Natalia Rodriguez
Arts Editor
Pomona College hosted a reception for its exhibitions “Latin American Small Presses” and “Never Idle” Saturday in the Chan Gallery in its Studio Art Hall.
“Latin American Small Presses” displayed tables showing works from five different independent publishers from various cities and regions. The presses shown were Can Can Press, Gato Negro Ediciones, Taller California, Naranja Publicaciones and Errant Press.
“Art needs an audience,” Lorena Mostajo, founder of Taller California, said. “It always feels very good that people gather and are together and are looking at books and thinking about the realities that books show us.”
Taller California is a micro-press located in the Tijuana-San Diego region. Mostajo said she wanted to create a space for artists to publish affordable books that challenge conventions and are political in different ways. They publish two times a year.
Each of the presses on display were selected by Mark Allen, a professor of art at Pomona College, who wanted to celebrate the Latin American roots of students who graduated the year before.
“That’s why we purchased all the books,” Tricia Avant, curator and manager at the Chan Gallery, said. “So that we would be able to share it with everybody who came and also share it with students years beyond now.”
In addition, the gallery was also showcasing “Never Idle,” an exhibit highlighting work from artists from Claremont and surrounding areas throughout time. The artists featured were Hannah Tempest Jenkins, Milford Zornes, Mowry Baden, Judy Fiskin, David Amico, Steve Comba, Amy Maloof, Sid M. Duenas and Alex Heilbron.
“There’s this really strong history of arts in Claremont and it really hasn’t stopped,” Avant said. “That’s why the show’s title is ‘Never Idle;’ it just continues.”
“I revere the artist mind and in general the creative mind,” Duenas said. “Through art, we can synthesize material, experience and time and interconnectedness in different ways.”
Duenas’ work, titled “Nightbeams,” is a large collage. The work consists of multiple poems split between two layers that span a wooden panel. The pages on the first layer feature text, all capitalized, in a font that may be difficult to read at a glance.
The ones on the second layer are, according to Duenas, improvised poetry based on his search to find artist Bas Jan Ader’s house while walking through Claremont.
Falcon Eddy, composed of Maloof on vocals and guitar and Erica Tyron on drums, performed a set outside of the gallery. Visitors were encouraged to partake in the refreshments and charcuterie board as they listened to the performance and browsed the exhibits.
Vanessa Reynaga, a resident of Pomona, attended the reception after hearing about the small press exhibition from a friend. She mentioned wanting to read and learn more about language given that she works with many Spanish-speakers at the Pomona Economic Opportunity Center.
“It’s cross-cultural creation of art and books and literature,” Reynaga said.
The work that stood out most to her was “Border Vueltas/Looping Fronterizo” by David Morison Portillo and anthropologist Rihan Yeh, which was published by Taller California.
The red, spiral-bound work is split into two sections on every page. There are yellow and white sections: the yellow ones are in English while the white ones are the Spanish translation of the same text.
“There’s a lot of cruelty that’s being normalized in our society, so I think it’s just important to read artists, be exposed to artists that are publishing in Mexico, because so many times they are crossing borders to make art,” Reynaga said.
For more information on the “Latin American Small Presses” and “Never Idle” exhibitions, visit pomona.edu/academics/departments/art/chan-gallery.
Natalia Rodriguez can be reached at natalia.rodriguez@laverne.edu.
Natalia Rodriguez is a senior creative writing and communications major. She is a member of ULV's The Blank Page Writer's Club and has served as a staff member for the school's literary magazine, Prism Review. She is currently arts editor and a staff photographer for the Campus Times and previously served as a staff writer.
