32 Degrees Latitude: Landscapes
June 15, 2017 to August 5, 2017 | Inaugural International Juried Art Exhibition
This exhibition is devoted to the discovery and promotion of artists whose interpretation of landscapes are inventive, thought-provoking and display expertise in both skill and execution of their concept.
In collaboration with the Art Department Chairs from California Lutheran University, California State Channel Islands, Moorpark College and Ventura College it was determined to select only three artists and provide these artists with a curated museum exhibition.
Out of the hundreds of submissions received for this Open Call, the jurors, who met and worked together for the first time on this project, faced difficult decisions. Luckily for us, the jurors worked well together and selected 'the cream of the crop.'
As you will see, each of these artists possess superb talent in their creative approaches to art making. This exhibition supports CMATO's mission to engage, educate and inspire the human spirit through the palette of Art. I hope you will enjoy the exhibition and spread the word that something special is going on in downtown Thousand Oaks!
This exhibition is the result of a strong and committed Board of Directors, generous sponsorship from Albert "Bud" Marley, Richard and Joyce Johnson, The Lake Avenue Group at Morgan Stanley, the City of Thousand Oaks, and volunteers and members like you who want art to blossom in the community.
Thank you for sharing in our goal of establishing an enduring arts institution in the Conejo Valley region. As this exhibition demonstrates, collaboration and adventuresome thinking can produce high quality art experiences.
This exhibition is generously sponsored by Albert D. Marley, Richard and Joyce Johnson, City of Thousand Oaks, and The Lake Avenue Group at Morgan Stanley.
CMATO is honored to showcase Rebecca Rutstein, a Philadelphia-based artist whose works are based in her interest in technology, geology, maps and the undercurrents that continually shape and reshape the world. Her large scale landscape sculptures and paintings are inspired by from her prestigious residency aboard two scientific naval exploration vessels that traveled the world. From these missions, Rutstein has mined the satellite and sonar data to present the wild, unbounded grandeur of the natural world with a technological sublimity that grasps at the infinite possibilities suggested by computers.
Jennifer Li, Art in America contributor, writes in the exhibition catalogue, “With her unique background and experience on board the Nautilus and the Falkor, Rutstein brought back reports not of measurable figures, but paintings and sculptures that give form to the nebulous enigma of the sea and its terrain, inspiring and propelling the scientific community and general public with visual poetry and portraits of the Sublime.”
Rutstein holds a BFA (Magna Cum Laude) from Cornell University and an MFA from University of Pennsylvania. She has been featured on NPR, Huffington Post and Vice Magazine.
Inguna Gremzde is an artist based in Riga, Latvia and London, United Kingdom. Gremzde captivates the viewer with her inventive approach to using plastic milk bottlecaps to represent the outside world.
In her works, the external world is shrunk down, grouped together, and lovingly painted inside a series of plastic caps. The artist’s eco-aesthetic approach to art making is meant to juxtapose contemporary consumer lifestyles with humankind’s historically romantic relationship with nature.
Viewing Gremzde’s prolific output, one is triggered to reflect on the relationship between mass production and the growing alienation from nature. Gremzde’s work represents an artist attempting to make a difference in the global environmental crisis by producing meaningful art geared to motivate society to more sustainable lifestyles.
Gremzde received her MFA from Wimbledon College of Art (London, UK) and had exhibitions in United States, United Kingdom, Germany, Spain, France, Belgium, Ireland, Bulgaria, Turkey, Cyprus, Israel, Japan, South Korea and Canada.
Thomas Wheeler is an artist based in Palos Verdes, California. Wheeler’s painted-light photography, all shot on solitary vast locations without any post-production effects, highlight the bewildering wonderment of the universe. The artistry found in Wheeler’s painted-light photographs comes from the combination of long exposures, hand-held light-emitting tools, and his decisive talent creating a photograph’s punctum (the personal touching detail which establishes a direct relationship with an object or person within a photograph).
Wheeler is part owner of the TAG artist-owned gallery group in Los Angeles and has been featured at the 5th Biennial of Fine Art for Abstract and Fine Art, London (2017), Soho Photo Gallery, NY (2016), 4th Biennial of Fine Art Berlin (2016), and in the Top 40 Artist Show at the LA Center for Digital Art (2015).
BY LUKE MATJAS
I always lose track of the number of switchbacks it takes to get from Encinal Canyon to the top of Sandstone Peak. At 3,111 feet, it is the highest point in the local Santa Monica Mountains, and the view from the top is magnificent. So many familiar Southern California landmarks are visible in one colossal sweep—Palos Verdes, San Gorgonio, the Northern and Southern Channel Islands, even the Santa Ynez Mountains above Santa Barbara. The toothy ridge of transverse mountains forms a distinctive horizon above the expansive valley of human activity below. Upon reaching the summit…
California Condor by Luke Matjas
Juror for 32 Degrees Latitude
BY RICHARD REITZELL
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.
What brings a special uniqueness to landscape paintings and why the viewer may enjoy some works more than others…
Thomas Moran, Autumn Landscape, 1865
JURORS
Erika Lizée is a Los Angeles-based artist that creates site-specific installations, as well as drawings and paintings. Most recently, Ms. Lizée built an installation within the International Terminal at the Los Angeles International Airport (LAX). She will be exhibiting new installations in the High Priestess show at ArtShare LA in March, and in a solo show at Gallery 825 in October. Her work has been featured in Juxtapoz, Beautiful/Decay, HiFructose, The Huffington Post and Beautiful Bizarre magazines. Ms. Lizée is the Chair of the Digital, Media and Visual Arts Department at Moorpark College, and the Director of the Moorpark College Art Gallery.
Bob Moskowitz earned his 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. He earned is M.F.A. in Painting at Washington University where he met his wife, artist Margie Moskowitz. He taught in St. Louis and Illinois until moving to California to teach at Ventura College where he is the art department chair. Bob currently 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.
Luke Matjas, an expatriate of Orange County’s suburban outback, Luke has some expertise when it comes to colonized space and constructed narratives. Hearkening back to the willful chaos of early curiosity cabinets, his work investigates the ways in which natural and unnatural histories have again become intertwined and entangled. The formats Luke employs alternate between immense room-sized digital prints, site-specific installations, and intimate drawings. The large digital prints, in particular, employ a unique process which painstakingly integrates traditional graphite drawings with thousands of overlaid digital vector drawings. The resulting effect exists somewhere between Hieronymus Bosch and contemporary skateboard graphics.
Luke’s work has been featured in a wide range of venues, including exhibitions at the Pasadena Museum of California Art (2013), the UC Davis Design Museum (2012), and the Crocker Art Museum (2011). His work is also included in the permanent collection of the Ventura County Museum of Art and History. He is an Associate Professor and Chair of the Art Department at California State University Channel Islands.
Timothy C. Hengst is a professor in the Multimedia Program and the Department Chair of the Art Department at California Lutheran University.
After receiving his graduate degree in medical and biological illustration from the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, he illustrated for Dr. Denton Cooley 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.
EXHIBITION STAFF & VOLUNTEERS
Tish Greenwood, Executive Director
Sandra Galin, Director of Advancement
VOLUNTEER STAFF
Florencia Glas, Exhibition Liaison
Lynn Farrand, Exhibition Coordinator
Reina Flynn, Special Projects Coordinator
Yara Morais, Social Media Coordinator
EXHIBITION TEAM
Mike Yee, Lead Preparator
Christian Bossler, Kayla Drews, Steve Freydl, Shawn McCabe, Martin Molina
PROGRAM
Program Design by Richard T. Johnson
Contributing writers:
Richard Reitzell, Jennifer S. Li, Katherine Cooksey, Luke Matjas, and Tish Greenwood