MFA Conversations Part I
May 9 - July 3, 2009
Opening Reception: May 9, 7 - 10PM
i-5 GALLERY at THE BREWERY ART COLONY
2100 N. Main St., #A-9 (in the Atrium at The Brewery), Los Angeles, CA 90031
Director: Nancy Ramirez. Curator: Marla Koosed
Directions: http://www.breweryartwalk.com/?page_id=13
323.342.0717
E-mail: breweryartwalk@yahoo.com
Web site: http://www.breweryartwalk.com
Gallery hours: Fri.-Sat., 12-4pm; & by appointment
Conversation: (NOUN) 1. An informal spoken exchange of thoughts and feelings; a familiar talk. 2. Social intercourse; close association. 3.Rare. Close acquaintance, as with an object of study.
I-5 is pleased to announce the first in a series of shows being offered this summer through the fall of 2009. MFA Conversations Part I (May/June) and Part II (July/August) explore the abundance of MFA and MA programs in the Southern California area from San Diego to Santa Barbara. Despite their shared geography, these programs represent a range of diverse offerings, foci, students, and work. While such diversity yields richness, it can also have an isolating effect on students from these institutions, who do not have many opportunities to interact in the greater southern California arts community.
Curator Marla Koosed explains: “I wanted to do something different. I wanted to bring the artists and their work together by having a series of MFA shows inclusive of all 15 schools in the region. By including a minimum of 7-8 schools per exhibit and presenting a small sampling of work from these various programs within an intimate space, the works would naturally start a dialogue. Most MFA shows are up for a limited period of time; Part I and Part II will be up for 2 months each. This will allow time for scheduling artist talks, for the participants to discuss their work, each others' work, and to share those conversations with a wider audience, the public.”
MFA Conversations Part I will show work from 7 schools; UC Irvine, Claremont, Cal State Fullerton, Cal State Northridge, Cal State San Bernardino, Cal State Los Angeles and Cal State Long Beach. This show is not a survey or comprehensive of all the graduates: Instead, studio visits for all eligible candidates for this show were conducted, and participants were chosen from that pool. The intimate scale of the I-5 Gallery allows for an exhibit like this to function and for the works to interact by the space they cohabit.
The third show in the series will be called Professor Dialogues (select works from faculty of the 15 schools) and will take place September through October 2009. Stay tuned. . .
