GREAT night last night at the Acoustic Tidal Artwalk in Long Beach put on by Timothy Dunham of "Some Things Creative." http://somethingscreative.com/welcome.htm

Watercolor workshop in Long Beach!!

"This is How We Roll" Art Show

Last Saturday's art show, "This is How We Roll: Art from the Female Skater Community," was a smashing success! Long Beach is home to a rapidly growing skater community, and I've met many skaters who are also fantastic artists. Since I have been skating with Long Beach Roller Derby, most of the skaters I know are women, so we decided to host an exhibition featuring the art of some of these gals and brag about their abilities outside of the skating world. The art exhibited represented a vast swath of themes, styles, and media, so there was something for everyone to enjoy. The word was out for this show, so we welcomed almost 250 attendees! Members of Sirena Serpentina, lovely fire-dancing ladies, entertained the crowd with two deliciously tantalizing performances (they were a hit, to say the least).




One of my proudest moments since the inception of Studio 1021 was looking around at the huge crowd that gathered, enjoying art, mesmerized by fire dancing, and chatting with friends and new acquaintances. There were people of all ages and walks of life meeting for a wonderful evening together, and I couldn't be more proud of my community of artists and art-lovers.

Thank you from the bottom of my heart,

Sonia Farrand
Studio 1021


MISSED THE OPENING?? YOU CAN STILL SEE THE ART!!
"This is How We Roll" will be up through June 25th at Studio 1021. We will be OPEN EACH SATURDAY FROM 4-8 P.M. BEGINNING MAY 21ST. Also, we are available to show the gallery at other times by appointment, so come check out the work of these talented artists.

If you would like to see more photos from the event, please go to:

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.1627375694826.2071220.1549565212&l=f45964c677













Credits . . .
Fire dancing photos and a couple of the cooler gallery photos are by Bianca Lowkeen Design and Photography.
Fire dancers are members of Sirena Serpentina (Chrissy Cox and Shoshanna Husak).
Ceramics by Sonia Farrand.
Film by Razelle Benally.
Other artists: Suzy Swanson, Appleusa, Katy May May Goodson, Anneke Ayers, Diesel Photography Studio, Dingocore, Loriann Hernandez, Jamie Parker of Silly Girl Design, Michelle Estro Jen Steilen, Cara Lawson, Shayna "Pigeon" Meikle, Romy Ilano, Marin Wendoll, and Dawna Bass.

Figure Drawing Show: February 25th, 2011

Last night, we hosted an exhibition of figure drawing for the talented artists who attend our workshops here at Studio 1021. Their work looked AMAZING, and the reception was a blast. What a fun night!

"One Floor Up More Highly" by Katharina Grosse

I had to share these images of Katharina Grosse’s spectacular installation that is making me whine about living so far from the East Coast. Grosse’s “One Floor Up More Highly” at the MASS MoCA juxtaposes stark-white, glacial forms with raw, rich and energetic colors on a scale that dwarfs the viewer. From the exhibition images, it looks like visitors are wandering through a Technicolor, punk-rock version of Superman’s Fortress of Solitude. And who wouldn’t want to do that?




Click here to see more images from "One Floor Up Highly."

A Short Worth Watching: "Idiot with a Tripod" (a.k.a. "Man in a Blizzard")

Great rhythm, imagery, humor, technical expertise, and even a plot line compacted into this short taken during a New York blizzard on Dec. 26th. Even getting Oscar buzz. It reminds me of silent movies and Citizen Cane. I especially love the transition from black-and-white to color and back again.

WATCH: "Idiot with a Tripod"

"You’re So Dada, Baby, and You Don’t Even Know It": This Week in Censorship

If there’s anything I’ve learned as an art historian, it is that the question, “Is it art or not?” is boring. The REAL question is, “Is it good or not?”

Recently, there have been a couple examples of society negating both questions by asking, “Is it possibly offensive to anyone?” and quickly answering its own question with a resounding, “YES! So-take-it-down-for-the-love-of-god-already!”

This week’s Exhibit A: The Smithsonian bows to conservative pressure and removes a controversial artwork by David Wojnarowicz, A Fire in My Belly (1986-87). The video piece is a montage of scenes that juxtapose conservative religious themes and the suffering of people with AIDS/HIV, and it serves as a biting criticism of the Roman Catholic Church’s stance on those issues. Watch A Fire in My Belly on Youtube by clicking here, signing a waiver, and publicly admitting guilt for any crimes you will definitely, absolutely commit after watching this video.


This week’s Exhibit B: The LA MOCA whitewashes its own vaguely politically-charged mural by Blu, a renowned street artist who was part of the exhibition meant to honor subversive street artists. Click here to see the almost-interesting mural that LA MOCA deemed too interesting to be seen by the public eye.

There is a fundamental hypocrisy in our society: pining for cutting-edge art while silencing any artistic voice that doesn’t fall neatly into one’s adopted belief system.


Flashback 93 years: Dada artist Marcel Duchamp [friend and supporter of studio 1021*] submitted this work, Fountain (above, photographed by Alfred Steiglitz), to The Society of Independent Artists. It is a urinal turned at a 90-degree angle and signed with a pseudonym, and it was submitted to a show that stated all works would be accepted. The work was not accepted or exhibited.

The irony? Duchamp was a board member of The Society of Independent Artists, but he resigned after proving that the exhibit was not really “open” after all. After that, Duchamp's oeuvre has been legendary for his contribution to the Dada movement, which is characterized as an anti-art movement because of its challenges to preconceived notions of art.


Have we learned nothing about censorship in the last century?

* Not true at all. Unless you are not smart enough to realize that he’s been dead for 42 years. Then, yes, totally, Marcel Duchamp is an avid fan of studio 1021.

Last image: David Wojnarowicz’s Arthur Rimbaud in New York (Duchamp) (1978–79/2004).