Rags 2 Rhythm Displays Fashion and Merchandising Student's Work

Photo Courtesy of programcouncil.org

10th annual fashion show, "Rags 2 Rhythm," displayed Fashion students' work with color and texture accompanied by the use of live music, Friday night in the USU Ballroom.

Fashion and Merchandising student, Amelia Knudson-Griffith, said "This is a great way to end the year and a great way to show the community how culture, fashion and hip-hop are intertwined."

Students in the Fashion and Merchandising program, work all year to create "looks" that will best show their image and the diverse theme of exhibiting all four seasons in the entire show.

The event consisted of a runway show displaying whole collections by aspiring designers and the sale of runway clothes during intermission.

Every year the event boasts not only the achievement of all who are involved in the production but the attendance of special guests and the possibility of networking in the professional fashion world.

According to Tristan Wynn, USU Program Council Assistant quoted in the Student Union Newsletter, "Last year some models were contracted for modeling, and there were even a scout from 'America's Next Top Model' in the audience."

BFA Students Want Exhibit Viewers to Open Up and "Say Awe"

Bachelor's of Fine Arts spring semester senior students will be displaying their final work of art produced during college as part of the off-campus exhibition titled "Say Awe."

Luis Ramirez, public relations coordinator for the event, says that the BFA program is "more prestigious" and that it takes art students one to one and half years longer to complete the program as opposed to the regular Bachelors's of Arts program. Therefore this event is an important final step for the graduating seniors.

The play-on-words title expects viewers to be excited by the last college rendition by the job-market bound seniors. This event is put on every semester in order to showcase the students' work, but is generally a larger spectacle in the spring than it is in the fall.

This semester's show will feature work from 17 students and they will be occupying two rooms at the Max L. Gatov Gallery with work that follows two tracks.

"There will be two tracks; figurative and contemporary," says Ramirez, "with everything from figure painting to abstract painting."

All works of art will have the one characteristic of being either a drawing piece or a painting piece. Also, all pieces will be demonstrating each artist's perception of the human body.

"Everybody is developing their own body work," says Ramirez, "every person has their own conception of the body."

Other shows will be exhibited concurrently by CSULB students, but not as part of the "Say Awe" exhibit.

The opening reception will be at the Max L. Gatov Gallery, Sunday May 9 from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m.

Graduate Student Uses Art to Protest

David Wrathall, 25, describing himself as "technically a student," is on campus from Monday through Thursday using art to protest against the "fucked up system" employed by the U.S. government along with expressing his ideals.

Wrathall became a student at CSULB in 2002 and graduated with a Bachelor's of Arts in Film and Electronic Media in 2007. Although he is currently on educational leave and has not taken classes in a year, he is now pursuing a Peace Studies Certificate as part of the Human Development Department.

Wrathall can best be found located sitting on the grass near the library and art department.

He describes his art as including "a lot of suns...abstract patterns...water and fire; the elements. Also love and hearts."

Wrathall recalls his protesting efforts starting four or five years ago on-campus and off-campus. He didn't start protesting through art until two years ago when he realized that "art influences the culture." He says the change is due to the perception of negativity surrounding protesting.

He started with face-painting and signs saying "Love Everyone" to pursue a "more positive" approach to getting is message out.

"It's good to inform people, but it's super negative," says Wrathall as he talks about expressing his views regarding 9/11 and the conspiracy theories surrounding it, explaining how he "blends art with politics."

Though Wrathall mainly sticks to art, he has performed four speeches on campus regarding TV, media, 9/11 and the war situation in general.

Wrathall's art will be displayed next month in the Psychedelic Ping Pong Art Gallery Show and his art can be viewed now at the Royal Cup Cafe located on Redondo St.

Wrathall found himself "running towards something really foggy" after graduating and says, "it's crazy how many people I've affected, but I don't want it to be about me." He describes himself as "satisfied for now."

Annual Clothesline Project Uses Visual Display to Demonstrate Their Message

Shirts decorated by survivors of sexual and domestic assault string between trees near the CBA building.

Picture Courtesy of Alex Kroeger

Passing by students stop to look at hundreds of decorated shirts by "survivors" today on campus as part of the annual sexual awareness event labelled, The Clothesline Project.

Melissa Valle, a CSULB student and a volunteer for the project says this is event is essentially a way of "airing out dirty laundry...of breaking the silence," about sexual and domestic assault.

Every year, the women's crisis center, puts on this event in accordance with April being sexual awareness month and it is a part of the on-going campus campaign called, Project Safe.

According to the Project Safe resource booklet, "The Clothesline Project began in 1990 in Massachusetts as a grassroots movement," using visual display to create the message. The event came to CSULB in 1993 and has been a continuous success every year. The shirts, that are strung from various trees on campus located mainly near the CBA building, create a "clothesline" effect, by displaying messages designed by women affected by sexual and domestic violence. Shirts are color-coded as to what type of violence the creator endured.


Video Courtesy of Youtube.com
This video displays the same event on a different campus as part of the country-wide campaign.

With some shirts reading messages such as: "Gang raped at 5 but the strong do survive," and "I said no," it gives the overall theme of women not being victims but being survivors.

"Many of the shirts are created by women who go to or have gone to the Women's Crisis Center on campus," says Karina Zamora, another CSULB student volunteer, "But some of the shirts are made by other members of the Long Beach community.

This visual display stops Elizabeth Corona, a prospective student visiting from Los Angeles. She says, "It interests me knowing other people's stories. I have a friend who was a victim of rape."

"By doing this, they take back some of the power that was taken from them," says Valle.

This event will be occurring on Wednesday, April 28 as well and will be from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. in the same spot between the CBA building and parking structure one.

Budget Cuts and Furloughs Affect Many Art Students

The effects of the statewide mandated furlough days are obvious and diverse especially regarding the art department and its students of various emphasis' and majors.

Teresa Benedetti, a fourth year graphic designs major describes the furlough days as a "giant rock put in place of her graduation path."

She goes on to explain that many art classes are project based and are at the least three hours long and occur two days a week.

"When you cut three hours of creativity time out of a week at certain times of the semester, the results are dismal," says Benedetti. "I live at home and with a large family, I can not be expected to do my project work at home or during the time that I have work, other school work, and extracurriculars."

Undeclared Freshman student, Caite Gleckman, describes the budget cuts and furloughs as a "personal obstacle" to declaring art as her major.

"Why would I go into a already difficult major knowing that I have more circumstances that will deter me from succeeding than art graduates before me," says Gleckman.

This video below shows early protests happening already last semester in regards to budget cuts and their effects on the art department specifically.


Video Courtesy of youtube.com and The Daily 49er

Budget cuts are rocking departments and organizations across our campus and other campuses in the state, but the effects are different for each department with the art department being just one of many areas hit by the mandated furlough days.

End of the Semester Social Dance Party a Continuous Success

The party held every semester for social dance classes in the USU Ballroom proved itself a big hit once again, Friday.

Starting at 7 p.m, the event ran till 11:30 p.m. boasting the attendance of over 250 people throughout the evening.

Phil Martin, a Lecturer of Kinesiology teaching classes involving social dance, has been holding this event since he started teaching at CSULB in 1983. He states this event has been running "a long time" and in fact there were attendees who were students of his from 15 or 20 years ago.

"A lot of students are teaching and running their own salsa teams...making a lot of money," says Martin, "Half a dozen have started their own dance team."

Martin teaches several social dance classes at many different levels and in addition he teaches one salsa class and also teaching classes for those who want to teach dance some day.

Anthony Guy, President of the Social Dance Club and Tresurer of the Salsa Club both at CSULB, says that "turnout is better than last semseter." An event like this one costs about $800 with the facility being rented for $400 and $400 for other expenses such as food and decorations.

This is Guy's 7th party and 6th party that he has run as president. He originally expected to only take one social dance class, saying "the girls drew me in," but he found his passion in dance and has taken more classes since.

He says he likes "seeing the look on people's faces when hey break character and have fun."

Silvestre Grimaldo, who has taken five social dance classes during his time at CSULB, says that this type of dance "builds confidence for guys...you have to be a good leader to lead a girl in the right step."

"You get to know people in social dance class, says Grimaldo, "you get to learn and grow together."

Graduate Students Display Work During Open Studio

Master of Fine Arts students showcase their work in an open studio event put on by MFA program Sunday.

Theresa Benedetti, an art major hoping to apply to the MFA program in the coming year, described the event "as a great opportunity to see exactly how much work and time MFA students put forth."

Graduate students gratiously allowed event attendees to take a close look at their artwork with some students even allowing guests to "feel or touch" their work says Benedetti.

Open studios events have long been claimed as an essential part of the MFA program both as a marketing tool by bringing in prospective MFA students and showing the community the dedication involved in this program.