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Foremost King and the Freedom Art Squad

For his CalArts MFA thesis, Foremost King (Art MFA 22) created a distinct kind of art. Instead of painting, sculpture, or mixed media, he established the Freedom Art Squad—a youth development project that uses art and imaginative play to reimagine school safety and advocate for alternatives to law enforcement on school campuses in the Antelope…

Raven Chacon: Producing Pulitzer Prize-Winning Work Through Experimental Sound

Raven Chacon (Music MFA 04), a Diné artist and composer, was working in his studio in Hudson Valley, New York, in early May when he began receiving a flurry of text messages. He found the buzzing...

Raven Chacon's Voiceless Mass was performed at Present Music's annual Thanksgiving concert: Circle Unbroken, at the Cathedral of St. John the Evangelist in Milwaukee, WI, on November 21, 2021. Photo: Samer Ghani

Camille Benda on Dressing the Resistance and Costume Design

When done in earnest, protests generally aren’t seen as a place for fashion. But Camille Benda, author of the book Dressing the Resistance: The Visual Language of Protest Through History, might beg to differ. It...

Black Muslims Meeting. USA. Chicago, Illinois. 1962. Daughter and wife of Elijah Mohammed with Malcolm X. | Photo: Eve Arnold/Magnum Photos.

Podcast: Jenny Curtis and Chris Porter on Solar

In late March, podcast network CurtCo Media launched Solar, a 12-episode, immersive sci-fi drama created by Chris Porter (Music MFA 09) and directed by Porter and Jenny Curtis (Theater BFA 12). The audio drama...

Dance students smile and pose for the camera in one of the dance studios.

Commencement Comeback

The afternoon of Friday, May 13 saw the lawn of CalArts’ Graduation Courtyard dotted with chairs and picnic blankets, and the galleries of the Main Building thrumming with live music and in-person festivities. After two years of virtual ceremonies, the CalArts class of 2022 marked their graduation with a singular and joyous send-off that only…

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FROM THE PRESIDENT

The worst of the pandemic may be behind us—technically—but it will never leave us. It’s not so much in the past as it has given way to a new dimension. We are entering a passage on our journey where steady change and transition become our reality, where we have evolved as individuals and as a…

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FROM VISUAL ESSAY

Here to Help: John P. Hogan’s New Book Shares a CalArts Story Through Flyers

Image courtesy of Insert Blanc Press

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From In Memoriam

Emilio Delgado (1940–2022)

Actor, voice artist, and musician Emilio Delgado (Theater 71), best known for his work...

picture of man in a baseball jersey and hat enjoying the Dodgers game

John Choi (1989–2022)

CalArts lost one of its much-loved members this past spring. John Choi (Music BFA...

smiling man looking at the camera in front of a room of people

Steve Hoey (1963–2022)

Steve Hoey, CalArts alum (Music MFA 98) passed away on Feb. 16, 2022. He...

Robert Blalack (1948–2022)

CalArts mourns the passing of Robert Blalack (Film/Video MFA 73), a well-known visual effects...

David Joseph Ostap (1962 – 2022)

David Joseph Ostap, born on Sept. 20, 1962, passed away April 16, 2022, in...

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From Class Notes

Ann Myra Walton-Teter (Art 92)

Ann Myra Walton-Teter shares, “On Jan. 5, 2022, my memoir Amazing Grace ‘by Ann...

Chris Woods (Film/Video 78)

Chris Woods checks in: “Earlier this year my latest feature-length documentary To What Remains,...

Sharon Greytak (Art 82)

Writer and director Sharon Greytak is a 2022 New York State Council on the...

L. Martina Young, Ph.D. (Dance 78)

L. Martina Young relaunches her aesthetic-activist work integrating Myth, Oratory, and Somatic Knowing. She...

Natalie Metzger (Dance 11)

Natalie Metzger produced a feature documentary called It Ain’t Over that had its world...

Erik Fransman (Film/Video 82)

Erik Fransman directed the documentary, The Spectacular Absence of God. “Funny and emotionally gripping.”...

Charles Levin (Music 12)

Charles Levin co-authored Times Remembered: The Final Years of the Bill Evans Trio with...

Laurie Raskin (Art 83)

Laurie Raskin checks in: “My artwork was in the USC Fisher Museum of Art...

Sara Martin (Film/Video 16)

Sara Martin notes, “Within the past two years, I was the post production manager...

Mage Lockwood (Music 17)

Mage Lockwood writes, “I have never been so career-focused in my life. For summer...

Cody Putman (Music 18)

Cody Putman writes in, “Hey y’all, I miss the CalArts community! I hope you...

an image of hands holding a crystal; the hands are mirrored in a pattern

Alexis Krasilovsky (Film/Video 84)

Alexis Krasilovsky’s new book, Watermelon Linguistics: New and Selected Poems (Cyberwit, 2022—available on Amazon)...

Mellissa Tong (Music 93)

Mellissa Tong says, “Growing up, there were two things I could have over and...

Olivia Hauser (Music 19)

Olivia Hauser released her debut album, Slug Dreams under the moniker “Dolly Dirtbag” in...

Ann Telnaes (Film/Video 85)

Ann Telnaes was a finalist for the 2022 Pulitzer in the Illustrated Reporting and...

Karie Jacobson (Music-Critical Studies 21)

Karie Jacobson writes, “Fellow CalArts alum Drew Kowalski and I have created the music...

Aaron McPherson (Theater 96)

Aaron McPherson says, “Married to Challen Cates and have two kids—Colton, 16, and Jasper,...

Irma Sanchez (Art 95)

Irma Sanchez notes, “I created a fun set of Wingdings (Dingbats) during the early...

Steve Horowitz (Music 19)

Steve Horowitz, a prolific bassist and composer, has released two albums of new and...

Karen Martin (Messner) (Music 94)

Karen Martin, composer with Soundsculpture Music, scored the music for Charlie and the Hunt,...

Todd Simon (Music 99)

Todd Simon has been busy in the studio with various artists, such as Flora...

Tom Hiel (Music 99)

Tom Hiel notes, “Currently finishing scoring the feature film Homestead starring Leven Rambin, Jake...

Steven Knezevich (Critical Studies 97)

Since April 2021, Steve Knezevich has been the lead creative strategist at Eyestorm Creative,...

Still Thinking (Misa Kelly) (Dance 96)

Still Thinking checks in: “Aloha kākou! Continuing to live the good life leaning into...

Jennifer Murphy (Art 86)

Jennifer Murphy checks in, “I am celebrating the 10th year of Street Creature Puppet...

Nancy Floyd (Art 87)

Nancy Floyd is the recipient of a 2022 Guggenheim Fellowship in Photography. In 2021,...

cover of a book with a cartoon design of a boat and octopus legs coming up from the water

Lynn Becker (Film/Video 88)

Lynn Becker’s picture book, Monsters in the Briny, illustrated by Scott Brundage, came out...

group of young men standing confidently on a stage

Sindy Fredrick (Kelley) (Art 88)

Sindy Fredrick checks in: “Hello, CalArtians! All these years later and I’m still involved...

Carl Palmer (Theater 89)

Carl Palmer writes, “I was busy this winter/spring Off-Broadway doing the Public Theatre and...

Kenneth Graning (Chouinard 66)

Kenneth Graning writes, “I recently received notification that two of my recent landscape paintings...

Lynn Leatart (Kahan) (Chouinard 70)

Lynn Leatart notes, “I have enclosed a photograph taken in May 2022. A city...

Dennis C. Brown (Los Angeles Conservatory of Music 72)

Dennis C. Brown says, “I finally feel that I am fully retired, which frees...

Lenny Horowitz (Art 72)

Lenny Horowitz writes in, “Having a wonderful life creating designs that make the world...

Jon Barlow Hudson (Art 72)

Jon Barlow Hudson has been commissioned by the Ohio Arts Council’s Percent for Art...

Llois Jeanne Miller (Art 72)

Llois Jeanne Miller, Maui, now online with Singulart....

Marc Smason (Greenwald) (Art-Critical Studies-Music 73)

Marc Smason studied classical and jazz trombone with Stu Dempster, Ken Cloud, Julian Priester,...

Leda Siskind (Theater 73)

Leda Siskind says, “I’ve become a playwright and have had several productions at LA...

Megan Anderson Bohigian (Theater 74)

Megan Anderson Bohigian checks in, “I’m the city of Fresno’s poet laureate and author...

Dori Atlantis (Art 74)

Dori Atlantis writes, “I Tried Everything—a 1972 collaboration of Suzanne Lacy, Jan Lester Martin,...

Lisa Popeil (Music 80)

Lisa Popeil shares, “In 2019, I had the amazing experience of touring with ‘Weird...

Jeff Conner (Art 74)

Jeff Conner reports, “Still active in publishing, having set up a modest operation at...

Kevin Dunayer (Theater 90)

Kevin Dunayer is an associate professor of Theater & Event Production at George Mason...

Ron Light (Art 74)

Ron Light writes, “I’m proud to announce the recent release of my book Pedal...

Emily Hay (Music 81)

Emily Hay recently relocated to the Blue Ridge Mountains of western North Carolina—after 40-plus...

Adam Stern (Music 77)

Adam Stern is the music director/conductor of three Washington State orchestras: the Seattle Philharmonic,...

Margaret Batiuchok (Dance 78)

Margaret Batiuchok teaches swing, ballroom, solo jazz, and other dances in person and on...

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FROM THE BUZZ

Investing in Our Future in Valencia and Across LA County

If you’ve been anywhere near the CalArts campus over the past few months, you’ve likely heard a cacophony of construction equipment—from banging jackhammers to thundering bulldozers and trench diggers to winching cranes. Sure, it’s...

A tan building in the middle of a parking lot

Lessons Learned From the Possibly First-Ever CalArts Graphic Design Reunion

Armando Martinez-Celis (Art BFA 13) and Roman Jaster (Art BFA 07) graduated from CalArts’ Graphic Design program and have also taught in the program. They consider themselves CalArts superfans and recently took on the...

image of group of many people taken from an aerial point of view

Mike Rianda and Jeff Rowe on Making The Mitchells vs. the Machines

The Mitchells vs. the Machines (2021) is the Oscar-nominated animated sci-fi comedy directed by Mike Rianda (Film/Video 11) and co-directed by Jeff Rowe (Film/Video 11). The two also wrote the script, which follows Katie Mitchell...

Katie Mitchell stands front and center in a graphic for Mitchells vs. the Machines

Charmaine Jefferson: In Her Own Words

Charmaine Jefferson: In Her Own Words Meet the New Chair of CalArts Board of Trustees July 26, 2022 By Jo Siri CalArts Board Chair Charmaine Jefferson | Photo: Judy Starkman. Charmaine Jefferson, an L.A....

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