This is the Dirt

THIS IS THE DIRT, INAUGURAL EXHIBITION AT PERMADIRTY PROJECT SPACE OPENS FRIDAY FEBRUARY 3, 2012. CURATED BY CYNDE MILLER.



PermaDirty, A New Art Space in Claremont’s Packing House merges art studio with art gallery.

Cynde Miller has long noticed that the Inland Empire, home to many amazing artists and art-goers, has few artist-run spaces that seek to nurture the local artistic community. Excited to fill this void, Miller, an IE artist and Professor of Art at Chaffey College in Rancho Cucamonga, has founded PermaDirty Project Space in Claremont’s Packing House.  Friday, February 3 marks the grand opening with This is the Dirt, a group show Miller curated to showcase local, dynamic artists.

 Miller’s vision for PermaDirty reflects a unique approach to viewing, exhibiting and making art; she wants to merge the art studio with the art gallery to create a blurring (read dirtying) of the two.  “I want local artists to have a working art studio with an open door policy that allows viewers to engage at any point in the process.  Combined with more formal exhibitions throughout the year, the space will help nurture local artists and also demystify what it is to look at and talk about art.”Miller explains, “PERMA, slang for permanent and intense, is combined with DIRTY to signify a new take on exhibition aesthetics and practice.   The space challenges the notion of the gallery as a ‘white cube,’ what we think of as a pristine space for the quiet contemplation of rarified objects.”  PermaDirty invites viewers into the studio to encourage fearless curiosity about art practice; and invites the artist into the gallery to challenge and perhaps dirty that cube.

This is the Dirt echoes Miller’s idea of what the gallery experience should be - nurturing, supportive, alive and permanently dirty.  In the interest of fostering community, Miller invited a group of artists to not only contribute work to the show, but to each invite one other artist to submit work for Miller’s curatorial consideration.

 In the coming months a selection process will be put in place to develop a rotation of artists who use the space as an art studio.  Building community is a huge aim of the space, “Claremont has so many amazing young people and such a rich history of art-making; PermaDirty wants to make sure the two continue to be bridged.”   By merging the art studio with the gallery, Miller looks forward to fostering curiosity, community and conversation between artists and seekers.  Miller’s plans for PermaDirty also include art workshops for the community at large and a shop that sells art supplies and the work of PermaDirty artists.


PermaDirty is located on the second floor of the Packing House in Claremont:  532 West First Street, Unit 219, Claremont, CA 91711.  This is the Dirt opens Friday, February 3rd from 7-10 PM and runs through April 13, 2012.   Visit www.permadirty.org for more information.

Chaffey Art Organization

Join the Chaffey Art Organization for their first meeting of 2012 on January 5th at 12:30pm in CAA-302. The Chaffey Art Organization is the student artist and art historian club of Chaffey College. Learn more about the club and their upcoming events at http://www.chaffeyart.org/.

Waste Land

Tomorrow at 12:30 in RM 102 of Wargin hall (u)ntitled will be screening the documentary Waste Land. WASTE LAND follows renowned artist Vik Muniz as he journeys to his native Brazil and the world's largest garbage dump, Jardim Gramacho, located on the outskirts of Rio de Janeiro. There he photographs an eclectic band of “catadores”—self-designated pickers of recyclable materials. Muniz’s initial objective was to “paint” the catadores with garbage. However, his collaboration with these inspiring characters as they recreate photographic images of themselves out of garbage reveals both the dignity and despair of the catadores as they begin to re-imagine their lives.

Food for Thought

Food for Thought: A Question of Consumption at the Wignall Museum of Contemporary Art

Chaffey College and the Wignall Museum of Contemporary Art are pleased to present Food for Thought: A Question of Consumption, January 17– March 24, 2012. The artists’ reception will be January 18 from 6-8pm with light refreshments and entertainment featuring dj Trickmilla. The exhibitions and receptions are free and open to the public.

In Food for Thought: A Question of Consumption, artists Edith Abeyta, Fallen Fruit (David Burns, Matias Viegener and Austin Young), Anne Hamersky, Mark Menjivar, and Jessica Rath use food as the impetus to explore food politics and activism in complex ways. In the Project Space, Lauren Michele Kasmer (LMK) presents a participatory installation, Thoughtful Food. Coordinated in concert with the One Book/One College (OBOC) program 2011-2012 selection, Michael Pollan’s Botany of Desire, Food for Thought: A Question of Consumption and related program work to expand the dialogue of Pollan’s book into the realm of contemporary art.

A series of lectures, participatory events, and food-related programs are planned in concert with Food for Thought: A Question of Consumption. Exhibitions and events are free and open to the public.

Please visit us online at www.chaffey.edu/wignall.

The Complete History of Art References in The Simpsons

Posted by Complex Magazine / Jan 9, 2012

Now in it’s twenty-third season, The Simpsons is the longest-running scripted television series in American prime-time. In four hundred plus episodes, the obvious laughs are often low-brow, but what has made the show such a success season after season are the satirical takes on popular culture. While the film, television and music references are easy to recognize, The Simpsons is often rather erudite with frequent nods to the art world.

Spanning from the renaissance masters to contemporary minds, here’s the complete history of art references in every Simpsons episode ever.