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.

Panther Lunch Club Mondays

Artist Edith Abeyta co-hosts an open dialogue with artists, activists, scholars and government representatives each Monday from 12:30 pm to 1:30 pm at the Wignall Museum. Each discussion will focus on the practicalities, politics, access and solutions to our current food crisis. This semester-long program is being held in support of the Wignall's current exhibition, Food for Thought, and the 2011-12 college book, The Botany of Desire. January 23: Philosophical Debeet with Heather Anacker; January 30: Survival Strategies: Back of House Voices Silenced No More with Christina Sanchez; February 6: Raising Chickens in the City from Egg to Stew with Reies Flores and Arturo Ernesto Romo-Santillano.

Theatre Auditions

The Chaffey College Theatre Arts Department is holding open auditions for the spring production of One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest January 23 and 24 at 3:30 pm in the Theatre room TA-5. Please prepare a one minute contemporary dramatic monologue. Monologues must be memorized. Call backs will be held January 25.

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.