SPRING & SUMMER AT MONTALVO ARTS CENTER

MONTALVO 1912-2012: PAST, PRESENT & PLACE

What an honor and delight to be at Montalvo at this moment in history. As the beloved historic Villa and surrounding property, home of the late Senator James Duval Phelan, turns 100 this year, the staff, volunteers and leadership are more committed to his original bequest than ever. We see Montalvo as a comprehensive multidisciplinary arts center that engages communities through the intersection of people, place and programs. The centennial is our inspiration for a series of thematically related programs and exhibitions that will honor the past while pointing to the future. Artists have been invited to explore the significance of Montalvo as place, and to develop new works that will provide opportunity for reflection on Montalvos multifaceted histories, diverse communities, and its relationship to the broader context of Silicon Valley. Through May 13, our Project Space Gallery presents O Great Reverie: Montalvo 19122012, the starting point for the centennial year. This exhibition was developed through the curatorial leadership of Donna Conwell and the thoughtful consideration of Lucas Design Fellows, Women, Scott Barry and Neil Doshi. Take your time with the exhibition, the layers are many, as Montalvo has been many things to many people over the years; and dont miss the accompanying Chit Chat conversations inspired by Senator Phelan. Next, Las Marianas* will set up shop in the Gallery on May 20 with the presentation of Montalvo Historical Fabrications and Souvenirs, followed by the exhibition The Film Trilogy, featuring Madrid/Montreal based visual artist, Daniel Canogar. And, hold the date for our free Sculpture on the Grounds Opening Celebration Party, Rock the Garden, on July 20. Montalvos New Directions series introduces new works of performance, dance, film and literature often developed by Lucas Fellows; and our Final Fridays program is always open to the public, allowing a glimpse into the creative process. Culinary Fellow Niki Ford will join author Tamar Alder with a reading and dinner on April 12; and Garden Curator, Delmar McComb, will lead two garden workshops, providing tips for your home garden. We hope you will join us for these centennial programs that have been created to allow visitors to know Montalvo as a place to take respite from the hurried life styles we lead and to go deep into what makes us humanthe arts, nature, and a curiosity for learningit is found here, 365 days a year. Kelly Sicat Director, Lucas Artists Residency Program

CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION EVENTS

3rd Annual ARTS SPLASH and Birthday Bash Open House / Open Studios/Student Arts Festival
SATURDAY, APRIL 21, 11AM4PM
FREE Admission
Montalvo throws open its doors to the community for the Centennial kick-off! See details including parking information on back page.

Food & Wine Classic IX

SUNDAY, JUNE 3, 2012, 5:30PM8:30PM
$175 per person; $150 Members Tickets on sale now: Call Chris Wilcox at 408.961.5849
20 great restaurants and 22 of the finest wineries create a food and wine lovers paradise in the Villa. Chefs and winemakers chat with guests as they prepare and serve their unique creations. A live and silent auction follows!

Wedding of the Century

SUNDAY, JUNE 10, 2PM5PM
$100 per couple; $50 per person; Children 6-18 yrs: $15; 5 yrs & under, free
A joyous celebration for couples who were married at Montalvo and who wish to renew their vows on the Great Lawn; any couple who wishes to renew their vows on this grand occasion is welcome! Topped off with champagne toasts, wedding cake, live music, dancing, and more! Email married@montalvoarts.org to receive an invitation and for more information.

Rock the Garden: Sculpture on the Grounds Opening Celebration

FRIDAY, JULY 20, 2012
Members Reception 6pm7pm; Free Public Reception: 7pm10pm
A summer party blast with live performances, food and drink, and spirited music to mark the opening on the Great Lawn. See details on page 3.

The Party of the Century: Montalvo Centennial Great Gatsby Gala

SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 22, 2012 $400 per person
A grand celebration in the great style of the 20s and 30s complete with vintage cars, elegant flapper dresses, delicious dining, great music, and lots of surprises! The historic Villa and the Great Lawn will be the setting for the most spectacular Gala of the year!

O Great Reverie: Montalvo 1912-2012

THROUGH MAY 13, 2012
Project Space Gallery, ThurSun, 11am3pm; free admission
This unconventional timeline exhibition examines Montalvos past, present and future. More information on page 3.

SPRING & SUMMER AT MONTALVO ARTS CENTER

N E W DIRECTIONS
The New Directions series presents new works of dance, music, performing arts and drama created by Fellows of the Lucas Artists Residency Program and other selected artists.

SPRING & SUMMER AT MONTALVO ARTS CENTER

VISUAL ARTS
O Great Reverie: Montalvo 1912-2012
THROUGH MAY 13, THU SUN, 11AM 3PM
Project Space Gallery
Conceived and organized in collaboration with the Lucas Artists Residencys inaugural Design Fellows, this unconventional timeline exhibition examines Montalvos one hundred year history. Organized thematically, and bringing distinct moments from the foundation of Senator James Duval Phelans historic Villa and estate to the present into dialogue, the exhibition foregoes a standard chronology and instead emphasizes poetic associative relationships between Montalvos past, present and future. Through texts, letters, ephemera and photographs drawn from archival holdings at Montalvo and the Bancroft Library at UC Berkeley, this exhibition presents a non-linear history comprised of diverse personal narratives and impressions. O Great Reverie demonstrates how the history of a place is always constructed through the personal selections of those who try to tell its story, and refracted through the prism of a contemporary moment.

CA R R I AG E H O U S E T H E AT R E
Taj Mahal & The Trio
FRIDAY, APRIL 13, 6:30PM & 9PM $50/$45; Members $45/$40
A two-time Grammy Award winner, Taj Mahal is one of the most influential American blues and roots artists of the last 50 years. A self-taught composer and multiinstrumentalist, Mahal has done much to reshape the definition and scope of blues music by gathering and distilling countless musical traditions from a wide range of geographical and cultural sounces. The Christian Science Monitor said of Taj Mahal, No artist has stretched the definition of blues like Taj Mahal. Not-to-be-mIssed!

SCULPTURE ON THE GROUNDS

ROCK THE GARDEN: OPENING CELEBRATION Sculpture on the Grounds
FRIDAY, JULY 20 6 7PM members reception; 710 PM general public
Free admission; parking is limited
View of Montalvos Historic Villa, 1985, Montalvo Arts Center Archive.

Conference of the Birds Unfeathered

FRIDAY, APRIL 27, 8PM
Carriage House Theatre $20 General / $15 Members / $8 Students
Laurie San Martin and Haleh Abghari join percussionist Chris Froh to present a new work inspired by Farid al-Din Attars 12th century poem, The Conference of the Birds. The story follows a group of birds that venture through extreme challenges to find a leader. Abghari and San Martin developed Haleh Abghari, photo: Jill Steinberg. this work while in residence at Montalvo, where they met visual artist Dana Harel, who designed the media-based sets. This new form of story telling for voice, percussion and computerprocessed sounds draws on Korean pansori and Iranian traditional music, as well as bird songs and Western classical music.

Taj Mahal, photo: Jay Blakesburg.

Women Fully Clothed

THURSDAY, APRIL 19, 7:30PM $35/$30; Members $31/$27
With a cast of four Canadian comedy all-stars, Women Fully Clothed never disappoints. In a pastiche of hilarious comedy sketches and improvisation, Kathy Greenwood of Whose Line is it Anyway?; Robin Duke of Saturday Night Live and Groundhog Day; Janye Eastwood of My Big Fat Greek Wedding and Chicago; and Teresa Pavlinek of The Jane Show come together to create the ultimate allestrogen comedy dream team. (Toronto Star) MARTINI MADNESS: One hour prior to show, for $25 per person enjoy cocktails and great food in the historic Villa. Advance purchase required; call 408.961.5858, MF, 10am4pm.

O G R E AT R E V E R I E R E L AT E D P R O G R A M M I N G
CHIT CHAT CLUB:
Conversations inspired by James Duval Phelans participation in the San Francisco-based Chit Chat Club. Founded in 1874, club members met monthly for dinner followed by a presentation and discussion. The public conversations described below explore key topics central to Montalvos mission and future plans.

Women Fully Clothed

Montalvo Historical Fabrications and Souvenirs The Marianas*

MAY 20JULY 21, THUSUN, 11AM3PM
California Guitar Trio

Beth Custer Ensemble presents My Grandmother

FRIDAY, MAY 25, 8:30PM
Lilian Fontaine Garden Theatre $20 General / $15 Members / $8 Students
My Grandmother, a 1929 silent film made by Soviet Georgian director Kote Mikaberidze, was banned by the Soviet regime for 40 years. Lucas Music Fellow Beth Custer has created an original score, a quickpaced pastiche of American jazz and blues, contemporary classical, and world folk music, to be performed by her ensemble during the screening of this compelling film. My Grandmother is a delightful example of the Soviet Eccentric Cinema movement as well as an irreverent satire of the still-young Soviet State system. Noted for its anarchic styles, the film unspools the foibles and follies that abound when a Georgian paper pusher, modeled after American silent comic Harold Lloyd, loses his job.

California Guitar Trio & Montreal Guitar Trio

SUNDAY, APRIL 22, 7:30PM $35/$30; Members $31/$27
This double bill of two stellar guitar trios is a match made in heaven for guitar aficionados! The California Guitar Trio performs everything from unique originals to dazzling interpretations of jazz, classical, and even surf rock. Together, their technical wizardry is breathtaking! The Montreal Guitar Trio was nominated for Concert of the Year at the prestigious Prix Opus 2002 celebrating musical excellence in Quebec. They have established themselves as a force of rejuvenation and crosspollination between various musical forms, marrying passionate virtuosity with a stealthy sense of humor.

Project Space Gallery Opening Reception: Sunday, May 20, 3pm-5pm

Collaborating under the moniker, The Marianas*, San Francisco based artists Michael Arcega (former Lucas Fellow) and Stephanie Syjuco, investigate cultural cannibalism through the production and dispersion of iconic The Marianas*, California Republic Redux, objects. Over a two2011, courtesy of the artists. month period, the artists will engage with Montalvos communities to produce and sell a series of collectibles, mini-sculptures, and micro-monuments. To this end, the gallery will be transformed into a functioning souvenir shop encompassing an active factory area. By critically examining the status of souvenirs as commodities, the project will explore and complicate the connections between Montalvos past, present and future in California.

Join us for the opening celebration of Montalvo: Making Place Public, a multidisciplinary event featuring newly commissioned installations and works on loan, live performances, music, food and Steven Simon, PLACE, 2008, steel, dancing, as well courtesy of the artist. as Asalto, Spanish artist Daniel Canogars spectacular projection on the historic Villa involving public participation.

Choreographing Space: Barbara Goldstein and Pamela Z

WEDNESDAY, APRIL 11, 7PM
Phelan Library, Historic Villa Free Admission
Sometimes the most transformative art experiences are those where the artist collaborates with a physical space, respondinglike a dancerto the mood, shape and feel of the setting. Barbara Pamela Z, photo: Donald Swearingen. Goldstein, Director of Public Art, San Jose Office of Cultural Affairs, in conversation with former Lucas fellow Pamela Z, composer, performer and sound artist, explore the possibilities of creating an art program at Montalvo that builds on its topography and landscape.

Montalvo: Making Place Public

JULY 20OCTOBER 26
Montalvo: Making Place Public celebrates the transformation of Montalvo Arts Centers public park. Inspired by the historic Villas centennial year, invited artists will respond to the estate-as-place, crafting works that respond to its unique landscape, geographical, social and cultural context, histories and possible futures. The exhibition, which will feature a diverse range of innovative outdoor sculptural practice, presents new commissions by local and international artists, as well as select works on loan. Through Hector Zamora, Volatile Topographies, Busan large-scale sculpture Biennial 2006, South Korea, courtesy of the artist. and performance, as well as more intimate actions, interventions and participatory activities, artists will transform our habitual experiences of Montalvos familiar spaces, and posit alternative and unexpected modes of public engagement with the property.
Participating artists include Daniel Canogar (Madrid/Montreal), Kianga Ford (New York) and Mamoru Okuno (Tokyo), Robin Lasser (Oakland) and Adrienne Pao (San Francisco), Steven Simon (Los Angeles), Amy Trachtenberg and Jeffrey Miller (San Francisco), and Hector Zamora (Sa Paulo).

Montreal Guitar Trio

C U LI N A R Y A R T S , L I T E R AT U R E & GA R D E N I N G
Coming of Age in the Kitchen
THURSDAY, APRIL 12, 7PM
Historic Villa $65 General / $50 Members / $12 Students
Niki Ford, the 8th Lucas Artists Residency Program Culinary Fellow, will join Tamar Adler, author of An Everlasting Meal (Scribner, 2011) and former Chez Niki Ford Tamar Adler Panisse cook, to present a coming of age food tale written especially for this evening. The reading of Tamars tale, Wherewith shall it be salted, will be paired with the meal described in the story, thus steeping the diner in context and any consequential emotions. Guests will discover the meal to be served as the details of a clandestine dinner party are revealed in the story. This delicious experiment provokes us to think differently about our relationship to food and dining.

Dancing Sun Foundation with Scarecrow Contemporary Dance Company of Taiwan Fall in Love with Formosa
FRIDAY, JUNE 1, 8PM
Carriage House Theatre $20 General / $15 Members / $8 Students
Taiwanese choreographers and performers, Bih-tau Sung, Wenjinn Luo, and Han-chieh Tso present an evening of modern and traditional Chinese dance. Fall in Love with Formosa features four works that are inspired by historical events and literary texts. Using a dance form that utilizes the physical laws of friction, momentum, gravity, and inertia, the dancers explore the human experience and relations through their interactions with one another.

The Film Trilogy: Daniel Canogar

JULY 29OCTOBER 14; THUSUN, 11AM3PM
Project Space Gallery Closing Reception & Artists Talk: Friday, October 12, 6:30pm8:30pm

Undesigning Histories: Donna Conwell and Women: Neil Doshi & Scott Barry
WEDNESDAY, MAY 9, 7PM
Phelan Library, Historic Villa Free Admission
Lucas Artists Residency Program Design Fellows, Scott Barry and Neil Doshi, and Associate Curator, Donna Conwell, discuss the process of curating O Great Reverie: Montalvo 1912-2012. This talk will explore Montalvo staff and Trustees prepare for the challenges of the Sweetheart Ball, photographer unknown, working with archival Montalvo Arts Center Archive. material and historical narratives, and examine the expanded field of design in which designers are increasingly approaching their work as a conceptual practice rather than simply a service industry. David Hisaya Asari, California College of the Arts Adjunct Professor of Graphic Design, moderates the conversation.

Native Plants in Your Garden

SATURDAY, MAY 5, 10AM12PM $30 General / $20 Members
Explore the use of California native plants in your garden for their beauty and compatibility with our Mediterranean climate. Information about natives that work well in the Bay Area will be covered along with specific uses and innovative design ideas. A description of Native American approaches towards the landscape and the use of plants as sources of food, dyes, medicines, and fiber will also be discussed. Presented by Montalvo Garden Curator Del McComb.
Dancing Sun Company, Solace, 2008,
photo: Chang Chih Chen.

Expand Your Plant Palette

Garden photos: Nathan Zanon

SATURDAY JUNE 16, 10AM12PM $30 General / $20 Members

Learn about unusual plants that are not commonly used in gardens, where to find them and how to grow them. Ranging from rarely seen annual flowering plants to fragrant shrubs to uncommon smaller trees, discover how to expand your plant palette to enhance your garden! Presented by Montalvo Garden Curator Del McComb.

Founded in Taiwan in 1989, Scarecrow Contemporary Dance Company has toured internationally performing in China, New York, Portugal, and France. Bih-tau Sung, an acclaimed choreographer of ballet, modern, traditional dance and opera techniques, founded the Dancing Sun Foundation in 1999.

Montalvo is located in the heart of Silicon Valley, a place that has fostered technological innovations that have transformed our contemporary experiences of place and time. With the advent of digital media, movie making is among the diverse industries that have been reshaped by advances in computer technologies developed in this region. This exhibition will Daniel Canogar, Spin, 2010, courtesy of the artist. feature three multimedia installations by Madrid/Montreal based artist Daniel Canogar in which the artist appropriates and repurposes obsolete cinematic technology. The Film Trilogy extends our examination of the relationship between time, history and place during our centennial year.

Purchase tickets or register for classes through the Montalvo Box Office in person or by phone at 408.961.5858, MF, 104. Tickets are also available online at montalvoarts.org.

Join Montalvo today and receive discounts on programs and classes! www.montalvoarts.org

SPRING & SUMMER AT MONTALVO ARTS CENTER

F I NAL FRIDAYS
Final Fridays offer a free peek inside the Lucas Artists Residency Program, allowing guests to meet, interact and engage in the creative process with artists from around the world, including composers and musicians, choreographers, filmmakers, writers and visual artists.
SATURDAY, APRIL 21, 11AM 4PM
3 RD ANNUAL

Free Paid parking on-site and free shuttles from West Valley College

Jason Lowman
FRIDAY, APRIL 27, 6PM
Historic Villa, Free
Jason Lowman, a 2012 Visions from the New California award recipient, will discuss Barn Rays, a site-conditioned installation located in a dilapidated barn that Lowman has been excavating since 2010. Lowmans work explores the relationship between time, light, surface and color through experiments with reflective/absorptive materials, scrims and filters, video projections and fluorescent lighting.
Jason Lowman, Barn Rays (detail), 2011, mixed media installation,
courtesy of the artist.

This years ARTS SPLASH! Open House/Open Studios and Student Arts Festival will kick off Montalvos Centennial Celebration with exciting artworks and performances in all artistic disciplines created by Bay Area student groups responding to the theme Celebrating 100 Years of the Arts. Investigating the arts, nature, history and the future of the arts, collaborative student projects will be on display around the grounds. Multiple handson art making and performance workshops, tours, performances, and Open Studios in the Lucas Artists Residency will engage visitors throughout the day. Join us for food, friends & fun! P.S. The food trucks will be back by popular demand: Sams ChowderMobile, Little Green Cyclo, Tikka Bytes, MoGo BBQ, No Way Jose, Louisiana Territory, Scoops, Quick Dog, Puff Truck.

CIRCUS BELLA
SUNDAY, JULY 29, 2PM
Circus MIdway Activities: noon to 2pm (included with admission) $20 adult/10 child; members $16 adult/8 child
Circus Bella is an open air, one-ring circus featuring contemporary, high-level acts set to an original score performed by live musicians. David Hunt and Abigail Munn created Circus Bella in the spring of 2008 to respond to a shared dream for an accessible and high quality circus in the San Francisco Bay Area. Together, with band director/ composer, Rob Reich, they assembled themselves into an ensemble company of nine performing artists and a quartet of musicians. That fall, Circus Bella performed three dates in San Francisco. In 2009, Circus Bella expanded its company and created, DOINK!, its first 60-minute production. DOINK! premiered at Yerba Buena Gardens and went on to show at five other outdoor public locations in Oakland and San Francisco. The momentum continues as Circus Bella plans for its 2012 season with this first appeaprance at Montalvo Arts Center. Come early and enjoy the midway activites: magicians, games, juggling workshops, facepainting, and more!

Gina Leishman
FRIDAY, MAY 25, 6PM
Lilian Fontaine Garden Theatre, Free
English-born New York artist Gina Leishman will discuss her opera, VAGABOND (working title), based on Isabelle Eberhardt, a writer and explorer who drowned in the Saharan desert in 1904 at the age of 27. Leishman will discuss how her residency at Montalvo has enabled her and collaborator Jan Dalley, a British author and operatic librettist, to develop this new work.

Gina Leishman, courtesy of the artist.

Ry Rocklen
FRIDAY, JUNE 29, 6PM
Lucas Artists Residency Commons, Free
During his residency, Los Angeles based artist Ry Rocklen plans to create a series of sculptures based on aspects of the sky, with a focus on the sun, wind, rain, and stars. Using simple objects and materials scavenged from around Saratoga he will explore the effects of these natural phenomena. Rocklen will discuss his working process and recent projects.

S TA R R Y , S TA R R Y N I G H T : A R T & A S T R O N O M Y S L U M B E R PA R T Y
FRIDAY, AUGUST 10, 2012, 7PM SATURDAY, AUGUST 11, 8AM
$80 adult / $50 child / Family (2 adults/2 children) $230; Member: $70 adult / $40 child / Family $200 Friday Evening Only: $50 adult / $35 child; Member: $40 adult / $28 child
Celebrate mankinds fascination with the skies and astronomys influence on art through the ages. Coinciding with the 404th anniversary of the invention of the telescope, the 43rd anniversary of the lunar landing, and the annual Perseid meteor showers, Starry, Starry Night 2012 explores our relationship with outer space. We invite the community to learn about the vast night skies and the art it inspires through stimulating astronomy talks by guest astronomers and storytellers tales of the night sky. Explore space through contemporary art installations and films and create your own art inspired by the heavens. Sleep under the stars on Montalvos front lawn after this multidisciplinary arts festival and wake to a pancake breakfast at the historic Villa.

Stephanie Young
FRIDAY, JULY 27, 6PM
Ry Rocklen, Pipe Dreams 2, 2010, mixed media, courtesy of the artist.

Lucas Artists Residency Commons, Free

Oakland poet Stephanie Young will present current works and curate an evening of outdoor poetry readings. Youngs books include Picture Palace (in girum imus nocte et consumimur igni, 2008) and Telling the Future Off (Tougher Disguises, 2005). She edited the anthology Bay Poetics (Faux Press, 2006); her most recent editorial project is Deep Oakland, a web-based initiative encompassing interlinked images, text and sound.

Stephanie Young, courtesy of the artist.

Fritz Haeg
FRIDAY, AUGUST 31, 6PM
Lucas Artists Residency Commons, Free
Fritz Haeg is an artist, designer, architect, community organizer, writer, and educator. Recent projects include Sundown Schoolhouse, an itinerant educational program; Edible Estates, where he replaces domestic front lawns with edible landscapes; and Animal Estates, which debuted at the 2008 Whitney Biennial, where he created homes for animals in cities all over the world. Haeg will present a survey of his projects from Istanbul, Rome, Budapest, Den Haag, and London, and explore the diverse relationships between urban residents, plants, food, and wildlife.

SUMMER CAMP REGISTRATION IS OPEN NOW... DONT DELAY CAMPS FILL QUICKLY! Visit montalovoarts.org/programs/camps to register today.

SUMMER CONCERTS ANNOUNCEMENT COMING SOON!

15400 Montalvo Road, Saratoga, Calfornia 95070 408.961.5800 Montalvo Box Office 408.961.5858 MonFri, 10am to 4pm, or www.montalvoarts.org

Fritz Haeg, photo: Oto Gillen.