News

Fall 2024

Chelsea Stewart Awarded the Murphy & Cadogan Scholarship

Chelsea Stewart scholarship

Chelsea Stewart, Graduate Teaching Associate, will be awarded the Murphy & Cadogan Scholarship on Friday, November 1st.

The Jack K. and Gertrude Murphy Award and the Edwin Anthony and Adalaine Boudreaux Cadogan Scholarship help fuel the forward-thinking visual arts movement that makes the Bay Area unique. Established in 1986, these awards further the development of Bay Area MFA students and foster the exploration of their artisitic potenial. The winners of the Murphy Award and Cadogan Scholarships receive financial awards (awards amounts to be determined when applications reopen) and display thier work in a professionally curated group exhibition at SOMArts Cultural Center.


Exhibition: Timna Naim, Spatial Art MFA, included in Introductions at Root Division, SF

Timna Naim Exhibit

Exhibition Dates: August 14 - September 21, 2024

Second Saturday Reception: September 14th | 7-9PM

Established in 2007, Introductions is one of the Root Division's signature exhibition, showcasing the talents of twelve emerging Bay Area artists without gallery representation. Artists are selected through a rigorous review process by a panel of threee prominent arts professionals based on the conceptual and formal strength of their work. The resulting exhibition provides a snapshot of the Bay Area's artistic landscape featuring a diverse range of media and subject matter.


Binh Danh Awarded the William Collins Smith Auburn Award for Advancing American Art

Binh Danh Photo

Binh Danh, Associate Professor of Photography, is the inaugural recipient of the William Collins Smith Auburn Award for Advancing American Art. The $25,000 annual award, presented by the The Jule Collins Smith Museum of Fine Art at Auburn University, honors an American artist or scholar-practitioner who has significantly impacted the American art scene in the spirit of the university's modernist collection strength, grounded in creativity, innovation and experimentation


Artist-in-Residence: Carla Schwartz at Stove Works

For the month of July, (Assistant Professor, Pictorial Arts) was an Artist-in-Residence at Stove Works in Chatanooga, TN. Along with working on a new series of print-based installations and sculptures, she led a community workshop , introducing strategies for working with found objects, including 3D scanning and wax rubbing.

A print from Schwartz's residence, depicting a cobblestone wall.


Public Art: Polis by David Bayus

, an animated short film commissioned by the San Fransisco Arts Commission, is now installed at the 49 South Van Ness Municipal building.

Still from Bayus's video installation


Group Exhibition: In the Manner of Paul Kos featuring Rhonda Holberton

(Associate Professor, Digital Media Art) animation, Siphon, will be included in a group at Anglim Trimble (San Fransisco) honoring the conceptual artist Paul Kos.

Paul Kos work titled "Symmetry"


Sonic Reflections of Deep Space

Built on the research of ESA's VLT, the James Webb Space Telescope, and the Hubble Space Telescope, composers (Associate Proffesor, Digital Media Arts) and Matthew Monaco presented an evening of electro-acoustic spatialized audio. Hybridizing the world's of contemporary classical music with data science and astronomy, the composers also weave in poetic interpretation, sonification, and artistic realization of datasets from James Webb Space Telescope at the Leonardo House in Paris.

Flyer for the Event "Sonic Reflections of Deep Space"


FLP 2024, Exploring Japan through Art

The goal of this is to provide opportunities to develop ideas and understandings of society, culture, and history through on-site interactions with traditional Japanese artists and guided analysis of Japanese art.

Photo of students who participated in the program previously


Farenheit 2024: Featured Work by Adam Shiverdecker

(Associate Professor, Spatial Art) had work featured at the National Juried Exhibition at the American Museum of Ceramic Art (AMOCA).

Work by Adam Shiverdecker for Show "Farenheit 2024" at the AMOCA


Biennial Conference of the European Architectural History Network, Athens, Greece

In June, Anthony Raynsford (Associate Professor, Art History) presented his research on the history of radical community design in a paper entitled, "From Youth Conservation Corps to Urban Street Theatre Karl Linn and the Design of Teenage Public Space" at the .

Associate Professor Anthony Raynsford presenting his research at the Biennial Conference of the European Architectural History Network


Valerie Mendoza's PAMLA Presentation: "Promoting Social Change through a Text/Image Art Practice"

Valerie Mendoza (Associate Proffesor, Photography) will be presenting her ongoing work on the affordable housing crisis at the PAMLA (Pacific, Ancient and Modern Language Association - a West Coast branch of the MLA) in Palm Springs on the 7th and 11th of November. Mendoza will be showcasing her presentation "Promoting Social Changes through a Text/Image Art Practice". She will also be reading selections from "The Cost of Living" and "We Value Your Business" at the annual poetry reading at a public venue which is part of the conference programming. This is a very large, competitive, annual gathering held in different West Coast city each year with attendance that sometimes exceeds 1000.


James Morgan's Paper / Demo: Fortunetelling as Co-Creative Model Paper

James Morgan's Paper/ Demo

James Morgan (Lecturer) presented demo and art performances at the International Conference on Computational Creativity. Positing the position that fortune telling presents an interesting co-creative model. 

 

Spring 2024


DMA BFA Graduate Marisa Diaz: Designing Spider-Man 2 Suits

Digital Media Arts BFA Marisa Diaz designed two new suits for the Spider-Man 2 game with help from connections with . Check out the where Marisa talks about her work, the that feature her suits, her , and her Gameheads interview linked below!


Cartophantasms Between The Screens Forescene

Shaun O’Dell (Assistant Professor, Pictorial Arts) has work included in the release Cartophantasms Between The Screens Forescene, a Print series with at the Sam Fox School of Art and Design, Washington University of ST.Louis. 


Shaun O

HALSEY/MCKAY Gallery NADA Art Fair NYC, May 2-5 2024

Shaun O’Dell (Assistant Professor, PIctorial Arts) has been invited by the Gallery to exhibit work in their booth for this year's NADA Art Fair.


In my work I am drawn to locating moments in history - my own, American, the west and human - when things shifted from the mythos to the logos, the miraculous to the end of enchantment, the infinite to the reductionism of the quantifiable. In this current body of work I wanted to see that smoking iron-laden meteorite I saw fall from the Pleiades superimposed in the sky above Henry Behrman’s mercantile as it crashed amongst the wrought iron commodities of colonial Kentucky.


Shaun O'DellShaun O'Dell

Contested Landscapes

Shaun O’Dell (Assistant Professor, PIctorial Arts) work is included in the exhibition which brings together works of art that reexamine the traditional genre of landscape through an ecological lens. By using diverse materials and innovative techniques, the artists reshape representations of geography, topography, and the environment to examine human interaction with the natural world. 


Steve Davis

Unveiling of Norman Minetta Sculpture at SJ Airport

, Lecturer in Spatial and Foundry Tech, was commissioned to sculpt a 6 foot bronze . Mineta was the mayor of San Jose in the 1970s before serving in Congress for 20 years. He later became the U.S. transportation secretary during the George W. Bush administration.


Rhonda Holberton

SFMoMA SECA Finalists

Since 1967, the SECA Art Award has honored more than seventy Bay Area artists with an exhibition at SFMOMA and an accompanying publication. The 2024 SECA Art Award Exhibition will open in December 2024. 


Gretchen Simms

Completed Certificate in Museum Studies

Gretchen Simms completed her studies with a certificate in museum studies at Harvard Extension with new ideas on Sustainability and DEIA in museums including SJ Museum of Art and Oakland Museum of California.


Irene Carvajal

What is your sTile?

A social practice collaborative mural created from 195 mono print/screen printed tiles. 195 alluding to the number of nations around the world. The public is invited to choose from several designs created by , inspired by traditional patterns from 21 nations around the world. This subset of countries were chosen to symbolically unite the world and consider how we can all participate individually and collectively in supporting each other and sharing knowledge and wealth. The countries selected are some of the richest, some of the poorest, as well as the nationalities most represented here in the Bay Area.


Irene CarvajalButterfly Effect, Athens Greece

Curated by Kostas Prapoglou 2023

The Weight of Dreams

An installation of mirrors and porcelain bells laser cut/molded out of the same shape – a small heavy cylindrical object that was used as a doorstop in grandparents home in Costa Rica. This object, was made by her grandfather when he worked as a mechanic in the National Distillery Factory in the 1940’s. It was used as a counterweight when measuring ingredients that would go into the creation of distilled spirits. This object becomes the focus of Carvajal's exploration of her past. A past that is splintered due to her families’ immigration from Costa Rica to the United States.

Her work was part of the organized by


Binh DanhEcologies Of Photography: Materials, Industries, and Environment in the American West

Binh Danh (Associate Professor, Photography)  will present his work at the conference at the Huntington Library.


Lynn Dau

A Question of Balance: Selected Works from Pacific Rim Sculptors

January 27- May 26, 2024, Museum of Sonoma County: showcases artists who have produced exciting and unique works exploring the varied and multiple meanings and interpretations of “balance." The exhibition will display works by (lecturer, Spatial Arts).


Lynn Dau

She/They

(lecturer, Spatial Arts) will be included in a showcase of a wide range of art by 27 contemporary sculptors from across California at the Santa Cruz Art League in Santa Cruz, CA. "" focuses on celebrating women, non-binary, and transgender artists, this exhibition unveils stunning masterpieces crafted in various sculpting mediums. On view 1/19-2/24


Lynn Dau

Through the Dreamhouse

Brea Art Gallery (city of Brea) 1/27-3/22: "Through the Dreamhouse" is a group exhibition which delves into the symbolism and power of domestic spaces, using both traditional and unconventional mediums to examine intimate and introspective aspects of a household. This exhibition includes 5 of works (Lecturer, spatial arts).


Robin Lasser

6 Exhibitions

1.ICA San José and Montalvo Arts Center, March 23 - August 11. P L A C E: Reckonings by Asian American Artists Robin Lasser and Adrienne Pao

2.TNOC (The Nature of Cities) Festival June 4-7 (Berlin) Ice Ships Weep Film Trilogy, Berlin, Germany.

3.Big Basin Redwood State Park Public Art Commission, Art About, June 15-Opening Reception. Permanent Collections.

4.Plattsburgh Museum of Art, solo exhibition, August 27-December 15. Ice Ships Weep and the Theatre of Water Reclamation. Room - size immersive video projections and sculptures, series of large-scale photographs, and sound works.


Anthony Raynsford

New article in the January issue of the Journal of Planning History

Just published in print: .


Shannon Wright"Salon Après Tetris (Five Seconds of Fame)"

Professor was in the DeYoung Open and is slowly building the installation version of the piece. She created the digital drawing, "Salon Après Tetris (5 Seconds of Fame)" in response to the DeYoung Open call for entries. She built the scene (minus the figure) in Rhinoceros, painstakingly redrawing all the parts as well as the person in Adobe Illustrator. The piece is a vector drawing of an installation piece that she's been building on her sabbatical in addition to another project. The installation was accepted into Untitled Miami Beach but she has to change the plan given the time it will take to build all 25 tetris frames. 


Don FeaselIn a Grove

Anglim/Trimble is pleased to present In a grove, a gathering of artists utilizing abstraction to create rapturous states of vision marked by the qualities of the sensorial and perceptual. Curated by Dean Smith, the exhibition includes work by Thomas Akawie, Brad Brown, Mason Dowling, Donald Feasél, Renée Gertler, Robin McDonnell, and Nancy White.


Mark Fisher

Benefit Exhibit

Benefit Exhibit Bakewell Hall Exterior Restoration - Through the sale of 10 donated paintings, Mark P. Fisher successfully raised $3200.00 for wood and paint upgrade at St. Augustine's Episcopal Church, Oakland, CA, 12/30/23 through 01/01/2024.


Michelle wilson

Libros, Arte, Oficios, Memoria, Communidad

In April 2024, will be part of a two person exhibition at Ex Convento Tiripetio Gallery in Morelia, Michoacan, Mexico, titled, "Libros, Arte, Oficios, Memoria, Comunidad (Books, Art, Trades, Memory, Community).


Liz Linden

Roundtable Discussion in Grey Room 94, Winter 2024, pp. 20–49, "Roundtable on Warhol v. Goldsmith"

contributed to a roundtable on Fair Use and Copyright just published in , with Amy Adler, NYU School of Law, and Noam M. Elcott, Columbia University, Lionel Bently, Professor of Intellectual Property Law, University of Cambridge, Susan Bielstein, University of Chicago Press, Johanna Burton, Director, MOCA, Los Angeles, Martha Buskirk, professor, Montserrat College of Art, Jane Ginsburg, Professor of Literary and Artistic Property Law, Columbia, Branden W. Joseph, Professor of Modern and Contemporary Art, Columbia University, Joan Kee, professor of the history of art, University of Michigan, Liz Linden, artist, Rebecca Tushnet, Professor of the First Amendment, Harvard, Graeme Williams, photographer, Winnie Wong, professor of rhetoric, UCBerkeley.


Gretchen Simms

Vienna Study Abroad success!

Dr Gretchen Simms led the Architecture, Art, and Design Study Abroad program in Vienna took place for the first time in January.

 


Fall 2023

Irene Carvajal Butterfly Effect

91 Faculty Irene Carvajal participates in the The Butterfly Effect, an art exhibition inside a textile factory in Mouzakis Greece.

According to chaos theory, the Butterfly Effect is when a small change in one part of a complex system can lead to significant consequences elsewhere. The Butterfly Effect exhibition adds yet another layer of meaning to the term, since it takes place inside the fully operating textile factory “Butterfly Threads - Mouzakis.”What makes this location even more remarkable is its historical significance, given its position along the ancient procession route of the Eleusinian Mysteries. Its history and location inspired 41 artists each working across diverse artistic mediums. Their installations, pottery, and sculptures are integrated into the daily operations of the factory in a fusion of art and industry. Curated by Kostas Prapoglou & organised by artefact athens. 


james jenkinsJames Jenkins (MFA, SPATIAL '22) and his recent project, Cruz Cool, named one of the Best Inventions of 2023 by

Styrofoam takes over 500 years to decompose—and yet we still use it for insulation. The Cruz Cool cooler, which can insulate frozen goods for 48 hours, is made out of chitin, a polymer that’s found in fungi, insects, and shrimp. But the real difference is how it’s produced. Typically, eco-friendly alternatives to styrofoam come in odd shapes and sizes that flummox supply chains. Parent company Cruz Foam compounds the chitin with other ingredients into large flat pellets that feed into a partner’s current processing plant. That’s how Cruz Foam is already partnering with Atlantic Packaging, an industry leader.’


Megan HuddlestonMarisa Avila & Megan Huddlestun (BFA Pictorial Art) discuss the role spirituality plays in their art with Reporter Melany Gutierrez.

Marisa Avila (BFA Pictorial Art) says she believes this is important when she is using her art to embody her spiritual beliefs in relation to the natural world, “I have a tattoo of an eye on the back of my neck and I kind of feel like I'm being protected by it,” Avila said. “It’s like all these eyes in my art are protective entities in a way.” 


Megan Huddlestun (BFA Pictorial Art)  said she tends to extract fictional characters from classic western folklore and fairy tales, aspects of natural history and living organisms in nature as inspiration.  Huddlestun said these parts of her inspiration intricately fit together like webs to make what she likes to call a functioning and living document of her art. 

 


Published an essay on Anni Albers and Modern Weaving for Smarthistory; Presented a talk at Cleveland Institute of the Art on digital weaving.

Published an essay on Anni Albers and Modern Weaving for Smarthistory; Presented a talk at Cleveland Institute of the Art on digital weaving. 

for Smarthistory traced Anni Albers' pioneering work in American modern design, focusing particularly on her collaboration with Philip Johnson for the design of the Rockefeller Guest House.

At the Cleveland Institute of the Art, in digital weaving, featuring contemporary artists who use Thread Controller looms. 

 


she/her

Assistant Professor of Art History 


Work on view at SFMOMA: Sea Change: Photographs from the Collection September 2, 2023–February 19, 2024

Work on view at SFMOMA: Sea Change: Photographs from the Collection

September 2, 2023–February 19, 2024

Binh Danh's piece will be displayed in SFMOMA from September 2, 2023–February 19, 2024


He/him 

Associate Professor, Photography


Professor Anthony Raynsford will be published this Fall in the Journal of Planning History.

Professor Anthony Raynsford will be published this Fall in the Journal of Planning History.

My article, “The Limits of Counterculture Urbanism: Utopia Planning and Practical Politics in Berkeley, 1969-73” will be published this fall in the Journal of Planning History.

Anthony Raynsford
He/Him/His

Associate Professor of Art History


Metropolitan Museum of Art Acquisition

Metropolitan Museum of Art Acquisition 

Michelle Wilson's artist book ""Vueles"" was recently acquired by the artist book collection at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. 


she/her

Lecturer, Interdisciplinary Arts


Awarded Montolvo’s Lucas Arts Fellowship

Awarded  

Rhonda Holberton, Associate Professor of Digital Media Art, was selected for Montalvo Arts Center’s Sally and Don Lucas Artists Program (LAP) fellowship.

Fellows will receive three months of residency time which can be used at their discretion over a three-year period, beginning in October of this year and extending through 2026.


Located within Montalvo’s 175-acre public park and historic property in the heart of the Silicon Valley, the LAP is dedicated to providing artists with a self-directed flexible and expansive space in which to take risks, incubate, collaborate, investigate and create. 


(Her/hers/they/their)

Associate Professor, Digital Media Art


Political Printmaking at San Jose Museum of Art

Political Printmaking at

Inspired by the political posters of Yolanda López, Irene Carvajal along with 91 print making students will lead participants through the process of making their own prints and building their own iconic messages.


She/her

Printmaking faculty


Content Magazine: Interview with Rhonda Holberton

: Interview with Rhonda Holberton

In our conversation, Holberton talks about her interest in engineering and its influence on her work, what it means to be a steward of creation and the digital world, and her moral obligation to ""leave this place better than it was when she arrived."" Catch Holberton’s show at ICA San Jose until August 13th, and prepare to ponder the modern world and your role in it. 

(Her/hers/they/their)

Associate Professor, Digital Media Art


Renny Pritikin reviews Rhonda Holberton’s exhibition at the San José Institute of Art in Square Cylinder & CULT Aimee Friberg Exhibitions

at the San José Institute of Art in Square Cylinder & CULT Aimee Friberg Exhibitions

 

Rhonda Holberton doesn’t swoon with pantheistic ecstasy like the monks Penny refers to above.  But the title of her ICA San José show, A Knotted World, comprised of works from four prior series, suggests how our lives are made of interdependent aspects: our bodies, nature, and the digital world.  A concurrent show of new work, Two Handfuls of Silver Dust, at CULT Aimee Friberg in San Francisco, focuses on collaborations between the artist and various AI systems.

(Her/hers/they/their)

Associate Professor, Digital Media Art


Me in a(me)rica

Me in a(me)rica

ME in a(ME)rica, an exhibition at (July 8 - August 1st) is an exploration of the cultural myths and truths of collective and individual migration journeys. The exhibition aims to deconstruct the oversimplified categories and labels imposed upon those who make such journeys, creating radical new narratives that center empowerment.


She/her

Printmaking faculty


FLP: Exploring Japan Through Art

: Exploring Japan Through Art

A Faculty-Led Program that offers the opportunity to experience making art with traditional artists in Japan; learning first hand how art helps us understand the dynamic complexities of culture.  It includes home stay with host families who provide a deeper understanding of Japanese culture.

Susan Trimingham
she, her, hers

Lecturer, Program Coordinator Art Education


Establishing connection with NCUE in Taiwan

Establishing connection with NCUE in Taiwan

Susan trimingham visited the National Changhua University of Education's Art Department and met with the International Studies Department this summer to discuss future collaborations and to gather more information in order to establish a connection between 91 and NCUE.

Susan Trimingham
she, her, hers

Lecturer, Program Coordinator Art Education

Fulbright Visiting Scholar: Sarah Essam

Fulbright Visiting Scholar: Sarah Essam

Sarah will collaborate closely with faculty and students at the Arts Department to curate and install an informational, intercultural exhibit comparing diverse artists’ work through similar themes. 


To develop this exhibit, she will work with 91 faculty, students, local scholars and artists to learn about multicultural art education. This project will benefit 91 and the local San Jose community by providing opportunities for discourse around multicultural art education and building goodwill among the community.


Sarah's exhibit, and participation in Art Department courses and other 91 activities will help  promote cultural and intellectual diversity on campus and in the wider community.

Sarah Essam
she, her, hers

Fulbright Visiting Scholar


vMFA alumni ‘21 receives Creative Work Fund Grant

MFA alumni ‘21 receives Creative Work Fund Grant

Oscar Lopez, 91 MFA '21, receives a grant from Creative Work Fund to honoring migrant farmworkers.


he/him
MFA  Alumni 2021


 

Faculty Led Program to Venice, Italy

to Venice, Italy

This Summer Session 2023 marks the fourth year Elizabeth Carroll has directed a Faculty Led Program in Art History located in Venice, Italy. This year she had a program assistant, graduate student in Art History Jillian Proa, who made a measurable difference.

Never in the time I have led this FLP have I had local Venetian local experts with whom we work, express such praise and acknowledgement for student participation. This year the insight and expressiveness of our 91 students was noted and definitely inspiring.

Elizabeth Carroll
she/her

Lecturer in Art History & Visual Culture


Island Press Print Release

In September 2022 Shaun O'Dell was the Island Press Prensky Visiting Artist at the Sam Fox School of Art and Design at Washington University in St. Louis. He worked with faculty and students there to produce a new series of prints scheduled to be released in the Fall of 2023.


He/Him

Assistant Professor, Pictorial Arts


 

 Solo Show at Halsey/McKay Gallery Brooklyn/East Hampton

Solo Show at Halsey/McKay Gallery Brooklyn/East Hampton

In May of 2024 Pictorial Coordinator Shaun O'Dell will be presenting a new series of paintings in a solo exhibition at the in Brooklyn and East Hampton. 

 


He/Him

Assistant Professor, Pictorial Arts


A Certain Slant of Light

Alumni Adrienne Defendi  (MFA, Photography ‘23) opens an exhibition at Chung 24 Gallery,  San Francisco.