Heidi Duckler Dances Into 39th Year in the Light of the Harvest Moon

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With immersive magic, Heidi Duckler Dance celebrated its 39th year with a site specific dance perfomance and gala last Saturday with signature impressive original style.

The excitingly innovative dance company is known for site-specific perfromances, and this one, held the the Frank Gehry-designed outdoor space of the Loyola Law School Campus, was stunning. The performance, Dance in the Light of the Harvest Moon was an hour long extravaganza of swirling and galvanizing dance.

 

Featuring live saxophone and cello, dancers in stunning fish head costumes wove from plaza area to ascending stairwells, parking garage ramps, and beside a spectacularly lit purple and green tree. Why fish? Renowned architecht Gehry was known to love fish, and the campus was designed, Gehry himself as said, as a kind of stage set,  “…a little village of buildings around a main plaza…with character and diverse structures.” The buildings served here as a contained aquarium of sorts, aswim with lights, music, and dancers who moved, literally and figuratively “upstream” and circled vibrantly hued buildings.

Along with Duckler’s innovative hand overseeing all,  Madison Olandt, and Aleks Perez choreographed and directed. The
original collaborative piece School of Fish, created by transdisciplinary choreographer Shoji Yamasaki, was a highlight. Skilled visual artist and costume designer Snezana Saraswatic Petrovic created stunning costumes for the event, creating fish heads from plastic zip ties for the dancers, and dressing them in shiny, supple scaly-gloves, fabrics, and sparkly shoes. Costumes, music, and sinuous, ecstatic dance moves all combined with super views of the DTLA skyline for an ecstatic night of dance.

Audience members were treated to charcuterie platters and cocktails, a gala awards ceremony at which Duckler introduced her successsor as artistic director for coming years, Raymond Ejiofor, preceding the dance performance.

The performance moved from plaza to outdoor stairs, from ghostly figures in a kind of underworld to fish-head shimmring swimmers, goddess Diana-like huntresses under illuminated trees, and a final multi-level work that had audience members following the fish-head-wearing dancers up five levels of the school’s parking garage, with costumed saxophonist and bubble machines a part of the delightful finale.

That final piece ended on the rooftop amid the shimmering downtown lights with a silent auction, live band, and buffet tables.  With audience members makng their way home at last to dream of dancing fish and moonlight seranades.

 

  • Genie Davis; photos by Genie Davis and Jack Burke

 

PST ART Arrives With a Spectacular Bang in WE ARE

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A real wow official opening for PST Art splashed across the sky early Sunday evening with a major event at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum by globally renowned artist Cai Guo-Qiang and his custom AI model cAI™ commissioned and presented by Getty in collaboration with the University of Southern California.

WE ARE was experienced by only 5,000 guests positioned directly on the stadium’s astroturf to witness what Cai calls “daytime fireworks.”  As a note, the stadium typical holds over 77,000 guests.

The unique artwork uses organic, sustainable pigments and dyes rather than traditional pyrotechnics. The roughly half-hour long program, conducted live by Cai, debuted the first expansive daytime firework event featuring a drone formation equipped with pyrotechnic products ever in the U.S.

WE ARE presented nearly ten thousand twinkling mini firework shells installed throughout the Coliseum seating, custom-developed daytime fireworks, and choreographed drones carrying pyrotechnic products. When the drones arrived, multiple nearby viewers began to hum some sections of the Star Wars score.

The paints and pyros created a sky that temporarily at least evoked abstract watercolor paintings, igniting the sky with images of myth and humanity and drawing parallels to Prometheus’s theft of fire from the gods.

In two separate displays, the official Los Angeles flower, the bird of paradise, played a key part. There was an explosive dragon circling the stands, sparkling and booming loudly for the finale. Drones spelled out “We Are” with sparkles, and poetic electronic billboards offered the titles of five separate art sections along with resonant stories about them.

Cai Guo-Qiang asks “Is humanity’s creation of AI akin to the theft of fire and an attempt to steal the ‘heavenly secret’ with AI? …I hope WE ARE will stand as a grand gesture of the art world integrating the virtual with the real in the era of AI, and also as a powerful voice and decisive action in these turbulent times.”

It certainly integrates a vast created beauty with the natural wonder of the sky, drawing awed responses and cheers as each vibrant, dreamy, surreal, and lush element of the performance unfolded.

It was a brilliant, one-of-a-kind experience.

  • Genie Davis; images by Genie Davis and Jack Burke

 

Nomad and Tryst — The Ultimate Art Shows

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Fantastically diverse, filled with amazing original art, brilliant in concept, and packed with simply cool stuff to experience – that’s the alternative art fair/pop-up art exhibit extravaganza of Nomad and Tryst, presented under the auspices of the Torrance Art Museum and the City of Torrance,  held at the mostly-empty space of Del Amo Crossing in Torrance, Calif. in mid-August.

Always a phenomenal experience, NOMAD was back for the third year, and TRYST for its second.

NOMAD (images above) took over all of the 5th floor and half the second this year, celebrating exhibits by Southern California Artists in a vast array of mediums from neon to sculpture to paintings and photography, as well as installations and even live slight of hand. Thes non-commercial exhibition showcased work from over 150 artists from Southern California and beyond, in an environment of creativity and collaboration.

TRYST, which packed the entire third floor of Del Amo Crossing with inventive and experiential art, is an international alternative art fair for artist-run spaces and initiatives, and as such, provides global exposure and fosters artistic exchange. Over the course of a week, participants exhibit their artists, share ideas, and explore Southern California’s art scene. On view was performance art,  painting, sculpture, photography, video art, installation, and immersive spaces.

Among my favorites was this fabulous performance art work, which encompassed two floors and provided a gold painted and preserved “baguette” souvenir as part of its recreation of a Romanian bread-line experience in the 1980s. The creators represented ETAJ Gallery, above.

Another favorite was closer to home: for Wonzimer Gallery, Snezana Saraswati Petrovic and Alison Woods created a massive installation of box cut-out peep shows featuring a wide range of Southern California artists with a dazzling range of miniature works.

Also memorable were cool gallery spaces from Durden and Ray, celebrating the City of Angels; from Tiger Strikes Astroid turning everything golden yellow; immersive and exciting paranormal-infused performance art from Noysky Projects; an hilarious public swimming pool from Hyperlink Gallery in Denver; a recreation of life at the Poor Farm by the nHnT Collective.

TRYST participants overall included:
Visiting Collectives: AAC Platform (Italy), After Time (Portland, OR), Art Center of Social Studies (Armenia), ARTSPACEMEXICO (Mexico), Available Art Space Projects (Las Vegas, NV), DE BOUWPUT (The Netherlands), Dinghy Rig (Fort Collins, CO), Eitoeiko (Japan), El Quinto Piso (Mexico), ETAJ (Romania), Gallery 70 (Albania), Hyperlink (Colorado), iBiennaleX (Hawaii), INSTYTUT AVTOMATYKY (Ukraine), ISG (Norway), MinEastry of Postcollapse Art and Culture (Switzerland), nHnT (Chicago, IL), Open O’pen$ (Ukraine), Our Neon Foe (Australia), Proyectos Raul Zamudio (New York, NY), PRP Project Space (Dallas, TX), SFAA (Chicago, IL), Small Projects (Norway), The Black Piglet (Mexico), Utopian Mega Project (Midwest), Vorderzimmer (Brooklyn, NY).
California-based Collectives: 515, 3C Gallery Collective, A&T Gallery, Art in Room, Artbug, Artdrop, AWOL, Crear Studio Gallery, DMST Atelier, Dorado 806 Projects, Durden and Ray, Erect Walls, Flux Art Space, IDOLWILD, JAUS, Junior High LA, Korean American Artist Collective, Landmarks of Art (LOA), MAARLA, Mercury 20 Gallery, The Middle Room, Monte Vista Projects, Nous Ance, Noysky Projects, OCCCA (Orange County Center for Contemporary Art), OFFUS, Portuguese Bend Projects, Prospect Art, Proxy Gallery, Quiet Please, Ruth Gallery, S-Gallery, Shockboxx, Tiger Strikes Asteroid, Toy Bin Art, UOOORS, ViCA (Venice Institute of Contemporary Art), Winslow Garage, Wonzimer, Young Projects.

Enjoy the photographic chronicle of this grand, three-day art exhibition, and find yourself if you were there. If you were not – don’t miss partaking in this gift of art the next time it’s presented. And yes, there are hundreds of other images, already shared on Facebook and Instagram that uploading simply couldn’t handle this time around!

  • Genie Davis; Photos by Genie Davis

January Arts is About to Launch Exciting New Platform

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You may know Kristine Schomaker as the creator of Shoebox Arts, an inclusive arts community that includes Shoebox Projects exhibitions,  mentoring artists throughout Southern California and beyond, and Art and Cake,  digital publication you’ve likely read along with DiversionsLA.

Now Schomaker has begun a joyous new project for her, January Arts, a nonprofit she originally conceived of in 2018,  and is bringing to fruition now, with a launch party that includes a small works fundraiser this Sunday, August 18th at the Moonhuts in Los Angeles from 3-6 p.m.

The nonprofit will serve as a hub, a facilitator, a connector, an introduction to the art world—the place where any artist can find mentorship, professional development, exhibition opportunities, critique groups, professional speakers, workshops, tools, and more.

As Schomaker says “The world is in a wonky place right now, but I knew I could help artists keep going: I’m a good cheerleader, advocate, and facilitator. While I’ve been doing this work for a decade through Shoebox, I’ve been itching to reach a wider audience. Now, through the tax-deductible nonprofit, we can apply for grants and fundraise to bring more support to creatives; with January Arts, I’m better positioned to offer my experience, knowledge, and passion to those who wouldn’t otherwise have access to support.”

She visualizes Shoebox “evolving into the more holistic platform that is January Arts. I am excited about January Arts being a hub of artist resources, where artists from all over can find whatever help they need.” Her board members were culled form diverse backgrounds in business, journalism, artist support, technology, and finance, among others.

Schomaker, left with board president Ellen Friedlander

She stresses that she wants “January Arts to be a platform where artists can find community, learn to network, and achieve their goals, whatever they may be. I also want it to be a place where any artist–regardless of career level–can realize that there are opportunities available to them. We know how hard it is to be a creative: trying to be vulnerable and put yourself out there can be an emotional rollercoaster. We want artists to know that they aren’t alone. Their story is our story. I also want January Arts to bridge the gap between artists and their needs, both material and otherwise: We have resources for graphic design, printing, framing, shipping, taxes, workshops, classes, art supplies, self-care, organization platforms, mentorship and more.”

According to Schomaker, “Once we have a bit of history under our belts, we will be applying for grants. The Launch party will feature a small works exhibition where all work is $100. We are also accepting donations on our website www.januaryarts.org. All donations are tax deductible. Fundraising will be key to providing unencumbered support to all artists.”

January Arts will officially launch on September 1st. “When you sign up through our artist membership, you have access to an abundance of benefits, including group zoom meetings three times a week: on Mondays we hold open forum Q&As; on Wednesdays we hold a book club; on Thursdays we hold co-working sessions where we all log in and work separately, using the energy of the group to finish the work we’ve been procrastinating on. We also hold a monthly meeting where we bring in an art world speaker. In the past we have had art writers, gallerists, curators, well-known artists, consultants and other guests,” Schomaker says. “Coming up we have someone talking about different technology that is available to artists to make their lives easier, as well as someone talking about licensing. Once a month, we also hold a zoom critique group. Each artist gets 10-15 minutes to share their work/projects and get feedback.” Additionally, she says “We have in person meet-ups at museums and galleries, too. Ongoing benefits include a call for artist list, an artist registry on the website, a private Facebook group, social media PR and more. Artists can check out our services as well as testimonials and FAQ on our website, www.januaryarts.org Artists can pay monthly, every 6 months or every year. We have been able to keep the fees lower due to donations and fundraising.”

The indefatigable Schomaker describes January Arts as “a passion project. It is a culmination of so many ideas coming together to continue supporting artists. In the future, we look forward to more collaborations with organizations and institutions. We look forward to expanding Art and Cake and bringing in art writer fellowships. We want to do more workshops with emerging artists and students. ”

And, she still dreams of starting an artist residency outside of the city, hoping to travel and share available opportunities with artists everywhere. “The internet and social media have opened up so many opportunities to artists, but it is still overwhelming. We want to be able to help artists navigate their individual path. We believe there is no linear or predetermined path for artists,” she attests.

January Arts Fundraiser August 18th 3-6pm
MoonHuts
5320 Valley Blvd LA CA 90032
https://www.moonhuts.com/
Catered by @district5kitchen
Small works exhibition, fundraiser, silent auction and more…

For more information,  visit:

January Arts Small Works Exhibition
https://www.januaryarts.org/post/off-the-wall-small-works-fundraiser

January Arts Website
https://www.januaryarts.org/

  • Genie Davis; images provided by fundraiser artists and Kristine Schomaker