Issue 12
Winter/Spring
Denny Maroney writes, “In February I recorded the album Martingale, available on Bandcamp https://denmanfmaroney.bandcamp.com/ and other streaming services much less profitable to musicians. In March I moved from New York to France. A week later France locked down for two months. I used lockdown time to upload 25 other albums I have the rights to. I…
This past June, Steve Bilow (Music 82) produced the first all-virtual LEAP Ahead online learning conference for his current employer, BlueVolt. More recently, he was invited to represent SMPTE as subject matter expert for an upcoming article on blockchain applications in media and communications. His article is scheduled to appear in the October 2020 issue…
John Collins (Art MFA 72) checks in: “Time for another flash in the flood for curiosity seekers as well as forensic fugitives—innocent bystanders have been excluded from this particular lap! In Spite of ART by artistjcollins has been in the planning stages for decades. But with the current international travel restrictions, it faces further delays….
George Evans (Art 72) writes in: “I’m currently producing two murals for Metro’s Rosa Parks/Willowbrook customer service center. The murals are photo composites. Also there is a current interview on ericsperspective.com. I recently retired as a graphic design instructor from Los Angeles Trade Technical College, and I am also an art teaching instructor for LACMA.” …
A poem from Donald Beagle’s (Critical Studies 73) new collection, Driving Into the Dreamtime: New and Selected Poems, was recently broadcast nationally by the Center for Public Humanities over its social media channels. The LA-based podcast, A Moment of Your Time, then featured that poem (“On Viewing Comet Halley With My Young Daughter”) plus another…
Doree Sitterly (Theater 76) tells us, “I recently completed season one of Unleashed, a television show with Fremantle Media Productions and Nickelodeon, as an animal producer. This job allowed me to put my theater and animal experience to use, participating in casting, production, creating, writing, training, rehearsing, and producing. Hoping for season two.”…
Allan Trautman (Theater MFA 78) performed as the lead animatronic puppeteer for Ned in Earth to Ned. (Season one is on Disney+ now.) As of this writing, he is in Vancouver working on Brendar the Barbarian, a new puppet series for Nickelodeon, scheduled for fall of 2021….
Steve Weir (Art MFA 78) reports, “For the past nine months, I have been working on my website, steveweir.com, adding both new and old photographs. My recent work has been digital, mostly taken with an iPhone. Not being able to get as much as we all would like to right now, I’ve been spending time…
Brian Bailey (Art MFA 79) writes, “I recently finished self-publishing a photobook about my years at CalArts. It is a limited edition set of three volumes titled Brian’s Tiny History of CalArtz, almost all have been spoken for. It was a project that took many decades of compiling and scanning/sorting through my images and several…
J Marcus Newman (Theater 79) reminisces, “From the first moment I entered the CalArts lobby, I knew I had made a life-changing choice. CalArts students, faculty, and staff were always eager to not only support my creative choices, they were happy to participate and contribute their unique gifts. In 1978, two School of Theater productions…
Emily Sanders (Music 79) sings and performs with Angel City Chorale, the Los Angeles-based community choir that made it to the semifinals on America’s Got Talent in 2018. She retired from a 42-year teaching career (10 years in private school and 32 in public school) in June 2020. Her folk CD Sheltering Wind is available…
Trowzer Akimbo (Bill Davis) (Art 71) reports, “Started the year off in January with a one-man show at the Kings Art Center in Hanford, Calif. I’m also part of the Yosemite Renaissance exhibit this year, with my painting, Conference Call. Luckily, the opening occurred ahead of the coronavirus in February at the Yosemite Museum Gallery…
In May of this year, Dave Bossert (Film/Video 83) received his second United States patent, which resulted from his first patent awarded in 2018. While working on a Beauty and the Beast (1991) iPad app project for The Walt Disney Company in 2014, he came up with a concept to repurpose the left and right…
Georgi Ann Coquereau-Kimi (Art MFA 86) writes, “Aside from publishing Gas Station Bathrooms I Slept In and other stuff, I recently participated with the 8×10 Camera Group, analog large format camera society of Tokyo, Japan, of which I have been a member since 2012. I just have to say, as hard as it was the…
Bryan Baker (Theater MFA 89) released his seventh album Imaginary Thoroughfares at the end of August. He also does regular livestreams performing music at https://www.twitch.tv/ka_klick and elsewhere. He has run the music track for a Midwest science fiction/fantasy convention for several years. From 1993 to 2002 he worked in the themed entertainment industry as a…
Morgan Rusler has been cast in the Geffen Playhouse production of the Covid-proof “Citizen Detective“. Written and directed by Chelsea Marcantel, the show is a audience participation-true crime-Zoom meeting/seminar – with mysterious results! Morgan is also collaborating with playwright John Clancy on a new play, “Liar! (Based on a True Story)”. Morgan is currently working…
MB Gordy (Music 80) has been busy in the recording world for movies and TV and albums. In 2018 he performed on the world tour of Game of Thrones Live. In 2019 his band Opium Moon won a Grammy for Best New Age Album and then performed that year on the Josh Groban tour. During…
Dana Berman Duff (Art 81) writes, ”The REDCAT screening of my short films scheduled for May 11, 2020, was cancelled because of COVID-19 restrictions. It will be rescheduled for spring 2021—hoping we can have a hybrid live-online event since the films were made for the big screen. Will we have real theaters back by then?…
Diana Mikula (Film/Video 81) reports, “Before CalArts I went to The School of the Art Institute of Chicago doing photography and etching. At CalArts I worked very hard in the Film/Video program, but when I began to work in the industry it all made me uncomfortable. Now I live in South London with a studio…
Tim Wolf (Art 81) notes, “After producing Isolation/Collaboration, a remote recording by the New London Drone Orchestra during COVID-19 quarantine, I released a new set of my own music, Tai Chu by Liquid Terrain, which reflects back on my CalArts years. In that formative time, while exploring the practice of improvisation and absorbing the influences…
Lisa Stevens (Art 83) reminisces, “I arrived at CalArts in 1979 to do a BA in Art & Design. I had just turned 20. Having grown up in Los Angeles, I knew about CalArts from the moment it broke ground in Valencia. It was always in the back of my mind. But then I left…
Alexis Krasilovsky (Film/Video MFA 84) reports that “What Memphis Needs—a short film based on a poem that she wrote in Etheridge Knight’s Free People’s Poetry Workshop back in the 1970s and finished adapting in 1990—is getting a new life as an official selection in the 2020 Film & Video Poetry Symposium this fall. https://www.fvpsociety.com/ (Photo…
Sarah Schneiderman (Art 84) checks in: “Three of my artworks are included in Global Conversation 2020 Virtual Museum, a global humanity-focused art exhibition raising global awareness of the most pressing issues confronting humanity, from Sept. 21 through Sept. 28, 2020. I have an interview on The Artist Essentials website. This is an investigation into how…
Curtis Macdonald (Music BFA 86) writes, “I’m celebrating my 26th album release Waiting for an Ordinary Spring, a continuation of my 30-plus years exploring the new age/pop instrumental genre. The last several years I have been able to divide my time with my creative process and continue my teaching efforts educating composers to acquire skills…
Flenoit (Flip) Webster (Art, Film/Video 86) checks in: “The Melded Mind movie is more than just a romantic take of an international relationship between American photographer Jack Diamond and his Nigerian model love interest Catherine Queen. The story is an ‘insider’s’ industry guide into the world of fashion abroad and an international guide of who’s…
On March 13, Ben Cleaveland’s (Theater BFA 88) students at Conservatory Theatre Ensemble were about to start a final tech dress on a main stage production when they got the news they needed to leave the theater immediately. Seven months later his students are looking back over their shoulders with pride as they see a…
Valerie Swanson (Film/Video BFA 85) checks in, “After graduating from Film Graphics I remained in Santa Clarita and have called it home to this day. Last year, I was one of nine winners of SCV’s first Sidewalk Poetry Project, bringing literature to the streets by stamping poems by residents into cement. The theme was “Poetry…
Opulent Mobility 2020 will be online Dec. 5! Opulent Mobility is the group art exhibit founded and curated by A. Laura Brody (Theater 92) that reimagines disability as opulent and powerful. This year’s artists will be Abilities Dance Boston, Yaron Dotan, Brody, Corina Duyn, Jennifer Fearon, Sandy Huse, David Isakson, Molshree Jain, Wendy Lewis, Vincent…
Wossene Bowler (Tiruneh) checks in: “I have been working to promote my foundation, The Life’s Second Chance Foundation (email: info@lifessecondchance.org) to build a hospital in Ethiopia. It is very hard to get support, but I am not giving up. I also sell Ethiopian coffee online at WosCaffé (email: info@woscaffe.com). It has been difficult for business.”…
Jillian Campana (Dean) (Theater BFA 92) has just published a new book with Routledge titled, Western Theatre in Global Contexts: Directing and Teaching Culturally Inclusive Drama Around the World (edited by Jillian Campana and Yasmine Marie Jahanmir). This edited volume examines pedagogical discoveries and teaching methods, how to produce specific plays and musicals, and how…
Home for Ray Sandoval (Music 94) has been Tokyo, Cordoba, Bali, London, Berlin, and now Valencia, Spain. His latest work, Migration Suite, combines sound experiments, minimalism, and free jazz style explorations….
Joe Troncoso (Art 94) writes in, “Where were you two years ago? I curated a group show titled Thirty Years Later that featured 12 alumni: Joe Harry Troncoso, Sam Soto, Javier Valenzuela, Rodolfo Marquez, Sergio Torres-Torres, Sandy Rodriguez, Terri Phillips, Cynde Balent (Miller), Waylon Dobson, Mary Ellen Powell, David Burns, and Tommi Cahill. Held at…
Brent Crayon (Music MFA 97) was the music director/keyboardist/conductor for the McCoy/Rigby’s production of Peter Pan at the Princess Nourah bint Abdul Rahman University in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, November 2019. It was one of the first professional musical theater productions in the history of Saudi Arabia. While he was out of the country, his production…
Roger Gonzales (Film/Video 97) checks in, “Been in and out of the character animation business after graduating. Settled at a licensing company as a full-time illustrator from 2001-’18. Took a leave of absence in 2008 to work as a character designer at Film Roman on The Goode Family. Currently at Fox Animation (working at home)…
David Weinberg (Critical Studies, Theater BFA 97) reports, “My new book The Marowitz Compendium is scheduled for publication in Europe (ibidem Press) and America (Columbia University Press) in April 2021. Glenda Jackson CBE, two-time Academy Award-winning Best Actress and longtime member of Parliament, was kind enough to write the forward for the book. I moved…
Jeremy Hight (Critical Studies 98) reports, “My electronic literature work Do I was one of 22 works selected for the international exhibition Anonymous Waves. My short story was performed on an international radio show and podcast. In October, I will chair several panels on augmented reality at ISEA 2020. A university has archived my notes…
Shellie Kvilvang-O’Brien (Film/Video 99) checks in: “While in hibernation with family, I’m directing for a Disney Jr. series and co-EP and supervising directing for another series in development also at the ‘Mouse.’ All the while juggling homeschooling for two kids in the comfort of my garage office!”…
Kubilay Uner (Music 92) catches us up: “This year I got to scratch off my perhaps biggest bucket list item yet—I wrote and produced a genuine Wyld Stallyns song, with the concise title “That Which Binds Us Through Time: The Chemical, Physical and Biological Nature Of Love; An Exploration of The Meaning of Meaning, Part…
Deborah Wasserman (Art 92) writes, “This year has been tough on all of us, but strangely, the time spent in solitude, contemplation, and reevaluation has been invaluable. More than ever, art seems to be an urgent necessity, a path of healing, uplifting, and making a change! This year I was fortunate to receive a few…
Dustin Boyer (Music BFA 94) checks in, “Over the last 15 years I have had the pleasure of touring, playing guitar, and recording with John Cale (co-founder of the Velvet Underground, producer, and solo artist). It’s been a strange, wild ride since graduation with my bands Descanso and The Dusty Meadows Band. The forthcoming album…
Jeudi Cornejo Brealey (Film/Video, Theater MFA 95) writes, “When I released my Winter Was Warm CD, I was curating songs for an EP follow-up, but my research led me to such a trove of well-written, frequently forgotten Jazz Age-era songs, that what developed were two distinct song cycles. Over the course of five years, 32…
Siciliana Trevino (Film/Video 01) created Aesthetic Mobile Division, a vaporwave art car made for the first virtual Burning Man event at BRCvr—one of the eight recognized Burning Man metaverses. BRCvr is a permanent installation hosted on the social VR platform, AltspaceVR. Hundreds of avatars trekked to the digital Deep Playa for a joyride on the…
Daniel Moser (Theater 05) writes, “I’m currently in and have been living in NYC for the past 13-ish years. I’ve been holding down the fort here in Chinatown in Manhattan ever since the lockdown started. I lost my job/jobs (Broadway marketing/promotions and theater staff). The whole industry was the first to shut down and will…
Ismael de Anda III (Art 00) Personal Contacts is a series of exhibitions at Durden and Ray, featuring four members of the curatorial artists collective inviting four artists to join them. Each member invited one artist to participate for whatever reasons: shared aims, joint interests, or hopes to provide a platform in a more community-focused…
Ashley Moore (Wood) (Theater 03) reports, “I have been working for America’s Test Kitchen for almost 10 years! We just launched my first cooking series on YouTube through ATK called, Today’s Special. I am also a cast member on Cook’s Country, which can be viewed on PBS or Create. I have two boys, Jackson (3)…
Paul White (Art MFA 03) has been awarded a prestigious Pollock-Krasner Foundation grant of $20,000. The grant, established through the generosity of Lee Krasner, has given away a total of $79 million USD to artists and art organizations since inception in 1985. White will use this generous grant to cover living and art expenses over…
Tanja Raaste (Theater 04) writes, “So COVID-19 happened. Theater has been pretty much at a standstill here in London (and all over the world). I’ve still been teaching ‘business for performers’ online, and the lockdown gave me a chance to put together an online course on networking. Here in the UK (and in much of…
CalArtians Cindy Santos Bravo (Art 06), Megan Broughton, and Karina Esperanza Yañez came together after years of considering the next phase of Black Mountain College in the 21st century. Within the course of two weeks, the School of Now came into the world and was visually led by Kailyn Bryant with additional vision by artist…
Cassia Streb (Music 06) writes in: “Since March 2020, we’ve all watched the music community struggle to pivot to online creation in the wake of the pandemic. I’ve seen artists and audiences seeking connection but lacking infrastructure, especially infrastructure to pay artists for their work. My colleague, cellist Jennifer Bewerse and I decided to do…
Gina Jelinski (Clark) (Art BFA 07) shares, “Pozdrowienia! I am a Van Nuys native whose background is in horticulture and visual anthropology. I come from a lineage of Jewish acrobats and have spent the last decade handling private antiquarian libraries—simultaneously working in the field of video and behavioral analysis. You will find me in the…
Miwa Matreyek (Film/Video 07) premiered her new solo multimedia piece, Infinitely Yours at Sundance Film Festival’s New Frontiers section, as well as three sold-out shows at REDCAT, both in January of 2020. The project is fifth in a series of solo shows that combine the artist’s kaleidoscopic animations and her own live shadow as a…
Alex Lewin (Art 08) checks in: “In September I was promoted to director of Student Conduct and Community Standards at the University of Toledo. I’m enjoying watching the leaves change color here in Northwest Ohio while always reminiscing of my California home.”…
Flint (Critical Studies 09) writes, “I’m living and writing in Portland, Ore., where I am staying as safe, healthy, and sane as possible during this batshit bonkers time. I am staying connected with my LA-based writing community and am grateful for the connection they provide. I have a short story coming out in Erato, an…
Monica Martinez (Forouzesh) (Theater BFA 06) writes in, “I’m currently working at Dreamworks Animation on the Fast and Furious: Spy Racers TV show on Netflix.”…
Kristen Rea (Music MFA 12) writes, “After performing in the Japanese tour of Blast! The Music of Disney, my short musical, End of the Line, was featured in the 2019 Samuel French Off-Off Broadway Short Play Festival and will soon be published and available for licensing through MTI. I was also invited to the BMI…
Karina Esperanza Yanez (Art 13) writes, “Greetings from South Central LA is an arts-focused community resource for the youth, educators, and families of South Central Los Angeles. Our mission is to promote, advocate for, and foster experiences where the South LA community can participate in arts and culture. For more information please visit: greetingsfromsouthla.org.”…
Eva Augustina Sinotte (Theater BFA 14) and Jonathan Bangs (BFA 2016) are expecting their first child, a baby girl on Nov. 11, 2020. The couple are over the moon excited and jazzed for their latest masterpiece; an evolution of bright light during these COVID times. Also, Bangs is dropping his latest rap album, Jon’s First…
Diana Cioffari-MacPhee (Music MFA 16) is the program associate for the CalArts Alumnx & Family Engagement team, a vocalist, composer, multi-instrumentalist, actress, voice actress, collaborator, interdisciplinary artist, and more. She is also an alumna of Ithaca College (undergraduate), member of Society of Composer of Lyricists (SCL), ASCAP, The Hildegards, and Sigma Alpha Iota, most recently…
Oscar Corona (Art 17) writes, “Before quarantine began in March, I had the joy of being a PA on the Lisa and Liza production, a film project by Liat Benezra and Shianne Yang (both School of Film/Video) and other fabulous current students and alumni! It’s a passion project about young femmes navigating college, post-adolescence bliss,…
Director Andrew Lush (Film/Video 18) and Producer Luka Fisher (Art 18) collaborated on the “Satan’s Tears” music video for artist Kyler O’Neal that premiered at Outfest on Aug. 22, 2020, in the Platinum Showcase. The video has since been released on YouTube and is featured on the Outfest Now app. Andrew, Luka, and Kyler bonded…
Cody Putman (Music MFA 18) checks in: “Hey y’all. Been riding out quarantine the best that I can so far and staying politically active through this shit stain year. I got rid of social media a few months ago and have been using a newsletter (https://palmsandpowerlines.substack.com/) to stay in touch and for writing. I recently…
Sam Salman (Theater 19) reports, “Recently started a costume shop, Northern Costume, in the industrial park around the corner from the Valencia studios. During quarantine, we made masks for the community. Now that the industry is back up and running, we are ready to make the movie magic happen!”…
