Riverside Art Museum

This Thursday, December 2nd marks the final ArtBites@RAM event for the year!  ArtBites has been a huge success since it’s start in July 2010 and we are excited for December’s event and what the new year holds in store for RAM.  ArtBites is held during the Riverside Arts Walk on the first Thursday of every month and features a speaker, performer and art activity that relate to the current exhibitions at RAM.  Admission during Art Bites is free and visitors are treated to the always-exciting array of guest collaborators.

This month’s event falls on the last day of our Off the Wall public art show and sale, and will feature a silent auction of selected works form the show.  Don’s miss your last chance to purchase original art right “off the wall” and support local artists and RAM!  Guests last month were thrilled to meet and talk with California Kustom Curator and Baby Tattooville founder Bob Self - and everyone will be happy to know that Bob will be back for this month’s Art Walk as well - along with three of the artists from California Kustom - Coop, Van Arno and William Stout. Visitors will be able to meet with the curator and artists in a casual Q & A inside the  upstairs gallery.  Our featured performer will be local Riverside indie rock band Winston and the Telescreen, who will top off the night with three phenomenal sets throughout the evening in our Members gallery.  Don’t miss the last ArtBites event of the year!

Our last “ArtBites @ RAM” event on November 4th, during the Riverside Arts Walk, held much in store for RAM visitors - and it was a fantastic turnout!  Guests were treated to a free visit of the entire museum, along with our monthly ArtBites guests and performers.  This month featured guest DJ Dan “Demon Slayer” Nguyen spinning, a “Pop Surrealist Paper Bag Mushroom” art activity with local creative collective Tentu, and a special “Walk and Talk” with California Kustom Curator and Baby Tattooville founder Bob Self.  All three were a big hit!  Check out the photos below, and make sure to join us on Thursday, December 2nd, from 6 - 9PM for more ArtBites @ RAM excitement!

For more info on our guests visit:

http://tentu.tumblr.com

http://dan-nguyen.com/Dan_Nguyen_%26_Demon_Slayer.html

http://www.babytattoo.com

This month’s “ArtBites @ RAM” event, held in conjunction with the Riverside Art Walk, is sure to be a treat for visitors!  ArtBites features selected speakers, performers, and art activity leaders, that work in loose relation to the current exhibitions at RAM.  ArtBites takes place during the Riverside Art Walk, this Thursday, November 4 from 6 - 9 PM and is free to the public.  Guests are treated to our selected guest performers and activities, as well as a free view of the current exhibitions at RAM.  This month holds in store DJ Dan (Demon Slayer) Nguyen, a “Pop Surrealist Mushroom” art activity with creative collective Tentu (in correlation with our California Kustom exhibition), and a “Walk and Talk” with California Kustom’s curator, Bob Self, of Baby Tattooville.  Stop by and say hello!

This month’s “ArtBites @ RAM” event, during the Riverside Arts Walk, held good times for all, featuring three exciting activities at the Museum.  We made Mobius Strips with Math Teacher Carrie Poindexter, listened to the awesome DJ sets of DirtRaid, and were treated to a stimulating talk on Chicana photography by UCR Associate Professor Tiffany Ana Lopez - on top of perusing all of the exciting exhibitions currently at RAM.  ArtBites @ RAM is a monthly event, held in conjunction with the Riverside Arts Walk on the first Thursday of each month.  Join us next month on November 4th!

By train and by plane, 20 enthusiastic participants arrived in Chicago for a new adventure planned by Art Alliance and RAM Life member, Evie Guin.

The tour started with a spectacular morning cruise which gave everyone a leisurely orientation of the Windy City while viewing the outstanding architecture Chicago has to offer. The second morning featured a docent-led tour of the Art Institute of Chicago. Tour members were surprised to learn there were 45 impressionist paintings in their permanent collection and that the Institute was home to Grant Wood’s “American Gothic”. The third day focused on a visit to the home of Frank Lloyd Wright and its accompanying museum.

The afternoons and evenings were free for each participant to explore the city. Many went to the Sears Tower (now known as the Willis Tower), the theater, and enjoyed free concerts at Millennium Park where the Jay Pritzker Pavilion’s bandshell was designed by Frank Gehry. Others indulged in tea at the Palmer House Hilton or cocktails at Sixteen, the signature restaurant of the Trump Towers. Shopping, visits to other museums, and fine dining were all a part of the Wonders of Chicago experience.

Members of the tour donated a portion of their tour price to the Riverside Art Museum to the tune of $1,000. RAM relies on the generosity of members and donors to support its exhibitions, education programs, and special events.

A giant thank you to Evie for putting together a wonderful tour and to the participants for helping RAM fulfill its mission.

Saturday, October 2nd marks the opening of California Kustom Presented by Baby Tattooville at RAM - an exciting exhibition in partnership with Bob Self - major collector and curator of Pop Surrealist and “Lowbrow” art, as well as the publisher of Baby Tattoo books.  California Kustom is presented in conjunction with Self’s annual Baby Tattoville event held at the Mission Inn, featuring first generation artists influential to the Lowbrow and Pop Surrealist movements.  Robert Williams, forefather of the Lowbrow movement, is amongst the featured artists in the exhibition.  Williams’ paintings draw from comic books, hot rod illustrations, crude cartoons and employ visually jarring psychedelic colors, all executed in hyper realist detail.  California Kustom Presented By Baby Tattooville explores the dynamic artistic expressions that have developed around the themes of nostalgia, outrageous humor, and the hint of sarcasm that are present in the Lowbrow movement.

The opening reception for the show will be held on the night of it’s opening on Saturday, October 2nd from 7 - 9PM and is open to the general public so make sure to stop by! More info on Bob Self and Baby Tattooville can be found at www.babytattooville.com.

RAM’s September 2nd ArtBites program, held during the Riverside Art Walk, was a huge success!  Visitors from the public were treated to a moving performance by La Sierra University Opera singers, felting activities with Riverside-based art collective Tentu, a printmaking demo by Mary Grinyer, and the opportunity to meet and talk with All Around artist Marco Casentini, who enjoyed making his own felt work of art.  Below are some photos from the event.

More info on PNET, RAM’s affiliate printmaking group, and the All Around exhibition can be found on the RAM website.

For more info on Tentu, visit http://flavors.me/tentu

The Riverside Art Museum (RAM) has invited Ann Marie Leimer to serve as guest curator for the exhibition titled ¡Adelante Siempre!: Recent Work by Southern California Chicana Photographers that opens September 11 and runs through November 6, 2010. The exhibition features the work of regional artists Laura Aguilar, Diane Arellano, and Jacalyn López García who locate photographic production and processes at the center of their aesthetic endeavors. The artists investigate issues ranging from the impact of social networking sites on the public imagination, to the relationship of the human form to nature, and to the performative social spaces of country line dancing within contemporary subcultures. Professor Leimer invites the university community to a preview reception on Friday, September 10, 2010, from 7:00-9:00 p.m. at the museum on 3425 Mission Inn Avenue in Riverside, California.

Leimer and the artists will be interviewed by Sikivu Hutchinson for the Women’s Collective program of WBAI, Pacifica Radio, 99.5 FM, New York City on Wednesday, September 8 at 8:30 a.m. PST. In conjunction with the exhibition, Professor Leimer will moderate a panel with the artists on Saturday, October 23 from 1:00-2:30 p.m. at RAM. Students and faculty are particularly welcome to attend the panel presentation, as well as the opening reception.

We have some exciting new photos documenting the installation of RAM’s upcoming show All Around, opening Saturday, August 14th.  The show features internationally renowned Italian painter Marco Casentini, who has recently become a Southern California resident.  In All Around, Casentini’s paintings move off the canvas and become enveloped in an entire installation view, as Marco and assistants have worked to paint the entire Art Alliance gallery as a backdrop for his work.  The painted walls complement his brightly colored geometric compositions and add a new dimension to his singular works.  The gallery already looks fantastic - don’t miss this one!

It was a great turnout at our monthly Arts Walk last night!

Here are a few photos of the Print Jam! Demo Reception, instructed by Jeff Ribaudo, in which participants were able to learn the process of  monoprinting and pronto-plates to create their own prints.

Click below to see all of our photos from the evening.

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