University Art Museum at Cal State Long Beach Receives $57,000 Grant from The Getty Foundation

The University Art Museum (UAM) at California State University, Long Beach (CSULB) has been awarded a $57,000 grant from The Getty Foundation in Los Angeles to participate in the foundation's 2011 initiative “Pacific Standard Time: Art in L.A. 1945-1980.”

In all, the Getty Foundation awarded $3.1 million in grants to 26 arts institutions across Southern California as part of the unprecedented initiative. In the fall of 2011, concurrent exhibitions are expected to attract national and international attention and visitors.

The UAM will mount an exhibit titled “Peace Press Graphics 1967-1987: Art in the Pursuit of Social Change,” a survey of the press’ work and their connections to artist collectives of the time.

Founded in 1967 by a unique group of L.A. activist-artists who created an “alternate everything” printing and publishing business, the Peace Press (1967-1987) emerged from the tangle of progressive political and alternative groups that flourished during the decades between 1960 and 1990. The poster archive exemplifies an important element of visual and cultural history: art that reflects the desire and intention to create social and political change, as well as artists who attempt to affect change through both their work and their actions.

The exhibition, co-curated by Ilee Kaplan and Carol Wells, will feature 50 to 75 posters from the press’ archive alongside works on paper whose subject matter addresses issues such as feminist causes, workers’ rights, civil liberties, anti-nuclear protests, environmental concerns and anti-war demonstrations by artists who worked with the press.

In addition, a historical timeline, poetry and spoken word performances, film clips interspersed in the galleries, and a separate film screening series will accompany the artworks — to offer audiences a unique opportunity to understand the art of political protest within its larger cultural milieu.

“Peace Press Graphics 1967–1987: Art in the Pursuit of Social Change” will open Sept. 6, 2011.

-- Sarah G. Vinci