Colorado Construction Wall

Xmas Banners Assignment

Lisa Adams

Deborah Sussman (sussman/prejza)

"Albers Squares" assignment

Anne Thornycroft

Diane Buckler

"Nude or Naked?" Assignment

Frank Romero

George Herms

Roland Young

Student Work at DAA 1994-1996

The first set were painted when the school was located off Colorado Blvd. and Cloverfield- now the site of a huge corporate business park- Universal Pictures and Sony Music and Ralph's Groceries. The artist in the studio next had a lightning machine. It is also where I took a few classes from Roland Young and where his genius was confirmed in me when he mentioned Metamagical Themas (I thought I was the only one who knew about that book!) He also talked about the idea I creating a world as an artist, which I had attempted for almost ten years during my Dungeons& Dragons years and then thought about how, heavily influenced by the CBS Children's Film Festival with Kukla Fran and Ollie and The Disneyland TV Show and Disneyland. Those worlds were now part of my psychological make up as an artist.

Press about the school:

UNIQUE SMC DESIGN COLLEGE ENDS IN CURRENT FORM
"Best Kept Secret in L. A." Marks New Chapter with "Synopsis" Show
The Santa Monica College of Design, Art & Architecture -- which Rolling Stone Magazine once called "the best kept secret in Los Angeles" -- will mark the end of its 10-year colorful existence with an eclectic show, "Synopsis," June 10-24 at the Julie Rico Gallery in Santa Monica.
The unique college-within-a-college -- which has been the fertile training ground for artists from throughout the world and was the launch pad for students to such schools as Yale, NYU and Cal Arts -- will be restructured and incorporated into the college's art department under the Arts Mentor Program. That highly acclaimed program allows gifted students to work individually with professors.
"I feel a little bit like the cast of 'Seinfeld' must have felt its last season," said Ronn Davis, an SMC art professor who has served as CDAA coordinator for the past three years. "But CDAA has experienced a natural evolution in the last decade, and the time is right to examine how it can be folded into an outstanding art department at SMC."
The exhibit at the Julie Rico Gallery, which will showcase the works of the program's current roster of 35 students, marks the beginning of a special relationship between the college and outside galleries, Davis said.
The gallery is at 208 Pier Ave., and the opening reception will be held from 5 p.m. to 10 p.m. Saturday, June 10. Gallery hours are noon to 6 p.m. Tuesday through Sunday.
"This will be a new beginning for everyone," said Rico, who is excited about the prospects of an ongoing relationship with the college and who is guiding the CDAA students in all aspects of galleries, from hanging the work to pricing to art world politics.
CDAA, launched in the fall of 1989, was designed to expose students to an innovative and experimental curriculum in an open-studio environment. Modeled on the legendary Bauhaus School of Design in Germany and Black Mountain College in the U.S., DAA brought together students with such renowned artists as Laddie John Dill, George Herms, Deborah Sussman, Peter Alexander, and Jeffrey Daniels. Currently, Davis, Dill, Bob Wilhite and John Grant teach in the program.
Over the years, CDAA was housed in several locations, including an empty hangar at the Santa Monica Airport, a cavernous 63,000-square-foot warehouse with no water or electricity on the corner of Colorado Avenue and Cloverfield Boulevard, and a building on 18th Street that belongs to Crossroads School. For the past two years, it has been at SMC's campus at Santa Monica Airport.
Students have been actively involved in community art projects, including untraditional and highly controversial holiday banners created for downtown Santa Monica and an art wall at The Arboretum construction site on Colorado Avenue.
Davis said that though CDAA's focus has changed over time -- for example, new media and film have replaced architecture and furniture design instruction -- its spirit has stayed alive. Students have their own stalls to create their work and interact formally and informally with instructors -- and each other.
"It's been a wonderful three-way learning experience -- students from teachers, students from students, and teachers from students, in an atmosphere of experimentation," said Sierra Pecheur, a current CDAA student.
Many of the current students are transferring to other institutions, including the Claremont Graduate School and the Rhode Island School of Design, while others are planning to create communal studio space to pursue their professional careers.
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