每年, nine seniors in the Department of Art Practice are selected to receive an honors studio for their final semester. Each student receives their own studio space with 24/7 access. The studio space allows students to work on longer-term projects and explore new mediums alongside their cohort.
正规欧洲杯买球网站伯克利分校艺术学院 & Humanities spoke with one of the 2023 honors studio artists, 雅各布·李·罗森伯格, as he completed his final project for Professor Stephanie Syjuco's Art + Archive class. Rosenberg will graduate with a degree in Art Practice in spring of 2023.
艺术 & 人文: How did you decide to come to Berkeley and study art practice? Did you always know you wanted to study art?
雅各布·李·罗森伯格: I am originally from Madison, 威斯康辛州, though both of my parents grew up in the Bay Area. My mom’s family immigrated from China to San Francisco. 和 my dad's family are Jewish immigrants from Eastern Europe who ended up in New York but then came to the Bay Area. I grew up traveling back and forth to the Bay Area to visit family, so it was sort of 就像 a second home to me.
I knew I wanted to apply to Berkeley because of this connection to the Bay Area, but I didn't exactly expect to get in. I originally applied to architecture because I had become aware of Ronald Rael’s work. 实际上, the summer before my freshman year, I had the opportunity to drive a cross-country road trip with a few of my high school friends. 和 we were driving through Colorado and I was able to contact Ronald Rael because I knew he worked in Colorado on his family property. He said we were welcome to come by, and I saw the 3D-printed Adobe structures. 我只是, 我被迷住了, because it was architecture, but it was also very much 就像 an art Installation. That was really amazing to me to see someone merging those two practices in a very new and relevant way.
Both my parents are actually artists — my dad does a lot of video and performance work, 还有陶瓷. 我妈妈是一名舞者. They were my main art teachers growing up. Art was always something I felt 就像 I really loved, but I was never really sure if I'd pursue art. The only professional artists that I was around, 你知道, they would talk about how hard it was for them. 正确的? You know, making it past college and working professionally. So, I came to Berkeley as an architecture major, and I took some art classes my freshman year, and I just fell in love with my art classes right away.
雅各布·李·罗森伯格 views source photos on the wall of his honors studio.
A&H: What has been your experience in the Art Practice Department? What were your first impressions?
捷豹路虎: I really appreciated the conceptual nature of the department. This was definitely one of the biggest draws for me as well as teachers 就像 Stephanie Syjuco and my first art professor Craig Nagasawa, who is a drawing professor. Coming to this department and having teachers who looked 就像 me was really new at the time. 在麦迪逊长大, 威斯康辛州, I didn't even have an Asian teacher whatsoever, let alone an Asian art teacher. 所以让老师, 马上就开始, from a similar background to me, making work and talking about their diasporic history — It was just really inspiring and made me want to stay in that community.
A&H: You are one of nine undergraduate students selected to receive an honors studio, which provides you with a studio space, 24/7, 最后一个学期. How has that changed your practice?
捷豹路虎: In the process of moving out, I’ve been reflecting on how great this space has been. The biggest thing for me since I don't work in a specific medium, was having enough space to explore. I really found a love for installation while in this space. 在这个范围内, it's been so nice to have space to have a creative lab where I'm working with all of my peers who are also making amazing work.
Because of the studio community we have here, I just had the opportunity to have constant critique and feedback from people whenever I wanted it — and vice versa, I was able to collaborate with my cohort and give them feedback. It's been incredibly beneficial to my practice, getting to talk about other people's work. Even if I didn't have something specific to work on, I would just come to the studio because I felt 就像 I was going to at least give myself the opportunity to do something that day. 和 even if I just had conversations that day, or just sat here and had my lunch and went home, or looked at what other people were doing, I was being productive in my practice. I think it allowed me to treat myself 就像 I was an artist.
A&H: Can you describe your final project for your Art & Archive class with Stephanie Syjuco? What are we seeing in the images of your works in the studio?
捷豹路虎: Over the course of this semester, I was working with family photo archives — photo albums that I have been collecting from going over to my family's house. I have two from my mom's side of the family and one from my dad's side. I grew up so far away from family, I really didn't get to know them very well until pretty recently, and I'm still trying to get to know them. This class was actually a really good opportunity to learn more about their background and their history.
和 so a lot of the process was just flipping through these photo albums and trying to understand what was going on in these pictures. 和 that's what you photographed me in front of — that photo is of my grandmother shooting a gun at a range with a toddler standing near her. It was such an interesting experience to 就像, be flipping through the book and see that picture, embedded with a bunch of other photos of her holding my aunt as a child or them out at dinner. 和, 你知道, I've only gotten to know her in her 80s and 90s and our communication is limited because she doesn't speak much English. 就像, seeing something 就像 this was 就像, 我的天啊, 就像, she has such a history and personality. 她就是这样一个人. 我完全不知道.
This whole project was just trying to highlight some of these moments in my family's history that I never got to experience and that I'm now experiencing secondhand through these photos. I’ve been collaging these moments on my wall, 就像 an installation in my space. I also have a large blown-up photo, a film photo, that I took of my grandmother pretty recently. 和 so I had that juxtaposed next to these older photos that were taken by my grandfather.
Artist 雅各布·李·罗森伯格 holding family source material.
The archive part of this class helped to resurface some of these photographs because these family photo albums have been closed for I don't even know how long and were just buried under piles of other things in my family's living rooms. I'm really excited to share the photos that I've brought back to life a little bit. This final project felt 就像 a really good way to round everything off. Because, coming to Berkeley was, for me, a big part of it was to be close to family. 和 so it feels 就像 a full-circle moment.
A&H: What are your post-graduation plans?
捷豹路虎: I'm going to move even closer to my family in San Francisco. I'm hoping to continue pursuing art and I definitely want to apply for residencies and shows. I loved our Honors show, I hope to have the opportunity to show with these lovely people again. Over the past couple of years, I've been working as a studio assistant for a couple of artists. That's definitely some work I would enjoy continuing to do. I want to immerse myself in the arts community outside of the university. I've been so blessed to have this community at Berkeley, but I know that there is an art world outside of this as well. 和 I would love to be a part of that.
