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As we continue to monitor and meet established safety guidelines in response to the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak, our offices are still open and operating in a virtual format. You can reach us by phone at (909) 537-5493 or via email at raffma@csusb.edu. We will respond as quickly as possible. Please keep a close watch for new announcements. Many of them, as well as several resources, can be found on CSUSB’s dedicated COVID-19/Coronavirus Information web page.
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February 2020
Saturday, February 1 - Preview and Opening Reception
Golden West? Jan Sawka's California Dream
5:30 p.m. Preview
6-8 p.m. Opening Reception
Endomorphism by David B. Jang
5:30 p.m. Preview
6-8 p.m. Opening Reception
Monday, February 3, 4-6 p.m.
California Dreaming: Who’s the Dreamer, What’s the Dream?
The co-curators of the Golden West?: Jan Sawka’s California Dream exhibition, Hanna Maria Sawka and Frank Boyer, will talk about major events in the life and career of Jan Sawka and discuss the thematic threads woven together to create the fabric of Jan Sawka’s California Dream. The co-curators will illuminate how conditions in the Poland of Jan Sawka’s youth led to Sawka’s paradoxically skeptical and heartfelt vision of America. Hanna Maria Sawka will relate her memories of a Californian who was prominent in the Sawka family’s life, Bob Schulberg, including his role in helping the family attain refuge in the United States. Jan Sawka’s California Dream, as articulated in the exhibition, shifted and developed under the impact of the direct encounter with American reality. Bob Schulberg was an important part of that direct encounter, sharing Sawka’s critical sense of the absurd. This talk will explore the complexities of the California Dream, as it appears in Jan Sawka’s art, including the increasingly universal and problematic themes of the negative impact of over-commodification and market mentality, and the loneliness and isolation within a seeming “paradise.”
Thursday, February 13, 4-5:30 p.m.
An Intro to Beat Boxing Workshop
Join RAFFMA for a fun Beat Box workshop! Beatboxing is a form of vocal percussion and the art of mimicking drum machines.
Facilitated by: John "Faahz" Merchant
Wednesday, February 19, 3-6 p.m.
Visual Frequency
Armando Lerma and Student Exhibition Closing Ceremony
Wednesday, February 26, 4-6 p.m.
MFA Solo Thesis Show - Haylie Roche
On Display: Feb. 27 - March 4
March 2020
Wednesday, March 11, Noon-2 p.m.
Endomorphism Artist Talk with David B. Jang
David’s works engage in this reality by maintaining a constant state of motion, transforming and transferring themselves over time (deterioration of materials). The task of his work is to produce line and mass in various states - a process in which the work is never realized in its final form, but just like our body, is only continuously progressing.
One of the most amazing installation art David ever experienced as a little boy was the cloud. There are three types of form that exist which; solid, liquid, and gas. Cloud is gas form and it requires specific conditions, which include the right temperature and gravity. Clouds have been on the earth for millions of years and they will continue to exist. Clouds create rain and rain is absolutely necessary for all the living organisms on the earth. David believes this principle is how installation art should be – bringing benefit to the community and help to develop the cultural throughout history.
Wednesday, March 11, 4-6 p.m.
MFA Solo Thesis Show - Frank Perez
April 2020
All APRIL events will be postponed until further notice.
May 2020
Saturday, May 2nd, 2020, 10 a.m. PDT / 1 p.m. EDT / 7 p.m. CEST
Dreams & Memories: Jan Sawka, Coast to Coast:
An online symposium celebrating two exhibitions of work by Jan Sawka
Separated by the whole of the country, two university art museums currently exhibiting the work of the late artist have joined together to present a symposium on his profoundly touching and, ultimately, humane work. Both museums, together with the exhibition curators, have partnered to create an online symposium. Viewers from around the world will be able to join in as symposium speakers consider Jan Sawka's life and achievement – and the connection of his career and art with California and New York – from several points of view, including the biographical, the historical, the technical, and the personal – yielding a composite portrait of this protean and visionary artist.
A special thank you to our partners: Samuel Dorsky Museum of Art (SDMA) in SUNY New Paltz, and Hanna Maria Sawka MFA, in partnership with the Polish Cultural Institute New York, and supported by The Kościuszko Foundation, the SUNY New Paltz Foundation Inc., and the Consulate General of the Republic of Poland in Los Angeles.
Browse: Golden West? Jan Sawka's California Dream
The above events and dates are subject to change. Please call (909) 537-7373 to confirm.