentimes throw and drip paint onto the canvas. The colors are selected on demand, I do not work from a predetermined palette of colors, but mix the colors as I paint, sometimes mixing colors right on the canvas. I am a disciplined painter and show up for work every day. I may stare at a work in progress for nights on end, but I am in the studio working.
Artist Reception: Friday, June 5 - 6-8 p.m.
Bio: Maddie Amelia Lewis is a 2D artist with a fondness for acrylic paint and ink. She is a recent graduate from UC Santa Cruz. She is fascinated by fantasy, the arts, and textures.
Paintings will be on sale from $20-$85, and lithographic prints will be selling from $5-$15. See artist website for preliminary prices: www.noxkitarts.com
Artist Statement:
I like making huge gestural brush strokes, circular voids reminiscent of black holes, drips, and fine lines. I paint abstracted landscapes and attempt to embody concepts like death, anxiety, love, daydreams, and imaginary places. I will go through great lengths to actualize an idea. I try to draw from the beauty and emotion in my life for my art so I can’t forget it. Each of my pieces is a space I create to reflect, and after I take my time with each one, I let it go.As an acrylic painter, I am a texture junkie. I love acrylic mediums—glass beads, resin sand, modeling paste, black lava—I’ve tried them all and I make full use of them. My paintings ensure dynamic and varied surfaces. I tend to work very quickly and use a lot of aggressive mark-making techniques. The larger the canvas, the more energetic I become while I paint it. For small works, I can be more delicate, but the restlessness remains. They say that drawing from live models gives the drawing itself more life, so I try to instill the energy, emotion, and intensity into my paintings by embodying those feelings as I paint.In the end, it all comes down to an obsession. I paint because I can never get paintings out of my head. A painting will tell me what it needs to be real, and I oblige it the best I can. It’s a piece of the world inside of me—it has always been, and will never cease to be.
The Arts Council Santa Cruz County has partnered with Hotel Paradox to offer an Artful Overnight preferred rate to the full arts community. Help promote Santa Cruz County as the arts destination we know it to be! Pass this info to your artsy friends and out-of-towners.
Make reservations in two ways to get the ARTS group rate: 1. By calling 831.425.7100 and asking for the “Arts Council Santa Cruz County” rate -or- 2. Go to www.thehotelparadox.com and enter dates of stay.Click “Book.”
The rate is given on a first-come, first-served basis with a limited number or rooms available at this rate at any given time.
Janina A. Larenas: Graphic Works on Paper A collection of design projects ranging from posters to hand printed sticker images to original book illustrations.
Artist Bio: Janina A. Larenas studied printmaking and book arts at the University of California Santa Cruz. Besides design her skills include relief, intaglio and letterpress printing, as well as painting, embroidery, bookmaking and food preserving. Her designs are most recognizable as hand printed printed stickers and as t-shirts for The Devil Makes Three.
The show is available to view during normal studio hours. Check schedule here. If a band is booked, then the studio is open.
If you live in Santa Cruz, I'm sure you know any number of truly amazing artists. I think you should meet another one. It's time you met Sugar Percussion. Tonight their custom five piece Honduran Mahogany drum set built in Santa Cruz made its way onto the stage at the Oscars thanks to Maroon 5 drummer Matt Flynn. The Oscars is a big stage and slowly but surely, Sugar Percussion is doing big things.
Founded in 2011, Sugar Percussion specializes in custom stave-built, solid wood drums. Rooted in nearly 20 years of custom woodworking, Sugar Percussion drums are conceived and built like fine furniture, carefully and precisely designed, dedicated and deliberate in their construction and custom to the nuanced particulars of every client. There is no ‘stock’ model. Every drum is built from and specifically to the deliberations and conversations between player and builder.
Before Maroon 5, Black Crowes drummer, Steve Gorman, was one of Sugar Percussion’s first clients. Introduced to the company through one of their snares, Gorman immediately ordered the rest of his full kit, all built from a single plank of Eastern Black Cherry. Quoting his immediate response to the delivered kit… “Exactly how drums are supposed to sound, exactly how they’re supposed to feel.” Gorman used the kit throughout the final Black Crowes tour, and subsequently ordered a second kit made from Alaskan Yellow Cedar for his latest project, Trigger Hippy.
On the recording side of the glass, producer Eric Valentine was also introduced to the company through a single snare. A full kit and 3 snares later, Valentine continues to be a treasured ‘family’ member, as well as a tremendous resource. It was through 3 weeks of correspondence between Jefferson and Eric that the Eric Valentine Signature Recording Kit was born. Aiming to design a better kit made specifically for recording, the two employed shallow depths, thicker shells, blunter bearing edges and a dimension schedule based on prime numbers to inhibit sympathetic resonance between drums. All of this and more rendered a controlled and balanced sound ideally honed for studio use, scratching every itch of a meticulous, perfectionist producer, as demonstrated in a video produced by Jefferson and Eric using only a single microphone. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8FzziEGoUfQ
Sugar Percussion continues to build recording, live and hybrid kits and snares for a wide range of clients including Gadgetbox Studios (Santa Cruz), Blackbird Studios (Nashville), The Blasting Room (Ft. Collins), SIR (New York City), as well as backlines regularly for bands in San Francisco, Los Angeles and New York City.
Contact them at: js@sugarpercussion.com or http://sugarpercussion.com/
Every year the Santa Cruz Arts Council Associates puts on the Gail Rich Awards at the Rio Theatre. You've probably never been, but I think yo u should go. Here are my top 10 reasons to go to your first Gail Rich Awards next Wednesday, Jan. 28.
I really hope I see you there.
19th Annual Gail Rich Awards January 28th, 2015 at 7:30pm Rio Theatre, 1205 Soquel Ave. in Santa Cruz FREE and open to the public
2015 honorees:
This week I am taking part in the #YourTurnChallenge, a 7-day blogging challenge inspired by the Your Turn book by Seth Godin. Since being introduced to his daily blog years ago, I am constantly inspired by his views on work, art and how to treat people. A lot of what he writes about is along the lines of, "go, make something happen."
It was in this spirit that we approached starting the rehearsal studios in the first place, and most recently propelled our involvement with the SoundSwell project. Back in August of 2012 I read an article on Hypebot about the Iowa City Public Library and how they were offering free downloads of local musicians for those with a library card. I couldn't help but think that if they were doing it in Iowa, we could do it here in Santa Cruz. I tweeted as much to the Santa Cruz Public Library and the next day got an email from the virtual services coordinator.
She was aware of the ICPL work and was also about to attend a leadership retreat the next month which included the development of a year long project for which she would get help applying for grant funding. We got to emailing, she got to talking around her office and before you know it, we started to make something happen. Serendipity? It was through this one interaction that we opened the door to being involved with this amazing project from the ground up.
To date the Santa Cruz Public Library has paid local musicians over $5000 to license music for library patrons to download free of charge. This year they have another $4000 waiting to distribute to new local bands what would like to join.
This project is a win / win. Local musicians get real money in the bank ($100 for full length LP, $75 for EP). To earn that much from iTunes band would typically need to over 100 downloads. With SoundSwell, bands not only make the money up front, but only local library patrons can download the music, so bands are not only earning money, but also making new local fans. Our community also gets access to a library of free local music.
All it took was one tweet to make to make the connection to start this project. I encourage you to send one email, or tweet, dedicate a FB post or an Instagram hashtag to foster more SoundSwell connections.
If you know a local musician, tell them about the opportunity. If you have library card, download some new music. #keepsantacruzweird #liveformusic
SoundSwell is a new online database of local music that library cardholders can download for FREE. It also establishes an archive of local music that people can listen to for years to come. SoundSwell was created in partnership with Santa Cruz Rehearsal Studios. The database is scheduled to go live on June 3, 2014.
To find the SoundSwell Local Music Collection online, visit the library home page or go directly to scmusic.santacruzpl.org. For people without internet access, there is a physical collection of CDs that can be checked out at the Downtown Branch.
Anyone can find and listen to the SoundSwell streaming Local Music Collection. Library cardholders can download songs with active license agreements for free with their card number and PIN or Password. All songs in the collection currently have an active license agreement. All music in the collection is produced by Santa Cruz County musicians.
This project has the potential to bring listeners and the musical community together where public dialog happens— at the library. SCPL wants to help the creators of our local culture connect with each other, connect with the community, disseminate their art, and contribute to the historical record of Santa Cruz while receiving fair compensation for their work. By helping musicians to grow their fan base locally, SoundSwell can have a positive impact on local venue attendance. Ultimately, we hope the library will play a big role in supporting the artistic musical identity of our community. We are dedicated to supporting local musicians and building a collection that celebrates the richness and talent that makes our community so unique. What a fantastic way to explore new music and discover the creative pulse of Santa Cruz.
The SoundSwell project was supported in part by the Institute of Museum and Library Services under the provisions of the Library Services and Technology Act, administered in California by the State Librarian. Each artist was compensated $50 - $100 per album (depending on number of tracks) for inclusion in the collection.
Local musicians interested in participating in SoundSwell should contact Diane Cowen, Virtual Services Librarian: by mail at Santa Cruz Public Libraries, 117 Union St. SC, 95060; by email at cowend@santacruzpl.org or by phone at 831-427-7706 x 7763.
First Friday - June 6 Krusch Rhoades
Available to view for the month of June anytime the studio is open. pillars of my existence,” said Rhoades.
Krusch Rhoades, 33, spent the formative years of his youth in the “armpit of New York, the shoulders of New England and on the polluted teat of New Jersey.”
Since then, Rhoades has travelled all over the country, and currently calls Santa Cruz his home. He has painted, drawn, molded, and scrawled for as long as he can remember.
“Identifying myself as an “artist” at an early age somehow allowed me to view life with a golden preciousness. Being enraptured with the architecture of simplicity, the constant dance of light. I’m so thankful for this perspective,” said Rhoades.
Rhoades enjoys large scale work, especially when working with spray paint, which he calls the “closest synthesis of dance and paint.”
“The large sweeping strokes is so pleasurable when compared to the restricted movements of smaller pieces,” said Rhoades.
That being said, the artist produces work of all scales regularly, and even paints bicycle frames.
“Paint and bicycles have been the most consistent relationships in my life and have therefore becomes the pillars of my existence,” said Rhoades.
Photographs by Melanya Hamasyan
Available to view for the month of April anytime the studio is open.
Transitory Frames - Dehistoricized Spaces
These set of captured video frames are taken from a discourse among people of the Armenian descent, whose ancestors have immigrated to the United States as a direct result of the Armenian Genocide. They speak of the forgotten cities, villages, and churches of their ancestors. They speak of fear and loss of identity along with the loss of ancient cultural and historical spaces. Although the tragedy of the physical genocide has ceased, cultural genocide is still being carried out. In current eastern Turkey (historic Armenia), places are recontextualized to exclude Armenian historical presence. Ancient Armenian monuments and churches are being destroyed or appropriated as barns and geographical spaces are renamed. As a result, ancestral spaces are dehistoricized and people uprooted.
Artist Summary
My work often involves cultural and social issues which I explore in photography, video, performance, and multimedia sculpture. These often take the form of installation or socially engaging art. Whether social, historical or literary, research is an integral part of my process as it provides a framework for the final product. In the past I’ve studied Armenian folklore in photography. I’ve created dialogue in visual poetry using voice, movement, and space within the medium of digital video. Recently I’ve begun to explore dehistoricized spaces and cultural genocide in multimedia. In all my projects, the chosen theme is one that I am personally attached to but also one that is often a question due for research. Hence, my work isn’t purely documental, as it also enters a very personal realm. Within this realm, there is a strong presence of an intimate act of the hand, whether in the form of calligraphy on bread, puppetry or photographic composition. This in turn creates an intimation of my presence, suggesting a very personal relationship to the question at hand.
Artist Statement: From a young age, I have always been fascinated by the concept of dreams within the human brain. Within these paintings, I strive to explore the tangibility of dream scapes using color, texture, and symbolism to illustrate the vagueness that our conscience is capable of making, expressing our deepest thoughts that our rational mind isolates during waking.
First Friday, Nov. 1
The Rock Series by June
The series will be up for the entire month of November and can be viewed any time the studio is open.
"I was watching a documentary about Janis Joplin late one night. More than half way into the film I was in a trance watching her ethereally heaving herself across the stage deeply immersed in the blues. Her hair was flying fiercely about and quite suddenly, like a light wave, my mind saw everything with brilliant clarity...I must put all this energy on canvas....Not just paint her, but somehow convey the emotion and the visceral effect of that music...of that time. I envisioned her hair whipping thru tie dye color....and thus became the birth of the Rock Series.."
The Rock Series by June are large scale, original, acrylic on 2" gallery wrap canvas...some with a little extra like silver leaf and wax, or paper. June is also available to do commissioned pieces of your favorite Rock Icons. Contact.
Attention all Santa Cruz musicians. Our library system is amazing and is ready to pay you to make your music available via download with an Santa Cruz Public Library card. Read all the details below.
Get your paperwork and CD in ASAP in order to be included!
DETAILS:
The SoundSwell team is looking forward to working with you on our local music database project. The library has always been a place where people can find music, movies and other materials for entertainment and enrichment. Other libraries across the country are starting to incorporate local music into their systems and with our thriving music scene, we thought it would be a great fit in Santa Cruz as well. Our hope is that it will be win/win for you and our library patrons. Ideally in addition to monetary compensation, we would like to help expose more people to your music and convert more fans, while helping our patrons diversify their local music collections.
The SoundSwell project is supported by a Library Services and Technology Act (LSTA) Eureka! Grant. The grant funding period covers most of the cost for licensing for the initial test database, which should be completed in August 2013. Under the licensing agreement, the library will pay you for a 2 year license as follows: $100 for a full length LP consisting of 9 or more songs, $75 for an EP consisting of 6-8 songs, and $50 for an EP consisting of 4-5 songs. During the term of the license, only those users with a valid library card will be able to download licensed songs. To raise this much revenue from iTunes, you would typically need 100 people to download one of your songs. If 100 people download your song from SoundSwell, you could gain 100 new local fans. That’s 100 people living in Santa Cruz who might tell a friend about your music or attend a show!
Another goal of the SoundSwell project is to establish a historical archive of the local music of Santa Cruz County. Although this aspect of the project will not be implemented until the database has been well established for at least a year, we believe that preserving this aspect of local community identity is important. That is why we ask in the license agreement for your permission to use your album in perpetuity in the archive. This archive will be streaming, but the music will not be available for download. Both the downloadable database and streaming archive will display live links to your band’s website or Facebook Page, making it easy for new fans to connect with your band, your projects, and your performances.
To receive a licensing agreement to review, sign and return email Jennifer at jenn@santacruzrehearsalstudios.com or Diane at cowend@santacruzpl.org . Please let either of us know if you have any questions or concerns or would like to meet in person to go over any aspect of the agreement prior to signing. Once fully executed, we would need you to deliver your CD to the library office downtown no later than one week, at which point the library will mail you your agreement fee.
To return signed license agreement:
Make an appointment with Diane Cowen to deliver the agreement in person or send the agreement with your original signature and W-9 form via US mail. Once the agreement has been received and signed by the library Director, the document will be scanned and emailed back to you with both signatures for your records.
Don’t bleed so loud, I can’t hear the TV
Artist Reception: 6-9 PM
artist statement:
Shadows are revealed in my paintings through humorous abstract narratives, featuring pop culture symbolisms of femininity. In “Dear Jimmy America”, a darkly intimate poem is paired with a comically painterly bra, while “The Great Mother Tit of America” depicts a red-and-white-striped breast lactating ice cream.
In “fun fair i-iii” I explore subtle emotive energies through gestural expressions of vibrant color. Triangular and pentagonal pieces of wood are painted with quick, intuitive movements of wrist and finger. Impressions of vegetal and organic forms emerge, but, like clouds, patterns continue to shift, leaving definition open to viewers’ imaginations.
Big enough to fit a lot of shit.
Rental Rate: $1 a day payable at the end of every month.
Lois is a painter, print-maker, radio personality, and self-proclaimed historian. Friday, May 3 Artist Reception: 6-9 PM Santa Cruz Rehearsal Studios 118 Coral Street (Harvey West) http://loisrossonart.com/ Exhibit will be available for the entire month of May and can be viewed during normal rehearsal studio hours.
In an effort to keep things interesting, we've added a few new items to the $1 per hour rental list for our bass playing friends. Introducing: