Artslant met up with Lorraine Cleary Dale, the Director of the Fellowship Program at the Armory Center for the Arts.  Over cappuccinos, Lorraine discussed the history of this important and exciting training program as well as her involvement with it. 

(photo: L -Georgia Fee from artslant; R - Lorraine Cleary Dale from the Armory)

The Armory’s teacher training program was formed in 1984 by Elisa Crystal Callow, the former Executive Director of the Armory.  Elisa developed teaching internships in which artists taught from their own artistic practice.  This program quickly became a mainstay at the Armory and evolved around touring and art-making with the exhibitions in the Armory’s professional gallery.

Lorraine joined the Armory’s training program in 1989 as an artist-teacher.  At that time, the program was still in its early stages and Lorraine became one of its primary teachers.  During the next few years, Lorraine taught at the Armory while she grew and developed as an artist.  She received her BFA from Cal State Long Beach and her MFA from Claremont Graduate University.

In 1996, Lorraine became the Director of the teacher training program and her course was set.  Under her tutelage, numerous partnerships were formed with MFA programs in the area, and the teacher internships became the Fellows Training Program.  Since then, this program has grown into one of the most respected teacher training institutions in the visual arts nationwide.  It is now a 9-month intensive focusing on teaching strategies, curriculum development, innovative approaches to touring and teaching contemporary art and, ultimately, one-on-one mentoring of other artist teachers.  

When asked what she most liked about her involvement in the Fellowship Program, Lorraine responded: “I love working with new artists every year.  It allows me to stay closely connected to the evolving ideas and practices in contemporary art as interpreted by each group of artists that I train.”

No wonder she feels this way.  The list of former Armory Fellows reads like a who’s who in LA’s contemporary artscape.   Successful artists, arts administrators, university, college and elementary educators, have all passed through the Armory’s Fellowship Program.

“I also enjoy the experience of working within a gallery context.  Trying to bring relevance to the shows.  Sharing ideas with the fellows and trying to redefine, each year, how to teach art,” Lorraine continues.

Aside from working directly with the fellows, Lorraine oversees the recruiting and selection of prospective candidates.  Working with the Armory’s partners (CalArts, Otis College and Art Center College), as well as other top art schools in Southern California, Lorraine is responsible for culling through many applications in order to find the right candidates for this program.

“I especially look for artists who seem passionate and excited about their art practice and teaching,” she says, "as well as those who have a strong conceptual basis to their work."

The selection process is based on a written application, images of current work, and numerous interviews.  Once chosen, the fellows begin their program in September with workshops, lectures and curriculum development.  They then move into observing and assisting experienced Armory teachers, working one-on-one with Armory mentors and team teaching.  In their last few months they begin teaching on their own.

“One of the biggest challenges for many of the fellows is to drop the grad school art speak and articulate their work in a way that can be understood by all age groups, and by people who have very little experience with art.  This process is very exciting.  Each artist must really look at their own practice and distill their ideas down to simple, clear concepts,” explains Lorraine as she discusses the rewards and challenges of the program. 

“As far as benefits, there are many but probably one of the most important is the relationships that form among the fellows.  They go to each other’s studios, have long crits, teach together, and generally provide great networking opportunities for each other.  It is a real bridge from art school to the professional community,” says Lorraine.

The culminating experience of the entire Fellowship Program is the Fellows exhibition in May, which Lorraine instituted a few years ago.  These exhibitions take place in one of the Armory’s professional galleries and they allow each artist to truly teach from their own work. (photo: Loraine at the Fellows exhibition, May 2007)

“I wanted to give them the ability to show their work professionally together as a group as well as to create curriculum based on this show.  I think it is a great end to our program,”   says Lorraine Cleary Dale as we finished up our cappuccinos. 

This year’s exhibit, titled  Interactions: Armory Artists & Their Art, will be on view from April 22-June 17 at the Armory Northwest gallery, 965 N. Fair Oaks, Pasadena, CA.

The Armory Center for the Arts is a community arts center that offers innovative approaches to creating, exploring, and presenting the visual arts to students of all ages. In addition to providing an outlet for contemporary art exhibitions and performances, the Armory offers studio art classes and a variety of educational outreach programs to schools and in the community.

The Armory has numerous ongoing programs including: Schools Programs, Studio Classes and Workshops, Gallery Programs, Community Programs, Professional Development and Teacher Training, and Art High.