To the many Friends and Supporters of the Carnegie Art Museum — from the entire Cornerstones Board of Directors, we thank you so much for your strong and impassioned statements of support for the mission of the Carnegie to the City Council in these recent days.  The museum is not going away unnoticed or unappreciated.

Now, during this, the few days of operationp, I’d like to look ahead and preview for you what the Cornerstones are working on to keep the art scene alive in downtown Oxnard.  We now consider our world headquarters to be the CAM Studio Gallery, the small building facing the park immediately behind the museum, at 329 N. Fifth Street.  We have used this space for the past five years to mount small exhibits and to offer workshops and residency opportunities for local artists.  All of those activities will continue, now under volunteer management.  At the same time, we are looking at how to adapt the very popular programs of the Carnegie, e.g., Family Day, and the Children’s Workshops, to the smaller confines of the Studio Gallery.

Candidly, even with a clear vision of what lies ahead, everything is in flux right now, and will be through much of the summer as we work to get our feet under us in this new day of a volunteer-driven organization.  But you can help us, and we truly need that help.  Click here to direct you to the SUPPORT page on the Website and pick whatever channel of support feels right to you.  We need generous financial support, we need an expanded membership base, and we need a larger volunteer corps. In any of those capacities, you will be joining the campaign to keep the visual arts exciting, relevant, and alive in the shadow of the museum we all love.

Thank you again.

Steven L. Kinney, President
Cornerstones Board of Directors

Christine Morla: Downside Up, Outside In

Christine Morla is perhaps best known for her labor-intensive installations made up of hundreds of small weavings, painted paper and found materials. Initially inspired by the Philippine banig (a handwoven style of mat used in East Asia and the Philippines for sleeping and sitting), Morla’s works explore various cultural signifiers, mapping landscapes while simultaneously expressing a longing for identity by attempting to merge disparate selves.

For the exhibit Downside Up, Outside In, Morla will show recent works created during her studioship at the CAM Studio Gallery. These works reflect her current experimentations with color, texture, and material as well as her longstanding connection to weaving and its relationship to Modernist painting. Influenced by Bauhaus artist Anni Albers and contemporary artist Sheila Hicks, Morla is interested in exploring the crossovers of art, craft and design while utilizing various channels of compositions. This exhibit brings together site-specific installations, as well as intimately-scaled objects and works on paper.

Christine Morla is an interdisciplinary artist and arts educator working in painting and installation. She graduated with a B.A. from Loyola Marymount University and received her M.F.A. from Claremont Graduate University. Her work has been exhibited nationally and internationally. Currently, she is a Professor of Art at Oxnard College and Director of the McNish Art Gallery.

On Budget

Pop-up exhibit

In conjunction with Christine Morla’s opening reception on July 11, 2019 5:30-7:30 pm, another exhibit will take place. “On Budget” is an intimate pop-up art exhibition hosted inside a midsize moving truck located behind a neoclassical art storage facility in Oxnard’s Plaza Park. Local artists Aaron Dadacay, Gladys Rodriguez, Olguin Tapia and Maria Villote present selected works that speak about issues of social activism, institutional critique, ethnocentric provincialism and budget cuts. Furthermore, “On Budget” provides a satirical discourse on the nomadic nature of art practice in response to economic crisis or perhaps a foreshadow of cultural departure in exchange for absolute gentrification.  “On Budget” will take place for one night only on Thursday, July 11, 2019, 5:30-7:30 pm behind the CAM Studio Gallery.  The event is free and open to the public.