1995-1996

Fall 1995

Youth Art/Changing Lives
10/12/95-1/18/96

Curatorial lead: The Institute for Urban Arts - Juana Alicia, Mat Schwarzman, and Maria Luisa Mendoza.
Participating organizations include Berkeley-Oakland Support Services; Community Arts Apprenticeship Program, Oakland; East Oakland Youth Development Center; East Oakland Boxing Association; Ethnic Trip, San Francisco; Electric Mercado, Santa Cruz; San Francisco Digital Media Center (D* Lab); White Hawk/Xuicoatl Arts, Watsonville.

With a focus on youth-art programs from the Greater Bay Area, wove together images, words, sounds, and experiences of young people and the artists who work with them. These programs work mainly with youth designated as being at-risk because of their socio-economic situation, academic standing or home life. Murals, paintings, drawings, CD-ROMS, videos, text, photo-documentation, and participatory events for young people and adults, for example Internet access to new Web sites. Environmental, interdisciplinary, and interactive, the exhibition challenged visitors to consider their own attitudes toward youth, adulthood, and art.
Booklet: Youth Art/Changing Lives, 1996. Curators Juana Alicia and Matt Schwarzman with Jan Rindfleisch, in conjunction with the Euphrat exhibition, 16 pages. See PUBLICATIONS. Public Reception for Youth Art/Changing Lives, featuring ceremony with White Hawk Dancers, CD-ROM and Internet demonstration, and presentations by young artists, 10/24. Symposium, "Changing Lives: Youth, Art, and Democracy," exhibition participants, policy makers, and community participants, including Juana Alicia and Mat Schwarzman, with introductory video by Maria Luisa Mendonza. Videotaped for classroom use. 11/7, Election Day. Artwork for yearlong Visiting Speakers Series Committee. Detail of Puente de la Paz, Bridge of Peace, by Juana Alicia (artist in Youth Arts show and symposium) served as strong visual background for entire series of posters for the college.

View ancillary materials for the Fall 1995 exhibitions.

Spring 1996

Heartwork: Creating Something Together
2/6-4/17/96

Curatorial collaboration with Slobodan Dan Paich, Diana Argabrite, and organizations Artship Foundation, Augustino Dance Theater, Indian Canyon Ranch/ Costanoan Indian Research, Inc.
Artists and Collaborators include Ellen Bepp, Cara Brewer, Jeannette Des Boine, Augusto Ferriols, Curtis Fukuda, Russell Imrie, Sally Greaves Lord, Lucia Grossberger Morales, Dennis Jennings, Dianne Jones, Lissa Jones, L. Tomi Kobara, Maria McVarish, Norine Nishimura, Slobodan Dan Paich, Oden Santiago, Ann-Marie Sayers, Katie Wolf, Zhunwang Zhao.

Heartwork presented art resulting from artists working with others, in some way reaching out to a community on a special project that drew from deeply felt experiences. The media included props for community theatrical productions, a CD-ROM, paintings, installation, sculpture, and documentation. Interdisciplinary, intercultural, combining fun and fervor, this project nurtures hope for art forms that draw individuals and communities together in new ways. In April, the exhibition incorporated Drawing Together, a collaborative public artwork created by hundreds of local elementary school students through the Arts & Schools Program. Book: Heartwork: Creating Something Together,1996. Produced and edited by Jan Rindfleisch in conjunction with the Euphrat exhibition. 15 pages, 17 illlustrations. See PUBLICATIONS. Public Reception for Heartwork: Creating Something Together, with "Flag and Gong" performance by Augustino Dance Theater, storytelling by Marijo, presentations by exhibiting artists. 3/14

View ancillary materials for the Spring 1996 exhibitions.