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news
Mural
incorporated into lectures
By Adrienne Figueroa
On-line Forty-Niner
About eight years
ago, master's student Meg Pennington would walk underneath
the bridge of the Liberal Arts Building 5 on her way to class
with a perplexed look on her face. She wondered how the swatches
of orange, green and black paint at the north entrance of
the hallway pertained to her fellow college students or the
school in general.
She questioned the relevance of "Sun Forces," the
22 foot by 21 foot campus mural created by Canadian artist
Rita Letendre.
The piece, along with eight sculptures from other artists,
was installed during the California International Sculpture
Symposium at Cal State Long Beach in the summer of 1965.
Some of the works of the symposium include the stainless steel
structure outside the Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf in the University
Student Union and the copper tubing composition in front of
the McIntosh Humanities Building.
After asking herself about the significance of the piece on
campus, Pennington, now a CSULB professor, recently asked
her English 100 class the same question.
Together, the group researched the history of the mural as
well as Letendre and composed essays on their feelings about
the artwork.
Letendre, born in Quebec in 1928, was a major participant
in Canada's automatist movement of the 1950s. The concept
consisted of automatic techniques and not derived from preconceived
ideas. The focus was not so much about the completion of the
project as it were about the process of creating the art.
Other than CSULB, the artist's work has been exhibited all
over the world in Paris and Rome, and in New York, Los Angeles
and San Francisco.
Pennington, a former art gallery owner in the Soho section
of New York City, had previously viewed other work from Letendre,
but does not think that "Sun Forces" is the best
representation of the artist's work.
"The process is more important than the product, but
we're stuck with the product," Pennington said, making
a reference to the style of automatism.
In a recent class discussion, Pennington addressed the written
reactions of her pupils. Some responses included the replacement
of the old mural with a new one created by CSULB students,
while others thought that the current piece should be left
alone.
Freshman sociology major Karen Werth appreciates the eccentricity
of the Letendre artwork.
"Coming to college changes your perspective on what art
is," Werth said.
Classmate Greg Crosby, freshman pre-film major, said that
the artist's choice of color and triangular objects has contributed
to the mural's now outdated look.
No future plans are set to change the Letendre piece or install
a student mural. "Sun Forces" shall remain at CSULB
indefinitely, said University Art Museum Associate Director
Ilee Kaplan.
"We are committed to keeping the mural here along with
the sculpture collection," Kaplan said.
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Cara
Garcia/On-line Forty-Niner
A mural between the Liberal Arts 5 Building
Faculty Offices 3 raises questions among students in Meg Pennington's
English 100 class.
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