October 10 - November 7, 2013
Reception: October 10th, 5 - 7pm
Arts Lecture with Exhibition Juror René de Guzman
October 30th, 1:30 - 2:30pm
Tillie Lewis Theatre ~ Free & Open to the Public
Exhibiting Artists (click on artist's name to view artwork)
Exhibition Awards
David Willison ~ Best of Show 2D
Angela Johal ~ 2nd Place 2D
Jim Coston ~ 3rd Place 2D
Monique Castiaux ~ Best of Show 3D
Dan Bethune ~ 2nd Place 3D
Wilma Wyss ~ 3rd Place 3D
Samuel Bassett & Pepe Pool
Elizabeth Bennett
Cynthia Brinich-Langlois
Jason Compton
Lisa Cooperman
C. M. Cunningham
Jason Cytacki
Adrian Deva
Nicholas Gagliardi
Barb Holmes
Ronald Houck
Sandra Hunter
Masha Keating
Maria Koo-Gin
Joe Krawczyk
Brandi Lee
Zin Lim
Nicole Lococo
Phil Lonergan
Carol McDonald
Ellen McMahill
Monika Meler
Susan Norton-Scott
Trude Parkinson
Sam Perry
Maggie Ramey
Angela Roux
Randall Sackerson
Chuck Seerey
Steve Steinman
William Stoehr
Marcia Stuermer
Douglas Thielscher
Christopher J. Troutman
Lyn Twitchell
Paul Valadez
Mark Adam Webster
Jenny Wiener
Dan Woodard
Senior Art Curator
Oakland Museum of California
René de Guzman joined the Oakland Museum of California (OMCA) in 2007 to lead the planning and execution of the reinstallation of the Gallery of California Art. Previously he was a founding staff member at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts (YBCA) in San Francisco. During his fifteen-year tenure at YBCA, he provided early support for some of the Bay Area’s leading artists, and worked with national and international emerging and mid-career artists. De Guzman’s work both at OMCA and YBCA is marked by an ongoing commitment to experimentation and the creation of community around cultural activity. De Guzman earned his BFA in art practice at the University of California, Berkeley and his artworks are in collections including the Berkeley Art Museum and the San Jose Museum of Art. He is currently Adjunct Professor in the Graduate Division of the Curatorial Studies Program at the California College of the Arts
Juror Statement
It was a pleasure and honor serving as the juror for this year’s group exhibition. I was impressed with the range and quality of work that I saw. Because of the limitations of exhibition space, I could only choose a finite number that would feasibly fit in the gallery. Limiting the number of works in the show would also assure that the exhibition experience is a good one, one that gives the art enough space to be seen to their best advantage. As they say with music, it is the silences between the notes that make for a good sound. Consequently, as much as I would have liked, I wasn’t able to include the many, many worthy artworks in the overall selection pool. To reflect what was left out, I tried to include a diversity of selections so that the public could sense the richness and variety of styles and approaches that I found.
As a curator working within a large institution, I rarely have enough time to see a lot of work. It’s the flip side of museum work that sometimes the duties at hand take you away from seeing art making, the interest that drew many of us to the field in the first place. Therefore, jurying this show has been a great benefit to me as a curatorial practitioner. I’m able to see the wealth of what is being done at the moment. My past experience and knowledge is updated and refreshed. This is another reason for the deep gratitude I feel for this opportunity.
I admired the conviction that every applicant brought to the work. It’s not easy being an artist so I can appreciate how in the face of the challenge of maintaining an artistic practice, everyone was clearly engaged with making the best work possible. At times, I could see consistency born out of a deep, consistent reflection upon certain aesthetic matters, and at other times I saw individual courage in taking chances on pursuing a range of ideas. Everyone should be applauded for the efforts they bring to ensure that the arts community is populated with vitality and energy.
The range of work was broad. Some artists chose to pursue more traditional genres such as representational painting. Others were excited by abstraction. Experimentation was the order of the day for a number of individuals, and there was a range of works that drew inspiration from personal, individualistic visions. I saw inventive uses of material as well as thoughtful conceptual exercises. Regardless of the range of sensibilities, materials, and processes, I observed that there were different kinds of mastery evolving in front of our very eyes. I wanted to recognize this in the choices of awards I’ve presented. I intentionally awarded a diverse group. There is no one way of making art. Everyone brings something unique. And anyone can profoundly contribute to our conversation.