Show provides first professional step
By Michael Lowe
Aug. 17, 2008 9:31 p.m.
In 1979, Guyana-born actress CCH Pounder stepped into an audition space in New York City with no movie experience and came face-to-face with legendary director and choreographer Bob Fosse. Fresh out of acting school, the theatre-trained actress would leave that space with an offer for her first screen time in a little film called “All That Jazz.”
Now, the screen actress who began with a small step into the unknown (and has since become a regular on shows such as “The Shield,” “Law & Order” and “ER”) is giving emerging local artists a similar chance by opening the walls of her Pounder-Kone Art Space in Glendale to young, up-and-coming artists.
“The first time you are seen by the public is a major, major step,” Pounder said. “This is a special experience and one thing for them to say they have under their belt.”
The “Bloom, New Angeleno Art” exhibit, featuring seven UCLA students and recent alumni, will run until Aug. 31 under the watch of Julin Everett, a French and Francophone Studies doctoral candidate at UCLA. As the exhibit’s curator, Everett handpicked the artists and ran the show.
“The goal was to allow these young artists to have the experience of what it means to be in the art business,” Everett said. “This was an opportunity they probably wouldn’t get straight out of college.”
For an artist, the first public exhibition means a lot of things: It’s the first time their art is critiqued by unknown faces and gallery aficionados rather than just family and friends. It’s the first credit to put on a professional portfolio and resume. And it’s a first step out of the shelter of art school and into the business world, something Everett stressed repeatedly.
“You must have a business plan as an artist. It is a business,” Everett said.
“Sometimes you might think that art is just beauty and if you really love it you’ll sacrifice anything for it. I think that’s ridiculous. You need to have a plan for when you graduate to make back some of the money you spent on school.”
Everett referred to the possible $80,000 tab you could rack up over just two years in an M.F.A program.
Gina Kosty is a soon-to-be fourth-year art student at UCLA and one of the artists featured in the exhibit for her mixed-medium photo collages. “The exhibit is a good segue show and a safe way to feel this environment out,” she said.
According to Everett, the Pounder-Kone Art Space is a unique studio for these artists because it gives them a more forgiving space that seeks specifically to help emerging artists.
“When you’re still a young adult, you still have things done for you, but when you move into a world and become a professional artist, the museums and owners are not there to cater for you,” said Everett.
Although this particular process gives young artists a mostly painless crash course in the art world, this experience alone is anything but a guarantee of a worry-free future for the artists.
“As exciting as it was, it really doesn’t mean too much,” said Alma Playle, a recent UCLA art graduate whose oil and acrylic pieces did not find their way into the hands of buyers. “It makes you aware of how much work it takes to get into the real world.”
While she did not come away with her first sale, Playle did bring back a firsthand awareness of the business and recognition of the path ahead.
“The most essential thing is to keep producing artworks, otherwise it’s never going to develop into anything more,” she said. “I have to stay active.”
Pounder, who has been working in the film and television industry for nearly 30 years, drew similarities between professional actors and professional artists and the work and discipline involved in success.
“You might not get the ultimate role, just as this might not be the ultimate painting, but you work and work and get better and better,” said Pounder. “It’s not an overnight thing. That’s how we become artists.”
Joining Playle and Kosty’s works were art pieces by L. August Salazar, Chris Ding, Gavin Chanin, Rebecca Frey and Jennifer Ko, also members of UCLA’s art program.
At the end of the day, the seven artists all came out with their first show under the public and professional eye. If they were lucky, they came out with a sold painting. But, more than anything, they came out with an awareness of the art business.
“The most important thing is patience,” Kosty said. “I still have a long way to go, but I finally feel I’m on the right track.”
