Eddie Solisâ€s photography show, “Through the Eyes of a Bus Rider,” is comprised of dozens of black-and-white photographs that document his travels on the Los Angeles Metro infrastructure. The selected works were curated from thousands taken throughout Los Angeles and Orange counties over the past decade. Solis is well aware that many Southern California residents are not familiar with what a car-free lifestyle entails, so his photography show is curated line-by-line to create geographical cohesion with the galleryâ€s Northeast L.A. location.

Solisâ€s experiences as a Los Angeles resident fuel his two-man hardcore duo, Itâ€s Casual, and his well-known podcast Los Angeles Nista. Media are not Solisâ€s sole means of affecting social change to benefit the environment—“The way I live is my strongest, most effective form of activism,” Solis claims, “I want to inspire as many people as possible to adopt this lifestyle, not just for the good of the environment, but as a way for us to regain the sense of community that was lost when Los Angeles county became fragmented by our freeway infrastructure. We need to overcome the isolation our dependence on the automobile has promoted.” Solisâ€s environmental and social messages coalesce in his current endeavor, an installation of his photography.

After the opening reception, the show is on view to Sept. 30, by appointment.

Wheelchairs, walkers, prosthetic limbs, crutches and other assistive technology devices are part of our lives. But in the grand scheme of design innovations they’ve been left in the dust. There are hundreds of thousands of designs for chairs, eyeglasses and technology of so many other kinds. Now is your chance to help change the conversation about the assistive technology of the future.

Please submit your art, designs and inventions dealing with mobility, disability and accessibility.

Deadline for submission is June 30th, 2015 at 5 PM PST. The exhibit runs from September 10-19th, 2015 at California State University, Northridge’s West Gallery. Opulent Mobility’s opening reception will be September 12, 2015 from 4-8 PM.

Submit online at https://www.dreamsbymachine.com/opulent-mobility-a-call-for-art-and-ideas/.

We’re excited to see your ideas!

The Photography of Kristin Bedford: Race, History & the Divine

Los Angeles-based photographer Kristin Bedford will be presenting her series of photographs about the legacy of the African-American religious leader Father Divine. The body of work delves into issues of race, American religious history, and the mystery of enduring faith.

Father Divine, known to his followers as God, once had tens of thousands of devotees in 1930s Harlem. To the outside world Father Divine died in 1965, but for his followers he “lay his body down” and is still with them as he always has been. Now in their seventies, eighties, and nineties, eighteen of the remaining celibate followers live with Mother Divine at Fatherâ€s estate outside of Philadelphia. In 2013, Kristin Bedford spent five weeks living with and photographing this community.

The followers, who call themselves “The International Peace Mission Movement,” are living a way of life and performing rituals created over eighty years ago by their God. With the lack of new followers, their movement is likely in its final chapter. Bedford had the chance to experience and photograph their traditions before they fade away.

The Father Divine presentation will be followed by an exclusive sneak peek of Bedfordâ€s current photography project.

Biography

Kristin Bedford is a Los Angeles-based photographer who focuses on long-term visual studies of where we live – the streets we walk down, the places we worship in, the homes we create, and the spaces between them all. Her subjects have included religious movements, street culture in numerous urban centers, and the modern day legacy of historic African-American communities.

Kristinâ€s website

NY Times LENS Review

Game Girls is “A poetic take on Skid Row… Game Girls re-imagines what the documentary film genre can be.” -Shana Nys Dambrot for KCET Artbound.

We want to share some of what our team has learned and discovered along our journey making Game Girls! And trust us, you NEED TO SEE THIS.

See Downtown Los Angeles through director Alina Skrzeszewskaâ€s eyes. She has been making films in Skid Row for nearly a decade. Weâ€ll be screening her award winning documentary Songs From The Nickel in Indian Alley from 7:00 – 8:30PM. The film is comprised of 8 vignettes that will take you into the small flophouse rooms of an era since passed, into the old King Eddy Saloon, to underground tunnels of LA and street corners that have since drastically changed… Pop in and out, grab a drink and meander from the screening in Indian Alley to THESE DAYS store & gallery to view the late Carl Ramseyâ€s beautiful portrait series Women of Skid Row and other urban landscapes. Visit More Thanneâ€s special vintage sale, where 15% of the profit will be donated directly to Game Girls. More Thanne will also feature exclusive, unreleased clips from Game Girls! Listen to a live set of eclectic “soul ethnique” tunes by Gaio, straight from Marseille, France! And get inspired by a soulful, healing musical presentation by Downtownâ€s very own Charles Porter. Snacks and Drinks generously provided by our wonderful neighbors at Blossom and The Must.

Your donations will help fund the completion of Game Girls. Please donate what you can – we suggest a $20 or more contribution – every dollar counts. Our goal through this campaign is not only to raise money to move the film forward, but also to build awareness. We can do this together!

If you cannot make it to the event, please consider donating directly to the GAME GIRLS Indiegogo Campaign.

Join poet and memoirist Joan Jobe Smith for an afternoon of poetry & storytelling at the LAVA Sunday Salon. The newly published Tales of An Ancient Go-Go Girl by long-time Long Beach, California resident Joan Jobe Smith, is a picaresque True Tale, a 50-year Glotessey spanning the 1965 Los Angeles Watts Riots, near death at the hands of a homicidal ex-husband, the counter-culture go-go swinging let-it-all-hang-out 1960s-‘70s, single Motherhood and Feminism. Rarely does a natural poet and historian such as Joan Jobe Smith endure such ordeals and challenges and survive to tell the tale. It is a Tale written with go-going panache and patois, and heart, courage and humor to make our lives richer and wiser. The event will be a series of short Q&As with LAVA’s Richard Schave on milestones from the memoir, punctuated by Joan reading poetry selections which span her career.

Excerpts from 5-Star Reviews of Tales of An Ancient Go-Go Girl:

“Charles Bukowski said the inimitable Joan Jobe Smithâ€s writing ‘has the reality of force properly put down on paper; she cuts herself loose into the stratosphere.†Joanâ€s heart is so damned big. Sheâ€s not only cut herself loose into the stratosphere, she takes anyone who wants to go with her along for the ride. And now we have this raw-edged, honest, beauty of a book…” —L. Jakiela, Creative Writing Professor, University of Pittsburgh

“Vividly conjures up the dark shadows and wisecracks of a Film Noir, set in 1960s-‘70s L.A., with a cast of glamourous yet vulnerable dancers, slimy bosses, wharf rats (both rodents, ex-husband and customers) with walk-ons by celebrities (Dick Dale, Ike and Tina Turner) amongst the burgeoning pop music and drug counter-culture of the era. Energized by Joan Jobe Smithâ€s poetic eye and exuberant syntax, these true Tales will enthrall readers, revealing its author as a brilliant chronicler of her Noir-ish life and times.“—Jules Smith, Londonâ€s Times Literary Supplement

“I just finished reading Joan Jobe Smithâ€s Tales of An Ancient Go-Go Girl. She has such a descriptive, poetic talent for words as she weaves her true life tales of love, jealousy, near murder and trials. Bukowski advised her to write about her go-go girl years. I admire her ability to bring scenes from the ’60s and ’70s so vividly to life.”–Linda King

On Display in the History & Genealogy Department from January 8 to June 28, 2015

In conjunction with this exhibit, the Los Angeles Public Library and Photo Friends are excited to present a special lecture series featuring notable local music photographers. On Saturday April 18, 2015, Ed Colver will present images from his archive. Mark Taper Auditorium, 2 pm. This will be a free but ticketed event; information will be posted in late March to https://photofriendslapl.blogspot.com/

Seating is on a first come, first serve basis with doors opening approximately 1/2 hour before the start of the program. Presented by Photo Friends LAPL.

On Display in the History & Genealogy Department from January 8 to June 28, 2015

In conjunction with this photo exhibit, the Los Angeles Public Library and Photo Friends are excited to present a special lecture series featuring notable local music photographers. Gary Leonard will present images from his book, Make the Music Go Bang, and talk about his connection to the LA music scene, which will include “then and now” portraits of LA musicians.

Saturday, March 14, 2015 at 2 pm in the Mark Taper Auditorium, Central Library. Seating is on a first come first serve basis, with doors opening approx. 1/2 hr. before the program.

Architectural Historian Nathan Marsak, the LAVA Visionary of the Year for 2015, presents on the forgotten architectural landscape of nineteenth-century Los Angeles—a lost world whose most salient impulse was toward the imposing, rough-hewn blocks of the Romanesque.

The common narrative regarding the visual development of early Los Angeles usually involves the native vernacular of the pueblo, which one may still visit in any number of extant adobes; from there, following some historic boom times, we Angelenos and visitors alike are regaled by the wondrous Beaux-Arts high-rises of downtown. If pure Victorian architecture is considered, one likely turns attention to the Eastlake and Queen Anne examples along Carroll Avenue, or to the used-car lot of gingerbread, Heritage Square.

This does a disservice, asserts Marsak, to the wonderland of Richardsonian Romanesque, Romanesque Revival, and Romanesque-hybrid office blocks and civic structures that once defined our city. A confluence of money and local pride, primarily in the late-1880s, resulted in what was arguably Americaâ€s greatest center of the style, short-lived though it may have been. The ethos of the City Beautiful movement, skyscraper construction, and other factors contributed to its demise.

It is especially striking that these structures, whose construction exuded solidity and permanence, should have been removed on so great a scale. Besides illuminating twenty of the most notable lost masterpieces, Marsakâ€s lecture will visit those few remaining examples of the style. Attention will be given as well to the styles that fought for dominance in defining Victorian Los Angeles, e.g., French Empire.

* * *

Please note that, due to limited room capacity, attendees must register to attend the LAVA Sunday Salon. No plus-ones; each guest must register individually. If you find you are unable to attend, please return to this page and cancel your reservation. Also, note that the Sunday Salon has a new time slot: 2-4pm. 

Join LAVA Visionary and art historian Dr. Paul Koudounaris, author of “Heavenly Bodies: Cult Treasures and Spectacular Saints from the Catacombs” and “The Empire of Death: A Cultural History of Ossuaries and Charnel Houses” for a very special presentation inaugurating the relaunch of the monthly LAVA Sunday Salon at Library Bar.

Demonically-Possessed Cats with Dr. Paul Koudounaris

Does your cat do things like:

spit fire?

speak in tongues?

levitate?

shape shift?

wantonly kill people for no apparent reason?

This behavior may be more than simple bad kitty syndrome—your cat may be possessed by a demon. But donâ€t worry, youâ€re not alone. In fact, there is an entire history of demonically-possessed cats. Felines were once considered by theologians to be easy prey for demons, who could enter their bodies and wreck incredible havoc on mankind. And did you know… demonically-possessed cats are still believed to be with us today?! Dr. Paul Koudounaris has immersed himself in the study of demonic cats, in order to to give a talk on this sadly neglected topic. Cat lovers will like this lecture, and cat haters will like it even more. Neither side will ever look at a domestic cat the same way again.

Please note this lecture has been given by Dr. Koudounaris in abbreviated forms about town, but this only time he will present the full lecture in Los Angeles.