The Sam Francis Gallery at Crossroads School for Arts & Sciences Presents

UNFOLDING ARCHIVES

The exhibition features work by 2024-25 Artist-in-Residence Jenny Yurshansky

Exhibition: Oct. 23-Nov. 14

Artist Reception and Workshop: Wednesday, Oct. 30, 3:30-5:30 p.m.

The reception does not require an RSVP. During regular gallery hours, please make a reservation in advance by clicking here. Visitors must check in with security.

SANTA MONICA, CALIF. (Oct. 14, 2024)—Jenny Yurshansky is the 2024-25 artist-in-residence at Sam Francis Gallery. Her history of being a refugee deeply informs her artistic practice. Through a research-based approach, she explores the trauma of displacement, interrogating notions of belonging and otherness within the frames of landscape, historical documents, and social constructs. Formally, this manifests as absence, loss, and erasure. Her long-term projects form intertwined narratives and span the mediums of sculpture, photography, installation, and writing.

Yurshansky’s residency, Unfolding Archives, is a collection of work anchored by Unfolded Narratives, a 100-foot-long quilted tapestry art installation created during community workshops with over 300 participants for the past two years at the Wende Museum, Heart of Los Angeles, 18th Street Art Center, Roxbury Park Community Center, Camp Gesher, Chapman University, USC Roski School for Arts, Westridge School, Shalhevet School, De Toledo High School and Milken School. During the opening reception, Crossroads will host a similar workshop for visitors to work with Yurshansky, encouraging them to explore their family origin stories by creating paper fortune tellers. The session is an opportunity to focus on the complexity of what it means to think about home, origin, and place, especially in the context of one’s family history. How are the patterns that reveal themselves in our family dynamics indicators of larger socio-historical patterns that we can identify or contextualize ourselves within? How can this be understood in the framework of immigration and displacement? These workshops are a means of experiencing how our stories are manifold and interwoven. As such, they offer us paths for understanding our individual histories and places of origin and how that impacts our sense of belonging and identity.

Crossroads Visual Arts students will have the opportunity to collaborate with Jenny during her classroom visits this winter by using her work, The Fugitive Archive, as the catalyst for their work. Yurshansky’s photographic lightbox piece resembles an airport x-ray, revealing a collection of personal objects made precious due to their emotional significance rather than their monetary value. They become the physical manifestation of generational memory. A selection of student work will be showcased in the student project exhibition in January.

Another component of Unfolding Archives is Generation Loss, a listening station with audio interviews of workshop participants describing their objects through storytelling. These interviews were recorded by Jenny and are archived as records on X-ray film, also known as “bone records” in the Soviet Union. Crossroads community members will have the opportunity to participate in the growing series, which will later be displayed in her solo exhibition, What We Carry, at the Skirball Cultural Center in October 2026. All participants will be credited as co-creators in the artwork. More information will be provided during the exhibition.

Rinsing the Bones is currently on display at The Wende Museum in Culver City in affiliation with Getty PST-ART.

“My reason for creating this work is to manifest a deeper understanding and point of connection from which all who participate and visit will carry their experience forward, making them part of a paradigm shift in future discussions they participate in. My work is iterative for this reason, generative and expansive in a way that includes the voices and experiences of participants and visitors so that our stories go beyond the space of the exhibition and their impact is carried out into those we interact with in our lives… I hope that we all find ourselves in constructive interference as we overlap rather than collide, centering our care for one another as we gently intersect.” – Jenny Yurshansky

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The Sam Francis Gallery at Crossroads School for Arts & Sciences Presents

THE 2024-25 VISUAL ARTS FACULTY EXHIBITION

Exhibition: Sept. 3- Oct. 10

Opening Reception: Wednesday, Sept. 11, 3:30-5:30 p.m.

The reception does not require an RSVP. During normal gallery hours, we ask that you make a reservation in advance by clicking here. Visitors must check in with security.

SANTA MONICA, CALIF. (Sept. 1, 2024) – Crossroads School for Arts & Sciences is excited to announce the first exhibition of the 2024-25 school year showcasing the diverse and innovative work of members of the School’s K-12 Visual Art Department. This exhibition offers an insightful glimpse into the creative processes and thematic explorations which define each artist’s practice. Additionally, these teaching artists bring their extensive knowledge, experience and passion for their practice into the classroom. This exhibition features artwork by the following Crossroads teaching artists:

Susan Arena, Melissa Bouwman, Brandy Friedlander, Janice Gomez, Anne Kessler, Akemi Maruki, Antonio Okun, Vincent Ramos, Jesse Robinson, Carly Steward, Solomon Turner

Susan Arena’s work in drawing, painting and ceramic sculpture investigates the complex experience of womanhood through historical and cultural references. Her art celebrates the contradictions of female identity and invites viewers to explore the beautiful messiness of being female and the human condition through the tactile and expressive nature of her art.

Melissa Bouwman’s work, uterusSpaceship.com, is an evolving website dedicated to exploring and celebrating the uterus through personal stories, artistic expressions and information, featuring sections for viewers to contribute art and content.

Brandy Friedlander shares her passion for photography, which began unexpectedly in high school and has become a central aspect of her life. Her large- and small-scale photographs reveal the dramatic contrasts and glowing effects of infrared film, highlighting her dedication to the medium.

Janice Gomez explores the concept of artmaking as a means of engagement with both physical and mental spaces, using recycled imagery and personal recordings. Her work examines how the transformation of everyday forgotten images and experiences can alter our perceptions and connections with the world.

Anne Kessler's collage work, created from recycled magazines, reimagines everyday materials to challenge conventional perceptions and offers a unique, optimistic perspective influenced by female viewpoints and the modernist approach of Georgia O’Keeffe.

Akemi Maruki’s sculptures navigate the tension of balancing multiple identities and roles, reflecting on the fragility of connections and the challenge of nurturing oneself amidst diverse demands. Her work creates a contemplative space that examines how these roles interplay and impact our sense of self.

Antonio Okun delves into his personal childhood experiences and emotions through sculptural forms, aiming to convey a sense of longing and the intricate interplay of fear and joy. His work invites viewers to connect with these emotions and explore the invisible threads that link them to the artist’s personal narrative.

Vincent Ramos revisits a drawing of Eddie Munster from "The Munsters" to reflect on how the character and show mirrored the anxieties of 1960s America. Through this nostalgic lens, Ramos draws parallels to today's political climate.

Jesse Robinson presents drawings created during the COVID lockdown, capturing the delicate and dynamic interplay of ropes in still-life constructions. His work reflects a process of deep observation and engagement with the physical world, portraying the abstract forms and anthropomorphic qualities of these ephemeral constructions.

Carly Steward will present her project "Pages," a photographic journey into the often-overlooked beauty of paper. Her work celebrates paper’s transformation from a simple substrate to a profound storyteller, revealing its fragility and capacity for sculptural forms. In "Page 824," Steward merges paper sculpture with photographic landscapes to explore themes of impermanence and transformation, creating a dialogue between sculptural paper forms and their photographic representations.

Solomon Turner explores themes of family history, identity and the intersection of technology and architecture through his filmmaking. His structuralist approach and iterative design process offer fresh perspectives on human life, personal heritage and self-understanding.

This exhibition is a rich and engaging exploration of contemporary themes and artistic practices, reflecting the diverse voices and creative approaches of Crossroads’ visual arts faculty. Join us in celebrating their work and the vibrant dialogue it inspires at the start of the new school year.

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