For Immediate Release
January 10, 2018
Sam Francis Gallery at Crossroads School for Arts & Sciences Presents
Monumental: Trophies and Monuments
Exhibition: Jan. 16-25
Closing Reception: Thursday, Jan. 25 // 2:20-3 p.m.
Blind contour drawing by Eamon M.
For the Crossroads Middle School exhibition in Sam Francis Gallery, students reexamine the rich and complex forms of monuments and trophies. They reflect on historic practices of using art to create symbols for the remembrance and reverence of significant people and events. The exhibit provides a forum for students to participate in reflection on social narrratives and related values.
It is in this spirit of possibility and change that we created artworks for this exhibition. Each class approached the concept of the show in a different way. Eighth-grade Studio Art students created mixed-media collages that juxtapose image and text. The eighth-grade Video Production class drew inspiration from the terms “monuments” and “trophies” and created narrative representations of the concepts. The eighth-grade Multimedia Arts class looked closer to home as students pondered the specific qualities that are favored by the Crossroads community and how they may be visualized. The eighth-grade Photography students explored reimagining monuments in place. In seventh-grade Studio Art, students selected people, places and things that they value and then created models for future monuments to them. Seventh-grade Art and Culture students modified photos of historical monuments to create space for new ideas and symbols and made digital sketches of poster art that interrogates the values and practices behind trophies and monuments.
Each of these projects takes our current political moment as a starting point and, through visual expression, seeks to imagine what new possibilities these traditional forms might hold.
Gallery Address:
Sam Francis Gallery
Peter Boxenbaum Arts Education Centre
Crossroads School for Arts & Sciences
1714 21st St.
Santa Monica, CA 90404
Gallery Hours: Monday-Friday, 10 a.m.-4 p.m.
samfrancisgallery@xrds.org
www.xrds.org/samfrancisgallery
(310) 829-7391
About Crossroads School
Crossroads School for Arts & Sciences is a K-12, coed college preparatory school in Santa Monica, California. Crossroads was founded upon five basic commitments: to academic excellence; to the arts; to the greater community; to the development of a student population of social, economic and racial diversity; and to the development of each student's physical well-being and full human potential. One in four students receives financial assistance. The School is highly acclaimed for its programs and is a leader in public/private educational partnerships.