SoCal Minds

Prime time for fans of Twain, football, Roy Rogers

From ALOUD, CalArts & the Autry

Let's do a quick dash through some literary, artistic and collectibles matters of note around the area: For those who can't get enough dish about one of America's greatest homespun writing master, Laura Skandera Trombley, president of Pitzer and one of the preeminent scholars on the topic, will take on the dark, troubled last years of Mark Twain in a free talk downtown at 7 tonight; space is limited and reservations are required. For those Lakers, Dodgers, Trojans or other sports nuts who want another artistic view of the athletic world, the folks in Valencia provide an excellent shout-out for prominent alum Catherine Opie and her now open LACMA exhibit on high school football (as exemplified by 'Josh, 2007,' shown at right, from the Eugene Sadovoy Collection). And lastly, while lots of attention got paid to the fate of the taxidermied specimen of horse-flesh known as Trigger, the folks over in Griffith Park ay they just couldn't pass up nabbing stuff at a recent auction of Roy Rogers memorabilia and they're posting about it and the legendary cowboy on their blog.  

2 different ways to answer, sort of, 'Quien es mas macho?'

From LACMA & Harvey Mudd

With the weather promising to be as fine as it can be, it should be the perfect time to man up, so to speak, in a smart Southern California fashion by taking in some oorah activities in the next few days. On Sunday, for example, jog don't stroll over to Wilshire Boulevard to catch the opening of the 'Sporting Images of Thomas Eakins.' The iconic American artist, back in the day, got himself in unending hot water for his sexy paintings, his bracing realism and his then outre teaching methods, including, gasp, nude models -- naked men posing for classes with women in them and naked women in classes with men in 'em. His life and works, including the recently Los Angeles acquired 'Wrestlers,' (shown at right) have prompted lots of speculation about his sexuality but there's little doubt about his mastery and place in U.S. artistic accomplishment.

If on-screen manliness calls more, though, better hurry to sign up for the Monday bash in Claremont for the release of the Starcraft II. The top-selling, much praised video game -- which has proved to be a huge-grossing global seller -- has beaucoups ties to Southern California, especially to Westwood, Irvine and Claremont. It's not exactly on every adult's screen. But the scheduled debut, which will include top competitors, food, beverages, T-shirts and prospects for scoring early-bird copies of Starcraft, is touted as one of the gaming events of the year. There's a fee to attend but the event will be streamed online; all the necessary links at the Mudders' page.

A weekend of Baldessari, late-night videos

From LACMA

The titles sound like simple kid stuff but Squirm, Trouble, Pop Cop and Dual/Duel are four programs consisting of some 20 international videos from the last 20 years. Why the 20? Freewaves, an experimental media arts group, is celebrating, guess what, its 20th anniversary outdoors Saturday night with 'Video on the Loose,' four looping programs that will animate the museum's courtyards from 8  p.m. to 11 p.m., as part of late night program that offers a preview of the John Baldessari (shown at left) retrospective, 'Pure Beauty.' The internationally known Santa Monican, whose exhibit will showcase his work from the Sixties to his latest 'Brain/Cloud,'  will take part in a free public conversation Sunday afternoon at 2; tickets for the limited space event will be available one hour before.

Freewaves video group marks its 20th year, while renowned modernist opens big show 

Click here for more on 'Brain/Cloud,' Baldessari talking

A slice of an LA weekend: from Hapas to Lemony Snicket

From the Japanese American National Museum, LACMA, Pepperdine, the Skirball & UCLA

Never a shortage of smart stuff to take in, in what promises to be a seasonably sunny Southern California weekend: In Little Tokyo, it will be a free Saturday, for example, as two hip and happening folks headline a day highlighting the experiences of Hapa or mixed race Americans; the session with scholar-artist Kip Fulbeck and educator Dr. Maya Soetero-Ng (President Obama's sis) is on a wait-list basis. For those concerned about families, religion and faith, there's a big conference going on in Malibu, though a call will be required to see if the now full sessions can accommodate. Meantime, get those feet and the mind moving with all the day-long events as museums on the Miracle Mile join in for their annual Artwalk, which this year will include World Cup soccer-related activities; there are some fees for the events at the county museum, where there will be displays of art (of course!), music, performance, workshops, activities, food, and more. The participating institutions include LACMA, Peterson Automotive, Page, Craft and Folk. If the feet still gotta move, there is, of course, a weekend festival of avant-garde dance films by Pina Bausch and others, in Westwood by Dance Camera West. And for parents and kids who are fans of Lemony Snicket, author Daniel Handler and his illustrator and wife, Lisa Brown, will be over on the Westside on Sunday for a chat and reading.  

Hungry for LA stories? Sign up for cell-phone novels

From LACMA

It's more than a tweet or a haiku, for better or verse. Those technology loving Japanese are the true pioneers of the form. But starting this weekend, artist Steve Fagin hopes to bring to Los Angeles keitai shosetsu, aka Cell Phone Stories, nifty narratives and essays spread from mobile to mobile in cell phone text and featuring the work of such diverse folk as actor Rainn Wilson, artist Kianga Ford, writer Barry Yourgrau, and fashion designers Kate and Laura Mulleavy of Rodart. The audience for this writing experiment, of course, must pay their own phone company's text message charges, as appropriate, and the museum is promising to keep private their shared contactables. They can text “LACMA” to 67553 to receive weekly text-message links to each new installation of the project.

An artistic experiment in mobile narratives, essays spreads to Southland

A 'Salon' explanation of the 'keitai shosetsu' or 'thumb novel'

Yet more for weekend: a tomato give-away, hootenanny

From LACMA

Well, the mind got a little ahead of the calendar yesterday but the previous posting about all the things to do on the third weekend of May, 2010, still holds, but here's one more quick add: The creative folks on Wilshire Boulevard, of course, have put on a running program that combines art, food, culture and politics and that is supposed to unfold seasonally. So the latest item on the menu for the 'Fallen Fruit Presents EATLACMA will be Saturday, when, pending availability and by presenting a down-loadable form, members of the public can square dance, learn more about Radiator Charlie, Triple Chicken Foot, Mortgage Lifters -- and, of course,  'adopt' free tomato plant seedlings in special artistic  pots (as shown at right) at a 'Tomato Hootenanny.' . 

What do online art aficionados want? More images

From LACMA & the Getty

A constant concern for anyone who proffers online content always goes to just this: Who's out there and what do they really want? For the creative bloggers over on Wilshire Boulevard, a recent survey provided some interesting answers -- and a nifty, continuing response. Those who turn to the county museum's web site and blog weren't looking most for concrete, nitty-gritty stuff like hours, location and admission fees. They really wanted to see more art. Well, OK, then. So the online curators responded to the clamor and they've put up 800 more images of items in the institution's collections organized in interesting thematic ways and they've created a new landing page to access this broader sampling. Cultural institutions across Southern California, of course, all have raced to soup up their online presentations, in part as part of a big recent push with funding from the Getty. (Check out any of the places, for example, that this blog tries to pay some attention to.) And speaking of the folks up on the hill, they have put up one, small and pretty cool multimedia look at a piece that curators say sought, in historic terms, to create its own little gallery-like experience.

County cyber curators respond to clamor by posting hundreds of new views of collection

A contemporary consideration of how tiny cabinet seeks to create museum experience

Click here, scroll down to take multimedia spin of 'Cabinet of Wonders' 

Melons, ladybugs, butterflies: signs of LA spring

From LACMA, the Getty & the Natural History Museum

Bitter and sweet melons. Ladybugs and aphids. Butterflies and other bugs. Sure, though that patch out behind a certain Foothills house has more weeds than anything else, the recent slacking rains and warming, sunny days affirm the presence of a Los Angeles spring and have produced a trio of seasonal activities worth taking in. Over near La Brea, they're continuing their fruitiness, going out of their gourds with some elaborate constructions for planting and supporting melons, bitter and sweet. While the supportive framing structures have their own aesthetic, there's an underlying artistic line taking root under those elaborate rising trellises. Meantime, over at the gorgeous gardens on that grand Westside slope, the caretakers are sowing the area with ladybugs (as shown above, right) to protect the jacarandas and azaleas from aphids. Look for the showy blossoms that will result. And if the kid or grandkid can't quite figure what critters are flitting about the family patch, well, take wing over to Exposition Park for either the 40-specie butterfly exhibit that is open now and stays up for a few months each year or plan now for the upcoming, two-day Bug Fair.

An artistic notion takes root under elaborate trellises 

Shooing those voracious aphids away from jacarandas, azaeleas

Seasonal, 40-specie butterfly exhibit takes wing

Go buggy at two-day, annual insect fair

On arts: a 45th birthday, departmental angst

From LACMA & Chapman University

Just a midweek pause to pay a little attention to the arts, notably the 45th birthday of the mid-city cultural force and the rumblings down south about changes in a school's art study offerings. With all the changes that have occurred over the years, and with many more afoot at LACMA, it's a bracing reminder to take in the county museum's blog posting about the 1965 inauguration of the William Pereira-designed buildings and campus, and in particular, to see the soigne set depicted at the place's debut. Meantime, in Orange, the school's public information blog is giving a sense of just how high sentiments are running about even preliminary discussions of the fate of the art department. Administrators say they're studying its future, where it fits in various existing college and whether enrollments, particularly in studio art as opposed to graphic design, offer any indicators for potential next steps.

Photo: fur de rigeur at '65 debut of museum's new campus / LACMA

Bracing look back as county art museum turns 45

In Orange, heat as talks launch on future of art department  

What happened to those give-away fruit trees?

From LACMA

While civic, academic, artistic and other initiatives may come and go, their patrons aren't always as good as they could be about explaining what happened with them. So kudos to the folks at the museum for a fun follow-up to their interesting participation with a Silverlake art collective in helping to better city life by giving away fruit trees for planting in public spaces or in publicly accessible places such as the perimeters of private property. There are stories, easy, touching and well told and a nice link, too, to the fun Saving the Season blog posting on Southern California citrus by Kevin West, who writes about canning and making jam.

Photo: In San Pedro, Agata Gotfryd got planting help from her niece / LACMA

Tales of the city take root with planting of citrus trees in civic project