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Up It Takes a Village Various Artists Artists: Betye Saar Lezley Saar Alison Saar Wyatt Kenneth Coleman Richard S. Chow Lisa Bartleson Scott Yoell Jane Szabo Rebecca Campbell It Takes a Village is comprised of six exhibitions addressing the dynamic of working as a community through the subjects of family, race, gender, and age. Featured in the Main Gallery at MOAH are the works of celebrated assemblage artist Betye Saar and her daughters, artists Alison Saar and Lezley Saar. It Takes a Village will also showcase solo exhibitions of Wyatt Kenneth Coleman, Jane Szabo, and Richard S. Chow, with site specific installations by artists Lisa Bartleson and Scott Yoell. Each of the artists featured in this exhibition explores the relationships and responsibilities of community. Betye, Alison, and Lezley Saar’s work consists of two and three-dimensional assemblages that examine history and identity through the juxtaposition of objects, photographs, mixed media, and fabric. The documentary photography of Lancaster resident Wyatt Kenneth Coleman chronicles the importance of engagement and oral history and the role it plays emphasizing the value of serving one’s community and family. Jane Szabo and Richard S. Chow present different work stylistically, but address similar themes of home, displacement, and sentimentality through conceptual photographs. Szabo records family history through objects while Chow’s images fabricate an imaginary history of what might have been if he had not been an immigrant. Lisa Bartleson’s large scale installation of hundreds of small hand-made houses explores the act of healing through community and engagement. The site specific work of Scott Yoell’s “Tsunami,” consisting of three thousand four-inch tall businessmen figures installed in a giant wave, represents the artist’s thoughts on the global economy and automation. Memory & Identity: The Marvelous Art of Betye, Lezley & Alison Saar Betye, Lezley and Alison Saar have created some of the most powerful, important and deeply moving art in our contemporary world. Their compelling works forge idiosyncratic constructions of social memory and personal identity, as well as the cultural histories underlying them. All three Saars assemble two- and three-dimensional works based on unexpected juxtapositions of form and content. They deploy the flotsam of material culture, from discarded architectural components (old windows, ceiling tiles, wall paper) to domestic detritus (washboards, buckets, shelves) to historic photographs and printed fabrics. “I like things,” Betye asserted in a recent interview. “Every object tells a story. If I recombine them, they tell another story.” In their aesthetic practice of collecting and recombining objects, the Saars become what French philosopher Claude Levi-Strauss called bricoleurs: creators who arrange preexisting articles and images to produce dramatic visual compositions. Levi-Strauss expanded the French term bricoleur (a “Do-It-Yourself” handyman) to include anyone who works with the materials at hand, cobbling together disparate parts to create novel solutions. All of the Saars use recycled materials not generally considered “appropriate” art media. Modern art academies, founded in Europe in the seventeenth century, had privileged oil paint on canvas and cast bronze as elite, “high art” media. In contrast, creations in jewelry, textiles and ceramics were considered “low art” or crafts. When the Saars employ objects like handkerchiefs and old books as painting surfaces, or tin ceiling tiles and buckets as sculpture, they violate long-held boundaries between high and low arts. Their material contraventions parallel the artists’ transgressions of identity-based binaries such as male/female, culture/nature and master/slave. Wyatt Kenneth Coleman: Beyond the Village Wyatt Kenneth Coleman is a freelance photojournalist whose career spans more than fifty years. While serving in the military during the Vietnam War, he studied at the U.S. Air Force Photography School, gaining skills that would benefit him in both his military and artistic careers. Coleman has dedicated his life to documenting social justice movements and people who strive to make a difference in the world around them. Coleman’s dedication to helping others is evident in both his artistic practice and humanitarian contributions. In addition to documenting the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Coleman established a collaboration with Coretta Scott King in 1979, which remained active until her death. Coleman was interested in the effect that the Civil Rights Movement had on the lives of ordinary people, stating, “When a person is committed and makes a contribution to their community, lives are changed and doing the right thing is really key.” His work documents every-day people participating in non-violent activism by committing acts of kindness and working towards social justice. Coleman seeks to emphasize the importance that engagement and oral history play in passing down the value of serving one’s community and family. Wyatt Kenneth Coleman has certifications from the Winona School of Professional Photography, the University of Minnesota and Santa Fe Photographic workshops. Coleman’s work has been shown in publications including 3M , Ebony and Jet Magazines and The Daily Word . Coleman has also been awarded for his selfless volunteer service in the communities of Minneapolis and St. Paul, and was recognized for his volunteer work at the Elm Avenue Community Garden by Assemblyman Tom Lackey, in addition to receiving an award from Lancaster City Council for his contributions to the community. Richard S. Chow: Distant Memories Richard S. Chow’s photography focuses on aesthetic, documentary and conceptual images. Technical precision and composition remain the hallmarks of his work, but Chow continues to examine all aspects of the artistic medium including homemade shooting devices, film, phone and high tech digital cameras. Chow’s interest in photography began during his formative years in Hong Kong. His family moved from Hong Kong to Los Angeles when he was sixteen. Those first years were difficult for an immigrant teenager due to language and culture shifts, and at times were overwhelming as he tried to find his place in this new world. As the American culture was slowly absorbed, southern California was a place that eventually provided him with comfort and inspiration as a young man. Chow now frequents the beach regularly as a place for relaxation and observation. With this series, Distant Memories, he captures the childhood that he could have experienced. Like finding shells on the shore, Chow collects visual memories and while they might not be his own memories, they allow him to imagine a childhood in a place he now calls home. Chow has widely exhibited in solo and juried exhibits across the United States and his work has been internationally published and is featured in several private and public collections. He is a producer/curator for global OPEN SHOW (Los Angeles Chapter), a non-profit that provides a forum for dialog between the public, artists, galleries and collectors. Chow earned awards in Lucie Foundation’s IPA International Photography Awards four years in a row (2013-2016) and he was honored with gold, silver and bronze awards from Tokyo International Foto Awards. Chow lives and works in Los Angeles. Lisa Bartleson: Kindred Lisa Bartleson, known primarily as a sculptor, is an artist who uses resin and ceramic material in both two and three dimensional work. She is known for using natural pigments, inviting a calm, constant and enduring contemplation from the viewer. Lisa Bartleson’s Kindred is a large-scale installation composed of over 200 slip casted porcelain houses that have been manipulated and traumatized, displaying various stages of physical and emotional restoration that explores healing in and by the community. In this work, Bartleson references the Japanese tradition of kintsugi as an exercise of restoration. Kintsugi is the art of repairing broken pottery with gold lacquer as a way to emphasize and celebrate the history of a piece rather than disguise its past. The multitude of houses are bound together by their shared experience and placement. From a standing position one views the entire installation from a bird’s-eye view, similarly to how people perceive and rearticulate memory. The object as body, scarred but beautiful, strong and elastic, becomes central to the experience. The onlooker is asked to examine their cracks caused by physical and/or emotional suffering and the communal foundations of memory and recovery that filter, shift and support identity. Bartleson layers the experience with her own heartbeat and the sound of a baby’s heartbeat in the womb, reminding us that we are all built from material, memory and a universal cycle of life. She earned a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Northern Colorado. Her work is in many prominent public and private collections including the Lancaster Museum of Art and History. Bartleson has been featured in many publications such as White Hot Magazine , Fabrik Magazine , Huffington Post , LA Art Diary , Architectural Digest and Sunset Magazine . Lisa Bartleson was born in Seattle, Washington and currently resides in northern California. Scott Yoell: Tsunami Scott Yoell has delved into traditional and electronic media with his most recent works being drawing, sculpture and video/sound installation. Yoell’s fascination with trinkets and the nostalgia they provoke inspired the Tsunami installation. Yoell first conceived the idea of Tsunami many years ago when visiting a shop in Omaha, Nebraska. He found “a trinket figure, a little metal business man.” The tiny trinket reminded Yoell of the figures atop of trophies, but wondered what a suited man could represent. Intrigued by the unknown, he bought the figure and from it stemmed the idea of Tsunami. This installation consists of three thousand figures, all standing approximately four inches tall. Each figure is of a man in a business suit and hat holding a briefcase. The figures are cast in a “flesh-toned” plastic and are formed from the same mold. The mold deteriorates over time, causing each figure to have minor differences, making each one unique. These individual, tiny men come together to form a tsunami, an unusually large waved caused by a shift in the earth’s foundation. Yoell has a Bachelor of Fine Art from the University of Windsor, Canada and a Master of Fine Art in Imaging and Digital Arts from the University of Maryland. His work has been featured in The Contemporary Museum’s Biennial of Hawaii Artist Exhibition , Honolulu, Hawaii, the Galleria Art Mûr, Montreal, Quebec and Artcite, Windsor, Ontario. Yoell has been featured at the Videoholica 2010 International Video Art Festival , Varna, Bulgaria. Scott Yoell, originally from Windsor, Ontario now lives in Waimea, Hawaii. Jane Szabo: Family Matters Merging her love for fabrication and materials with conceptual photography, Jane Szabo investigates issues of self and identity in her latest body of work, Family Matters. Szabo uses still life as a vehicle to share stories from her life. The objects photographed, isolated on a black field, provoke thoughts about home, displacement and sentimentality. Family Matters incorporates memory, metaphor and allegory to express the challenges, anxieties and joys as Szabo’s role as a daughter and her parents’ caretaker. This series uses objects from their family home, mementos from her childhood, to illustrate the story of their relationship. Using these childhood possessions and simple items that have been in their family for years, she creates tableaus that hint at complicated family dynamics. The presentation of these objects is not merely a catalog of possessions, but a catalog of feelings; of pain and disappointment, loss, burden and hope. Jane Szabo is a multi-disciplinary visual artist who earned an MFA from Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, California. Her background in the film industry, creating prop and miniatures for theme parks, and overseeing set construction for film and television undoubtedly informs her creative process. Szabo’s photographs have been featured in many publications including Huffington Post , Lenscratch , Bokeh Bokeh , L’Oeil de la Photographie , F-Stop Magazine , Diversions LA and ArtsMeme among others. Her work has been included in exhibitions at Oceanside Museum of Art, the Griffin Museum of Photography, The Colorado Center for Photographic Arts, San Diego Art Institute, Los Angeles Center for Photography, Orange County Center for Contemporary Art, Gallery 825 in Los Angeles, and the 2015 Kaohsiung International Photographer Exhibition in Taiwan. February 10 - April 22, 2018 Back to list

2016 < View Public Art Projects Eco-Quilt 2016 Temporary Art Project Created during her artist-in-residency at MOAH:CEDAR, Jane Ingram’s Eco-Quilt was formed out of twenty hand-made paper squares with wildflower seeds imbedded in the paper pulp. The quilt depicted poppies and contained different wildflower seeds corresponding to the color of the paper. It contained California poppies, California bluebells, white poppies and baby’s breath. A headboard and footboard were built from local willow branches and local participants were invited to help install the project. Eco-Quilt was located at Hull Park in Lancaster.

Up Collaborate and Create Various Artists Collaborate and Create is an extension project conceived by the directors of Kipaipai Workshops, a non-profit organization that focuses on the professional development of artists. Kipaipai Workshop’s mission is to encourage, inspire and build community. Collaborate and Create pairs two artists with varying artistic styles to problem solve and produce a collaborative work pushing boundaries outside the artists’ regular studio practice and experimenting with styles and materials. This process generates creative growth, builds bonds and partnerships that establish a vibrant creative community. For #CountMeIn , the Collaborate and Create exhibition includes the works of 40 artists creating 20 new unique works. This is the second iteration of Collaborate and Create which debuted at The Loft at Liz’s in Los Angeles in January of 2020. The collaborative duos include Joy Ray and Dianna Stevens Woolley, Kimberly Brooks and Rob Grad, Terry Cervantes and Marthe Aponte, Alex Couwenberg and Lisa Schulte, Samuelle Richardson and Catherine Ruane, Vicki Walsh and Jim Daichendt, Margo Ray and Scott Yoell, Jane Szabo and Jill Sykes, Annie Seaton and Ray Beldner, Dani Dodge and Chelsea Dean, Snezana Saraswati Petrovic and Chenhung Chen, Karen Hochman Brown and Ann Marie Rousseau, Randi Matushevitz and Debbie Korbel, Marisabel Bazan and Gay Summer Rick, Terry Arena and Chris O’Mahony, Bailey Ferguson and Michelle Schwengel-Regala, Jeanne Dunn and Edwin Vasquez, Stevie Love and Cudra Clover, Vojislav Radovanovic and Kira Vollman, Marne Lucas and Steph Sydney. May 9 - August 16, 2020 Back to list

Get Tickets ALL DAY: Enjoy handcrafted sandwiches and smashburgers. LEARN HOW TO WEAVE, CUSTOMIZE TOTE BAGS, AND WATCH A PERFORMANCE OF MYTHICAL FOLKLORE The Lancaster Museum of Art and History (MOAH) is pleased to announce the inaugural MOAH Fest, a dynamic celebration of art, community, and cultural expression. Join us on Sunday, June 29th, 2025, from 11:00 AM to 4:00 PM for a day of interactive workshops and a compelling performance, all inspired by the themes explored in MOAH's current exhibition m\other. With a focus on fiber and textile art, m\other challenges dominant narratives surrounding matriarchy and femininity by offering expansive interpretations of what it can mean to "mother." The exhibition highlights practices rooted in queer, Indigenous, and spiritual perspectives on care, creation, and reliance; themes that are echoed and embodied throughout MOAH Fest. PERFORMANCE ADRIAN CLUTARIO: TANGAL 3:30 - 4 PM FOR ALL AGES Step into a haunting, atmospheric performance inspired by Filipino folklore. Adrian Clutario channels the manananggal- a winged figure split in two-to explore queer identity, grief, and transformation through powerful visuals and song. FREE ADMISSION. All ages welcome.* *Children must be accompanied by a parent or guardian. Workshops Mug Rugs Weaving Workshop With Mica Scallion-Ford 11 AM - 12:30 PM (RSVP Required. Limited walk-in spots available) Make your own mini textile using a cardboard loom! Led by Artist Mica Scallion-Ford, this hands-on activity explores care, creativity, and sustainable making. LIMITED SPOTS. All ages welcome. Reserve your Spot Tapestry Weaving Workshop With Diane Williams 1:30 - 3:30 PM (RSVP Required. Limited walk-in spots available) Learn simple weaving techniques and create your own tapestry in this hands-on, meditative workshop. Led by artist Diane Williams, whose fiber practice explores history, care, and connection across generations. LIMITED SPOTS. For AGES 12+. Reserve Your Spot Into custom embroidery? Don’t miss Customland at MOAH Fest. They’ll be onsite all day bringing your creative visions to life! Limited custom-embroidered tote bags will be available free every hour, so be sure to stop by early. Bring your own clothing or fabric to personalize, or purchase a blank tote directly from Customland to create your very own MOAH Fest keepsake. Whether you're customizing a tote or designing a one-of-a-kind piece, the possibilities are endless!

2017 < View Public Art Projects #ArtOutDoorAV 2017 Temporary Art Project The Lancaster Museum of Art and History (MOAH) is thrilled to launch the #ARTOUTDOORAV Billboard Project from Monday, October 16, 2017, to Sunday, November 12, 2017. The #ARTOUTDOORAV Billboard Project is a joint campaign between Lamar Advertising, MOAH, and the Lancaster Museum and Public Art Foundation (LMPAF). The Museum invites local artists, and those who reside in the 5th Supervisorial District of Los Angeles County, to submit their work for consideration for a special outdoor exhibition. A panel of jurors will review the work. Selected artists will have the opportunity to exhibit their artwork on two billboards at selected locations in and around the City of Lancaster and the greater Antelope Valley region. This special outdoor exhibition will include 10 artists on a total of 20 billboards as part of MOAH’s fall programming.

Diane SilverStones ThrowFor Diane Silver, working with her hands is a transformative act taking inspiration from the natural world. Silver utilizes ceramic, wax, and textiles like hemp and thread to create organic forms that resemble those in nature. Silver allows for the material to speak for itself with a raw and organic feel. < Back Diane Silver, Stones Throw Diane Silver, Stones Throw Diane Silver, Stones Throw 1/2 Diane Silver Stones Throw For Diane Silver, working with her hands is a transformative act taking inspiration from the natural world. Silver utilizes ceramic, wax, and textiles like hemp and thread to create organic forms that resemble those in nature. Silver allows for the material to speak for itself with a raw and organic feel. Her work is minimalist, characterized by its simplicity through her use of clean lines and natural materials. Her works have spoken to the gendered division of labor or touched upon themes of religion through abstraction. Stones Throw explores an alternative way of measuring the passage of time, marked by the menstrual cycle. Previous Next

Up Celebrate the Lunar New Year Lorraine Bubar Back to list

Up Legacy Various Artists Eric Johnson: Legacy A 30 Retrospective Main Gallery Craig Kauffman, Dewain Valentine, John Paul Jones, Tony DeLap, Tom Jenkins East Gallery Lisa Barleson: 3M Jewel Box Jennifer Faist: The Deepest Tales Stay Etched Well Fargo Gallery Andrew Benson Education Gallery R.Nelson Parrish: Meditations on NorCal Top of Stairs Charles Dickson: Legacy A Lifetime Survey South Gallery Legacy takes a close look at how artists spanning different generations influence each other and their communities. Legacy is defined as something passed down by a predecessor; in art, that “something” can range from material techniques to inner wisdom. Legacy is the fruit of passion and dedication that overflows from an individual into the lives of many—legacy is inspiring. Eric Johnson: LEGACY A 30 Year Retrospective Science and engineering have become so complex, even fantastical, that sometimes I forget the very simple, seemingly miraculous, fact – that an equation of symbols can describe, even predict, the phenomena that define and shape the physical world; that there are underlying functions of some dark math waiting to be discovered. Yet, math is only an abstract construct we imposed on the surrounding world. Things are not actually as rigid and perfect as the models that describe them. There's always some deviation, deformity, some slight departure from perfect, however infinitesimal. The “grid” doesn’t really exist. But this can be experienced and explored just as much through art. By looking at any of Eric Johnson’s sculptures individually, this is readily apparent. But looking through the sketches, studies, models, and fully-finished works spanning over thirty years, any visitor of Eric's retrospective will develop a heightened sensitivity to the breadth of ideas that influence an artist, and how they develop and coalesce into an interwoven body of work. How the nascent interest is reiterated and refined. The scope of what challenges and influences an artist in the making of an individual piece is not always apparent from a single work of art, maybe not even to the artist himself. However, stretching out an artist’s work over thirty years models the enormity of the subconscious process at any given moment in art-making. Because at any given moment, you don’t actually know everything you know. Eric's work is great for a retrospective for this very reason. From the first piece of the retrospective’s thirty-year span, Two Towers, you can see ideas that still recur in his most recent works. First, it introduces to the rigid, grid-conforming structures of math (i.e., the rectangular prism), the most minimal distortion to ordered form. It also prompts the viewer to ask about the material – how was this twist formed? Was it carved that way or was it shaped by torsion? Is the process the same for metal as it is for wood? Even early works that seem unrelated to his more recent and developed pieces share common threads or ideas. For example, his early drawings of tea cups, suspended mid-fall, demonstrate both Eric's interest in the laws of nature (in this case, gravity) and the properties of materials (fragility). As Eric became more eloquent with resin, wood and paint, his ability to interlock and weave multiple concepts through a single work bloomed as well. The more recent individual pieces in Eric's oeuvre evoke a variety of forms and ideas. In his composite resin "hearts," allusions range from weathered seashell to solar flare; they look sturdy as vertebra, but delicate as porcelain dish. You also get a fantastic sense of the material itself. As the disks narrow and taper, they reveal how the material behaves under varying thickness. And it takes a master of a material to enable a layman to explore it with commensurate depth. Other works, such as Pasopna, look ossified, yet wilted; organic, yet shaped by a grid; warped, yet structurally sound. Others have even more curious combinations: carapace and fluid-dynamic structures, horns and airplane spars. MOAH’s proximity to the aerospace industry makes this a great place to contemplate these pairings of manufactured and organic, mathematical theory and physical surface. Southern California, too, is an appropriate place to watch Eric infuse Southern California’s Light-and-Space and Finish Fetish movements with biology and deviation, almost like he’s moving backwards, stretching the immaculate surface over equation and bone. -Andi Campognone, Curator Craig Kauffman, Dewain Valentine, John Paul Jones, Tony DeLap, Tom Jenkins Johnson’s exhibition is paired by a group exhibition showcasing work made by his artistic mentors, DeWain Valentine, Tony DeLap, Craig Kauffman, Tom Jenkins and John Paul Jones. DeWain Valentine is best known for using industrial materials such as fiberglass, Plexiglass, cast acrylic and polyester resin to produce large scale sculptures that reflect and distort the light around them. Tony DeLap’s work is known for its illusionistic qualities, influenced by his interest in magic. Craig Kauffman paintings are known for their openness and dynamic use of line and his sculptures are known for their experimental materials and vivid color. Tom Jenkins makes paintings that are drawn using spinning tops and various hand-made mechanical drawing devices. John Paul Jones was a painter, printmaker and sculptor widely recognized for both his figurative and abstract work. All these artists played an important role in the development of Johnson’s professional and personal life. Lisa Bartleson: Q & A with Andi Campognone, MOAH Manager/Curator What is your relationship with artist Eric Johnson? / How did you first meet? Bartleson: Eric is one of my dearest friends and confidants; he is family. Our first encounter was very funny – especially knowing Eric as well as I do now. The first thing he said to me was, “Looks like you swallowed a five dollar bill and it broke out in pennies,” and I thought, “Who is this crazy artist?” It wasn’t long after this encounter that I learned that this crazy artist was Eric Johnson well known for his mastery of resin and mold-making. I was at a place in my career where I wanted to learn how to work with resin. I asked a mutual friend if she would introduce us. I arrived at Eric’s studio with a specific agenda, to learn how to create objects using resin. My first lesson with Eric and likely most important was that there really isn’t room for agendas – particularly when you are learning a new material. I learned that there needed to be openness to the creating process, to surrender any expectations. As a mentor, Eric gave me just enough guidance so that I didn’t fall on my face too hard. For me, this was perfect. The real learning came from mistakes that I made – with the two of us trying to figure a path forward. After mentoring with Eric, I left the studio with far more skills and knowledge than when I started. More importantly, I was left with a better understanding of how to be an artist –what it means to be an artist and how to stand on two feet and be vulnerable in your thinking and strong in your practice at the same time. How has Johnson influenced your studio practice? Bartleson: Often times when I am sanding or having a problem with a piece, I think WWED (what would Eric do)? The answer usually is that I have to pause, go back to 320 sandpaper and rework the surface until it is perfect and ready for the next level. Something that a lot of folks may not know about Eric is that he is fiercely driven. I always try to channel this energy while preparing for exhibitions. Jennifer Faist: Q & A with Andi Campognone, MOAH Manager/Curator What is your relationship with artist Eric Johnson? / How did you first meet? Faist: Eric and I first met through another artist when I attended a show of his work at Simayspace in San Diego in 1996. At the time, I was the gallery director for Susan Street Fine Art in Solano Beach and was working to bring a traveling group exhibition called, “The New Structuralists,” to the gallery. Eric was one of the artists in that show, and I got to know him and his work. We remained in touch and followed each other’s work in the ensuing years. In 2004, I curated a group exhibition at ANDLAB, “Suspension,” which included his work, and in 2005, we were in a two-person show together in Palm Springs entitled, “Less a Thing...” From August, 2006 to April, 2009, I shared Eric’s studio in San Pedro. My husband and I were living in the loft, and I had half of the storefront area for studio space. Eric was using the warehouse area for his studio space, and we shared the resin booth in the yard. How has Johnson influenced your studio practice? Faist: Eric’s studio was the largest space that I had ever worked in. There was room to pin up color swatches and pattern studies. I could hang finished paintings on the walls with room to stand back and look and still have plenty of room for my work table and drying racks. It allowed me to think bigger and make some larger work. Sharing a studio also meant having another artist to bounce ideas off of and get feedback on my paintings. During my time there, Eric was working on “The Maize Project,” so I got to see his casting processes in person for an extended period of time. The social aspect and personal connections made during casting parties and studio visits were also influential. I even had the opportunity to meet some of the trailblazers of “California Light and Space” through Eric, like DeWain Valentine and Craig Kauffman. How does this influence manifest itself in your work? Faist: I think the reason we made good studio mates is that we shared an affinity for resin Finish Fetish artwork, painting/sculpture hybrids and an analogous layering process. Eric exposed me to different kinds of pigments like those used in the automotive industry. I think that allowed me to feel freer to use more metallic and interference pigments in my paint layering process than I had before. Andrew Benson: Q & A with Andi Campognone, MOAH Manager/Curator What is your relationship with artist Eric Johnson? Benson: I worked for Eric as a studio assistant from roughly 1997 to 2000, starting in his Santa Monica studio through the build-out of his first San Pedro studio. At the time I was 17 and had run away from the desert to figure what my purpose was in the world. Eric was as much a mentor, surrogate father and friend as he was my boss -- I even slept on his couch for some time when my precarious living situations fell through. How has Johnson influenced your studio practice? Benson: My time working with Eric impressed upon me a specific approach to materials and tools that I still carry through my practice even though my work is now primarily digital video and animation. With resin, a synthetic material that carries with it a chemical background and accepted practice -- Eric developed a style of working that had little to do with the instruction labels but developed organically from years of handling, watching and feeling the material. On any given piece, throughout the work, we would engineer makeshift jigs, contraptions and tools to make the work possible. The way that Eric built surface color from the outside in was an approach I had never seen before and it was stunning. Every sculpture was the result of this process that was as much magic as it was chemistry, engineering and practical labor. I learned the way that a radial sander feels in my hand when it's doing the right thing, how to hold steady a slippery piece of hard resin polished to a frosted glass surface while the spinning machine in my other hand removed any imperfections. The best comparison I can think of for the work is that of an artisanal bread maker, learning the art of kneading, fermentation, shaping the dough and knowing through practice what it needs to be absolutely amazing. How does this influence manifest itself in your work? Benson: For my own working process, I've primarily chosen video and animation created with digital tools, but the way I think of the materiality of digital media owes a great deal to the formative years with Eric. I create my work by tweaking, adjusting and manipulating not just pixels, but the processes that generate and propagate them. I spend a great deal of time thinking about and attempting to reimagine how a digital representation is put together, what are all the processes involved and how many times it gets translated along the way. I've learned just enough hard graphics science to dig deeper into these processes, but the core of the work is in the intuitive chasing after the material, finding something that works even when I don't understand it and building tools around those magical results. The quest to feel and manipulate your mysterious medium and to communicate through these means is a rare approach for electronic media in an age of highly polished CGI and slick production, but it's in my veins at this point. R. Nelson Parrish: Q & A with Andi Campognone, MOAH Manager/Curator What is your relationship with artist Eric Johnson? Nelson: My relationship with Eric Johnson is strictly through myth, legend and reputation. I first became aware of his work through the Maize Project when it exhibited at the Torrance Art Museum in 2008. I had recently completed my graduate program and was amazed at the modular production of the work contrasted with his ability to create stunning, unique pieces. I didn’t think it was possible to make stand-alone pieces, in multiples, using mold production. More importantly, I was impressed how the Maize Project was community based, as there is a key component of including all types of people to collaborate in the making of the work. Both the community of collaborators and the modular production, in my mind, are the hallmarks of the piece. I again saw the Maize Project at William Turner Gallery 2012 and was reminded of modular production. It directly influenced me in creating #100 (1A – 20E) and #105 (Light Over the Pacific). Both pieces are comprised of over 90 smaller pieces that are modular and synergetic in nature. How has Johnson influenced your studio practice? Nelson: Possibly the biggest influence of Johnson’s work on my practice is the engineering of his work. I have never been that precise or mechanical in the fabrication of my work. In the past, my process has been more of a “cowboy up” mentality. Just do it then figure out how to do it better, later. The more and more I engage with Johnson’s work, the more I understand how well engineered and planned out his pieces are -- there is beauty in that. More importantly, I realize that while focusing equally on engineering and planning, as well as the art, one can make far superior pieces than just shooting from the hip and grinding it out. In the end, it is a much better system. How does this influence manifest itself in your work? Conceptually? Nelson: This influence has affected the newest progression of my work immensely. As I switched to a bio based resin, have needed to fabricate molds and am now using aerospace aluminum as core material, all of this requires massive amounts of engineering and scheduling. Johnson and his means of production have influenced my workflow. Constantly pushing materials, tools and boundaries in order to get it all right and all done on time. One could say that it is artisanal fabrication and manufacturing, in the best way possible. To have an idea; how something should look and feel sometimes takes years before it is executed properly. That requires a lot of quiet tenacity and patience. I can see that in Eric’s work and it is inspirational. Conceptually, I am a big color and motion guy. I love the way Johnson’s work takes simple pigment and hue yet while static, makes it flow through form and shape -- simple, elegant and stunning. Charles Dickson: Legacy, A Lifetime Survey Charles Dickson is consumed with how things work in a mechanical, creative, spiritual and political context. As a Sculptor he embraces many mediums, he explores the nature of the materials he uses in order to understand and challenge their properties in traditional and unique applications. At the core of this process Dickson inquires, “How do I learn to speak through the materials, to discover the truth about the materials and express the beauty of my artistic vision?” Dickson’s obsession with finding the truth of a form has been documented in his 45 year homage to the African American woman. Rather than work from an imagined form, he realized early in his career, that he had to undress it, to uncover the truth of its essence. Dickson’s work with black nudes was also the precursor for a much larger artistic dialogue on the politics of beauty and how the consequences of slavery reverberated in contemporary society that has extended throughout his entire career. Dickson states, “This dialogue propelled me to immerse myself into the artistic heritage of Africa, searching for the language, tools and symbols, to recreate and recover the enormous spiritual influence and indigenous beauty this tradition has had on the world. It has also encouraged me to develop works reflecting the unique circumstances of the African American experience that traces back to its African origins.” Charles Dickson is a self-taught artist born in 1947 in Los Angeles, CA. He has public works of art at the Watts Towers, Los Angeles Metro Rail Green Line in El Segundo, Hope and Faith Park in South Los Angeles and the City of Costa Mesa Performing Arts Complex, among others. He is currently an artist in residence at the Watts Towers Arts Center Campus and the Caretaker of the Watts Towers of Simon Rodia with LACMA’s preservation program. He is also working with the Los Angeles Neighborhood Land Trust and Offices of The Trust in Public Land LA River Center to create sculptures within the community. Dickson lives and works in South Central Los Angeles, CA. January 24 - March 15, 2015 Back to list

Patrick Park < Back My Name is Winky By Patrick Park Today is February 29, 2021. My name is Winky. It is currently the coldest it has ever been. A cold, dark world. Is this all there is to life? A false hope that we may someday escape from this clutching prison. Is that all we can look towards? It feels like a repeating cycle. We grow up together for a while and then one day, some of us stay while others depart. But why me? Why couldn’t I join my friends in the beautiful paradise that is the afterlife? It feels so lonesome, like a rainbow in a storm. I am not beautiful, I am merely a minuscule object that is lost in the vast, unforgiving universe. My bright colors cannot fight off the harsh weather, nor can it ward off the mythological beings whose single footstep can destroy a colony. What is my purpose? A million years can pass and not a single being will notice my presence. We all desire to leave our mark on this world. What is the purpose? A temporary span of experiences known as life is something we consider priceless, but why? An existential question that has been asked throughout history. What is my purpose? Providing something for others until I join my fallen comrades. Why? Why can I not frolic and laugh like those titans? Why can I not run like those animals with four legs? I am stuck with no movement. I am stuck with no purpose. I am stuck with no family. I am stuck finding meaning in my own life. The titans refer to me as a “flower of death”, using me as a crown when mourning the deceased. A fitting name, truly. I suppose I should feel flattered as our family was chosen as a means to honor a titan’s death. They act as though death is something to honor. An interesting concept to say the least. When we die, we (as flowers) are often used as compost in order to help the future generation. But if there’s anything I learned, it’s to live in the moment. Just a few months ago, I had all of my friends near me. We chatted, laughed, and even asked each other questions about life. We were quite the philosophical bunch. However, we had an older gentleman, a fern plant to be exact, that always told us to enjoy the time while it lasted. We often ridiculed him. We believed those times would last forever. Even when each of our companions disappeared one by one, we laughed it off saying that they would be back. We were delusional really, refusing to see our own reality. Perhaps the day will arrive where we may see each other once more. I have not been feeling my best throughout these days, I fear my time to join the afterlife is coming. Today is March 1st, 2021. Something strange happened yesterday. The weather is suspiciously getting warmer. Usually, it feels like an igloo forming inside my petals during the nights however, yesterday’s night was somewhat bearable. Also, I see a tiny seedling about 2 feet on the right. I know it’s nothing and may not survive, but I still feel excited. I lost all my friends, one by one. The fact that I might have a new friend in the near future makes me happy. Would John be a good name? Perhaps I will name him Winky Jr. Although my time is coming soon, I will do everything in my power to grow this seedling. It feels silly to say this out loud but I already feel a bond with this poppy seedling. I will teach it the different things I have learned in this lifetime. Teaching them about the titans, teaching them about the different seasons, and teaching them the different plants. I feel this is the purpose of our lives, plant or titan. Of course, you should expend some of your energy, but you should expend some of your energy to help grow the future generation. I will keep you updated on the progression of this seedling. Today is March 2nd, 2021. I have an update for you. The seedling is almost old enough to begin communicating with me. I’m so excited, I can feel my roots jumping up and down. I also feel nervous about talking with this seedling because I haven’t talked to anyone in person in such a long time. It is also my first time physically communicating with a poppy plant. Poppy plants have a reputation in the plant community as they are one of the most beloved flowers in the state of California. Being able to meet a poppy in person is an incredible honor. I will keep you updated tomorrow when we are able to communicate. Today is March 3rd, 2021. Another major update has surfaced, I have finally exchanged words with the young Poppy. It woke up, scared and confused. I had to talk to it, telling it where we were and what it was. The young Poppy asked for my name, to which I replied “Winky Jr.”. It asked what I was and replied, “A Periwinkle flower”. The Poppy looked confused and went silent for a minute. I decided to start up the conversation once more with, “You are a Poppy flower, a flower that is beloved by the Titans”. The Poppy asked what a titan was. I claimed it was a name we gave to the humans as their footsteps often shook the ground. Of course, this was a silly mistake as it asked what a human was. After spending the whole day passing on my knowledge to the young poppy, I began to give the poppy his own personal traits. The Poppy asked what a good name was. I asked, “How does Summer sound?” The Poppy agreed to this name and our friendship began. After this, Summer thanked me and I welcomed him. Although Summer was the one thanking me, in my heart, I felt I needed to thank Summer. She became the one shining light after several months of darkness. I realized I didn’t need to run and shout like the humans, I just needed someone like me. Someone who could relate to my struggles, someone who was literally in my feet. My will to live became stronger than ever. I hope to see you again tomorrow journal. Although it’s a shame I will not live long enough to see Summer grow, I’m glad I could meet them. Previous Next

Up Imagen Angeleno Various Artists Special Exhibition : Dark Progressivism Artists : Ken Gonzales-Day Linda Vallejo Abel Alejandre Ana Rodriguez In celebration of the Getty Museum’s Pacific Standard Time: LA/LA initiative, which is a far-reaching and ambitious exploration of Latin American and Latino art in dialogue with Los Angeles, MOAH presents its winter exhibition, Imagen Angeleno . This exhibition will include solo exhibits of work by: Ken Gonzales-Day, Abel Alejandre, Ana Rodriguez and Linda Vallejo. The Main Gallery will feature a special exhibition, Dark Progressivism: The Built Environment , guest-curated by Rodrigo d’Ebre and Lisa Derrick. Inspired by the 2016 documentary film Dark Progressivism , written by Rodrigo d’Ebre and co-directed by Rodrigo d’Ebre and James J. Yi, this exhibition highlights the street and public art movements that characterize Los Angeles’ Southland. Dark Progressivism: The Built Environment answers the question of which movements are shaping 21st century art with a multi-faceted approach that looks to the streets of LA, where innovations in design and the idea of vandalism as a form of artistic resistance are embedded in the city’s identity. Artists featured in Dark Progressivism: The Built Environment include: Michael Alvarez, Sandow Birk, Chaz Bojorquez, Liz Brizzi, Roberto Chavez, Gajin Fujita, Peter Greco, Roberto Gutierrez, Jason Hernandez, Juan Carlos Munoz Hernandez, Louis Jacinto, Susan Logoreci, Manuel Lopez, Eva Malhotra, Horacio Martinez, Jim McHugh, Gerardo Monterrubio, Nunca, Estevan Oriol, Cleon Peterson and Lisa Schulte, Felix Quintana, Carlos Ramirez, Erwin Recinos, Rafael Reyes, Joe ‘Prime’ Reza, Sandy Rodriguez, Shizu Saldamando, Alex Schaefer, Jaime Scholnick & Big Sleeps. Dark Progressivism Curated by Rodrigo Ribera d'Ebre and Lisa Derrick The Dark Progressivism: The Built Environment exhibit is a survey of the region’s Dark Progressivism school of thought, which dates back to the Great Depression, and is brought into current day. Special emphasis is placed on the post-war era through the present. The exhibit sheds light on the organic relationship between photography, painting, literature, architecture, sculpture, cinema, mural, and typography. The creation and production of these works derive from a noir cityscape, in a land where the bright colors of flora and fauna, native and transplanted, belief somber secrets and complex histories. The origin of Dark Progressivism begins with the built environment. As a result of restrictive housing covenants against people of color, clusters of orderly and planned suburbs sprouted all over the metropolis, while high density, marginalized, and underdeveloped communities developed elsewhere, forming a belt around Downtown Los Angeles. Far from tourist destinations, these communities were invisible and associated with slum housing. During the Depression, people of color, born and raised in Los Angeles, were fired from public sector jobs so that “White Americans” could find employment, while thousands of Mexican Americans and Mexican-born immigrants were repatriated to Mexico. At the same time, “socially progressive” housing projects were designed by renowned architects as a form of containment to house low-income Mexican and Mexican American communities. Housing projects such as Maravilla, Rose Hills Courts, Ramona Gardens, Pico Aliso Village, Dogtown, and several others became a reality, and thousands were displaced into the shadows of the projects; thus people of color and these communities became more invisible and further fragmented. On the bleak streets of this built environment, the youth responded by writing graffiti on walls in the form of community plaques, and carving names and neighborhoods in cement to show that they too existed in the dark metropolis. From then, through the changes, whether physical and social, violent or benign, of the ensuing decades, contemporary artists in a variety of mediums have been directly informed by this noir cityscape. Dark Progressivism: The Built Environment deconstructs the metropolis’ trajectory through an unprecedented historical lens, with works from artists who are not only impacted by the opaque topography, but who are also contributing to the dialog of progress. Ken Gonzales-Day Profiled Racial profiling and discriminatory treatment of persons of color remains at the center of political debates about criminal justice, terrorism, national security and immigration reform despite the increasing understanding that race has more to do with culture than biology. Many studies have been made involving the literary and art-historical depictions of race in text and painting, but the sculpted figure and the portrait bust have garnered little attention. Ken Gonzales-Day: Profiled addresses these forms. It became evident in Gonzales-Day’s research that historically sculptures and portrait busts were created using other works of art such as photographs or illustrations as reference. Many sculptures are copies of copies and with each new artist comes a reinterpretation of the previous. This cycle of replication has resulted in the progressive distortion of the subjects’ depiction. In others, the busts were not busts at all, but fragments from larger sculptures composited from various models. Profiled is about more than the uncanny double, it is about the fragmented and fractured subject and its visual potential. Ken Gonzales-Day is a Los Angeles based artist whom received a BFA from Pratt Institute, an MFA from the University of California Irvine, an MA from Hunter College and is now a Professor of Art and Humanities at Scripps College in Claremont, CA. His work has been widely exhibited including: LACMA, Los Angeles; LAXART, Los Angeles; Tamayo Museum, Mexico City; Palais de Tokyo, Paris; The New Museum, New York City; Generali Foundation, Vienna, and more. Ken Gonzales-Day was also awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship in photography in 2017. Linda Vallejo The Brown Dot Project Linda Vallejo’s The Brown Dot Project continues her work examining the growing Latino population and American’s changing attitudes towards color and class. The Brown Dot Project began with the artist’s consideration of statistics concerning Latino populations and how abstract painted works could spark a dialog about these numbers and their influence on the viewer’s perception of race and class. The “brown dot” abstract image of these Latino data numbers emerged after much trial and error. Once Vallejo’s work led her to the grid, she began dividing them into quadrants and a pattern began to manifest. Vallejo continued the project’s production by experimenting with formal variations based on Latino percentages and her experiences with indigenous weaving. The first images she produced recalled American Indian and Mesoamerican blankets, weavings and ancient ceremonial sites. Later, Mondrian, Chuck Close, Agnes Martin, Charles Gaines, and other grid-oriented modernists came to mind as she was forced to create new variations within the work. Vallejo studies a variety of data sets, including topics such as the number of Latinos in any given city or state, the national number of Latino executives, the number of Latinos involved in the American Civil War. As an example: The population of Los Angeles County is represented by 48,400 total squares. The county’s Latino population (48.3%) is represented by 23,377 dots arranged in 467 sets of 50 dots each (and one set of 27 additional dots). As her dates sets expand, so too have the works, growing in size from 9 square inches to 24 square inches, the largest of which are 36 square inches. Counting of these squares and dots, completing the corresponding mathematics, and “dotting” the page takes hours of concentration on both topic and execution. Abel Alejandre Urban Realism Abel Alejandre spent the first seven years of his life in the rural region of Tierra Caliente, Mexico. In these early years, Alejandre and his family lived without electricity and running water. They emigrated to Los Angeles in 1975, which Alejandre describes as being akin to traveling a century into the future. Looking back to this transformative period, Alejandre aims to examine and reinterpret what it means to be a human being, a man and the member of a community. These themes are explored in his work as his subject matter focuses on discounted and overlooked moments that subversively yet actively shape our culture. By isolating these instances into hyperrealist vignettes Alejandre intends to stimulate the onlookers’ reflection. The autobiographical elements of Alejandre’s work delve into the public and private spheres of masculinity and vulnerability. He frequently uses roosters to symbolize machismo, manhood, valor and patriarchy as they are animals known for their fierce instinct, beauty and determination to fight until its enemy is completely dispatched. Through his work Alejandre evaluates and questions the role of masculinity’s in contemporary society. For over twenty years Abel Alejandre has been perfecting his practice in acrylics, woodblock prints and graphite. Alejandre’s graphite drawings makes up the largest body of work and require upwards of five months to bring to fruition, averaging eleven hours per day and consumes about 700 pencils each. Ana Rodriguez Floral Interiors Ana Rodriguez’ canvases—with their feminine color palettes of pinks and purples and dripping textures that are reminiscent of frosting or cake batter—are at once mysterious, feminine and deeply personal. The artist grew up in the small community of Maywood, California, neighbor to the numerous chemical plants, refineries, public waste areas and foundries of Commerce and Vernon. As a child, Rodriguez recalls being highly aware of how the rancid smells of these factories mixed with the sweet scents of small bakeries and cake shops in her city. Memories of this olfactory sensation are pervasive throughout her current body of work. Rodriguez’ paintings also often incorporate references to the 99 Cent Store decorations that adorned her childhood home, providing a link to her family’s social class in an attempt to acquire a deeper understanding of the nature of classifying beauty and objects of value. Patterns reminiscent of kitchen cabinet liners, linoleum flooring, wallpaper and fabric from childhood toys and clothes emerge from beneath dripping washes of color in an amalgam of neon and pastel hues and abstract forms that seem to melt and ooze in and out of gravity. Allusions to the natural environment are also present in the artist’s color palette: splashes of pink mix with orange and gold, evoking the striking appearance of East Los Angeles’ sunsets, melting over the smokestacks of factories and the rooftops of crowded apartment complexes. Nostalgia and memory, fantasy and whimsy collide, mingle and overwhelm as abstraction and pattern coexist across Rodriguez’ paintings. Ana Rodriguez earned a BFA from California State University Long Beach and an MFA from Otis College of Art and Design, where she currently teaches. November 11, 2017 - January 14, 2018 Back to list

back to list Julius Eastman Julius Eastman is an artist, DJ, dad and creative force living in California’s Antelope Valley. He has been actively showing his work, appearing at MOAH, the Modern Tea House, Sagebrush Cafe, and working with the Art Around group in Lancaster. In his paintings the landscape is both subject and object, it’s a pliant and mental thing. A rebel music seems to pulse with psychedelic-street sounds, and symbols maintain a power that Eastman seems to both feed and resist. One could call it cultural landscaping, because Eastman is contemplating a way to negotiate the line between sacred and secular, but doing it in the tones of popular culture; taking, in his way, a black and white world and rendering it in color.

back to list Christopher Konecki and Carley Ealey Konecki is self-taught artist and constantly experimenting. He is known for completing large scale aerosol murals, fine artwork including paintings and miniature sculptures, as well as various public and private site specific installations. Konecki's work is explorative of social consciousness, generally irreverent, and focused on subjects that are both serious and absurd. His use of found and 'repurposed' objects in his work advocates the reassessment of typical ideals of function and beauty. Elements of nature often collide with harsh urban landscapes and elements of street art and graffiti, symbolizing the ongoing struggle between the harmonious coexistence of these two competing monumental forces. Fine artist, muralist, photographer, and writer with a few hundred other secret talents, Carly Ealey has a knack for all things creative. With a natural inclination to painting the familiar figures of women in her work, Ealey prefers acrylic ink on wood panels when painting small, and spray paint when working on murals. However, she also incorporates her photography from time to time on a larger scale via wheatpaste.