Posted

Oct 16th 2007

Mood

Cheerful

This past weekend, I attended a special event at my art school, the California College of the Arts (formerly the California College of Arts and Crafts). It was the centennial celebration, so they had a special alumni reunion. It started on Friday with a reception at the San Francisco campus. It was quite a bash with some way out entertainment. There were outlandishly costumed performers around the place. There was a couple of acrobats doing an aerial act high overhead. This lady was making little cutouts of animals from red paper for people, based on their sign in the Chinese zodiac. They were expertly done! I had to have her cut out a little red dog for me! Plus, I saw a few familiar faces. People I'd gone to school with, and people I'd forgotten I knew, but they remembered me.
Then on Saturday, the party continued on the Oakland campus. It was a day full of fun. There were a number of galleries with shows to see. I took a campus tour, and got to see the fine arts studios, like painting, sculpture, printmaking, etc. When we got to the photography lab, one person marvelled that they developed film the old-fashioned way. For lunch, the school threw a barbecue. The Tactical Ice Cream Unit was there providing dessert, handing out propaganda leaflets with the ice cream. Later on, I sat in on this ceremony where alumni of note were being awarded. These were artists who made big contributions to the community. I also saw some more old friends. The highlight of the day was meeting Mimi Pond. She's a cartoonist I knew was a CCAC grad (Drawing, 1978). I've seen her work in National Lampoon. I always thought it was great that a cartoonist graduated from my college!
On Sunday, the scene shifted back to the San Francisco campus. There were some lectures and tours. One had some artists discussing the new media. One was the school's animation teacher, and he showed part of an old Betty Boop cartoon to show what the art form can do. In the end, there was a reception with a champagne toast. All in all, a full weekend, and I enjoyed it a lot.