Jessamyn Lovell: Catastrophe, Crisis, and Other Family Traditions
Exhibition Dates: January 13 to February 8, 2012
Artist Statement:
Catastrophe, Crisis, and Other Family Traditions is a long-term project that incorporates photography, text and drawings to create an anthology of sorts of my family’s life. The book serves as a journal that includes the stories and erratic, transformative history of the struggles my family has dealt with and continues living through on a small farm in rural Upstate New York. In the book and on the walls of the gallery are stories, emails, letters, lists, dialog, and histories that inform the viewer about my family and my ever-changing relationship with them.
I see this body of work as a personal documentation of an American family struggling with class, identity, and disability. Although I deal directly with these issues in relation to my life a wide variety of viewers can relate to family tragedy and crisis. Catastrophe, Crisis, and Other Family Traditions looks at the daily lives of my sisters, adopted brother, mother, and my relationships with each of them from a distance. I am investigating the relationships within the family as well as each person's ability to transcend the circumstances we were given and using the photographs, video and drawings as a mirror to understand myself better. By allowing access to this sort of self-examination, viewers may be able to gain a better understanding of how one family lives as well as reflect on their own struggles.
Artist Bio:
Jessamyn Lovell, BFA Rochester Institute of Technology, MFA California College of the Arts, is an artist and educator living in Albuquerque, NM. Her art practice integrates a combination of digital and traditional photography, writing, and map-making to examine personal narrative and the imperfections of day to day life.
Her photographs have been exhibited nationally, and she is the recipient of several awards, including the 2007 Aperture Portfolio Prize. Her work has also gained recognition and support from such institutions as the SF MoMA, Magnum Photos, Light Work, Richmond Art Center, The Museum of Forward Thinking, and SF Camerawork.
Rodger Jacobson, Kay Russell, & Helen Stanley: Retrospective/ Introspective
Exhibition Dates: February 13 to February 23, 2012
Reception: February 14, Tuesday, 4 to 7pm
Rodger Jacobsen, Kay Russell, and Helen Stanley are long-time, dedicated instructors in the CCSF art department. As retirements draw closer, this exhibition celebrates their range of artistic development over the years. Exhibition pieces include drawings, watercolor, oil painting, collage, mixed media, and sculpture.
City College of San Francisco Metal Arts Alumni: Making It
Exhibition Dates: March 5 to April 4, 2012
Annual Student Juried Exhibition, Juror: John Wehrle
Drop Off Dates: April 5, 9, 10, 11
Exhibition Dates: April 18 to May 16, 2012
Reception: April 30, Monday, 12 to 2pm
Pick Up Dates: May 17, 21, 22, 23, & 24
Juror Bio:
John Wehrle was born in San Antonio and raised all over Texas. Never a gifted athlete, Wehrle compensated by becoming the best airplane drawer in the fourth grade. Finding success with this endeavor he continued a creative path, studying art at Texas Tech in Lubbock, where he was cartoonist for the student newspaper. Commissioned a Lieutenant in the US Army, in 1966 he was chosen to be the leader of the first “combat artist” team sent to cover the war in Vietnam. Paintings from this experience are part of the permanent collection of the Military Historical Division at the Pentagon.
Following Graduate School at Pratt Institute in New York, Wehrle moved west for a teaching job at the California College of Arts and Crafts in Oakland. He quit his day job in 1973 and moved to Montana to build a wilderness log cabin. For the last thirty years he has been creating public murals and installations throughout California. Many of these monumental paintings have become urban landmarks. He has painted murals on the outside of the DeYoung Museum, one on a downtown Los Angeles freeway for the 1984 Olympics, and has fabricated installations for libraries, firehouses, schools, and train stations throughout California. He created a series of signature paintings for various Bay Area biotech firms and several prominent public artworks for the City of Richmond. Wehrle’s work has been featured in numerous books and in the film Mur Mur by Agnes Varda. Recent explorations have included large panoramic photographs that have been shown in several Bay Area exhibitions. He currently resides in Richmond, California.
