Author: Meline Chalian

LOS ANGELES—Tufenkian Fine Arts announced “Dreams in Deixis,” a group exhibition curated by Ava Burnes featuring artworks by Claire Chambless, Sessa Englund, Lara Joy Evans, Rosemary Holliday Hall, Isabella Kressin, Amelia Lockwood, Carlotta Lücke, and Kira Scerbin. The exhibition will be on view from July 15 through August 20, with an opening reception to be held on Friday, July 15 from 6:00 to 9:00 p.m.  

The title of this exhibition takes inspiration from the theory of Deixis am Phantasma, which translates “to point at an empty space (or to the ghost).” Through a spectrum of idioms and lexicons, from folkloric mysticism and religious symbology to the metamorphosis and organization of natural and architectural forms, the artists in “Dreams in Deixis” re-examine the interpretations of femininity, identity, and the human experience. 

The sculptural objects of Claire Chambless are architecturally reimagined to create escape routes, preventing both containment or access for the physical body and psychic self. Chambless’ cultural symbols function as signs of physical/ideological containment, enclosure, or apparatuses of support for the physical body/psychic self. Rosemary Holliday Hall’s “Enclyclia imagosis” embraces the physical process of metamorphosis as a means of investigation in which we make sense of the world and relate to ourselves and others through imagination, metaphor, and material. Similarly, Isabella Kressin is interested in the process of metamorphosis and how it relates to the body and its immaterial forms. Her photographic and sculptural works are intimate, and draw on themes found in mythology, as well as memories of her adolescence with an emphasis on the female body, portraying it in various states of nudity, relief, ecstasy, and joy.

In addition to employing a broad range of material and conceptual approaches to their practice as a means of addressing socio-cultural ideals, expectations, constructs, and perceptions, the artists materialize their fears and desires by bridging the tangible world of reality with fantasy. The mud spires of Laura Joy Evans evoke termite mounds or stalagmites and delve into notions of techno-primitivism, religious symbology in nature, the digital dark age, and its implications on the collective conscious. Kira Scerbin’s humanoids are meditations on having a body and existing in a physical world that is built upon perverse and primal urges. These creatures, with their disquieting glares and unearthly presence, relate her interest in the perspicacity of strangeness. Enlisting inanimate objects as stand-ins for implied bodies, Sessa Englund’s work emphasizes the exchange between aggression and vulnerability; otherness and familiarity; expectations and failure. Her work blends a variety of references — from Northern European folklore to piercings and troll dolls — grounded in cultural semiotics: an exploration of the meanings we assign to materials and processes.

Amelia Lockwood’s artworks trace connections from geological formations, esoteric map systems, and the constructs of modern-day board games. The overlapping aesthetics of both create structures in which the mind and body are aligned towards achieving a resolution through navigational strategies. Lockwood’s practice aims to highlight both the utilitarian nature of ceramics and the cultivation of the human spirit. Carlotta Lücke’s practice centers on the illusion of authenticity and the representation of collected personal and shared experiences. Lücke’s silicon composites cull together cultural references, collective stories, and shared experiences that appear spontaneous and arbitrary, but are highly composed compositions where everyday tropes are collected, sampled, and reworked over time.   

Employing a broad array of styles and iconography, the artists in “Dreams in Deixis” use a variety of abstract vernaculars to meditate on the aesthetics of femininity, fantasy, and mythology. The images, objects, and forms brought together in this exhibition challenge our fabrications of identity and explore tensions between the intelligible and fantastical, raw and refined, primitive and contemporary.

Enrollment Open for August 1st–5th Haroutioun & Elizabeth Kasparian Summer Academy 

WASHINGTON—Armenian American high schoolers and rising university first-year students are invited to apply for the second annual Armenian National Committee of America Haroutioun & Elizabeth Kasparian Summer Academy, a week-long program introducing future leaders to advocacy and career opportunities in the nation’s capital.

The week-long program will take place from August 1 to 5, 2022. Applications are available online and must be submitted by June 30th.

“The ANCA is thrilled to welcome the best and brightest Armenian American high schoolers to Washington, D.C. for an intensive one-week session to learn pro-Artsakh/Armenia federal advocacy best practices, explore future career opportunities, and make friends for life,” said ANCA Programs Director Alex Manoukian. “The Haroutioun and Elizabeth Kasparian Summer Academy’s innovative program will open up exciting new academic and professional horizons for these students.”

Summer Academy participants, ages 17 to 19, are chosen based on a rigorous application process focusing on academic excellence and proven pro-Artsakh/Armenia efforts through groups, including the Armenian Youth Federation, Armenian churches and organizations, schools, student groups, and individual initiatives. 

Members of the inaugural 2021 ANCA Haroutioun and Elizabeth Kasparian Summer Academy The determined participants of the 2021 ANCA Haroutioun and Elizabeth Kasparian Summer Academy on Capitol Hill

ANCA Summer Academy participants will stay at the ANCA Aramian House, a landmark property in downtown Washington, D.C. which serves as the home and permanent headquarters of the ANCA’s signature youth programs. The Aramian House is named in honor of the late community leader and philanthropist Martha Aramian of Providence, Rhode Island.

During the inaugural session of the program in 2021, Summer Academy participants explored Armenia and Artsakh’s diplomatic challenges and opportunities in discussions with former U.S. Ambassador to Armenia John Evans and Artsakh Representative to the U.S. Robert Avetisyan. Big Whig Media founders Ken and Keith Nahigian discussed the broader Washington, D.C. political media scene and effective communication strategies during a tour of their state-of-the-art multi-media studio located just blocks from the White House. Battling Armenian Genocide denial in academic and community settings took center stage during a discussion with Dr. Khatchig Mouradian, the Armenia and Georgia Area Specialist at the Library of Congress.

During the 2021 program, the ANCA’s Washington, D.C. team focused on teaching best practices in Armenian American grassroots advocacy, with interactive sessions on the organization’s 360-degree agenda to defend Artsakh safety and security, promote stronger U.S.-Armenia ties, secure justice for the Armenian Genocide and support at-risk diasporan Armenian communities in the Middle East and around the world.  Summer academy participants were also introduced to a wide range of career opportunities on Capitol Hill, international development, advocacy, and consulting by accomplished Armenian Americans in each of the areas.

“It was an honor to participate in the ANCA Haroutioun and Elizabeth Kasparian Summer Academy,” said 2021 Summer Academy alumna Vana Dakarian, from Elgin, IL. “In just five short days, we spoke with professionals, learned about advocating for the Armenian Cause, and explored careers in politics, policy, and media. I encourage all Armenian youth to participate in this one-of-a-kind opportunity, to learn, explore the nation’s capital, and form great friendships,” she added.

Garni Khanzadian, who was an incoming freshman at University of California, Riverside, concurred.  “After the Artsakh War in 2020, many Armenian youth were left feeling helpless, and this program opened my eyes to all the things we can do to help our brothers and sisters. The guests who spoke to us during this trip came from all different backgrounds, and we got a chance to listen to so many stories about them helping to spread the Armenian Cause. Thanks to the Haroutioun & Elizabeth Kasparian Summer Academy, I met lifelong friends from all over the country, and made memories that will last forever.”

The ANCA Summer Academy is named in honor of Haroutioun and Elizabeth Kasparian in recognition of their lifetime of selfless service and sacrifice for the Armenian community and cause, through a generous grant by their daughter and son-in-law, Arsho and Adour Aghjayan, and grandson, Nareg. It is the latest in the series of youth empowerment and career development programs including the Leo Sarkisian Internship Program, Hovig Apo Saghdejian Capital Gateway Program, Maral Melkonian Avetisyan Fellowship, and the ANCA Rising Leaders Program – which features the Lucine Kouchakdjian Capitol Hill Day.

To learn more about the ANCA’s youth and career services programs, visit the website.