I came to CCAC in the fall of 1998 looking for others who were muddling through similar ideas of artmaking. I had little sense that I would find a kind of art home for the next couple decades.
As @jonrubinstudio wrote so eloquently, art schools are not the buildings or endowments but the people. This basic tenet seemed to be lost (or ignored) by the last decade of administrators- and with each new closing it becomes more clear that art schools should be managed like the finances of middle class families and not like startups- or like any other business that favors growth above caring for the people who make (made) it work.
I am sad for all of you/us who gave so much to make this place, what for many years was the perfect art school- and especially angry thinking about the current students, faculty and staff who are faced with the indignity of closing it down for good.
Eventually I know this anger will replaced by gratitude- to the grad cohort, teachers, students, and colleagues who made this place feel like home for so long (all you friends - too many to mention here) .
Thinking of you all. Thank you.
11 years ago today, Unconventional & Unexpected was first released by Abrams/STC Craft/Melanie Falick Books. The incredible design was created by Sarah Gifford; the amazing essays written by Natalie Chanin, Elissa Auther,
Amelia Peck, Janneken Smucker, Sherry Ann Byrd, Denyse Schmidt, Sunny Smith, Ulysses Dietz, Kaffe Fassett, and Abner Nolan.
Here are a few of the many cover possibilities we considered. I love the cover we chose!!
Quilts published in U & U are now in the collections of The Metropolitan Museum of Art, International Quilt Museum, Newark Art Museum, High Museum, deYoung Museum, BAMPFA (Eli Leon’s collection), and numerous private collections.
In the past 11 years, the most unexpected and exciting things have happened as a result of this book and I am still filled with so much gratitude.
Stay tuned for some exciting announcements about future projects around U & U.
@melaniefalick@sarahgdesign@alabamachaninlife@amelia.peck@janneken@eauther@dsquilts@pewtersp00n@ulysses_grant_dietz@kaffefassettstudio@abnernolan
#unconventionalandunexpected
#quilts
#unconventionalquilts
#unexpectedquilts
Happy birthday @peggylevisonnolan ! I made this picture in grad school when I would have been close to the same age as she was in the studio portrait- being forced to pose for the kind of picture that she spent the last 40+ years rebelling against. Milestone birthdays generally impose a reflection on the past, but mom is always looking to the future, and the future is what my siblings and I (and her 8 grandkids) all have to thank her for.
Bay Area mark your calendars. @peggylevisonnolan and I will be chatting with the incredible @lopesshana on May 2nd. Your best opportunity to acquire a signed copy of Peggy’s soon-to-sell out book by @tbwbooks . Link to rsvp in the bio.
I landed at the CCAC Oakland campus in the Fall of 1996 with buckets of film, and hardly a clue as to how this small patch of earth would transform my life. I had come to work with Larry Sultan, and found a community of artists who seemed, almost in secret, to have created a perfect place for making art.
The campus itself reminded me of summer camps that I really only read about in my youth- where one could shed the confines of identity and propriety in the pursuit of experimentation. A place where ideas and making were prized above the market forces that seemed to be kept at bay by the ivy covered walls that surrounded the campus.
I have spent the last 20+ years learning what it means to be an artist and teacher in this place, and most of the things that I cherish can be somehow traced back being invited to join the community that built it. This is romantic of course, but I am not nostalgic. I am perhaps lamenting an time, and an institution, that centered artists and art making above buildings.
I will be forever grateful to the teachers, friends, colleagues and students that made this place magic.
Slide 1: CCA Photography yesterday, looking just as glorious as it did on my first day.
Slide 2: “April Photo Op” 89/98 (the year I graduated) a wedding gift from the dearly departed Sue Ciriclio (the patron saint of CCA Photo).
