VENTURA, CA - Master artists, critics and thought leaders from around the world will come together in October to discuss representational art’s place in the 21st century at a Ventura conference hosted by California Lutheran University.

TRAC2012: The Representational Art Conference will be held Oct. 14 through 17 at the Crowne Plaza. It will feature speakers, panel discussions, academic paper presentations and studio demonstrations. Focused on the resurgence ofrepresentational art, the conference is designed for artists, academics, collectors, critics, historians, students, and gallery and museum professionals.

The keynote speakers will be art critic Jed Perl with The New Republic and artist John Nava, whose major commissions include the tapestries in theCathedral of Our Lady of the Angels, a mural in the Tokyo Grain Exchange and a fountain sculpture for the city of Glendale. Perl will discuss “Re-Imagining Representation: On the Challenges of the Real and the Ideal.” Nava will present “Representing by Hand: Painting in the Digital Age.”

The following artists will present live studio demonstrations: Béla Bácsi on sculpting, Jeremy Lipking on figure painting, Tony Pro on portrait painting, Alexey Steele on drawing and Mia Tavanotti on creating mosaics. Panels will include painter Richard T. Scott, painter Sadie J. Valeri, professor and painter Ruth Weisberg, and curator Michael Zakian. There will be concurrent exhibits of monumental drawings by Steele in CLU’s Kwan Fong Gallery of Art and Culture in Thousand Oaks and grand allegorical paintings by CLU associate professor Michael Pearce at the Carnegie Art Museum in Oxnard.

Representational art portrays recognizable people, places and objects and captures natural phenomena while demonstrating the artist’s skill. The rise of postmodern art pushed representational art to the shadows both in academia and the art world.

In recent years, representational artists have begun ateliers in imitation of the old studio workshops of the Renaissance where students worked alongsidemasters to learn the techniques of drawing, painting and sculpture. There are now numerous ateliers in every major city in the United States. CLU has seven faculty members with on-campus studios they are using as ateliers.

Pearce, chair of the CLU Art Department, and adjunct faculty member Michael Lynn Adams organized the conference to address the lack of critical appreciation of representational art. Rather than looking back at 19th century realism, participants will explore the new directions representational art might take and how it might shape the art world.

Reduced early registration rates are available through Sept. 1. Student rates and one-day passes are also available. For additional information, visit TRAC2012.org or email info@TRAC2012.org.