SEMINAR III: Visions of Central Valley Culture: Local Arts and Film. This topic centers around the way cultural identity is represented through works of art, film and other expressions. Identifying, exploring and experiencing the valley’s unique and diverse cultural make-up through modes of cultural transmission which thrive outside orthodox Western forms of theater, music and dance. Key Questions: Who has the authority to decide what constitutes a primary work of cultural production that aids in the formation of collective identity? What is the relationship between a need for identity and the creation of rituals and traditions? How does the interaction of multiple ethnic population centers merge, create, or end historic traditions? In identifying cultural representation in the performing arts, what preconceptions do we incorporate regarding performance space and modes of performance? MJC Faculty Organizer: Flora Carter.
Lecture: September 9, 2015 from 3-5 at Modesto Junior College, Performing and Media Arts Center (PAC), East Campus, Room 243
Lectures with Jessica Gomula-Kruzic, Professor of Art, and Director of Art on Main and Building Imagination, Center, CSU Stanislaus, and Jack Sousa, Artistic Director, Prospect Theater Project, Modesto, and Instructor of Theater. Special Guests Greg and Mark Runnells, (the Runnells Brothers) local Modesto filmmakers and producers.
Discussion: September 23, 2015 from 3-5 Modesto Junior College, Performing and Media Arts Center (PAC), East Campus, Room 243
Seminar discussion with readings: Wright, Terence. Visual Impact: Culture and the Meaning of Images. Diepeveen, Leonard, and Van Laar, Timothy. Art with a Difference: Looking at Difficult and Unfamiliar Art. Said, E. W. (1993). Freedom From Domination in the Future. Culture and Imperialism (pp. 341–408). London: Vintage. Fanon, F. (1967). The Wretched of the Earth. Middlesex, England: Penguin.
RELATED YOUTUBE VIDEOS – October 21, 2016 Common Ground Conference
1. LUIS VALDEZ (Playwright, Actor, Writer, Film director, Founder of El Teatro Campesino) (36 min) – KEYNOTE SPEECH AT OCT 21, 2016 COMMON GROUND CONFERENCE
2. LILLIAN VALLEE (MJC) (6 min) – POETICS OF THE CENTRAL VALLEY, CALIF
CURRICULAR MODULES: Curricular modules including Local Arts and Film
Reading List:
Didion, Joan. Where I was From. Vintage, New York, 2004.
Diepeveen, Leonard and Timothy Van Laar. Excerpts from Art with a Difference: Looking at Difficult
and Unfamiliar Art, Mayfield, Mountain View, CA, 2001. Excerpt from Ch 2, “Western Art and
Other Cultures: Encountering Difference.”
Fanon, Frantz. Excerpts from The Wretched of the Earth. 1967. Middlesex, England: Penguin:
“The Trials and Tribulations of National Consciousness,” pp. 97-144, “On National Culture”
pp. 145-180; “Conclusion,” pp. 235-239.
Markusen, Ann, and Anne Gadwa. “Executive Summary,” pp. 1-7; and “Components of Successful
Placemaking Initiatives,” pp. 18-23. Creative Placemaking, 2010. National Endowment for the Arts.
http://arts.gov/publications/ creative-placemaking
Rodriguez, Richard. “Where the Poppies Grow,” California: Art, Image, and Identity, 1900-2000.
Los Angeles County Museum of Art, U California Press, 2001, pp. 273-280.
Said, E. W. “Freedom from Domination in the Future,” Culture and Imperialism, 1993. London:
Vintage, pp. 282–336.
Schenker, Heath. “Paintings and Sculpture: Picturing California’s Other Landscape,” Picturing California’s Other
Landscape: The Great Central Valley. Haggin Museum, Stockton, CA, Heyday Books, Berkeley, CA, 1999,
pp. 15 – 25.
Life in the Central Valley of California 1949 Coronet Instructional Films Sacramento, Fresno, CA
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M17v3s36a5U