A Sculpted Campus

CSULB's 320 acre campus is not only filled with trees and classrooms, but also 21 different sculptures created by 21 different distinguished artists.

The creation of these beautifully designed pieces began in 1965, after the creation of the Long Beach Sculpture Symposium.  This symposium was the first of its kind in the United States, and was created after similar European projects.

Nine out of the 21 sculptures were created in 1965 as part of the CSULB Monumental Sculpture Collection.  Later on the rest of the sculptures were eventually added throughout campus, and became apart of the University Art Museum.

The sculpture "U" as a Set located in front of the Macintosh building.  Photo Courtesy of UAM website.

The UAM now presents a virtual tour of all of these sculptures online, a self guided walking tour, or a tour with the help of a UAM guide.  Guided tour reservations can be made via the internet on the University Art Museum website, there you can also find a map of the 21 different sculptures found throughout campus.

A map of the self guided walking tour.  Photo courtesy of UAM website. 

Many students are unaware of the pieces of art scattered throughout campus.  Demi Boyd, a junior studying both Dance and Comparative World Literature, is awestruck about the number of sculptures located around campus.  "I love having sculptures around because it's not often that you get to be inspired by art everyday." 

For more information about the many sculptures located around campus, along with a tour map visit the University Art Museum website at http://www.csulb.edu/org/uam/COLLECTIONSsculpture.html. 



     

A Night Full of Dancing and Suprises

CSULB Department of Dance put forth a performance entitled Shadows and Echoes over the weekend of March 14-16.   
  
Shadows and Echoes was unique because it showcases the choreography of Dance MFA students. The show consisted of four very different pieces and an intermission.

MFA Spring 2013 dance concert, Echoes and Shadows poster.  Courtesy of CSULB Dept. of Dance website.

The first piece entitled "The Wrecking Project" was a project that all of the current MFA students worked on and performed.  The MFA students took choreography that dance faculty member, Gerald Casel, had previously created.  They broke it down, rearranged it, and made it their own.  This created a unique dance full of unexpected performance choices.  The most memorable aspect of this piece was that the dancers made noises, spoke words, and even screamed at points throughout the ten minute dance.

Following, was a trio choreographed by Alison Hart entitled, "Panties and Pathologies".  The piece was set to the famously known song "Love to Love You Baby" by Donna Summer.  The opening began with one dancer on stage in her bra and underwear dancing about the space.  Underwear then slowly begins to fall from the sky as the other two dancers enter (also in bra and underwear) and they start moving together in a diagonal movement phrase that consists of partnering and floor work. The dance progresses and more underwear falls from the sky.  The three dancers start layering by putting more and more pairs of underwear on.  After they have almost every single pair of underwear on they begin the diagonal movement phrase again and the piece ends.  This piece was enjoyable to watch, and was kind of funny in the sense that some of the movements the dancers did were movements that women secretly do everyday while getting ready in the morning.  Like shaking your legs, trying to decide what pair of underwear to wear, and checking yourself out in a mirror.

After a 15 minutes intermission a piece choreographed by MFA student Liz Curtis entitled, "Enso" was presented.  Liz had a strong cast of dancers that presented smooth repeated movements that were circular and endless.  The six dancers did not move in unison but in a way that was still very connected.  Liz did an excellent job of choreographing multiple things onstage at once, but it was not too overwhelming to the audience.  The partnering was very intertwined, nonstop, and smooth.  The movement had a sense of being into the ground, which gave the dancers more stability.  As a viewer you could watch this dance over and over again and never get bored because there were so many layers and movements within the piece that you could focus on.  Overall very enjoyable, beautiful, and pleasing to the eye.

The final piece by choreographer Maggie Phillips is entitled "As One".  This piece had a large female cast that moved in complete unison or like the title "as one".  The feeling the audience gets from this piece is almost eerie in a sense due to the fact the dancers all had black veils covering their faces.  As the dance progresses the whole cast runs onto the stage and lifts the veils for a final section of strong unified dancing.  The ending section of the dance was very entertaining to the viewer.  One of Maggie's dancers Meghan Magoun, a third year dance major, really enjoyed working with Maggie Phillips and performing her choreography.  "I like the adrenaline of knowing anything can happen at any moment but you have to keep going," she says happily recalling her performance experience.  "It's all worth it in the end."

For more information about CSULB's Department of Dance and upcoming performances visit their website at  http://www.csulb.edu/depts/dance/. 

                   

Layering and Light

The University Art Museum on campus at CSULB currently has two art exhibitions that showcase works from regional artists.

Art exhibition Chockablock showcases the work of sixteen different artists portraying modern day art practices.

Lisa Tchakmakian and Devon Tsuno are two modern day artists on display that contribute pieces of artwork that are eye catching with interesting concepts.

Tchakmakian has two pieces of art on display in the UAM.  Both similarly play with the concept of sensory awareness, fluorescent lighting and vivid colors.  Tchakmakian's piece Untitled displays a bright pink box. Tchakmakian used acrylic, plaster, resin, and fluorescent lighting to create her piece of art.

Tchakmakian's Untitled work that uses light and vivid colors.(Photo courtesy of Lisa Tchakmakian's blog)

                                           
 Devon Tsuno also went about creating his art in a unique way.  He gained inspiration from the landscape and non-native foliage all over LA.  He portrays his artwork in an interesting way using spray paint and acrylic on handmade Washi paper.  He layers his work and peels back the paint to give the allusion of depth.   This allusion in his piece of work titled Agglomerate Vegetation caught the eye of fellow CSULB student. "I really liked the colorful painting with layers of paint and how it created the effect of depth by peeling away portions of the paint," says Molly Matutat, a third year dance major. "The art museum is a great distraction from the busy environment of the campus."   

Devon Tsuno's Agglomerate Vegetation (Photo courtesy  of Devon Tsuno's website)

  

The art exhibition Chockablock along with another exhibition Significant Ordinaries both showcase unique works that can be viewed free of cost by any CSULB student.  The two art exhibitions run from January 26 to April 14, 2013.  More information is available online at http://www.csulb.edu/org/uam/index.html.