Dorit Cypis and Elena Siff Press Release
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Exhibition Openings for Dorit Cypis’ FabLab (looking for patterns) and Elena Siff’s Making Change at 18th Street Arts Center, Saturday, October 23, 6pm-10pm
Santa Monica, CA—18th Street’s 2010 Visual Art Fellowship Winners, Dorit Cypis and Elena Siff, debut their projects FabLab (looking for patterns) and Making Change in the 18th Street Gallery and Project Room, beginning October 23, 2010 and running through December 17, 2010. Cypis and Siff’s projects mark the concluding exhibitions for 18th Street’s Status Report: The Creative Economy project. Their exhibitions and projects will activate the 18th Street galleries in new and innovative ways and create laboratories for experimentation, synergy and extreme public engagement.
FabLab (looking for patterns): towards an economy of inner and inter action
Artist Dorit Cypis’ project entitled, FabLab (looking for patterns), is a three-month art laboratory centered around Cypis’ research and reflection on her past 30 year artistic practice that have explored models of personal and social engagement. As Cypis converts the 18th Street Gallery into her personal research lab, the walls become her canvas for experimentation strewn with her text and images. Fablab foregrounds archival research towards discovering new or overlapping patterns in Cypis seminal investigation on engagement across personal and cultural differences. The patterns the artist uncovers will be manifested through video, digital and audio installations and textual and visual materials. During the last month of her project, Cypis will host four interactive community workshops inviting creative professionals in education, mediation, social activism and somatic arts. They will engage with the information and adapt the patterns into tools for their own personal and social engagement needs. Additionally, Cypis will present a performative event that is as whimsical as it may be practical, inviting the public to witness the artist as she inner/inter reflects and scrutinizes her own work.
Making Change
Elena Siff’s Making Change project addresses how the Internet plays a major role in this new artistic economy by setting up a virtual marketplace and a physical store in the 18th Street project room. Siff’s project began months ago when a public announcement was made to local artists in Los Angeles who create political and environmental works of art. Like a conductor looking for the perfect blend of instruments for her orchestra, Siff chose diverse artists whose works would bring diversity to her new distribution system and address political and environmental injustices. Artists who responded to the call-out answered the following questions before being selected: How is the idea of activism apparent in you art? Do you think political and environmental issues can be effectively addressed in art? Which artists do you admire who have an activist agenda? What issues are important to you? Siff is calling the group of artists chosen for her project the Making Change Artists team. Their novel artworks, varying from crafts and clothing, to paintings, prints, and sculptures, are Siff’s major capital for operating her Making Change online Etsy store and her store in the Project Room. The store will be open Wednesday through Saturday beginning October 2nd from 1pm-6pm.
About 18th Street’s 2010 Artistic Theme
Dorit Cypis and Elena Siff are the final two of the eight Artist Fellowship Winners for 18th Street’s 2010 theme, Status Report: the Creative Economy. The Artist Fellowship Winners were chosen to create projects that explore and promote ideas through works in progress. The artists’ projects are structured to stress processes that stimulate a maximum amount of public engagement and shared critical inquiry that are manifested in the 18th Street galleries. According to 18th Street’s Artistic Director, Clayton Campbell, “ Our artist fellows are examining this dislocation of resources and entitlement, and responding to a market system that privileges some while discarding many others. The residencies are designed to be a platform for ideas and exchange. Los Angeles is often described as having a dynamic creative economy. Yet after a turbulent economic year in which markets for consumption of art have radically changed, the artists are asking key questions such as; where do we stand? Are we on the way up, on the way down, or stuck in neutral? Who are the players and mediators in a creative economy, and how is it changing? Who is included and who is excluded? How are artists responding to seismic changes in the arts and culture market, and what are the new models they are developing to support the production of their work, and the dissemination of their ideas? How should our cultural institutions, both non-profit and for profit, be responsive to the overall health of the Los Angeles creative economy?”
For more information on Status Report: Creative Economy and the artists involved, visit: www.18thstreet.org
Gallery hours are Monday – Friday 11am-5pm. 18th Street Arts Center is located at 1639 18th Street, Santa Monica.
18th Street Arts Center programs are generously funded by the City of Santa Monica, the Santa Monica Arts Commission, the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, California Community Foundation, the National Endowment for the Arts, the James Irvine Foundation, the Los Angeles County Arts Commission, and the Getty Foundation.
B.A.M. FEST 2010: Beer Art & Music Festival Hits Santa Monica for a Good Cause!
August 3, 2010 2:09 pm
B.A.M. FEST 2010
Beer Art & Music Festival Hits Santa Monica for a Good Cause!
Santa Monica, CA- October 2, 2010 – From all levels of fundraising, a revolution is brewing: pairing art and music with craft beer to raise money for a good cause. With the United States now boasting as many as 1,500 breweries – more than 90% of these fitting the small, independent and traditional craft brewery definition – the choice and diversity of craft beers has stimulated an increased interest in those passionate about culinary practices, innovation and creativity.
Like emerging artists, craft breweries are fairly new to the scene, only becoming a trend in the United States in the early 1990s. The website of the Brewers Association Craftbeer.com, states “as craft brewers have come of age, little did the world know that their full flavored craft beers would generate such passion and excitement.” And since “today’s craft brewers are often viewed as local personalities who practice their art with authentic intentions, and their beers are the expression of their individual passion and drive,” why not introduce them to arts and culture audiences at a fundraising event for local artists? For 18th Street Arts Center this pairing couldn’t be more perfect.
On Saturday, October 2, 2010 from 1 p.m. to 6 p.m., 18th Street Arts Center, in association with popular Santa Monica restaurant, Library Alehouse, is bringing the first Craft Beer Festival to the Westside of L.A. B.A.M. Fest, which stands for Beer, Art and Music Festival, is a celebration of locally produced art, music and the finest craft beers around. With 20-plus breweries, 4 bands, 3 galleries, open artist studios and gourmet organic food provided by the Green Truck, B.A.M. Fest 2010 is poised to draw a crowd and become Santa Monica’s next hip annual event.
The event is a steal, with pre-sale tickets going for $30 before the end of August and regular priced tickets at $35. A ticket provides you 5 hours of live music, exploration of artist studios and galleries with art for purchase, and the joy of tasting great beers in the Santa Monica sunshine. And since all proceeds from the event directly support 18th Street Arts Center’s programs and artists, attendees can feel good about contributing to a great cause.
Other non-profits have already capitalized on this new trend of pairing art, music and beer to raise funds for their charitable efforts. Just last year, the Los Angeles Craft and Artisanal Beer Appreciation League raised thousand of dollars for the non-profit 826LA through its sold-out LA Craft Beer Festival in Echo Park. Even Donald Trump has gotten on the band wagon with his Trump National Golf Club Wine & Beer Festival which this year benefited Providence Little Company of Mary Foundation and the Rotary Club of Rancho Palos Verdes. B.A.M. Fest 2010 is bringing this trend to Santa Monica with a unique blend of fun and entertainment.
Participating craft breweries range from big to small, including the popular and larger New Belgium and Stone Brewing Companies to the smaller but equally great Eel River and Green Flash Breweries. From cool-fermented lagers to warm-fermented ales, the craft beer offerings at the 18th Street’s Beer, Art and Music Festival offer a range of styles for tasting enjoyment.
And the music lined up for B.A. M. Fest is just as diverse as the beer samples. From the blazing Blues infused sound of JT Ross and his rock-and-roll band Speedway, to the acoustic rock/pop music of The 3 Heads, the featured music at 18th Street’s festival is sure to make attendees groove. The Venice-based Makepeace Brothers evoke an American folk, blue-grass feel with what they call roots-based power-pop and the Christopher Hawley Rollers keep the party going with their very danceable mix of soulful lyrics, slide guitar, thumping bass and soaring percussion. All 4 local beach bands bring their own feel-good flavor to this cultural event.
To widen the sphere of attendees, 18th Street Arts Center has partnered with Los Angeles-based art organization, Create:Fixate and artist-duo Rick Mendoza and Jim Marquez. Founder of Create:Fixate Michelle Berc is curating an exhibition by emerging and mid-career artists in 18th Street’s Main Gallery. In the Pasillos I Gallery, Mendoza will present his gritty and raw photography of the Downtown LA ‘scene’ while Marquez performs his written works on life and partying East of the 405 Freeway. 18th Street Artist Fellow, Elena Siff will oversee the collaboration of multiple artists as they build a virtual and actual art marketplace in 18th Street’s Project Room. In addition to the gallery shows, the resident artists who live, work and create daily at 18th Street will open their studios for attendees to experience works in progress and to purchase selected art.
When approached about the event, Nick Anderson of the Boston Beer Company, brewer of Samuel Adams beers declared, “Right on! I love art and music, so this should prove to be a marvelous pairing.” And 18th Street Arts Center can’t agree more. Just as any artist painstakingly toils over each detail of a masterpiece, today’s craft brewer goes to great lengths to produce unique, award-winning works of art. With the marriage of beer, art and music, B.A.M. Fest has brewed a breakthrough in fundraising.
Tickets will be on sale starting August 2, 2010 at: http://www.18thstreet.org/events/bam-fest and in person at the Library Alehouse, 2911 Main Street, Santa Monica, CA. 90405. For more information about B.A.M. Fest 2010 and 18th Street Arts Center visit http://www.18thstreet.org.
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18th Street Arts Center is a nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization whose mission is to provoke public dialogue through contemporary art making. 18th Street is a community which values art making as an essential component of a vibrant, just and healthy society.
Durazo’s Pain Management 100 and Guajardo’s Tianguis
July 20, 2010 12:12 pm
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Please contact Ronald Lopez at (310) 453-3711 Ext 103 or rlopez@18thstreet.org for use of high-resolution images or additional requests
Artists Fellows Activate 18th Street’s Galleries
“Special Dose,” a Public Event for Pain Management 100, Saturday, July 10, 10:00pm-2:00am Exhibition Openings for Pain Management 100 and Tianguis, Saturday, August 7, 6:00pm-10:00pm
Santa Monica, CA—18th Street’s 2010 Visual Art Fellowship Winners, Martin Durazo and Ana Guajardo debut their projects Pain Management 100 and Tianguis in the main gallery and project room, beginning July 6, 2010 and running through September 24, 2010.
These projects actively explore 18th Street’s 2010 theme, Status Report: The Creative Economy, by transforming the galleries into hubs of experimentation, controversial public discussions and places of dialogue for marginalized communities within our society.
Durazo’s project, Pain Management 100, debuts in the 18th Street Gallery. Pain Management 100 is a 3-month investigative “hands on” laboratory that explores and exposes the connection between the illegal drug trade economy and the “legal” pharmaceutical drug business. Durazo’sinstallation consists of audio clips, video projections, posters, collage, music and other works meant to arouse the sensation of the underground drug culture. His installation is designed to challenge society’s desensitized attitude towards the legal and illegal drug trades by inspiring dialogue on a local, national and global level. The public’s responses to Durazo’s installations will become a part of the project, as interviews are recorded and edited into a documentary, which will later be incorporated into the exhibit. Ultimately, the project aims to create community conversations around the legal and illegal drug economy and investigate its effects on society.
Guajardo’s project Tianguis (the Nahuatl word for open air markets dating from the Mesoamerican period) will transform 18th Street’s Project Room into a 3-month exploration, integrating an exhibition, a live tianguis, community dialogues and workshops. Tianguis is a project examining a contemporary community of vendor-artists in Los Angeles that participate in and innovate the urban, public market culture. This is a collaborative project utilizing the participation of a specific community of artists and entrepreneurs that are relationally connected through Latino cultural events and venues in East Los Angeles. While this neighborhood has served as a hub to unite them annually at specific events, their work and residencies are by no means confined here. Tianguis aims to illuminate the complex networks of art, commodity, politics and culture that are activated in the temporal and spatial constructs of these markets. Artists participating in this project include: Araceli Silva, Becky Cortez, Botan, Daisy Tonantzin, Dewey Tafoya, Elisa Garcia, Elena Esparza, Felicia Montes, Lili Flor, Lisa Rocha, Monica Hernandez, Nena Soulfly, Orchidia and Reyes Rodriguez.
About 18th Street’s 2010 Artistic Theme
Martin Durazo and Ana Guajardo are two of the eight Artist Fellowship Winners for 18th Street’s 2010 theme, Status Report: the Creative Economy. The Artist Fellowship Winners were chosen to create projects that explore and promote ideas through works in progress. The artists’ projects are structured to stress processes that stimulate a maximum amount of public engagement and shared critical inquiry that are manifested in the 18th Street galleries. According to 18th Street’s Artistic Director, Clayton Campbell, “The economy was selected as a theme prior to the worldwide banking contraction, and therefore becomes even more relevant as artists proactively develop new strategies to address a host of issues. In the past decade theorists such as Richard Florida have championed the rise of a creative class and as a result have had a major impact on some sectors of the arts and culture field. In his view, a creative economy is characterized by the key economic factors of talent, innovation and creativity. As the notion of a creative class is widely discussed, promoted and debated, it is apparent that recent research demonstrates these factors are not distributed evenly across the economy. Instead, they seem concentrated in specific locations characterized by environment, class and ethnicity.
Our artist fellows will be examining this dislocation of resources and entitlement, and responding to a market system that privileges some while discarding many others. The residencies are designed to be a platform for ideas and exchange. Los Angeles is often described as having a dynamic creative economy. Yet after a turbulent economic year in which markets for consumption of art have radically changed, they are asking key questions such as; where do we stand? Are we on the way up, on the way down, or stuck in neutral? Who are the players and mediators in a creative economy, and how is it changing? Who is included and who is excluded? How are artists responding to seismic changes in the arts and culture market, and what are the new models they are developing to support the production of their work, and the dissemination of their ideas? How should our cultural institutions, both non-profit and for profit, be responsive to the overall health of the Los Angeles creative economy?”
For more information on Status Report: Creative Economy and the artists involved, visit: www.18thstreet.org
Gallery hours are Monday – Friday 11am-5pm. 18th Street Arts Center is located at 1639 18th Street, Santa Monica.
18th Street Arts Center programs are generously funded by the City of Santa Monica, the Santa Monica Arts Commission, the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, California Community Foundation, the National Endowment for the Arts, the James Irvine Foundation, the Los Angeles County Arts Commission, Public Allies and the Getty Foundation.
August 2010 Art Night
July 20, 2010 11:44 am
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Please contact Ronald Lopez at (310) 453-3711 Ext 103 or rlopez@18thstreet.org for use of high-resolution images or additional requests
EASTSIDE MEETS WESTSIDE: 18th Street Brings Tattoo Art, Lowrider Cars and Live Music to Santa Monica
Santa Monica, CA- On Saturday August 7, 2010, 18th Street Arts Center throws its annual Summer ArtNight with opening receptions for its newest exhibitions: Martin Durazo’s Pain Management 100 in the 18th Street Gallery and Ana Guajardo’s Tianguis in the Project Room. Visitors to ArtNight can experience the electrifying tunes of sound artist and master guitarist, Massaro on 18th Street’s Outdoor Stage. ArtNight takes place from 6:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m. at 18th Street Arts Center, located at 1639 18th Street, Santa Monica, just north of Olympic Boulevard.
This year’s Summer ArtNight features appearances by the Old Memories SGV lowrider car club, tattoo-art installations by Darlene DiBona, open artist studios, and a Karaoke party hosted by Otis M.F.A Public Practice Program and POP: Pedestal & The All Girl Band. ArtNight visitors have the opportunity to interact with local art and social organizations participating in the program referred to as the “18th Street Connect.” LA’s sexiest food truck, Komodo dishes out street food with a gourmet twist from 6 p.m. to 10 p.m. while the CoolHaus truck sweeten things up with their architecturally inspired ice cream sandwiches from 8:30 p.m. to 10:30 p.m. Complimentary beverages are provided by Izze Sparkling Juice, Pama Pomegranate Liqueur, Hpnotiq, and LunaAzul Tequila.
Outdoor
To describe Massaro’s sound as ambient, noise and psychedelic, would not quite capture what all three do in combination. Imagine the hard-driving guttural growl Hendrix managed to capture in his guitar, then imagine that sound being used by the ambient artist of your choice, but in a totally non-noise way with discernable melodies and chanted vocals. This sort of comes close to capturing what Massaro does with his music. Perhaps it would be easier to think of him as a sound artist, but that conveys some sense of detachment from the music. Because that’s ultimately what Massaro is all about: music, in the sense of pleasing and moving noises that wash over your ears, stirring something in us that we can’t quite place.
The San Gabriel chapter of Old Memories SGV lowrider car club shakes up 18th Street’s parking lot with “all original” lowrider cars that are fully loaded with hydraulics, spoked rims, chrome accessories and booming sound systems.
Art Openings:
As part of 18th Street’s yearlong inquiry into the Creative Economy, the organization is presenting projects by Martin Durazo and Ana Guajardo in the 18th Street Gallery and Project Room.
In the 18th Street Gallery Durazo’s project, Pain Management 100, is a 3-month investigative “hands on” laboratory that explores and exposes the connection between the illegal drug trade economy and the “legal” pharmaceutical drug business. Durazo’s installation consists of audio clips, video projections, posters, collage, music and other works meant to arouse the sensation of the underground drug culture and challenge society’s desensitized attitude towards the legal and illegal drug trades by inspiring dialogue on a local, national and global level.
Guajardo’s project Tianguis (the Nahuatl word for open air markets dating from the Mesoamerican period) will transform 18th Street’s Project Room into a 3-month exploration, integrating an exhibition, a live tianguis, community dialogues and workshops. Tianguis is a project examining a contemporary community of vendor-artists in Los Angeles that participate in and innovate the urban, public market culture. Tianguis aims to illuminate the complex networks of art, commodity, politics and culture that are activated in the temporal and spatial constructs of these markets.
Pasillos II: Darlene DiBona’s Tattoo Parlor
Featured on the Discovery Channel for her tattoo designs, artist Darlene DiBona exhibits some of her signature tattoo creations along with painterly works that inform her tattoo art.
18th Street Connect:
As part of the 18th Street Connect, the Otis M.F.A. Public Practice program hosts a Karaoke party in their studio with POP: Pedestal & The All Girl Band. At the same time, a group of Latino artisans (Araceli Silva, Becky Cortez, Botan, Daisy Tonantzin, Dewey Tafoya, Elisa Garcia, Elena Esparza, Felicia Montes, Lili Flor, Lisa Rocha, Monica Hernandez, Nena Soulfly, Orchidi and Reyes Rodriguez) transform the 18th Street outdoor area into a creative marketplace of unique craftworks in conjunction with Ana Guajardo’s show in the Project Room.
Open Studios:
The studios of 18th Street artists in residence are open to the public during ArtNight. Participating artists include: Karl Doerrer-Attaway, Luciana Abait, Henriette Brouwers, John Malpede, David McDonald, Highways Performance Space, Susanna Dakin, Ichiro Irie, Michael Barnard, Continuum Montage, Continuun Studio, Henriette Brouwers, Suzanne Lacy, Otis MFA Public Practice, Clayton Campbell, Yvette Gellis, Electronic Café and International Artist Liu Shih-Tung.
For more information about ArtNight and exhibition openings visit http://www.18thstreet.org. ArtNight is sponsored in part by the cultural funding initiatives of the City of Santa Monica, the Santa Monica Arts Commission, Los Angeles County Arts Commission, National Endowment for the Arts, the James Irvine Foundation, the California Community Foundation, The Getty Foundation, Crossroads School of Arts and Sciences, IZZE Sparkling Juice, Hypnotiq Liqueur and Pama Pomegranate Liqueur.
18th Street Arts Center’s mission is to provoke public dialogue through contemporary art making. 18th Street is a community which values art making as an essential component of a vibrant, just and healthy society.
May Art Night 2010
May 1, 2010 2:01 pm
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
A Night of Poetry, Music and Art
18th Street Presents our Spring Art Night
CLICK THIS LINK FOR THE PDF VERSION
Santa Monica, Ca- On Saturday, May 1, 2010 18th Street Arts Center celebrates its quarterly art festival featuring two exhibition opening receptions, a dynamic outdoor video and sound installation, and Highways Performance Space’s highly-anticipated Poetry Slam Contest. Art Night takes place from 6:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m. at the18th Street Arts Center, located at 1639 18th Street, Santa Monica, north of Olympic Boulevard.
The event also features art installations, open-artists studios, gallery openings and an opportunity for visitors to be exposed to other art and social organizations referred to as the “18th Street Connect.” Food will be available for purchase and free drinks will be provided by Izze Sparkling Juice, Pama Pomegranate Liqueur, Hpnotiq, and LunaAzul Tequila.
Main Gallery:
“Prep Materials”
Carla Herrera-Prats’ exhibition, “Prep Materials” explores the role creative processes play in pairing standardized education and democracy, by looking closely at the history, design and fabrication of the first standardized test-scoring machines. Her installation consists of a slide projection, a wall drawing, a series of photographs and scanned prints deriving from three different archives.
Project Room:
“Fine Art, (626) 394-3963”
Matthias Merkel Hess’ presents a project that investigates what the public wants from artists while also promoting his own nascent career as an artist. Aligning his status as a young artist with that of the fly-by-night businesses usually advertised on telephone poles, the signs are an invitation to the public to call him at his personal number to discuss art or create an art piece based upon the client’s choice.
Highways Performance Space:
As part of its 6th Annual Poetry Fest, Highways Performance Space, Leo Garcia, Artistic Director, partners with 18th Street Arts Center for an evening of where poets and performers go mano-a-mano, matching wits, smarts, timing and passion as they throw-down on issues of the day. Curated by E. Amato.
6-8pm – RISING STARS YOUTH SLAM
Highways’ FIRST-EVER YOUTH SLAM! A fantastic slam for those 21 and under! Open pre-registration required, first come, first serve (visit www.highwaysperformance.org to sign up). The winner will go on to be part of the ALL-STAR SLAM later that night!
Plus DJ and Musical Guest!
8.30-10.30pm – ALL-STAR SLAM
A good old-fashioned POETRY SLAM featuring a sensational line-up of spectacular spoken wordsmiths battling it out on the mic! Seasoned performers plus the winner of the RISING STARS YOUTH SLAM will compete for bragging rights and a CA$H PRIZE!
Plus DJ and Musical Guest!
Outdoor Area: V.I.C.C. Entertainment will create a special outdoor video, light and sound installation, showcasing the provocative artwork and engaging artists from 18th Street’s artist community.
Pasillos I (building 1629):
In celebration of the LA Opera’s Spring 2010 production of Richard Wagner’s ‘The Ring Cycle’, 18th Street will present “Digital Wagner”, a real time interpretation of the iconic themes and social relevancy in The Ring Cycle. Artist Clayton Campbell’s digital prints and projections feature a cast of contemporary characters who bring a new spin to an old story about the nature of power, love, loss, treachery, and redemption.
18th Street Connect:
Art night guests can learn about the services offered by other cultural organizations in the greater Los Angeles and Santa Monica area. Participating Organizations include: Santa Monica Cultural Affairs Division, Pico Family Youth Center and Y.W.C.A. This year’s 18th Street Connect will also consist of a community of artisans whose handcrafted creations will be available to the public for purchase.
Open Studios:
The studios of 18th Street Artists in residence are open to the public. Participating artists include: Dan Kwong, Karl Doerrer-Attaway, Lita Albuquerque, Luciana Abait, Henriette Brouwers, John Malpede, Arzu Arda Kosar, David McDonald, Highways Performance Space, Susanna Dakin, Ichiro Irie, Chris Fox, Michael Barnard, Bernadette Fox, Birgit Sauer, Continuum Montage, Marina Day, Suzanne Lacy, Otis MFA Public Practice, Michelle Berne, Clayton Campbell, Yvette Gellis, Leslie Starus and Electronic Café.
For more information about Art Night and the exhibition openings visit http://www.18thstreet.org. Art Night is sponsored in part by the cultural funding initiatives of the City of Santa Monica, Los Angeles County Arts Commission, National Endowment for the Arts, the James Irvine Foundation, the California Community Foundation, The Getty Foundation, Crossroads School of Arts and Sciences, IZZE, and Pama Pomegranate Liqueur.
18th Street Arts Center’s mission is to provoke public dialogue through contemporary art making. 18th Street is a community which values art making as an essential component of a vibrant, just and healthy society.
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