Each exhibit was unique and showcased a variety of art, from classical museum pieces to the ultra modern.
San Gabriel Valley’s largest city proved to be an artistic Mecca during ArtNight Pasadena on March 4.
ArtNight, a biannual event, is open to the public and is a joint partnership between numerous cultural institutions and the Cultural Affairs Division for Pasadena.
“I just enjoy being around people … that enjoy art and culture and being able to just share with them in that experience,” said Jon Axtell, a returning volunteer tour guide for ArtNight. “It’s just a fun thing to be a part of.”
The city provided free shuttles that ran throughout the evening transporting visitors to all 12 venues, which included the Armory Center for the Arts, Armory Northwest, Art Center College of Design, Norton Simon Museum, One Colorado, Pacific Asia Museum, Pasadena City College, Pasadena Conservatory of Music, Pasadena Jazz Institute, Pasadena Museum of California Art, Pasadena Museum of History and the Pasadena Symphony.
The Norton Simon Museum is the home of seven centuries of art including Old Masters from the Renaissance Era to 20th Century modern art, and a sizable collection of sculpture from India and Southeast Asia. Perhaps the most impressive portions of the Norton Simon are the extensive Picasso and Edgar Degas collections. Degas is known for his bronze sculptures of young ballet dancers.
“This is my second time in Pasadena and I think downtown is very interesting,” said Gabriela Sotourias, an international college student at Cal State Fullerton, who was on a class field trip at the Norton Simon Museum. “I love this museum, they have excellent art work, very good pieces.”
Cleverly modern, “Surveillance in the New Millennium” was the theme of the exhibition at the Armory Center for the Arts. The exhibit showcased everything you would not expect to see at an art showing, including a magic carpet that moaned “ouch!” and “that hurts!” when visitors stepped on it. A large part of the exhibit involved interactive media works with psychedelic graphics and New Age spy experiments.
Due to rain, the jazz performance scheduled for the Pasadena Jazz Institute was moved into the Armory Center for the Arts. Classical Jazz and hip modern art made for an odd combination, but it was somehow fitting for the extreme nature of the exhibit.
At the Art Center College of Design, visitors were invited to view a compilation of student projects that hope to shape visual culture in the future. Each term, instructors from the institute choose the best projects submitted from numerous areas of design, including automobile design, furniture, fine art, illustration, film, photography, graphic design, advertising and digital media.
Harry Sze, a student from the Art Center College of Design, was selected to have his project in the exhibit. Sze designed a Buick luxury sedan for the year 3010 to be sold to the Chinese market. Sze was sponsored $600 by General Motors to make his idea a reality.
“From the form of the car, right down to the details, were influenced by my Chinese heritage and research through my culture,” Sze said.
He explained that the Chinese market is more adventurous when it comes to automobile concepts and that Buick already has a strong hold in China, but needs to make an impression as a premier luxury brand. Sze currently works at Audi as a design intern.
Funded by the Pasadena Arts Commission, ArtNight Pasadena is something that people would never normally experience. The next ArtNight will be Friday, Oct. 7.
Jessica Warden can be reached at jesselw@verizon.net.