Year: 2017

Aug 23rd, 2017

Collaboration Soft Launch: (Un)making Podcast with Weston Teruya

Lucas Artists Fellow Weston Teruya moderated an episode of his  (un)making podcast series produced for Art Practical at a live-recorded event at the Lucas Artists Program in April 2017. He spoke with artists/writers Jaime Cortez and Genevieve Quick about the ways their visual and literary  practices inform one another and how they negotiate the other roles they play in supporting the local arts ecology. Listen Now >>
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Aug 23rd, 2017

The Tall Tales of Jonas Becker

By Vivian Sming for Art Practical Originally published: August 17, 2017 On a hot summer evening, I visited soon-to-be Chicago-based 1 artist Jonas Becker on one of the final days of his residency at Montalvo Arts Center in Saratoga, California. I nervously drove up to the top of a very steep hill and breathed a sigh of relief upon arriving at Becker’s studio, which overlooks the surrounding redwoods. For the past month, he has worked and lived here with his dog Booger, continuing a body of work that has been several years in the making. The series, titled Same Rock…
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Aug 23rd, 2017

PRESS RELEASE: Montalvo Announces New Partnership with Online Bay Area Magazine Art Practical

Collaboration to r esult in visual criticism exploring the work of ​Montalvo's Lucas Artists Fellows SARATOGA, Calif. – Montalvo Arts Center is pleased to announce that it has entered into a collaborative relationship with the Bay Area online arts publication Art Practical . Through December 2017, Art Practical writers will create a series of articles that go behind the scenes at Montalvo’s internationally renowned Sally and Don Lucas Artists Program to highlight the creative work of Montalvo’s Lucas Artists Fellows. These articles are presented as part of a new Art Practical initiative called “Notes From Montalvo,” an adaptation of their…
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Oct 31st, 2017

Notes From Montalvo, Judy Darragh: FOIL

By Ashley Voss for Art Practical ​ Originally published: October 31, 2017 Despite relinquishing her crown as the “Queen of Kitsch” in 2002, New Zealand artist Judy Darragh has not deviated from her whimsical recycling of inexpensive objects. 1 Transitioning toward a minimalist mindset, Darragh has replaced her use of plastic penises and faux fur with manipulated stationery and aluminum foil. Since the 1980s, Darragh has produced works that challenge the act of conspicuous consumerism. Uninterested in participating in the commercial aspects of the arts industry, Darragh purposely creates works that others can easily replicate with everyday objects. Her most…
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Nov 2nd, 2017

Notes From Montalvo, the once and future California, a utopic island of imagination

By Gregory Hurcomb for Art Practical ​Originally published October 31, 2017 ​“… for me it is not a problem, especially now, as to whether what I do is art or not. I use it to live, to have adventures (…)” –Alighiero Boetti ​Perhaps this is the perfect quote to consider while contemplating the work of Italian artist Matteo Rubbi, who I recently had the opportunity to sit down with at the Montalvo Arts Center in Saratoga, California where Rubbi is currently an artist in residence. Our conversation focused primarily on his current project at Montalvo, as well as the artistic…
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Nov 28th, 2017

Notes from Montalvo, A Different Kind of Treehouse: Máximo González The Collector

By Rochelle Spencer for Art Practical ​Originally published November 21, 2017 Imagine a bright, sunny studio, the exterior surrounded by plants, the interior jostling with the laughter of friends, and drawings of the saddest, grimmest tree you’ve ever seen—broken, beaten, and scrawnier than Charlie Brown’s Christmas tree. Drawings of this tree (and dozens like it) not only dominate the interior of Máximo González ’s studio, but also are at the center of a discussion: Is the tree the most significant image of The Collector , González’s in-progress installation at Montalvo Arts Center in Saratoga, California, or is it the house? ​…
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Dec 3rd, 2017

The Collector: A Proposal

This exhibition represents a proposal for an ambitious, large-scale outdoor installation and community engagement project by Lucas Artists Fellow Máximo González. Over a period of six years, González has carefully crafted a mysterious alter ego he calls “the collector.” Performed by the artist, this elusive figure has traveled the world painting portraits of dead and dying trees. Many of these works are on view here.​In July 2016, González undertook a one-month residency at the Lucas Artists Program (LAP) at Montalvo Arts Center. During his stay he traveled to some of California’s most treasured national parks to continue working on this…
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Nov 3rd, 2017

NOW HEAR THIS! An Exercise in Listening

NOW HEAR THIS! is an outdoor exhibition and sound festival featuring the work of thirty-one different local and national sound artists, composers, instrument-builders, performers, and visual artists for whom listening plays a vital role in their creative process. Visitors are invited to consider the following questions: How can listening disrupt or enhance our sense of place and space? Can the act of listening produce new forms of public engagement and awareness? How can we listen more deeply and differently? The exhibition includes five newly commissioned site-specific works of sound-based art by national and local artists Taraneh Hemami, Walter Kitundu, Hugh…
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Oct 25th, 2017

Rolling Counterpoint

Developed by artist Taro Hattori, Rolling Counterpoint is a space for encounter designed to foster dialogue about experiences of division and belonging in contemporary society. ​The project consists of two teahouses: one stationary space installed outdoors on Montalvo Arts Center’s 175-acre public park in Saratoga, California and one mobile teahouse, which travelled to various cities in the Bay Area in 2017 (Cupertino, San Jose; Berkeley, Oakland, and San Francisco). Please visit the Rolling Counterpoint website to find out more about the project.
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