Want to Just Sail Away?

Posted on by Diversions LA

Almost everyone finds getting out on the water an alluring idea. Whether it’s a leisurely sail, a fast ride on a jet ski or motorboat, or a luxurious cruise on a yacht, floating fun doesn’t have to be just an idea anymore.

GetMyBoat has established a mission to make the joy of boating accessible to amateur sailors and fishing fanatics alike, becoming the number-one app for both boat rentals and charters. Calling the company the “Airbnb of Boats,” company rep Val Streif says, “While boating in Los Angeles is often considered an exclusive experience, you can find yacht charters at affordable prices on GetMyBoat.”

In short, if you’re looking for a captained experience or a rental you can float yourself, the company works simply by allowing customers to connect directly to boat owners and captains and then book a secure cruise online.

Boating experiences are available at Marina del Rey, Newport Beach, Redondo Beach, and Long Beach among other locations. In fact, if you’re going out of town on vacation, many destinations with a waterfront location are a part of GetMyBoat’s rental map.


From a relaxing afternoon sailing around Balboa Island to a celebration with a group of friends, pretty much any on-the-water experience is possible. There are options such as a zero-emissions electric boat, a Duffy boat perfect for an afternoon gathering in the Marina, making the perfect setting for a birthday or anniversary. Seating as many as six passengers, the boat has a shady full canopy and offers a relaxing 5 m.p.h. sail.

If seeing nature up-close is more what you’re after, there are a bevy of whale watching tours available, including a luxurious 38-foot yacht complete with an experienced captain. Offering a sail off Dana Point in Southern Orange County, passengers will get the chance to cruise near dolphins and whales. Plus, they can enjoy two staterooms, two bathrooms, an enclosed bridge, and an open–air aft deck, as well as complimentary triple fudge brownies.

There’s a classic wooden cruising boat available along with hercaptain in Huntington Beach, holding up to 12 passengers. A wide range of wind-powered sailing charters are also available, including a gorgeous schooner with red sails launching from Newport Harbor. You can even have a lesson on handling the tiller yourself. Or perhaps you’re into a faster ride: if so, you could take a spin on a Chapparal Powerboat with a 25-foot deck, capable of carrying 9 passengers including the boat’s captain, right out of Marina del Rey.

In short, whether you’re looking for a relaxing seafaring afternoon or a terrific setting for a celebration on the water, booking a boat experience has never been so easy. GetMyBoat offers a simple and safe solution to securing your own ultimate water experience.

There’s nothing like the fresh sea air, the cry of gulls and cormorants, and the soothing sound of those ocean waves. Get ready to relax on a serene sail or for an afternoon of summer fun while zipping around the harbor on a jet ski. Whatever water experience you’re looking for, GetMyBoat is the place to turn for sensibly priced rental experiences by the hour or day. Some renters can even offer overnight water adventures.

So, if it’s time to say “Ahoy, matey” and get onboard with some ocean-going quality time, check out the wide range of SoCal rentals available and “sail away, sail away, sail away.”

– Genie Davis; photos by Get My Boat

A Mighty, Major World of Miniature Art

Posted on by Diversions LA

Everyone’s talking about Barbie House, the new giant playhouse for hot-pink loving adults. But there’s a far more rewarding and diminutive doll-house-like experience in Los Angeles – one anyone who loves art should experience and enjoy.

That is the world created by artist Kate Carvellas, a fabulous mixed media artist in her own right, who has created a miniature art wonderland in her brilliant, exquisitely detailed, tiny handcrafted French art gallery.

In short, Carvellas’ Exposition D’Art Miniature: Deux, is created to 1/12th scale perfection from its gallery front desk with flowers and art books to its pristine staircases and hardwood floors.

Note the baseball added in by the show’s creator for scale reference, below.

One wishes to shrink to Lilliputian size to wander this beautifully curated gallery exhibition of miniature artworks from over 70 Los Angeles-based artists including sculptural and painted work by Carvellas herself.

The miniature art gallery is said to be located “in the heart of Paris” rather than its creator’s Pasadena yard, and if you spend enough time peering into its rooms and garden, you’ll feel transported.

The backstory Carvellas has delightfully spun is that of an Expat American artist who inherited the French farmhouse in 2020 from a “long lost Uncle, and then purchased and converted two row homes in the heart of Paris into an art gallery.”

Once completed – and Carvellas led her many art fans through the building process, including charming inspections made by her cat, she invited her artist friends to be a part of the gallery’s inaugural art exhibit.

Miniature artworks are created in a variety of mediums in each artist’s often recognizable and exciting style including paintings, mixed media, sculpture, assemblage and print.  The artists participating in the exhibit  include:

A. Laura Brody

Ada Pullini Brown

Adeola Davies-Aiyeloja

Alyson Souza

Anna Stump

Annie Clavel

Beth Elliott

Bibi Davidson

Cammie Jones

Clare Gwin Holzer

Dean Larson

Debbi Swanson Patrick

Dellis Frank

Diane Cockerill

Dori Atlantis

Doug Alvarez

Dwora Fried

Edwin Vasquez

Faina Kumpan

Frederika Beesemyer Roeder

Gay Summer Sadow Rick

Heather Lowe

Jane Szabo

Janet Millhoume

Jennifer Griffiths

Jill Sykes

Jodi Bonassi

Judi Delgado

Karen Hochman Brown

Karen Ruth Karlsson

Karen Schifman

Karena Massengill

Kate Carvellas

Kathryn Pitt

Kerrie Smith

Kira Vollman

L. Aviva Diamond

Laura Larson

Leigh Salgado

Lina Kogan

Linda G. Illumanardi

Liz Huston

Lizzie Harding Wilkins

Lynn Heinz

Marta Feinstein

Marthe Aponte

Mary Jo Varney

Maureen Van Leeuwen Haldeman

Melinda R. Smith

Melissa Reichman

Michelle Robinson

Mike Street

Monica Marks Rickler

Nancy Crecelius Mooslin

Nancy Kay Turner

Nancy Larrew

Nurit Avesar

Pascaline Doucin Dahlke

Peggy Jo Sivert

Richard Bruland

Robyn Alatorre

Rouzanna Berberian

Sabine Meyer Zu Reckendorf

Sophia Batsford Tise

Stacey Rasfeld

Stephanie Sydney

Stevie Love

Sue Martine Tompkins

Susan Feldman Tucker

Suzanne Gibson

Tamara Porter Tolkin

Ted Meyer

Terri Berman

Valerie Daval

Zoe Topsfield

It would be hard to overstate the compulsive charm and resonant effectiveness of the exhibition, which spins a lovely and lovingly realized story along with the rare chance to view so many simply fabulous SoCal artists in one terrific group show.



From the brilliant colors of Stevie Love’s textural work and the miniature dioramas of Dwora Fried to the garden sculptures of Beth Elliott and Sabine Meyer Zu Reckendorf, the photographic imagery of Diane Cockerill, magnificent birds by Jodi Bonassi, and the delicate abstracts of Nurit Avesar, this is a feast for the senses and a pure triumph of community spirit, joyously good art, and of the imagination, for Carvellas and all the artists exhibiting. Such a wide variety of work, and all of it as exhilarating as it is, well, small.

The exhibition will be closing June 18th. For more information or to come view the works, reach out to the curator and creator at artbykcarvellas@yahoo.com.

Even Barbie is promising to attend.

  • Genie Davis, photos: Kate Carvellas and Genie Davis 

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Angels Gate Cultural Center – Notions of Place and Mingle Mangle

Posted on by Diversions LA
Flora Kao’s large scale rubbing and ceramic vase in Notions of Place

Experiential and involving, both Notions of Place, upstairs at Angels Gate, and Mingle Mangle, in the first floor gallery, provide a wide range of interesting art in separate, smart group shows.

MINGLE MANGLE is a part of SoundPedro, and as such, the Angels Gate studio artists exhibited in this this show are responding to concepts of sound. If you’ve ever walked through a gallery and felt as if you could “hear” the art – well, in this case, you actually do. As curated by FLOOD, works include a terrific video piece by Phoebe Barnum, mixing drawings with photographic images; Beth Elliott’s fascinating “Lifeboat the Wedding,” a mixed media sculpture that floats from ceiling to ground and includes palm leaf, bannana leaf, and a repurposed wedding gown found by Barnum in an alley and given to Elliott. Ann Weber shows a geometric cardboard sculpture as conjoined as a pretzel and reminiscent of coral, Ashton Phillips offers an plastic cushion and suspended skylight installation that glows violet and magenta set to audio of mealworms digesting sytrofoam. Viewers are invited into the space to participate simply by being there. Also terrific are works by Lowell Nickel, Susan Rawcliffe, Ed Maloney, Bill Faecke, and Tim Maxeiner. Maxeiner’s lush “Blue Noise” is both mysterious and captivating. It’s a terrific show that reverberates with sound and color.

Upstairs, Notions of Place, curated by Lauren Kasmer, examines community, societal divisions, and each artist’s views ofwhat makes up a home or pertinent place in their lives. It has a dream-like quality that keeps the viewer moving with a sense of wonder through the exhibition that features works by Kasmer as well as from Hilary Baker, Joyce Dallal, Natalie M. Godinez, Kio Griffith, Flora Kao, LaRissa Rogers, Jenny Yurshansky, and HK Zamani. An ongoing participatory work,  Homesĭtē, from Joyce Dallal and Lauren Kasmer creates a series of open sides apartment-like structures that reflect on the residences and residents of the city. Examining each small cubby-like exposed interior is absorbing and awakening to the diversity and complexities, the frailties, and dreams of our lives.

Each work is quite wonderful, from Griffith’s enigmatic, spiritual video to Kao’s large-scale, gorgeous rubbing of the rocks along White Point Beach in San Pedro. Kasmer’s physically involving living room setting and video art, Zamani’s mix of the painterly and the sculptural form, and Baker’s lovely, intimate small circles depicting flora and fauna and architecture, are each special and unique, as is the sense of poignancy, beauty, and purpose each of the artists create in the space. Shaping home and hope has a different meaning for each artist, and for viewers to carry with them to their own personal points of refuge.

Notions of Place and Mingle Mangle will both be exhibited through June 17th. Don’t miss.

  • Genie Davis; photos by Genie Davis

 

 

And the Winner Is…Mammoth Lakes Film Festival 2023

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Festival program director Paul Sbrizzi with fest director and founder Shira Dubrovner, above “This year’s festival was a testament to the importance of an event that creates community and support for personal, innovative filmmaking…” Sbrizzi added “We consciously seek out the kind of bold filmmaking that deserves a showcase.”

So, who won? Let’s take a look:

U.S Narravie GRAND JURY PRIZE WINNER – Unicorn Boy (USA) – When a heartbroken young artist is sucked into a unicorn-run alternate dimension, they must help conquer a dark force in order to bring peace to the kingdom and themselves. Directed and written by Matt Kiel.

U.S. Narrative AUDIENCE AWARD WINNER – Love Dump (USA) – Trash-filled love ensues when a quirky antique shop owner searches for her missing father and falls for a determined dog lawyer along the way. Directed by Jason Avezzano and written by Leila Gorstein and Jesse Kendall.  

International Narrative GRAND JURY PRIZE, AND AUDIENCE AWARD WINNER – Where the Road Leads  (Serbia) – A stranger arrives in an isolated village and the locals suspect his involvement in constructing a highway nearby; their intolerance gradually builds to open conflict. Jana falls in love with him and sees the danger; she’s the only one who can save him. Directed and written by Nina Ognjanović.

U.S. Documentary Feature 

GRAND JURY PRIZE WINNER – A Still Small Voice (USA) – An aspiring hospital chaplain begins a yearlong residency in spiritual care, only to discover that to successfully tend to her patients, she must look deep within herself. Directed by Luke Lorentzen. West Coast Premiere 

BRAVERY AWARD WINNER – Mississippi River Styx (USA) – An enigmatic drifter with terminal cancer lives his dream of floating down the Mississippi River on a ramshackle houseboat — until locals start to question his story. Directed by Tim Grant & Andy McMillan.

AUDIENCE AWARD WINNER – Name of the Game (USA) – The untold story of black male exotic dancing in south Los Angeles and how it intersects with the origins of hip hop, gang culture, and kung fu assassins. Directed by William Forbes and Douglas Skinner.

International Feature Documentary 

AUDIENCE AWARD WINNER – Naked Israel (Israel) – Interviewees are exposed both physically and mentally in this irreverent look at Israeli masculinity, through a series of interviews with men from a broad range of ages and backgrounds. Directed by Ines Moldavsky. World Premiere

GRAND JURY PRIZE – To Kill a Tiger (India) – Ranjit takes on the fight of his life when he seeks justice for his 13-year old daughter, the victim of a gang rape. Directed by Nisha Kumari Pahuja.

Screenplay, Shorts, and Music Videos 

Best Screenplay: “Field of Weeds” by Kelly Jean Karam. 

Best Narrative Short: “Play This At My Funeral,” directed by Ray Smiling.

Honorable Mention: “Filling Holes,” directed by Miriam Gabriel and Sophia de Baun.

Best International Narrative Short:

“Sanaa, Seductress of Strangers,” directed by Jan Eilhardt.

Honorable Mention: “Summer Rain,” directed by Shao Lin. 

Best Documentary Short: “A Throwing Forth,” directed by Xiao Zhang.

Honorable Mention: “Let Me Take You Home” directed by Evelyn Hang Yin. 

Best Animation Short: “Our Pain,” directed by Shunsaku Hayashi.

Honorable Mention to “La Última Historia (The Last Story),” directed by Vicente Molina Pardo. 

Best Music Video: “Under No Nation” by Goat, directed by John Mark Lapham.

Honorable Mention to “Funeral Solution” by Osees, directed by Logan Feser.

Special Mention to “Rakiya Su Katamam” by Altin Gün, directed by Sylvain Rusques and Simon Moreaux.

But ultimately the biggest winners are the filmmakers and audience members attending MLFF 2023. 

For information on the 10th annual festival taking place 05/22/2024 – 05/26/2024, visit www.MammothLakesFilmFestival.com.

  • Genie Davis; photos courtesy of the festival’s Dori Myers; and photos by Jack Burke