Saskia Jorda Wraps First Part of Residency

It has been a busy few months for artist in residence Saskia Jorda, who has been at Grand Central Art Center engaging the topic of quinceañera with our local community, with assistance of CSUF BFA student Angelica Perez-Aguirre.  She’s met with numerous individuals and groups, spent time in great conversations, has had generous collaborative assistance from many members of our Santa Ana neighborhood, as well as CSUF faculty, students and our GCAC team.  The collective efforts and energy are working towards the development of her project that will open in GCAC’s Don Cribb Project Room during the May 4, Downtown Santa Ana First Saturday Art Walk.

Saskia Jorda with Angelica Perez-Aguirre

Saskia Jorda with Joanna Roche and Matthew Miller

Over the course of the past few weeks, Saskia had the opportunity to speak at the contemporary art history class of CSUF professor Joanna Roche.  She welcomed students from Joy Shannon’s art classes of the Orange County School of the Arts into the Artist in Residence studio to share her past work and a conversation about the recent project.  CSUF students Aaron Jones,   and Maxwell Rivas joined community member Claudia de la Cruz for Saskia’s second Sunday Workshop and Conversation.

Saskia Jorda with CSUF students Angelica Perez-Aguirre, Maxwell Rivas, and community member Claudia de la Cruz.

Saskia Jorda with Joy Shannon’s students from Orange County School of the Arts

Saskia Jorda with Joanna Roche and Tracey Gayer

Saskia has concluded the first part of her residency, but will return in late April for the installation of the project.   We thought you might enjoy this little teaser of the full installation to come, it will be fantastic!  Mark your calendar now and plan to join us, we promise lots of outstanding art and a few surprises…

Kronos Quartet’s David Harrington Kicks-Off GCAC Santa Ana Sites Series

Last evening, Grand Central Art Center kicked-off Santa Ana Sites, a series being developed by GCAC through community collaborations, which aims to present contemporary performance in public and private spaces, in and around downtown Santa Ana.

Santa Ana Sites #1 featured David Harrington, Founder and Artistic Director of the Kronos Quartet.  Through our collaborative partner and the individual whose original conversation sparked this series, the inspiring Allen Moon, a select group of guests spent the evening in Moon’s downtown Santa Ana loft home, as Mr. Harrington shared his insights into Kronos’ creative process.

The evening began with a sound check, fine-tuning the system prior to the arrival of our guests.  We wish to thank Dennis Lluy and The Yost for their support with staging equipment.

As the guests arrived, they were greeted with appetizers, drinks and lively conversation. Our thanks to Dan Bradley and Diego Velasco of Memphis for their generosity of quality food for the evening, as well as an additional thank you to Dennis Lluy and The Yost for their gracious support with the beverages.   The mixer provided a chance to build new connections, meet those that are active with our community and visit with old friends.

Seats were put into place and the program for the evening was set to begin.  Using samples of music that’s currently catching his ear, David first presented work that spoke to inspiration, influence and music that continues to affect the Kronos aesthetic.

He invited the audience to be engaged throughout the evening, which they did, asking intriguing questions and receiving David’s thoughtful responses.  David shared information about current Kronos projects in development and spoke about the Under 30 project, an initiative that began during Kronos 30th anniversary, which cultivates the next generation of composers through commissions from  composers under the age of 30.  Kronos will announce the next selected composer of this honor at the end of this month..

It was an evening enjoyed by all, the perfect kick-off to our new GCAC series!

David is in town to perform with Kronos Quartet, as they present Sun Rings, Saturday, March 23^rd at The Carpenter Center for the Performing Arts.  The center is located on the campus of California State University, Long Beach. Information on the concert can be found online at:

http://www.carpenterarts.org/2012-2013/kronos-quartet.html

Kronos Quartet Website

http://www.kronosquartet.org/

Further information on Sun Rings can be found online at:

http://kronosquartet.org/projects/detail/sun_rings

Here is the annotated list of the selections David played last night, we thought you might enjoy it!

1]    Beethoven String Quartet #12 Op. 127 in E Flat Major [opening] Budapest String Quartet [recorded 1961 Sony Classical]

2]    David Harrington ‘Drone Forever’ Kronos Quartet –E Flat Minor Chord–from ‘Dirty Wars’ soundtrack

3]    David Harrington ‘Drone for Children’ Kronos Quartet–E Flat Minor Chord [rhythm]–from ‘Dirty Wars’ soundtrack

4]    ‘Llanero, si, soy Ilanero’ [Plainsman, Yes, I Am a Plainsman] from Joropo from the Orinoco Plains of Columbia [Smithsonian Folkways SFW CD 40515]

5]    Fela Kuti ‘Sorrow, Tears and Blood’ Kronos Quartet [Red Hot to be released July 2013]

6]    Mahalia Jackson ‘God Shall Wipe All Tears Away’ [recorded 1937 Vol. 1 complete Mahalia Jackson–Fremeaux & Associes]

7]    trad. Swedish ‘Tusen Tankar’ [A Thousand Thoughts] Kronos Quartet [released on Kronos website]

8]    Bob Dylan ‘Don’t Think Twice It’s All Right’ track #7 from The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan [Columbia]

9]    Bob Dylan/Philip Glass/Kronos ‘Don’t Think Twice It’s All Right’ track # 20 CD #3 from Chimes of Freedom-The Songs of Bob Dylan [Amnesty International]

10]  Antarctica Doug Quin ‘Weddell Seals–Underwater’ track #3 [Wild Sanctuary]

11]  Animal Music: Team of Jeremy Roht–West Dawson, Yukon Territory [Suppose]

12]  Sounds of North American Frogs ‘The Biological Significance of Voice in Frogs’ tracks #1-3 recordings and narration by Charles M. Bogert [Smithsonian Folkways]

13]  Don Walser/Kronos Quartet ‘Danny Boy’ live recording UT Austin [1999] -soon to be released

14]  George Crumb ‘Black Angels’ Kronos Quartet track #1 ‘Night of the Electric Insects’ [Nonesuch]

15]  Nicolas Repac ‘Black Box’ track #1 ‘Chain Gang Blues’ [No Format-Naive]

Individuals he mentioned during his program:

Studs Terkel [radio announcer/author]

Terence Blanchard [composer for Spike Lee’s ‘Katrina’]

Nikki Finney [poet–National Book Award]

Howard Zinn [historian/activist/writer]

The Raitt St. Chronicles: A Survivors Oral History Update – GCAC Collaboration with Santa Ana Public Library

The Raitt St. Chronicles: A Survivors Oral History is well underway, so we thought we would provide an update on this Grand Central Art Center collaborative project with the Santa Ana Public Library Teen Program.  GCAC Artist in Residence Jules Rochielle has been deeply involved with the development and progress of the project, along with Manny Escamilla and Cheryl Eberly of the Santa Ana Public Library, California State University Fullerton partner American Studies Lecturer Sharon Sekhon (who also happens to be director of the Studio for Southern California History), with assistance from artist Christina Sanchez and California State University Long Beach student Michelle Lopez.

Each week, the teens are meeting with the project team to discuss skill sets and approaches to the interviewing and recording of oral histories.  Last weeks meeting began with Sharon talking to the youth about the My Neighborhood photo essay challenge.  Each teen was handed a camera for which they will use over the course of the next few weeks to create photo documentation of their own neighborhood, from their individual perspectives.

Jules offered a content management workshop to the teens, as they work to develop a comprehensive website for the project that will document the ongoing activities and house interviews.

Here is a link to the website in progress:

http://raittstreetchronicles.com/

Manny Escamilla, from the Santa Ana Public Library History Room, then escorted the teens to the Southwest Senior Center to meet and interview Gonzalo Mendez Jr.  Gonzalo Mendez Jr. was one of the children involved in the Mendez v Westminster case that overturned school segregation in CA. It also turns out that he grew up on Raitt St. and 3rd when Raitt St. was still known as Artesia. He shared his unique perspective on growing up in the neighborhood and watching it transform over time. The teens asked great questions and were fully engaged by Mr. Mendez’s stories, which will be documented in the full archive for this project.

Orange County Register reporter Ron Gonzales joined the teens for the conversation, we thought you might enjoy the article he wrote about the experience.  Here is a link to that article:

Barrio memories fuel oral-history project

http://www.ocregister.com/articles/mendez-500015-school-neighborhood.html

Community impactful projects like this are made possible through the generous support of foundations, corporate sponsorships and the generosity of individuals who believe in the mission and purpose of such collaborative efforts.  To date, this collaboration with Santa Ana Public Library has be fortunate to receive support from a Cal Humanities 2013 Community Stories grant, but additional funding and in-kind support is needed to realize this project, as well as other projects in the works, to their fullest and most positive impactful outcomes.  The Raitt St. Chronicles: A Survivors Oral History has submitted to the Knight Foundation News Challenge for additional support, you can read the complete submission of the proposal through this link:

Santa Ana Neighborhood Civic Atlas: Connecting Citizens to Civic Engagement and Democratic Action – Knight Foundation News Challenge Proposal

https://www.newschallenge.org/open/open-government/submission/santa-ana-neighborhood-civic-atlas-connecting-citizens-to-civic-engagement-and-democratic-action/

Results of this project will manifest into a future exhibition project by Jules Rochielle, which will be schedule to take place at Grand Central Art Center.

If you share our passion, collaborative spirit and vision of our institutional mission, we would truly appreciate your generous support to realize such projects for the greater success of our community.

We’ve made it easy to DONATE NOW through our simple and secure online CSUF GCAC form:

https://www.fullerton.edu/foundation/gift/form.asp?Appeal=8GJ00/CSFPF&fund=Grand%20Central%20Art%20Center%7C40003

To arrange corporate giving and in-kind support, please contact us directly by calling Grand Central Art Center (714) 567.7233.  Ask for Director/Chief Curator John Spiak.

All proceeds and in-kind support will directly benefit our activities, allowing Grand Central Art Center the opportunity to work with artists in developing more exhibitions, residencies, programs, events and lectures for our communities. As the projects develop, we will continue to keep you informed through email and blog postings, and provide you invitations to our exciting activities.

Workshop (3/17) & Update on Artist in Residence Saskia Jorda’s Unraveling Tradition

Grand Central Art Center Artist in Residence Saskia Jorda and her artistic collaborator, California State University at Fullerton visual art student Angelica Perez-Aguirre, invite you to join them at GCAC this Sunday, March 17th from 2-4pm, for a hands-on workshop in the development of the project Unraveling Tradition.

With the intention of bringing about a broader understanding of the Quinceañera tradition, they invite you to share your story and hear those of others.

Complete details for the workshop can be found below, but we wanted to first provide you a little update on the activities related to Saskia’s residency and the overall project – which will result in a full installation at GCAC scheduled to open with a major reception on May 4th from 7-10pm.

During the Downtown Santa Ana March First Saturday, Saskia and Angelica were joined by Quinceañera magazines January-April issue Cover Girl Jennifer Razo and the issues Miss Popular Sabrina Torres. The Artist in Residence studio was opened to our GCAC 2nd Street Promenade, inviting the public to join them in conversation, hands-on activities and a magazine signing by their two celebrity guests.  Thank you to Quinceañera magazines for their continued support of this project!

The following afternoon, March 3rd, Saskia and Angelica presented their first public workshop.  They were joined by members of our community who brought their own personal stories, histories and future plans associated with the tradition Quinceañera, sharing a wonderful afternoon of conversation.  While everyone talked, they engaged in hand making activities involving fabrics, buttons and photographs.  Much was shared to inform the project and help in the development of the workshop scheduled for this Sunday.

Since that first workshop, Saskia and Angelica have been hard at work in the Artist in Residence studio.  Saskia has been developing, with the assistance of our amazing preparatory Matthew Miller, the overall plans for the spinning sculptural element which will be presented in the GCAC Project Gallery this May.  The two artists have also been busy sewing fabric elements.  To date they have gathered and ruffled over 160 yards, with a goal of over 500 yards when the project is complete.

Our entire GCAC team is excited to see the outcome of this project in May and we invite you to join us that evening, which we promise will hold many surprises!

So come be a part of the project and join Saskia and Angelica for this Sunday’s workshop at Grand Central Art Center’s Artist in Residence Studio!

Here are the workshop details:

Workshop: March 17, 2-4 pm

Explore the Quinceañera tradition
by sharing your story with us

Join artists Saskia Jordá and Angelica Perez-Aguirre at Grand Central Art Center in Santa Ana for a project entitled “Quinceañera.”

With the intention of bringing about a broader understanding of the Quinceañera tradition, we invite you to share your story and hear those of others. If you are a:
- Quinceañera who is preparing for your special day.
- Young girl or woman who has already gone through this celebration.
- Parent, relative, or friend interested in sharing your own experience.
Or, join us if you are simply interested in learning about this long-standing tradition.

Come and take part in the “Recuerdos” or “memory” making day.
- Share your photos and experiences and listen to those of others.
- Transform your Quinceañera dress or any item from your celebration into wearable art objects or “Recuerdos.”
- Or come and share your excitement and ideas, and work with our materials.

A series of free workshops on:
 SUNDAY, MARCH 3, 2013 from 2-4 PM 
SUNDAY, MARCH 17, 2013 from 2-4 PM 
GRAND CENTRAL ART CENTER, A.I.R Studio
125 N. Broadway, Santa Ana, CA
Drop in or let us know if you can join us by calling us at: (714) 567-7233
For more info visit: https://grandcentralartcenter.wordpress.com/

Explore la tradición de Quinceañera compartiendo su historia con nosotros

Acompañe a las artistas Saskia Jordá y Angelica Perez-Aguirre en Grand Central Art Center en Santa Ana para un proyecto titulado “Descifrando una Tradición”.
Le invitamos a compartir su historia y escuchar las de otros, con la intención de lograr una comprensión más amplia de la tradición de la Quinceañera. Si Ud. es:
- Una Quinceañera que se prepara para su día especial
- Una joven o mujer que ya ha pasado por esta celebración
- Familiar o amigo interesado en compartir su propia experiencia
- O simplemente acompáñenos si está interesado/a en aprender más sobre esta tradición.

Venga y participe en un día de crear “Recuerdos”.

– Comparta sus fotos y experiencias y escuche las de otros.
- Transforme su vestido de Quinceañera o cualquier artículo de su celebración en objetos de arte usables o “Recuerdos”.
- O venga y comparta su entusiasmo e ideas y trabaje con nuestros materiales.

Una serie de talleres gratuitos el:

DOMINGO, 3 DE MARZO, 2013 from 2-4 PM
DOMINGO, 17 DE MARZO, 2013 from 2-4 PM

GRAND CENTRAL ART CENTER, A.I.R Studio
125 N. Broadway, Santa Ana, CA
Preséntese o avísenos si nos puede acompañar llamándonos al: (714) 567-7233
Para más información visite: https://grandcentralartcenter.wordpress.com/