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NEWS RELEASE

Oceania Artists Pay Tribute to their Heritage in CSUN Art Exhibit

(NORTHRIDGE, Calif., Jan. 8, 2006) -- The beauty and culture of the Pacific Islands will be featured in Cal State Northridge’s upcoming art exhibit, "Island Affinities: Contemporary Arts of Oceania," opening Monday, Jan. 29.

On display until March 1, the exhibition will commence with a reception on Thursday, Feb. 1 from 6-8 p.m. Northridge art professor and curator, Peri Klemm, will host a gallery talk on Monday, Feb. 5 at 10 a.m. Jewel Castro also curated the show.

The public is invited to view the free exhibit, located in the university’s main art gallery, between Halsted Street and Plummer Street (on North University Drive), east of Etiwanda Avenue, in Northridge.

Through painting, installation, photography and video art, contemporary artists of Oceania explore identity, memory and place through formal and conceptual affinities to Samoan, Tongan, Hawaiian, and Papua New Guinea cultures.

"The diversity of the objects, including traditional Tongan tapa cloth created by a Tongan woman’s group in Northern California, a video addressing the destruction of Hawaiian graves by developers, and an installation of a Samoan ancestral house, speaks to the range of expressions coming from the South Pacific," said Peri Klemm, a CSUN art historian and curator of the exhibition. "These unique and largely unseen pieces represent some of the leading contemporary Polynesian and Melanesian artists practicing today."

These artists include: Jewel Castro, Tupito Gadalla, Anne Keala Kelly, Shigeyuki Kihara, Julie Kumin, Fonofale McCarthy, Dan Taulapapa McMullin, Reggie Meredith, Rosanna Raymond, Larry Santana, Filipe Tohi, Daniel Waswas and Jane Wena.

Internationally renowned performance/installation/body adornment artist Rosanna Raymond will lead a public workshop, "Decorating Voices," to accompany the exhibition on Thursday, March 1, from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. A closing reception with artists’ performances will be held later that evening from 6-8 p.m.

Northridge’s gallery is open Mon. through Sat., 12-4 p.m., and Thur., 12-8 p.m. Parking is $4 and available in lots D6 and E6, located off Halsted Street.

For more information, contact Giacopuzzi at (818) 677-2156.