/salon711

On the last Sunday of each month, LAVA welcomes interested individuals to gather on the third floor of the historic Clifton’s Cafeteria in Downtown Los Angeles (noon-2pm), for a loosely structured conversational Salon featuring short presentations and opportunities to meet and connect with one another. If you’re interested in joining LAVA as a creative contributor or an attendee, we recommend Salon attendance as an introduction to this growing community. We also recommend the shortbread.

Special program at the July 31 Salon:

• LAVA Visionaries Maja D’Aoust, Librarian at the Philosophical Research Society and host of the July 30 Esotouric bus adventure Maja’s Mysteries: Rapture & Release, and Rev. Paul Nugent of The Aetherius Society will host a joint presentation / conversation on the history of Los Angeles as a magnetic spiritual center: a place where people of all faiths and backgrounds have come to seek enlightenment since the turn of the last century. Maja will introduce us to some of the major esoteric groups and thinkers that have made Los Angeles their home, revealing the shared aims beneath a seemingly disparate collection of seekers. These will include The Ordo Templi Orientis (O.T.O.), Manly P. Hall and his Philosophical Research Society and The Theosophy Society, to name a few. Then Paul will give a brief history of The Aetherius Society, the spiritual organization which was brought to Los Angeles by Yoga Master and extraterrestrial contactee Dr. George King in 1959, as part of his mission to help humanity raise itself from universal suffering and ignorance. Dr. King’s initial communication with the Cosmic Master Aetherius occurred in 1954, spurring Dr. King on to found the Society in England the following year (he ran it until his death in 1997; Paul Nugent was a personal assistant to Dr. King and is a current Director of the organization’s American headquarters). Part of the work of The Aetherius Society is predicated on Prayer, and the mental direction of positive energy towards the world’s trouble spots in a manifestation of the concept that consciousness can impact objective reality. The presentation will provide an overview of the Southland’s fascinating spiritual history and ongoing role in the development of new religious thought and action.

Iâ€ve put up my first ever Kickstarter project

The project is a Re-purposed Circus in Baraboo, WI (Circus City, USA). Itâ€s the birthplace of the American circus and former home of the Ringling Brothers, now home to Circus World Museum.

Heidi Dakter and I were asked to create performances and workshops for the Summerset Festival of the Arts in Baraboo, Wisconsin. Heidi came from there, I have friends there and we were thrilled. We came up with a repurposed circus parade, using my live draping to transform old circus materials onto the townspeople and the lead clowns and ringmaster from Circus World. Heidi has created a series of memory boxes incorporating old materials and memorabilia into little dioramas, I make garments on live bodies by stapling old fabrics into new garments- itâ€s a perfect combination for making repurposed arts workshops.

We put together ideas for 2 gallery shows from local sources: the fabulous collection of old circus costumes of Circus Worldâ€s Museum, pieces from the renowned American Playerâ€s Theater and Dr. Evermoreâ€s beautifully odd salvaged mechanical creatures. Heâ€s a local artist whoâ€s created stunning creatures out of old machinery, and while his workâ€s been featured as a roadside attraction he doesnâ€t have much local attention. Sometimes it takes an outside perspective to get people to see whatâ€s in their own backyards…

Unfortunately, Wisconsinâ€s been going through some difficulties with state funding (you may have heard about the protests) and while the Festival still wants us there, they didnâ€t know about spending the money to bring in outside talent.

And this is where Kickstarter comes in! Weâ€ve contacted people and already started this process, and just donâ€t want to let it lie. If we can possibly bring ourselves there, with the help of interested and fabulous folks…

Why not?

Thanks so much, thanks to Kim and Richard and merry spring!

Laura

Links! Please share the link to the project- weâ€d love to get as many people as possible checking us out.

The Repurposed Circus Kickstarter Project: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1898846927/repurposed-circus-parade-and-workshops-in-circus-c

Repurposed Circus Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/Repurposed-Circus/128743903868948

Circus World Museum: https://circusworld.wisconsinhistory.org/

Dr. Evermorâ€s fabulous creations: https://worldofdrevermor.com/

Heidi Dakter and her stunning textile designs: https://www.heididakter.com/Site/_welcome_.html

And the Summerset Festival of the Arts: https://baraboo.uwc.edu/?pid=1104

Terry Ellsworth project: Edith Massey’s Thrift Store: Edie’s Shopping Bag, in its expanded new location: “Surprises Galore!”

Jim Trombetta projects: Billboard for the movie Quanto: The Man Who Can Be in 2 Places at Once! and Gentry condominion towers.

This week, construction was completed on two more projects on the ‘cityscape’ scroll, as suggested in building permits filed 1/30. These are the consulate general of Smokessylvania (submitted by Count Smokula) and Sylvie’s Ye-Ye record shop (submitted by Neal McCabe). The record store is situated behind the Johnny Hallyday Convalescent Hospital, which was also a McCabe project.

August and September were mostly about Diavolo Dance Theater and creating the SteamWalker, aka Le Flaneur. It’s the second installment in my Opulent Mobility series and includes a tasseled cushion and parasol, a chafing dish nestling a GPS unit and cow horns in front. Oh, and a bud vase. You may have to look at the pictures.

I worked on Diavolo’s adaptation of Fearful Symmetries on and off from June through September, but Aug-Sept were the push times since the show opened at the Bowl on September 9th. Naturally, my completed submission of the Steamwalker for the Steampunk Form and Function design competition was due Sept. 4th and the walker needed to be ready to ship out to Massachusetts before I left for Kansas City on Sept. 29th. Did I mention that August was also filled with finishing crafts for Toy Story on Ice and September was also devoted to prepping patterns (with designer Michael Schmidt) for Steven Tyler’s debut on American Idol?

Got to pay the bills somehow.

At any rate, Toy Story is now on Ice. Steve Tyler hasn’t yet worn anything I’ve made on American Idol, but it will happen. Diavolo’s Fearful Symmetries went up and down without a hitch at the Hollywood Bowl and the Steamwalker is safely on display at the Charles River Museum of Industry and Innovation through May 2011. Pictures from the exhibit are up now on Facebook, and you can find the exhibit online here.

For the next installment-
I’ll tell you what’s up to date in Kansas City!
(I hear it’s everything.)

I’ve never engaged in this kind of thing before: publicly promoting these scrolls or “cityscapes” as Kim calls them. But here’s the deal: On and off since I was 9 or so (I’m now 63), I have done pen-and-crayon (with some watercolor) drawings of imaginary cities, mostly informed by the way L.A., S.F. and California appear to a largely untrained illustrator.

They’re full of streets and buildings, people, freeways and beaches, power plants and broad, palm-lined arterials. They’re mostly drawn on white shelf-lining paper, and the longest one (1960-62) is 60 yards long. Because they were drawn over many years, they in effect comprise a rough chronological snapshot of what (mostly) Cali has looked like to me: sprawling suburban tracts announced by “Vets No Down!” billboards (60s), the mansard-roofs of fast-food franchises (70s), theater and concert venues whose marquees hype long gone films and idealized pop-music bills.

Somehow, though, it is, like the weekly radio show I do, all sort of contemporaneous, the accretion of architecture, signage and sensibility all meant to bear the time signature of the eternal Now, which, I suppose, is a key part of the California Dream that informed my growing up and lifelong residence here. I started the latest cityscape, “Majestic Blvd.,” in February 2006 when I lost my last real job. It’s just under 60 feet now and growing. I will also bring and show one scroll of earlier vintage.