1960s Alumni

1963 - David Freund

Photographer David Freund (B.A., theatre and dance, ’63) has a four-volume book set, Gas Stop, set for release by Steidl Publishers later this year. Gas Stop illustrates the role of the gas station in American culture, landscape and architecture. The photographs were taken in 47 states between 1978 and 1980, the final years of most traditional stations. Freund’s work has been shown at MoMA P.S. 1 and the George Eastman House and is in the collections of the Museum of Modern Art and the Corcoran Gallery of Art.

1965 - Diane (De Maria) Mengali

Diane (De Maria) Mengali (B.A. English ’65) recently published The Quicksand of Agoraphobia: A Memoir of Panic Disorder. A resident of Davis, she was co-owner of Mengali’s Florist.

 

1966 - Bruce Nauman

Art by Bruce Nauman (M.F.A., studio art, 1966) is featured in a recent story in The New York Times about public art in New York.  “For years, I’ve stopped by this lobby (of the JP Morgan Chase) to see a small, blinking neon by Bruce Nauman, one of the most influential artists of the last half-century,” writes Randy Kennedy. “Mr. Nauman’s neons, which often juxtapose related words or phrases, can be funny, haunting and sometimes brutal (“Raw/War”; “Run From Fear/Fun From Rear.”) This one, which blinks the crossed words “Read” and “Reap” in garish greens, pinks, reds and yellows, is mild by comparison but still provocative for a corporate bank lobby, evoking wholesome thoughts of knowledge alongside slightly sinister connotations of the consequences of knowing." Nauman’s work is in museum collections around the world and the Museum of Modern Art in New York will mount a retrospective of his art in 2018.

1969 - Robert “Bob” Owens

Robert “Bob” Owens (B.A., anthropology, ’69) has written two novels, Pointman and Pointman II. The first book was inspired by his experiences in the Vietnam War and the Cambodian invasion, where he received the Combat Medical Badge, Bronze Star and Purple Heart medals. The second novel deals with war and the effects of PTSD on veterans and their families. Both books are available on Amazon. Owens worked as a teacher and schools administrator, serving as the Lassen County schools superintendent for nine years.