Recent

” Being in school was really beneficial to me, especially in my department where everyone is making work that looks exactly the same. In photography people are just remaking pictures that resemble one another. That was really frustrating. Now that I think about it and look back I realize that I wasn’t being a brat but I was just thinking critically.”

- Sarah McMenimen

Read more »

image

Resting on 100 acres of avocado and citrus orchards 60 miles north of Los Angeles, The Orchard Project is designed for artists, curators, musicians, and writers to escape the rigors of studio life to gain a critical distance from their work, their jobs, and the world at large.

Visit this website often, join our monthly mailing list by filling the form below, or contact our staff to stay informed to the ever-evolving nature of this experiment.

Contact

The Orchard Projects update: Sarah McMenimen

June 15 2009

image

One of the most exciting aspects of this project for us is capturing an honest, varied and clearheaded cross-section of the creative forces driving, or learning to drive, California today. The great thing is, that spirit allows us to learn from just about anybody. The diverse lessons learned from simple observation can weave themselves together; creating a blanket of understanding you can snuggle under, build a fort with, or wipe your muddy shoes on. Whatever you damn well please.

That’s why we’ve asked a few artists to tell us what it’s like jumping through the fiery hoop that is “art school.” Corrina Peipon, who attended The San Francisco Art Institute in’94, told us she felt “lucky to meet really fucking smart, talented, funny and out-of-hand interesting people.”  Sarah McMenimen graduated from California College of the Arts only two months ago. Over a batch of home-made doughnuts, she shared her concern over her school’s lack of engagement with a living, breathing art world.

The idea here is that, given the nature of any curriculum attempting to teach a unique creative process, our frameworks and modes of thinking about ‘useful’ or ‘successful’ education is going to be upchucked more than a freshman’s pizza party swimming in 40 ounces of the champagne of beers. Many, many people have pointed this out. We know. But how many of them have actually bothered to ask an alumni if it was worth the fifty years of debt they incurred in the process? And with that steep fee that is ever increasing, has the product warranted such a price tag? There’s only one way to find out. Tell us! Send us an email at (JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) and give us a piece of your mind. We don’t care if you graduated in 1963 or if you’re sending us an email from your iPhone on your way to Figure Drawing II. We don’t care if you received a BFA in 3 years, an MFA in 2, and a doctorate in Art History (or, God forbid, Critical Theory). We don’t care if you’ve never even stepped foot on an art school’s Parliament Lights littered floor.  We want to know your thoughts and experiences regarding the matter.  We might even post ‘em (with your permission, of course)!

To get the gears rolling, check out our conversation with Sarah and we’ll have Part II of Corrina’s up next week. We look forward to reading your responses, (MLA format not necessary or necessarily encouraged).

READ OUR CONVERSATION WITH SARAH

READ PART ONE OF OUR CONVERSATION WITH CORRINA

Cheryl Meeker and Ishan Clemenco

image
image
image
Cheryl Meeker and Ishan Clemenco at The Orchard Projects, May 2, 2009

Aram Moshayedi and Jedediah Caesar

image
image