Power

July 12, 2018 to September 7, 2018 | 2nd Annual Inaugural International Juried Art Exhibition

What if art has a purpose that can be defined and discussed in plain terms? The idea that one does not understand or appreciate an art exhibition, can lead to the natural assumption that somehow you must be lacking knowledge or a capacity for feeling, but this is not necessarily true. What is lacking may well be the way in which the art is taught, sold or presented by the art institutions.

Authors deBotton and Armstrong propose that art is a therapeutic medium that can help guide, exhort and console its viewers, enabling them to become better versions of themselves. Their theory is that art has a purpose and it is important to understand what that is, in order to appreciate the art. They define seven common psychological frailties that art is able to convincingly help viewers with: remembering, hope, re-balancing, self-understanding, growth and appreciation.

What then, are the consequences of holding onto a therapeutic vision of art? I can’t think of one negative one! Art offers assistance with our human frailties and in doing so art has a purpose for the viewer that can educate, elevate and heal.

That Power is available to all visitors to CMATO. We invite you to enter into our exhibition and ask you to consider the many possibilities surrounding the Power of Art.

- Lynn Farrand, Senior Curator

This exhibition is generously sponsored by Larry Janss, Shawn and Letal Skelton, Margaret Fieweger and the City of Thousand Oaks

Michele’s art is an intersection between East and West, Realism and Abstraction, reflecting her Japanese and North American heritage. She uses large calligraphic brushes with sumi inks on paper, moving from ‘point zero’ of inner stillness towards an expansive awareness, before or during the creative process. Michelle teaches the non-violent martial arts of Aikido and Iaido Sword, in which she holds two fifth-degree and one sixth-degree black-belt ranking. She is the Co-founder of Five Changes and Manzanita Village Retreat Center near Warner Springs, in Southern California, where her studio is located, and where she works with clients and leads retreats. Read more >> 

Douglas Turner is an artist & sculptor living in Santa Monica, California. He studied Fine Art and Communication at the University of New Mexico and then moved to Hollywood to work in motion pictures effects. Over 30 films feature his work – including “Beetlejuice,” “Ace Ventura,” “Star Trek VI” and “Judge Dredd” – plus TV shows, commercials, magazines, amusement parks, and Planet Hollywood Restaurants. Read more >> 

Luciana Abait was born in Buenos Aires, Argentina. From 1993 to 1997 she attended the National School of Fine Arts “Prilidiano Pueyrredon” in Buenos Aires. She also studied Art History at the University of Massachusetts and “Literature and Painting” at the University of Cambridge, England. Luciana Abait moved to Miami in 1997 and was a resident artist of the ArtCenter South Florida for 8 years. In 2005 she relocated to Los Angeles where she now lives and works. She is currently a resident artist of 18th Street Arts Center in Santa Monica, California. Read more >> 

David E. Weed tenders a most playful approach to re-purposing common construction materials, juxtaposing them to themes and ideas of pop culture, current politics, and consumer goods and services to draw new ideas forth. As an example, this includes using new electrical junction boxes, measure, cut, powder coat, and assembling 12 volt parts and accessories to form visually appealing interactive signs and novelties. Read more >> 

Exhibition Essays

About Power

It’s moments like these that remind me of the power of art to bring people together to create a place where diverse ideas are shared and people connect. This exhibition brings artists, scholars and visitors together with the goal to examine what is powerful today. This endeavor is made possible by the generosity of Larry Janss, Shawn and Letal Skelton, Margaret Fieweger and the City of Thousand Oaks.

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Art and Power

Among the most recognizable forms of art for many, landscape paintings in their simplest form are efforts to capture and represent the natural world around us on canvas or other mediums. The beauty of our natural surroundings offers both a comfort based on our own experiences and yet provides a wide range of subject possibilities including mountains, valleys, hills, rivers, forests, and the coastline and other familiar natural settings.

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Douglass Turner: Defining Gravity

In his series, SunAthelo, (Strive Together), Douglas Turner creates sculptures that define gravity, literally, and figuratively. Gravity as a phenomena, represents a force, its effect, the only visible proof of its existence. Working from models, but also sourced images and his imagination, Turner creates convincing formations rooted in both the anatomical, and universal laws of Newtonian reason.

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Inner Power

Nestled in the wilderness of Cleveland National Forest in Southern California, Michele Benzamin-Miki’s studio is a sunny, bright, open space. She begins all her work with meditation, bypassing the rational mind so that creative, intuitive and subconscious forces take hold. From Marina Abramovic to Yoko Ono to the Mark Rothko chapel, meditation and visual art are not an unlikely pairing.

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Luciana Abait’s Cultural Landscapes

Argentinian artist Luciana Abait’s work has focused on the individual’s relationship between the powerful symbiotic partnership of nature and the urban world. She describes her works as “cultural landscapes” emphasizing humankind’s aggressive intrusion on nature which she hopes will bring awareness to the public on environmental concerns.

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Pushing Buttons: David E. Weed

Artist David E. Weed tenders a most playful approach to re-purposing common construction materials, juxtaposing them to themes and ideas of pop culture, current politics, and consumer goods and services to draw new ideas forth. As an example, this includes using new electrical junction boxes, measure, cut, powder coat, and assembling 12 volt parts and accessories to form visually appealing interactive signs and novelties.

Read More →

JURORS

Born in Newark, New Jersey, Bob Moskowitz moved with his family to the Bronx where he lived through kindergarten until they moved to Philadelphia, where he lived for 22 years. He earned a B.A. in Liberal Arts from Westchester University and later a four-year certificate from the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts. There he won a Franklin Watkins Grant and a Scheidt European Scholarship. In 1977, he moved to St. Louis, Missouri, to attend graduate school atWashington University where he met his wife, artist Margie Moskowitz. He earned an M.F.A. in Painting in 1979 and taught in St. Louis and Illinois until moving to California to teach art at Ventura College. Bob divides his time between Southern California and Maine.

Bob has exhibited nationally in galleries and museums and has done over 200 commissioned portraits. His work has always been figurative and has changed stylistically over the years.

Originally hailing from the suburban outback of Orange County, California, Luke Matjas joined the CSUCI Art Program after teaching at UCSB and the College of Creative Studies, as well as museums across the region. He completed his BA at UC San Diego studying both film and new media, and later received an MFA from UCSB while investigating digital media and installation. As a part of the CSUCI’s Art Program, his areas of focus cover all aspects of visual studies, digital filmmaking, typography, and design.

In 1999 Matjas founded Muscroy Design Labs, whose commercial clients have included CBS Television’s CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, Realcomm, Colliers International, and numerous organizations and public institutions. Far from working solely as a digital designer, Matjas’ work regularly incorporates sculpture, drawing, exhibition design, and film production. With a manufactured and often manu-“fractured” gaze, his ongoing research examines order that has come undone, crumpling taxonomies, and historical power struggles that exist on a geological scale. His diverse projects have been included in festivals, journals, group shows, and solo exhibitions in both the United States and abroad, from Los Angeles to Umea, Sweden.

 

Timothy C. Hengst is a professor in the Multimedia Program and the Department Chair of the Art Department.

After receiving his graduate degree in medical and biological illustration from the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, he illustrated for Dr. Denton Colley at the Texas Heart Institute and served as Director of Photography and Audiovisual Communications. He joined the faculty in the graduate program at Johns Hopkins and served as production manager in the graphics and illustration division and assistant professor in the graduate program.

He began a freelance business in 1986 offering services in all areas of biomedical communications. He has illustrated more than 50 medical textbooks and has won numerous national awards in medical illustration, including three Best Illustrated Medical Text awards from the Association of Medical Illustrators.

He was awarded the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Association of Medical Illustrators in 2013. He has also worked as consultant for a commercial multimedia firm.

In addition to medical illustration, he produces digital fine art using original photography and Adobe Photoshop. He has exhibited in numerous regional art shows.

Born in Chicago, Illinois, Erika Lizée was raised among the lakes and trees of Northern Wisconsin. She traveled to North Carolina to earn her BFA in Painting from UNC Asheville in 1999. Following a cross-country move to California, she received her MFA in Painting from CSU Northridge, in 2007. In 2008, she was hired as full-time faculty at Moorpark College where she is currently a Professor of Art, as well as the Director of the Moorpark College Art Gallery. Ms. Lizée is an artist that creates site-specific installations, paintings and drawings. Most recently, Ms. Lizée built installations within the International Terminal at the Los Angeles International Airport (LAX), ArtShare LA, Launch LA and Gallery 825. Lizée’s work has been featured in Juxtapoz, Beautiful/Decay, HiFructose, The Huffington Post and Beautiful Bizarre magazines. She resides in West Hills, California, with her husband and two young children.

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