Art at Los Medanos College

Photo (and graphics and art and journalism) instructor Curtis Corlew (who's writing this in the third person for no good reason) will be on sabbatical Spring 2009. But fear not, the very able Scott Wreyford will teach the photography and Photoshop classes. Curtis will return Fall 2009, all refreshed and smarter for his time at school at CSUEB. He (again, meaning me) will attempt to add a few things to this blog anyway, but, you know how that might go. The photo is from a Fall 2008 Photo II class field trip to Mare Island to try some light painting.

Old Masters style , originally uploaded by losmedanosart . Self portraits in David Tallitsch's "Introduction to Painting" class. Work by, Clockwise: Kris Basurto, Wiomy Sternbergh, Tony Gonzalez, and Pinky Navarro Students are using an old masters technique -- indirect painting -- where they use monochrome underpainting for value and composition, then add layers of opaque paint to build up light areas.

drawing class 2 2008 , originally uploaded by losmedanosart . Rosalie Cassell's drawing class works on drawing what they see rather than what they think by observing a scene through a container of liquid. Roaslie says the lessons they've worked on in value, texture, perspective are starting to come together as they start on landscapes.  She'd say more, but she has to sprint to the Nature Preserve and help drawing students there.

Bill Leach (see the sidebar for more links) teaches cartooning at LMC as well as Deer Valley High School. But he's also a drummer (google results for " drummer jokes ") who ran a "World's Fastest Drummer contest. Here's a bit o' Youtube video from the contest that we lifted from his myspace site. Feel the need for more Bill? He has an " All about Bill " video too! It was created for cable TV by the Contra Costa Arts and Culture Commission when Bill was honored with their Arts Recognition Award in 2008.

Students in the LMC Fall 2008 photo class had an assignment to make photos where the subject wasn't as important as the photo itself. They uploaded them to Flickr. Here's a slideshow of their work. Here's a link to a slideshow of some of their other work.

Here's the deal. Ken Alexander, the Art Department chair (Humanities chair too, but I won't get into that.) is a brilliant teacher and a true student of Art History. But the whole internet/blog thing... well, let's just say if it wasn't in the Renaissance, it may be outside his realm of expertise. But, he's trying. He just gave me this to post. Sure, it's just kind of an ad, and doesn't have a drop of the required snark a good blog posts needs, but he's trying, and that's what's important. So let's all be encouraging, OK? What is Art History? Funny you should ask… I was just thinking about that. Art, plus history! Whoa! That must be it. Like bacon and eggs, you could eat them separately, but they’re so much better together. The Art Department at LMC offers art history of course… we couldn’t show our faces to other community colleges if we didn’t. Unlike many of them though, we don’t jam, cram and slam big chunks of art and history into one or...

Eva Gonzales poster , originally uploaded by losmedanosart . The Art faculty doesn't just make students go look at art, they go themselves. In September they went to the Palace of the Legion of Honor to see the Women Impressionists show (thumbs up), and to the deYoung to see the Chihuly glass exhibit (thumbs sideways.) It turns out that they can't agree on much, but they at least found a Mediterranean restaurant they all liked.

September 4 through 26. Art, art and more art! Check out the work of the instructors you know and get to see the examples by our new Art faculty. Rosalie Cassell's painting

For your educational pleasure the LMC Art Department has added three new talented instructors. Mckenzy Germain is teaching animation David Tallitsch is teaching painting. He isn't even close to as harsh as this photo makes him look. Roger Yee is teaching ceramics. That's clay and pots and sculpture for you non-ceramicists.

We have artists. We have artists who win awards. We have Elizabeth Newcomb's Iguana (box #3), that won the the Three Dimensional Art Best of Category award. Other winners include: Debbie Gonzalez, Photograph David L. Romero, Painting Charles Curiel, Drawing Austin Mortimore, Digital Design Minchu (Tracy) Wen, Graphic Design and the Jurors Award for Angel Mendez's drawing, Princess

Kyber Jensen designed this Bike to Work Day poster for his Graphic Design class. Yes, it's higher education professors pursuing that well-known bicycling agenda. See more BTWD posters in this Flickr slideshow . And, hey you , don't forget to ride your bike to school.

The Photography Art 72 class made photos where they left the shutter open a long time in the dark then ran around and "painted" with flashlights. Their photos are delightful surprises, with light magically streaking across the frame or coming from nowhere to illuminate an object. Somehow it seems appropriately symmetricial that photographers who deal with light are had to deal with the darkness to make these photos. You can see more "paint with light" photography (as well as some other assignments) in in this Flickr slideshow of class work.

Thank you card , originally uploaded by losmedanosart . LMC art and graphics student Diana Longoria created a set of graphics and drawings for the Antioch Food Closet and Antioch Rotary "Thank you" cards. The Antioch Chamber of commerce printed a boatload and they're sending them to people who contribute to the program. They'll be sending zillions and Diana will be famous! We managed to sneak in her name, and "Los Medanos College" onto the back of the card.

LMC gallery opening , originally uploaded by losmedanosart . Mark Nobriga's art in the Los Medanos College galley includes this piece, painted from online mug shots. Much of Nobriga's work deals with male anger, so it might not be wise to miss this show.

Kristina Casañas created this visual puzzle for a "Word play" assignment in her Graphic Design Class. It's a semi-common phrase, at least if you don't live in the Bay Area. Think somewhere much colder. three degrees below zero

wine bottle assignment , originally uploaded by losmedanosart . Adobe Illustrator students Marie Vaughn and Greg Greeson created wine bottle labels for their final project. Both are based on actual California Wineries. We didn't actually taste the wine, or open the bottles, but if the vino is anywhere near as good as the design work, it must be pretty darn drinkable.