Many of the artists created works especially for the show, whose theme, naturally enough, is birds. Contributing artists include:
Noah Saterstrom, Eve Wood, Lena Wolek, Joe Wolek, Anna Stump,Cherie Benner Davis, Cynthia Minet, Greg Rose, Siobhan McClure, Lena Moross, Becky Stafford, Collin Stafford, Bibi Davidson, Christian Kasperovitz, Lori Pond, Eva Ryan, Sam Smith, Malka Nedivi, Sylviana Gallini, and Sabina Rose Derick.
According to curator Mishelle Moross, the show’s inspiration came from artist Anna Stump. Stump relates “Artist Lena Moross saw my ‘Bird Terrarium’ paintings at the Brewery Artwalk last fall, which inspired her and curator Mishelle to produce a bird-themed exhibition at Muzeumm.” Stump’s work, above, creates a three-dimensional impression of birds barely contained, freedom and constraint, and a pull to motion.
Artist Malka Nedivi, above, gives viewers a wild and wonderful mythological bird. A painter, sculptor, and collage artist, Nedivi says that all of her work is inspired by her mother, and both her parents’ previously unknown past as Holocaust survivors. Nedivi’s work uses a great deal of wood and fabric.
Collin and Becky Stafford’s monumental bird costume above also appeared in a video installation accompanying it. See the video at: https://vimeo.com/album/3660210
The rich, warm colors of Bibi Davidson’s works, above heightened the whimsical, fairy-tale quality of the artist’s contributions to the show.
Born in Tel Aviv, Davidson creates not just compelling color, but an entire world with recurring characters, amusing narratives, and mysterious glimpses of the interlocking worlds of childhood wonder and adult insight.
Curator Mishelle Moross contributed her own piece to the exhibition, the towering gold Birdhouse, above.
Eva Ryan’s riveting and haunting pieces above are examples of the artist’s blissful obsession with birds. In many cases, birds appear as a stand-in for human longing, emotion, and self-recognition in Ryan’s work.
Below, Lena Wolek’s exquisitely detailed ceramic installation City Bird- in Life, can be disassembled for purchase, with each stunning cup a steal at $40 each.
Lena Moross created the pieces below solely for this exhibition, inspired by her own somewhat chaotic feelings about being a young grandmother as well as a wife, mother, and artist. “I sometimes feel like a headless burning chicken, so that is what I created in my art for this show.” She was also inspired by the twinned ideas of birds and rebirth from Russian folk tales and the writings of Vladimir Nabokov, she attests. 
Below, curator Mishelle Moross with her mother, artist Lena Moross, looking not in the least like a headless chicken.
Lena Moross took us on a tour of her studio adjacent to the gallery, for a look at a new series of works. Here, the influence of bird imagery still stands – there is the feeling that the woman could, if only she had wings, fly from the wall.
Lena Moross with her vibrant birds.
A darker look at creatures of flight rises from Lori Pond’s photograph of a taxidermied bird. Pond uses both the camera itself and her post-processing tools to paint a full range of images and emotions through color, light, movement, and texture.
Above, Cynthia Minet’s soaring eagles dance. Below, the work of Noah Saterstrom, which creates its own avian mythology.
Artist Eve Wood, below, is an inveterate bird lover, and her birds appear to share space with their humans through grace.
Below, Cherie Benner Davis stands beside painting she created for the show. “It was nice to have someone give me an assignment and I could get creative with it,” Davis says. Primarily an oil painter who combines flat abstraction with highly representational imagery, Davis’s bright birds appear to be in conversation with the viewer. 
The show runs through January 31st, and 40% of the exhibition’s proceeds will be donated to the Audubon Society at Debs Park. Go to support flights of all kinds – from that of feathered friends to the flights of fancy and wonder depicted in this terrific gallery.
MuzeuMM is located at 4817 West Adams Blvd. in Los Angeles, and is open from 11-5 M/F or by appointment on the weekend. Contact Name: Mishelle Moross, curator at 323-979-3136. www.muzeumm.com
- Genie Davis; ALL PHOTOS – Jack Burke; Anna Stump courtesy of ShoeboxPR