Faculty: The First Generation
April 10 – May 13, 2010
Curator | Begovich Gallery Director, Mike McGee
About the Exhibition
A young faculty member once asked Mike McGee, "Who's the guy in the drawing in the hallway near your office?" referring to a large image of Joachim (Vic) Smith. A founding member of the CSUF art department, Smith was also a former department chair and a painter and writer of note in Southern California dating back to the 1950s. This brief conversation made McGee realize that the upcoming generation had little connection to or knowledge of the first generation of faculty and decided that it was time to present an exhibition that documented the contributions of these pioneering faculty.
Fittingly, this exhibition inaugurated the renaming of the Main Art Gallery to the Nicolas and Lee Begovich Gallery, after longtime supporters of the university and of the art department.
In addition alumnus Amy Caterina and filmmaker Bob Pece created an insightful video artwork of recollections by former art department chairs and gallery directors. Students in the exhibition design and museum studies program compiled two other video presentations: one documenting exhibitions organized by former gallery director and celebrated exhibition designer Dextra Frankel; the second, a video timeline of important events in the department's history along with archived photographs.
Artists: Al Ching, Dorte Christjansen, Eileen Cowin, Frank Cummings, Darryl Curran, Dextra Frankel, Maurice Gray , Raymond Hein, Tom Holste, George James, G. Ray Kerciu, Don Lagerberg, Clinton MacKenzie, John Olsen, Robert Partin, Albert Porter, Leo Robinson, Jerry Rothman, Jerry Samuelson, Joachim (Vic) Smith, Jon Stokesbury, and Vincent Suez
