Though it’s been around since 2015, Pomona College’s planetarium has in recent years been largely unknown and unused outside the physics and astronomy department. Beginning last fall, efforts to revitalize the planetarium have turned it into a means of connection to both local communities and the night sky.
Nadia Hsu
Vincent Valdez discusses how art can counter apathy
Vincent Valdez’s large-scale portraits confront an apathy and amnesia that pervades the American psyche. At this year’s Pitzer College Art Galleries Pepper Distinguished Visiting Artist and Scholar Lecture, the artist discussed the myths we tell ourselves and how art can work against them.
To look from above: ‘The Instrumental Image: Aerial Photography as Problem and Possibility’ at the Benton
The exhibit “The Instrumental Image: Aerial Photography as Problem and Possibility,” on display at the Benton Museum from August 2023 to January 2024, examines the historical use of aerial photography in war, imperialism and surveillance.
Ways of Seeing: Sally Mann’s memory-haunted landscapes
Photographer Sally Mann captures the mythology of the American South in romantic black-and-white landscapes. Art columnist Nadia Hsu PO ’27 speaks to Mann’s work and what photography can tell us about memory.
Ways of Seeing: Modigliani took her eyes
Art columnist Nadia Hsu PO ’27 looks at a portrait drawing by Amedeo Modigliani on view at the Benton, and discusses how portraiture can and can’t represent a person.
Ways of Seeing: Anatomical Drawing and Peeling Back the Skin
“Muscles and Bones of the Leg,” is a Renaissance-era anatomical drawing on view as part of the Benton Museum’s “500 Years of Italian Drawings” exhibition. Art columnist Nadia Hsu PO ‘27 writes about seeing anatomical drawing as self-investigation.
Ways of Seeing: Gala Porras-Kim’s drawings and preserving the ritual
When does an object become an artifact? When does the sacred stop being sacred? These questions are explored by art columnist Nadia Hsu PO ‘27 through her exploration of artist Gala Porras-Kim’s exhibition “Between Lapses of Histories” at the Pitzer College Art Galleries.
Ways of Seeing: Vija Celmins’ Night Sky at the Benton
Art columnist Nadia Hsu PO ‘27 writes about the drawing “Galaxy (Hydra),” as an object of devotion to looking.
Ways of Seeing: Nicole Duennebier and painting decay
Nicole Duennebier’s solo exhibit Faint of Heart, at Nicodim Gallery in Los Angeles, takes from the still life tradition of Dutch Old Masters to imagine a beautiful dreamscape of decay. Arts columnist Nadia Hsu PO ‘27 writes about these still life paintings and her experiences seeing them.
Rom-Com in Review: ‘Palm Springs’ and cosmic emptiness
“Palm Springs” (2020) takes the time-loop setup of “Groundhog Day” and dresses it up with apocalyptic nihilism and wedding-guest angst. Through the heaviness, the film remains charming and laugh-out-loud funny, writes rom-com columnist Nadia Hsu PO ’27.