The Los Angeles Municipal Art Gallery and Watts Towers Arts Center to Show 'Civic Virtue'

Written by Jack Rutabaga Wednesday, 14 December 2011 22:37

Los Angeles, California.- The Los Angeles Municipal Art Gallery and Watts Towers Arts Center present "Civic Virtue" exploring the intertwined histories of two of Los Angeles’s oldest and most diverse centers of artistic activity, both operated by the City of Los Angeles Department of Cultural Affairs. "Civic Virtue" is on view at both venues from December 15th through February 12th. The Civic Virtue exhibition at the Los Angeles Municipal Art Gallery (LAMAG) is a chronological survey of the role of civic government in the development of the arts in Los Angeles, beginning in the early 1950's. The exhibition illustrates the history of the gallery through displays of significant artworks and artifacts including Frank Lloyd Wright’s original sketches and drawings for the building; artwork and documentation from City Hall hearings related to charges that modern painting and sculpture were vehicles of Communist subversion; photographs documenting early citywide festivals celebrating diverse artists; images of the seminal experimental performances at LAMAG by Guy de Cointet and Robert Wilhite, Senga Nengudi, Marren Hassinger, and Ulysses Jenkins; and works from many of LAMAG’s celebrated exhibitions, including works by Karl Benjamin, David Hammons, Lorser Feitelson, Julius Shulman, June Wayne, John Altoon, Llyn Foulkes, John Mason, Betye Saar and Patssi Valdez.

The Civic Virtue exhibition at the Watts Towers Arts Center (WTAC) surveys the evolution of this important grass-roots arts space, from an entity created in the 1950s to preserve Sabato (Simon) Rodia’s 17 major steel-and-mortar sculptures (which he created from 1921 to 1954 and called “Nuestro Pueblo,” our town) into an internationally recognized community arts center under the auspices of the Department of Cultural Affairs. The exhibition includes creative responses to social conditions and historic events in Watts by a cross-section of artists engaged in community-building, such as Dale Davis, Charles Dickson, Willie Middlebrook, John Outterbridge, Elliott Pinkney and Judson Powell; examples of works inspired by this site by artists including Noah Purifoy, Harry Drinkwater, Sister Mary Corita Kent, Julius Shulman and Andy Warhol; and documentary photographs highlighting the multidisciplinary arts programming associated with WTAC, encompassing music, dance, theater and festivals.

The Barnsdall Gallery Theatre is a facility of the Los Angeles Department of Cultural Affairs. Located at the crest of Olive Hill overlooking the city of Los Angeles, Barnsdall Art Park had its beginning in the early 1900's when Aline Barnsdall came West with plans to develop a theater company. When Aline Barnsdall donated the Park and its Frank Lloyd Wright designed structures to the City of Los Angeles to the City of Los Angeles in 1927, she wished to provide an accessible arts center, incorporating and preserving the famous Hollyhock House as a vital component.

The spirit of Barnsdall's intention was to maintain an active arts center for the community was assured longevity. Programs and exhibits became a part of the mission of the Park, programs that are used by thousands of Los Angeles community members as well as visitors from throughout the world. The Community Arts Division of the Cultural Affairs Department manages the Park. Programs include the adult and youth art classes at the Barnsdall Art Center and the Junior Arts Center, the Barnsdall Art Center and the Hollyhock House; museum education and tours programs at the Municipal Art Gallery, the Junior Arts Center Gallery and the Hollyhock House; theater programs at the Gallery Theatre; and, numerous festivals during the year that celebrate the cultural diversity of the community. Visit the park's website at ... http://www.barnsdallartpark.com/

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