18th Street Arts Center

With less than a week left until the unveiling of Lita Albuquerque’s Performance, Spine of the Earth 2012, Lita is still accepting volunteers interested in participating in this re-interpretation of her seminal 1980 Mojave Desert earthwork. Volunteer for this performance and become a part of art history! This large-scale outdoor project is presented in conjunction with 18th Street Arts Center and the Pacific Standard Time Performance and Public Art Festival organized by Glenn Phillips of the Getty Research Institute and Lauri Firstenberg of LAXART.            

To participate in this historical piece taking place at the breathtaking Baldwin Hills Scenic Overlook (6300 Hetzler Road, Culver City) on Sunday, January 22nd from 8am to 2pm, please sign up at:  www.spineoftheearth2012.com 

This month, 18th Street Arts Center and artist Vincent Ramos kick-off the 2012 Latino Community Access Participation (CAPS) project, consisting of a 10-week series of investigative art workshops taking place every Saturday to serve Latino youth at the Virginia Avenue Park Teen Center in Santa Monica. The workshops will focus on exploring the history of the Mexican-American community in Santa Monica through walking excursions, group projects, guest speakers, and film and video viewing. At the end of the workshop, the youth participants will fuse their findings to create an art installation to present at 18th Street’s next ArtNight on April 14.

Resident Artist Yvette Gellis is participating in a group show entitled To Live and Paint in LA, opening at the Torrance Art Museum on January 21, 2012. (Image Caption: “Breaking Point”, Exterior, 66″x102″, oil, acrylic, pencil, 2011, photo courtesy of artist)

Resident Artists Henriette Brouwers and John Malpede, founders of L.A.P.D.(Los Angeles Poverty Department) are hosting the Festival for All Skid Row Artists on January 27th and 28th from 12 pm to 4 pm in Gladys Park for participant artists from that community. California Lawyers for the Arts, an organization in Resident at 18th Street, is offering three workshops this month that will address the following issues: artist immigrant/non-immigrant visas, business entities for creative projects, and a live webinar on public art contracts. For more information on the dates and location of these workshops visit: http://www.calawyersforthearts.org/calendar/socal

Resident Artist Arzu Kosar, organizer of 18th Street’s notorious yarn bombing at our 2011 June ArtNight, is continuing the momentum of her group, YBLA (Yarn Bomb L.A.). On January 22, 2012 at 6:30 pm, YBLA will present their works for Art Soup Night at the BA restaurant in Highland Park in efforts to raise seed money for their upcoming project Chains of Friendship. They also have a new show entitled Forest for the Trees opening this month at the Craft and Folk Art Museum. The opening reception is January 28, 2012 from 6 pm to 9 pm.

18th Street Organization in Residence, Otis College’s M.F.A.Public Practice debuts in an exhibition entitled Portable Parks IV: Past, Present, Future = A.L.L., by Bonnie Ora Sherk, January 27 through February 5. This is a large-scale garden and series of public art projects that will be at the Santa Monica Place Mall in conjunction with the Getty’s Pacific Standard Time Performance and Public Art Festival. For more information on this project visit: http://pacificstandardtimefestival.org/events/portable-parks-iv-past-present-future-a-l-l-by-bonnie-ora-sherk/

Get Your Tickets to the Affordable Art Fair L.A, running January 18-22, 2012. CLICK HERE to buy tickets.

In conjunction with the Pacific Standard Time Performance and Public Art Festival, 18th Street is proud to present resident artist Lita Albuquerque’s recreation of her seminal work “Spine of the Earth.” Originally performed in the Mojave desert in 1980, this performance will take place at the Baldwin Hills Scenic Overlook on Sunday, January 22, 2012 from 12-2pm. Lita is seeking volunteer performers for this large scale performance. To participate in this historical art event, sign up here: http://www.spineoftheearth2012.com/. The Pacific Standard Time Performance and Pubic Art Festival is organized by Glen Phillips of the Getty Research Institute and  Lauri Firstenberg of LAXART.

For more event information on this performance visit: www.18thstreet.org

Visiting Artist Kristian Skylstad and his gallery in Oslo, Norway known as “NoPlace” has organized an all Norwegian-artist exhibition entitled Calma Maria Magdelena. The show will debut in Kristian’s studio (1629 18th Street, studio # 3) on December 21, 2011 from 8pm-11pm. The exhibition is a constellation of artists from different segments of the art world in Norway. What the artists have in common is that they don’t have much in common with other artists. In that sense you could say that each and every one of them represents themselves and have a subjective approach to art, which is related to their emotions and fragments of their geographies. This is a very common method in Norwegian art, music and literature that has roots in the isolation the weather and Norway’s regional placement on the planet forces the mental sphere into. By showing these personal mysteries in the more open minded Los Angeles art scene, NoPlace hopes the friction between the pieces will create an energetic counteraction that will end up as a vague but powerful question: “How to talk about the big silence?” For more information on the participating artists in this exhibition visit: http://www.noplace.no/

With its unique content and its showcase of true trailblazers during the artist space movement of the 70s, 18th Street’s Pacific Standard Time Show, Collaborations Labs: Southern California Artist sand Artist Space Movement has quickly become a press favorite. Landing rave reviews from both LA weekly and the Los Angeles Times during the first month of its opening, Collaborations Labs has proven to be a “one of a kind” exhibition out of the Getty’s PST shows. Due to popular demand,18th Street is now extending the successful exhibition through March 16, 2012. Click on link to read the reviews by LA Times or LA Weekly.

Image Caption:  Suzanne Lacy / Leslie Labowitz-Starus, “Three Weeks in May” (1977), Color photographs and frame, 88″ x 51.5″ (Collection of the artists)

18th Street’s is excited to introduce a new young and vibrant Visiting Artist in Resident, Kristian Skylstad. Kristian is a visual artist from Olso, Norway. His residency is a partnership  between the Office of Norway, Contemporary Art and 18th Street Arts Center. Kristian has been working as a photographer, gallerist, curator, fiction writer, art critic and video artist. He deals with an ongoing conceptual art practice that is mostly connected to poetry, which also informs his work with documentaries. The Norwegian native claims that living in 18th Street’s studio has incited so much creativity and artistic ideas within him, that during the first week of his residency, Kristian created two new art pieces that were immediately sold by his gallery in Norway by an arts collector. For more information on Visiting Artist Kristian Skylstad visit www.18thstreet.org

 

On January 12 through February 1, 2012, 18th Street Artist in Residence, Suzanne Lacy, in partnership with Los Angeles students, art groups and multiple political organizations, presents a new public art performance called Three Weeks in January: End Rape in Los Angeles at LACE (Los Angeles Contemporary Exhibitions).Three Weeks in January is also a part of the Pacific Standard Time Performance and Public Art Festival. For more information on this performance visit: www.threeweeksinjanuary.org

Image Caption: TWIM_1977.jpg, Suzanne Lacy, Three Weeks in May, 1977. Pictured, Katja Beisanz stamps a rape
report on the map of Los Angeles. Courtesy of Suzanne Lacy.

Local Artist in Residence David McDonald is having a solo show of a recent sculpture at Carter and Citizen in Culver City. The show opens January 7 through February 18, 2012. The opening reception will be held at Carter and Citizen museum on January 7, 2012 from 6-9pm. For more information on his solo show visit: http://www.carterandcitizen.com/

Image Caption: Self Portrait (Protected Self), 2011 Wood, Cement, Hydrocal, Re Bar, Enamel Paint 34″ x 16″ x 18″

Organized by EZTV co-founder and Director Michael J. Masucci, EZTV presents a series five artists talks that includes a high-profile roster of artists who broke boundaries and created new forms in media art. From rarely seen psychedelic video works by Dr. Timothy Leary to early computer art by members of LA-SIGGRAPH, from early desktop video by EZTV co-founder John Dorr to the surrealist works by multidisciplinary group Vertical Blanking, these evenings will peel back LA’s cultural fabric to reveal key voices that have been excluded from the canon of media art history. SCHEDULE/MORE INFO…

18th Street’s co-founder Susanna Bixby Dakin releases her highly anticipated book, An Artist for President, which tells of her highly controversial run for the President of the United States of America, a bid she made against the nation’s favorite, Ronald Reagan. CHECK OUT A SHORT VIDEO ABOUT HER CAMPAIGN!

18th Street’s 2nd Annual Beer, Art & Music Festival Fundraiser was a huge success! Surpassing attendance records from the last year, the event brought in over 1,000 beer, art & music goers that danced, ate, drank and enjoyed the art until the very last minute of  the evening. 18th Street wants to send out a thank you to Crossroads Elementary School, all the vendors, volunteers, bands, beer breweries, and donors that helped make our fundraiser an amazing event this year.

18th Street welcomes new International Visiting Artist, Terje Nicolaisen. Visiting from Norway, Nicolaisen will continue to explore his identity as a contemporary artist and the nature of the self portrait. We look forward to seeing what he produces over the next few months.

Image: Terje Nicolaisen, Artist Run Artist, oil on canvas, 2011.

18th Street is please to announce that jazz saxophonist and composer Matana Roberts was selected as the recipient for 18th Street’s first jazz residency, generously funded by the Herb Alpert Foundation. Roberts will be in residence from December 2011 through February 2012, and will conclude her residency with a special culminating performance to showcase the work she creates while visiting. 

   

Through January 1, 2012, Resident Artist Michael Barnard is exhibiting his photofields and large-format prints from his book, 100 Waves at the Rose Café located on 220 Rose Avenue in Venice, California. There will also be a meet-the-artist session on November 13, 2:30–4:30 pm. MORE INFO…

On October 15, 18th Street’s International Visiting Artist Nevan Lahart‘s solo exhibition HD Softcore opened at the  Steve Turner Contemporary. The show features all new works, some made during his residency at 18th Street, that has turned the gallery into an immersive desert landscape made of discarded cardboard. HD Softcore is on view through November 12, 2011. MORE INFO…

Resident Artists Luciana Abait and Ichiro Irie are participants in the inaugural SUR Biennial, curated by Ronald Lopez and organized by Outpost for Contemporary Art, which opened on October 20. The SUR Biennial showcases new works by local artists who have been influenced by the cultures of Mexico, Central and South America. MORE INFO…

18th Street’s Organization in Residence California Lawyers for the Arts is pleased to be presenting our first webinar this week on “Copyright: An Introduction to the Basics” on Thursday, October 27th. This LIVE WEBINAR is a basic introduction to copyright law for the creative arts community. The General Public Rate is $29.99 and the CLA Member Rat is $14.99. TO REGISTER/MORE INFO…

On Sat, Sep 24, 6–10 pm, 18th Street is proud to host a landmark ArtNight that also celebrates its contribution to the regional initiative Pacific Standard Time: Art in LA, 1945–1980, organized by the Getty Foundation. As part of the project, 18th Street presents, in its Main Gallery and Project Room,Collaboration Labs: Southern California Artists and the Artist Space Movement, curated by Alex Donis and featuring the work of Rachel Rosenthal, Barbara T. Smith, EZTV, Electronic Café International as well as Suzanne Lacy and Leslie Labowitz-Starus. The evening features the Indonesian-inspired performing arts company Bali and Beyond playing gamelan music on beautifully handmade percussion instruments; an artist marketplace organized by past 18th Street Artist Project Room Resident Anna Guajardo; open studio visits with our current international visiting artists; the “dangerously good food” of the Komodo Truck; and complimentary drinks provided by Izze Sparkling Juice, Pama Pomegranate Liqueur, Hpnotiq and LunaAzul Tequila.In conjunction with this special night, one of 18th Street’s Resident Arts Organizations, Highways Performance Space, presents The All Stars of NonViolet Communication, a blue vaudevillian poem in three parts that unleashes the vitriol of four dead, under-appreciated gay entertainers of the 1970s. LEARN MORE!

18th Street Arts Center, in partnership with the Bel-Air Film Festival, is pleased to host the world premiere of The Woodmans on Sat, Oct 15, 12:45 pm at UCLA’s James Bridges Theater. Directed by C. Scott Willis, The Woodmans is a fascinating, unflinching portrait of the late photographer Francesca Woodman, told through the young artist’s work (including experimental videos and journal entries) and remarkably candid interviews with her artist parents who have continued their own artistic practices while watching Francesca’s professional reputation eclipse their own. LEARN MORE and PURCHASE TICKETS.

Image: Untitled, 1977–78 (Rome). Artist: Francesca Woodman. Photo courtesy of Lorber Films/Betty and George Woodman

After much preparation, discussion and strategizing in the past three Debate Prep Discussions leading up to the final event, the participants in the Debating Through the Arts Performance 3 and Exhibition are almost ready to present their arguments to the public. With only two evenings of prep discussions left (July 20 and July 28 from 7-10 pm), the Debaters are honing in on their overall debate questions, thinking about their own debate and are joining teams. On July 30th from 1:00pm – 9:00pm through a structure of debate, caucus, collaboration, performance and voting that echoes United Nations proceedings, artists and audience will come together to confront a vital issue of our time – Cultural Equity. The goal of this event is to provide a performative context for artists to demonstrate the importance of the arts in solving conflicts. Don’t miss the passionate discussion between groups of socially-aware, politically astute artists. For information about becoming a debater for the big Debate visit here.

On Saturday, July 23 at 2pm in the Project Room, artist York Chang will reveal what is real and what is not real about the Artist Actualization Services, a fictional Los Angeles performance art group that conceived of identity theft as a form of conceptual art, which was purportedly responsible for faking performances by Paul McCarthy, Mike Kelley, Chris Burden, Jerri Allyn and others. Chang will discuss his artistic practice of blurring fact and fiction as a strategy to explore the complex interactions between performance art, documentation, and memory, especially in relation to the rich history of the seminal performance art magazine HIGH PERFORMANCE.  All attendees to the artist talk will receive a limited edition copy of a new HIGH PERFORMANCE magazine, which Chang and collaborating artist Fernando Sanchez published on the occasion of this exhibition. CLICK HERE for more info on this exhibition.

image: The Artist Actualization Services diagram (photo by Wyatt Conlon)

This explosion of colorful, charming yarn installations all over the center was a major crowd pleaser at last month’s ArtNight. What started out as a small contribution to ArtNight by artist-in-residence, Arzu Kosar, turned into a huge blowout event with approximately 65 artists participating in the yarn bombing and mentions by more than 25 online media sources. The event even earned 18th Street a rave review from the Huffington Post. CLICK HERE to read review
image: Yarn Bombing (photo by Wyatt Conlon)

18th Street is pleased to announce that their long-time friend, supporter and former artist-in-residence, Carlinhos Pandeiro de Ouro was awarded a $25,000 stipend for the NEA’s 2011 National Heritage Fellowship. This award is the nation’s highest honor in folk and traditional arts and this is the Percussionist/Pandeiro player’s first time receiving a fellowship of this stature. Congratulations Carlinhos!

Since the internship has started the two ladies have played major roles in developing and implementing a new International Artist Archive System, gathering text, images and information for our 2011 catalogue, and in the preparation of our upcoming Getty sponsored Pacific Standard Time: Art in L.A. from 1945 – 1980 exhibition, Collaboration Labs: Southern California Artists and the Artist Space Movement. In addition, Emily and Connie have volunteered at 18th Street’s large-scale summer ArtNight event and have helped organize several additional artist-in-residence events. CLICK HERE TO read interns interview

image: Attendees at 18th Street ArtNight’s marketplace, organized by Ana Guajardo (photo by Wyatt Conlon)

This year’s summer ArtNight was such a sensational event, that the turnout was double in attendance than expected! From the major exhibition openings and stellar yarn installations, to the live band in the parking lot and fiery Poetry Battle at Highways, ArtNight did not fail to deliver a sensational night. With approximately 691 visitors in attendance to the event, this ArtNight is said to be one of 18th Street’s best Artnights ever. We want to thank all our sponsors, vendors, artists and 18th Street staff who helped make this event possible. Save the Date for next ArtNight on September 24, 2011.

Visiting Taiwanese artist Yen Ting creates intricate images of animals, insects and plant life as reflections of how she relates to the world around her. Most of her work is incited by her childhood memories in Taiwan of living on a vast, forestry mountain with a huge pond and unique wildlife surrounding her home. However, sometimes the creatures, plants and insects Yen Ting creates also represent her and how she lives her everyday life. Her nostalgic thoughts from when she was a child combined with the environment and atmosphere that surrounds her, informs her work and the medium in which she creates. Since her residency at 18th Street, Yen Ting claims the sunny skies, the upbeat energy of Angelinos and nature of L.A.’s artscene has inspired her to bring in new elements into her work such as: the use of light, color and use of painting as her primary medium. Currently Yen Ting is working on her ongoing series Secret Garden which started off as works created in animation and sculpture but has now evolved into the new paintings she has created during her residency based on the atmosphere around her.

18th Street wants to send out a warm welcome to the newest addition to our artist community, visiting artist crystal am nelson. This San Francisco native will be in residence at 18th Street beginning July 1^st through July 30^th. We look forward to witnessing the kind of projects actualized during crystal’s residency. CLICK HERE to read more about crystal’s work.

nelson’s residency is supported by a partnership grant between The James Irvine Foundation and the Alliance of Artists Communities.

Artist in Resident David McDonald will be in a group show entitled, Works of Paper at the Los Angeles ACME gallery. The show will be up beginning July 9th through August 6th. For more information visit here.