ART IMITATING LIFE; CALARTS' CLASS OF '99 GOES OUT IN STYLE.Byline: Troy Anderson Daily News Staff Writer A shining suit of armor Noun 1. suit of armor - armor that protects the wearer's whole body body armor, body armour, cataphract, coat of mail, suit of armour armet - a medieval helmet with a visor and a neck guard , cowboy hats, pink and yellow plastic mini-skirts and mortar boards - it could only be CalArts' ``Name That Grad 1999'' graduation ceremony. In a zany ceremony set up like a game show, the California Institute of the Arts California Institute of the Arts known as CalArts U.S. private institution of higher learning in Valencia. Created in 1961 through the merger of two other art institutes, it was the first in the U.S. class of 1999 graduated Friday night from the cutting-edge, Disney-founded college. The students dispensed with the traditional look, opting for colorful hats with spinners and Shakespearean joker outfits instead of caps and gowns. Dress-wearing men didn't raise eyebrows. Amid laughter, screaming and bongo bongo (bŏng`gō), spiral-horned antelope, Boocercus eurycerus, found in jungles and thick bamboo forests of equatorial Africa. Shy, elusive animals, bongos never emerge into the open and are seldom seen; they browse singly or in small drums, the students received their degrees and prizes from the game show host. He arrived in a white car filled with minimally dressed women. The graduating class of 300 is the largest ever at the school. Demonstrating his eagerness to move on with his life, master of fine arts Noun 1. Master of Fine Arts - a master's degree in fine arts MFA master's degree - an academic degree higher than a bachelor's degree but lower than a doctor's degree graduate Paul Archebeque proposed to fellow arts student Diana Holdridge near the end of the ceremony. With a crowd of hundreds watching in the outdoor amphitheater, Archebeque declared to Holdridge: ``I love you. I want to grow old with you. Will you marry me?'' She responded: ``Yes.'' ``He said he was waiting for the right time,'' explained Jeanette Scherrer, Archebeque's acting director. ``I guess he decided tonight was the right time.'' If a marriage proposal wasn't wacky enough, the rest of the graduates pulled every screwball screw·ball n. 1. Baseball A pitched ball that curves in the direction opposite to that of a normal curve ball. 2. Slang An eccentric, impulsively whimsical, or irrational person. adj. trick out of their hats. The stage was decked with multicolored tinsel tin·sel n. 1. Very thin sheets, strips, or threads of a glittering material used as a decoration. 2. Something sparkling or showy but basically valueless: the tinsel of parties and promotional events. and the air smelled of patchouli patchouli or patchouly (both: păch`  lē, pəch , eucalyptus trees and beer. Speakers kept the crowd's excitement level high. Graduating student Jerome Dunn, dressed in a brown leather jacket and gonzo gon·zo adj. Slang 1. Using an exaggerated, highly subjective style, especially in journalism: "a hyperkinetic, gonzo version of Graham Greene" New Yorker. 2. journalist Hunter S. Thompson-style sunglasses, took the stage to a standing ovation. ``I'm overwhelmed,'' he said. To understand the Cal Arts experience, Dunn said, it's helpful to keep the school demographics in mind. ``Some of us came directly out of high school and some of us came directly from Alcatraz,'' he said. ``Art is a criminal activity and we're all desperate outlaws. Outlaws in the context of art are highly motivated and they invent at the speed of crime.'' The Cal Arts manifesto, he said, is five words long: ``I don't want to work.'' But once someone knows what they want out of art, the creation of art is a powerful form of social change, he said. ``Once you commit to the outlaw's path, you make yourself a powerful catalyst for change.'' CAPTION(S): Photo PHOTO Cal Arts dancers lead in the graduates at the colorful, game show-themed graduation ceremony Friday night at the Valencia campus. Gene Blevins/Special to the Daily News |
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