There is a club that has been recreated by a group of BFA students in the graphic design department: CACA(CalArts Collage Association)! The club rolls back to 2009, when three students gathered at a picnic table outside of the Graphic Design studios. Now that we are in the year 2019, it’s been 10 years since CACA was born. So this article is sort of a dedication to the 10th anniversary of CACA. The following is an interview about how this journey began with Laura Bernstein, who is one of the founders of CACA and an alum of the graphic design program, class of 2011.

1. Could you introduce yourself to the readers?

I graduated from the MFA program in 2011, and since then I’ve worked across all sorts of industries, fashion, museums, finance, presidential campaigns, startups mostly with a focus on brand and digital content. Each experience has been pretty different, and I’ve been consistently surprised at what happens next. 

Right now I’m Head of Brand at a financial startup based in Palo Alto. I manage a team of visual designers and writers. I actually don’t get to make much myself these days, but when I do make stuff it’s always projects for people I love, or collage.. 

2. How and when did CACA actually start?

The beginnings of Caca go back to 2009. It really started because Stephen Lee couldn’t get into Scott Z’s Imagemaking class, so he decided he would take on the projects on his own time. He would work outside at a picnic table behind the Graphic Design studios and Jeremy Matick and I would hang out with him. I don’t remember exactly how it happened, but at some point the three of us decided that collaging together was really fun…And we came up with the joke name of “Caca” — The Calarts Collage Association. We kept doing it regularly and often other people joined in, but it was very casual. 

When Stephen and Jeremy graduated, it seemed like there was an appetite to keep CaCa going. It kind of just spread through word of mouth and became a *thing* quite organically. I would send out emails inviting people to the weekly Sunday evening gathering, and every week the email list grew. Something really special about early CaCa was that it was always a mix of grad and undergrad students, it brought people together in very natural ways — and in turn I think that promoted a lot of collaboration across other areas of our lives.

3. What was your first reaction when you heard the rebirth of CACA by the current students? 

I was really excited! CaCa was one of my favorite experiences at CalArts, it brought me a lot of joy and I learned so much through that type of making and community practice.

I think CaCa has been alive in some form since I graduated, but it definitely seems to have new life these days. When we started Instagram didn’t exist, so we’d try to put work up on tumblr. 

I love seeing the work that gets posted on the @cagd.collages instagram account, and to see how it’s evolving, I can tell that people are learning from each other and getting more and more comfortable with experimenting (the best part of collage!).

A collage club (or association) seems like a simple or obvious idea, but it’s actually a significant commitment. To take time away from your regular design projects and school work, to dedicate time to just pure making and play with your peers is a really invaluable experience…It means a lot to me that the students who have kept Caca going seem to recognize this as well.

4. Is there any particular project or event back in the day that you remember or liked the most during CACA?

Nothing specific comes to mind. It was a really casual and fluid experience, always positive and always something to look forward to.

5. How did your experience with CACA shape or influence you as a designer/person? 

CaCa has turned out to be a pretty influential experience for me over the last 10 years. For one, collage made me a better maker and designer in so many ways. It opened up how I looked at colors, patterns, photography, illustration, composition (everything!) and most importantly the relationships between all those elements. It has consistently helped me out of creative ruts. When design isn’t working, collage can break open your brain. I think it’s made me a better problem solver.

It has also made me look at many things in the world differently, things like trash…Collage has the power to give things that may seem insignificant, a new life. There’s a lot of beauty to be found in all the scraps. 

CaCa helped me be a better collaborator, a better community member, a better leader, more open with myself and more forgiving with difficult work. And Caca opened the door for Coco.

Coco which stands for Confetti Confidential was the collage collective that Ania Diakoff, Kate Johnston, Lucy Cook, Julie Moon and I formed after we graduated. We started it because we missed CaCa. We missed making together and we missed the way collage allowed us to play and experiment.  We met once a week for two years, we took the commitment seriously — it was the antidote our daily work. Through Coco we’ve not only expanded our creative practices but we’ve deepened our friendships.

6. Do you have any photos of CACA gathering or photos of work produced during CACA?

https://cacakids.tumblr.com/archive

7. Anything you’d like to add/ Any last words, comments: 

This is a link to an interview I did about CaCa with Mitch Cox and Taylor Giali in 2013 for Idea Magazine.

http://laurabernstein.com/portfolio_page/caca/

***

Now let’s move to 2019

The New CACA

The ‘New CACA’ students are meeting every other Friday at 4 pm in the BFA3 studio with a pile of old books, mostly random magazines. Every meeting usually lasts about 2 hours with a good mix of laughter, enthusiasm and laid-back vibes. Since the club is free from assignments/requirements, it seems like a no-stress-zone that works as a refreshment to the students from demanding coursework. They are always flipping through some old books looking for good elements to work with. A lot of amusing handwork such as cutting, gluing and layering is involved to create something tangible and beautiful, which nowadays is mostly done by Photoshop.

Here are some photos of CACA members during the meeting on 8th November 2019.

The following photos are some of the collages produced from the new CACA meeting. You can also see them on @cagd.collages Instagram!