New GCAC Website and Blog!

Grand Central Art Center is excited to announce its newly designed website with blog, now online!

We invite you to visit:
http://www.grandcentralartcenter.com/

Wonderful Day of Celebration @ GCAC

Yesterday, Grand Central Art Center hosted an event celebrating Pakistan Independence Day, organized by artists-in-residence Heather Layton and Brian Bailey, part of their current year long project 59 Days of Independence. They are here in residency through the generous funding support of the GCAC artist-in-residency program provided by a grant from The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts.

The day including a “Malala Trilingual Book Reading for Kids,” with children’s stories of Pakistani-American and Mexican-American culture read in Spanish, Urdu and English, with projections of the illustrations.

Recent Orange County School for the Arts student Miguel Pulido (Class of 2014, beginning Pitzer College this fall) helped to organize the activities, as well as participated in the reading and performed on guitar. His contributions to the event brought a joyful spirit and energy through music.

The afternoon provided an opportunity to view an assortment of craft objects that reflect the development of Pakistani visual culture from traditional to contemporary. A hands-on activity table was set-up within the space, with both children and adults sharing their creative skills. Delicious traditional food for all in attendance was available from Noorani Halal Restaurant.

In addition to Heather, Brian and Miguel, Grand Central Art Center thanks the following individuals for making the celebration possible:
Ifra Khoso, Sheba Akhtar, Almas Asif, Farhan Aziz, Anila Ali, Monica Mouet, Pam Solorzano and the Irvine Pakistani Parents’ Association.

We concluded the day with a GCAC Dutch Treat Dinner at The Robbins Nest Wine Bar here in downtown Santa Ana. A great group of individuals, including CSUF grad students and faculty members, four current GCAC artists-in-residence, a curator and artist coming down for the night from Los Angeles and many of our creative collaborative community members, all joining us for the event. Thanks to Lisa Robbins and her wonderful team for allowing us to take over a big part of her restaurant for the evening of great conversations and connections!

We thank you all for your continued support of GCAC and look forward to having you join us for upcoming programs and receptions.

Wild Times Continue with Susan Robb @ GCAC!

If you’ve been to Grand Central Art Center over the past few months, then you know just how “wild” it’s been, following artist Susan Robb on her journey to conquer the Pacific Crest Trail (PCT) through her Wild Times project.

Susan began her trek in Campo, Mexico in April, recently passing the half way mark and today is making camp in Ashland, OR, on her way to the finishing mark of Manning BC, Canada.

You can follow her travel through the “transmissions” on the Wild Times website and by visiting GCAC to see the 2D, 3D and written transmissions in person.

More details on the project at GCAC can be found on our blog at:
https://grandcentralartcenter.wordpress.com/2014/04/23/susan-robb-wild-times-opening-reception-53-gcac/

Wild Times is a project of Creative Capital and is supported by Grand Central Art Center, Palm Springs Art Museum, 826 Valencia, Tacoma Art Museum, Frye Art Museum, and the Henry Art Gallery.

Generous in-kind support has been provided by MakerBot, Microsoft, Projecteo, Washington Trails Association, and Whole Foods Market.

We look forward to having you join us!

Pakistan Independence Day Celebration & Dutch Treat Dinner (Aug. 14) – 59 Days of Independence Project @ Grand Central Art Center

Earlier this year, Heather Layton and Brian Bailey joined us as artists in residence, here to realize programs through their current project 59 Days of Independence. Throughout 2014, a vast network of artists, musicians, dancers, authors, filmmakers and community members from around the globe are celebrating the independence days of 59 countries that once gained freedom from British rule. The most important part of the project is that they are all celebrating for countries OTHER than their own. In January, they celebrated Burma’s 66th independence day on JANUARY 4TH at GCAC by giving away 66 hand-painted lanterns.

PAKISTAN INDEPENDENCE DAY CELEBRATION @ 2PM, THURSDAY, AUGUST 14TH

This week Heather and Brian return as GCAC artists in residence, developing a project celebrating Pakistan’s 67th independence day on AUGUST 14th, with a “Malala Trilingual Book Reading for Kids”. The celebration will include a trilingual reading of three selected picture books (approx. ages 4-8). The 1st and 3rd will teach about aspects of Pakistani-American culture and the 2nd will teach about aspects of Mexican-American culture. The books will be read in Spanish, Urdu and English with projections of the illustrations on the wall. We will transform the room into a colorful and intriguing space reflecting Pakistan’s rich visual culture. There will be a food table with small samplings from a local Pakistani restaurant. Also onsite will be an assortment of craft objects that show the development of Pakistani visual culture from traditional to contemporary. Funding in support of this GCAC residency is provided by a grant from The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts.

In January, during the First Saturday Art Walk, Heather and Brian met and began a conversation with Orange County School for the Arts student Miguel Pulido (now an alum of OCSA, Class of 2014). Miguel was excited about their project and they began a dialogue about collaboration toward this current project. Miguel was instrumental in the development of this program and is connecting the project with additional students and alum of OCSA to get them involved, including Monica Mouet and Pam Solorzano who assisted with the early development.

Through these collaborative efforts a relationship was established with the Irvine Pakistani Parents’ Association, through its members Ifra Khoso, Sheba Akhtar, Almas Asif, Farhan Aziz and Anila Ali, who are actively collaborating on the program of celebration on August 14th here at Grand Central Art Center.

DUTCH TREAT DINNER @ 7PM, THURSDAY, AUGUST 14TH
@ THE ROBBINS NEST WINE BAR

The event will be followed that evening by a GCAC DUTCH TREAT DINNER, beginning 7pm at The Robbins Nest Wine Bar here in Downtown Santa Ana, 207 West 2nd Street. The artists and many of their collaborators will be at the event to connect further with those in attendance. DUTCH TREAT DINNER are an opportunity to build new connections, reconnect with those you know and develop a stronger community of creative individuals. Unlike a gala or formal dinner event, DTD has no set menu, ticket price or seating arrangement – you order straight from the standard menu, attend for free and sit with those you wish. Individuals attending are responsible for their own dinner bill, hence the name DUTCH TREAT DINNER. There is no pressure – you eat and drink what you order and can afford.

WE LOOK FORWARD TO HAVING YOU JOIN US IN CELEBRATION!

Here are the details on the program…

Malala Yousafzai ke baray mein kutub Beeni,
Bachon ke liye teen zabano mein

Thursday, August 14, 2:00pm
Grand Central Art Center
125 N. Broadway, Santa Ana

Un evento que celebra el dia de independencia de Pakistan con música, comida y una lectura a voz alta trilingüe de libros infantiles cuales demuestran la belleza de la diversidad cultural. / A free event that celebrates Pakistan’s independence day with music, food, and a trilingual reading of three picture books that demonstrate the beauty of cultural diversity.

Daaqula muft aura am hae / Gratis e Abierto Al Publico.

Update on Recordings of an Immigrant – A Project by Vincent Goudreau

We wanted to provide you with a little update on Vincent Goudreau, who was artist in residence at GCAC last fall. As you may recall, Vincent was here at GCAC working on the early development of his project Recordings of an Immigrant. The residency proved to be a very productive time, and the project continues to develop in positive ways.

A NEW SCROLLING WEBSITE was just placed online this week, so we thought we would share that link. (use the scroll bar on the right of your browser to navigate down the page).
http://recordingsofanimmigrant.com/

Recordings of an Immigrant is a non-fiction narrative, which inspired a multidisciplinary project including a book compiled from transcribed audio recordings. This is a survival story of Juan Aquino’s journey from the genocide of Guatemala to the courtrooms of the United States.

The project is supported through the artist in residence program of Grand Central Art Center, a unit of California State University, Fullerton’s College of the Arts, with funding support provided by an anonymous donor and from The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts.

Vincent will be returning as artist in residence at GCAC from November through December to continue his work on the project, developing the last of the prints, as well as final edits and design of the publication.

We look forward to having you over to GCAC for a visit with Vincent!

We LOVE the Thursday Farmers’ Market in Downtown Santa Ana!

This signed appeared this morning in front of Grand Central Art Center, which made us extremely happy. Each Thursday from 4-8pm, at the East End of Downtown Santa Ana, is the wonderful DTSA Certified Farmers’ Market.

We hope you will come to downtown to join us at the Farmers’ Market. And when you do, stop by GCAC to say hello – we stay open until 7:30pm each Thursday during the summer.

ARTIST TALK: Flora Kao – Wind House, Abode That A Breath Effaced (8/2 @ 6PM) – GCAC

Please join us on Saturday, August 2nd at 6:00PM for a conversation with Flora Kao. The artist will be discussing her work and her current installation in the Grand Central Art Center Project Room – Wind House, Abode That A Breath Effaced.

Artists in Residence, Tacos and a Wedding – Another Typical Weekend @ GCAC

At Grand Central Art Center you never know what to expect, especially when you are an artist in residence. The only thing that is certain is fun activities and connecting with great people.

This past week we had Lisa Bielawa back in residence as we prepare for her major opera project Vireo, a project with her long-time collaborator librettist Erik Ehn. It was a week full of meetings with community leadership, potential collaborators, individuals from Cal State Fullerton and key members of our direct community.

We also continue to have in residence curator Regine Basha, here for the month of July working on projects and talking possibilities of future collaborations with GCAC through her Basha Projects initiative.

But it’s not all work around GCAC, we always find time to walk down to our favorite local tacoria and grab some lunch. Tacos provide a great way for our artists in residence and staff to connect further – just ask Lisa, Regine and GCAC Associate Director Tracey Gayer.

And what GCAC weekend would be complete without an event on our 2nd Street plaza? This weekend, Delilah Snell (our former GCAC tenant through her Road Less Traveled store, Co-Founder of Patchwork Modern Handmade Festival and Co-Founder of the Craftcation Conference for Creative Makers) and Gustavo Arellano (Editor of OC Weekly, Author of Taco USA, writer of the syndicated column “¡Ask a Mexican!”) celebrated their marriage with a reception on the plaza. Delilah and Gustavo sure know how to throw a party! It was, as they have called it “a street fiesta”, with a great mix of live bands, DJ’s including the world famous Richard Blade (formerly of KROQ and now on SiriusXM 1st Wave), great food and drink, and a wonderful gathering of the Santa Ana community. It also provided the opportunity for some dancing to classic 80s pop, allowing Lisa Bielawa to get in on the festivities and share some moves with GCAC’s Santa Ana Sites Co-Found Allen Moon – a fun time was had by all!

GCAC SENDS OUR CONGRATULATIONS TO DELILAH AND GUSTAVO – SUCH A LOVELY COUPLE! TO A LIFE TIME OF HAPPINESS!!!

Successful “Burial” of the Time Capsule!

Grand Central Art Center held a time capsule “burial” event and reception this past Saturday, July 12th, in association with artist Daniel Tucker’s GCAC artist in residence project Future Perfect: Time Capsules in Reagan Country.

Daniel was joined during the day by Los Angeles based filmmaker Emily Forman, who was there at the ceremony to help document the event and individual interviews, and GCAC Director John D. Spiak, who assisted with the “burial” of the capsule.

The artists overall project was inspired from a speech by former US President and then California State Governor, Ronald Reagan, as he was Addressing the Republican National Convention in 1976, encouraged individuals to look toward the future.

The ten year Santa Ana Time Capsule is a collaboration among the community, artist, GCAC and Santa Ana Public Library’s History Room, organized by Daniel and library archivist Manny Escamilla. Members of the community were encouraged to attend the event and contribute items to the time capsule they felt helps to answer the question “What is Santa Ana like in 2014?”

In Daniel’s research, he discovered that many time capsules are buried, and then become forgotten. In an attempt to prevent this from happening, instead of an actual burial, it was decided that the capsule would be hoisted in a more publically visible space of the Grand Central Art Center where it will remain for the next ten years. The capsule is secured with three individual locks, with the artist, library and GCAC in possession of the keys to an individual lock. In the year 2024, all three keys will be brought back together, the capsule will be lowered, each of the three locks removed by their responsible individual, and the contents revealed at a public ceremony.

We look forward to having you join us at GCAC in 2024 as we come together to celebrate the time capsule!

Daniel is in the process of editing a film documenting his research, process and travels during his GCAC artist-in-residence, as well as a publication with critical writing from multiple perspectives, so we will keep you posted as these develop.

Fostering Connections @ GCAC

Grand Central Art Center continues to be a place where great connections occur. Today, our current GCAC creative-in-residence, independent curator Regine Basha, met with our GCAC visitors Andrea Hanley, Membership and Programs Manager at the Museum of Contemporary Native Art, a center of the Institute of American Indian Arts, and artist Kade Twist, who is a member of the collective Postcommodity.

Andrea and Kade are visiting Southern California from Santa Fe, New Mexico, stopping by GCAC for a visit to discuss our artist-in-residence program, as Andrea is in the early stages of developing and programming MoCNA’s new Social Engagement Residency Program.

Over lunch and a meeting in the GCAC artist-in-residence studio space, Regine, Andrea and Kade were able to share documentation, discover mutual friends and colleagues, and exchange valuable resource knowledge.

We love that GCAC continues to foster such connections!