Camarillo, CA - The Art Program at CSU Channel Islands (CI) is pleased to announce the opening of “Chinatown Plaza and Victorians” by Simone Gad, a well-known Los Angeles artist. The exhibition will be on display in the Napa Hall art gallery located on the campus from Nov. 10 through Dec. 16. A free public reception will take place on Thursday, Nov. 10 from 6 to 8 p.m.

Gad was born in Brussels, Belgium to holocaust survivor parents from Poland, who immigrated to the United States via Ellis Island and eventually settled in Boyle Heights, East Los Angeles. She spent her childhood watching her father, a custom European tailor, make patterns from scratch for ladies coats and men’s suits on his Singer sewing machine. Unable to emulate her father’s sewing skills, at the age of twelve, when she saw work by Vincent Van Gogh and Ed Kienholtz at the Los Angeles County Museum, she secretly developed her desire to be a visual artist. Eventually, she realized that she was destined to be a collage artist and painter.

Gad started out making fabric works in 1969, constructing them out of velvet, satin, embroidery and beadwork. In the early 1970s she made the switch from fiber art to collage and object elements on vinyl. In the late 1980s she moved into making self-portrait painting collages on canvas. In the late 1990s she began a new series of architectural paintings. Now, in the new millennium, Gad’s paintings evolved to depict images of L.A. Chinatown Plaza and Victorian homes. Her recent work addresses the preservation of “old” Los Angeles and it's disappearing architecture.

In addition to her career as an artist, Gad has appeared as an actress in numerous motion pictures and television programs, including Speed, 1994, Get Smart, 1995, and will be seen in the upcoming film, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. Gad’s collages and paintings are widely exhibited in galleries and museums in Los Angeles, New York and throughout the nation.

CSU Channel Islands is located at One University Drive, Camarillo. Napa Hall gallery hours are Monday through Friday 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. For additional information, contact the Art Program at 805-437-8570 or art@csuci.edu.

About California State University Channel Islands
CSU Channel Islands (CI) is the only four-year, public university in Ventura County and is known for its interdisciplinary, multicultural and international perspectives, and its emphasis on experiential and service learning. CI’s strong academic programs focus on business, sciences, liberal studies, teaching credentials, and innovative master’s degrees. Students benefit from individual attention, up-to-date technology, and classroom instruction augmented by outstanding faculty research.