Ventura, California's Art City and Art Walk

A few shots from my trip to Ventura's Art Walk (next one is October 16/17). Art City Gallery and Stone Supply was one of my favorite studios: completely outdoors, its home to 20 sculptors.  Per my story in the Los Feliz Ledger:  For more than 25 years, the acre site has been home to Art City Gallery & Stone Supply: a vast yard that exhibits fine art stone used in sculpture making.  The real attraction is the 20 open-air studios where artists create sculptures using materials that range from pebbles and shells to massive monoliths of Canadian marble.

One of the stops on Ventura’s bi-annual art walk, Art City Gallery is one of those places that must be experienced to fully appreciate its tactile nature. Here sculptors are actively manipulating and transforming rock, resulting in visual poetry.

Visit soon—the one-of-a-kind studio is open Wednesday through Sunday and during the Fall Ventura ArtWalk scheduled for October 16th and 17th.

Art City
197 Dubbers Street
Ventura, CA 93001
805-648-1690

Autry National Center's "How Women Made the West"

Forget the cowgirl, the demure Indian maiden, or the pioneer woman in a sunbonnet perched on a wagon buckboard. At the Autry National Center’s conceptual new exhibit “Home Lands How Women Made the West,” traditional stereotypes of women-out-west are replaced with a new narrative—one that puts women at the center as builders of home and community. “Seeing women in history makes history look different,” is the show’s opening statement and the Autry has done much to create an innovative and interactive exhibition that inserts real women into the American west’s saga.

Follow-up the exhibit with a visit to the bookstore and read my complete take on the exhibition at the Autry National Center in Griffith Park that runs through August 29.

Farmlab is downtown L.A.'s earthy, artistic think tank

Not a Cornfield was one of Los Angeles’ most creative, ambitious and perhaps largest public art installation.  From mid-2005 to March 2006, a blighted industrial vacant lot just north of Chinatown became 32 verdant acres of living sculpture within view of downtown’s skyscrapers.

Conceived by artist Laren Bon and funded by the Annenberg Foundation, the Not a Cornfield legacy continues to grow at Farmlab, now headquartered across from the northernmost end of the State Historic Park (the former Not a Cornfield site).

Farmlab is an artistic think tank and meeting space that visibly demonstrates a more holistic approach to urban living. Junked cars are planters blooming with native plants; 15’ high barrels collect rainwater; and wildflower seeds that were collected in the State Historic Park are distributed for free.  Each Friday, a free lunch hour public salon—lunch included—offers a range of thoughtful presentations by local artists, curators, historians and activists.

Read my full piece at the Los Feliz Ledger.

Lance Armstrong above Sunset Blvd. courtesy of Shepard Fairey

Runners during Sunday's (3/21) L.A. Marathon can look up (and back over their shoulders) for inspiration: Shepard Fairey's wall-sized portrait of cyclist and Live Strong's Lance Armstrong is above Sunset Blvd on Studio One's exterior at the corner of Elysian Valley and Sunset Blvds. BTW Fairey's gallery, Subliminal Projects, is selling the official 25th anniversary LA Marathon screen print by Studio One's Cleon Peterson.





Defiance/Courage/Action is the title I presume.

Beverly Hills' Gagosian Gallery Addition Brings Out the Stars

For Housingwatch.com: a glittery opening for Andreas Gursky --worth checking out his manipulated digital satellite images of oceans.  New space is impressive--bowtruss roof saved, skylights and a massive sliding door to the street.

Beverly Hills' Gagosian Gallery Addition Brings Out the Stars

Silver Lake's silent film history at Farmlab public salon Friday 3/10

From Farmlab: HOORAY FOR EDENDALE!

Image: Mack Sennett directing "Stolen Magic" (Keystone, 1915), Hans Koenekamp is the cameraman. Courtesy: Robert Birchard

A celebration of the birth and early growth of the movie industry in Los Angeles. Award winning film editor, writer and film industry historian Robert S. Bichard presents over 100 images exploring the first movie studios in L.A--which were established a century ago. The Selig Polyscope, Keystone, Pathe, Mixville and Norbig studios constituted L.A.’s first “Studio Row” in the 1910’s, and Hooray For Edendale! will take you inside the gates of these long-vanished pioneer film factories. This is a must attend event for anyone interested in the history of Los Angeles and the movies.

Farmlab Public Salon

Farmlab, 1745 N. Spring St., Los Angeles, 90012

Robert S. Birchard
Friday, March 12, 2010 @ Noon, Free Admission 

 

ManifestEquality Hollyood shows art with a message

This is one Oscar week event in Hollywood that's not just about the glitz. In a former dingy Big Lots space on Vine St. in Hollywood, ManifestEquality explores the theme of equal rights for all in a pop-up art exhibition that features dozens of contemporary artists. "The gallery has gathered international and local artists in a call to present art that unites art, activism and the message of universal equal rights into a memorable multi-media moment," explains organizers Jennifer Gross, Apple Via and Yosi Sergant in a prepared statement.   

Commune design gets props for remarkably transforming the mundane big box retail space into a of-the-moment gallery partitioned by angled walls perforated by recycled windows that uses every inch of space creatively--even the barbed wire fence outside. There are nighttime performances and DJs Wednesday and Saturday nights. Shepard Fairey DJ'd the opening night preview; look for his work in the show along with other artists such as Robbie Conal, Gary Baseman, Amanda Visell and a memorable building wall-sized justice mural by graffiti artist El Mac outside.

MANIFESTEQUALITY
1341 Vine Street
(between Hollywood & Fountain) 

Los Angeles, CA 90028-8141 

March 3rd - March 7th, 2010
Wed & Thurs - 11:00 am - 6:00 pm
Friday - 11:00 am - 10:00 pm
Sat & Sun - 10:00 am - 6:00 pm