Wk 10- Artist Conversation- Helen Werner Cox

Artist: Helen Werner Cox

Exhibition: Silent Screams

Media: Oil pastel, prints, carving, water based material, etc.

Gallery: Gastov West Gallery

Website: Website

Thursday March 24^th Helen Werner Cox displayed her artwork at CSULB. Cox is graduating this spring and during her time here, has been very proactive about exhibiting her artwork. Cox is originally from Boston, Massachusetts. As one can observe from her exhibition one of her primary inspirations for her work is carousels, she is fascinated by how they look and their function. The merry-go-round at Griffith Park played a large role in this inspiration.

In her artwork, Cox uses mediums including oil pastels, prints, carvings, paint, and watercolors. Some of her pieces have taken incredibly long durations to completely but she enjoys the dedication and energy it requires. To bring her carousels to life, she actually road on the Griffith carousel for four straight hours. She also found a warehouse full of carousels and spent a stretch of time alone in there with them to bring them to life. For her monochromatic print pieces, Cox begins with a sketch and then redraws over it.

Cox creates her work with a strong through thread of intention behind it. She is fascinated by endless spiraling trap that society is stuck in. The circular concept of making mistakes, and then learning from them, is the epitome of her work. She uses carousels as a tool to convey this message. She feels they embody both anxiety and creativity. The faces of the horses are tired and dreary in this endless spiral of fun.

Cox’s artwork conveyed to me exactly the meaning she was intending. I too feel that same tediously creepy excitement when I am near to carousels. I love it when artist are able to find a factor or object that seems arbitrary but bring out the universality in the way it can make humankind feel.

 

Wk 10- Art Experience- Instagram

The Instagram assignment did not sit well with me, unlike many of the other experiences we have done. Not only did I not like having to obnoxiously post photos on photos throughout the day, but also because I did not like being on my cell phone that much during one day. 

Wk 10- Classmate Conversation- Margarita Reyna

Margarita is from South La, where she was both born and raised. She commutes to CSULB almost everyday. She is a pre criminal justice major and wants to minor in forensic’s. This is her second year here at CSULB. Margarita a very shy person, which is a problem because it makes it harder for her to friends. She would love to travel to Mexico, but this is the only country she has been to.

A dream of hers is to travel and visit as much of Mexico as she can, kind of like an ongoing roadtrip around Mexico. She enjoyed playing a little volleyball when she was in high school, but she eventually stopped playing. She is also in the process of becoming a healthier person. Margarita is trying to eat healthier and go to the gym in order to be prepared for the physical exam when trying to work in her field in the future, but also just trying to feel good as a person.

Margarita loves going camping with her family and friends. She loves all types of music except country, her favorite type would have to be rock en espanol, and her all time favorite group would be Mana, and hopes to see them perform in the future!

Wk 9- Artist Conversation- Sean Joy Rosario Cabanig

Artist: Sean Joy Rosario Cabanig

Exhibition: All Work All Play

Media: Metals (copper/silver)

Gallery: CSULB School of Art, Marilyn Werby Gallery

Website: None

Instagram: None

A fifth year student at Cal State Long Beach, Sean Joy nears completing her Bachelor’s of Fine Arts in the Metals program. She is originally from Los Angeles, California but has loved living in Long Beach for the past few years for college. She has two older brothers, 31 years old and 29 years old. Upon entering CSULB she was declared a creative writing major however switched it after being introduced to studio art.

She works solely with metals and her pieces come in a variance of shapes. However, most of her pieces maintain a relatively smooth exterior in shape. She prides herself on using only the color the metals initially are, thus any copper work will in fact appear copper in color. Her pieces tend to be different types of jewelry.

Primarily Joy enjoys using silver because it is the most malleable. Silver also requires great focus because it is more fragile. She draws her inspiration from her own curiosity of experimentation. However, Joy hopes to eventually travel the world, and have those experiences effect and inspire her work.

I found her work to be incredibly unique and interesting. Though I could never imagine wearing or finding a purpose for much of her work, I was able to appreciate it for what it was within the gallery.

WK9- Moonbase Alpha- Frizallina Pizzalini

Frizallina Pizzalini is a chef by day and a superhero by night. Not only can she make the most mouth watering Pizza’s, but she can also eat the most astonishing amounts of pizza ever seen to man. During times of war on Moonbase Alpha she can also use her pizzas as a weapon of protection against destruction. She will protect any and all individuals who also praise Pizza. Frizallina Pizzalini is your very own Pizza Queen.

Frizallina’s best fiend is Aurora the Goddess from Netherland. Though they live far from each other Frizallina flies to the Netherland on her Pizza carpet to visit and hang out with her best friend. On special occasions Aurora will even let her borrow her awesome pink necklace! Aurora

In times of war and crisis General Scooter Perkins is Frizallina’s commander and chief. He can sometimes be a bit over bearing, constantly barking orders at her, but deep down he has truly good intentions. General Scooter Perkins

Frizzalina helped Ava to escape on her magic pizza carpet. Ava

Wk 9- Classmate Conversation- Vanessa Betancourt

Vanessa Betancourt is a freshman here at Cal State Long Beach. She is majoring in social work and loves it. Vanessa is originally from Bellflower California, and commutes to school. In her free time she enjoys going to the gym, hiking and shopping. Vanessa has one brother and one sister and she is the middle child. She wants to use her degree to work with children and be in charge of their cases. Vanessa also has a minor in child development, which ties into that goal as well. If she could travel anywhere in the world she would want to go to Italy.  Vanessa listens to pretty much every genre of music besides country, she can’t stand country. She loves her boxer at home, and if she could have any type of dog, she would want a bull dog, or a husky. This summer she wants to travel to Mexico, and this weekend she is excited for her God sisters birthday party.

Wk 8- Art Experience-

This experience was more abstract then the others. It was incredibly difficult to get my roommate/best friend to comprehend the instructions. We both love to draw to letting go of all of our inclinations and structure was very challenging. The drawing turned pretty interesting and we liked the activity so much we plan to do it ideally somewhat regularly.  

Wk 8- Artist Conversation- Brianna Joy

Artist: Brianna Joy

Exhibition: Merged  

Media: Screen Printing

Gallery: CSULB School of Art, Gatov Gallery East

Instagram: Instagram @bri.joy

Brianna Joy displayed her art at Cal State Long Beach Gatov Gallery East gallery. Currently an undergraduate working towards her BFA in Art, Joy is excited to be graduating this year. Joy was born and raised in a small town she attended Orange Coast College before coming to Cal State. Her new life here has had a huge impact on her artwork. Her many other interests also feed her artwork such as sports and yoga. Joy values the authenticity of her peer relationships and thus choses to exhibit her art in unconventional ways. She does not have a website because she was not to genuinely explore the elements of life, particularly that contrast between small town and big city.

Joy’s work is considered printmaking and she typically enjoys working in black and white. She enjoys working in black and white because it challenges her to still express sentiments without the associations that color’s increase. She also values printmaking because of the many layers that it incorporates. Along with contrasting black and white, another theme of her work is contrasting the past and the present. The combination of all of these contrasts and juxtapositions makes for very interesting artwork.

Joys work thoroughly impressed me because of how successful she was in the vivid contrasts that she created. Not only were her pieces beautiful to look at but conveyed strong messages. I also appreciate how distinct and original her style of work is. She was able to bring together so many elements into one cohesive exhibition!

Wk 8- Classmate Conversation- Dominique Gomez

Dominique Gomez is 18 years old, and a freshman at CSULB. She is a Biology major. She wants to be a veterinarian when she is older, and is thinking about double majoring in engineering.

Dominique has a younger sister who is 14 years old and a younger brother who is 12 years old. She is from Garden Grove California. Dominique commutes to CSULB. She loves soccer and played it for 4 years in high school. She likes to draw in her free time and go adventuring.

She babysits and works at the snack-shack at the baseball field. She has not traveled outside of the United States but wants to travel the world one day. Her top places are New Zealand and Africa. She loves her cat named Mamas!

Wk 7- Art Experience- Video

This week I worked with Regan Cameron and Dominique Gomez to create a documentary like video for our group video project. Because we all have insane schedules but the assignment required a group collaboration we decided to complete the project during class time. This was a very successful idea! We all had lots of fun making the video and we each took turns filming what we felt were artistic and interesting “shots”. We did our best to experiment with original ideas and angles for shooting. I now have a far greater appreciation for cinematography because I am aware of how difficult it truly is.

Video Project