Matthias Merkel Hess at Las Cienegas Projects until 10/2

Devil's Tower has officially become an LA Monument, at least for a little while, until the clay dries in the exhibition of Matthias Merkel Hess' new work, which comes down on October 2nd at Las Cienegas Projects. The notion of recreating an iconic natural wonder (the original is located in Wyoming) in an urban setting, even in a gallery, is a novel one. Hess, who is the creator of the EcoArtBlog and editor/publisher of Mammut magazine, which he launched in 2008, is also a recent MFA graduate from UCLA (and undergraduate in Journalism and Environmental Sciences). For his first solo show in a LA gallery, he has chosen to combine his interest in art and ecology with his love of clay, in a brillant "outpost" installation where visitors can purchase handmade postcards, paperweights and miniature color glazed clay replicas of Devil's Tower, all under $20 each. Wall posters are original works of art and go for a lot more, but still under $1,000. If you cannot afford to go to Wyoming to see the real Devil's Tower, it is highly suggested you head on over to La Cienega near the 10 Fwy and catch a glimpse of Hess' handmade wonder ASAP.

MAKE:CRAFT at the Ben Maltz Gallery opens Oct. 2nd

Ben Maltz Gallery
Otis College of Art and Design
October 2 - December 4, 2010

Kim Abeles, Jonah Brucker-Cohen, Frau Fiber, Garnet Hertz, Justseeds Artists’ Cooperative, Seth Kinmont, Liza Lou, David Prince, Mark Newport, Alyce Santoro, Shada/Jahn (Steve Shada and Marisa Jahn), Eddo Stern.

Inspired by the cultural currents represented in the popular magazines MAKE and CRAFT published out of Northern California, MAKE:CRAFT includes contemporary artists who combine handmaking and building techniques to create, engineer and hack unique, mostly functional devices, objects, machines and accessories; making either a sociopolitical statement, creating new markets for individual styled products, or creating inventive ways to experience the tactile world, non-virtual, the “real.”

The exhibition is guest curated by Patricia Watts, founder and west coast curator of ecoartspace, who feels that recent trends in the DIY (Do-It-Yourself) movement of making and crafting have empowered contemporary artists and designers to create more socially relevant work that supports sustainable communities.

Go to the Maker blog HERE

Go to MAKE:CRAFT Facebook page HERE

A High Desert Test Sites Lecture & Workshop Series

Saturday May 1st-Sunday May 2nd 2010

2-Day Workshop in Joshua Tree, 12 students, $120 fee

The New Everyday Live is an endeavor designed to both stimulate conversation and catalyze action by considering overlap between contemporary art and craft, sustainable living, survival skills, ecology and earth science, and cultural variation. Each participant in The New Everyday Life will leave with a new set of skills and inspirations, after intimately experiencing the Mojave desert’s unique context for life and living.

Only a few spots left as of 4/21. Email info.hdts@gmail.com

For more information go to: http://www.highdeserttestsites.com

World Water Day LA at Natural HIstory Museum

This Sunday at the Natural History Museum in Los Angeles you will find a day long program of water and sustainability education. It is a non plastic event (however they are providing paper cups - which someone will need to talk with them about). I'm sure it will be a good turnout. It is always fun to go to events like these and educate the educators on how it could be even more GREEN.

Don't miss the Water Justice Forum at 1:30pm where speakers will discuss water challenges for Los Angeles from the Southern California Watershed Alliance, Arroyos and Foothills Conservancy, Los Angeles & San Gabriel Rivers Watershed Council, and Urban Semillas.

LA Urban Rangers final tours of Malibu Beaches 2/27

The LA Urban Rangers are wrapping up a three year Malibu Project to celebrate public beaches one last time. They are offering three mini-safari's at 11am, 1pm and 3pm on Saturday, February 27th. No sign up and all are welcome to come along!

These tours are meant to share how to access these beaches peacefully, legally, safely and respectfully.

Gadget OK! Symposium and Exhibition at UCLA Broad Art Center

Gadget or device art is a great tool for ecovisualization. This is an interesting symposium happening Feb. 18 & 19th at UC Los Angeles. Gadget OK! (also an exhibition) will explore new ways of bridging art, design, technology, science and entertainment using both latest innovations and everyday technology.

RSVP via Facebook HERE

Or, for more information go HERE

Mel Chin to speak at Farm Lab 2/11 7pm

For those of us who have followed the art and ecology movement over the last two decades, Mel Chin is considered an influential pioneer combining art with brownfield remediation. His famous or infamous Revival Field (1989-ongoing) funded with NEA money that was rescinded then later reinstated, demonstrated the natural processes of removing heavy metals from soil using hyper accumulator plants. He did this project in collaboration with an agronomist at a landfill site in Minnesota.

Mel will be in Los Angeles next week to give a talk on his Fundred Dollar Bill Project in New Orleans. If you have never heard him speak, you should go, with the promise that you will be entertained and educated. Being an artist should be so much fun!

For more information go the FarmLab website HERE

Saturday, Jan. 30th, 2010 @ Honor Fraser Gallery

Big City Forum invites you to a round table conversation about our relationship to nature, issues of perception, land use and the built environment.

Saturday, Jan. 30th, 2010
4 - 6 pm
Honor Fraser Gallery
Culver City, CA

Featuring:
REBECA MENDEZ
KIM STRINGFELLOW

REBECA MENDEZ is a professor at UCLA, Design | Media Arts who works in photography and video art installations to explore issues of perception, specifically our relationship to technologically mediated nature. Méndez’s works are included in the permanent collections of the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, National Design Museum, NY, and Denver Art Museum, among many others.

KIM STRINGFELLOW is an artist and educator residing in Los Angeles, California. She teaches multimedia and photography courses at San Diego State University as an associate professor in the School of Art, Design, and Art History. She received her MFA in Art and Technology from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago in 2000.

Fallen Fruit Presents EAT LACMA

February–November 2010

EAT LACMA is a year-long investigation into food, art, culture and politics. Fusing the richness of LACMA's permanent collection with the ephemerality of food and the natural growth cycle, EAT LACMA's projects consider food as a common ground that explores the social role of art and ritual in community and human relationships. EAT LACMA unfolds seasonally, with artist's gardens planted and harvested on the museum campus, hands-on public events, and a concurrent exhibition, Fallen Fruit Presents The Fruit of LACMA (June 27-November 7, 2010). It culminates in a day-long event (November 7, 2010) in which over fifty artists and collectives will activate, intervene, and re-imagine the entire museum's campus and galleries. EAT LACMA is curated by Fallen Fruit—David Burns, Matias Viegener and Austin Young—and LACMA curator Michele Urton.