A new lecture series sponsored by the Associates of Brand Library featuring prominent artists from the greater Los Angeles area discussing their artwork and careers and showing images of their work.

No upcoming talks are scheduled at this time.

Previous Talks ...

Saturday, September 24, 2011 - Pulp Fiction, a lecture and demo by paper artist Rachelle Woo Chuang   -   Show info / Hide info

Rachelle Woo Chuang is an artist, educator and creative consultant. She has a Bachelors degree in Graphic Design and worked in the field for several years. She discovered hand papermaking and letterpress at Pyramid Atlantic Art Center while living on the East Coast. In 2006 she received her MFA in Book Arts from the University of the Arts in Philadelphia. Currently Rachelle is an adjunct instructor at Chapman University, Biola University, Irvine Valley College and Orange Coast College. She also teaches book arts and letterpress in multiple locations including the Cerritos Public Library and Irvine Fine Arts Center and works in her own art studio in Laguna Beach. Volunteer activities include directing the annual Los Angeles Printers Fair at the International Printing Museum in Carson, CA. Ms Chuang says: "As a tactile artist, I am deeply attracted to the seductive and material quality found in handmade paper and letterpress printing. The unit of an individual page communicates mystery and beauty in its role as receptor and transmitter of ideas. My work honors paper as a primary surface rather than the supporting role it usually plays. Composed of handmade and hand-dyed papers from various fibers, my book objects and sculptural works communicate through the poetry of the page. A sense of freedom and allusion to natural elements are revealed through the orchestration of page, binding and structure." Rachelle's website

May 14, 2011 - Mark Steven Greenfield   -   Show info / Hide info

The Associates of Brand Library is proud to present a talk by artist Mark Steven Greenfield, former director of the Watts Towers of Simon Rodia, who will discuss how his work has evolved over the past 25 years. Mr. Greenfield explains why he does this work in the following statement: My work is intended to stimulate dialogue on the subject of racism in American culture, but the subject matter, by extension, could just as easily address racism on an international level. I use images of white people in Blackface in the act of re-appropriating that which was appropriated in the name of theatre with the aim of neutralizing their negative effect. The images in my work from the “Blackatcha, Incognegro and Mammygraphs series operate on a sub-cognitive level and address social and cultural manifestations of "Mundane Stress Syndrome" as detailed in Dr. Grace Massey’s book, The Other Side of the Moon. Mundane Stress is something African Americans have long endured as a result of the intentional dehumanization of our image through the use of stereotypes by the dominant culture. Our logical and natural tendency to suppress the effect of degrading images of our character give rise to their ascendency to the status of a "shadow" that haunts our very existence. This "Shadow" effect , if allowed to go unacknowledged, has the power to alter one’s self image in ways they have no control over. There is such a conscious effort to overcome the stereotype that we lose sight of the fact that the ultimate determination and others perception of us is beyond our ability to control. Dr. Massey contends that this is one of the leading causes of hypertension in African Americans, reaping havoc on the social fabric of black families, communities and contributing to premature death. In my work I force the viewer to confront the image of the stereotype by initially buffering their reaction to it through visual redirection, either through text, visual distortion or intentionally making it obscure. Through this "recontextualization" the viewer is armed with the psychological tools to remove the power of the stereotype rendering it benign. At that point we focus can be shifted to an analysis of those who perpetrated the stereotype and the weakness that forced them to actively seek to adopt alternate personas. Mark Steven Greenfield 11/30/10 Mark's Website

March 12, 2011 - Juan Rosillo   -   Show info / Hide info

The Associates of Brand Library & Art Center is proud to present a discussion with visuals by artist Juan Rosillo, entitled "My Secret Voice". Mr. Rosillo will speak about growing up in a small, sleepy Colombian town, similar to the mythical Macondo in Garcia Marquez's novel One Hundred Years of Solitude, before television and with virtually no exposure to the logos and emblems that abound in a large metropolis. Mr. Rosillo's "secret voice" represents a unique reflection of the experiences that influence the artist - academics, classical drawing and in his case, the multi-cultural influence of a Colombian-Italian upbringing. Mr. Rosillo will also speak about the differences between the role of the artist in Colombia versus the United States. Rosillo, a self-taught artist, works in various media including sculpture, painting, drawing, etching, serigraph, stone litho, tile, and mosaic. However, his first love is the art of printmaking which he considers a more democratic medium than either painting or sculpture. Rosillo founded American Serigraph, a fine art printmaking atelier, in Los Angeles which later merged with the printmaking studio Samper Silkscreen. American Serigraph and Samper Silkscreen became two of the leading fine art printmaking houses in the United States. Visit www.rosillo.com/art for further information.

January 29 - Amy Blount Lay   -   Show info / Hide info

Amy Blount Lay, artist/activist/educator, will speak and conduct a workshop entitled Failure: The Gift that Keeps on Giving about the joy of making art, focusing on three dimensions of the artistic process that artists know all too well: failure, fear, and rejection. The event is open to the general public and artists, emerging and established alike, are asked to bring a work they created which they consider to be a failure. Works can be of any medium but should not exceed 30" x 30" x 30" in dimension. Using the so-called failures as examples, Ms. Lay will moderate an artistic exchange of ideas and discussion. "This exercise is part exquisite corpse*, part flea market, part disaster relief. We will examine the reality of 'failure' and possibilities of 'rescue' in the creative process", says Ms. Lay. BACKGROUND/BIOGRAPHY: Amy Blount Lay moved to Los Angeles from Chicago in the early 1990s and received her MFA at California Institute of the Arts in 1994. She had planned to move back east after graduation, but was won over by the depth and breadth of the art scene in Southern California and decided to make Los Angeles her home. In August 2010 her artist-activist project "The last time I tried to be human, I almost died" took her to Denmark as a part of an artist exchange. Presently, she is developing programming for her not-for-profit, Leviathan Projects. Leviathan Projects is an organization dedicated to the appreciation and advancement of the "artist slash whatever" (e.g. artist/teacher, artist/dentist, artist/...etc., etc.). Leviathan Projects (www.leviathanprojects.org) will launch officially in late January 2011. *Exquisite Corpse is a method by which a collection of words or images are collectively assembled, the result being known as the exquisite corpse or cadavre exquis in French. It is a technique used by Surrealists, and is based on an old parlor game called "consequences" in which players wrote in turn on a sheet of paper, folded it to conceal part of the writing, and then passed it to the next player for a further contribution. (See www.wordiq.com.)

December 4, 2010 - Los de Abajo Printmaking Collective   -   Show info / Hide info

The third event in this new series features printmakers from the East Los Angeles Los de Abajo Printmaking Collective who will give an artist talk and demonstration on their tortilla press. Los de Abajo is a group of artists who came together at Self-Help Graphics & Art, the East Los Angeles Chicano/Latino Arts Center. Their initial goal was to hone their printmaking skills and exchange ideas. Two of the artists, who were at the time printmaking instructors at SHG, organized the first portfolio project by the group titled, Basic Needs. The group decided to take the name Los de Abajo, which means "those from below," inspired by the revolt of the downtrodden during the Mexican Revolution. It also refers to the physical location of the collective's workshop, directly below Self-Help Graphics' administration office. The collective has actively participated in festivals such as the Barnsdall Park Arts Festival, the American Institute of Graphic Arts festival, the Day of the Dead celebration at Self-Help Graphics & Art, 1st Street Studios Art Market, and given printmaking workshops and demonstrations at the Brand Library, East LA, Avenue 50 Studio Gallery in Highland Park, CA and the Manhattan Beach Creative Arts Center, Manhattan Beach, CA, among others. They have exhibited extensively as well.

October 23, 2010 - A Printing Party with Nancy Jo Haselbacher and Cathy Weiss   -   Show info / Hide info

The Printing Party The Associates of Brand Library & Art Center is pleased to sponsor the second event in a new series called "Talking About Art". The two presenters, prominent Los Angeles artists Nancy Haselbacher and Cathy Weiss, will discuss their art and demonstrate how they integrate the printmaking process into their work. Attendees are encouraged to bring a recycled t-shirt or tote bag for a demonstration of printing ready-made silkscreen and wood block images.
	Nancy Jo Haselbacher has a Master of Fine Arts from the Rhode Island School of Design. She utilizes printmaking and photography techniques in her work. Nancy lives and works in Los Angeles, at her studio Indelible Press, and teaches at Otis College of Art and Design.
	Cathy Weiss received a graduate fellowship in printmaking at Pratt Institute. She has had several recent exhibitions including the Irvine Fine Arts Center and the International Postcard Show at the University of the West of England. She is dedicated to promoting printmaking and arts opportunities for children through teaching and community projects, including curating the Brand's "Talking About Art" series.

September 18, 2010 - Penny Young   -   Show info / Hide info

Penny Young - Los Angeles sculptor, poet and educator The "Talking About Art" series will begin with Penny Young, a Los Angeles based sculptor, poet, and arts educator. Her practice includes paper and ceramic sculpture, installation, drawing and kinetic works. Ms. Young graduated from the University of California Santa Barbara, and received her M.F.A. from California State University Northridge. She has been an artist-in-residence at Mt. St. Mary's College in Santa Monica and at the Armory Center for the Arts in Pasadena. She was the Chairman of the Art in Public Places Committee for the City of Burbank, and consulted on set as an artist and prop-maker for Hungry Man Productions and the HBO Series Six Feet Under. She has taught at California State University Long Beach and Northridge, the Los Angeles County High School for the Arts and Inner-City Arts in downtown Los Angeles. Ms. Young's work has been featured in many solo and group exhibitions, and her work is in private collections throughout the country. She previously co-owned and managed Weesner Studios with artist Keith Weesner, a gallery specializing in both commercial and original low-brow art work. Ms. Young currently lives and works in the Los Angeles area creating large-scale paper mache objects, ink drawings and writing poetry. Loved For One Day 2008

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