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UC Irvine Jack and Shanaz Langson Institute and Museum of California Art Announces Spring 2025 Exhibition

UC Irvine Jack and Shanaz Langson Institute and Museum of California Art Announces Spring 2025 Exhibition

Common Ground: Early 20th-Century Artist Communities in Southern California

On view February 8𑁒May 17, 2025

William Alexander Griffith, In Laguna Canyon, circa 1928, Oil on canvas, 30 x 40 in. UC Irvine Jack and Shanaz Langson Institute and Museum of California Art, Gift of The Irvine Museum.
William Alexander Griffith, In Laguna Canyon, circa 1928, Oil on canvas, 30 x 40 in. UC Irvine Jack and Shanaz Langson Institute and Museum of California Art, Gift of The Irvine Museum.

Irvine, CA…UC Irvine Jack and Shanaz Langson Institute and Museum of California Art (Langson IMCA) announced its new exhibition Common Ground: Early 20th-Century Artist Communities in Southern California. Common Ground examines artistic communities in Laguna Beach, La Jolla, and Los Angeles in the early 20th century and their influence on California plein air painting. On view February 8 through May 17, 2025, the presentation of 36 paintings, works on paper, porcelain, and bronze pieces is organized by graduate students from UC Irvine’s Visual Studies Ph.D. program: Ileana De Giuseppe, Zachary Korol Gold, and Dada Wang.

Artists formed clubs and associations ranging from highly selective to open membership to cultivate friendships, enable artistic exchange, and show their work to the public. Key figures from each of these communities are represented alongside their stories. For example, George Gardner Symons and William Wendt traveled together and painted in each other’s company whereas Frank Cuprien and Maurice Braun transformed their homes into galleries and gathering places for fellow artists.

Co-curators De Guiseppe, Gold, and Wang said, “Together, these artists promoted a mythical image of California as an untamed frontier that belies both the active social networks they created and the emerging suburbanization they helped foster in these places.”

Laguna Beach

In 1918, a group of artists, including Frank Cuprien, Anna Althea Hills, and Edgar and Elsie Palmer Payne, established the Laguna Beach Art Association (LBAA) to foster artistic and intellectual exchange. These artists often depicted the idyllic local landscapes in their works, enhancing the area’s reputation as an artistic haven and tourist destination. By capturing the rocky coastline and the area’s rolling hills, respectively, William Lees Judson’s The Wendts at Laguna Beach (between 1912-1928) and William Alexander Griffith’s In Laguna Canyon (c.1928) evoke remoteness in dramatic natural settings.

Unlike some other groups, LBAA supported women artists and heightened their reputations by exhibiting their work. They also welcomed members of other artistic communities in Southern California, including the California Art Club and Women Painters of the West. Over decades, LBAA accrued a sizable permanent collection and began operating as the Laguna Art Museum in 1972.

 

La Jolla

Alfred Richard Mitchell, La Jolla Shores, circa 1936, Oil on canvas, 40 x 50 in. UC Irvine Jack and Shanaz Langson Institute and Museum of California Art, Gift of The Irvine Museum.
Alfred Richard Mitchell, La Jolla Shores, circa 1936, Oil on canvas, 40 x 50 in. UC Irvine Jack and Shanaz Langson Institute and Museum of California Art, Gift of The Irvine Museum.

British newspaper magnate Ellen Browning Scripps moved to San Diego in 1896 and built a home in La Jolla. A patron of the arts,

Scripps agreed to fund the La Jolla Art Association in 1918. Proposed by Eleanor Parkes, who became the organization’s president, its founding members included Maurice Braun, Charles Fries, and Alfred Mitchell, among others. Progressive in nature and led by women, the association’s first exhibition was hosted by the Woman’s Club in La Jolla in 1919.

In 1929, Alfred Mitchell, his mentor Braun, and fellow artist Fries co-founded the Associated Artists of San Diego. Later renamed the Contemporary Artists of San Diego, this group represented the thriving professional art community that had emerged in the region. Mitchell’s La Jolla Shores provides a panoramic view of the beachfront community in 1936.

 

Los Angeles

Founded in 1906, the Painters’ Club of Los Angeles was a short-lived artist association that was invitation-only membership and limited to men, thereby excluding notable Los Angeles artists such as Marion Kavanaugh Wachtel and Julia Bracken Wendt.

Benjamin Brown, Autumn Glory, circa 1920, Oil on canvas, 28 x 36 in. UC Irvine Jack and Shanaz Langson Institute and Museum of California Art, Gift of The Irvine Museum.
Benjamin Brown, Autumn Glory, circa 1920, Oil on canvas, 28 x 36 in. UC Irvine Jack and Shanaz Langson Institute and Museum of California Art, Gift of The Irvine Museum.

Committed to depicting the California landscape, the group was championed by Antony Anderson, a founding member of the club and the first art critic for the Los Angeles Times. The club disbanded in 1909 despite its growth and well-attended exhibition program. Accounts attribute the club’s demise to disgruntled members irked when their works were not selected for the club’s second and final juried exhibition.

Jack Wilkinson Smith helped found the California Art Club and established the Biltmore Salon, a local gallery dedicated to promoting Southern California artists. Benjamin Brown’s Autumn Glory (c.1920) and William Wendt’s The Lake(1940) portray pristine landscapes that were still relatively accessible to Los Angeles.

Public programs will be announced at imca.uci.edu in early 2025.

 

 

About UC Irvine Jack and Shanaz Langson Institute and Museum of California Art

UC Irvine Jack and Shanaz Langson Institute and Museum of California Art (Langson IMCA) is home to two foundational gifts of California Art from The Irvine Museum and Gerald E. Buck estate. In addition, the permanent collection of more than 4,700 works from the late 19th century and early 20th century through present day continues to grow, augmented by acquisitions and gifts. The university is planning to construct a permanent museum and research institute to serve as a global magnet for the presentation and study of California Art within its social, historical, environmental, and cultural frameworks. Langson IMCA is currently located in an interim museum space at 18881 Von Karman Avenue, Suite 100, in Irvine, CA. It is open to all Tuesday through Saturday 10 am to 4 pm. Admission and parking up to two hours are free. For more information, visit imca.uci.edu. Follow us on Instagram @langsonimca.

About the University of California, Irvine

Founded in 1965, UC Irvine is a member of the prestigious Association of American Universities and is ranked among the nation’s top 10 public universities by U.S. News & World Report. The campus has produced five Nobel laureates and is known for its academic achievement, premier research, innovation, and anteater mascot. Led by Chancellor Howard Gillman, UC Irvine has more than 36,000 students and offers 224 degree programs. It’s located in one of the world’s safest and most economically vibrant communities and is Orange County’s second-largest employer, contributing $7 billion annually to the local economy and $8 billion statewide. For more on UC Irvine, visit www.uci.edu.

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Media Contacts

For additional information, Libby Mark or Heather Meltzer at Bow Bridge Communications, LLC, New York City; info@bow-bridge.com.

 UC Irvine Jack and Shanaz Langson Institute and Museum of California Art Announces Appointment of Alaina Claire Feldman as Inaugural Chief Curator

October 16, 2024

 UC Irvine Jack and Shanaz Langson Institute and Museum of California Art Announces Appointment of Alaina Claire Feldman as Inaugural Chief Curator

Irvine, CA… UC Irvine Jack and Shanaz Langson Institute and Museum of California Art (Langson IMCA) today announced the appointment of Alaina Claire Feldman as inaugural chief curator, effective January 6, 2025. She will support the curatorial vision of Langson IMCA and the design and development of its exhibition and collection strategies.

Alaina Claire Feldman, Inaugural Chief CuratorWorking closely with faculty, staff, students, UC Irvine leadership, and the broader community, Feldman will collaboratively advance Langson IMCA’s commitment to interdisciplinary research, scholarship, presentation, preservation, and education.

She joins Langson IMCA at a time when UC Irvine aims to position arts at the center of its educational mission as a leading public university known for its rigor in research and innovation.

Feldman currently serves as director and curator of the Mishkin Gallery at Baruch College, The City University of New York (CUNY), a public university. Previously she was director of exhibitions at Independent Curators International (ICI), New York. In addition to organizing more than 20 exhibitions, she has edited numerous publications and participated in panels and committees internationally.

During her tenure, Feldman heightened Mishkin Gallery’s profile by touring presentations of its

collection while building partnerships with art and academic institutions across New York and in Zurich, São Paulo, Porto, San Juan, and Tbilisi. In addition to participating in related campus initiatives, Feldman is an adjunct professor in Baruch College’s Fine and Performing Arts department and CUNY’s Macaulay Honors College. She will serve as a guest curator for an inaugural exhibition when the new Taichung Art Museum opens in Taiwan next winter.

“Langson IMCA’s superpower is harnessing the research and innovation of the 15 schools on UC Irvine’s campus,” said Richard Aste, Ph.D., interim museum director of Langson IMCA. “Alaina’s proven record of successful academic engagement across one of our country’s leading urban universities will help us take our superpower to the next level.”

Feldman said, “I am excited to join the very talented staff at Langson IMCA and to collaborate with the brilliant faculty and students at UC Irvine. Langson IMCA is the perfect place to activate interdisciplinary work by bringing together artists, scholars, and the greater community. I plan to continue the campus’ rich legacy of fostering experimental artist-driven programs as a catalyst for new inquiry and creativity.”

Feldman earned an M.A. from the Graduate Center at CUNY and B.A. from the Pratt Institute, New York.

About UC Irvine Jack and Shanaz Langson Institute and Museum of California Art

UC Irvine Jack and Shanaz Langson Institute and Museum of California Art (Langson IMCA) is home to two foundational gifts of California Art from The Irvine Museum and Gerald E. Buck estate. In addition, the permanent collection of more than 4,700 works from the late 19th century and early 20th century through present day continues to grow, augmented by acquisitions and gifts. The university is planning to construct a permanent museum and research institute to serve as a global magnet for the presentation and study of California Art within its social, historical, environmental, and cultural frameworks. Langson IMCA is currently located in an interim museum space at 18881 Von Karman Avenue, Suite 100, in Irvine, CA. It is open to all Tuesday through Saturday 10 am to 4 pm. Admission and parking are free. For more information, visit imca.uci.edu. Follow us on Instagram @langsonimca.

About the University of California, Irvine

Founded in 1965, UC Irvine is the youngest member of the prestigious Association of American Universities. The campus has produced three Nobel laureates and is known for its academic achievement, premier research, innovation, and anteater mascot. Led by Chancellor Howard Gillman, UC Irvine has more than 33,000 students and offers 222 degree programs. It is located in one of the world’s safest and most economically vibrant communities and is Orange County’s second-largest employer, contributing $5 billion annually to the local economy. For more on UC Irvine, visit www.uci.edu.

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Media Contacts

For additional information, Libby Mark or Heather Meltzer at Bow Bridge Communications, LLC, New York City; info@bow-bridge.com.

Photo: Isabel Asha Penzlien

Langson IMCA Announces New Fall Exhibition ‘End of the Range: Charlotte Skinner in the Eastern Sierra’

October 11, 2024

Langson IMCA  Announces New Fall Exhibition
End of the Range: Charlotte Skinner in the Eastern Sierra

On View October 5, 2024 – January 18, 2025

Irvine, CA… UC Irvine Jack and Shanaz Langson Institute and Museum of California Art (Langson IMCA) today announced its fall exhibition, End of the Range: Charlotte Skinner in the Eastern Sierra, featuring 31 paintings along with drawings, photographs, and ephemera spanning Charlotte Skinner’s lifelong career as an artist and educator. The presentation also includes 24 additional works by artists in Skinner’s circle and 13 related paintings drawn from Langson IMCA’s collection.

Charlotte Butler Skinner, Rocks, date unknown, Oil on board, 13 x 15 in. Collection of the Nevada Museum of Art, bequest of John A. White, Jr., in memory of Charlotte Skinner's grandson, James Skinner.

On view October 5, 2024 – January 18, 2025, End of the Range is organized by the Nevada Museum of Art, where it was on view October 14, 2023 – May 5, 2024. The exhibition is generously supported by John A. White, Jr., in memory of Charlotte Skinner’s grandson, James Skinner.

Exhibition curator Kolin L. Perry said, “Charlotte Skinner was a remarkable individual, and it has been a privilege to shed light on her creative practice and share her artistry with a broad audience. The Nevada Museum of Art and I are honored to partner with Langson IMCA to present this exhibition in Southern California.”

Charlotte Butler Skinner (1879𑁒1963) defined herself as a painter of the remote Sierra Nevada and desert country of Owens Valley, CA. Lone Pine Peak, Mount Whitney, the Alabama Hills, and other landmarks of that distinctive landscape were the central focus of her body of work. She also immersed herself in printmaking and teaching art classes to local children. Even after Skinner left the family homestead and relocated to Eugene, OR, and later to Morro Bay, CA, she continued to render these scenes for the rest of her life.

Growing up in the Bay Area, Skinner studied painting at the California School of Fine Arts and Mark Hopkins Institute of Art (now known as the San Francisco Art Institute) under Robert Aiken, Arthur Frank Matthews (a founding member of the American Arts and Crafts Movement), and Gottardo Piazzoni. As she became involved in the San Francisco art community, she met fellow student artist and mining engineer, William Lyle Skinner. The couple married in 1905 and moved to Lone Pine, where they resided for almost 30 years.
Skinner’s first painting—an untitled oil on canvas of Owens Lake near the couple’s home—was completed the following year, in 1906. The work already contains several signature elements that characterize her vast oeuvre: a vibrant and varied palette emphasizing greens, blues, and earth tones, and attention to the striking rugged contour of the Eastern Sierra.

Skinner’s artist-friends who visited her in Lone Pine sought new subject matter, inspiration outside of the bustle of San Francisco, and the like-minded creative company of their host and her companions. Guests included many prominent artists and photographers such as Maynard Dixon, Dorothea Lange, Sonya Noskowiak, Roi Partridge, Ralph Stackpole, and William Wendt.

Charlotte Butler Skinner, Rampant Owen’s River, 1938, Oil on canvas, 26 x 30 in. Collection of the Nevada Museum of Art, bequest of John A. White, Jr., in memory of Charlotte Skinner's grandson, James Skinner.

Focusing on dynamic scenes near her homestead, Skinner’s paintings feature statuesque mountain silhouettes, colorful cottonwood groves in irrigated valleys, and forested landscapes of Owens River and Lake. When these resources were diverted to provide water to Los Angeles, drastically altering the landscape and impacting the environment and economy of the region, William Skinner ran for public office to oppose the practice. Ultimately, these efforts failed, and the artist and her husband relocated to Eugene, OR, in 1933.

Members of the extended Skinner family remained in Lone Pine on their 10-acre homestead. They owned and operated the Santa Rosa, Cerro Gordo, and Christmas Gift mines, which produced lead, silver, and zinc. When Skinner and her husband returned to visit, she captured mining scenes in watercolor en plein air, revealing a robust industry that brought many families like the Skinners to the American West.

During this period, Skinner’s colorful, expressive style diverged from the Tonalist painters who guided her early training, including her mentors Piazzoni and Mathews. Her explorations using a more representational approach were informed by contemporaries including Dixon and Wendt, whose richly hued canvases depict similar scenes of California and the region.

Once resettled on the central California Pacific coast in 1935, Skinner again became a part of the art scene, which included some of her longtime acquaintances, such as painters Aaron Kilpatrick, Cadwallader Washburn, and Wendt. She played an active role in the seaside community, organizing and judging local art exhibitions. She regularly opened her home for guests to view her fine art and collection of Native American baskets. This exhibition also features two Panamint Shoshone baskets from her collection.

Langson IMCA interim museum director Richard Aste said, “We are delighted to provide a homecoming for the art of Charlotte Skinner, who lived and worked in Owens Valley for three decades. Featuring Skinner’s depictions of the valley’s deserts and mountains in Irvine will help us tell a more expansive and truthful story of California Impressionism—through the eyes of a gifted woman not currently represented in the museum’s collection.”

Throughout her long life, Skinner continued to paint and exhibit across the West Coast, including the Stanford Art Gallery (1930), the Portland Art Museum (1933), and the M.H. de Young Memorial Museum (1956). Skinner also exhibited at the Nevada Art Gallery (now the Nevada Museum of Art) in 1952 alongside Dixon and Wendt.

A 57-page booklet is available in conjunction with the exhibition and contains a feature essay by exhibition curator, Kolin L. Perry. The booklet is available for purchase at the Nevada Museum of Art shop.

About Nevada Museum of Art
The Nevada Museum of Art is the only art museum in Nevada accredited by the American Alliance of Museums (AAM). A private, nonprofit organization founded in 1931, the statewide institution is supported by its membership as well as sponsorships, gifts and grants. Through its permanent collections, original exhibitions and programming, and E.L. Cord Museum School, the Nevada Museum of Art provides meaningful opportunities for people to engage with a range of art and education experiences. The Museum’s Center for Art + Environment is an internationally-recognized research center dedicated to supporting the practice, study, and awareness of creative interactions between people and their environments. The Center houses unique archive materials from more than 1,000 artists working on all seven continents, including Cape Farewell, Michael Heizer, Walter de Maria, Lita Albuquerque, Burning Man, the Center for Land Use Interpretation, Great Basin Native Artists Archive, Ugo Rondinone’s Seven Magic Mountains, and Trevor Paglen’s Orbital Reflector. Learn more at nevadaart.org.

About UCI Jack and Shanaz Langson Institute and Museum of California Art
UCI Jack and Shanaz Langson Institute and Museum of California Art (Langson IMCA) is home to two foundational gifts of California Art from The Irvine Museum and Gerald E. Buck estate. In addition, the permanent collection of more than 4,700 works from the late 19th century and early 20th century through present day continues to grow, augmented by acquisitions and gifts. The university is planning to construct a permanent museum and research institute to serve as a global magnet for the presentation and study of California Art within its social, historical, environmental, and cultural frameworks. Langson IMCA is currently located in an interim museum space at 18881 Von Karman Avenue, Suite 100, in Irvine, CA. It is open to all Tuesday through Saturday 10 am to 4 pm. Admission and parking are free. For more information, visit imca.uci.edu. Follow us on Instagram @langsonimca.

About the University of California, Irvine
Founded in 1965, UCI is the youngest member of the prestigious Association of American Universities. The campus has produced three Nobel laureates and is known for its academic achievement, premier research, innovation, and anteater mascot. Led by Chancellor Howard Gillman, UCI has more than 36,000 students and offers 222 degree programs. It is located in one of the world’s safest and most economically vibrant communities and is Orange County’s second-largest employer, contributing $5 billion annually to the local economy. For more on UCI, visit www.uci.edu.

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Media Contacts

For additional information, Libby Mark or Heather Meltzer at Bow Bridge Communications, LLC, New York City; info@bow-bridge.com.

Image Captions

1.     Charlotte Butler Skinner, Rocks, date unknown, Oil on board, 13 x 15 in. Collection of the Nevada Museum of Art, bequest of John A. White, Jr., in memory of Charlotte Skinner's grandson, James Skinner.

2.     Charlotte Butler Skinner, Rampant Owen’s River, 1938, Oil on canvas, 26 x 30 in. Collection of the Nevada Museum of Art, bequest of John A. White, Jr., in memory of Charlotte Skinner's grandson, James Skinner.

3.     Charlotte Butler Skinner, Silence (Lone Pine Sierra), 1938, Oil on canvas, 36 x 40 in. Collection of the Nevada Museum of Art, bequest of John A. White, Jr., in memory of Charlotte Skinner's grandson, James Skinner.

Exhibition of Artwork by Yong Soon Min Explores Historic and Ongoing Impact of the Korean War

Exhibition of Artwork by Yong Soon Min Explores Historic and Ongoing Impact of the Korean War

KISSSSS by Yong Soon Min October 5 – December 14, 2024 UC Irvine Contemporary Arts Center Gallery

Yong Soon Min, Photo from KISSSSS, Photographer David Kelley[94]

For Immediate Release
September 9, 2024 

Irvine, CA… KISSSSS by Yong Soon Min is an exhibition comprising three parts: Both Sides Now (2018), Still/Incessant (2018/2024), and KISSSSS (2024) by the late Yong Soon Min, Professor Emerita in University of California, Irvine’s (UCI) Department of Art. Featuring her final artwork, the presentation is curated by Min’s colleague and friend, Bridget R. Cooks, PhD, the Chancellor’s Fellow and Professor of African American Studies and Art History at UCI. 

On view at the Contemporary Arts Center Gallery on UCI’s campus from October 5 to December 14, 2024, KISSSSS by Yong Soon Min is co-sponsored by UCI’s Jack and Shanaz Langson Institute and Museum of California Art (Langson IMCA) and Claire Trevor School of the Arts (CTSA) with lead support generously provided by UC Irvine’s Center for Critical Korean Studies and Claire Trevor Society. 

Throughout her career as an artist, activist, educator, and curator, Min (1953–2024) examined the impact of the Korean War, particularly the ongoing division of the two countries 

at the 38th parallel. KISSSSS (2024), the last project Min worked on before her death, explores how entangled geopolitical relations between North and South Korea, China, the Soviet Union, United Nations, and United States created the Korean Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) that continues today. 

Although KISSSSS remains unfinished, the installation includes conceptual elements and photographs from a shoot the artist oversaw shortly before her passing. The 14 photographs in the rear gallery correspond with seven brick stations in the center of the space. On top of these stations are notes and reference material from Min’s research that trace important political events since the signing of the 1953 armistice that established the DMZ, divided the country, and thereby instantly separated families. 

These notes are key to understanding the historical timeline enacted by the characters in the photographs inspired by artist René Magritte’s painting, The Lovers (1928). Min created a contradictory sense of distance and intimacy by depicting figures kissing and embracing with flags masking their faces. She drew upon Magritte’s anonymity of the individuals and the elusiveness of intimacy while heightening the symbolic meaning of the flags and the political entanglement of the six entities they represent. 

Both Sides Now and Still/Incessant reflect Min’s continued interest in the DMZ from different perspectives. Both Sides Now are prints of collages that Min created with postcards purchased during her travels to the Joint Security Area in South Korea and North Korea in the 1990s. She spliced and reassembled the postcards to show alternating depictions of both nations simultaneously. For Still/Incessant, one collage is enlarged and installed at the back of the gallery as a mural. The mural-scale format situates viewers in the room where the armistice was signed and emphasizes the ongoing effect of the historical event still keenly felt today. This image is also the subject of the five newly produced artist books, which is Min’s last finished artwork. 

About Yong Soon Min 

Yong Soon MinBorn in 1953 in a village near Seoul, South Korea, the year the Korean War ended with an armistice without peace, Yong Soon Min called herself a Cold War baby. At age seven, she immigrated with her mother and brother to join their father in Monterey, CA. After earning her BA, MA, and MFA degrees in art at UC Berkeley, Min moved to New York City during the 1980s where she earned a postdoc at Whitney Museum of American Art’s Independent Study Program. 

Among the grants and honors Min received are a Fulbright Senior Research Grant; COLA Individual Artist Fellowship from the City of Los Angeles Cultural Affairs Department; Korea Foundation Grant; Anonymous Was a Woman Award; Guggenheim Foundation Grant; and a National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) Visual Artist Award in New Genre. Significant exhibitions include The Decade 

Show; decolonization, Bronx Museum, NY; Across the Pacific: Contemporary Korean and Korean American Art, Queens Museum, NY, and Kumho Museum, Seoul; Asia/America: Identities in Contemporary Asian American Art, Asia Society, NY and traveled; Bride of No Return solo exhibition that traveled; the 4th and 10th Havana Biennial; 7th Gwangju Biennale; 3rd Guangzhou Triennial, and exhibitions at Museum of Modern Art, NY; Smith College Museum; Los Angeles County Museum of Art; Seoul Museum of Art and Commonwealth and Council gallery. Among exhibitions she has curated are Memories of Overdevelopment: Contemporary Art in the Philippine Diaspora; THERE: Sites of Korean Diaspora for 4th Gwangju Biennale; and transPOP: Korea Vietnam Remix held in Seoul, Ho Chi Minh City, Irvine, and Yerba Buena Center for the Arts in San Francisco. 

Min served on the Board of Directors of Asian American Arts Alliance, National Board of Directors of CAA; Korean American Museum; Artists Board of Institute of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles; and the steering committee of GYOPO.

Joining the Department of Art faculty at UCI in 1993, she was named Professor Emerita in 2014. 

About Bridget R. Cooks 

Bridget R. Cooks, PhD is a scholar and curator of American art. Her research focuses on visual art by African Americans, Black visual culture, and museum criticism. She serves as Chancellor’s Fellow and Professor of African American Studies and Art History at the University of California, Irvine. She is core faculty in the PhD Programs in Visual Studies and Culture and Theory. Her books, articles, and essays can be found widely across interdisciplinary academic publications and art exhibition catalogues. She is most well-known as the author of the book, “Exhibiting Blackness: African Americans and the American Art Museum” (UMass, 2011) which received the inaugural James A. Porter & David C. Driskell Book Award in African American Art History. 

Cooks’ first career was in museum education. In this capacity she worked at the Oakland Museum of California, the Smithsonian Institution, the National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC, and the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. Cooks has curated several exhibitions including Grafton Tyler Brown: Exploring California at the Pasadena Museum of California Art; Ernie Barnes: A Retrospective at the California African American Museum; The Black Index (four venue national tour); Dissolve (Langson IMCA, University Art Gallery, UCI; and Lava Thomas: Homecoming at the Montgomery Museum of Fine Arts and Spelman College Museum of Fine Art. 

She has received numerous awards, grants and fellowships from organizations including the Ford Foundation, Henry Luce Foundation, Southern Poverty Law Center, Getty Research Institute, and California Humanities. 

For information about public programs organized in conjunction with the exhibition, go here. 

About Jack and Shanaz Langson Institute and Museum of California Art

UCI Jack and Shanaz Langson Institute and Museum of California Art (Langson IMCA) is home to two foundational gifts of California Art from The Irvine Museum and Gerald E. Buck estate. In addition, the permanent collection of more than 4,700 works from the late 19th century and early 20th century through present day continues to grow, augmented by acquisitions and gifts. The university is planning to construct a permanent museum and research institute to serve as a global magnet for the presentation and study of California Art within its social, historical, environmental, and cultural frameworks. Langson IMCA is currently located in an interim museum space at 18881 Von Karman Avenue, Suite 100, in Irvine, CA. It is open to all Tuesday through Saturday 10 am to 4 pm. Admission and parking are free. For more information, visit imca.uci.edu. Follow us on Instagram @langsonimca.

About Claire Trevor School of the Arts

As UCI’s creative laboratory, the Claire Trevor School of the Arts (CTSA) explores and presents the arts as the essence of human experience and expression, through art ranging from the most traditional to the radically new. Its distinguished international faculty partner with others across UCI and globally to reimagine creativity for the 21st century. CTSA has proven itself to be a national leader in training emerging artists and performers since its establishment in 1965. The School delivers a superb developmental experience, combining superlative artistic training with a top-ranked liberal arts education. It is home to the departments of Art, Dance, Drama, and Music, in addition to a program in Arts and Humanities. Undergraduate and graduate degree courses include extensive studio, workshop and performance experiences; theoretical and historical studies; and arts and technology practices. arts.uci.edu

About Center for Critical Korean Studies

Drawing from existing faculty strengths in Korean studies, UCI launched a Center for Critical Korean Studies (CCKS), funded by the Academy of Korean Studies, Ministry of Foreign Affairs in South Korea. In response to a surging interest in contemporary Korean popular culture and society among students and to leverage UCI’s faculty strengths in Korean studies, the Center develops innovative interdisciplinary programs, provides research grants for cutting-edge book monographs and essays, hires leading postdoctoral students in critical Korean studies, and invites Korean studies scholars from around the globe to share their research. www.humanities.uci.edu/UCICCKS

About the University of California, Irvine

Founded in 1965, UCI is the youngest member of the prestigious Association of American Universities. The campus has produced three Nobel laureates and is known for its academic achievement, premier research, innovation, and anteater mascot. Led by Chancellor Howard Gillman, UCI has more than 36,000 students and offers 222 degree programs. It is located in one of the world’s safest and most economically vibrant communities and is Orange County’s second-largest employer, contributing $5 billion annually to the local economy. For more on UCI, visit www.uci.edu.

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Media Contacts

For additional information, Libby Mark or Heather Meltzer at Bow Bridge Communications, LLC, New York City; info@bow-bridge.com.

Images

Yong Soon Min, Image from KISSSSS. Photograph by David Kelley, 2024

Young Soon Min. Photograph by Erin Min.