Wk 12 Artist Interview: Brenda Moron “wooden gallery”

This week, the art galleries at California State University Long Beach featured the work of Brenda Moron as well as her fellow wood group artists. Brenda is twenty-three years old and currently in her fourth year media wood/specialty major here at Cal State Long Beach.  After graduation, she is planning on returning to Long Beach in the fall to pursue a master’s degree. Brenda has said that what she likes best about working with wood is the nostalgia she gets while smelling it. She also enjoys working with wood because it allows her to use certain tools in order to create the intricate details. When creating art, Brenda says that “(her) inspiration is her dad”.

The “wooden gallery” was an assignment for an art class here at Long Beach so the gallery is made up of multiple peoples’ work. Brenda’s assignment was to create the wooden bench that is pictured above. It took Brenda two to three weeks to complete the bench. Her intention for the art piece was to present it to the campus facilities and see if they would like to place it somewhere on campus.

WK 11 Artist Interview: Michael Nannery “Aquariums”

This week, Michael Nannery’s art collection called “Aquariums” was featured at the art exhibits here at Cal State Long Beach. From a young age, Michael has had an interest for ornamental freshwater fishing. During his childhood, he had a variety of different fish including goldfish, betas, guppies, and pictus catfish. As a child, Michael failed to properly cared for the fish and now has become much more aware of his responsibilities as a fish caretaker. In taking care of the fish, Michael began to question why and how these animals have found a way into our homes and become our responsibility.

As an artist and a fish caretaker, Michael was able to find a parallel between the two. His idea was that the process of maintaining a proper fish tank is similar to that of creating a piece of art. To reiterate this theme, the fish keeper (artist) is responsible for how well the fish tank (piece of art) is maintained and how it appears to outsiders (final product of an artwork).  By caring for these fish, Michael has been able to find an outlet that allows him to express himself. “I have found both joy and sorrow in my aquariums”, Michael said.

 

Wk 3 Artist: Jazmin Urrea “Bom Bon”

Jazmin Urrea is a photographer that attends Cal State Long Beach and is graduating this spring. Her main hobby is photography and spends the majority of her time doing so. She lives in Los Angeles so she commutes to Long Beach on a daily basis during which she typically listens to hip hop or whatever is on the radio. Regarding movies, she enjoys horror films and comedies. In May, Jazmin will be putting on her last senior show here at Long Beach.

Jazmin Urrea spent two and a half weeks preparing her piece called “Bom Bon”. During which, she was accumulating candy, confetti, and wrappers through purchasing them herself or through donations. The piece was inspired by the American culture of food consumption; more specifically her twelve year old little sister. While answering questions, Jazmin informed the gallery viewers that her little sister has struggled with “weight loss and appearance issues”. In means to address the issue and set an example for her little sister, Jazmin “initiated a collaborative project involving documentation of our appearance through photographs”. For the piece, Jazmin picked everything her little sister and her like to eat: Mexican candy, cheetos, chocolate bars etc and pasted these items to the wall. The piece also features a looping video of a “victimized masked figure that personifies America’s obsession with junk food”. As an art viewer, I found the video to be very grotesque but understand Jazmin’s symbolism of it, she wanted to convey that by showing someone being disgustingly and aggressively force fed it is a “signifier of overindulgence in candy, treats, and fast food culture”.

WK 2 Artist: Patricia Anderson “Urban Exodus”

Artist Patricia Anderson uses simple geometric shapes to symbolism current controversial issues in our society including conformity, alcoholism, and being gay. The inspiration behind her artwork can be attributed to her own personal experiences. She grew up in different neighborhoods throughout Orange County and from there became fascinated with the “suburban facade and how everyone is polite and how everyone is conformist”.  Through her work, she started showing representations of “how they [people of suburbia] live and things in the neighborhood”. Patricia’s artwork is a great example of how meaningful a piece can be.

Her favorite pieces in the gallery are called boxes two and four (pictured above). Patricia “likes it structurally because [she] likes to work with wood”. She says that besides wood, she likes to work with the color gray because “there are so many textures and it is so artistic”. Patricia’s initial interest in art was a result of her “grandfather [being] a cabinet maker and [growing] up with art by drawing and going to museums”.

Artist, Patricia Anderson, pictured above with an art gallery viewer.

Wk 1 Artist: Brianna Allen “Bread Tags”

Since the artist, Brianna Allen, thought that there was no official name for these objects used in her piece, she deemed them “bread tags”. The gallery includes bread, carrots, potatoes, and onion tags. Brianna was inspired to create the piece after she “was holding the thing [bread tag] and saw the date and thought it would be pretty cool to make a calendar out of these and has been doing so for five years”.  The different length in columns represents the dates in which Brianna was unable to find a tag for that specific date of the year so she “came up with an arbitrary projection of what I might perceive in the future, I might be able to fill up that space in the next five years”.

Artist Brianna Allen photographed speaking with art viewers.