California Institute of the Arts

A glimpse back into the varied mediums, materials, and moods of our MFA cohort, who welcomed us into their workspaces for the annual the School of Art MFA Open Studio day in spring.

Photos: Rafael Hernandez

Alum Blake Jacobsen (Art BFA 17) and artist Meghan Sabik brought their collaborative practice to Gregg Araki’s film, I WANT YOUR S*X, licensing more than 25 photographs and two video works.

For more than a decade, the duo has collaborated on multidisciplinary works that examines desire, authorship, gender performance, and the unstable relationship between artist and muse.

They also created new pieces specifically for the film’s fictional art world and worked with the art department on the selection, installation, and presentation of artwork across the sets.

Find the full story at 24700: https://calarts.pulse.ly/qvgta1w9i0
Image: Courtesy of the artists

A decade of Sprüth Magers in Los Angeles! This week is your final chance to check out 10 YEARS LA!, a group exhibition presenting works by iconic LA-based and International artists, that includes CalArts and Chouinard alums Kaari Upson, John Baldessari, David Salle, Gala Porras-Kim, Stephen Prina, Robert Irwin, and Ed Ruscha.

📅 Open through Saturday, Aug. 15
📍 Sprüth Magers, 5900 Wilshire Boulevard, Los Angeles

Find more details via link in bio.
https://spruethmagers.pulse.ly/9bsyxeyckq
Image: 10 YEARS LA!, Installation view, Sprüth Magers/Sizzler, Los Angeles, 2026 © Sprüth Magers. Photo: Robert Wedemeyer | Via Instagram

Love CalArts Dance? Join a GO workshop with Sharon Disney Lund School of Dance Dean, Rosanna Gamson!

GO is a sequential series of exercises and games that help break performers of habits and mannerisms, spark movement invention, build listening skills, and can be used by choreographers and directors to generate group-authored performances.

📅 August 22–24
📍 Pieter Performance Space
🎫 More details: https://rgww.pulse.ly/vgklxqgrus

This week, THE BLACK GLASS comes to Open Fist Theater Company's First Look Festival 2026, featuring CalArts alums Juli Crockett (Theater MFA 01), Shaughn Buchholz (Theater BFA 02), and Tristan Samson (Theater MFA 25) among the cast and creative team.

Described as a "ripping, surreal, roller-coaster ride of a rock opera" capturing the insanity of the current moment, it's a chance for CalArtians in the area to reconnect with the thrill of groundbreaking new theater.

📅 Friday, Aug. 14 and Saturday, Aug. 15
📍 Atwater Village Theatre
🎫 Tickets: https://salesforce-sites.pulse.ly/sxtc0rzt9v

This spring, alum and Pixar VP of Creative Daniel Chong (Film/Video 04) returned to CalArts for a lunchtime Q&A with Character Animation students.

Before the pizza arrived, he spoke with us about landing internships, breaking into feature animation, and advice for students in the middle of the film crunch.

Thanks to Daniel for the conversation! Check out the interview on 24700: https://calarts.pulse.ly/wpgk2kxxhz
Images: Nico Savignano

Actor, comedian, and alumna Bresha Webb (Theater BFA 07) achieves a major career milestone with the debut of her first stand-up special, LOL LIVE: BRESHA WEBB, now streaming on Hulu and Disney+.

Webb, known for roles in TRUTH BE TOLD, LOVE THAT GIRLS, MARLON, and the Emmy-winning HACKS, brings her journey through marriage, motherhood, and showbiz to the stage.

Get more details at 24700:
https://calarts.pulse.ly/glgehjzduq

Looking back 25 years to the set of THREE SISTERS, a School of Film/Video production from May 2001.

Courtesy of the CalArts photo archive, giving us a lens into the moments that shaped so many creative journeys.

The Los Angeles Times recently profiled Chelsea Bayouth (Art BFA 08), who recounts the day she returned to her Altadena home during the Eaton Fire.

Her studio and much of her work were destroyed, but her porcelain sculptures survived. Bayouth has since refired some pieces, allowing fragments of the fire to become part of her work.

Read more about Bayouth and her work at 24700: https://calarts.pulse.ly/rd7fgrktjx
Image: Robert Gauthier/Los Angeles Times.

PORTRAITS 2019–2026 at Night Gallery presents 360 candid photographs by Tyler Matthew Oyer (Art MFA 12) in a single panoramic line.

Oyer’s ""social photography"" relies on unposed encounters at openings, events, and gatherings of subjects—among them Beyoncé, Herbie Hancock, Barbara T. Smith (Chouinard 65), and Oyer's mother.

The candidness of the photographs is balanced by a carefully composed sequence, bringing individual elements together to create a larger rhythm.

Find the full story at 24700:
https://calarts.pulse.ly/abuzqo2tqm

📅 On view through Satruday, Aug. 15
📍 Night Gallery, 2050 Imperial Street, Los Angeles

Image: Courtesy of the artist and Night Gallery, Los Angeles. Photography by Christ Hanke.