It’s not every day that high school students get the opportunity to showcase their art alongside working artists in a gallery. Brand Library & Art Center’s new exhibit does just that. “Summertime” brings together artworks from Glendale Unified School District students and artists in Supercollider, an art, science and tech Los Angeles-based artist collective. The show is ongoing through Saturday, May 18.
Curated by Marcela Vieira, the collaborative project features artworks by Andrea Ganuza, Beatriz Toledo, Berfin Ataman, Brice Bischoff, Carolina Caycedo and David de Rozas, Edgar Fabián Frías, Isabel Beavers, Janaina Wagner, Joel Kuennen, Lauren Bon, Maurício Chades, Noara Quintana, Sofia Borges, Star Feliz and Wallace Masuko and over 50 student artists presented by GUSD representing Anderson W. Clark High School, Crescenta Valley High School, Daily High School, Glendale High School and Herbert Hoover High School. The show includes around 85 works in various mediums: video, painting, sculpture, photography, drawing, projection, ceramics, fiber artwork and robotics.
“Summertime” delves into the landscape as a product of human intervention, reflecting its evolution from its original state. Over time, the terrain has been delineated, fragmented and altered to align with social, economic and aesthetic objectives. Through diverse mediums, the artists featured in the exhibition explore unconventional compositions, establishing dialogues between their creations and the gallery environment. “Summertime” charts a course aimed at exploring the actuality and potential of depiction, employing fiction to envision alternative landscapes.
Tied together by thematic elements, the artworks flow and form a cohesive front.
“All the works touch on landscape and our relationship to the landscape,” said Stephanie Sherwood, exhibition coordinator. “(The exhibit) recognizes the negative impacts that humanity has had, but there’s also this kind of fictional landscape or imagined future landscape. It’s this idea of turning to artists to imagine a future relationship with the environment that’s more hopeful.”
The title draws inspiration from George Gershwin’s song “Summertime,” notably Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong’s rendition. Infused with nostalgia yet tinged with surrealism, the song was a guiding beacon for the thematic inquiries in the showcased artworks.
“(‘Summertime’) is beautiful, dreamy and kind of stylistic, but there’s also this kind of a little bit of surreal undertone to it,” Sherwood said. “(The exhibit) has very lively and great, engaging elements, but there are also elements of darkness and death, and this sadness and longing about our planet and how humanity has changed it.”
Supercollider crafts immersive experiences that merge science and art, curating nationally and internationally recognized pop-ups, festivals and research institute exhibits that redefine the future and challenge the present. Nestled within the Beacon Arts Building in LA, Supercollider serves as the headquarters for sci-art-tech exhibitions in the greater LA area and beyond. With rotating showcases on-site and curated satellite displays in both local and international venues, Supercollider pushes the boundaries of creative exploration.
The Brand Library and Art Center has hosted GUSD student artwork in the past, but the shows were always short-lived. Sherwood wanted to find a way to have student works on view for much longer. Partnering with the collective was the perfect opportunity to display student art for a full run of a show, usually a couple of months, while allowing students to exhibit next to professional working artists and learn from them.
