PGM Special Edition: Art

THE ART EDITION Pepperdine Graphic Media

Fall 2023

P. 16 People Brace for the Changes Artificial Intelligence Brings to Art P. 31 Pepperdine’s Frederick R. Weisman Museum of Art Acts as a Sanctuary for Creativity on Campus

Table of Contents

Kim Bennett Mosaic Profile

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Explaining NFTs

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04 Letter from the Editor 2

Yvette Gellis Profile

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AI Brings Changes to Art

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06 Artists Define Art

Mia Earls Profile

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Art in the City of Malibu

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21 Seeking Art Through Nature

Weisman Museum of Art

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Art Therapy Eases Anxiety

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28 Brittany Joyner Profile 3

Letter From the Editor photo by Lucian Himes

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words & design by Marley Penagos

rowing up, I was lucky enough to attend a school where I took weekly art classes.

Every single week from kindergarten to eighth grade, I marched in a neat line to the art classroom and worked on whatever project my incredible teacher, Ms. Rohlin, dreamed up for us that day.

My classmates and I also took weekly V.A.P.A, or “Visual and Performing Arts” classes, where we banged on drums, sang songs and even learned how to play the guitar.

These classes not only helped me get involved in plays and musicals — which I would act in for almost 10 years — but also fostered a genuine love for art within me.

I have always been a creative person; I preferred reading fiction books to paying attention in math class, and I used to write short stories on wide-ruled, loose-leaf notebook paper — until I grew up a bit and graduated to Google Docs.

I have always loved taking paint or oil pastels to paper and just creating and creating until what was jumbled in my head is sitting there on the canvas in front of me, clear as day. And, of course, theater and live performance will always be near and dear to my heart.

When I decided on a theme for this publication, it didn’t take me long to land on art. I have always believed art serves as a mirror for humankind. That God or the universe blessed and cursed with this incredible gift of consciousness and self-awareness and that art is how we reckon with it.

From the oldest cave paintings and indigenous arts to the most iconic paintings in the most famous museums in the world, art tells us stories about ourselves and our humanity And now, we are at a crux of time where technology is threatening one of our most ancient forms of expression.

A time when artificial intelligence 4

is overtaking industries that have relied on human creativity for years, and the very definition of art is changing before our eyes.

So, why not talk about it? How art means something different to everyone who does it and observes it. How our art has evolved from cave paintings and mosaics to painting and drawing and poetry and now to digital art and non-fungible tokens.

Art is an experience. It is a dance of passion and magic that translates into something odd, breathtaking or beautiful for the whole world to enjoy.

And I hope that you, as the reader and the observer, can enjoy the words and art that came together to create this publication, too.

Samantha Torre Managing Editor

Will Fallmer Lead Designer

MEET THE

Abby Wilt

STAFF

Executive Editor & Designer

Aubrey Hirsch Copy Chief

Mary Elisabeth Photo Editor

Emilia Lehkter Designer

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‘Art is Everything’

Artists Define Art words by Yamillah Hurtado design by Will Fallmer

A

rt comes in many forms. Whether it’s a stroke of a brush, a choreographed dance, a moment captured or a strum of a string — art serves as an outlet for many, students said.

Despite the different mediums art takes, the purpose of it remains the same: It is a means of expression — a vessel of vulnerability and heart. Members of the Pepperdine community said art has played a role in their life and has changed them.

“A lot of people look at art as a luxury and not something that is necessary to create some form of healing,” said Mariquita Davis, visiting assistant professor in the Fine Arts and Communication departments.

Art Tells Us About Humanity Since Professor of Art History Cynthia Colburn started her journey in the realm of art history, she said she has seen a shift toward global art history. Focusing on global art movements allowed Colburn to realize the themes and values that unite humanity.

Colburn said she believes studying art can build more empathy. “[In art history] you start to notice the connections across different cultures, geographically but also across time,” Colburn said. “We share so many things in common.”

Art has changed throughout time but there are themes that remain unchanged, Colburn said. Art revolves around universal messages but, depending on where it’s from, can showcase different reactions to those themes.

“You can see just the creativity, the beauty, the uniqueness of different cultures,” Colburn said.

Colburn’s interest in art history sparked when she studied abroad in Europe as an undergraduate student. She said she loved all the ways in which she could look at 6

something and observe how its context shapes its meaning.

“It [knowing the context] really brings the work to life,” Colburn said.

Art, Colburn said, keeps her open-minded. Colburn said she finds power in art’s ability to evoke emotion in the artist and their audience.

Art is a Language Throughout high school, junior Natalee Borum said she had a Google Doc open for whenever inspiration struck. In it, she kept her musings of poetry and prose tucked away only for her eyes to see. Borum said she hid her talents and love for writing away from her loved ones — until she entered college.

As an English Writing and Rhetoric major with a minor in Creative Writing, Borum said she’s found her voice through Pepperdine’s programs.

“The environments of the classes have been so pure and so wholesome and so sacred,” Borum said. “I feel like they’re special little nooks and crannies of Pepperdine.”

Expressionists, Pepperdine’s literary magazine, published two of Borum’s poems in their issue during her first year. Borum said this was the first time she publicly shared her writing.

Poetry is a vulnerable art form, Borum said, and she was scared to let people into that part of her. The fact that art is up for interpretation is what fueled Borum’s fear of releasing her art to others.

“It’s like the death of the author,” Borum said. “Once you put your piece out there, people can interpret it however they want.

They can do whatever they want to your work, and you can’t say no.”

What Borum said she loves the most about writing is also what she hates the most: the process. Because it’s typically deeply personal, she said it can be so draining. As a perfectionist, Borum struggles with wording things exactly as they feel, but getting it right is gratifying.

“It’s so rewarding afterward,” Borum

said. “You’re like, ‘Wow, I put myself through the trenches to get this piece just the way I wanted it to be.”

Being bilingual — speaking both English and Spanish — Borum said art is a language.

A secret tongue that only other artists can understand and communicate with.

“When they [two artists] talk or communicate with each other, you can tell that

Taylor Faas performs with Dance in Flight.

Photo courtesy of Taylor Faas

they’re understanding each other in a different way,” Borum said.

Art is a Means of Expression Eugene Yi, senior Integrated Marketing Communication and Music double major, said he joined Pepperdine’s music program as a means to continue pouring into his passion.

“For me, it’s just the way to kind of step aside from the world to take some time to just enjoy music,” Yi said.

Before entering the music department, Yi said he doubted his talents and was scared. But, with the help of his esteemed professors and kind classmates, Yi said he has been able to ease his anxieties. Professors such as Naomi Sumitani helped Yi break out of his shell, he said.

Playing classical music is incredibly technical, and Yi said it adds a lot of pressure when he’s performing. A piece of advice one of his instructors gave him was to imagine there’s nobody in the room, just him. Yi said it has worked for him and helped him see the beauty in being vulnerable on stage.

“When I play by myself, I can play emotionally, like my body’s moving,” Yi said.

“But, when I play in front of people, I get really stiff.”

One of the most important lessons he learned is to use music as a vessel for his emotions.

“Just play expressively, freely,” Yi said.

“It’s not about getting the notes right because anyone can do that. It’s about portraying your emotions and expressing all of that to the people that are listening.”

Art is Everything Senior Taylor Faas has always been a dancer, but she said it was around the age of 11 that she fell in love with the art form.

Dance has helped her become the person she wants to be, Faas said. To her, art is a means of communicating the deepest parts of herself to others.

“Every time that I feel as though it’s hard for me to express how I feel in words, dance has always been there for me,” Faas said.

Faas has been a part of Dance in Flight, a student-run dance company on campus, for three years and is the student director for this year. She said it’s a tight-knit community who, despite their differences in style and technique, are all connected through

their shared love for the art.

“The one thing that really holds us all together is that we all just love dance so much,” Faas said. “I feel like that really shines through in every Saturday rehearsal.”

When it comes to choreographing a dance, Faas said she draws inspiration from her real-life experiences and her loved ones. She said it makes her art more honest to who she is and allows for an audience to have a deeper connection.

Faas said the feeling of when she first performs a dance on stage and in front of an audience is everything to her. While rehearsing a dance is a beautiful process for her, Faas said the energy in the room during a performance is the biggest reward of dancing.

“The emotions just come pouring out of you the first time you do it when you hit the stage,” Faas said.

said. “You will eventually get to the place that you need to be, and you can only get there by sifting through the trash. That’s just work.”

One thing that pushes Davis to continue creating despite the sometimes dreadful process is that her craft is worth nurturing.

She said she doesn’t want to forget that creating is necessary for her soul. “[Art is] a way to express what it means to make meaning out of how chaotic and beautiful and big life can be,” Davis said.

Art is a Way of Being For as long as she can remember, Davis has been drawn to the world of art through the lens of a camera. Davis does “lens base work,” which she said includes photography, videography and everything in between. “[Art] always kept me grounded and always kept me interested,” Davis said.

The way a camera can change how people perceive the world around them and themselves is powerful, Davis said.

“Perception is everything,” Davis said.

“It’s something that I think we take for granted.”

Cameras expose the dynamism within everything in their lens and engage an audience’s senses in multiple ways. This is what excites Davis the most about her work, she said.

Dedicating her entire career to creating, Davis said she has discovered the biggest myth about being an artist, which is that it is all fun. She said this misconception often blinds people from the intimidating process of artmaking “It’s a rollercoaster,” Davis said. “It really is highs and lows.”

Davis said being an artist takes a toll on your mental wellness. It’s a constant tug of war with perfectionism and lack of motivation. One thing she said she tries to emphasize to her students is the importance of doing the work, especially when students feel stuck.

“You just do it, and it’ll be trash,” Davis

Natalee Borum holds her peoms published in Expressionists magazine.

Photo by Mary Elisabeth

Art courtesy of Mariquita Davis 7

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Kim Bennett Mosaic

Malibu-based Artist Makes Treasure From Trash photos by Mary Elisabeth words by Marley Penagos design by Emilia Lekhter

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im Bennett said she is “passionately obsessed” with the process of creating mosaic collages in a folk art technique called ‘Pique Assiette,’ a French term that roughly translates to “one who eats from other’s plates,” according to Cambridge Dictionary.

After earning her bachelor’s degree in Creative Writing, Bennett moved to California to begin her career as a Hollywood film editor. For the past decade, Bennett said she has devoted her life to her art.

Inspired by her years in the film industry, Bennett said she is always searching for a story to inspire her artwork.

How do you choose what materials you are going to make a piece out of ?

“I’ve been collecting plates for 10 to 15 years now. My husband is a wonderful man, and he’s indulged my obsession — collecting, hoarding. I’ve learned that because I hand-cut all of my plates, they have to be flat and not too curved and not too thick.

But I really go for color.”

What have you learned since you started creating art?

“I learned to make sure you check that you’re not cutting up a $400 plate, and I did that once. I made this table, and in the center, I put a flower that I cut it out of a plate. Then, I did some research, and I went online, and it was like [from] Sotheby’s [for] $400. Oh my gosh, how could I do that?”

“Another thing that I learned is that you can’t really cut up something that is really, really old. Some of the plates I collected at the very beginning were 1800s. So, in the mosaic community, we have an agreement that we don’t destroy something that’s that old. Now, because I know other mosaic artists, I can even recognize some of the patterns.”

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You’re taking this ancient art form, but maybe it isn’t always what comes to mind for people when they think of “traditional art.” What is that experience like for you?

“For me, as an artist, making something unique is the value. That there is not anything else like that, especially since we have A.I., and we have even mass-produced oils and all that. I mean for me — and I personally love all art — but there will never be anything like this.”

time, someone ate a meal off of this plate; there was a family that used this plate. And then, for the fabric [I use], like, somebody sewed this quilt. It was 1953, and they used this quilt that used to be a shirt from the ‘40s. I just really like the idea that there’s nothing else — there will never be; I couldn’t even make another one because I will never have the exact same materials.”

You said you love using whimsical stories to inspire your art. What would you say is your inspiration for some of the more whimsical pieces?

“The innocence of childhood, like when a marshmallow — toasting a marshmallow was like winning the lottery. When that was all that mattered — being present and being in nature. I love nature.”

Bennett started walking around the display holding all of her art and lovingly gestured to each piece as she described them.

“I love combining [time periods]. This piece is from the ‘60s and this one from the ‘80s, and I love bringing together different times in history in one piece. These flowers I cut out are from the ‘20s, and this part is English, and this is from the 1910s.

And I love that, at one

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She stroked a hand over a piece of a woman with flowers for eyes and what looked like a jumble of costume jewelry for hair.

“I love her energy. I sold one similar to her, so I made a new one. They usually take me about a week or so, but these are just very labor-intensive. I mean, just think about all the women who wore those necklaces and when. Some woman wore these necklaces in the ‘50s and ‘60s, and now, they have all come together to create this. And who would have thought?”

Explaining NFTs

art & design by Marley Penagos

words by Joseph Heinemann

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hat do music, drawings, digital art and video games all have in common? All of them could be turned into “NFTs” or non-fungible tokens.

The acronym “NFT” is a term that has gained traction and popularity over the past few years, especially across social media platforms like X — formerly Twitter — where you could purchase an NFT to set as your profile photo on the app. With so many different ways to use and invest in NFTs, the term can mean many different things to many different people.

“It’s such a cool [technology] that, unfortunately, has a PR problem,” said Hunter Stanchek, CEO of Colonize Mars. “If you get past the misconception of the industry.

When you look past that, and you actually try it out and see what it’s all about, there’s a lot of innovation happening in that space.”

What is an NFT/Blockchain/Cryptocurrency?

An NFT is “a unique digital identifier that cannot be copied, substituted, or subdivided, that is recorded in a blockchain, and that is used to certify authenticity and ownership,” according to Merriam-Webster. A unique digital identifier is something that affirms that the digital item isn’t copied or couldn’t be copied.

The blockchain, where the NFT is recorded, is a digital database that holds information about transactions. These transactions are all decentralized and publicly

accessible. This platform is where NFT technology exists, as NFTs use the blockchain to verify authenticity.

“If [the NFT] is tied to something like a blockchain, it’s a ledger,” said Kate Parsons, assistant professor of Digital Art. “There’s a public account of who owns what and how long they’ve owned it or if they’ve traded it or if it’s sold, or traded hands.”

While both are digital objects, cryptocurrency solely exists as a form of digital payment. NFTs, in contrast, can be many different things and assets that are authenticated and unique to whoever owns them, according to Forbes.

Think of crypto like any other currency that you would use to purchase things, and think of NFTs as things that can be purchased with said currency. This means that NFTs could be artwork, music, digital items, videos or anything else you could create in a digital way according to NASDAQ.

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Misunderstandings and Fads For many people, their first interaction with NFTs came with the “Bored Ape Yacht Club,” which is a limited NFT collection of cartoon ape-themed artwork. This art collection then took off and was featured on “The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon.”

These NFTs were also purchased by celebrities such as Paris Hilton.

“It’s a mistake to think of an NFT as a JPEG — basically, an image that’s inflated with value because it’s an NFT,” Stanchak said. “That’s really hurt the industry and set it back quite a bit. Because people don’t understand why there’s value there.”

Despite prices soaring in 2021, the popularity of NFTs all came to an eventual crash. July 3, 2023, marked a twoyear low and an 88% drop in value from the peak

in 2021, according to Decrypt. This has resulted in various investors suing Sotheby’s Holdings Inc., and others under the pretense that they misleadingly promoted the Bored Ape NFT. Despite the drop in value, the technology of NFT investment hasn’t gone away, and many people — like Stanchek — are using it for their new artistic ventures through the blockchain, according to Stanchek’s company, Colonize Mars.

Colonize Mars Colonize Mars is a video game that is built around the use of NFTs, according to Stanchek. As a simulation video game, Colonize Mars utilizes t h e

blockchain to create a playing experience where in-game items are tied to NFTs and cryptocurrency.

The gaming industry has made billions of dollars in revenue from in-game 12

purchases Stanchek said. Yet, the gamers who are making those purchases have no real ownership of the item they are spending their money on.

“It’s pretty much just lost money,” Stanchek said. “They can’t go and trade it.

They can’t use their time or skill to make a profit or make a trade with it.”

That is where Colonize Mars creates a different experience.

“If you could [trade them], it would unlock an entirely new type of value,” Stanchek said. “NFTs allow you to own your in-game items and buy, sell and trade those on decentralized marketplaces or open marketplaces.”

NFTs could easily represent the items in the game, including more abstract concepts.

“It can be any sort of digital item or inventory,” Stanchek said. “You can have an NFT that’s an attribute of a larger digital item.”

These larger digital items could represent digital land plots, coordinates and resources as well, Stanchek said.

Stanchek said while NFT technology may be obvious right now because of internet trends, he imagines a future where most of the heavy lifting is unknown to the everyday user.

“In a couple of years, people won’t even know that they’re playing games that are enabled by blockchain,” Stanchek said.

“They’ll be playing their favorite games.

Some of them will happen to have blockchain connectivity, but it won’t affect onboarding or any of the simplicity or ease of getting into games and starting to play them.”

Faculty Adopters At Pepperdine, faculty — like Parsons — are getting involved with NFTs as well.

Parsons teamed up with several local artists

and put together an NFT art show named “In Medias Res.” The goal of the project was to focus on the art made by feminist creators, Parsons said.

A blockchain-based art-selling platform called Feral File was created by Casey Reas, who is an art professor at UCLA. On this platform, Parsons said she and her team of nine artists could set up a digital art show to display works.

Buyers could view the art seven days beforehand Aug. 17, and then the auction began Aug. 24. This allowed time for buyers to think about their budgets and bid prices while having time to appreciate the new pieces, Parsons said.

“It was what they call a reverse auction or a reverse Dutch auction,” Parsons said.

“So, it starts high. There’s a multiplier, and then it slowly comes down over the course of about half an hour. The idea is that there’s a lot of hype built up for this 24-hour period that the work is for sale.

The recent crash in the NFT market in 2023 has negatively affected the sale of artwork made for NFTs, Parsons said.

On top of this, they have become a controversial topic in artist communities.

“Two to three years ago, there was the big environmental factor with Ethereum and Bitcoin also being a dirty blockchain because of all the Eco problems associated with it,” Parsons said.

In recent years, people have begun to dig

into the environmental impact of cryptocurrency, specifically focusing on Bitcoin, according to Columbia University. While Ethereum has moved to a “proof-of-stake” system, which has dropped its carbon footprint by 99.95%, Bitcoin has yet to make that leap.

Proof of stake gives the cryptocurrencies the option to validate the amount of currency they have but without having to use a lot of energy consumption to verify the acquisition of the currency, according to Coinbase.

A big issue around Bitcoin is how much total energy it uses for every transaction, according to Forbes. This brings an ethical question to the table as people begin to rethink the impact of certain cryptocurrencies.

“Now that Ethereum has kind of made that jump, it’s much less of an issue, but for a while, there was a lot of controversy and a lot of anger between artists and people who were willing to do blockchain work and people who weren’t,” Parsons said.

Despite the difficulties of the market, Parsons said she felt like this was still a valuable avenue for digital artists around the world.

“Fine art context is really hard to sell,” Parsons said. “This gives digital artists a chance to kind of enter into a market in a different way.”

For students new to the NFT world,

Parsons offered some words of advice.

“I always really hesitate to tell people to go buy a bunch of something on Ethereum or Bitcoin,” Parsons said. “What I recommend most people to do is to do something with Tezos. Now there’s one called Taya and one called Object, and you can buy and sell amazing, very good work for like 50 cents if you want or $100.”

Resources Because the world of NFTs is a constantly changing sphere, there are many questions that are being asked about the budding technology.

“There’s professor over at the University of Denver, who had made this open source NFT, crypto lecture that he gave out to other professors was like, ‘Hey, I did this research. You can take this and adopt it, do it. Do whatever you want with it,’” Parsons said.

Parsons has since incorporated recent scholarship on NFTs into her curriculum.

For art students interested in learning more about NFTs, Parsons offers lectures centered around the topic in Art 230 Foundations of Digital Art.

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photos by Mary Elisabeth words by Beth Gonzales design by Abby Wilt

Pepperdine Professor Shares Her Love of Art with Students What is the main inspiration for your art? What do you find yourself having the desire to paint?

“During COVID, my work moved out of these architectural renderings and abstraction and my plane with different environments to the figure. My figures became non-gendered, and they were not specific in color. They were just figures. They could be man, woman and any color. That was just before COVID, where I had a switch to nature, more directly to leaves, and the leaves became the branches of trees — to the roots to the interconnectivity of all trees and then cities, countries under the oceans, you know, the whole world being connected.”

You have some very large scale paintings. How long do those take you, and do you prefer working on this larger scale?

“I spend 10 times longer on small works than I do big works. Because some people paint from their fingers, some people paint from their elbow, I work from the shoulder. I’m a shoulder artist. So, the main ideas I can block in a week, like a series of three paintings, I can block these in a week. Then, I’ll go back into them, and probably right now, they are about 75 to 80% finished, and maybe I’ll add another layer of firm down any collage work that needs to be set. Knowing when to quit is a big deal for me.”

Do you have any advice for young, up-and-coming artists?

“Don’t try to follow what everybody else is doing. Really listen to your own voice. That’s why it’s so important to meditate. Do what you want to do. What is important is getting to know who you are and getting to know your soul. When you start to discover who you are, then you’ll know what kind of work to do, and then it’s really fun.”

You mentioned meditation and faith a lot at the start of the interview. How do these play a role in your art and process?

“I never, never start working unless I meditate. It’s so important to calm your body and get rid of all the stress and the anxiety. I do teach meditation in my classes and kind of whatever aspect of God that appeals to someone. You know, make it personal. For me, I will sit down and meditate, and there are times I feel so much the power and love of God that I cry when I’m working.”

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YVETTE GELLI S

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Generated with prompt: “Pop art painting of a woman sitting at a computer and generating AI.”

‘At an Explosive Rate:’ A.I. Brings Changes to Art

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hen opening Twitter — now X— TikTok or Instagram Reels, one can see videos like “SpongeBob” characters singing “I Want it That Way,” or the Taylor Swift-inspired images created with Artificial Intelligence, or A.I., becoming more prevalent.

While A.I. art has existed for years, new technology has made its art more realistic than ever, according to Wired. A.I. art has become more pervasive and played a role in the concluded WGA and ongoing SAG-AFTRA strikes, according to previous Graphic reporting.

As the prevalence of A.I. art increases, the question remains — is the existence of A.I. art just another tool or the end of art as people know it?

“In general, this is a question that the artist or the creator has to answer for himself or herself: Am I trying to take shortcuts or cut corners?” said Garett Pendergraft, Blanche E. Seaver professor of Philosophy and Philosophy program director. “Am I try16

ing to get the output or the product faster or more easily than I otherwise could?”

Inputs and Outputs Jesse Cha, Keck scholar and visiting assistant professor of Computer Science, said when looking at generative A.I. art, one can look at it in the form of data that is input and then the image itself, or output, through recalling the data.

“When I see A.I. art, I immediately think about what kind of model was used to make that art and also what kind of data or image or collection of images were used to make that art,” Cha said.

A.I. art can also have robotic implications — for example, Sun Yuan and Peng Yu’s “Can’t Help Myself,” which shows a robotic arm trying to clean up liquid leaking from its machine, Cha said.

Simply put, robotic control can rely on data and commands or involve a learning-based control system, Cha said. When

art created with Dall-E 2 words and photos by Samantha Torre design by Will Fallmer creating generative paintings, A.I. exists in the form of different algorithms.

“One of the controversies we see with A.I. art is that people who make the A.I. are still basing it off of a dataset which was made by human artists or human photographers,” Cha said. “And that may have some kind of implications with regard to art ownership and copyright or intellectual property.”

A.I. art does not just involve the creation of the model but also the creation of a data set, Cha said. In reality, the part of A.I. that is the most time-consuming is the creation of the data set.

“We should not take lightly the efforts of people who actually made the data set possible, whether it was done willingly or unwillingly, for the A.I. artist,” Cha said.

Something new with A.I., Cha said, is the presence of emergent behaviors — or behaviors that are not just the sum of the A.I.’s parts or commands. This unexpected behavior can be a form of creativity.

For example, consider the “Mona Lisa.”

“One would say that it’s composed of different paint; it’s composed of different movements with the brush stroke, and you could decompose all of its individual components,” Cha said. “But the sum of all these components do not give the overall emotion; that is what we call the ‘Mona Lisa.’”

As A.I. progresses trends in art will occur in “orders of magnitude,” because the power of A.I. tools will increase exponentially, Cha said. This can have consequences for those who rely on traditional art methods.

“A key thing to understand is that changes are coming in the art world, and they are coming pretty fast and exponentially at an explosive rate,” Cha said.

where you use software to create things.”

Pendergraft said there are different ethical systems that help with this dilemma.

One is that of virtue ethics — the theory that the thing to do in a given situation is what a virtuous person would do. The benefit is that this system points toward human flourishing, but the drawback is it can be vague.

A Rich Palette of Voices

What Does it Mean to Create?

Pendergraft said creation can be thought of as existing on a continuum, with creation ex nihilo — out of nothing — on one end and duplication on the other.

“In one sense, any work of art is going to be rearranging materials in some way or another, whether it’s paint or whether it’s sounds, so at the human level, there’s no genuine or pure creation,” Pendergraft said.

“But of course, that’s OK. There’s still creativity in [that] creation.”

There are, Pendergraft said, gray points on this continuum. For example, parodies or remixes where something is presented in a new way.

“It’s the presentation of the thing that is the artistic value or merit or creativity,” Pendergraft said. “What you’re actually bringing to the work of art is something intangible.”

Before deciding whether or not A.I. art is harmful, Pendergraft said it is important to carefully note just what one is quantifying. While plagiarism is problematic, one should be careful about making evaluative judgments about A.I. as a whole — is the problem using A.I. at all or the degree to which A.I. is used?

“Somebody who sketches a picture or paints a painting seems to be doing something more genuinely creative than someone who uses text prompts to generate something,” Pendergraft said. “But on the other hand, there’s all kinds of digital art

is that the scale with which it’s learning is orders of magnitude larger [than human learning],” Pendergraft said. “And what it’s doing — it’s not what human learning is doing; it’s not integrating and synthesizing the way people do. It’s doing something else.”

The question, Pendergraft said, is how to treat that learning.

“Whether we treat that [A.I.] like we would inspired human learning or whether we treat that in some other way, that’s more mechanical and automatic and evokes issues of copyright,” Pendergraft said.

Member of Writers Guild of America at a picket line in September.

“For these new domains or these new frontiers, a lot of the process is going to be what’s called reflective equilibrium where you say, ‘OK, here’s a case,’” Pendergraft said. “What rules and principles might apply to the case? And what would they tell us if we were to adopt them?”

From there, people can generate a principle — or a set rule — that they then can apply to other cases, Pendergraft said. Ideally, the principle would work in all, or most, cases.

“The problem with machine learning

Jerry Jerome, a WGA volunteer, said A.I.-written shows might go from having three writers running a show down to one and then down to none — with writers only working on rewrites. If A.I. continues, screenwriting will no longer be a sustainable industry.

“We can’t have it where something that’s been tied to us and our DNA — telling stories around fires, saying ‘watch out for danger,’ painting on cave walls — be replaced by somebody’s programming,” Jerome said. “That might overlook a lot of the conditions or circumstances.”

Something that is indispensable about America, Jerome said, is that people can tell their own stories — and these stories can be diverse.

“Stories can be rich,” Jerome said. “I don’t think they’re going to be [rich] at the mercy of robots telling the stories. If you program it the wrong way, no more women’s voices, no more LGBTQ+ voices, Black voices, brown voices.”

Jerome said he had been a teacher for 17 years and never had any interaction where one voice was enough to guide a community for a whole process, and he said that applies in other aspects of life.

“We benefit from having a rich palette of voices contributing to what we’re all experiencing as human beings,” Jerome said.

Additionally, writing the show is not the only job of screenwriters, Jerome said. Writers have a role in casting, producing and editing in post-production. Now, studios are pushing writers to go through post edits unpaid — where before, doing those edits for a 22-episode show would be enough to financially carry a writer through to the next season.

“When that goes away, and you only have one writer doing it, that’s not healthy,” 17

“a robot-artist making a painting generated in a vintage style” All art generated with Dall-E 2

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Jerome said. “You’re going to have people that end up in hospitals.”

If screenwriting is created using only A.I., Jerome said, the program is simply going to “regurgitate” what someone else has created and will lack originality.

“All art has to be able to say what it is to experience life,” Jerome said. “No matter what that perspective is, it’s all about what it is to be alive and to have the struggles that go with humanity and the victories that come to humanity.”

Movies such as “Everything Everywhere All At Once” will no longer be created, Jerome said. And there will be no more space for the “next act” — up-and-comers entering the screenwriting industry.

“If we let [A.I.] really take this role, even with the actors, it’s not just writers and actors that are going to be hurt,” Jerome said.

“Who’s going to be doing makeup? Who’s gonna be doing craft services. Who’s doing lighting? Who’s going to be doing sounds?

The whole industry would be turned over.”

Emotional Narratives Linda Dillon Moya, an organizer for the WGA strike, said A.I. has shifted the dynamic of how writers work. Now, producers can create a project — intellectual property, or IP — using A.I. and then assign it to a writer.

“I don’t think it should look like that,” Moya said. “It should work more like, if A.I. is used at all, the writer should decide how to work it. It shouldn’t be up to the producer because, basically, they’re getting paid for a project they didn’t write, taken from an IP that’s online.”

Writing comes from life experience,

5

Moya said. Whether it’s a new Superman movie, or something high concept, the writer has still injected their life experience into the piece — something A.I. lacks.

“The bottom line is you need to have lived life to write from that emotion,” Moya said. “So, it gives us an emotional narrative.

A.I. doesn’t have an emotional narrative.”

If Hollywood makes the move to A.I., the result could put directors, actors and writers at risk — and result in flat writing, Moya said.

“I really do think we’re gonna win this battle,” Moya said. “So, there will still be work.”

Sister Sun, Brother Moon and Robots Kevin Hong, a senior double major in Computer Science and Philosophy, said he is working on a research project that combines artificial intelligence in the form of robots with art, to tell a South Korean folktale called “Sister Sun and Brother Moon.”

“I’m Korean, and my parents told me folktales growing up, and this was one of the first ones that I remember being told,” Hong said. “I saw it again just a few months back, and I was like, I want to do an art project with it.”

Initially, the project was just a 2D illustration of the folktale, before Hong said he spoke to Cha, who suggested adding another level — robotics.

“With anything, it depends on how you use it,” Hong said. “I know some people are really critical of artists who use A.I., but it can foster a lot of new ideas.”

The project will use autonomous RC cars alongside artistic elements, Hong said.

Together, these elements will recreate an important chase scene from the folktale and will run on its own circuit.

“We are going to show that chase scene and try our best to show the thematic and artistic elements of the story through the chase,” Hong said. “And everything’s gonna be programmed to be run autonomously too, so it’s a very interdisciplinary [project].”

On the art side of the project, Hong said he is working with a visual arts student who will help design the cars, design projections and the circuit. Additionally, Hong is contacting students with experience in sound design.

In this project, Hong said he is learning to work with people in different fields.

“I’m in the middle, where I do computer science, but I’m also a hobby artist but working with people who [have] this specialization — there’s an art student that I’m working with, and then I’m also working with another computer science student — who are only focused in that field of study,” Hong said.

While Hong said a lot of artists are afraid of A.I., he said he sees it as ushering in a new era of art — similar to other technologies such as the camera.

“That [the camera] inspired a whole new era of art, where people became impressionists,” Hong said. “People put their own human element into their art. And that’s just another thing that’s going to happen with A.I. art, and I’m looking forward to that.”

For his research project, Hong said A.I. is just a tool the participants can use to retell a familiar story in a new way.

“The human element definitely comes

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in through the type of story that’s being told,” Hong said. “And A.I. is really just a medium for the very human things that are being told in ‘Sister Sun and Brother Moon.’”

Just Another Platform Karlina Zanetti, senior and double Screen Arts and Art major, said A.I. art is a new form of expression and way for people to “do” art.

“I don’t really understand how you can say one thing is not art just because it’s not traditional,” Zanetti said.

Knowing a piece of art involves A.I. in its creation doesn’t hinder her experience of it — or of making her own art, Zanetti said.

“I feel like making art; you can either make art for yourself or for others, but the process of making it is just for yourself,” Zanetti said. “Some people just don’t like making art or don’t want to put the time into it.

So, just because they don’t want to do that doesn’t mean it’s not art.”

While generative A.I. art — paintings and digital recreations — does mix themes and ideas, Zanetti said A.I. script writing lacks a human element.

“So, if you’re just a robot that hasn’t experienced life, or like, different emotions that come with life, I just don’t think you’re able to make a product that appeals to people who have experienced life,” Zanetti said.

A.I. art, Zanetti said, is similar to throwing ideas at a blank wall. Whereas, with digital art, one is still using their hands, with A.I. art, someone is directly entering their thoughts into a generator.

“Every time someone makes something, they put a part of themselves into it, whether that’s a memory or ‘Oh, I’m making a shirt because I like to hike,’” Zanetti said. “It’s always a part of their product. So, A.I. art-wise, I guess it would lack that part of yourself that’s in it. I still think it’s valid, but it is interesting.”

When she first heard of A.I. art, Zanetti said she didn’t really believe it.

“First of all, it’s crazy,” Zanetti said. “I know everyone’s really scared of it, like, ‘What if it’s going to take jobs?’ But I just don’t think it can. So, I have good vibes with it now. It’s another platform. You can create stuff, or it can create stuff for you when you’re unable.”

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seeking

T AR

through nature

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ndividuals can share art through many different forms, mediums and varieties, but one form of art is always available by just walking outside — the art found in nature.

Nature resembles art in a magnitude of ways, and many artists said they pull their inspiration from nature to create art. Students said they connect with nature and see its beauty every day, especially in Malibu.

“You always know that the world is beautiful around you,” junior Noah Wahamaki said. “But just having the awareness to actually seek out beautiful things in nature is where I take my focus in photography.”

Wahamaki has been taking photos for as long as he can remember, but in his junior year of high school, he got his first film camera, and he said that changed the game for him. Since then, he has focused his film photography on nature, specifically taking pictures of the ocean and the beach.

“We’re surrounded by really beautiful nature,” Wahamaki said. “And so, being able to capture that and share that with other people is kind of full circle to start building more awareness of what’s beautiful around us.”

Senior Courtney Hancock also has been interested in photography since she was little but said she got into film photography two years ago, when her mom gave her a film camera, and she brought it to Malibu to take photos of her friends.

“Because of how beautiful Malibu is, I consequently began capturing landscapes,” Hancock said.

Hancock started a business called The Darkroom Shop to sell her landscapes

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shortly after making the site. The Darkroom Shop is focused on showing the raw beauty of the natural world and seeing God’s creation through Hancock’s lens, according to The Darkroom Shop’s About page.

“The more I saw the magnificence of how film was able to capture natural scenes, the more immersed I became in photography,” Hancock said.

Hancock said she focuses her photography on the beach and mountains in Malibu but also takes her camera with her when she travels back home to the mountains in Colorado, visits the beaches in Hawaii or sees the wildlife in Montana.

While Hancock said she has considered switching to digital photography, she believes film makes her slow down and fully capture a moment in the natural world.

“There is so much beauty that exists in nature as it is,” Hancock said. “My goal when capturing scenes is to preserve each landscape and moment as God created it.”

Hancock said she tries to do as little post-production work as possible with her photos because she tries to make her photos portray exactly how she felt when she was taking them — seeing beauty in nature in some form or fashion.

“Art through photos means the process of preserving what is already beautiful,” Hancock said.

Even if a student isn’t practicing art, it’s still easy to see art every day when going outside. Senior Natalie Alderton does just that and said she makes it a point every day to go outside and recenter her day.

“I just feel so much peace when I’m outside,” Alderton said. “I feel like that’s where I

really connect with God’s creation.”

Alderton loves to surf and hike in Malibu, and she said these two activities allow her to connect with her faith and with nature.

“To me, God is the artist of nature,” Alderton said. “I see all of his characteristics exemplified in nature.”

Surfing and hiking both allow Alderton to slow down and soak up the beauty of nature.

“When I’m out surfing, and I see a beautiful sunset painted and all of these colors, to me, it’s just another medium for God to paint the world,” Alderton said.

Even though Alderton said she isn’t an artist herself, she said she recognizes how art is based on nature in several mediums.

She said all of the art she sees is based on the beauty of nature.

“Nature is also the basis on which we compare all other beautiful things,” Alderton said. “Like painting or music — so much is inspired by nature and the world around us.”

photos by Courtney Hancock words & design by Abby Wilt

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Pepperdine Senior Pursues Business and Galleries Around the Globe When looking at a blank canvas, how do you know what to start with or what today’s creation will entail?

“I always think I am going to be painting something — a certain something — then I start sketching it, and it will turn into something completely different. For example, there is a piece that went viral on my Instagram of the statue of David smoking, and when I started that piece, it was originally going to be a pool and tigers standing around drinking water from the pool.”

“I started my art business at 15, and it was commission, and people would ask me for a certain thing, and I would create exactly what they wanted, and it was very much transactional.

As I have grown older and developed the want for uniqueness and [to] develop my own brand out of it, I’ve come to realize

how important it is to paint for myself and not just for what other people want to see.”

Do you have a favorite artist or favorite painting that inspires you?

“There’s an artist named Linnéa Spransy. She has these insane abstract paintings where she uses developed patterns and repeats them on massive canvases, and they just translate so beautifully.

I love her work. I will say, I do take a lot of my inspiration from Michelangelo. The classic work 24

What are some ways you have found you are bringing old-style canvas painting back into relevance with our generation?

“In regards to me and bringing old-style painting back to the modern world, I think I have a decent social media platform that I’ve been posting on, and I think that, when it comes to artwork, people are really curious about the process. I think I show the process and how I’m making things, and people are very captivated by seeing that process because it’s a very unique process. It kind of allows for them to be part of my artwork, and I think that’s why my pieces are successful. Because people feel they see it on a personal level. I’m very involved in fashion and social media, and I know what is hip in the moment — and [it’s] not that I purposely render that onto my canvas, but I think that because that’s in my subconscious, I do render it onto my canvas. I think that people see that, and they can relate to it or think it looks cool.”

Do you have a favorite artist or favorite painting that inspires you?

“There’s an artist named Linnéa Spransy. She has these insane abstract paintings where she uses developed patterns and repeats them on massive canvases, and they just translate so beautifully.

I love her work. I will say, I do take a lot of my inspiration from Michelangelo. The classic work is just so beautiful to me. You know that during the Renaissance, artwork was booming, and they were able to render the human form so beautifully, I’ve always been fascinated with it.”

When looking at a blank canvas, how do you know what to start with or what today’s creation will entail?

“I always think I am going to be painting something — a certain something — then I start sketching it, and it will turn into something completely different. For example, there is a piece that went viral on my Instagram of the statue of David smoking, and when I started that piece, it was originally going to be a pool and tigers standing around drinking water from the pool.”

“I started my art business at 15, and it was commission, and people would ask me for a certain thing, and I would create exactly what they wanted, and it was very much transactional. As I have grown older and developed the want for uniqueness and [to] develop my own brand out of it, I’ve come to realize how important it is to paint for myself and not just for what other people want to see.”

photos by Mary Elisabeth words by Beth Gonzales design by Emilia Lekhter

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Hidden Gems of Malibu: Art in the City photos by Mary Elisabeth words by Samantha Wareing design by Will Fallmer

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hen thinking of Malibu, one may think of the beach, the mountains or the land of “the rich and famous” rather than a city rich in art. In 2012, the Malibu City Council created the Malibu Arts Commission, dedicated to connecting people in Malibu with local and outside artists.

“Fireball” Tim Lawrence, Malibu Arts Commission member, said many artists, both local and visiting, want to connect their work to the Malibu community. The Malibu Arts Commission invites artists who are not local so the Malibu art scene can showcase a variety of different perspectives, Lawrence said.

“The goal is to make Malibu an international gallery,” Lawrence said.

Lawrence said the Malibu Country Mart, Malibu’s outdoor shopping mall, showcases a variety of sculptures that seemingly don’t fit within a particular theme or style. Something the sculptures do have in common is they have an aspect of character and life to them.

“All Together Now” Joseph Palumbo 26

An iconic piece located at Malibu Country Mart is “Big Red.” Towering over patrons of the Country Mart just steps away from John’s Garden, “Big Red” is a large red “hammer man,” according to Malibu Arts And Culture.

Ed Benavente sculpted “Big Red” in 1996. Lawrence said “Big Red” is unique because it has no identity associated with it, yet it does seem life-like. Benavente added a smaller bronze version of “Big Red” to Country Mart in 2005 called “Executive Action III.” Another work one could see while grabbing a coffee at the Country Mart Starbucks is “All Together Now.” This work of artist Joseph Palumbo appears to be three dancing sheep. Lawrence said a piece like this sparks conversation — they are animals, yet they have humanistic characteristics.

Lawrence said locals and visitors alike know Malibu to be higher-end on a scale of wealth. Though the sculptures in Malibu Country Mart were not cheap, he said he wouldn’t consider any of the art in Malibu to be expensive relative to “Malibu standards.”

“The value of the art is reflected in the opinion of the artist themselves,” Lawrence said.

Humility goes a long way in most areas of life but especially in transactions of art.

Lawrence said there is a fine line between ego and confidence.

Lawrence said perception is key in the art world. He said when considering artwork, the Malibu Arts Commission considers the perception people would have of the art. In the process of discovering the potential perception of the viewer, Lawrence said the commission asks, “What is this [the artwork] saying to me?”

There are many other places to see art in the city of Malibu besides

“Executive Action III” Ed Benavente

the Malibu Country Mart. One can find art in Malibu Legacy Park, Malibu Bluffs Park and at pop-up galleries hosted by the Malibu Art Association, Lawrence said.

Malibu Legacy Park is tucked behind Malibu Country Mart in the southeast corner of Civic Center Way and Webb Way. One can find a variety of sculptures to honor Malibu’s cultural heritage.

Some of the works include mosaic animals, sculpted by Robin Indar in 2010, but there are also realistic, technical sculptures.

Another is a bronze sculpture of a man with his surfboard titled “Unknown Surfer” sculpted by Jody Westheimer in 2011, which captures Malibu’s surfing community and culture.

The Malibu Arts Association hosts a gallery that pops up in Malibu Legacy Park on Sundays, coinciding with the Malibu Farmers Market six times a year. They showcase works by artists categorized in three groups: works by individual artists, works by a group of artists and works from students at Malibu High School.

“Every show is different and aims to have a balance of different sizes and types of works,” Lawrence said.

Curated by the Malibu Arts Commission, the Malibu City Gallery is showcasing “Vistas.” “Vistas” is a collection of realistic, colorful oil paintings by Wes Van Dyke, grandson of actor and comedian Dick Van Dyke. When Lawrence and the Malibu Arts Commission reached out to Wes Van Dyke, he said he was honored.

“When Malibu contacted me, I knew I needed to do it,” Wes Van Dyke said. “This is home to me — growing up surfing here my whole life.”

Wes Van Dyke said he drew inspiration for his collection of 30 oil paintings from both ocean and mountain landscapes, and he said, with every single one, he gets a different feeling of what the piece means to

him. Lawrence said he enjoys the collection because of the color palette Wes Van Dyke incorporated into the collection.

“These pieces are true to color, and that’s why I love it [the collection] so much,” Lawrence said. “It’s as if he snapped a moment in time.”

Wes Van Dyke said he tried to capture the times of day that people take photographs of and bring those moments to life.

That is why each piece of the collection appears to be at dawn and dusk.

At the opening reception for the collection at Malibu City Gallery, Dick Van Dyke said he was very excited Wes decided to go into the arts. He said it’s a blessing that he and Wes both get to do what they love.

“When he [Wes] was 5, his teacher said, ‘Keep an eye on this guy,’” Dick Van Dyke said. “He’s got talent.”

At the opening reception, Lawrence said he asked Wes Van Dyke about his creative process.

“It all starts with the color palette of the sky,” Wes Van Dyke said. “The ocean and mountains of Malibu drive my work.”

Wes Van Dyke said he used memory and multiple photographs for reference.

Wes Van Dyke said he knows when a piece is finally done when a clock goes off in his head that tells him he is finished. He said his pieces often turn out drastically different from how they started, which is why he doesn’t enjoy working on commissions as much as he does his other works.

If he paints from commission, and his client wants him to paint straight from a picture, there is more restriction and less creative freedom. Wes said he felt free painting the Malibu beaches in this collection.

“I grew up on these beaches,” Wes Van Dyke said. “Malibu became a second home to me because my grandfather lived here.”

art by Wes Van Dyke

art by Wes Van Dyke

art by Wes Van Dyke 27

Brittany Joyner is in

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ctress Brittany Joyner said she is “obsessed” with the delicate and fussy frills that come with the clothing of the Edwardian era (1901-1914).

While clothing is considered vintage when it is between 20 and 100 years old, the clothing that Joyner loves is over 100 years old, meaning it is antique and incredibly delicate — making it impractical to wear.

Her solution, she said, is to make it all herself.

“Everything [I wear] is almost entirely made by me,” Joyner said. “Once you start getting to the Edwardian Victorian era, that stuff is gonna fall apart on your body if you buy that from that time period. The material is not meant to last that long.”

Clothing of the Edwardian Era is characterized by ample curves, created by the

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S-bend corset and Pigeon silhouette.

According to FashionEra.com, this corset set the trend for fashion-conscious women until 1905; and an Edwardian outfit was not considered complete without a hat, gloves and a parasol.

Costuming vs. Personal Style While Joyner said she loves historical “costuming,” it is not the only type of clothing she wears.

“I’m not in the clothing all the time,” Joyner said. “I mean, I’m not going to the gym in a corset.”

While it may not be her everyday attire, it is an art she said she loves, and it allows her to have fun with history.

“I’m always going to grab the thing with the delicate embroidery and lace trim be-

Photo courtesy of Brittany Joyner

cause that’s already my style and my taste, which is influenced by historical clothing,” Joyner said. “But I wouldn’t say that my personal style is 1912.”

After joining Costumer’s Guild West, Joyner said she attended their Costume College event, an intensive four days of “nonstop workshops, classes and learning historical techniques of sewing and hatmaking.”

“That’s an art form in itself, learning all the techniques,” Joyner said, holding up a white blouse with a smile. “Just with this shirt, I got a perfect flat-felled seam, and there is nothing more pleasing than a beautiful hem that’s done and looks like a professional did it. And that was me. I did that.”

Joyner loves the idea of creating clothing to fit her body and its shape rather than trying to change the shape of her body to fit into specific clothing. She has scoliosis and said

n Her Edwardian Era the curve in her spine means her measurements are asymmetrical.

“Everything needs to be made custom-tailored to my specific body, and I’m not going to find that off the rack or even off the historical rack,” Joyner said.

The Historic Difference One of the biggest differences between modern and historical clothing is the way the clothing is intended to fit, Joyner said.

Modern clothing, she said, requires people to have a certain body type to fit the cultural norm. Historical clothing, however, shapes your body to the norm by creating the illusion of an hourglass body shape using corsets, bustles and underclothes.

When women desired a specific silhouette, it was created with padding and lacing

and illusions of the eye, Joyner said. And, while corsets may have been uncomfortable in the moment, they did not require permanently changing your body shape to fit a trend.

“You could still feel lovely and feel like you were entrained or fashionable,” Joyner said. “But the clothing is doing the heavy lifting rather than you at the gym.”

She feels this is a much healthier way to view fashion, Joyner said.

Brittany’s Eras Joyner said she is in her “Edwardian era.”

Before Edwardian, it was Regency.

“A lot of people call it the Titanic era,” Joyner said. “It’s just a small period of time, right after the Victorian era and before we’re getting into the twenties and the Jazz Age.”

Joyner said she feels inspired by the exploration and adventure that were happening at that time period, like the Egyptologists who were spreading Egyptomania across Britain.

“I made these Edwardian bicycling pants, and it was very much like an adventurer. They would have the boots on and stuff,” Joyner said.

Though Joyner said it takes her “weeks and weeks and weeks” to create one costume, it is worth it and brings her joy.

“It makes me feel fun and whimsical, and I think if we have more whimsy in our life, we are better people for it,” Joyner said.

art by Aubrey Hirsch words by Marley Penagos design by Abby Wilt

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Pepperdine’s Frederick R. Weisman Museum of Art Acts as a Sanctuary for Creativity photos by Mary Elisabeth words by Victoria La Ferla design by Will Fallmer

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n the fall 2021, junior Kiara Bromberg embarked on a memorable journey to the Weisman Museum. This hidden treasure on the Pepperdine campus left an indelible mark on her, she said.

Bromberg and her two friends decided to seek shelter from a rainstorm within the museum’s walls. Little did they know, they were about to commence on a captivating artistic adventure.

The Weisman Museum, founded in September 1992, was dedicated as the Frederick R. Weisman Museum of Art, said Rebecca Carson, managing director of the Weisman Museum. She said it stands as a testament to Frederick Weisman, a significant art collector known for his remarkable collection of modern and contemporary art in Los Angeles.

“I remember it being super cool,” Bromberg said. “The sculptures and paintings and the virtual reality screen with headphones were amazing. We could see flowers moving around in the pond [through the virtual reality exhibit], and it unlocked a different sense through sound.”

Bromberg enthusiastically recommended the museum to others, highlighting its accessibility.

“The Weisman is not as big [as other art museums], which is good and bad because you can get a little taste for 10 to 15 minutes, and it’s on campus,” Bromberg said. “I would like to know more about where this art even comes from and how often they change exhibits.”

The museum’s enduring partnership 30

with the Weisman Foundation spans over 30 years, and the foundation maintains a distinct collection of objects separate from the museum’s collection.

Carson provided insights into the pivotal role the museum plays at Pepperdine.

“For Pepperdine students, the museum is one of the very few places on campus where you don’t feel pressured to be productive,” Carson said. “You can just go and be yourself and take a little moment and look at beautiful things.”

Carson emphasized the museum’s efforts to engage students, including fun social events like the Come as You Art Halloween costume party, which the Art History Student Society helps host.

The Weisman Museum, free and open to all, offers a unique sanctuary for creative exploration.

Mia Boyd, a senior assistant at the Weisman Museum, initially had no idea about its existence before joining the staff. However, her year-long experience at the museum has opened her eyes to the world of art curation and exhibition. She said she has found a deep appreciation for the diverse exhibits and has discovered what it takes to run a museum, from installation to de-installation and preparing for events.

Boyd said she sees her role as a unique opportunity to learn about different artists and styles.

Boyd’s academic encounter with the museum in her Great Books class provided a fresh perspective.

“We were relating the art of the different texts we had been reading in the class and discussing the different ideas,” Boyd said. “It was fun to look at it [the museum] from a more academic angle instead of my time working here.”

She said her personal favorite exhibit is

Students appreciate artwork by Hildur Ásgeirsdóttir Jónsson

the current art exhibit on display through Dec. 10, by Hildur Ásgeirsdóttir Jónsson, which is filled with exquisite watercolors and tapestries inspired by Iceland, according to Graphic reporting.

Museum Director Andrea Gyorody shared growing statistics about student engagement. In fall 2022, approximately

Bust of Frederick R. Weisman

374 students came with their classes and participated in special programming. The trend continued into spring 2023, with around 320 students attending classes and programming.

“To me, that’s the thing that is most essential is that we maintain the museum as a place where people can have their first really important experience with art,” Gyorody said.

Gyorody emphasized the museum’s mission to inspire students to go into the field and become curators, critics, gallery directors and art enthusiasts. To achieve this, the museum actively works to attract a diverse audience, including students and faculty from various disciplines beyond art and art history.

“It offers something different but equally important, which is, you know, this experience with something tactile — something that’s usually non-linguistic,” Gyorody said.

“That is the product of somebody’s expression.”

Efforts include conceiving exhibitions with broader content appeal such as an exploration of the role of trees in various aspects of life, Carson said. The museum invites faculty to use the space for class sessions, regardless of their subject, fostering deeper engagement with art.

The museum initiated a “Thought Partners” series that delves into the intersection of art and religion, Gyorody said. The series features speakers from various faith backgrounds, sparking conversations about art and spirituality from different perspectives.

“‘The Thought Partner’ series will continue as a more sort of itinerant conversation series and, hopefully, work toward some exhibition,” Gyorody said.

Over the years, the Weisman Museum has left an indelible mark on the Pepperdine community.

Sharyl Corrado, associate professor of History, attested to the transformative power of class trips to the museum. She said museum tours tailored to her classes enriched her students’ learning experiences. Exhibitions like the 2013 “American Illustration exhibit” and the 2016 Andy Warhol exhibit left a profound impact.

In 2012, an exhibition on 19th-century European art aligned perfectly with Corrado’s class, creating memorable moments of intellectual connection. While scheduling tours can be challenging, she said students have sometimes visited exhibits for extra credit, further demonstrating the museum’s influence on education and cultural enrichment.

The Weisman Museum at Pepperdine stands as a sanctuary of creativity — a place where students and the wider community can find solace, inspiration and connection with the world of art. As it continues to evolve and reach a broader audience, it remains a hidden gem waiting to be explored by all who seek its artful treasures.

“I encourage people to stop by and take a minute, wander through and see if you find something that inspires you,” Carson said.

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Photo of Geneva Sovinec

eases

ART THERAPY

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s common as climate change-related droughts and floods are, is the anxiety that comes with it.

In an effort to save the planet, art therapy is one way humans can care for themselves as well.

The Earth is burning, according to Climate.gov, and with the rising temperatures come rising levels of stress, said Edith Moses, a licensed marriage and family art therapist. Some may feel it is nearly impossible to escape the external reminders that the world as they know it will not be here one day, and Moses said one way to relieve that overwhelming feeling is through art practices.

“Using bilateral activities using both sides of your brain at one time helps reduce stress — it increases focus, it calms your nervous system down, it contains your emotions, it increases efficacy, which is actually really important,” Moses said.

“With efficacy and climate, it’s like we feel like we can actually make induced change, and that’s the therapeutic process.”

Moses said she discovered her love for art therapy when creativity became a coping skill in her own life. Now, she works at a mental health treatment center in Calabasas, California, and she said the topic of climate change is prevalent in many of her adolescent clients.

“I suppose if we think about climate,

we are in danger — we really are in danger,” Moses said. “And that can cause a lot of anxiety disorders in people, because they’re like, ‘OK, what can we do?’ A lot of kids are feeling like they have to change the world —like they have to do something now.”

The process of making art is therapeutic for the mind and the body, which is why it is effective for those who experience obsessive thinking that makes it difficult to experience day-to-day life, Moses said.

In the world of psychotherapy, she said the process is called “sublimation” because it diverts feelings into a healthier activity.

“It’s a whole body experience; it’s whole brain integration,” she said. “It really is more about the process than the product.”

Science Professor Krista Lucas has been a proponent of incorporating creativity into her teachings on heavy climate-related topics. In her BIOL 107 Plants and the Environment class, Lucas said she has her students choose a set of data relevant to climate change and asks them to create an image that conveys their interpretation of the data.

“Taking this real data that can be really stressful and thinking about it as, ‘What does this mean to me?’” Lucas said. “Or ‘How is this meaningful to me?’ can be like getting back a little bit of a sense of con-

trol over something that is uncontrollable by any one individual.”

She said, when someone puts all their energy into a project, blood flows through the pathways in the brain that feel rewarding, which is why humans experience relief and positive emotions when making art.

“It’s also called externalizing, so like, looking at it and saying, ‘OK, this is what my anxiety looks like. What is it telling me?’” she said.

Kiva Herrera (‘23) took Lucas’ class during his senior year at Pepperdine, and he said it was an experience unlike any other. For the activity, he chose to research data on the pattern of Earth’s rising temperatures.

“With learning about it and then having something like that where you’re actually interacting with the data in a way that is meaningful through art and expression — I think that’s super important,” he said.

Herrera’s final illustration was of a waterfall pouring into a trash can, and he said, despite entering the class worried about motivation and interest in the lessons, the project helped him connect with the topic.

“It ended up being something I really care about,” Herrera said.

Belle Li, a sophomore and volunteer at the Re-Earth Initiative, also took Lucas’ course, and she said she personally has ex33

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2019 — , -AJM when the Council submitted -AJM, including Malibu Creek State Park about the process than the their its -AJM first letter of opposition to the and Topanga Canyon Campground, are not Science Professor Krist County. The Council wrote three letters low-impact campgrounds — they are de- a proponent of incorpo in total — which stated letting individuals signed for large tents and RVs, Bodek said, into her teachings on heav camp in a high-fire zone — such as Malibu — and are supervised. supervised by who? ST topics. In her BIOL 109 Pl lotta em dashes, maybe “The Council wrote Concerns with Low-Impact Camp- vironment class, Lucas sai three letters in total, which stated letting in- grounds students choose a set of dividuals camp in a high-fire zone --- such As climate anxiety becomes an increas- climate change and asks th as Malibu --- STwas dangerous, according to ingly larger challenge, art therapy is one way image that conveys their the letters. experts said people can ease their worries. the data.

“There’s plenty of other areas in CaliforThe Earth is burning, according to Cli“I think that omit ST nia that aren’t very high fire hazard severity mate.gov, and with the rising temperatures data that can be really stres zones where people can go camp,” Silver- come rising levels of stress, licensed mar- about it as, ‘What does th stein said. riage and family art therapist Edith Moses move attribution here ST Defining Low-Impact Camping said. Some may feel it is nearly impossible meaningful to me?’ can be Low-impact camping is land designed to escape the external reminders that the a little bit of a sense of co for carry-in, carry-out camping — allowing world as they know it will not be here one thing that is uncontrollable campers to arrive by foot walk? ST from day, and Moses said one way to relieve that vidual,” Lucas said.

ADA compliant hyperlink ST drop off areas, overwhelming feeling is through art practicMoses agreed. She said trails or associated parking lots, according es. puts all their energy into to a Nov. 15 Santa Monica Mountains Local “Using bilateral activities using both flows through the pathway Coastal Program Amendment. sides of your brain at one time helps reduce feel rewarding, which is wh It is essentially omit ST camping that stress — it increases focus, it calms your ner- rience relief and positive does not damage or change the land — , vous system down, it contains your emo- making art.

-AJM and everything the camper brings in tions, it increases efficacy, which is actually “It’s also called exter ST they need to bring back out, according really important,” Moses said. “With effica- looking at it and saying, ‘OK to Esorrtment. cy and climate, it’s like we feel like we can anxiety looks like. What is i much better thank you for the mans- actually make induced change, and that’s said. plaining ST the therapeutic process. It’s getting people Kiva Herrera (‘23) to “This low-impact camping truly is a to reduce their symptoms so that they can during his senior year at Pe hike-in, hike-out, bring everything you need function better and actually get something said it was an experience in your backpack and leave no trace,” Direc- done.” this is a very long quote can we cut For the activity, he chose t tor of Regional Planning Amy Bodek said in it ST search? -AHdata on the p an April 19 L.A. County Board of Supervisors Moses discovered her love for art ther- rising temperatures. meeting. apy when creativity became a coping skill “I think that omit STwi Low-impact campgrounds do not have in her own life. Now, she works at a mental it and then having somethin fire-protective measures, such as rules about health treatment center in California, and you’re actually interacting w no camping on red flag days what is this? she said the topic of climate change is prev- way that is meaningful thr -AJM, campsite inspections and no cooking alent in many of her adolescent clients. pression, — -AHI think tha facilities, the Council wrote in a Jan. 20 let“I suppose if we think about climate, we ant,” he said. ter to the CCC, stating their concerns about are in danger — we really are in danger,” MoHerrera’s final illustratio 345

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PHOTOGRAPHY

photos by Will Fallmer & Mary Elisabeth

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