My Gallery Story
Caduceus
During my second year at UCSD, I went through a brief phase where I thought I was an Art major.
I took VA2, Introduction to Art, during the fall quarter of 1994, and, luckily, had a cool TA.
In this class, everyday objects became art--one assignment was a "visual pun",
for which I handed a used canister of butane gas around the room; another was to create a
"dangerous toy"; for this I decorated and packaged an air pump as "My First Syringe." You get
the picture. Little did I know when I registered for it, but this class is responsible for
spawning one of
the most infamous UCSD VA rituals: once a year, you will see strangely dressed people who have
decorated & staked out a small area of campus for their own. It's the "personal space" project,
probably the most (in terms of both grades & visibility) important project for the class. I couldn't
think of anything to do, so I got together with my friends Jeff & Gloria, and we brainstormed for a
joint project. For a few days, frustration was the only result, but just before the project, it hit
me--we could use the walls as a personal space!
I had been writing for about a year, and knew the walls in P&L/McGill pretty well. So, we went to
Aaron Brothers Art Mart and bought a whole bunch of frames (to be returned immediately after, of
course!), each of us framing a few works that struck us. We decided we would try to run this
like an art gallery opening--Jeff was to play the role of curator, Gloria a tour guide, and
I a security guard. The class was divided into two halves, each which did their projects on
alternating days, so the other half could tour the projects. We made a bunch of tickets for the other
half of the class and sent them to the TA. We went all out for it, hauling a table and chairs of the
stairwell so we could have a "reception" at the top. Gloria printed some cool fliers, with a bogus
(though now I realize it was eerily accurate) description of "History of the PEEPS." Jeff
dressed in a tux and brought champagne (college student champagne = Green Hornet), and Gloria made
hors d'ouvres. I probably did something cool, too, but I don't remember what.
Gloria, as tour guide, led the class up the 5 floors of McGill, pointing out various features of the
walls, as I admonished our guests to keep their distance from the exhibits. At the top, Jeff
distributed sharpies, hors d'ouvres, and Green Hornet...er, champagne, and got them to help us
complete the gallery opening. I think a couple of the people in that class were still writing when
last I spoke with them. And word got around quickly--a couple of other touring classes visited the
gallery. Our TA got slightly tipsy on the Green Hornet, which I think accounts for the
decent grade we got.